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This Week We Feature the WSCSS and AAAHRP Conferences

This is a reminder of two important conferences that should be of great interest to social studies teachers, both of which will be held in Seattle on Saturday, February 5, 2011.

The Washington State Council for Social Studies Conference, Pacific Currents, will be held at the Nisei Veterans Hall beginning with registration at 7:45 a.m. This conference features sessions that highlight ethnic resources and ideas for enhancing your social studies lessons. Examples of some of the sessions include:

• Tom Ikeda of  Densho, the Japanese American Legacy Project, will host a session describing how to use Densho's video testimonies, historic documentaries and photographs, and in-depth teacher resources (including the comprehensive Civil Liberties Curriculum ) to explore principles of democracy and social justice. 
• Shana Brown will present the highly anticipated new curriculum Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State, which has been under development for the past several years. This curriculum is the first of its kind in the nation and covers tribal history, culture, and sovereignty.
• Richard Wallace of the Museum of Flight is scheduled to present a session featuring the interpretive Amazing Sky Theater -- a popular program that brings characters related to aviation history to life.

A highlight of the conference is a guided tour of the Wing Luke Museum which includes an intriguing trip through the original rooms of the old hotel that houses this unique cultural museum.  Participants learn of the history of the International District where the museum is located, and of those who live and have lived there -- particularly immigrants from Japan, China, and the Philippines. Suggestions on how to prepare your students for a field trip to the Wing Luke Museum are outlined. 

Another guided tour available at the conference is a visit to the nearby Panama Hotel with a special tour of the basement where Japanese families left suitcases and other personal family belongings behind when they were taken to the internment camps.  Many boxes and bags are still stacked unopened and untouched by time.

Jamie Ford, author of Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, is the conference keynote speaker. His book is a poignant fictional account that chronicles the lives of some of those who lived through the days following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the relocation of Japanese Americans residents of the International District.

For registration information, contact Pat Burleson at burleson@rockisland.com.

The Association for African American Historical Research and Preservation (AAAHRP) will host the 2011 Biennial Black History Conference at the Northwest African American Museum also on Saturday, February 5, 2011. AAAHRP conference organizers anticipate that this one-day conference, Black History at Home and Abroad: Uncovering the Past, will be the best gathering of black history research experts ever assembled. Keynote speakers and Conference chairs include prominent local African American leaders, including King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, AAAHRP President Ed Diaz, Northwest African American Museum Director Barbara Earl Thomas, and Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland. Day-long breakout sessions feature local historians Dr. Carver Gayton and Dr. Lorraine McConaghy, as well as experts from across the United States.  Dozens of breakout sessions include themes such as slavery, labor, civil rights, Buffalo soldiers, and studies of many important Northwest African Americans.

Advance registration for the AAAHRP Conference is $60 through January 29. For more registration information, visit http://www.aaahrp.org/html/conference_registration.html.

The Northwest African American Museum (NAAM), host to the AAAHRP Conference, features many education programs both at the museum and online. NAAM is delighted to offer a new program for teachers and students: Story Trunks. Story Trunks connect students and teachers with local history by providing relevant materials about African Americans in the Pacific Northwest to use in their classrooms. Each trunk comes with lesson plans, resources, objects, and a Teacher’s Guide. The following topics and persons are featured in the three new trunks: Jacob Lawrence and James Washington, Jr. (for grades K-5), Civil Rights Heroines in the Northwest (for grades 6-8), and Jimi Hendrix: The Life of a Legend (for grades 9-12.) The lesson plans are also available online.

Other popular education programs at the Northwest African American Museum include the curriculum series, What’s the Story: Past and Present. The Museum also offers interactive and inquiry-based field trips/museum tours for students, providing an in-depth look at the history, art, and culture of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest. For more information about the education programs contact Katie Williams, NAAM Education Assistant, 206.518.6000 x104 or via email at kwilliams@naamnw.org.

Finally, today marks International Holocaust Day. The Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center has a curriculum entitled Everyday Objects: Artifacts from Washington State Holocaust Survivors, heritage outreach trunks, and speakers who share their personal stories . 

Image of teachers demonstrating at school district office, Seattle, 1971. Courtesy of Museum of History & Industry.