njcssjournal

History, Now and Then: Teaching Historiography with the American History Textbook Project at Ramapo College

History, Now and Then: Teaching Historiography with the American History
Textbook Project at Ramapo College of NJ

Christina Connor and Daniel J. Willever

Rationale

One of the foremost challenges in social studies education is overcoming the danger of a single narrative. High school history classes that are structured around a textbook are particularly prone to this inhibition. History is not one set of facts — it is an argument. Relying too much on one secondary text to guide instruction fails to establish this key principle for understanding what history is, how it is done, and how it is significant to the present. The challenge of textbooks is that as tertiary sources, they vary widely in quality, and tend to offer overly simplistic narratives of the past that leave little room for debate or acknowledgement of tension over what really happened and why.

While textbooks are a necessary tool for establishing a basic set of facts for history instruction, as well as providing primary source resources and activities to support effective social studies pedagogy, they greatly undermine students’ understanding of history as a discipline with its own distinct theories and skills. It should be acknowledged that authors and publishers have generally made progress including diverse primary sources in their products, thought it has come to be widely accepted that the editorial choices made by textbook companies are often driven by politics, and
textbooks that are outdated will ultimately fail to expose students to the changing narratives of the past that are continually being written and debated. And, as with any piece of historical writing, textbook narratives are ultimately shaped by the times in which they are written.

These limitations present secondary social studies teachers with an obligation as well as an opportunity to introduce students to the theory behind how historical narratives are crafted and why history is constantly changing. How could history instruction be improved if students were exposed to different interpretations of the past and an evolution of historical narratives over time? In 2020, the authors’ utilized the American History Textbook Project (AHTP) at Ramapo College of NJ to develop and implement a lesson that introduced seventy high school juniors to the basics of historiography. Two years later, a cohort of sixteen students was invited to use the collection at Ramapo College for the purposes of developing historiographical thinking through text analysis.

While many history teachers may take issue with introducing secondary students to historiography, it is hardly a new idea or practice. Both Hoefferle (2007) and Zucker (2016) define the benefits of and
propose strategies for bringing historiography into the social studies classroom. Caroline Hoefferle realized that, while her undergraduate students knew how to analyze primary documents, they “had
never before thought critically about the histories that they read” (pg. 40). One of the chief benefits of bringing historiography into the social studies classroom, therefore, is that it both supports content acquisition as well as the development of critical thinking skills. Hoefferle writes that, upon being
introduced to historiography, many of her students “wished that they had been exposed to the course in high school. . . so that they knew beforehand how to read history and how to make sense of it all” (pg. 40). In this sense, exposing younger students to historiographical thinking compliments and reinforces the work that they regularly do with primary sources. Students are frequently asked to analyze, synthesize, and develop conclusions or arguments. This same thinking should be encouraged with textbook use.

How frequently do social studies teachers present students with the opportunity to understand that history is not just a “set of facts” but an ongoing debate? Professional scholars are continually offering new perspectives and interpretations that are in turn influenced by factors such as contemporary events or personal experiences and philosophies. History classes that are structured around a single textbook minimize the need for students to think critically, and undermine their understanding of why history is always changing. In Hoefferle’s words,

“Historiography not only enlightens students as to the inside story of the historical profession, but it also makes history more alive and interesting to them. It helps them to understand that everything is not already known and agreed upon, that there is a place for them in the profession, that in the future
they can contribute to the ongoing historical debates about the past. This takes them away from being simply passive receivers of the truth, to active pursuers of the truth” (pg. 41).

Similarly, AP US History teacher James Zucker (2016) takes issue with the current approach to teaching students history which relies primarily on primary source analysis. This often assumes that students are at the same level as professional historians and often forces them to analyze sources without proper contact. Rather, Zucker moves his students’ historical thinking beyond “fact gathering” through a multi-tier approach to teaching the American Revolution. First, students read
and analyze academic articles by prominent historians, such as T.H. Breen and Gary Nash. They find thesis statements, assess the supporting evidence, and discuss the validity of the arguments in a Socratic seminar. Only after students have come to the realization that there are multiple narratives of the American Revolution do they engage in primary source-based research for deeper historical context. Finally, the class circles back, assessing the relationship between the primary sources and the scholarly articles they first analyzed. Zucker expects his students to be able to engage with questions such as: “In what ways do these sources support or refute the arguments put forth by the likes of Breen and Nash? How do the interpretations reflect their own historical time period and point of view?” This is historical thinking at its finest.

Introducing historiography to high school students conforms with the inquiry based C3 Framework for social studies, particularly Dimension 3: “Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence.” Much like
primary source analysis, we would expect students to question a historical interpretation being presented through a secondary source. Questions might include:
Who developed/promoted this narrative?

Why? What/who was included/excluded from the narrative?

How does this narrative’s interpretation promote a certain perspective?

What is the effect of this narrative on identity?

In the words of Michael J. Swogger, D.Ed, writing for the National Council of the Social Studies blog “Pardon the Interruption!” in 2017: “Where historiography takes the study of history further is by asking the students to examine the evolution of how a particular history has been told over time. . . . . [S]tudying a historical topic through a historiographical lens helps students to better understand the elasticity of history itself” (Swogger, 2017). While it seems reasonable to believe that advanced high school students should be able and expected to do this type of work, there are those who advocate for the fostering of historiographical thinking skills among much younger students. In Teaching What Really Happened, James Loewen argues that social studies teachers can make historiography approachable for children as young as 10 years old, noting that “if they can learn supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, they can handle historiography.” In theory and practice, this may be as simple as having students critically analyze the narrative put forward in their history textbook, with an eye towards the flaws of a text: “Students find it intriguing to think about what topics textbooks handle especially badly” (Loewen, 76). While it may be common knowledge to history educators that the course textbook and supplemental materials often present a singular narrative with the aim of simplicity and consensus building, challenging students to question and challenge what their textbook delivers as the “correct” understanding of the past can be a powerful approach. The realization that not everything they read in a textbook is “agreed upon” may be one of the more empowering lessons that emerges from a social studies education. Together, we may take Loewen,
Hofferle, and Swogger, and Zucker to conclude the following:

Historiography is an essential historical thinking skill because it enables students to see beyond history as the mere act of fact collection.
Historiographical thinking may be leveled to be age and ability appropriate.
Teaching historiography may make the study of history more interesting to students, taking them from passive recipients of information to active researchers for the truth.
History textbooks can be an accessible and approachable vehicle for introducing students to historiographical thinking.

These conclusions led us to develop a program, using the American History Textbook Project at Ramapo College of New Jersey, to introduce historiographical thinking to a cohort of high school students. Several characteristics of the American History Textbook Project make it an ideal
vehicle for such an undertaking.

The American History Textbook Project

The American History Textbook Project (AHTP) at Ramapo College began as a student-led project, under the supervision of an American Studies professor. Students researched materials to purchase before offering them to the college’s library as a special collection (Connor and Rice, 2012).
The majority of the collection consists of high school-level materials, but there are also some intended for elementary and middle school-age, as well as special editions for religious schools and state editions. Since 2009, the collection has grown to over 300 volumes, spanning almost 200 years (1825 to 2016); the collection continues to grow through grants and donations. In Spring 2020, when the college moved to remote operations due to COVID-19, a digital edition of the collection was created in order to meet the high demand of use while the physical collection was inaccessible
(https://libguides.ramapo.edu/digitalAHTP).

For a special collection, AHTP materials have a high level of use. At Ramapo, historiography is a key learning outcome not only in the History and American Studies programs, but also within the College’s General Education (GE) Program. As a result, undergraduates, often in their first year, who are enrolled in courses associated with this student learning outcome are exposed to historiographical
concepts, even if they are not history majors. This inclusion came as a result of a major recent revision to the GE Program that required professors develop courses that asked students to learn not only historical content (events, processes, trends, people) but also to place that learning in historical
context and to think critically about causation, connections to the present, and cultural bias. Students use the collection not as the books were intended – as tertiary sources – but rather as primary sources or artifacts to a time period. Professors found using the AHTP collection beneficial because students commented that using textbooks to understand complex historiographical concepts was more
manageable because information was presented in a less intimidating structure. In addition, professors appreciated that the textbooks covered so many topics – activism, industrialization, social issues, etc. – that using them allowed for maximum flexibility for courses.

Interest in the collection has grown outside of the College, especially among high school educators. When teachers contact the Library for a tour of collections, AHTP is often a featured discussion for
visiting groups. In the summer of 2023, a senior high school student volunteered to work with the collection and noted that working with the books, especially when seeing doodles and notes written by past students, brought a human element to his work research. Interacting with the AHTP collection allows students, even at the secondary level, to see these materials beyond static, neutral vessels of information, but as time capsules for both those who wrote the materials and those who used them. This adds an important new dimension of engagement with historical concepts.

In October, 2022, sixteen students from Ramsey High School participated in the program. The group of students consisted of five sophomores, nine juniors, and two seniors. All students had volunteered to participate and were not pre selected based upon any academic or personal criteria. Three quarters of the students had been or were currently enrolled in an honors or Advanced Placement history course. In a pre-assessment survey sent to the group, fifty percent of the students claimed that they frequently or regularly used a textbook in their history class, while more than forty percent said sometimes, rarely, or never. This was asked to gauge students’ familiarity with the components
and use of a history textbook. Among those who had utilized a history textbook recently, ten of the students indicated that they had read the book to answer specific questions or to study for a written assessment.

The session

For convenient access to the textbooks, the two-hour session was conducted in the special collections reading room of the George T. Potter Library at Ramapo College. Students were placed into groups of four based upon expressed interest in and general familiarity with one of four topics: the women’s suffrage movement, slavery and the American Civil War, U.S. immigration and immigrant groups, and the history of Native Americans during the Jacksonian Era. Students were seated with their groups at large tables. The session was run by Christina Connor, Ramapo College Assessment and Instruction Librarian and curator of the AHTP collection, and Daniel Willever, social studies teacher at Ramsey High School. To begin the session, brief introductory remarks were delivered by
Stephen Rice, Professor of American Studies at Ramapo College. Professor Rice originated the AHTP collection before it was donated to the library and taken over by Ms. Connor.

The work session was organized into four major activities followed by time for a post-assessment survey. In addition, students were given free time to interact with a small subset of textbooks that Ms. Connor selected for display due to their unique characteristics. As an activating strategy, each student was given one textbook from the collection to freely explore. During this time, many students made note of the cover art, the title, and the year of publication (which ranged as far back as the 1890s, though nearly all books were from the mid twentieth century). A few students turned to
the table of contents to see how the book was structured, and others took note of markings which indicated where the book had been used or by whom. Students were then asked to answer the question: “How does this text begin the story of American history?” The intention behind this question was twofold: first, for students to orient themselves to how the narrative of American
history was going to be told in the book they selected; second, for them to notice significant differences between the four books in their group regarding how the authors chose to begin the story. Answers varied, with some books beginning with the Columbian exchange, some with the
populating of the Americas during the last ice age, and others going back to the foundations of ancient civilizations.

Students then shared out to the whole group their perspective on why the starting point of their book may have been chosen by the authors and what its significance was. They were also free to ask questions or make general observations about the textbook they had selected. Some students use their phones to look up information about the author(s) of the book.

Following this orientation, students were distributed a copy of the session handout, designed to serve as a note catcher. This one page document, an adaptation of the resource used with undergraduate students at the college, was designed with ease-of-use in mind, for students to distillate core
understandings about the text into a simple framework which could be used for later thinking. At the top, students indicated basic identifying characteristics, such as title, author, and publication date of their book.

Below this, a matrix posed four essential questions for students to think about and answer using their book:

How much detail is given to your topic [e.g. women’s suffrage]? In what context is the topic mentioned?
What words or phrases are used to describe your topic in this book?
What aspects of this history are emphasized or deemphasized by this book?
How could this textbook excerpt influence a reader’s perspective on your topic?

In the second activity, students conducted topical research using their textbook. At any time during the session, students were welcome to read together or to exchange books, although they were to
primarily focus their attention on the one book they selected at the start of the activity.

Following this independent reading and writing time — about twenty minutes, in total — students came together for a group collaboration session. This time was reserved for them to converse about their observations and annotations. Within each topic group, students were to begin the process of comparing and contrasting how each textbook approached, organized, conveyed and conveyed the subject matter.

Each group received a large sheet of poster paper and markers to produce a graphic organizer which expressed how the telling of their historical topic had changed over time, as noted through comparison of the four textbooks. The two hour session concluded with the final activity, in which time was allotted for presentations to the whole cohort, with additional general discussion of key takeaways and questions.

Observations and data

During the session, students were observed to be highly engaged and in regular conversation, sharing the information they were finding both for the activity sheets as well as other observations made while analyzing the textbooks. Rarely did the instructors need to intervene without students first asking a question. It was often noticed that if students were using their phones, it was to look something up for the activity, not as a distraction from the session. For two hours students were
actively participating and did not need to be reminded to focus on the lesson and discussion.

The conversation was extraordinarily organic within each group, as students huddled looking from book to book, comparing text, and making notations. Most students provided a great deal of detail in their worksheets, citing a variety of examples for each question. When asked to provide words or phrases used to describe their topics, students took the time to quote excerpts from books, not just produce a simple vocabulary list. When describing how much space is devoted to their subject,
students often provided significant detail, describing both the specific space allocated for topics (e.g., sentences, paragraphs, pages), but also reflecting if the language used was simple as well as if the topic was discussed in passing or within the context of another topic.

Reading through comments on the last two questions (to describe what is emphasized/deemphasized and how the narrative could influence a reader), it was observed that students were making the
connection that how a narrative was framed could impact perspectives on a topic. For example, if a book praised the Jacksonian policy of Native American relocation because it led to expanding U.S. territories, yet minimized or failed to mention the struggles felt by native populations, students noted how a reader could come to believe Native Americans were treated fairly and the U.S. acted justly.

In other cases, students included knowledge from their own classroom lessons to assist in their analysis of materials. For example, a student reviewing women’s suffrage noted passages in her book that downplayed the struggle, and did not discuss how long and hard a process suffrage was for women as well as the violence experienced by many suffragettes. She also noted that her book failed to mention public opposition to women’s suffrage. Since this information was absent from her materials, it was clear she was pulling in outside information in order to discuss what aspects of suffrage were under represented. The amount of detail provided by students in their observations showcased how engaged they were with the materials and that their reflections developed from a
close reading.

In addition to individual worksheets, groups were also asked to create a timeline poster with all the books, which they would use when presenting out at the end of the session. This was an important piece to the discussion because it allowed students to see that while some topics improved in coverage over time, others surprisingly were more biased in later years. It gave the students the opportunity to consider if possible outside societal or political influences may have led to how a topic evolved over time.

One group used their poster session to make interesting observations regarding how the topic of slavery was treated in chapters on the American Civil War. Student K.H., for example, observed that in A History of the United States by William A. Mowry and Arthur May Mowry, published 1896, the issue of slavery was deemphasized as a cause of the war. His peer, student G.P. noted similar language in a 1950s textbook, which did not address the harsh treatment of enslaved people and downplayed slavery as a cause of the war. Another member of this group noted that a 1979 textbook by John Garrity went into greater detail of slavery as an economic and social institution with severely harmful consequences for enslaved people. The last member of the group, in assessing the 2005 textbook The Americans by McDougal Littell, observed that this textbook explicitly described the southern states’ desire to protect slavery as what caused the war. Four students utilized four texts spanning nearly 110 years of history to arrive at the conclusion that the narratives surrounding American slavery evolved significantly over time, were reflective of issues and events contemporary to the authors, and had a significant impact on how Americans viewed the past and present of their country. The group reflected on these observations in their timeline poster and presentation to the rest of the cohort.

The post-survey completed at the end of the session yielded interesting remarks from participants. Thirteen of 14 students who completed the exit survey said that the activity somewhat (8) or significantly (5) changed their understanding of how history is written and understood. In elaborating upon how the experience reformed their understanding of history as a discipline and how narratives of history evolve over time, students often revisited the topic of their textbook exploration. Said one
student: “While I understood that history textbooks change throughout history, I’ve
never looked at examples of this or investigated what this means. I learned about Jackson and Native Americans and the connotations and views of these events in multiple times [sic] periods, but specifically during the 1920s. During this time many people wanted to hide America’s past flaws
and promote nationalism after World War I and in case there was another war in the future.” This student demonstrated the importance of contextualizing a source as a
product of the time period in which it was published.

Another common insight shared by students was the search for objectivity and validity in historical writing. While some students saw the older textbooks as “more biased” or “misleading,” still others
wondered the degree to which they needed to think critically about the narratives in their own history textbooks: The ability for students to make connections between these historical texts and what they are being taught today was a significant development, as is exemplified in one reflection: “It was very interesting to see what was being taught to Americans based on what was going on at the time, and if this information they were getting was accurate. I wonder if the same thing is happening to the textbooks we are learning from today.” Similarly, another student commented that “Getting a
sense of what previous generations were taught was intriguing, especially when placed into historical context. Seeing how the textbooks develop into a more accurate depiction was pretty cool.” A third student sought to juxtapose their critical thinking vis a vis the textbook with the narratives of history delivered by their history teacher in class: “I have always thought that a textbook is more reliable than a teacher because teachers can be opinionated and books can’t.

After today I am left thinking If my previous thought is true. A book can have so many
biases that I have never considered.” The significant impact of the exercise was perhaps best expressed by another student: “. . .for someone who has never thought about how the telling of history has evolved this would be really eye opening.”

Conclusion

This project provided the authors with insight as to how secondary and tertiary sources, such as textbooks, may be used to expose high school students to a basic understanding of historiography.
Furthermore, such a strategy can lead to significant development of students’ historical thinking skills and their understanding of “history” as a discipline, as opposed to just a timeline of people, dates, and events. History professionals understand that history “wars” are nothing new;
conflicts over how the story of the past is told have been ongoing for some time and
will continue, because, as George Orwell rightly noted, “who controls the past controls the future.” However, the consequences of these debates and the motivations behind them are most likely
foreign to high school students. While school-age children may see media coverage over the removal of Confederate monuments or criticism over a “liberal” influence in the classroom, seeing the evolution of curricular materials may help provide insight as to why history debates are often heated.

All-in-all, it was clear that students valued the time spent working with the textbooks and many of them said they would enjoy doing so again in the future with different topics of exploration. It was
rewarding to see students use prior classroom knowledge and make connections to their current or former history courses. Seeing these observations helps underscore the point that high school-level students are capable of engaging with historiographical concepts and their reactions further highlight why it is necessary to do so. The moments of epiphany to which we bore witness during the textbook session were heartening and motivating.

Further exploration of this strategy for teaching historiography may focus on the degree to which students bring their new historiographical thinking skills back to their history classroom for use in an academic setting. Overall, it was encouraging to see that students were thoroughly engaged for
nearly two hours of work time and were observed to be consistently thinking out loud, organically collaborating, analytically reading texts, and utilizing advanced historical thinking skills. If additional endeavors to promote an understanding of historiography among pre-college learners prove to be as fulfilling and successful, the future of history is a promising one.

References

Connor C. & Rice S. (2012). The American History Textbook Project: The Making of a Student-Centered Special Collection at a Public Liberal Arts College. In E. Mitchell, P.A. Seiden, & S. Taraba (Eds.), Past or Portal? Enhancing Undergraduate Learning through Special Collections and Archives (pp. 271-278). Association of College and Research Libraries.

Hoefferle, C. (2007). Teaching Historiography to High School and Undergraduate Students. OAH Magazine of History, 21(2), 40–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25162115

Loewen, J.W. (2009). Teaching What Really Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History (Multicultural Education Series edition). Teachers College Press.

Swogger, M. (2017, March 29). Embracing Historiography in the Classroom. Pardon the Interruption! from the National Council of the Social Studies. http://connected.socialstudies.org/blogs/michael-swogger/2017/03/29/embracinghistoriography-in-the-classroom.

Zucker J. (2016, January 13). Teaching Historiography to High School Students. Process: a blog for American history. https://www.processhistory.org/jameszucker-teaching-historiography-in-highschool/.

Addressing Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Hamas, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism in the High School Curriculum

Addressing Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Hamas, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism in the High School Curriculum

Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School, Brooklyn, NY and the Bridging Cultures Group

Many teachers are nervous about discussing the Middle East crisis in class. In a highly heated atmosphere, they are unsure about how to approach the controversies, what is grade appropriate, and they fear criticism no matter what they do or say. The ongoing war launched by Israel on Gaza in response to an attack by Hamas is a topic that should be discussed in classes. Students across the age span have already been exposed to information and misinformation on television broadcasts, through
social media, and at family gatherings. Some have participated in marches or rallies. According to the New York State Social Studies Framework, students are expected to begin examining current events starting in third grade where they learn to distinguish between long-term and immediate causes and the effects of an event on their own lives, current events,
and history.

In response to teacher and student questions, teachers and administrators at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School in Brooklyn partnered with Bridging Cultures Group to develop material for
integrating lessons on Israel, Gaza, Hamas, Islam, and antisemitism into the curriculum. Study of conflicts in the Middle East are part of the 8th, 10th, and 11th grade social studies curriculum. According to the Social Studies Framework, in 8th grade United States history students should learn that “The period after World War II has been characterized by an ideological and political struggle, first between the United States and communism during the Cold War, then between the United States and forces of instability in the Middle East. Increased economic interdependence and competition, as well as environmental concerns, are challenges faced by the United States.”

In New York, in 10th grade students learn how “Nationalism in the Middle East was often influenced by factors such as religious beliefs and secularism.” Students are expected to “investigate Zionism, the mandates created at the end of World War I, and Arab nationalism” and “the creation of the
State of Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

In 11th grade they examine how “American strategic interests in the Middle East grew with the Cold War, the creation of the State of Israel, and the increased United States dependence on Middle Eastern oil. The continuing nature of the Arab-Israeli dispute has helped to define the contours of American policy in the Middle East.” As part of this unit, “Students will examine United States foreign policy toward the Middle East, including the recognition of and support for the State of Israel, the Camp David Accords, and the interaction with radical groups in the region.”

In 12th grade, New York State students study the organization and role of the United States government. There are no content specifications, and the course is expected to “adapt to present local, national, and global circumstances, allowing teachers to select flexibly from current events to illuminate key ideas and conceptual understandings.”

A teacher’s responsibility is to find or put together documents from different perspectives that students can evaluate together, to ask probing questions and develop an informed opinion on topics
in a safe classroom environment.

These are compelling questions that can be addressed in high school Global history classrooms.

What was the origin of Zionism?
How did World War I impact Palestine?
How did the Holocaust and World War II shape the future of Israel and Palestine?
What was the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War?
What was the origin of the PLO?
What were the results of the Six-Day and Yom Kippur wars?
Why did Palestinians launch an Intifada?
What is the origin of Hamas?
Why is it difficult to resolve conflicts between Israel and Palestine?
Why has the war in Gaza drawn international attention
These are compelling questions that can be addressed in high school United States history
classrooms.
How did Middle east conflicts impact on the domestic front?
How did U.S. support for Israel lead to an oil embargo?
What was the impact of the oil embargo on the American people?
How has the United States tried to resolve Middle East conflicts?
The material included in this package are only suggestions. Teachers should adapt lesson ideas and
documents to make them appropriate for their students. Some of the material presented in this package is prepared using different formats.
Aim: Why is there a conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians?
Do Now: Cartoon analysis.

See: What do you see happening in the cartoon?
Think: Based on your observations, what can you infer about the conflict between Palestine and Israel?
Wonder: Write down questions you have about the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Historical thinking skills practice: Using the google slides and the video
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bno1m1zhIWs), to explain the historical context of the Israeli –
Palestinian conflict. Use the three images below and answer the questions following “Review of Key Ideas.”

Review of key ideas
I: The Arab/Palestinian -Israeli Conflict: 1948- present day Key vocabulary: Zionism – the belief that Jews should have their own homeland; Zionism strengthens after the Holocaust.
II: Balfour Declaration: The British set up Palestine as the Jewish homeland.
III: Mandate Border 1920: Set up by the British; 90% of Palestine inhabited by Arabs.
IV: UN Resolution 1947: UN votes to divide Palestine into two countries. Jews agree to plan, Arabs do not. May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was born.
V. Since the establishment of Israel, there has been conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians as well as neighboring Arab countries.

Questions

How did this conflict start?
Where is the conflict happening?
Who is fighting?

Historical thinking skills practice: Identify viewpoints and explain how they are similar and different.

Exit Ticket: In your opinion, will the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians ever end? Is peace possible? Why or why not?

AIM: What were the historical circumstances that led to conflicts between Jews and Palestinians?
Lesson Objective: Contextualize the origins of the Israel and Palestinian series of conflicts.

ACTIVITY 1: DO NOW – STUDENT CHOICE
Directions: Choose an option below. You don’t have to do both.

OPTION A: The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence

The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence is a series of letters that were exchanged during World War I in which the Government of the United Kingdom agreed to recognize Arab independence in a large region after the war in exchange for the Sharif of Mecca launching the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The correspondence had a significant influence on Middle Eastern history during and after the war; a dispute over Palestine continued thereafter.

OPTION A QUESTION: What was the purpose of the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence?

OPTION B: The Sykes-Picot Agreement
Sykes-Picot Agreement, (May 1916), secret convention made during World War I between Great Britain and France, with the assent of imperial Russia, for the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. The agreement led to the division of Turkish-held Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine into various French- and British administered areas. Negotiations were begun in November 1915, and the final agreement took its name from the chief negotiators from Britain and France, Sir Mark Sykes and François Georges Picot. Sergey Dimitriyevich Sazonov was also present to represent Russia, the third member of the Triple Entente.

OPTION B QUESTION: Who controlled Palestine after the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire in May 1916?

ACTIVITY 2: THINK/PAIR/SHARE
Directions: Read the question in the box below. Think about it, talk to your neighbor about it, share it out.

According to what we went over in the do now, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, who should have control of Palestine? Use evidence from the reading to support your answer.

ACTIVITY 3: CRQ PRACTICE
Directions: Analyze the documents below and answer the questions that follow.

DOCUMENT 1: Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews. Below are quotes from Zionist Theodor Herzl.

“Oppression and persecution cannot exterminate us. No nation on earth has endured such struggles and sufferings as we have . . . Palestine is our unforgettable historic homeland. . . Let me repeat
once more my opening words: The Jews who will it shall achieve their State. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and in our own homes peacefully die. The world will be liberated by our
freedom, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there for our
own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind.” – Theodore Herzl,
February 1896

1.What is the historical context to the ideas shown in Document 1?

DOCUMENT 2: Balfour Declaration

Balfour Declaration, (November 2, 1917), statement of British support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” It was made in a letter from Arthur James Balfour, the British foreign secretary, to Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd.

Baron Rothschild, a leader of the Anglo-Jewish community.

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.” – Arthur James Balfour, British Foreign Secretary

What is the primary purpose of the Balfour Declaration?
Identify a cause-and-effect relationship between the events shown in Documents 1 and 2.
ACTIVITY 4: THINK/PAIR/SHARE
Directions: Read the question in the box below, think about it, talk to your neighbor about it, share it out.
After reading about Zionism and the Balfour Declaration, why do you think Jewish people were
granted a national home in Palestine? Use evidence from the reading to support your answer.
ACTIVITY 5: EXIT ASSESSMENT
Directions: Answer the following exit question in the box below.
What were the historical circumstances that led to conflicts between Jews and Palestinians?
AIM: How did World War II impact on Israel and Palestine?
ACTIVITY 1: DO NOW – STUDENT CHOICE
Directions: Choose an option below. You don’t have to do both.
OPTION A

What is the historical context/circumstances to the events shown in Option A?

OPTION B

Source: A Survey of Palestine: Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the
Information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. Vol. 1. Palestine

What trends do you notice according to the chart about Jewish immigration to Palestine in the mid 1930s?

ACTIVITY 2: WORD/SENTENCE/MAIN IDEA
Directions: Read the text quietly. Then go back and read the text again. In the box on the other side,
identify a key word, sentence, and main idea of the reading. We will have a group discussion after.

Beginning in 1929, Arabs and Jews openly fought in Palestine, and Britain attempted to limit Jewish
immigration as a means of appeasing the Arabs. As a result of the Holocaust in Europe, many Jews
illegally entered Palestine during World War II. Jewish groups employed terrorism against British
forces in Palestine, which they thought had betrayed the Zionist cause. At the end of World War II, in
1945, the United States took up the Zionist cause. Britain, unable to find a practical solution, referred
the problem to the United Nations, which in November 1947 voted to partition Palestine. The Jews
were to possess more than half of Palestine, although they made up less than half of Palestine’s
population. The Palestinian Arabs, aided by volunteers from other countries, fought the Zionist forces, but by May 14, 1948, the Jews had secured full control of their U.N.-allocated share of Palestine and also some Arab territory. On May 14, Britain withdrew with the expiration of its mandate, and the State of Israel was proclaimed.

Key Word: Key Sentence: Main Idea:

ACTIVITY 3: VIDEO ANALYSIS
Directions: Watch the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYZjOuUnlU) and summarize the
events of the Israel/Palestine conflict.

ACTIVITY 4: HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS PRACTICE
Directions: Look at the map below and answer the historical thinking questions. Examine the questions from the 2023 Global History Regents and see why the New York Post reported some Jewish leaders (https://nypost.com/2023/01/31/new-york-regents-exam-blasted-for-loaded-questions-about-israel/) saw this as a biased source.

2023 Global History Regents Questions

1.Which historical event most directly influenced the development of the 1947 plan shown on Map A?
(1) Russian pogroms
(2) the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
(3) Paris Peace Conference
(4) the Holocaust

2.Which group benefited the most from the changes shown on these maps?
(1) Zionists and Jewish immigrants
(2) the government of Jordan
(3) Palestinian nationalists
(4) the citizens of Lebanon
Historical Thinking Questions

What is the historical context/circumstances that led to the maps shown?
What is the primary purpose of maps A, B, and C?
Is there a potential bias in the maps? yes/no explain why.

Biased? In your opinion, are these questions biased? Explain.

AIM: Can a two-state solution work between Israel and Palestine?
Lesson Objective: Contextualize the current situation between Israel and Palestine.

ACTIVITY 1: DO NOW – STUDENT CHOICE
Directions: Choose an option below. You don’t have to do both.
OPTION A: What is the cartoonist’s point of view regarding Hamas?

OPTION B: What is the cartoonist’ point of view regarding Israel?

ACTIVITY 2: WORD/SENTENCE/MAIN IDEA
Directions: Read the text quietly. Then go back and read the text again. In the box on the other side,
identify a key word, sentence, AND main idea of the reading. We will have a group discussion after.
Hamas is a Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip. It was founded in 1987 during the
First Intifada, aiming to establish a Palestinian state and to oppose the existence of Israel. On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opposes a Palestinian state hood. This two-state solution refers to the proposal of creating separate Israeli and Palestinian states coexisting peacefully alongside each other. Various attempts to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict have been made over the years, including the Oslo Accords, Camp David Summit, and the Annapolis Conference, among others. However, sustained peace has remained elusive, with factors such as ongoing violence, settlement expansions, and political disputes hindering progress towards a lasting resolution.
Key Word: Key sentence: Main Idea:

ACTIVITY 3: VIDEO ANALYSIS
Directions: Watch the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2PguJV7l24&t=110s).

What claims are presented in the video?
What evidence is presented to support the claims?
Do you agree with the claims made in the video? Explain.

New York State Social Studies Standards:
Overall: Common Core Learning Standards:
Reading:
Cite specific text evidence from the text
Provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text
Determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them
Determine the meaning of words as they are used in a text
Writing:
Write explanatory text with relevant and sufficient facts, concrete details, and appropriate examples
Use precise language and domain specific vocabulary
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
Procedure:
Do Now: Students will be provided with a choice of either using the photographs or the political cartoons to answer the questions.

Questions to consider:

1.How were Americans impacted by oil?

2. Even though these cartoons and photographs are from the 1970’s are there any connections that you can make to current day in the United States?

ACTIVITY 4: PRIMARY SOURCE VIDEO ANALYSIS
Directions: Watch the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbObjWkKw_8).

What claims are made by Senator Schumer?
What evidence does he present to support the claims?
Do you agree with the claims made by Senator Schumer? Explain.

ACTIVITY 5: PRIMARY SOURCE VIDEO ANALYSIS
Directions: Watch the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsxI0QjxJs8).

What claims are made by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu?
What evidence does he present to support the claims?
Do you agree with the claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu? Explain.
Exit Ticket: In your opinion, is a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine possible or likely at this time? Explain.
Lesson: 1970s Presidents/policies / U.S. History 11th Grade
Aim: How did various foreign policy decisions impact the United States during the 1970’s?
Objective: Students will learn about the OPEC oil embargo and the Camp David Accords during the
various presidencies of the 1970’s by completing an SEQ 1 task.
Mini-Lesson
a. Essential vocabulary
b. Background information. Students will engage in a turn and talk with one another to note the
relations between the US and the Middle East during this time.
Activity #1 Students read/annotate text and to evaluate the documents concerning oil during the 1970’s
Vocabulary: Camp David Accords: Peace Treaty signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979 that took
place at Camp David with President Carter.
Directions: Do a close read of the following text passage. Annotate using note-taking symbols.
Reading: 1970’s U.S.
The 1970’s was a decade of when the various conflicts concerning the Middle East. This began on October 19, 1973, when President Nixon requested Congress authorize $2.2 billion in emergency aid to Israel. Israel was attacked by its Arab neighbors in what came to be known as the Yom Kippur War because the attack came on a Jewish holy day. After the United States agreed to aid Israel, Arab countries that were part of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) stopped oil shipments to the United States and cut oil production to raise prices. Oil exports from the Middle East to the West were down and the price of oil increased by almost four times from $2.90 a barrel to $11.65 a barrel. The oil embargo ended in March 1974, however periodic crises in the Middle East and conflicts between the United States and oil-producing nations led to oil and gas shortages and higher fuel prices again at the end of the 1970s, in the 1980s, and 1990s. Then in 1978, the Egyptian
President Anwar el Sadat, surprised the world by visiting Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. President Jimmy Carter wanted to bring peace to the Middle East by inviting the two leaders to Camp David. There, the leaders hammered out the terms for a peace treaty known as the Camp David Accords. In 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty based on the Camp David Accords:

Israel was to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.
Egypt formally recognized Israel as an independent nation.
Israel and Egypt pledged to respect the border between them.

Although the two leaders signed the treaty in 1979, other Arab nations still refused to recognize Israel. Sadat was later assassinated by Muslims opposed to Sadat’s goals for peace. In 1979, President Carter was faced with a second oil crisis. A political revolution in Iran caused a major cutback in that country’s oil production. This reminded Americans that they were at the mercy of OPEC and upheavals in the Middle East. President Carter had already persuaded Congress to set up a new cabinet department-the Department of Energy. He urged the department to expand its search for practical forms of energy other than oil.
Turn and Talk/ Check for Understanding: Briefly describe the relations between the Middle East and the United States during the 1970’s. Note your findings below:

Activity #2: Students will complete an SEQ 1 task
Task: Read and analyze the following documents, applying your social studies knowledge
and skills to write a short essay of two paragraphs in which you:

Describe the historical context surrounding these documents
Identify and explain the relationship between the events and/or ideas found in these documents
(Cause and Effect, or Similarity/Difference, or Turning Point)
In developing your short essay answer of two or three paragraphs, be sure to keep these explanations in mind:
o Describe means “to illustrate something in words or tell about it”
o Historical Context refers to “the relevant historical circumstances surrounding or connecting the events, ideas, or developments in these documents”
o Identify means “to put a name to or to name”
o Explain means “to make plain or understandable; to give reasons for or causes of; to show the logical development or relationship of”
o Types of Relationships:
o Cause refers to “something that contributes to the occurrence of an event, the rise of an idea, or the bringing about of a development”
o Effect refers to “what happens as a consequence (result, impact, outcome) of an event, an idea, or a development”
o Similarity tells how “something is alike or the same as something else”
o Difference tells how “something is not alike or not the same as something else”
o Turning Point is “a major event, idea, or historical development that brings about significant change. It can be local, regional, national, or global.

Document 1: “Policies to Deal with the Energy Shortages”, Richard Nixon, Address to the Nation about policies to deal with energy shortages. November 7th, 1973
“As America has grown and prospered in recent years, our energy demands have begun to exceed
available supplies. In recent months, we have taken many actions to increase supplies and to reduce
consumption. But even with our best efforts, we knew that a period of temporary shortages was
inevitable. Unfortunately, our expectations for this winter have now been sharply altered by the recent conflict in the Middle East. Because of that war, most of the Middle Eastern oil producers have reduced overall production and cut off their shipments of oil to the United States. By the end of this month, more than 2 million barrels a day of oil we expected to import into the United States will no longer be available. We must, therefore, face up to a very stark fact: We are heading toward the most acute shortages of energy since World War II. Our supply of petroleum this winter will be at least 10 percent short of our anticipated demands, and it could fall short by as much as 17 percent . . . To be sure that there is enough oil to go around for the entire winter, all over the country, it will be essential for all of us to live and work in lower temperatures. We must ask everyone to lower the thermostat in your home by at least 6 degrees so that we can achieve a national daytime average of 68 degrees . . . I am also asking Governors to take steps to reduce highway speed limits to 50 miles per hour. . . . Proposed legislation would enable the executive branch to meet the energy emergency in several important ways: First, it would authorize an immediate return to daylight saving time on a year round basis. Second, it would provide the necessary authority to relax environmental regulations on a temporary, case-by-case basis . . . Third, it would grant authority to impose special energy conservation measures, such as restrictions on the working hours for shopping centers and other commercial establishments.”
Document 2: “Moral Equivalent to War” President Jimmy Carter, Address to the Nation. April 18, 1977
“I want to have an unpleasant talk with you about a problem that is unprecedented in our history. With the exception of preventing war, this is the greatest challenge that our country will face during our lifetime. The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly. It’s a problem that we will not be able to solve in the next few years, and it’s likely to get progressively worse through the rest of this century . . . . By acting now we can control our future instead of letting the future control us. Two days from now, I will present to the Congress my energy proposals . . . Many of these proposals will be unpopular. Some will cause you to put up with inconveniences and to make sacrifices. The most important thing about these proposals is that the alternative may be a national catastrophe. Further delay can affect our strength and our power as a nation. Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern this Nation. This difficult effort will be the “moral equivalent of war,” except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not to destroy . . . The 1973 gas lines are gone, and with this springtime weather, our homes are warm again. But our energy problem is worse tonight than it was in 1973 or a few weeks ago in the dead of winter. It’s worse because more waste has occurred and more time has passed by without our planning for the future.
And it will get worse every day until we act . . . [W]e must reduce our vulnerability to potentially
devastating embargoes. We can protect ourselves from uncertain supplies by reducing our demand for oil, by making the most of our abundant resources such as coal, and by developing a strategic petroleum reserve.”
Closure: Read the letter to President Carter and answer the multiple-choice questions.

Aim: What role did the United States play in the Middle East in the post-World War II era?
Objective: U.S. History 11th Grade. SWL about the relations between the U.S. and Middle East
following World War II by completing an SEQ 2 task.
New York State Social Studies Standards: 11.9 c: American strategic interests in the Middle East grew with the Cold War, the creation of the State of Israel, and the increased United States dependence on Middle Eastern oil. The continuing nature of the Arab-Israeli dispute has helped to define the contours of American policy in the Middle East.
Next Generation Learning Standards for Reading and Writing:
Cite specific text evidence
Provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text
Determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them
Determine the meaning of words as they are used in a text
Write explanatory text with relevant and sufficient facts, concrete details, and appropriate examples
Use precise language and domain specific vocabulary
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate
to task, purpose, and audience
Procedure:

Do Now: Students will read the except and note the main ideas found.
Mini-Lesson: Masterful read of the information. While reading, students will annotate and note the
possible causes for conflict in the Middle East
Learning Activities

Turn and Talk: What would you say was the main cause for the United States involvement in the
Middle East following WWII?
Students will read the document and will complete the SEQ 2 task for either purpose or POV.
Do Now: Based on the following excerpt note the main ideas found in the text.
Questions:

1.What do you think the purpose was in creating this text?

2.From what point of view do you believe this was written? Why?

Purpose: The reason an author wrote something. Examples are to inform, entertain, persuade, describe.
Point of View: side from which the creator of a source describes a historical event.

American strategy became consumed with thwarting Russian power and the concomitant (related)
global spread of communism. Foreign policy officials increasingly opposed all insurgencies or
independence movements that could in any way be linked to international communism. The Soviet
Union, too, was attempting to sway the world. Stalin and his successors pushed an agenda that included not only the creation of Soviet client states in Eastern and Central Europe, but also a tendency to support leftwing liberation movements everywhere, particularly when they espoused anti-American sentiment. As a result, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) engaged in numerous proxy wars in the Third World. American planners felt that successful decolonization could demonstrate the superiority of democracy and capitalism against competing Soviet models. Their goal was in essence to develop an informal system of world power based as much as possible on consent (hegemony) rather than coercion (empire). But European powers still defended colonization and American officials feared that anticolonial resistance would breed revolution and push nationalists into the Soviet sphere. And when faced with such movements, American policy dictated alliances with colonial regimes, alienating nationalist leaders in Asia and Africa. Source: Michael Brenes et al., “The Cold War,” in Ari Cushner, ed., The American Yawp, eds. Joseph Locke and Ben Wright (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2018).

Directions: Do a close read of the following text passage and annotate

The Region’s Strategic Importance

After World War II, the United States began taking a more active and
interventionist role in political and military conflicts across the globe. This
was a marked break from the country’s mainly isolationist approach to world
affairs in its first 150 years. The Middle East has been the most consistent
region for U.S. intervention over the past 70 years, especially after War II
ended beginning with the creation of the State of Israel. In 1947, the United
Nations voted to divide British-controlled Palestine into two states-one Arab
and one Jewish. The U.N. action resulted in violence between Jews and
Arabs. In May 1948, Israel declared itself an independent state. Both the
United States and the Soviet Union supported this development. Most Arab
nations objected to U.S. support of Israel even though they too received U.S.
economic aid. Arab resentment against both Israel and the United States grew
in the postwar years. This allowed the Soviet Union to gain influence in the
Middle East, especially in Syria. In 1957, President Eisenhower moved to
address this spreading Soviet influence. He established the U.S. policy of
sending troops to any Middle Eastern nation that requested help against
communism. The Eisenhower Doctrine was first tested in Lebanon in 1958.
The presence of U.S. troops in Lebanon helped that country’s government
deal successfully with a Communist challenge.

The history of the Middle East in modern times has been marked by civil
wars, revolutions, assassinations, invasions, and border wars. In dealing with
each conflict, U.S. policymakers tried to balance three main interests:

Support to the democratic State of Israel
Support for Arab states to ensure a steady flow of Middle Eastern oil to the
United States and its allies
Prevention of increased Soviet Union influence in the region

Turn and Talk/ Check for Understanding: What would you say was the main cause for the United
States involvement in the Middle East following World War II?

Task: Read and analyze the documents. Applying your social studies knowledge and skills to write a
short essay of two or three paragraphs in which you: Describe the historical context surrounding the
Special Message to Congress by President Eisenhower and explain how audience, or purpose, or bias, or point of view affects this document’s use as a reliable source of evidence.

Document: President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Special Message to Congress, January 5, 1957

“The reason for Russia’s interest in the Middle East is solely that of power politics. Considering her
announced purpose of Communizing the world, it is easy to understand her hope of dominating the
Middle East. This region has always been the crossroads of the continents of the Eastern Hemisphere. The Suez Canal enables the nations of Asia and Europe to carry on the commerce that is essential if these countries are to maintain well-rounded and prosperous economies. The Middle East provides a gateway between Eurasia and Africa. Then there are other factors which transcend the material. The Middle East is the birthplace of three great religions-Moslem, Christian and Hebrew. Mecca and Jerusalem are more than places on the map. They symbolize religions which teach that the spirit has supremacy over matter and that the individual has a dignity and rights of which no despotic government can rightfully deprive him. It would be intolerable if the holy places of the Middle East should be subjected to a rule that glorifies atheistic materialism. International Communism, of course, seeks to mask its purposes of domination by expressions of good will and by superficially attractive offers of political, economic and military aid. Under all the circumstances I have laid before you, a greater responsibility now devolves upon the United States … The action which I propose would … authorize the United States to cooperate with and assist any nation or group of nations in the general area of the Middle East in the development of economic strength dedicated to the maintenance of national independence. It would [also] authorize such assistance and cooperation to include the employment of the armed forces of the United States to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations. This program will not solve all the problems of the Middle East. The United Nations is actively concerning itself with all these matters, and . . . we are willing to do much to assist the United Nations in solving the basic problems of Palestine. Source: President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Special Message to Congress, January 5, 1957

Short Essay Question Paragraph Outline: In developing your short essay answer of two or three
paragraphs, be sure to keep these explanations in mind –
Describe means “to illustrate something in words or tell about it.” Historical Context refers to
“the relevant historical circumstances surrounding or connecting the events, ideas, or
developments in these documents.” Analyze means “to examine a document and determine its
elements and its relationships.” Explain means “to make plain or understandable; to give reasons
for or causes of; to show the logical development or relationship of.” Reliability is determined by
how accurate and useful the information found in a source is for a specific purpose.

Paragraph 1: Historical Context (Complete whatever information is applicable to the topic)
Topic Sentence:
Who (was involved)? What (happened)? Where (did it happen)? When (did it happen?) Why (did it
happen?)

Paragraph 2: Reliability
Topic Sentence:
The document is (possible responses: not, somewhat, very) reliable.
Based on the (purpose OR point of view (Choose 1) ______________
Document evidence ________________________________________

Paragraph 3: Significance of the document evidence
Closing Sentence:

Aim: Why did the Crusades occur?
Do Now: Read the poem and look and the image below. Pick a sentence that stands out to you. What do you think this sentence says about how the author feels about the land ?

To Our Land
By Mahmoud Darwish

To our land,
And it one near the word of god,
To our land,
And it is the one tiny as a sesame seed
To our land , and it is the prize of war
The freedom to die from longing and burning and our
land, in its bloodiest night, is a jewel that glimmers for
the far upon the far.

Historical Context : The Crusades were a series of wars (1050-1300 CE) during the Middle Ages where the Christians of Europe tried to retake control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims. Jerusalem was important to a number of religions during the Middle Ages.
● It was important to Jewish people as it was the site of the original temple to God built by King
Solomon.
● It was important to the Muslims because it was where they believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
● It was important to Christians as it is where Christianity began. They considered it the Holy Land.
Check for understanding:
A major goal of the Christian Church during the Crusades (1096–1291) was to
1) establish Christianity in western Europe
2) capture the Holy Land from Islamic rulers
3) unite warring Arab peoples
4) strengthen English dominance in the Arab world

Which point of view was this written from? Crusader (Christian), Muslim
Identify at least two words, sentences, or phrases in this source that illustrate its point of view.
How do they feel about the crusades?

Document A: Kingdom of Heaven – Clash of Cavalry
Directions: Read the documents below and use textual evidence to figure out the point of view
“Finally, our men took possession of the walls and towers, and wonderful sights were to be seen. Some of our men cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers. It was necessary to pick one’s way over the bodies of men and horses. In the Temple of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed, it was a just and splendid (excellent) judgment of God that this place should be filled with the blood of the unbelievers.”
Questions

Document B
“Refugees reached Baghdad and told the Caliph’s ministers a story that wrung their hearts and brought tears to their eyes. They begged for help, weeping so that their hearers wept with them as they described the sufferings of the Muslims in that Holy City: the men killed, the women and children taken prisoner, the homes pillaged.”
Questions

Which point of view was this written from? Crusader (Christian), Muslim
Identify at least two words, sentences, or phrases in this source that illustrate its point of view.
How do they feel about the crusades?

Intentional Use of AI in the Social Studies Classroom for Multilingual Learners

Intentional Use of AI in the Social Studies Classrooms for Multilingual
Learners

Andy Szeto

The introduction of ChatGPT in 2022 has opened up numerous exciting possibilities for teachers, making AI increasingly relevant in the classroom. For social studies teachers working with multilingual learners, AI offers valuable tools to enhance content comprehension and engagement. The intersection of social studies language demands and AI’s powerful capabilities represents a perfect synergy. The recent proliferation of AI-powered tools has significantly improved educators’ ability to bring social studies content to life and address the diverse needs of multilingual students. This article explores how AI can support these social studies teachers by providing tailored resources and facilitating effective teaching strategies.

Student Engagement and SWIRL-ed lessons

In modern social studies education, we must move beyond rote memorization of facts, events, and dates to create more engaging and meaningful experiences for students. The integration of AI presents a significant opportunity to enhance SWIRL—speaking, writing, interacting,
reading, and listening—within lessons.1

1 Andrea Honigsfeld and Maria G. Dove, Collaborating for English Learners: A Foundational Guide to Integrated Practices, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2020).

For instance, when exploring the decision of the United States to join the League of Nations after World War I, teachers can utilize historical chatbots to offer students diverse perspectives on the issue, fostering interactive learning. An activity could involve students preparing and participating
in a debate, supported by real-time audio translation and captioning to ensure inclusivity. AI can transcribe and translate these debates into multiple languages, allowing all students to engage fully.

Additionally, students can write about the topic in their native language, with AI translating their work for peer review and feedback. Through such applications, AI not only facilitates active participation in all aspects of SWIRL but also enriches the learning experience by bridging language
barriers and promoting deeper engagement with historical content. 2
2Tan Huynh, “3 Strategies to Support English Language Learners in Social Studies,” Edutopia,
January 24, 2022, https://www.edutopia.org/article/3strategies-support-english-language-learners-socialstudies/ .

Teaching Academic Vocabulary

Teaching academic vocabulary in social studies instruction is crucial as it empowers students to comprehend complex concepts, engage in higher-order thinking, and effectively communicate their
understanding of historical and contemporary issues.3 AI-powered tools can support multilingual learners by offering customized language resources tailored to individual student language needs. These tools can assist social studies teachers by identifying key vocabulary and facilitating the translation or integration of terms in various languages. For example, a government teacher working with primarily Chinese-speaking students, who is covering the First Amendment and individual rights, might use AI to create a presentation slide with key terms highlighted in a complex text. AI can identify these terms in English, translate them into Chinese, and either embed the translations within the text or provide them as a separate reference.

This screenshot displays an output from ChatGPT used to create a handout featuring key vocabulary
words. These words have been identified and translated into Traditional Chinese to assist in understanding and learning.

AI integration in the classroom allows students to use language more expressively and intentionally. It enables teachers to seamlessly plan for the use of academic language while leveraging all of the students’ language resources. In the same example, the teacher can ask students to choose which of the freedoms from the First Amendment they view as most important and discuss their choices with partners in either language, with the aid of AI-powered tools. 3 This approach not only helps students understand critical concepts but also improves their comprehension by offering translations in their native languages, making the content more accessible and inclusive.4

3 Bárbara C. Cruz and Stephen J. Thornton, “Social Studies for English Language Learners: Teaching Social Studies that Matters,” Social Education 73, no.6 (2009): 271–74.
4 WIDA. Focus Bulletin: Translanguaging. Accessed July 20, 2024.

Additionally, research has shown that cognates can significantly aid language acquisition for multilingual students.5 Social studies teachers can use this concept into their pedagogical strategies to enhance student comprehension. AI-powered tools are particularly useful in this context. For
instance, an American History teacher, serving students who speak French, English, and Spanish might use such tools to generate a slide illustrating all possible cognates in the Gettysburg Address. This visual aid can facilitate students’ understanding of the document. To be inclusive of all students’
languages, the teacher should ensure that the slide includes cognates relevant to each language spoken in the classroom. The table of cognates, produced automatically and efficiently by AI, serves as a valuable resource for these students.

https://wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/Focus-Bulletin-Translanguaging.pdf.
5 “Using Cognates to Develop Comprehension inEnglish,” Colorín Colorado, accessed July 19, 2024,
https://www.colorincolorado.org/ellstrategies/cognates.

Screenshot of the output table from the prompt: “Identify any cognates in French and Spanish in the Gettysburg Address.”

Enhanced Media Accessibility

AI-powered tools have greatly improved the accessibility of media content, particularly benefiting language acquisition for multilingual students. These tools can produce transcripts and captions for videos found on online platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo, making it easier for educators to
share content in various languages. They can also efficiently create transcripts and captions for student or teacher-created content, presenting material in multiple languages. For instance, a social studies teacher might ask students to share their immigrant arrival stories, which can then be recorded, transcribed, or captioned in multiple languages. This approach honors students’ cultures, facilitates collaboration, and maximizes translanguaging as a pedagogy, helping students understand
themselves and others better. Students can also practice public speaking by presenting their stories to the class and receiving constructive feedback from their peers. With AI tools, feedback can be offered in any language, further supporting diverse language needs and enhancing the learning experience.

Flexible Planning and AI-powered Tools

Social studies teachers can foster an environment that supports multilingual learners by being flexible with their planning. This involves allowing students to navigate and utilize different language practices as they learn. For instance, in a World History class studying the social aspects during the Industrial Revolution in England, students who speak various native languages might read primary sources translated, in parts or in whole, in their own language, engage in group debates in
English, and annotate texts in any language they choose. Flexibility is crucial here; the goal is to help students process and make sense of what they have learned with direct translation only as needed. AI-powered tools can greatly facilitate this process.

These tools can assist teachers in creating discussion prompts in multiple languages, generating translated texts or primary sources, or even developing multilingual word walls. Such capabilities make it easier to integrate diverse language practices in the classroom and support students’
understanding across different languages.

Flexible Learning Objectives

Teachers can design learning objectives that foster bilingualism and multilingualism by emphasizing skills that transcend specific languages. For example, objectives could include: “Students will be able to analyze the concepts of nationalism and patriotism through collaborative research and discussion,” enabling them to engage with diverse perspectives. By utilizing tools like Google Docs or virtual whiteboards, students can collaborate in real-time, contributing in different languages and using AI to translate their contributions effortlessly. AI allows students to navigate and integrate multiple languages in their work, thus enhancing their language acquisition and comprehension. This
approach encourages inclusive participation and deepens understanding of social studies concepts across linguistic boundaries.

Sample Output from ChatGPT: Exploring the question ‘What does patriotism mean to you?’—a
snapshot of sample student reflection on the essence of national pride and identity. 6 (Katie Novak, “Why UDL Matters for English Language Learners,” Language Magazine, March 9, 2018,
https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/03/09/why-udl-matters-for-english-language-learners/.
7 Anya S. Evmenova, Jered Borup, and Joan Kang Shin, “Harnessing the Power of Generative AI to
AI and Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

AI intersects with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) by promoting flexible language use to support diverse learners, aligning with UDL’s principles of Multiple Means of Representation and Engagement.6

AI can enhance this intersection by using students’ languages as a starting point for brainstorming ideas, creating real-life scenarios that honor their cultures, reducing writer’s block, and producing materials with varying demands and levels.7 Additionally, AI can provide personalized feedback in
multiple languages, facilitate comparisons between student-generated and AI-generated content for reflective learning, and incorporate speech recognition software to support diverse communication needs. For example, a teacher preparing students for a group debate on whether to join the Patriots’ cause or remain loyal to the British at the onset of the Revolutionary War can encourage engagement by allowing students to research in any language and prepare their talking points in both English and their native languages. The debates can then be conducted in the languages of the students’ choosing, with real-time translation and speech recognition software available to support their participation, making the activity inclusive and accessible for all learners. 8
(Support ALL Learners,” Journal of Educational Technology, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528
024-00966-x. (Published May 14, 2024).
8 Cioè-Peña, M. (2022). TrUDL, a path to full inclusion: The intersectional possibilities of translanguaging and Universal Design for Learning.)

Academic writing

The use of AI in education empowers social studies teachers to effectively support multilingual students in academic writing. AI-powered resources, such as Ethiqly and Khanmigo’s Writing Coach, can assist with the writing process by providing sentence starters, suggesting outlines, and brainstorming ideas for multilingual learners.9 In multilingual classrooms where teachers may not be fluent in all languages spoken by their students, this is especially helpful.

AI can also translate and interpret various languages simultaneously, enabling teachers to enhance students’ understanding and expression in their native tongues. For example, a government teacher can use AI to create sentence starters or templates when asking students to write an argumentative
essay on voting rights. These supports can be provided in their native language, in English, or both, as AI offers the flexibility and simplicity needed to accommodate diverse linguistic needs.

Conclusion

The integration of AI in social studies classrooms has emerged as a transformative tool for supporting multilingual learners, offering unprecedented opportunities to enhance engagement, comprehension, and participation. By leveraging AI’s capabilities, educators can create dynamic
and inclusive learning environments that address the diverse linguistic needs of their students. Whether through enhanced media accessibility, flexible lesson planning, or personalized academic support, AI tools enable teachers to break down language barriers and foster a deeper connection to
historical content.
8 TESOL Quarterly, 56(2), 799–812. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3074
9 “AI and Education: Will Chatbots Soon Tutor Your Children?” The New York Times, January 11, 2024,

As we continue to explore the potential of AI in education, it is essential to prioritize intentional and thoughtful integration, ensuring that these tools complement and enhance traditional teaching methods. By embracing AI’s potential, educators can empower multilingual learners, enrich their
educational experiences, and contribute to a more inclusive and equitable learning environment. Through ongoing innovation and adaptation, AI can play a pivotal role in advancing social studies education and supporting the diverse needs of multilingual learners.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/technology/ai
chatbots-khan-education-tutoring.html.

Election 2024: The Dilemma for Teachers

Election 2024: The Dilemma for Teachers

Alan Singer

A major goal of teachers, especially secondary school social studies teachers, is to help students learn to evaluate multiple perspectives on issues by weighing supporting evidence, separating fact from fiction, examining underlying assumptions, and then developing their own informed opinions. As a teacher, I generally withhold my opinion on a topic, however, I have no problem asserting that slavery, genocide, racism, dictatorship, and antisemitism are bad. There are no upsides. When we
consider multiple perspectives, the question we should address is why they happen, not whether they happened in the past or should happen again.

On a variety of topics, I provide students with a package of documents to evaluate that includes things I agree with and things that I don’t. During class, my primary role is to ask questions that promote discussion about the document package and the issues and moderate respectful student to-student conversation. I use this teaching approach whether we are discussing issues from the past such as the causes of the American Revolution, or the present, such as the role of human action in climate change, whether a particular military campaign constitutes war crimes, or if a groups behavior should be identified as terrorism. Important topics for discussion when schools reopen in the fall will be evaluations of the Biden administration’s record on foreign policy, the economy, climate, and the migrant/refugee “crisis.” It will also be legitimate to discuss whether Joseph Biden’s
age and physical and mental condition should be an issue in the election whatever your evaluation of his first administration.

The big problem in September will be what to do about Donald Trump. How do you organize a balanced unbiased discussion and evaluation of a candidate who makes outrageous, hateful, blatantly false statements? He is a candidate convicted of 34 counts in a New York trial and who faces three other criminal cases, who has been found guilty of defamation in a civil suit, who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election, who continues to claim the 2020 election was stolen, who dismisses any accusation against him as politically motivated, and who demands total immunity against prosecution as a former President.

The November election is going to be a major focus in middle school and high school social studies classes. I am not neutral about slavery, genocide, racism, dictatorship, and antisemitism and I am not
neutral about the threat Donald Trump poses to the future of democracy in the United States and the constitutional foundations of American government and society. I will not use unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, propaganda websites, and Trump sycophantic reports in document packages and pretend students are evaluating legitimate sources.

Even a fact-check exercise of Trump statements leaves a teacher open to charges that they are injecting their opinions into class and trying to influence the ideas of their students. But of course, the job of the teacher is to influence the ideas of their students. Our responsibility to promote civic
discourse supported by evidence and advocate for democracy means we have to influence students to critically think about the campaign and candidates and if that means presenting an accurate picture of the threat posed by Donald Trump, we will have to live with the consequences.

Every teacher will almost definitely have students in their classes who support Donald Trump and the Republican Party, which is their right. They should be welcomed into discussion and encouraged to find evidence to support their positions, but they cannot be permitted to shout down or intimidate other students, things that I witnessed in 2016 and 2020. Donald Trump has continually said scary things, some of which he has backtracked on, and some of which he has not. In my opinion, any one of them should disqualify him to be President of the United States. He told American Jews, already
subject to a rising tide of antisemitism, that “Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel and they should be ashamed of themselves.” He described some immigrants as “not people,” “animals,” and “snakes,” accused them of “poisoning the blood of our country,” a statement that echoed the ideas of Adolf Hitler, and is promising mass deportations in violation of constitutional guarantees of due process, guarantees that in the 14th amendment are not limited to citizens. He asserted without evidence that other countries are emptying their prisons and sending criminals across the border. Trump wants “strong ideological screening of immigrants” because if “you don’t like our religion . . . we don’t want you in our country.” He is apparently unaware or does not care that the United States does not have an official religion.

Trump continually berates the American legal system and undermines public confidence in the law, the courts, and the government. He describes people tried and convicted of crimes during the January 6, 2021 violent invasion of the United States Capitol as “unbelievable patriots” being held as hostages and promises to offer these convicted criminals mass pardons if he is elected. Trump dismisses legal charges against his former aides Peter Navarro and Paul Manafort who were convicted, Navarro of contempt of Congress and Manafort of bank and tax fraud, and claims they were “treated very badly.”

Trump lowers the character of political speech as he raises the level of hostility. He denounces Joseph Biden as “Crooked Joe” and as a stupid President and uses vulgar and offensive language to describe other opponents, especially Black women. At campaign stops, Trump warns that if he is not elected, “It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country,” something he later tried to explain away, and that if he does “not win this year’s presidential election, I don’t think you’re going to have another election, or certainly not an election that’s meaningful.” He says he wants to be a dictator, but only on day one.

If elected, Trump says he would support a nationwide ban on terminating a pregnancy after 15 weeks, severely limiting the reproductive rights of women. A rightwing Supreme Court with three members, I hesitate to call them justices, appointed by Trump the last time he was President may well approve such a ban. If Trump is elected President, he threatens to withdraw the United States from the NATO alliance that has helped prevent broader European wars since tens of millions of people died in World War I and World War II or at a minimum sharply reduce U.S. financial support and to once again withdraw the United States from global efforts to minimize climate change because he does not believe in science. At a time when rightwing anti-democratic political movements are gaining followers and threatening to take power in many European countries, Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, Viktor Orbán of Hungary, and Kim Jong Un of North Korea. He praised the Lebanese-based armed group Hezbollah even though they are listed as a terrorist group by the United States State Department. Trump claims, without evidence, that the war in Ukraine and the Hamas attack on Israel would somehow not have happened if he were President.

In his speeches, Trump continuously lies or exaggerates about his own prowess and record as President. Trump didn’t create the greatest economy or pass the biggest tax cut in U.S. history. He didn’t do more for African Americans than any president since Abraham Lincoln. He didn’t defeat ISIS or increase government revenue and he wasn’t reelected in 2020.

Teachers should not tell students who to vote for or tell them how they are voting, but you are remiss if you do not help them understand who Donald Trump is and what he represents. If you are unsure how to do this, you can have students read and debate the points raised in this essay. Students can evaluate whether it raises legitimate concerns, or it is just anti-Trump propaganda.

Einstein’s Postwar Campaign to Save the World from Nuclear Destruction

Einstein’s Postwar Campaign to Save the World from Nuclear Destruction

Lawrence S. Wittner

This article appeared originally in Foreign Policy in Focus. It is reprinted with permission.

Although the popular new Netflix film, Einstein and the Bomb, purports to tell the story of the great physicist’s relationship to nuclear weapons, it ignores his vital role in rallying the world against nuclear catastrophe. Aghast at the use of nuclear weapons in August 1945 to obliterate the
cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Einstein threw himself into efforts to prevent worldwide nuclear annihilation. In September, responding to a letter from Robert Hutchins, Chancellor of the University of Chicago, about nuclear weapons, Einstein contended that, “as long as nations demand unrestricted sovereignty, we shall undoubtedly be faced with still bigger wars, fought with bigger and technologically more advanced weapons.”

Thus, “the most important task of intellectuals is to make this clear to the general public and to emphasize over and over again the need to establish a well organized world government.” Four days
later, he made the same point to an interviewer, insisting that “the only salvation for civilization and the human race lies in the creation of a world government, with security of nations founded upon law.”

Determined to prevent nuclear war, Einstein repeatedly hammered away at the need to replace international anarchy with a federation of nations operating under international law. In October 1945, together with other prominent Americans (among them Senator J. William Fulbright, Supreme
Court Justice Owen Roberts, and novelist Thomas Mann), Einstein called for a “Federal Constitution of the World.” That November, he returned to this theme in an interview published in the Atlantic
Monthly. “The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem,” he said. “It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one…As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable.” And war, sooner or later, would become nuclear war.

Einstein promoted these ideas through a burgeoning atomic scientists’ movement in which he played a central role. To bring the full significance of the atomic bomb to the public, the newly-formed Federation of American Scientists put together an inexpensive paperback, One World or None, with individual essays by prominent Americans. In his contribution to the book, Einstein wrote that he was “convinced there is only one way out” and this necessitated creating “a supranational organization” to “make it impossible for any country to wage war.” This hard-hitting book, which first appeared in early 1946, sold more than 100,000 copies.

Given Einstein’s fame and his well publicized efforts to avert a nuclear holocaust, in May 1946 he became chair of the newly-formed Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, a fundraising and
policymaking arm for the atomic scientists’ movement. In the Committee’s first fund appeal, Einstein warned that “the unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” Even so, despite the fact that Einstein, like most members of the early atomic scientists’ movement, saw world government as the best recipe for survival in the nuclear age, there seemed good reason to consider shorter-range objectives. After all,
the Cold War was emerging and nations were beginning to formulate nuclear policies. An early Atomic Scientists of Chicago statement, prepared by Eugene Rabinowitch, editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, underscored practical considerations. “Since world government is unlikely to be achieved within the short time available before the atomic armaments race will lead to an acute danger of armed conflict,” it noted, “the establishment of international controls must be considered as a problem of immediate urgency.” Consequently, the movement increasingly worked in support of specific nuclear arms control and disarmament measures.

In the context of the heightening Cold War, however, taking even limited steps forward proved impossible. The Russian government sharply rejected the Baruch Plan for international control of
atomic energy and, instead, developed its own atomic arsenal. In turn, U.S. President Harry Truman, in February 1950, announced his decision to develop a hydrogen bomb―a weapon a thousand times as powerful as its predecessor. Naturally, the atomic scientists were deeply disturbed by this lurch toward disaster. Appearing on television, Einstein called once more for the creation of a “supra national” government as the only “way out of the impasse.” Until then, he declared, “annihilation beckons.”

Despite the dashing of his hopes for postwar action to end the nuclear menace, Einstein lent his support over the following years to peace, nuclear disarmament, and world government projects. The most important of these ventures occurred in 1955, when Bertrand Russell, like Einstein, a proponent of world federation, conceived the idea of issuing a public statement by a small group of the world’s most eminent scientists about the existential peril nuclear weapons brought to modern war. Asked by Russell for his support, Einstein was delighted to sign the statement and did so in one of his last actions before his death that April. In July, Russell presented the statement to a large meeting in London, packed with representatives of the mass communications media. In the shadow of the Bomb, it read, “we have to learn to think in a new way…Shall we…choose death because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest.”

This Russell-Einstein Manifesto, as it became known, helped trigger a remarkable worldwide uprising against nuclear weapons in the late 1950s and early 1960s, culminating in the world’s first
significant nuclear arms control measures. Furthermore, in later years, it inspired legions of activists and world leaders. Among them was the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Gorbachev, whose “new thinking,” modeled on the Manifesto, brought a dramatic end to the Cold War and fostered substantial nuclear disarmament. The Manifesto thus provided an appropriate conclusion to Einstein’s unremitting campaign to save the world from nuclear destruction.

The Atomic Bomb: Albert Einstein’s Letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Digital History ID 1184
Author: Albert Einstein
Date:1939
https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textb
ook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=1184

Annotation: In August 1939, six months after physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman had demonstrated the process of nuclear fission, Albert Einstein, at the urging of physicist Leo Szilard, wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the danger of Nazi Germany creating an atomic bomb.

Document: Sir:
Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem to call for
watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore that it is my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations:

In the course of the last four months it has been made probable-through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America-that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amount of power and large quantities of new radium like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be
achieved in the immediate future.

This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable-though much less certain-that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port
together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy for transportation by air.

The United States has only very poor ores of uranium in moderate quantities. There is some good ore in Canada and the former Czechoslovakia, while the most important source of uranium is the Belgian Congo.

Yours very truly,

In view of this situation you may think it desirable to have some permanent contact maintained between the Administration and the group of physicists working on chain reactions in America. One possible way of achieving this might be for you to entrust with this task a person who has your confidence and who could perhaps serve in an inofficial capacity. His task might comprise the following:

a) to approach Government Departments, keep them informed of the further development, and put forward recommendations for Government action, giving particular attention to the problem of securing a supply of uranium ore for the United States:

b) to speed up the experimental work, which is at present being carried on within the limits of the budgets of University laboratories, by providing funds, if such funds be required, through his contacts with private persons who are willing to make contributions for this cause, and perhaps also by obtaining the co-operation of industrial laboratories which have the necessary equipment.

I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsacker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institute in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated.
[signed] Albert Einstein

The secret of the bomb should be committed to a World Government, and the United States should immediately announce its readiness to give it to a World Government. This government should be
founded by the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain —the only three powers with great military strength. All three of them should commit to this World Government all of their military strength.

The fact that there are only three nations with great military power should make it easier rather than harder to establish such a government . . . Since I do not foresee that atomic energy is to be a great boon for a long time, I have to say that for the present it is a menace. Perhaps it is well that it should
be. It may intimidate the human race into bringing order into its international affairs, which, without the pressure of fear, it would not do.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/11/einstein-on-the-atomicbomb/656626/

Russell-Einstein Manifesto (London, July 9, 1955)
https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/keydocuments/russell-einstein-manifesto/

In the tragic situation which confronts humanity, we feel that scientists should assemble in conference to appraise the perils that have arisen as a result of the development of weapons of mass destruction, and to discuss a resolution in the spirit of the appended draft. We are speaking on this occasion, not as members of this or that nation, continent, or creed, but as human beings, members of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt. The world is full of conflicts; and overshadowing all minor conflicts, the titanic struggle between Communism and anti-Communism.

Almost everybody who is politically conscious has strong feelings about one or more of these issues; but we want you, if you can, to set aside such feelings and consider yourselves only as members of a
biological species which has had a remarkable history, and whose disappearance none of us can desire.

We shall try to say no single word which should appeal to one group rather than to another. All, equally, are in peril, and, if the peril is understood, there is hope that they may collectively avert it.
We have to learn to think in a new way. We have to learn to ask ourselves, not what steps can be taken to give military victory to whatever group we prefer, for there no longer are such steps; the question we have to ask ourselves is: what steps can be taken to prevent a military contest of which the issue must be disastrous to all parties?

The general public, and even many men in positions of authority, have not realized what would be involved in a war with nuclear bombs. The general public still thinks in terms of the obliteration of cities. It is understood that the new bombs are more powerful than the old, and that, while one A
bomb could obliterate Hiroshima, one H bomb could obliterate the largest cities, such as London, New York, and Moscow. No doubt, in an H-bomb war, great cities would be obliterated. But this is one of the minor disasters that would have to be faced. If everybody in London, New York, and Moscow were exterminated, the world might, in the course of a few centuries, recover from the blow. But we now know, especially since the Bikini test, that nuclear bombs can gradually spread destruction over a very much wider area than had been supposed.

It is stated on very good authority that a bomb can now be manufactured which will be 2,500 times as powerful as that which destroyed Hiroshima. Such a bomb, if exploded near the ground or under water, sends radio-active particles into the upper air. They sink gradually and reach the surface of the earth in the form of a deadly dust or rain. It was this dust which infected the Japanese fishermen and their catch of fish. No one knows how widely such lethal radio-active particles might be diffused, but
the best authorities are unanimous in saying that a war with H-bombs might possibly put an end tothe human race. It is feared that if many H-bombs are used there will be universal death, sudden only for a minority, but for the majority a slow torture of disease and disintegration.

Many warnings have been uttered by eminent men of science and by authorities in and both sides would set to work to military strategy. None of them will say that the worst results are certain. What they do say is that these results are possible, and no one can be sure that they will not be realized. We have not yet found that the views of experts on this question depend in any degree upon their politics or prejudices. They depend only, so far as our researches have revealed, upon the extent of the
particular expert’s knowledge. We have found that the men who know most are the most gloomy.

Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war? People will not face this alternative because it is so difficult to abolish war. The abolition of war will demand is tasteful limitations of national sovereignty. But what perhaps impedes understanding of the situation more than anything else is that the term “mankind” feels vague and abstract. People scarcely realize in imagination that the danger is to themselves and their children and their grandchildren, and not only to a dimly apprehended humanity. They can scarcely bring themselves to grasp that they, individually, and those whom they love are in imminent danger of perishing agonizingly. And so they hope that perhaps
war may be allowed to continue provided modern weapons are prohibited. This hope is illusory. Whatever agreements not to use H-bombs had been reached in time of peace, they would no
longer be considered binding in time of war, manufacture H-bombs as soon as war broke out, for, if one side manufactured the bombs and the other did not, the side that manufactured them would inevitably be victorious.

Although an agreement to renounce nuclear weapons as part of a general reduction of armaments would not afford an ultimate solution, it would serve certain important purposes. First, any agreement between East and West is to the good in so far as it tends to diminish tension. Second, the abolition of thermo-nuclear weapons, if each side believed that the other had carried it out sincerely, would lessen the fear of a sudden attack in the style of Pearl Harbor, which at present keeps both sides in a state of nervous apprehension. We should, therefore, welcome such an agreement though only as a first step.

Most of us are not neutral in feeling, but, as human beings, we have to remember that, if the issues between East and West are to be decided in any manner that can give any possible satisfaction to anybody, whether Communist or anti-Communist, whether Asian or European or American, whether White or Black, then these issues must not be decided by war. We should wish this to be understood, both in the East and in the West.

There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.

Resolution:
We invite this Congress, and through it the scientists of the world and the general public, to subscribe to the following resolution: “In view of the fact that in any future world war nuclear weapons will
certainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten the continued existence of mankind, we urge the governments of the world to realize, and to acknowledge publicly, that their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urge them, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them.”

Teaching with Documents: Did George Washington Burn New York City?

Teaching with Documents: Did George Washington Burn New York City?

Alan Singer
(Reposted from New York Almanack

August 27, 1776, British troops under General William Howe attacked American forces commanded by George Washington in the Battle of Brooklyn. Assailed from three sides, Washington and the main body of the Americans escaped across the East River to Manhattan and then fled north, ultimately crossing the Hudson River, then known as the North River, to New Jersey. If Washington and his troops had been captured either in Brooklyn or Manhattan, the American Revolution would
likely have ended soon after it began.

After the battle, Washington wrote John Hancock, President of the Second Continental Congress, sounding him out on the idea of burning the city on the southern tip of Manhattan Island to deny the British winter quarters. From Philadelphia, Hancock responded that the Continental Congress, meetings as a Committee of the whole house, decided, “that no Damage should be
done to the City of New York.” The letter exchange between Washington and Hancock
are included below.

One month later, on September 20, 1778, a fire broke out in New York City that
destroyed as much as 25% of the buildings including Trinity Church, the largest
building in the city. The British accused the colonists of starting the fire, the Americans
blamed the British, while historians are largely undecided. However Benjamin Carp,
author of The Great New York Fire of 1776 (Yale University Press, 2023), believes it
was George Washington who ordered New York City burned to the ground as his troops
retreated despite the Continental Congress denying him authorization.

As evidence of arson, Carp identifies more than 15 distinct ignition points that were reported by witnesses. In fact, the British captured and executed a number of alleged incendiaries, throwing some into the blaze. A letter sent from New York to London newspapers accused the rebels of
“having placed a large Quantity of Combustibles in the Cellars of several Houses in that Part of the Town called Whitehall” and claimed “William Smith, an Officer in a New England Regiment was taken with a Match in his Hand, and sacrificed on the Spot to the Fury of the Soldiers.”

Another letter identified “the first Incendiary who fell into the Hands of the Troops” as a woman whose “Sex availed her little, for without Ceremony, she was tossed into the Flames.” Carp suspects that Nathan Hale, who was executed the day after the fire as an American spy, may have been involved in the plot to burn the city, denying the British a base for the upcoming winter.

American colonists possibly burning New York City under orders from George Washington offers a very different picture of both Washington and the rebellion. In addition, the letter highlights the dire situation faced by the American forces with entire regiments abandoning the army with the goal of returning home. Even if Washington did not specifically order the arson in defiance of the Second Continental Congress, his request to burn the city, lack of confidence in his troops, and despair at
the situation should change the way we teach about Washington and colonial defiance of the British.

Please note Washington, and probably also his aide at the time, were not great spellers and had a
limited command of English grammar.

Document A. George Washington to John Hancock, September 2, 1776
Source: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/ Washington/03-06-02-0162
Questions

Why is George Washington writing to John Hancock after the Battle of Brooklyn?
Do you agree with Washington’s proposals? Why?
What problems face the colonial troops?
What does Washington propose?
What do we learn about George Washington and the colonial forces from this letter?
A. As my Intelligence of late has been rather unfavourable and would be received with
anxiety & concern, peculiarly happy should I esteem myself, were It in my power at this
time, to transmit such information to Congress, as would be more pleasing and agreable to their Wishes — But unfortunately for me — Unfortunately for them, It is not.
B. Our situation is truly distressing — The check our Detachment sustained on the 27th Ulto, has dispirited too great a proportion of our Troops and filled their minds with apprehension and despair — The Militia instead of calling forth their utmost efforts to a brave & manly opposition in order to repair our Losses, are dismayed, Intractable, and Impatient to return. Great numbers of them have gone off; in some Instances, almost by whole Regiments — by half Ones & by Companies at a time — This circumstance of Itself, Independent of others, when fronted by a well appointed Enemy, superior in number to our whole collected force, would be sufficiently disagreable, but when their example has Infected another part of the Army — When their want of discipline & refusal of almost
every kind of restraint & Government, have produced a like conduct, but too common to the whole, and an entire disregard of that order and subordination necessary to the well doing of an Army, and which had been
Inculcated before, as well as the nature of our Military establishment would admit of, our condition is still more alarming, and with the deepest concern I am obliged to confess my want of confidence in the Generality of the Troops.
C. All these circumstances fully confirm the opinion I ever entertained, and which I more than once in my Letters took the liberty of mentioning to Congress, that no dependence could be put in a Militia or other Troops than those enlisted and embodied for a longer period than our regulations heretofore have prescribed. I am persuaded and as fully convinced, as I am of any One fact that has happened, that our Liberties must of necessity be greatly hazarded, If not entirely lost If their defence is left to any but a permanent, standing Army I mean One to exist during the War — Nor would the expence Incident to the support of such a body of Troops as would be competent almost to every exigency, far exceed that which is daily Incurred by calling in succour and New Inlistments and which when effected are not attended with any good consequences. Men who have been free and subject to no controul cannot be reduced to order in an Instant, and the privileges & exemptions they claim and will have Influence the conduct of others and the aid derived from them is nearly counterbalanced
by the disorder, Irregularity and confusion they occasion — I cannot find that the Bounty of Ten Dollars is likely to produce the desired effect — When men can get double that sum to engage for a month or two in the Militia & that Militia frequently called out, It is hardly to be expected — The
addition of Land might have a considerable influence on a permanent Inlistment.
D. Our number of men at present fit for duty are under 20,000 — they were so by the last returns and best accounts I could get after the Engagement on Long Island — since which Numbers have deserted — I have ordered Genl Mercer to send the Men Intended for the Flying Camp to this place,
about a 1000 in number, and to try with the Militia, if practicable, to make a diversion upon Staten Island.
E. Till of late I had no doubt in my own mind of defending this place nor should I have yet If the Men would do their duty, but this I despair of — It is painfull and extremely grating to me to give such unfavourable accounts, but It would be criminal to conceal the truth at so critical a juncture — Every power I possess shall be exerted to serve the Cause, & my first wish is, that whatever may be the event, the Congress will do me the Justice to think so.
F. If we should be obliged to abandon this Town, ought It to stand as Winter Quarters for the Enemy? They would derive great conveniences from It on the one hand — and much property would be destroyed on the other — It is an important question, but will admit of but little time for deliberation — At present I dare say the Enemy mean to preserve It if they can — If Congress therefore should resolve upon the destruction of It, the Resolution should be a profound secret as the knowledge of It will make a Capital change in their plans. I have the Honor to be with great esteem
Sir Your Most Obedt Servt
Go: Washington
Document B. John Hancock to George Washington, September 3, 1776
Source: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-06-02-0168
What does Hancock write in his reply to General Washington?
What alternative does Hancock offer?
Do you agree with the 2nd Continental Congress’s decision? Why?
I do myself the Honour to enclose you sundry Resolves, by which you will perceive that Congress having taken your Letter of the 2d Inst. into Consideration, came to a Resolution, in a Committee of the whole House, that no Damage should be done to the City of New York.
I have sent Expresses to order the Battalions up to Head Quarters agreeably to the Resolves herewith transmitted; & likewise to the several States to the Northward of Virginia to send all the Aid in their Power to the Army. I have the Honour to be, with perfect Esteem & Regard,
Sir your most obed. & very hble Servant
John Han⟨cock⟩

Once We Were Brothers: A Novel, by Ronald H. Balson, Reviewed by Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.

Once We Were Brothers: A Novel, by Ronald H. Balson, 2013. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Review by Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.

This is yet another wonderful book with great writing and captivating action—but it is a book about a terrible story. It describes the close friendship between a German/Polish Christian boy who is raised by a Jewish family in a small village in Poland. The time is World War II, and the story is based on–and connects to–historical points of the time.

It is said to be a book that is “hard to put down.” Indeed it is. Balson’s first novel, this book contains good writing, suitable pacing and forward movement, plus a lot of information about what was happening in rural Poland in that period. There is also some direct teaching involved, with characters explaining what certain terms meant and what various Nazi policies entailed.

The book consists mainly of flashbacks to what was happening in Poland among the families and friends of Ben Solomon, the Jewish boy whose life is at the center of the story. Chicago readers will be interested to know that the modern-day sections include scenes from Winnetka, the Loop, and the lakefront also.

The book is a novel, with a huge amount of factual and historical foundation.

It dovetails into Common Core Standards college-readiness levels and college-use levels also.

I will recommend the book, but I remind readers that many of the scenes described and the action discussed will not be at all pleasurable. Like many stories of the Holocaust, this one is very disturbing yet one which we must read, discuss, and remember.

The book should be required reading for college students–in any major–and good for educators to read also. As always, educators should read the book closely to see if there are passages inappropriate for younger readers.

Review of Once We Were Brothers: A Novel, by Ronald H. Balson,

2013. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Review by Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.

The book is a novel, with a huge amount of factual and historical foundation.

It dovetails into Common Core Standards college-readiness levels and college-use levels also.

Human Geography: A Concise Introduction, by Mark Boyle. Reviewed by Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.

Human Geography: A Concise Introduction, by Mark Boyle.

Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. 2015, paper, 318 pages.

By Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.

This is a very interesting book because it is not from mainstream sources and is not a traditional format text.

This is a textbook meant for college and university courses within the United Kingdom, but the book can be used as a textbook anywhere, good background reading, and interesting data for writing social studies units and lessons in K-12 classrooms. Meant for a semester-long course, the book includes major points in history to illustrate what human geography is.

As in most of my reviews, I try not to give away all of the content and key ideas in the review. I talk more in this particular review about the overall approach of the book, some interesting features and themes, my personal reaction, and some possible uses for the book. I begin here by discussing how the book’s author sets up the discussion.

The author uses a historical approach in discussing human geography and this is mirrored in the way the book is organized—from the beginnings of civilization and the notion of what geography is. The vocabulary and basic concepts of the subject are presented in the first chapter.

There are 12 chapters, including a wide range of watershed events, natural disasters, migration, changing economies, and our current understanding of geography. Each chapter begins with a table of contents and a list of learning objectives. Each chapter ends with a conclusion of the most important points made, a bank of three essay questions, and references for further reading of what was found in the chapter. The format of the chapters could be helpful for students seeking lots of clarity in their reading.

One thing that really stands out in the book is the use of the “zoom-in boxes.” These are similar to sidebars, but they take up sometimes a full page or more than one page of text, stories and examples related to whatever the information is they interrupt. The problem is, there are so very many of them that they are aggravating. Right in the middle of a section on a given topic or subtopic, there is some discussion of how something is an example of X. When faced with these,

I did not know if I should stop reading the chapter and read the zoom-in box instead, or read for a while and come back to it.

The zoom-in box phenomenon was a very strange aspect of the book for me. Perhaps this sort of zoom-in box is a tradition in some fields, or in some lands, but it was something I did not ever get used to. I did not know how to incorporate them into the flow of what I was reading. Maybe the use of the zoom-in box is aimed at readers with short attention spans?

Another noticeable aspect of the book for me was the persistent theme of the West having imposed its will so strongly worldwide that this has resulted in a strong and pervasive clash of cultures noticeable around the globe (e.g., p. 99). This sentiment appears throughout the book and is also spelled out at several points. Readers will see it early on, and they will draw their own conclusions from it.

In responding to this text, I must admit I enjoyed very much the topics and discussion of the different themes and components of what makes geography work. Aside from the strange tone of the book, and the zoom-in boxes, I got a great deal out of reviewing this topic—one I have always felt is greatly slighted in schools.

I remember in my own case studying geography in elementary school—we had a book on it one year! In high school, I took a course on physical geography—in addition to taking French, German and Spanish language courses. A survey course on cultural geography was one of the very first electives I took in college. I went on to study several other world languages in college.

Of course, in studying about other languages and cultures, a knowledge of geography is essential. Therefore, I do not need to be convinced it is an important topic for study.

I would recommend the book to give teachers of social studies, world languages, and other subjects a different perspective and a way to connect history and geography. It is always interesting to me to see how books are laid out in other countries and learn from different points of view. This is good material for a teacher’s professional library, and the book can also be used to help inform and design units for the classroom.

Because the book is too long for a short professional development session, it fits more in the category of resource and reference material for teachers of cultural and world-focused subjects.

The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport—A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival, by Mona Golabek & Lee Cohen

The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport—A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival

by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen, 2002.

New York: Grand Central, Paper, 272 pages.

…based on the true story of the pianist Lisa Jura, a Jewish girl from Vienna

Reviewed by Thomas Hansen, PhD.

The Children of Willesden Lane is based on the true story of the pianist Lisa Jura, a Jewish girl from Vienna, who was sent by her parents to England where she was supposed to be assisted by a cousin there during the time of the Kindertransport, the program sending children out of Austria and Germany to safety. The book is written by her daughter, Mona, who reports on what was happening in Vienna after the Annexation.

When Lisa arrives in England, the cousin who is supposed to house and feed her reneges on the agreement. This leads her to the hostel on Willesden Lane where she and a score of other Jewish children from various countries in Europe form bonds, become strong, and face with dignity and perseverance a very uncertain future.

Lisa fights hard to get her older sister to England, enlisting the help of the other children in the facility to find a sponsor for her. Lisa herself is protected by the woman running the hostel, and Lisa becomes a leader of the other youngsters. Lisa’s father is a tailor, and he has taught her how to use a sewing machine. Because of this, she is hired right away to work in a factory making trousers. Her income helps support the hostel.

A musician, Lisa is faced with a lifetime of servitude until she has some decent breaks because of the woman in charge of the hostel and others who are pulling for her. She is allowed to audition for a scholarship to study classical music.

Teachers, writers, and musicians will appreciate this book because it tells of worlds that sometimes can only be imagined. I was able to understand most (not all!) of the technical information about music here because of my mother filling our home with melodies—and constant discussion of music theory. I too studied the piano, but alas I was not meant to be a pianist!

Lisa perseveres in the story. She fights hard to practice for the scholarship, at the same time she works making uniforms in the factory.

The human spirit is so strong. I am always amazed by this fact.

Lisa’s story is a beautiful one. It includes such hope and so much good news. The story also includes some bad news, however, because of what is happening in Europe with the war and all of Hitler’s policies uprooting and destroying entire threads of history, family ties, destiny of entire peoples, and freedom.

It is freedom itself that is at the core of the themes in this book. Losing freedom and gaining freedom are two of the biggest events we can experience as thinking persons.

Era 9 The Great Depression and World War 2

Engaging High School Students in Global Civic Education Lessons in U.S. History

The relationship between the individual and the state is present in every country, society, and civilization. Relevant questions about individual liberty, civic engagement, government authority, equality and justice, and protection are important for every demographic group in the population. In your teaching of World History, consider the examples and questions provided below that should be familiar to students in the history of the United States with application to the experiences of others around the world.

These civic activities are designed to present civics in a global context as civic education happens in every country. The design is flexible regarding using one of the activities, allowing students to explore multiple activities in groups, and as a lesson for a substitute teacher. The lessons are free, although a donation to the New Jersey Council for the Social Studies is greatly appreciated. www.njcss.org

See the source image

Era 9 The Great Depression and World War II (1929–1945)

The Great Depression brought about significant changes in the regulatory power of the federal government of the United States. The reforms of the New Deal were to stabilize the capitalistic economics system of the United States and they also imposed a mild form of welfare state capitalism that was prevalent in European countries. As a result, this era provides students with several opportunities to test their analytical skills regarding presidential power, the effectiveness of a democracy in addressing a major crisis, and the effect of the reforms of the New Deal on racial minorities, women, children and other groups.

Activity #1: The Packing of the U.S. Supreme Court (1937) and the Supreme Court in Ghana

The Constitution does not stipulate the number of Supreme Court Justices; the number is set by Congress. There have been as few as six, but since 1869 there have been nine Justices, including one Chief Justice. All Justices are nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and hold their offices under life tenure. Justices may remain in office until they resign, pass away, or are impeached and convicted by Congress.

After winning a landslide election in 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the Judicial Procedures Reform Act which would allow the president to nominate an additional judge to the Court for every sitting judge who had served at least ten years and reached the age of 70. The initial reason that was explained by President Roosevelt was that the aging justices could not keep up with their caseload. Roosevelt changed his reasoning when this argument appeared flawed because the additional judges would likely increase deliberations and delay the time to make a decision. The new argument that the appointed justices did not reflect the will of the people at a time when the United States faced unprecedented economic problems was explained to the people in a Fireside Chat.

President Roosevelt continued to advocate for the Judicial Procedures Reform Act until the Senate voted 70-20 to send the bill back to committee in July, 1937. It was never passed.

The individual states determine the number of judges on their state supreme courts. The number varies between five and nine justices. The Supreme Court of New Jersey has seven judges.

The Supreme Court of Ghana

The Supreme Court is the highest Court in the administration of justice in Ghana.

The Court is presided over by the Chief Justice and in his absence the most senior of the Justices of the Supreme Court, as constituted shall preside. Judges who sit in the Supreme Court are referred to as Justices of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice and not less than nine Justices. It has exclusive original jurisdiction in all matters relating to the enforcement or interpretation of the 1992 Constitution. It also has supervisory jurisdiction over all the Courts in Ghana. It is located only at the Headquarters in Accra.

Questions:

In the United States, should the final decision on legislation be made by non-elected judges on the U.S. Supreme Court?
If the United States Congress was to reform the U.S. Supreme Court, what changes would you recommend they consider?
Does the Tenth Amendment best serve the interests of representative democracy by allowing the individual states to make decision on issues not specifically delegated to Congress or is popular sovereignty served through the popular vote of the election of congressional representatives and senators?
Do you prefer the structure of the Supreme Court in Ghana, which establishes a minimum number of judges, to be a better plan for decision making than how the United States structures its Supreme Court?
Can Ghana prevent a president from adding judges with a similar political philosophy?

National Constitution Center

Information on State Supreme Courts

The Structure and Jurisdiction of the Courts of Ghana

To Cap or Not Cap the Justices on the Supreme Court of Ghana

Activity #2: Child Labor Laws in the United States and Côte d’Ivoire

The right of parents to take advantage of the productive capacity of their children was long recognized both in the United States and abroad. The perceived value of the child can be viewed through how the legal system treated the wrongful death of a child and the damages the parents could hope to recover. Courts of that period usually found that the proper amount due was “the probable value of the services of the deceased from the time of his death to the time he would have attained his majority, less the expense of his maintenance during the same time.” The courts recognized that the parent naturally benefited from the productive labors of his child until the child reached the age of majority.

The wages the child earned served the common purpose of supporting the family. The wages of a child generally became the property of the parents and often were the key to survival for many working-class families. Rather than the wife being the secondary wage earner, as became the case in the 1970s, for many families the child performed this role in American history.

Today, states have moved to extending working hours for children, eliminate work permit requirements and lower the age for teens to handle alcohol or work in hazardous industries. At the same time, there has been a 69% increase in children employed illegally by companies since 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.” Source

New Jersey: 34:2-21.2. Minors under 16 not to be employed; exceptions; nonresidents.

“No minor under 16 years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in, about, or in connection with any gainful occupation at any time; provided, that minors between 14 and 16 years of age may be employed, permitted or suffered to work outside school hours and during school vacations but not in or for a factory or in any occupation otherwise prohibited by law or by order or regulation made in pursuance of law; and provided, further, that minors under 16 years of age may engage in professional employment in theatrical productions upon the obtaining of a permit therefor and may engage outside school hours and during school vacations in agricultural pursuits or in street trades and as newspaper boys as defined in this act, in accordance with the provisions of section 15 of this act.”

Except as to the employment of a minor for whom a theatrical employment permit has been issued, no minor under 16 years of age not a resident of this State shall be employed, permitted or suffered to work in any occupation or service whatsoever at any time during which the law of the state of his residence required his attendance at school, or at any time during the hours when the public schools in the district in which employment in such occupation or services may be available are in session.

NLS data show that 52 percent of 12- and 13-year-olds in its 1997 cohort had paid work experience. The work performed at these ages was found to be freelance in nature. Babysitting and yardwork accounted for more than 70 percent of the work they performed. For 14- and 15-year-olds, the dominant form of work remains freelancing. When children do work, it is most commonly when school is out of session. Children have largely shifted to the service industries.

Child Labor in Côte d’Ivoire

Due to security issues in both Mali and Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire has an estimated 13,214 refugees (2,489 households), of which an estimated 59 percent are children. Children are also brought to Côte d’Ivoire from those countries for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, including in begging, cocoa production, and mining. Children from Côte d’Ivoire are also subjected to human trafficking for forced labor in domestic work within the country and North Africa. Although the minimum age for a child to work is 16, this law lacks enforcement.

School is mandatory for children ages 6 to 16 in Côte d’Ivoire. Although the Law on Education provides for free education, students are often required to pay for textbooks and uniforms, which may be prohibitive to some families. A shortage of teachers, poor school infrastructure, lack of transportation systems in rural areas, and inadequate sanitation facilities have negatively impacted children’s ability to attend school. Research also suggests that some students are physically and sexually abused at school, which may deter some students from attending school. Because of this, roughly one in four girls (25%) in Côte d’Ivoire are not able to attend primary school.

The UN Special Rapporteur, Tomoya Obokata, reported in November 2023 on the progress the government is making:

“I commend Côte d’Ivoire for its solid legal and institutional architecture on child labor and trafficking in persons. But the Government needs to do more to lift people, including in rural areas, out of poverty, promote the economic empowerment of women and ensure access to decent work, particularly for young people,” the expert said.

“Despite the efforts undertaken, I was informed that instances of child labor persist in various sectors of the economy including agriculture, domestic work, street vending and in artisanal gold mining. I am also concerned about the fate of girls who have either been trafficked from countries in the region for the purpose of sexual exploitation or who are subject to forced and early marriage in the country,” Obokata said.”

Questions:

Should the state or federal government regulate child labor laws?
Should the government have any authority over parental decisions regarding child labor?
Should children be protected from working in unhealthy or dangerous occupations? (serving alcohol, casinos, nail salons, landscaping, etc.)

History of Child Labor in the United States (Part 1, Bureau of Labor Statistics)

History of Child Labor in the United States, (Part 2, Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Child Labor in America, 1920 (NPR)

The Unjust Cost of Child Labor (Roosevelt Institute)

Hammer v. Dagenhart (U.S. Supreme Court, 1918)

Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports in Côte d’Ivoire (U.S. Department of Labor)

Child Labor Rises to 160 Million-First Increase in Two Decades (UNICEF)

Activity #3: The Power of Government to Control Private Enterprises in the United States and India

The U.S. government influences private business through compulsory taxes by spending the tax revenues on public functions such as parks, roads and other infrastructure, schools, law enforcement, homeland security, and scientific research, as well as welfare and social insurance programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment assistance. The federal government also issues and enforces standards ranging from environmental quality, to consumer protection, business and banking practices, nondiscrimination in employment, Internet privacy, and safety for food, drugs, manufactured products, and the places where people work.

Chinese tech giant ByteDance, in 2017, purchased the popular karaoke app Musical.ly and relaunched the service as TikTok. Since then, the app has been under the microscope of national security officials in Washington fearing possible influence by the Chinese government.

Government Regulation of Private Enterprise in India

India began its regulatory reforms in the early 1990s, reducing state involvement through the privatization of companies, by putting in place independent regulatory mechanisms to boost competition and private-sector-led growth, and to strengthen consumer protection. But the reform efforts lacked coherence and have stalled. Even though the economy grew rapidly over the past decade, the slowing-down of reforms created an image of a country where doing business is difficult.

India lacks a modern regulatory governance regime. Based on the Constitution, all levels of government can regulate, including the Central Government and 29 state governments. Regulatory barriers to competition are high and rule-making in India is complex due to the different layers of government.

India needs to further strengthen the governance of state-owned enterprises, simplify regulations, and reduce administrative burdens on firms. India should develop and implement a regulatory governance system following international good practices such as regulatory impact assessment, public consultation, and administrative simplification. The creation of national Regulatory Commissions since 2005 was a positive move, but there is lack of accountability and consistency of the overall regulatory system.

Establishing a whole-of-government approach to regulation, using international best practice tools and systems such as regulatory impact assessments and public consultation, and building effective institutions for regulatory quality management, are key. In this sense, India needs to catch up with other emerging economies such as China, Mexico and Vietnam, which have already taken important steps in that direction, in line with the OECD’s 2012 Recommendation on Regulatory Policy and Governance.

In 2019, India passed a new Consumer Protection Act which streamlined all methods of exchanges relating to the purchase of merchandise and e-commerce. It also expanded the protections for deceptive trade practices and introduced product liability laws for the first time.

Questions:

Should governments encourage or restrict startup businesses?
Is it possible for governments to regulate the safety of products manufactured and sold withing their country?
Are government requirements for minimum wage, social security, safety, equal opportunity in hiring, necessary or should they be optional?

Examples of Government Regulation of Business in the United States

The Role of the U.S. Government in the Economy

Consumer Protection Act of 2019 in India

Consumer Handbook in India

OCED Regulatory Reform in India

Activity #4: The Roosevelt Corollary in the Caribbean and China’s Hegemony in the South Pacific

The Roosevelt Corollary signaled an important shift in the economic and diplomatic policy of the United States in Latin America at the beginning of the 20^th century. In its efforts to ensure that Latin and Central American governments repaid their debts, the United States also used its military power to protect its hegemony or interests. By doing this the Roosevelt Corollary also negatively affected our diplomatic relations with Europe and set a precedent for the foundation for the Fourteen Points after World War I.

There are different perspectives about the impact of the Roosevelt Corollary in policy regarding its history of imperialism, limitations on self-government, and the impact it had on the social order and culture in Latin and Central America. The U.S. Constitution is silent on a president acting as the international policeman to correct wrong behaviors in another country. President Roosevelt changed the original interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine from keeping foreign powers out of the western Hemisphere to justifying America’s intervention in independent countries in Latin America.

This set a precedent for future presidents who sent American troops into Latin American countries eight times.

China’s Hegemony in the South Pacific

In the beginning of the 21^st century, China expanded its naval power and influence in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Since 2016, China has constructed naval ports in an around the Spratly Islands. China’s actions impinge in the maritime entitlements and legal claims of Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam for fishing and oil exploration. The South China Sea may have billions of barrels of untapped oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas.

China should consider the economic cost of its investments in these small islands as the impact of rising sea levels is likely to limit their economy and increase their debt. Will the economic costs weaken instead of strengthening China in the future? The security of Australia, Taiwan, and Japan is a concern as military support from the United States may be limited by China’s presence in this area. The distance from the United States to Japan, Taiwan, and Australia is much further than it is for its rivals of North Korea, Russia, and China.

The novel legal argument is that under the Belt and Road Initiative, China is providing economic assistance to these small island in exchange for a ‘good neighbor’ policy with Beijing.

Questions:

Does the Roosevelt Corollary set a precedent for giving the president of the United States too much authority in foreign affairs?
How should situations of violations of international laws regarding financial matters and human rights be addressed in the 21^st century?
Is China’s policy of expanding its military and economic influence into the South China Sea a violation of the UN’s Law of the Sea?

President Theodore Roosevelt’s State of the Union Address: The Roosevelt Corollary (1904)

How Theodore Roosevelt Changed the Way America Operated in the World

Council of Foreign Relations Perspective on the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine