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Teaching Hard History

Education Podcasts

What we don’t know about American history hurts us all. Teaching Hard History begins with the long legacy of slavery and reaches through the civil rights movement to the present day. Brought to you by Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance) and hosted by Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Teaching Hard History brings us the lessons we should have learned in school through the voices of scholars and educators. It’s great advice for teachers and good information for everybody.

What we don’t know about American history hurts us all. Teaching Hard History begins with the long legacy of slavery and reaches through the civil rights movement to the present day. Brought to you by Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance) and hosted by Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Teaching Hard History brings us the lessons we should have learned in school through the voices of scholars and educators. It’s great advice for teachers and good information for everybody.

Location:

United States

Description:

What we don’t know about American history hurts us all. Teaching Hard History begins with the long legacy of slavery and reaches through the civil rights movement to the present day. Brought to you by Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance) and hosted by Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Teaching Hard History brings us the lessons we should have learned in school through the voices of scholars and educators. It’s great advice for teachers and good information for everybody.

Language:

English

Episodes

Community Organizing, Youth Leadership and SNCC – w/ Courtland Cox, Kaia Woodford, Karlyn Forner and John B. Gartrell

2/23/2021
In this episode, we talk with movement veteran Courtland Cox about lessons from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and his own development as a young organizer of the Emmett Till generation. We join Karlyn Forner and John B. Gartrell to tour the resources available through SNCC Digital Gateway. And we hear from student organizer Kaia Woodford about the lessons from the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements that inform her activism today. Our latest Spotify playlist has even more...

Duration:01:32:46

Listen, Look and Learn: Using Primary Sources to Teach the Freedom Struggle – w/ J. Todd Moye, Guha Shankar, and Noelle Trent

2/9/2021
Oral histories, historic sites, archives and museums expand students’ understanding of the past. They fill in gaps in our textbooks—complementing what’s included and capturing what’s not. This episode highlights online oral history collections including the Civil Rights History Project. It offers recommendations for students conducting their own oral histories. And it explores resources from the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Our latest Spotify...

Duration:01:29:23

Young, Gifted and Black: Teaching Freedom Summer to K-5 Students – w/ Nicole Burrowes. La Tasha Levy and Liz Kleinrock

1/26/2021
Teaching civil rights history to young learners creates both opportunities and challenges. The 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project and the subsequent Freedom Schools offer important lessons for helping elementary students to understand the civil rights movement. In this episode, we explore community-based strategies and activities for bringing the black freedom struggle into your classroom. Our latest Spotify playlist has even more Movement Music inspired by this episode. And visit the...

Duration:01:18:15

Checking In: Listener Feedback and Discussing the U.S. Capitol Attack

1/19/2021
If you're finding this podcast useful, please support us by taking our Listener Survey—only 10 questions—at tolerance.org/podcasts. And stay tuned! More episodes are on the way. In the meantime, if you're looking for ways to talk with students about the relationship between the hard history of white supremacy and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, you can find resources for leading student-responsive, historically grounded discussions about the recent violence at tolerance.org.

Duration:00:06:53

Making a Scene: The Movement in Literature and Film – w/ Julie Buckner Armstrong

12/22/2020
From the hard work of organizing to the reality of everyday life under Jim Crow, films and literature can bring historical context to life for students. In this episode, we recommend several “must use” films, books, poems and plays for teaching the civil rights movement. We also discuss strategies for incorporating these works across the curricula and for turning even problematic texts into grist for meaningful critical discussions. Our latest Spotify playlist has even more Movement Music...

Duration:01:26:24

The Real Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott – w/ Emilye Crosby

12/8/2020
Everyone thinks they know the story, but the real history of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott is even better. This episode details the events that set the stage for Ms. Parks’ civil disobedience. You’ll meet the leaders and organizations who transformed a moment of activism into a 13-month campaign. And you’ll learn about the community that held fast in the face of legal and political attacks, economic coercion, intimidation and violence. Language Advisory: This episode contains...

Duration:01:34:42

Connecting Slavery with the Civil Rights Movement

11/24/2020
To fully understand the United States today, we have to comprehend the central role that slavery played in our nation’s past. That legacy is also the foundation for understanding the civil rights movement and its place within the history of the Black freedom struggle. This episode is a special look back at our first season. It explores and expands on the 10 key concepts that ground Teaching Tolerance’s K-12 frameworks for teaching the hard history of American slavery.

Duration:00:45:44

Teaching the Movement’s Most Iconic Figure – w/ Charles McKinney

11/10/2020
You cannot teach the civil rights movement without talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But it’s critical that students deconstruct the mythology surrounding the movement’s most iconic figure to learn about the man, not just the hero. The real Dr. King held beliefs that evolved over time. A complex man, he was part of a much larger movement—one that shaped him as much as he shaped it. Our new Spotify playlist has even more movement music inspired by this episode. For even more...

Duration:01:01:15

The Jim Crow North – w/ Patrick D. Jones

10/27/2020
The Civil Rights Movement was never strictly a Southern phenomenon. To better understand the Jim Crow North, we explore discrimination and Black protest in places like Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland and New York. To examine the Black Freedom Movement beyond the South, we examine the Black-led fights to gain access to decent housing, secure quality education and end police brutality in these cities. For more movement music inspired by this episode, visit this new Spotify playlist. Be sure to...

Duration:01:24:36

Nonviolence and Self-Defense – w/ Wesley Hogan, Christopher Strain and Akinyele Umoja

10/13/2020
Armed resistance and nonviolent direct action co-existed throughout the civil rights era. In this episode, three historians confront some comfortable assumptions about nonviolence and self-defense. Wesley Hogan examines the evolution, value and limitations of nonviolence in the movement. Christopher Strain offers a three-part strategy for rethinking this false dichotomy in the classroom. And Akinyele Umoja offers insights about armed resistance from his research in...

Duration:01:35:53

New Film: The Forgotten Slavery of Our Ancestors – w/ Alice Qannik Glenn

10/7/2020
Alice Qannik Glenn is the host of Coffee and Quaq and assistant producer of The Forgotten Slavery of our Ancestors. This short, classroom-ready film offers an introduction to the history of Indigenous enslavement on land that is currently the United States. This new resource from Teaching Tolerance features an extensive group of experts, many of whom will be familiar to listeners from Season 2.

Duration:00:10:22

Jim Crow, Lynching and White Supremacy – w/ Stephen A. Berrey, Hannah Ayers, Lance Warren and Ahmariah Jackson

9/29/2020
Jim Crow was more than signs and separation. It was a system of terror and violence created to control the labor and regulate the behavior of Black people. In this episode, historian Stephen Berrey unpacks the mechanics of racial oppression, the actions white people took—in and beyond the South—to maintain white supremacy, and the everyday ways Black people fought back. And the directors of the film An Outrage join ELA teacher Ahmariah Jackson to discuss teaching the racial terror of...

Duration:01:26:21

A Playlist for the Movement – w/ Charles L. Hughes

9/8/2020
Music chronicles the history of the civil rights struggle: The events, tactics and emotions of the movement are documented in songs of the era. From The Freedom Singers to Sam Cooke, historian Charles L. Hughes explains how your students can use music for both historical insight and evidence in the classroom. For more movement music, check out this episode’s Spotify playlist. And you can find useful resources—like how to bring Beyoncé into your classroom with "Pop Music as Critical...

Duration:01:28:18

Beyond the "Master Narrative" – w/ Nishani Frazier and Adam Sanchez

8/25/2020
Students don’t enter our classrooms as blank slates. When it comes to the civil rights movement, we often have to help our students unlearn what they think they know while we’re teaching them what actually happened. The people were more complex, the strategies more complicated and the stakes more dangerous than we like to remember. In this episode, historian Nishani Frazier and social studies teacher Adam Sanchez demonstrate the value of teaching the movement from the grassroots up. You can...

Duration:01:10:27

Reframing the Movement – w/ Nishani Frazier and Adam Sanchez

8/11/2020
Teaching the civil rights movement accurately and effectively requires deconstructing the myths and misconceptions about the civil rights movement. Most people are familiar with a very specific version of the Civil Rights Movement that exaggerates Government support and denies the existence and persistence of racism outside the South. Julian Bond called this the “Master Narrative.” It celebrates sanitized icons and downplays grassroots organizing. It overhypes nonviolence while disparaging...

Duration:01:06:11

Wrap Up: Teaching the Connections – w/ Bethany Jay

6/9/2020
The systems that enabled and perpetuated African and Indigenous enslavement in what is now the U.S. have much in common, and their histories tell us a great deal about the present. Professors Bethany Jay and Steven Oliver join us to talk about connections between the first two seasons and how to teach them, and we preview what’s to come in season three.

Duration:01:28:40

Hard History in Hard Times – Talking With Teachers

5/8/2020
In this special call-in episode, listeners share their stories and questions from throughout season 2—including teaching remotely, working with families and stakeholders, and incorporating social justice into subjects like math and science. As educators, we’re strongest when we support each other. And you’ll hear great suggestions from fellow teachers, like these resources we discuss from Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia: Changes in PopulationDos and Don’ts of Teaching About Race,...

Duration:00:57:45

Call Us! (by Sunday, April 19)

4/13/2020
It’s time for our first call-in show! We know things are chaotic for you and every other educator right now. We feel it too, so this seems like the perfect time to talk. Pick up the phone and dial 888-59-STORY (888-597-8679). Our lines are open until Sunday night, April 19. Teaching hard history is even harder right now, so let’s talk about resources you can use if you’re teaching virtually. Ask us your questions; tell us your stories. And let us know how you’re doing. Whether you work with...

Duration:00:10:11

Inseparable Separations: Slavery and Indian Removal

3/27/2020
Indian Removal was a brutal and complicated effort that textbooks often simplify. It is also inseparably related to slavery. Enslavers seeking profit drove demand for Indigenous lands, displacing hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people. Some of these Indigenous people participated in chattel slavery. Focusing on the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, this episode pulls the lens back to show how Removal and enslavement must be taught together. This story must be told if we're going to...

Duration:00:59:34

Nakia Parker

3/27/2020
Nakia Parker tbd

Duration:01:32:36

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