Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition

As we gear up for our 2026 Yale and Slavery Teachers Institute summer program in a few weeks, we are taking some time to reflect on our 2025 program on Teaching Slavery in the North. The program brought together a group of diverse K-12 educators seeking to revise existing lessons by adding depth, complexity and storytelling.

Over the course of two weeks, teachers engaged in place-based learning through visiting key sites of enslavement in New England including God's Little Acre in Newport, RI, Mystic Seaport Museum and Long Wharf New Haven. In each space, they were able to learn more about the infrastructure that supported slavery, collaboration of African Americans and Indigenous people and stories of resistance and agency. During the second week, they dove into various pedagogical methods to share this history with students of all ages. The results of the program culminated in a collection of lesson plans and units from their diverse contexts.

As we celebrate Juneteenth, their experiences are another reminder that the work of preserving the story of enslaved people is a year round effort and that K-12 educators play a vital role.

As we gear up for our 2026 Yale and Slavery Teachers Institute summer program in a few weeks, we are taking some time to reflect on our 2025 program on Teaching Slavery in the North. The program brought together a group of diverse K-12 educators seeking to revise existing lessons by adding depth, complexity and storytelling.

Over the course of two weeks, teachers engaged in place-based learning through visiting key sites of enslavement in New England including God's Little Acre in Newport, RI, Mystic Seaport Museum and Long Wharf New Haven. In each space, they were able to learn more about the infrastructure that supported slavery, collaboration of African Americans and Indigenous people and stories of resistance and agency. During the second week, they dove into various pedagogical methods to share this history with students of all ages. The results of the program culminated in a collection of lesson plans and units from their diverse contexts.

As we celebrate Juneteenth, their experiences are another reminder that the work of preserving the story of enslaved people is a year round effort and that K-12 educators play a vital role.

Click this link to see our 2025 Yale and Slavery Teachers Institute Recap Video.

The 2025 Yale and Slavery Teachers Institute Experience In July 2025, the inaugural Yale & Slavery Teachers Institute welco...

Yale and Slavery and Teachers Institute Spotlight:

Today, we highlight Rachel Sharnick, a high school social studies teacher in New Haven, CT.

She participated in previous Yale and Slavery Teachers Institutes and looks forward to further developing her understanding of Indigenous pedagogy, thereby improving her teaching.

Yale and Slavery and Teachers Institute Spotlight:

Today, we highlight Chrisshaya Champagnie, an 8th-grade Social Studies educator dedicated to illuminating the interwoven histories of African American and Native American peoples.

With a background in Eastern Woodlands Indigenous studies, Chrisshaya's approach to history is deeply personal, driven by desire to honor their ancestors' struggles and triumphs while utilizing the local landscape as a living classroom.

Yale and Slavery and Teachers Institute Spotlight:

Today, we highlight Darlene Calderón, a secondary English language arts educator who teaches at a public K-8 school.

At the Institute, she hopes to develop an interdisciplinary unit that authentically honors Indigenous practices, epistemologies, and histories.

Yale and Slavery and Teachers Institute Spotlight:

Today, we highlight Rebecca Boudreau, a high school ESL teacher who works with intermediate-level English language learners.

During the YSTI, she looks forward to engaging in workshops, hands-on experiences, and conversations with people in the community, all to help her understanding of Indigenous knowledge and history.

The 2026 Yale and Slavery Teachers Institute is one month away!

The focus this year is Indigenous Pedagogy: Braiding Knowledge, Land, and Story across the Curriculum. Each day, we will highlight teachers who are participating.

Check back for more information.

📚✨ Teachers, kick off your summer with inspiration, connection, and culture—don't miss this exclusive GLC Teachers Corner Summer Get Together on June 26! ✨📚

Join fellow K–12 educators for a special visit to The Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford as we explore Wendel A. White's powerful new exhibit, Manifest | Thirteen Colonies.

This remarkable collection brings African American history to life through extraordinary artifacts—from Frederick Douglass's hair and Malcolm X's tape recorder to everyday objects that tell profound stories of Black agency, resilience, and heritage.

After a self-guided gallery experience, we'll continue the conversation over lunch with colleagues in a relaxed and welcoming setting. Best of all—lunch is provided!

📅 June 26, 2026
🕥 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
📍 The Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
REGISTER HERE: https://macmillan.yale.edu/glc/events/2026-06-26/glc-teachers-corner-museum-lunch-summer-get-together

⚠️ This opportunity is exclusively for K–12 teachers, and space is limited. Registration is first-come, first-served, so reserve your spot today!

We can't wait to learn, reflect, and celebrate the start of summer with you.

Is the United States on the Road to a New Civil War?
Fritz Stern Lecture, The American Academy in Berlin

David W Blight will examine this history, especially the decade that led to the Civil War, as a possible means of understanding where we are today.

Is the United States on the Road to a New Civil War? - American Academy in Berlin Fritz Stern Lecture Is the United States on the Road to a New Civil War? The question has arisen in recent years in a manner unseen since at least the 1960s. Gi

On May 13, 1862 Robert Smalls and other Black Americans who were enslaved commandeered an armed Confederate ship in Charleston and sailed to freedom.

1862: Robert Smalls sailed slaves to freedom - Mississippi Today On this day in 1862, Robert Smalls and other slaves commandeered an armed Confederate ship and sailed to freedom.