The past is present
In this assignment for the course "The 2000s," students write a response to the 2008 film Wall-E. The assignment asks them to consider the film's messages about key early 21st-century issues, including technology and the environment.
This course is a survey of US History from 2000 to 2015. It examines the US through political, social, cultural, economic, and diplomatic lenses. Students will learn about major historical developments, including the War on Terror, culture-war battlegrounds, neoliberalism, and the expansion of the Internet.
Despite a renowned career as a writer and activist, Upton Sinclair lacks a museum in his honor. His home in California would make an ideal house museum. His biographer reflects on Sinclair's legacy, the importance of public history sites, and the role of historic homes in shaping public memory.
Fifty years after the 1976 Soweto Uprising, many of the questions raised by student resistance remain unresolved. Recent movements like #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall draw from broader historical struggles for liberation in South Africa.
Historical commissions function as state-sponsored public history initiatives that negotiate contested national pasts.
Fifty years ago, Laverne & Shirley debuted as the first blue-collar "single-girl" sitcom. The series’ anniversary provides an opportunity to discuss its contribution to the genre and how it reflected a particular moment in American history.
Ethical access to digital archives includes issues of privacy, sensitive content, and ethical representation of marginalized communities. This piece examines nine digital archives and their attempts to navigate ethical issues.
Today’s activists know what those in the Black freedom movement knew: Jail, No Bail was a critique of not just bail, but of an entire system of unjust laws and courts. Then and now, activists understand that power concedes nothing–not desegregation, not pre-trial freedom—without a fight.
Ryan Coogler's Sinners forces audiences to confront much larger themes in Black American history such as debates over conflicting visions of liberation and various interpretations of Black American religious experience.
The United States must confront the truth about its history in classrooms and in public—parks, museums, and government websites.
Clio and the Contemporary 