If you've been watching #TheGildedAge this season, you've likely heard a reference to Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, an abolitionist, suffragist, & reformer who was also the first Black woman to publish a short story in the US. Learn more about Harper: womenshistory.org/education-reso…

Last week, I visited an ICE detention facility and spoke to the mother of a U.S. Marine. She was detained on base while taking care of her grandkid because her son was away training. That’s who Trump is targeting instead of criminals. This isn’t what the American people want.

Social studies teachers: I know all teaching is hard, but why has our subject become especially challenging lately? I’m gathering quotes for my college methods students and would like to include thoughts from across the country.

Mr. Emrich Well there’s this

Mr. Emrich Because we are teaching amidst the growing assumption that we are the “enemy”, that we are brainwashing kids. The ignorance is really heavy most of the time, and you’ve really got to believe in the craft and really love your kids to fight through it.

President Trump has gone nearly a week without acknowledging the death of David Rose, the Georgia police officer gunned down while protecting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its employees inside. wapo.st/3JiQtUg

Mr. Emrich I would start with this WEB DuBois quote: From Black Reconstruction “We have too often made a deliberate attempt to change the facts of history so that the story will make pleasant reading for Americans." Americans want history to be a Disney fairytale.

Mr. Emrich We are living in a time where civility and non-partisanship are the name of the game in education and protecting yourself as a teacher but I do not want to look back years from now and not be able to proudly answer the question “what did I do to resist and protect?”

Mr. Emrich The lack of respect for history, government, geography and overemphasis on STEM has made it much harder to teach.

It’s like you caught a few bullets from a history presentation but missed the big ones... The Border States—Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Delaware, and eventually West Virginia—were Union states and all had slavery. Might be time to hang it up…history just isn’t your thing.

I wrote about how Trump is trying to change our perception of what’s permissible in a democracy & why he might be doing that. open.substack.com/pub/joycevance…

Ohio, West Virginia and South Carolina have all moved to deploy hundreds of members of their national guard to the nation’s capital as part of the Trump effort to overtake policing in Washington through a federal crackdown to take control of the city. theguardian.com/us-news/2025/a…

So, we went from “We're just saying you shouldn't be forced to have the vaccine if you don't want it” to “No one can have it”.

SC Invades DC! #1861redux South Carolina deploys 200 National Guard troops to DC thehill.com/homenews/state…

Our foreparents defeated authoritarianism in their day with less resources than we have now. Their legacy is one of our greatest resources. It’s our time now.

#OTD in 1920, the 19th Amendment—granting universal women’s suffrage—was ratified. The deciding vote was cast by the youngest Member of the #Tennessee Statehouse. In his pocket sat his mom’s letter that read: “don’t keep them in doubt.” In fact, #history had rarely been more sure

If Governor Tate Reeves walks outside his door in Jackson, Mississippi, he’s in far greater danger than in D.C. In 2023, Jackson recorded 118 homicides, translating to approximately 78.8 per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the U.S. that year. Jackson continues to have by far

The real health insurance scam is that they know as their deductibles go up, fewer people can afford to use their insurance. Which means they don’t have insurance. Despite having to pay premiums. It may sound counter intuitive , but if you can’t afford your deductible, you

Five years ago today, I repainted my kitchen door with chalkboard paint

First day of yr 19 in the classroom I got this inscription in a book I received in the mail today from a fmr student. When I say I welled up when I saw "O' Captain My Captain." He adopted the term when I was advisor to a student org and he never stopped using it. This is the why