POST: Uncovering Activism and Engaging Students: The Colored Conventions Project

John Rosinbum has written a post for AHA Today, the blog of the American Historical Association, discussing the ways he incorporates the Colored Conventions Project in his classroom teaching. “Uncovering Activism and Engaging Students,” which is part of a series on teaching with digital history, introduces the CCP and includes a sample assignment. Rosinbum explains:

In my US history courses I combine the digitized files, maps, tables, and exhibits from the CCP to foster a better understanding of 19th-century reform movements and to teach important historical thinking skills. I also push students to explore the ways that these resources demonstrate how both history and activism are made up of much more than the important figures and places that all too often dominate our shared understanding of the past.

The Colored Conventions Project is based at the University of Delaware, and recently won the 2016 MLA Prize for Bibliography, Archive, or Digital Project.