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American Social History Project • Center for Media and Learning

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Published September 17, 2020

This semester the ASHP/CML is thrilled to welcome a new graduate assistant, Danielle Bennett.  A first year Ph.D. student, Danielle has interests in U.S. history and museum studies and recently completed a Master's degree at Tufts in a program that combines the two areas. At the GC she plans to continue pursuing her passion for public history and memory, especially the investigation of how queer history has been presented at historic house museums such as the Staten Island's Alice Austen House (pictured). At ASHP/CML, Danielle will help to develop new podcasts and other initiatives.Read more

Published September 17, 2020

On October 7, the Publics Lab at the Graduate Center will host a conversation with the historians and artists behind Ghost River.  

Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga (Red Planet Books and Comics, 2019) is a graphic novel about the Paxton massacres of 1763. However, as the title suggests, the Paxton vigilantes associated with this tragedy are peripheral to this story. This volume introduces new interpreters and new forms of evidence in order to foreground Indigenous victims, survivors, and kin in ways that colonial printed records – with their focus on colonial elites – cannot do alone. Written, illustrated,...Read more

Published September 10, 2020

We decided to put an end to the quizzical looks, raised eyebrows, and general bewilderment whenever we sent teachers to “HERB,” our foremost repository of history teaching materials for grades 6-12. The site has lost its pipe-smoking eponym, but no need to worry about broken links, the old url will redirect to a new address for Social History for Every Classroom.Read more

Published September 10, 2020

Prisoner in My Homeland, the sixth Mission US interactive history teaching resource is now available along with an in-depth Educator’s Guide. In this online immersive role-playing game, the player takes on the role of Henry Tanaka, a 16 year-old Japanese American from Bainbridge Island in Washington State. After the U.S. entrance into World War II, Henry’s typical American teenage life is forever changed when President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced removal and incarceration of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans. Prisoner in My Homeland follows Henry as he struggles to make sense of the incarceration, tries to...Read more

Published June 10, 2020

From our home offices in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, the staff of ASHP have watched the protests following the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, with outrage and sorrow, as well as admiration at the determination of tens of thousands calling for  justice and change. At times, we have joined the protests and supported them in other ways. As educators and scholars, we recognize the power of history to provide an understanding of the past that can help transform our present lives and shape our future.

For that purpose, we want to share with you...Read more

Published April 1, 2020

We are interested in learning more about ASHP/CML’s supporters and the programs and resources that engage you. Our mission is to make social history resources available to students and teachers, so if you can’t find something please let us know.  Share, like, and tweet our resources with others; and download, rate, and review the podcasts for other potential listeners. Please give us feedback on your use of ASHP resources by completing this brief survey. Your responses will help us to better serve you.Read more

Published March 31, 2020

As COVID-19 requires educators and parents to move classes online and adjust to social distancing, the American Social History Project wants to remind you of some of the resources we have available. We hope that you will encourage your colleagues, friends, family, students, and others to explore these and other materials through our website.

If you are looking for historical parallels or materials to help better contextualize the national and local responses to the current pandemic, check out:

Published March 31, 2020

The Fight for Asian American Studies at Hunter College Collection documents the history and activism surrounding the Asian American Studies Program (AASP). The program was established in response to years of student and faculty demand dating back to 1970 when Dr. Betty Lee Sung taught the first Asian American studies courses at City College. For years, students, faculty, staff, and community members agitated for classes and programs and sought to raise the visibility of Asian American Studies at CUNY and in NY.  Finally in 1993 Hunter established an Asian American Studies program and named Peter Kwong its inaugural director....Read more

Published March 29, 2020

Fortunately, all of our staff are able to work fully from home. So writing, designing, and programming continues on Who Built America? Open Educational Resource, which is scheduled to be completed in 2021. Two Mission US projects are also in production. Mission 6, Prisoner in My Homeland on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II is nearing completion.  It will be released by the end of April and introduced to teachers with a webinar shortly thereafter. Mission 7, No Turning Back, on the 1960s voting rights struggle in Mississippi is currently being scripted. We recently began working with a...Read more

Published December 9, 2019

This July, the American Social History Project will once again host a two-week NEH Summer Institute for college and university faculty on the Visual Culture of the American Civil War and Its Aftermath

The fifth iteration of our institute will focus on the Civil War and Reconstruction era's array of visual media--including prints, photographs, cartoons, illustrated newspapers and magazines, maps, ephemera, and the fine arts.  The institute will examine how information and opinion about the war and its aftermath was recorded and disseminated, and the ways visual media expressed and shaped Americans' understanding, North and South, free and enslaved. Guided by a team...Read more

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