Dates: July 17-28, 2023
Hours July 17-21: 12pm EDT to 5pm EDT (virtual)
Hours July 24-28: 9am EDT to 5pm EDT (in-person)
Host Institution: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library, New York City, New York
Location: Virtual & In-person
Application Deadline: March 3, 2023
Stipend: $2,200
Eligibility Requirements Here
Over the past twenty years, historians have constructed a rich, multi-faceted, and expansive view of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement across the twentieth century and in sites across the nation. Yet in their K-12 education, students often encounter a version of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement that has less depth and variety than this recent scholarship. Students often learn a traditional, southern-based historical narrative that begins in the 1950s with the Brown v. Board of Education case, and continues, emphasizing the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., through the 1960s.
This institute expands and revises that narrative through a focus on Harlem’s rich, varied, and enduring struggle for educational opportunities and justice from the 1930s into the 1970s. Through the rich archival collections of the Schomburg Center, the powerful stories of movement veterans, incisive lectures and discussions with leading scholars of the era, and in-depth explorations of Harlem’s urban landscape, participants will learn the history of educational activism in Harlem and receive resources and strategies to bring to their students and communities.
This NEH summer institute was designed by a collaborative team of scholars and educators from New York City.
Harlem’s Education Movements: Changing the Civil Rights Narrative has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this institute do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Democracy demands wisdom.
