This past summer I spent nearly two weeks in Washington, D.C. visiting more than a dozen museums to try to understand one fundamental question: Throughout United States history, how have oppressed peoples taken action to create change? The climate emergency—perhaps the most urgent issue of our time—requires strategic individual and collective action. While many Americans have been great leaders in the environmentalism movement, the movement is still young. However, powerful and determined individuals throughout U.S. history have used their influence to inspire collective action for a number of other important causes, and today’s youth—including many of my students—can take inspiration from the leaders of past movements as they decide the best course of action for tackling the climate crisis. 

I visited a number of museums whose exhibits discuss the climate crisis, conservation efforts, and/or the natural world. These included: 

● Smithsonian National Zoological Park 

● National Museum of the American Indian 

● Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 

● United States Botanic Gardens - Conservatory 

● Smithsonian Gardens 

● National Building Museum 

 

I visited many other museums as well, looking to find connections between social movements and examples of change agents’ actions. These included: 

● National Museum of African American History and Culture 

● United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

● Library of Congress 

● Smithsonian National Museum of American History 

● Smithsonian American Art Museum 

● Folger Shakespeare Library 

● National Portrait Gallery 

 

While I was in D.C., I started studying a selection of books, including: 

● Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer 

● An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz 

● The Rise of a New Left by Raina Lipsitz 

 

 

● The Activist’s Media Handbook: Lessons from Fifty Years as a Progressive Agitator by David Fenton 

 

I also interviewed Steve Long, Director of Policy and Partnerships for The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts. 

In all of my work, I strived to collect as many examples as possible of actions taken to create social change and, most especially, protect the natural environment. 

The environmental movement was, perhaps unsurprisingly, underrepresented in Washington’s museums. It is a relatively young movement, and it does not have iconic American leaders as well-known or revered as the leaders of, for example, the abolitionist movement or women’s suffrage movement. Examples of environmental action were hard to come by outside of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and Museum of Natural History. However, I collected hundreds of examples of actions taken to address homophobia, racism, sexism, classism, colonialism, religious persecution, and other forms of discrimination and oppression. Because a major theme of my United States History course is resistance, my students and I will benefit immediately from the sheer volume of artifacts and examples I was able to document at the museums. 

I learned so much on my trip, and visiting such a wide variety of museums helped me make new connections, see greater trends across U.S. history, and help me understand where the environmental movement can grow. Additionally, I generated a number of ideas for lessons and projects to implement in the short-term and in future years. 

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How have your knowledge, skills, and capabilities grown? 

I benefited greatly from the opportunity to explore U.S. history hands-on, at my own pace, from a number of different angles. I learned a lot about environmental efforts and conservation, and I was able to contextualize the movement by seeing how it compares and contrasts with the many other social movements that have shaped the United States for the past 400 years. The two weeks I spent in D.C. were an intensive dive into the history of activism in the U.S. 

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As a result, in what ways will your instructional (or other) practice change? 

As part of my work in D.C., I have amassed a significant amount of curricular resources, including primary sources, and topics for case studies. I have hundreds of photos of artifacts, examples, educational displays, art, graphs and charts, and more, including many related to the environmental movement, conservation, and the climate crisis. Because my U.S. history course is centered on the actions that people take to enact change, I will be able to organize and present hundreds of examples of actions that I documented in anchor charts, reference materials, and other curricular resources. The resources will be incredibly helpful, especially as my Humanities department is making major revisions to its history curriculum this school year. 

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Additionally, to manage the amount of research I was planning to complete, I developed a fieldwork notecatcher. It is student-friendly, so I will adapt it and develop an aligned protocol for students who join me on museum fieldtrips. 

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What is the greatest personal accomplishment of your fellowship? 

I am proud of the sheer volume of learning I was able to engage in. On the practical side, I have more curricular resources than I know what to do with; on the personal side, it was joyful to be a student exploring the city at my own pace and according to my own interests. 

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How will your experience positively impact student learning in new ways? 

Students will benefit from the wide collection of curricular resources that will supplement their history coursework. For example, I have been slowly developing a comprehensive anchor chart of actions Americans have taken to enact social change, a reference that will help students see clear patterns in the kinds of work change agents have done throughout American history. 

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Many of these resources are helping to develop a new unit and narrative writing project centered on the environmental movement. The environmental movement has both clear successes and urgent growth edges, and comparing and contrasting the movement with other social change movements in American history helps clarify what the movement is doing well and what strategies it has yet to fully take advantage of. My goal is to help students understand how  to make a social movement actionable. Ideally, students would be able to transfer their learning by identifying issues that are important to them and designing actionable theories of change. 

What are your plans to work collaboratively with colleagues? 

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My Humanities team has been making significant curriculum changes over the past few months, and these revisions are collaborative. The research I completed in D.C. will help drive the revisions to the 10th grade curriculum. 

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Are there issues or challenges in your school, community or the world that you feel better prepared to address with your students? 

I better understand the environmental movement, and I better understand modern social movements—the movements with which my students are most aware and engaged—more broadly. I also understand the kinds of occupations that contribute to these movements and might be of interest to my students. It’s common for students to care about particular social issues deeply but also have a narrow understanding of the kinds of careers available to them in the work force, and I hope to empower my students by helping them better understand the kinds of career options and college paths that align with their social and political interests.

 

How would you describe to a friend the most fundamental ways in which your fellowship has changed your personal and/or professional perspective? 

Through my research in D.C., I learned a lot about the history of American social movements (and about the environmental movement especially); furthermore, I developed a greater understanding of the concrete actions movement leaders make to enact change. I am excited for the impact this learning will have on my curriculum.