When the US government forced American citizens of Japanese ancestry from their homes and into concentration camps in 1942, it pushed them into a binary world: Were their loyalties with America or with Japan? This black-and-white model concealed the varied, vibrant colors of Japanese American identities. An extremely rare cache of candid color photographs shot behind barbed wire by Bill Manbo, a prisoner, allow us to explore both the racist sterility of the government’s understanding of citizenship and the many-hued richness of Japanese American life and resiliency in the camps.  …

Welcome back to school! National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) kept its “virtual classroom” open all summer, and I am delighted to report that hundreds of members and new friends in our social studies community shared in our summer institute and webinar programs. Now we turn our attention to the fall (can you believe it?!) and a few key programs that will form the core of our professional learning this season. First, if you have followed the development this year of the new Educating for American Democracy (EAD) Roadmap, you have learned a bit about its guiding questions, seven…

Why do we struggle with admitting how pain and love are entangled in cherished artifacts of our childhood? In this talk, I argue that confronting this fact is the best way to dismantle the White-supremacist delusion of “cancel culture,” to develop more complex relationships with favorite works of our youth and to create a more inclusive, diverse culture for contemporary children.   This series is a partnership between the National Humanities Center and the National Council for the Social Studies and is generously sponsored by the Library of Congress' Teaching for Primary Sources…

Why would someone bring a can of beer to a memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.? Why would someone project a photograph of Breonna Taylor, a black health care worker killed in her sleep during a global pandemic, onto the base of a memorial to Robert E. Lee? The short answer to these questions is that memorials, even when they seem silent and dusty, really matter to Americans. This webinar will offer a short history of memorials in the U.S. and will focus on the collection of tens of thousands of objects left at the base of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to explore what these…

What is structural or systemic racism? Do you recognize it when you see it or experience it? Join us for a data-driven, deep-dive on this topic, where we will address: What is structural racism? How do we know it exists today? Does historical discrimination impact the present? What are the continuing effects on wealth, healthcare, housing and education? When does individual bias come into play? This presentation will explain the concept of structural racism, as well as demonstrate the roots of historical discrimination within housing (e.g. FHA/VA mortgage discrimination, redlining,…

Join Sarah Milo Hoskow, inquirED’s Director of Partner Experience, and Melissa Seggelke, K-12 Social Studies Curriculum Specialist from Denver Public Schools, as well as other district leaders for an in-depth look at the most effective ways to roll out a new social studies curriculum in your school or district.   All Times Eastern

Join Lawrence Paska (Executive Director of The National Council for the Social Studies), Natacha Scott (Director of Educator Engagement, iCivics), and Shanti Elangovan (Founder and CEO of inquirED), for a panel discussion about opportunities, obstacles, trends, and innovations in social studies instruction. Moderated by Sarah Schwartz of Education Week.   All Times Easter