Reading How the Word is Passed

Five sessions using Clint Smith’s How the Word is Passed.

Participants reflect on how central concepts of the book are or are not reflected in their curriculum and consider ways to engage students in understanding how the institution of slavery impacts us all in the present. Each session will also include a short primary source analysis connected to the reading. Topics  and sources include: Thomas Jefferson’s farm book, WPA Slave Narratives, songs, newspaper advertisements, markers and monuments.

Tuesdays, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.
   January 11, January 25; February 8; March 1, March 8

Essential Questions:

Session 1:  How are the values of freedom vs. equality represented in the documents and presidents of the early republic?
Session 2:  What are the intergenerational impacts of the experience of slavery?
Session 3:  How is historical memory shaped and what are its consequences?
Session 4:  How was the northern economy entangled with the institution of slavery?
Session 5:  Where and when does Black American history begin?

Course Format: Online on Zoom [Course folder on Google Drive]

Dates and Times 
Participants can sign up for either the Tuesday or the Wednesday sessions. Both run from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. and are limited to 8 participants.

Registration Fee (includes a copy of the book if you don’t have one): 

Cost: $350

Graduate Credit (1 credit available from Castleton University for $150)