Teaching Hidden Histories was developed during COVID in response to youth asking their teachers to help them better understand the history behind current racial tensions, and how to become agents of change in an increasingly divided social climate. We are pleased to share our archive of recorded symposia and workshops, which are geared towards both traditional and nontraditional educators. These programs are designed to help uncover and provide tools and resources for interpreting the “hidden histories” of traditionally marginalized groups in Essex County.
Teaching Hidden Histories: Reexamining the American Revolution Through Multiple Local Lenses
Date: April 6, 2024
Youth in the region are asking their teachers for a more accurate and honest portrayal of U.S. History and how events impacted ALL of the people that live in America. Using primary sources from institutions throughout Essex County, local educators, historians and scholars examined the American Revolution through the lens of women, Black and Indigenous people.
A Community of Changemakers: Exploring the History of Black Activism in Essex County
Date: March 25, 2023
The Symposium explored the history and continued presence of Black activism in Essex County and the history of Black people’s experiences in Essex County, MA- including institutional integration, community activism, and hard-fought access to fundamental rights- offers a rich set of stories to explore.
Teaching Hidden Histories Workshop 5: The Struggle for Liberty, Equality, and Property: Examining Resistance to Exclusionary Policies Against Black People in Essex County Part II.
Date: May 5, 2022
The history of Black people’s experiences in Essex County, MA, including institutional integration, community activism, and hard-fought access to fundamental rights, offers a rich set of stories for our students to explore. In this workshop, we examine how these experiences exemplify a larger history of structural policies of exclusion and prejudice, but also perseverance and change. Join us as we work to answer many questions about this history and its relevance today.
Teaching Hidden Histories Workshop 4: Change-makers in the face of nativism: The Lawrence Strike of 1919 and the push to “Americanize” the workforce
Date: November 20, 2021
How does the labor movement of the early 20th century in Lawrence and its context of aggressive nativism help us understand the lingering impulse to “Americanize” newcomers and de-value “essential workers”? What role does civics education play in the past and present as we define what it means to be an American? How do change-makers and members of the immigrant community in our region grapple with these issues today? Join us as we explore these and other questions during this “Teaching Hidden Histories” workshop.
Teaching Hidden Histories Workshop 3: The Acknowledgement and Recognition of Native Peoples Past and Present
Date: June 5, 2021
The history of Indigenous Peoples and cultures in our region is often misrepresented, told from a European/American-centered context, or even erased from our general curriculums. In this workshop, we will center Indigenous voices as we examine stories from pre- and post-contact periods that enrich our understanding of the past and help us empower students to grapple with this history’s complex legacies.
Annawon Weeden of the Wampanoag Tribe presents as part of Essex Heritage’s Teaching Hidden Histories Workshop 3: The Acknowledgement and Recognition of Native Peoples Past and Present.
Teaching Hidden Histories Workshop 2: The Struggle for Liberty, Equality, and Property: Examining Resistance to Exclusionary Policies Against Black People in Essex County
Date: March 27. 2021
The history of Black people’s experiences in Essex County, MA, including enslavement, “gradual emancipation,” and hard-fought access to fundamental rights, offers a rich set of stories for our students to explore. In this workshop, we examine how these experiences exemplify a larger history of structural policies of exclusion and prejudice, but also perseverance and change. In uncovering some of these stories, we explore how and why this history has often been hidden from view or distorted to fit more comfortable narratives, discussing implications for our students in today’s world.
Teaching Hidden Histories Workshop 1:From Minority to Majority: The Long Journey of 19th Century Irish and Modern Day Latinx Immigrants in the Merrimack Valley
Date: January 23, 2021
Greater Lawrence is and has always been a mixture of different ethnicities and cultures, but few have come to dominate the political and social landscape of the area quite like the Irish and Latinx communities. In this workshop, we will examined how these communities’ journeys exemplify a larger history of structural policies of exclusion, scapegoating and prejudice, but also perseverance and change.
