"The Case for Ending Slavery"

Co-Hosted by the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

MHS is partnering with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to present a two-day teacher workshop based on court cases and documents dealing with the end of slavery in both Massachusetts (after the Revolution) and in the country (before the Civil War). The first day will be held at the John Adams Courthouse in downtown Boston, where a Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court and a senior attorney (and Director of Civic Education) will discuss how the rights to freedom and equality granted under the new Massachusetts Constitution (primarily authored by John Adams) contributed to ending slavery in Massachusetts in 1783. They will also describe the leading role played by Massachusetts courts in implementing the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and discuss how participants in those cases grappled with whether union or liberty would be the legacy of the American Revolution. A tour of the John Adams Courthouse will be included.

On the second day, at MHS, participants will work with key documents from the collections that have been paired with Library of Congress documents to enhance an understanding of activities and events leading to the emancipation of slaves in this state and others. Teams will complete lesson plans around the documents to be shared by all the attendees.

The workshop will be held during the public school vacation weeks on Wednesdays and Thursdays: February 17/18 and repeating on April 21/22 from 9:00 to 3:00. There is no charge, as this offering is part of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Eastern Region Grant Program. Educators can earn 10 PDP's for their participation. Registration is required: education@masshist.org or (617)646-0557.

"At the Crossroads of Revolution: Lexington and Concord in 1775"

NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop

Visit the Crossroads website

The Massachusetts Historical Society, Minute Man National Park, the National Heritage Museum, and other sites in Lexington, Concord, and Boston are pleased to offer a new one-week Landmarks institute for schoolteachers, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In the spring of 1775, the towns of Lexington and Concord became targets, scenes, and symbols of actions which would ignite a war culminating in the birth of a new country. In those towns were people caught at the crossroads of Revolution. "At the Crossroads of Revolution: Lexington and Concord in 1775" is designed to immerse our participants in the evocative 18th-century landscapes of those towns, as well as the port city of Boston, to examine the decisions and dilemmas involved in the events of 1775 and the subsequent interpretations and uses of those events. We want to put you, the educator, at the crossroads of the American Revolution!

The workshop will be offered twice in 2010: July 18-23 and August 1-6. Applications must be postmarked by March 2, 2010. For more information about the workshop, including application guidelines, visit the Massachusetts Historical Society?s website: http://www.masshist.org/crossroads or contact the Society's Education Department at (617)646-0557 or education@masshist.org.