Becoming a Connecticut Lawmaker: Role-Playing the Legislative Process
How do we make laws that are fair?
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Snapshot Clues: From the Past to the Present
In what ways has your town changed and/or stayed the same over time?
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How Innovation Shaped Connecticut’s History
How did technology-based industries influence Connecticut’s history and contribute to America’s story?
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Barbara McClintock, Nobel Prize-Winning Scientist
How can one person’s determination make a difference in our community, state, and world?
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Connecticut’s Utopia: The Enfield Shaker Community
To what extent is a “perfect society” attainable?
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The Struggle for Equality: Black Burials in the Old Willimantic Cemetery
To what extent did burial practices reflect the status of enslaved people and free Black people in Connecticut?
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Anti-Racist Allies and Accomplices in Connecticut History
In what ways are both anti-racist allies and anti-racist accomplices important in the struggle for social justice?
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Telling Their Stories: African Americans in the American Revolution
How do historians reconstruct the stories of people from the past?
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The Role of Enslaved People in Founding Connecticut
Why should enslaved people be seen as “founders” of Connecticut?
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Understanding the Census: Tracking Connecticut’s Black Population
How did attitudes towards slavery and Black Americans change over time in early Connecticut?
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Amos Beman: Freeman, Freedom Fighter, and Agent of Change
How do people become agents of change within systems of oppression?
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William Lanson: New Haven Entrepreneur, Abolitionist, and Black Governor
In a land of opportunity, how have the successes of African Americans, Indigenous, Latinx, and other People of Color challenged the status quo?
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The Triumph and Tragedy of Urban Renewal
Who decides what infrastructure is good for people?
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Freedom and Liberty in 1776
What did “freedom” mean at the time of the American Revolution?
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Historic Taverns of Connecticut
What role did taverns play in people’s lives in Connecticut during the late 18th and early 19th century?
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A Petition for Freedom in 1779
How did laws and rules in the colonies both promote and hinder freedom and equality?
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Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the Coast Guard
What does patriotism mean to different communities within the United States?
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LGBTQ+ History in Connecticut: Advocacy and Organization
How did the modern LGBTQ+ movement develop and evolve in Connecticut?
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Getting Around Connecticut
How have changes in technology affected local communities over the past 140 years?
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LGBTQ+ History in Connecticut: Colonial Era Laws and Legislation
How did colonial laws marginalize LGBTQ+ individuals?
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LGBTQ+ History in Connecticut: Medical Marginalization
How were LGBTQ+ individuals marginalized through medicalization in the 20th century?
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Zoning: Examining Housing Policy in Connecticut
How have rules about housing shaped Connecticut?
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No to Nazis in Connecticut: Resolving Conflict Through Informed Action
In what ways can a community in a democracy respond when faced with injustice?
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No to Nazis in Connecticut: Southbury Takes a Stand
To what extent can individuals be agents of change in their communities?
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The Problem with “Delinquent Women”: The Connecticut State Farm for Women, 1915-1938
To what extent should individuals, groups, and/or institutions have the power to make decisions about the lives and welfare of others?
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Trade between the Tunxis and the English in the 1700s
In what ways were the English and Indigenous peoples in Connecticut economically interconnected in the mid-1700s?
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Religious Freedom for Jews in Connecticut
How did Jewish immigrants expand religious freedom in Connecticut?
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Immigrants Build a Community: Hartford Jews in the Early 20th Century
How did immigrants build a community in Hartford in the early 20th century?
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Governor Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. Defies the Embargo Act of 1807
When can a U.S. state refuse to follow a federal law?
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Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb: A Role Model in STEM and Higher Education
To what extent is it easier for women and people of color to enter the fields of STEM and higher education today than it was in the 1950s–1990s?
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Housing Segregation in Connecticut
In what ways is segregation still practiced in the United States today?
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From Freedom Seeker to American Success: James L. Smith in Norwich
To what extent was the North a “land of opportunity” for people of color in the early 1800s?
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Indigenous Students and Connecticut’s Mission Schools
How can we achieve a better understanding of the past in the absence of primary sources that represent the full picture?
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Geographies of Food: The Roles of Migration, Landscape, and Food Availability in the United States
How have geography and history shaped regional differences in foods in the United States?
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Making a Difference: Individuals in Connecticut History
What is the significance of Connecticut’s contribution to America’s story?
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Foodscapes of Connecticut
What geographical and historical factors affect the foodscapes of Connecticut?
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Mary Townsend Seymour: A Hartford Activist Fights for Equity
In what ways have communities of color advocated for equity?
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Government is People: Creating a Symposium of Local Government Speakers
How does the government touch my life?
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Government is People: Creating a Symposium of Local, State, and Federal Government Speakers
What does the government do?
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Paving the “Way”: Connecticut Women Artists in the Early Republic
In what ways were women’s professional options linked to their educational opportunities in the late 18th and early 19th centuries?
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Empowering Students’ “Civic Voices” in Local and State Government: Elementary
Why is it important that students use their “civic voices” in local and state government to produce positive change?
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Empowering Students’ “Civic Voices” in Local and State Government: Middle/High
Why is it important that students use their “civic voices” in local and state government to produce positive change?
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Indigenous Communities of Connecticut
Where did Native/Indigenous communities live in the past and where do they live in Connecticut today?
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Asian American History in the Civil War Era: Connecticut’s Connection to the Trade in Indentured Chinese Workers
How have American conceptions of freedom and equality changed throughout U.S. history for members of various racial, ethnic, religious, and gender minority groups?
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Cruel and Unusual: An Interdisciplinary Study of Incarceration Across Two Centuries
What is “cruel and unusual” punishment?
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The Hartford Convention: An Act of Treason?
Was the Hartford Convention an act of treason?
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Locals Stand Strong: The Battle of Stonington in the War of 1812
What is the significance of a military victory in the face of overwhelming odds, both at the time of the event and when looking back on history?
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Words Change the World: Teaching About Racial Injustice Through the Work of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Ta-Nehisi Coates
To what extent can fiction and non-fiction both help us learn, change, and adapt our understanding of an historic or contemporary moment?
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Learning by Looking: Reading a Post-Civil War Photograph
What can we learn from an anonymous historical photograph?
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Investigating Art: New London Through the Lens of a Painting
In what ways have Connecticut towns and cities changed and/or stayed the same over time?
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William Grimes – Seeking Freedom in Connecticut
How can we find out about people and places in the past?
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Late 1960s Civil Unrest in Connecticut’s Capital City
What conditions led to civil unrest in the 1960s?
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The Chinese Educational Mission and How Asian American Stories Reframe American History
How did participating in the Chinese Educational Mission influence both its students and America?
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Hate Speech, Free Speech, and the First Amendment: The Church of the Creator Comes to Wallingford
Should public spaces be open to all types of speech?
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Bilingual Education for Spanish Speakers in 1970s Hartford
How have communities advocated for fair and equal access to education in Connecticut?
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The Black Panthers and the May Day Rally in New Haven
How is the First Amendment used to advocate for justice in America?
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Eugenics in Connecticut: Legislating Genetic Purity in the Nutmeg State
Are all reforms good?
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Post-World War II Puerto Rican Farm Labor Migration to Connecticut
How did Connecticut industries influence migration and immigration to the state and the development of new communities?
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The First Puerto Rican Day Parade in Hartford
Why is it important that groups can celebrate their cultural and ethnic backgrounds in America?
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Visions of Change: Colt and the Growth of Industrial Connecticut
What impact did industrialization have on people’s lives in the mid- to late-19th century?
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Life Along the Salmon Brook: A Connecticut Town in the Early Industrial Era
How did the Industrial Revolution change small towns in Connecticut/New England?
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Connecticut’s Ratification of the Constitution
How are decisions made about how a nation should be governed?
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Church & State in the “Land of Steady Habits”
Has there ever been complete separation of church and state in Connecticut?
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The Fundamental Orders: Rules and Laws for Early Colonial Connecticut
What is the best way to organize a government? How did laws and rules in the colonies both promote and hinder freedom and equality?
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Who Gets to Vote? History of Voting Rights in Connecticut and the United States
How have the American conceptions of freedom and equality changed over time?
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A Connecticut Lawyer Stands for Human Rights
To what extent is the international community responsible for the protection of human rights?
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Connecticut Heroes of World War I
What is the significance of Connecticut’s contribution to America’s story?
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“Women of Connecticut: Are You Helping?” The Reaction to Emergency Food Measures During World War I
Do government campaigns to promote “voluntary” patriotic efforts in a time of war strengthen or weaken American democracy?
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“Saved.” Theodate Pope and the Sinking of the Lusitania
To what extent has the United States succeeded in remaining neutral in times of war or global conflict?
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Connecticut Prepares for War, 1917
How does the role of government change in a time of war?
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Kids in Connecticut History: Image Analysis Skill-Builder
In what ways have the lives of children in Connecticut changed or stayed the same over time?
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Joining the War Effort, One Peach Pit at a Time
How does an entire society participate in war?
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The Immigrant Experience During World War I: Enemy Aliens
How did the government effort to mobilize and monitor the Connecticut home front during World War I affect the immigrant experience and conceptions of national identity?
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Beware Thy Neighbor? German Americans in Connecticut during WWI
Has America always been a “Land of Opportunity” for immigrants?
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Black World War I Veterans Demand Civil Rights
How did World War I impact the struggle for civil rights in Connecticut and America?
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Enlist Now! Selling Sacrifice to the People of Connecticut, 1917
Why do people enlist in the military?
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“Making Munitions is a Woman’s Job” During World War I
What impact did the women of Connecticut have on the Great War (WWI)?
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Free Speech and Seditious Speech on the CT World War I Home Front
Does free speech exist in a time of war?
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The Amistad Incident and the Face of Slavery
What role did the Amistad incident play in the abolitionist movement in the United States?
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Is That a Mastodon?! A Case Study in Civic Responsibility
To what extent are we, as citizens and communities, responsible for scientifically and/or historically significant finds on public property?
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The Civilian Conservation Corps in Connecticut
How did the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) impact Connecticut?
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On the Move: The Bicycle, Women, and Social Change in the 19th Century
To what extent are technology, fashion, and social reform interconnected?
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Connecticut Women and the Women’s Suffrage Movement
How have American concepts of freedom and equality changed since the 1870s? How might the changes be perceived differently by different segments of the population?
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Mapping the New World: Dutch Maps of the Colonies
How did the physical geography of New England affect how the colonies developed?
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Exploring Communities: Using Historic Maps to Learn about the Past
Why do our communities look the way they do today?
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African Americans in Progressive-Era CT: The Battle Over the Jack Johnson Fight film
What does the battle over the Johnson-Jeffries fight film tell us about the social position of African Americans in Progressive-Era Connecticut?
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Roots of Labor Unrest in Progressive-Era CT
What were the causes of the labor unrest that roiled Connecticut in the years between 1900 and World War I?
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Accused: 17th-Century Witch Trials
What factors led to the 17th-century witchcraft trials in Connecticut?
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Connecticut Whaling and Maritime History
How have Connecticut’s maritime products and industries contributed to the history of America?
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Caleb Brewster & The Culper Ring
In what ways did “ordinary” Americans contribute to the American Revolution?
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Economic Development: Saugatuck’s Development Over Time
In what ways has one town—and Connecticut—changed and/or stayed the same over time?
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New London’s Role in American Independence
What was Connecticut’s role in the American Revolution?
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Kids at Sea in the 19th Century
How did maritime culture influence the people of Connecticut?
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George Washington’s Slave Census
What did the Founding Fathers really think about slavery?
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Venture Smith: From Slavery to Connecticut Businessman
How can a former slave prosper in a colony where slavery is legal?
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The Iron Industry of Northwest Connecticut
Would there have been a thriving iron industry in Connecticut without the geological and geographical advantages of the northwest corner?
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The Inventions of A. A. Hotchkiss And Sons
How did Sharon, Connecticut, manufacturers A. A. Hotchkiss and Sons contribute to major innovations in U.S. history?
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Abolition and African Americans in Connecticut
In what way did the abolition of slavery indicate progress, or decline, for the lives of African Americans?
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Hartford: Then and Now
In what ways has Hartford, Connecticut, changed and/or stayed the same over time?
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