About the Project

U.S. History Themes—by project year

Year Two

  • Slavery and Anti-Slavery: Teachers will study key sources in the political debate over slavery. Indiana was a central location for the Underground Railroad, which resulted in the creation of numerous free black communities where definitions of black and white were often debated. Teachers will also learn to work with artifacts, images, and documents from the Monroe County History Museum and from on-line sources.
  • Civil War: Partisan conflict and even disloyalty and treason tested Indiana as they did the nation. Indiana’s governor and the nation’s president worked together to save Indiana for the Union, even as they each pushed toward their limits of constitutional powers. The Ex Parte Milligan case offers excellent opportunities to introduce teachers to these complex issues. Teachers will also work with letters and diaries of soldiers and homefront civilians in the Monroe County Historical Society collections.
  • Progressive and New Deal Reform: Content will center on constitutional and legal issues, to help teachers understand the ongoing American struggle with change and continuity within the boundaries of the founding principles. Waves of reform run through the nation’s history, as exemplified, for example, in the Brandeis brief. Indiana reform movements include those led by Senator Albert Beveridge. Mixed with reform are cases of tradition and continuity, including the Indiana Ku Klux Klan. All cases produced classic documents for analysis.
  • Book Discussion: Because Abraham Lincoln grew up in Indiana, cases from Lincoln’s life will weave through all seminars in Year Two. We will read There I Grew Up: Remembering Abraham Lincoln’s Indiana Youth, which focuses on Lincoln’s years in Indiana. The book’s author, William Bartelt, will guide the discussion. The other book will be Citizen Klansmen, a compelling analysis of a subject that continues to intrigue teachers and scholars.
  • Field Trips: At Conner Prairie, an outstanding living history museum, teachers will experience life as pre-Civil War Hoosiers did. Teachers will participate in an award winning program on the Underground Railroad, “Follow the North Star.” A second field trip will visit the Civil War Museum, constructed within the largest Civil War monument in the nation.