Podcasts – Teaching American History

Ashbrook and TeachingAmericanHistory presented  another special webinar, this time about Operation OVERLORD, more widely known as D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, and the liberation of Europe that it led to. Dr. Jeff Sikkenga, Professor of Political Science at Ashland University and Executive Director of the Ashbrook Center, discussed the invasion and its place in WW2 and history with Dr. John Moser of Ashland University. Suggested Readings: Fuhrer Directive 51, Adolf Hitler, 3 November 1943 Combined Chiefs of Staff Directive for Operation Overlord, 12 February 1944 D-Day Statements, General Dwight Eisenhower, 6 June 1944 Robert Edlin's Account of D-Day Memo to Gen. George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, 6 June 1944 All participants will be sent a printable certificate for continuing education time. REGISTER HERE The post Special Webinar: D-Day+76 Years and the Liberation of Europe appeared first on Teaching American History.

Dr. Jeff Sikkenga, Professor of Political Science at Ashland University and Executive Director of the Ashbrook Center interviewed Dr. Jennifer Keene of Chapman University on 20 May 2020, focusing on the lives, ideas, and contributions of Henry Ford and Madam CJ Walker, heroes of American Business. Suggested Readings: Henry Ford's Five-Day Week, The Library Digest, 29 April 1922 My Life and Work (Chapter 4, 5, and 8), Henry Ford, 1922 Henry Ford Sociology Department Collection of Primary Sources for Mdm. CJ Walker The post Special Webinar: Heroes of American Business appeared first on Teaching American History.

Join Dr. Jeff Sikkenga, Professor of Political Science at Ashland University and Executive Director of the Ashbrook Center on 6 May 2020 at 1pm ET for this free webinar, focusing on, among others, Abigail Adams, a Hero of the American Founding. Dr. Sikkenga will be joined by Dr. Natalie Taylor of Skidmore College. All attendees will be provided with access to primary source readings before each episode airs, and will be emailed a printable certificate to account for continuing education. Suggested Readings: Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776 John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 April 1776 From John Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, 8 January 1776 Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 10 June 1778 Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 19 January 1780 Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 10 August 1796 The post Special Webinar: Heroes of the American Founding appeared first on Teaching American History.

Dr. Jeff Sikkenga, Professor of Political Science at Ashland University and Executive Director of the Ashbrook Center interviewed Dr. Eric Pullin of Carthage College on 27 May 2020, focusing on Clara Barton and Jonas Salk. Suggested Readings: "Angel of the Battlefield," Hartford Courant, 26 November 1862 "The Red Cross of the Geneva Convention: What It Is," Clara Barton, 1878 Notes on Antietam, Clara Barton, 1890 "The Women Who Went to the Field," Clara Barton, 1892 "Polio Cases and Death Rates," April and May 1955 "Remarks on Conference on Salk Vaccine," 22 April 1955 "President Eisenhower Cabinet Paper," 29 April 1955 "Jonas Salk on Searching for the Next Medical Miracle," 18 February 1990   The post Special Webinar: Heroes of American Medicine appeared first on Teaching American History.

Join Dr. Jeff Sikkenga, Professor of Political Science at Ashland University and Executive Director of the Ashbrook Center on 13 May 2020 at 1pm ET for this free webinar, focusing on Ulysses S. Grant and Robert Gould Shaw. He will be joined by Dr. Dan Monroe of Millikin University. Suggested Readings: Proclamation on Enforcement of the 14th Amendment, U.S. Grant, 3 May 1871 Letter to D.H. Chamberlain, U.S. Grant, 26 July 1876 Recollections of the War, U.S. Grant, 1885 A Speech at the Unveiling of the Robert Gould Shaw Monument, Booker T. Washington, 31 May 1897 Supplemental Readings - Letters from and to Grant During the War: Grant to Buckner, 16 FEB 1862 Grant to Banks, 15March 1864 Grant to Butler, Meade, and Sherman, 2 April 1864 Lincoln to Grant, 30 April 1864 Lincoln to Grant, 17 August 1864   The post Special Webinar: American War Heroes appeared first on Teaching American History.

Examine the role of religion and religious activity during times of crisis through a series of historical case studies. Join Dr. Jeff Sikkenga of Ashland University and Executive Director of the Ashbrook Center as he discusses these topics with Professor Melissa M. Matthes of the United States Coast Guard Academy. This special program, the last in our "Insights from History" series, aired at 1pm ET on Wednesday, 29 April. Suggested readings: The Babylonian Exile and the Love of God, Pastor Hideo Hashimoto, February, 1942 "We All Killed Kennedy," Reverend William Holmes, 24 November 1963 Letter from Thomas Merton to Coretta Scott King After Martin Luther King, Jr's Assassination, 5 April 1968 "" Additional Readings on the topic: Political sermons of the American Founding Era, vol. 1 and II. Ellis Sandoz The Martyred President: Sermons Given on the Occasion of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Pitts Theology Library. http://lincoln.digitalscholarship.emory.edu/overview/ When a Community Weeps: Case Studies in Group Survivorship Ellen Zinner and Mary Beth Williams Preaching With Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons 1750 - to the Present, ed. Martha Simmons and Frank A Thomas Lament for a Son Nicholas Wolterstorff Collected Sermons of William Sloan Coffin: The Riverside Years, vol. I and II A Tribute: Classic Sermons of Billy Graham, ed. Patrick Doucette A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Martin Luther King, Jr. ed. Clayborne Carson. Glorious Women: Award Winning Sermons about Women Dorothy Emerson and Bonnie Smith The post Insights from History: The Power of the Pulpit in Times of Crisis: From the American Revolution to the Coronavirus appeared first on Teaching American History.

The fifth episode in our "Insights from History" webinar series, hosted by Dr. Jeff Sikkenga of Ashland University and Executive Director of the Ashbrook Center, will feature Dr. Lauren Hall of the Rochester Institute of Technology. They discussed how the American family has reacted to and been shaped by times of national crisis. This special webinar took place at 1pm on Wednesday, 22 April. Suggested readings: Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 23 July 1777 The Influence of Democracy on the Family, Alexis de Tocqueville, 1840 The Democratic Household, Jane Addams, 1902 REGISTER HERE The post Insights from History: The American Family in Times of Crisis: Education, Health Care, and the Trade-offs of Coming Home appeared first on Teaching American History.

The story is one of the most familiar in American history. Though shrouded in myth, the details are well-known. In the overnight hours of April 18-19, 1775, British regulars staggered from their bunks, donned their red wool uniforms, were rowed across the Charles River, and marched through the Massachusetts countryside. Their goal was the destruction of military supplies believed hidden in Concord by the colonial militia. With a little luck, the British also hoped to arrest two of the nascent rebellion’s most belligerent leaders, Sam Adams and John Hancock. Throughout the long night, church bells rang, guns fired, and a trio of riders alerted the colonists that British troops were on the move. The warnings enabled Adams and Hancock to escape capture while the rebel defenders of Massachusetts, having left their warm beds, prepared to guard their towns. This was not the first time Massachusetts militiamen had faced British troops in the field. As recently as February of 1775, a similar early morning march advanced on Salem. That stand-off did not end in gunfire. This time, the result would be different and make something of a prophet of beleaguered King George III, who claimed in November of 1774 that since “the New England governments are in a state of rebellion, blows must decide, whether they are to be subject to this country or independent.”[1] When the British column approached Lexington, approximately six miles east of Concord, townspeople, mustered on the village lawn, confronted the troops. Militia Captain John Parker shouted to his men, “Don’t fire unless fired upon. But if they want war, let it begin here.”[2] Shots were exchanged, resulting in casualties on both sides. The militia, intimidated by British bayonets, withdrew, so the British column marched on to Concord, where they burned the few supplies they found. The colonists had taken advantage of the early warning to hide their stash in new locations. Before the day was out, war was what the British got. Minutemen flooded the woods and farms adjacent to the road to Boston. Hiding behind trees, fences, or in farmhouses, they harassed the troops throughout the twenty-mile march back to Boston. “Even weamin had firelocks,” reported one bewildered British sea captain.[3] In February of 1775, the Earl of Sandwich had dismissed the colonists as “raw, undisciplined, cowardly men.”[4] Raw and undisciplined they were, but the day proved to any British officer who dared to pay attention that the Americans were not cowardly. They kept up a steady peppering for nearly twenty miles, striking down approximately 250 British soldiers with their sniping. British troops abandoned clothing, weapons, and ammunition in exchange for a chance to escape with their lives. In the immediate aftermath of the fighting, both sides hustled to get their account of the battles into the public record. One of these early accounts was a letter, dated April 20, 1775,  from Boston merchant John Andrews to his brother-in-law, William Barrell of Philadelphia. Andrews gets some details wrong, but his account captures the essence of the events. He describes the effectiveness of the colonial warning system before the British advance, the need for British reinforcements to rescue the endangered column retreating toward Boston, and the inherent difficulty of getting accurate information from the field. News of the events in Lexington and Concord must have traveled quickly for Andrews to have time to compile his account just one day after the encounter. Fear of the event’s significance must have been rising rapidly as well. Andrews told his brother-in-law: “When I reflect and consider that the fight was between those whose parents but a few generations ago were brothers, I shudder at the thought, and there’s no knowing where our calamities will end.”[5] Andrews intuitively understood that a rebellion against Great Britain would be a civil war: bitter, bloody, and unpredictable. John Andrews’s account is part

As the current Coronavirus situation has continued, we are now faced with growing questions about our civil liberties. We are thinking again about the actions the government can legitimately take in restricting the freedom of American citizens in a time of crisis. For example, when and how much can the government restrict your freedom of movement, speech, religion, or carrying on a business? Can the government even force you to be vaccinated? To gain some historical insight on these and many other questions, join Dr. Jeff Sikkenga, Professor of Political Science at Ashland University and Executive Director of the Ashbrook Center, and Dr. Joseph Fornieri, a professor in Ashbrook’s Master of Arts in American History and Government and a professor of political science at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York for this special webinar. Joe is an expert on civil liberties and the Constitution, and the editor of Ashbrook’s First Amendment volume in our Core Documents Collection. This program aired live on 15 April 2020 at 1pm ET. All attendees of the live program will receive a PDF certificate of participation for continuing education hours, and the program will be recorded and made available in our YouTube and podcast archives. Suggested Readings (all excerpted): Ex Parte Milligan, 1866 Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 1905 Shenck v. United States, 1919 Korematsu v. United States, 1944 Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 1952 The post Insights from History: Fire in a Crowded Theater – Civil Liberties in Times of Emergency appeared first on Teaching American History.

Herbert Hoover's Speech on the New Deal (1932) was the focus of the 13 May 2020 Documents in Detail webinar. Panelists John Moser, Ashland University Joseph Postell, University of Colorado - Colorado Springs Abbylin Sellers, Azusa Pacific University iTunes Podcast Stitcher Podcast RSS The post Documents in Detail: Herbert Hoover’s Speech on the New Deal appeared first on Teaching American History.

Join Dr. Jeff Sikkenga, Professor of Political Science at Ashland University and Executive Director of the Ashbrook Center, and Dr. Steven Hayward as they discuss the economic aspects of national crisis, especially the effect of government responses to economic emergencies. Suggested Readings: National Industrial Recovery Act (excerpts), 1933 Executive Order 11615, Richard Nixon, 15 AUG 1971 Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address, 20 JAN 1981 This program will take place on 8 April, at 1pm Eastern Time. The post Insights from History: Bad Medicine? The Effects of Economic Emergencies on Liberty, Democracy, and Prosperity appeared first on Teaching American History.

Live show aired at 11am, Saturday, 2 May 2020, exploring the life, letters, and legacy of the great Ralph Ellison. Readings In a Strange Country, Ralph Ellison, 1944 Prologue to Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, 1952 "What America Would Be Like Without Blacks," Ralph Ellison, 1970 Panelists Chris Burkett, Ashland University Lucas Morel, Washington and Lee University Kathleen Pfeiffer, Oakland University   iTunes Podcast Stitcher Podcast RSS The post Saturday Webinar: Ralph Ellison appeared first on Teaching American History.

History can give us real insight into the problems that face America. In this webinar, we explored several good and bad examples of presidents in times of crisis, hoping to see the qualities and actions that distinguish presidential leadership at its best. Speakers for this program were Dr. Jeff Sikkenga, of Ashland University, and Dr. Stephen Knott, of the United States Naval War College. This special webinar took place on Wednesday, 1 April 2020, at 1pm Eastern Time. All attendees were emailed a certificate for continuing education a week after the live program aired, and all registrants were sent links to the archived program on our YouTube channel and through our podcast. Suggested readings for this 60-minute program are below. George Washington/Richard Nixon - The Whiskey Rebellion and Watergate Proclamation on the Whisky Rebellion, George Washington, 7 AUG 1794 Transcript of David Frost's Interview with Richard Nixon, 1977 James Buchanan/Abraham Lincoln - Slavery and Civil War Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln, 4 MAR 1865 Franklin D. Roosevelt/George W. Bush - World War II and the War on Terror Executive Order 9066, Franklin D> Roosevelt, 19 FEB 1942 Backgrounder: The President's Quotes on Islam, George W. Bush The post Insights from History: Presidential Leadership in Times of Crisis appeared first on Teaching American History.

Julia Fuette, 2012 graduate of our MAHG program, took some time to talk with Jeremy Gypton, Teacher Programs Manager, about her experience with and perspectives on teaching online. Formerly a traditional classroom social studies teacher, Julia now teaches fully online, in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. This 33-minute interview has some excellent advice in it, from how to conduct direction instruction to managing and fostering deep discussions, what you can get out of various popular online resources and systems, and how to get and stay connected with your students as learners and people. She also gives some great advice about how to keep your stress level in check. Resources she mentioned include Schoology, Canvas, Google Classroom, Zoom, Google Hangouts and Calendar, and TAH.org. She also suggested reading the following articles: What Online Teachers Need to Know How to Be a Better Online Teacher The post Teacher Interview: Transitioning to Different Forms of Online Teaching and Learning appeared first on Teaching American History.

TAH provided a special week-day webinar on a timely topic for teachers of history and government: the 1918 Flu Pandemic. Beginning during the last months of World War 1, a new strain of the H1N1 virus  infected over 500 million people worldwide and led to at least 50 million deaths. It spread as far as remote Pacific Islands and even the Arctic, leaving deep scars on societies and individuals. Teaching American History felt that learning about this pandemic of a century ago may give us a clearer perspective on today’s COVID-19 crisis. Our 60-minute webinar took place at 1pm Eastern time on Wednesday, 25 March 2020.  It featured a discussion between Ernest Gibson's Account, 1918 Excerpts from Katherine Anne Porter, 1918 Washington, D.C. Directive, 1918 Francis Grimke Sermon The post Special Webinar: The Flu Epidemic of 1918 – Lessons from History appeared first on Teaching American History.