Past Institutes

Texans Who Shaped the Twentieth Century (2023 In-Person Institute)

From June 5–8, 2023, Humanities Texas held a professional development institute for social studies teachers on Texans who have significantly shaped twentieth-century U.S. history. Program partners included the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin, the LBJ Presidential Library, and the Bullock Texas State History Muesum.

Curriculum

Content aligned with the TEKS. The institute highlighted Texans who impacted U.S.—and global—history and culture in the twentieth century. Presentations covered Texas and national politics in the early twentieth century, World War II, the economy and society of oil, women’s suffrage, the Great Society and Lyndon Baines Johnson, Sam Rayburn and the making of modern Congress, the African American civil rights movement, the Latinx civil rights movement, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, contemporary women leaders, and influential Texas musicians and writers.

Like all Humanities Texas teacher programs, the institute emphasized close interaction with scholars and writers and the development of effective pedagogical strategies and engaging assignments and activities.

Faculty

Jeremi Suri (The University of Texas at Austin) served as faculty director for the institute. The faculty included Jessica Brannon-Wranosky (Texas A&M University–Commerce), W. Marvin Dulaney (Association for the Study of African American Life and History), Stephen Harrigan (Texas author), Mark Atwood Lawrence (LBJ Presidential Library), Jason Mellard (Texas State University), Mark Updegrove (LBJ Foundation), Geoff Warwo (University of North Texas), Nancy Beck Young (University of Houston), Lawrence Wright (Texas author), and Walter Buenger, John Morán González, and Monica Muñoz Martinez of The University of Texas at Austin. The LBJ Presidential Library education staff presented their resources for educators during the program as well.

Schedule

The institute took place at the LBJ Presidential Library and the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin from June 5–8, 2023. The schedule is available  here.

Sponsors

The institute was made possible with major funding from the State of Texas, with ongoing support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.