Event

Citizenship & Belonging in US History

Saturday, July 13, 2024 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM EST
At MHS

This teacher workshop is offered for grade K-12 schoolteachers. Teachers will attend their choice of 4+ sessions of the research conference (Thursday, July 11 and/or Friday, July 12) and then participate in a full-day teacher workshop on Saturday July 13. The $50 fee includes breakfast and lunch. Teachers have the opportunity for 45 PDPs or 2 graduate credits for an additional fee of $250. 

Register to attend in person

The centennial of both the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and Immigration Act of 1924 are the inspiration for the 2024 MHS combined conference and teacher workshop exploring the broad themes associated with citizenship and other variations of national belonging. Conference sessions span the early Republic into the 20th century.

Read more information on the conference.

At Saturday’s workshop, scholars and K-12 educators will gather for an informal discussion that bridges themes that emerge during the conference and the content of the teacher workshop to follow. Together we will identify important takeaways from the conference, reflect on the accessibility of current scholarship for the K-12 classroom, and discuss best practices for introducing these themes to our students.

The sessions to follow include:

A presentation by Prof. Seeley, author of Race, Removal, and the Right to Remain: Migration and the Making of the United States, where she discusses both freedom of movement and the right to remain in the face of forced removal for both Indigenous nations and African Americans  

Opportunities for participants to develop materials for their own classroom needs in collaboration with fellow educators and scholars

Engagement with MHS's rich collections and our K-12 resource portal, HistorySource.org. Breakfast and lunch will be served.

Participation in this workshop is limited to K-12 educators. Requirements for credit include attending 4+ conference sessions and the July 13 teacher workshop, as well as completing program coursework. Questions or accessibility requests? Email education@masshist.org.

In-person event. The conference will take place at Suffolk University and the teacher workshop will take place at the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Masks are optional for this event. 

By registering you are agreeing to abide by the MHS Visitor Code of Conduct

Upcoming Events

Social Reform and Identity Formation in the 17th Century - A Panel Discussion
Social Reform and Identity Formation in the 17th Century - A Panel Discussion
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This panel investigates forms of social control in 17th century New England. Arthur George Kamya’s paper examines the regulation of distilled liquor in 17th century Massachusetts Bay Colony, exploring how authorities navigated competing moral, economic, and security imperatives. Initially targeting a cross-section of colonists, liquor laws evolved to focus on servants, Native Americans, and eventually African Americans. The colony's approach shifted from moral censure to pragmatic revenue generation, with officials using fines and licenses to fund government operations. Kamya’s study illuminates how alcohol regulation became a tool of social control, state-building, and the construction of racial hierarchies in colonial New England, offering insights into the complex interplay between commerce, governance, and identity formation in early America. As discussed in Alice King’s work, Connecticut adopted a notable strategy towards certain Indigenous populations during the initial decades of settlement, attempting to control and exploit Native communities by turning them into colonial tributaries who would provide essential supplies, wampum, and military aid. King’s paper considers the evolution of tributary politics at the end of the seventeenth century after the Dominion of New England and Glorious Revolution had destabilized colonial authority and left colonists vulnerable to attack by French and Native forces, including the Wabanaki Confederacy during King William’s War, 1689-1697, when Connecticut leaders sought to raise soldiers for New England’s defense from these historic tributary communities.
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