The University of Wisconsin Press is thrilled that the American Historical Association Conference is awarding editors Cynthia Lynn Lyerly and Bethany Jay the 2018 James Harvey Robinson Prize for Understanding and Teaching American Slavery, part of the Harvey Goldberg Series for Understanding and Teaching History. This award, offered biennially, is given to the teaching aid which had made the most outstanding contribution to the teaching and learning of history in any field.
“Not only do I recommend this book to educators but I also will be using it in my own graduate courses, where we often spend much of our time discussing the intricacies of slavery but not quite enough on the effective teaching pedagogy that they will undoubtedly invoke in their own classrooms. It is my hope that all educators will find this book to be an invaluable resource to improve their own instruction and the instruction of others,” writes Kellie Carter Jackson, assistant professor at Wellesley College, in the Journal of American History.
Understanding and Teaching American Slavery has been a critical resource focused on teaching this challenging topic in all its complexity since its publication. In February 2018, the Southern Poverty Law Center and its Teaching Tolerance Project launched a framework for teaching students about slavery that was based on key concepts from the contributors of this book.
“Teachers with serious content knowledge are more likely to be effective, but we all know that content knowledge isn’t enough in the classroom. I hope we’ll see more resources like this stellar book to help move our society closer to understanding slavery in all of its dimensions. We, and our students, dearly need this knowledge to navigate the present,” says Kate Schuster in EdWeek.
Named for Harvey Goldberg—a professor renowned for his history teaching at Oberlin College, Ohio State University, and the University of Wisconsin from the 1960s to the 1980s—the series reflects Goldberg’s commitment to helping students think critically about the past with the goal of creating a better future. Other series titles focus on the Vietnam War; U.S. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History; the Cold War; and the Age of Revolutions. The series editors are John Day Tully, Matthew Masur, and Brad Austin.
Congratulations again to the editors, series editors, and all involved with Understanding and Teaching American Slavery. To celebrate, we are giving away a copy of the book to one (1) lucky entrant: