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Emerging America's Inclusive History News - July-August 2026

A young woman using a wheelchair and another young woman companion laugh. The first woman wears a large Star of David with a handicapped symbol of a wheelchair on it. Both women are white, have shoulder-length light brown hair and wear heavy coats. They are part of a larger group also wearing warm clothes.
Photo (c) 1980, 2017 by Walter Pehle.

July-August 2026 Inclusive History eNews

In this Issue:

  1. News of the Field
  2. Disability History News & Resources
  3. Events @ Emerging America 
  4. Other Events
  5. Teaching Resources 
  6. New at the Library of Congress 

 

Featured post this issue: Teaching the Genocide and Survivance of Indigenous / Native Persons and People with Disabilities - announcing a new program of Emerging America and the Collaborative for Educational Services. 

Featured Event Conversation with Dagmar Herzog: Author of the Question of Unworthy Life- Free September 15 webinar sponsored by the Disability History Association.

 

News of the Field

  1. Apply by September 30 to present at the January 23, 2027 - SOURCES conference - University of Central Florida. SOURCES conference info
  2. Volunteer virtually to transcribe Library of Congress primary sources through The American Revolution in Context and other By the People campaigns. Involve your students! 
  3. Interest form: Teaching History with Chatty Geeps AI: A Technocurious Approach. 
  4. Zinn Education Project 2026-2027 Fellows
  5. Teaching with Primary Sources in the Elementary Classroom - any time virtual professional development. 

 

Disability History News & Resources

  1. Artwork for film Life After shows a wheelchair user in a dark place at the bottom of a flight of stairs that leads to a sunlit garden
    July 29, 2026 - Film Screening: Life After - 5:45-9pm Eastern Time. Includes panel discussion from 8-9pm. Free. Instructions and tickets through Register for Life After at Eventbrite
  2. Judi's Room - First Wednesday of the month @ 6 PM Eastern / 3 PM Pacific. Named for human rights activist Judi Chamberlin, this is a cross-disability dialogue space. Co-presented with MindFreedom International. Info on joining Judi’s Room
  3. Devva's Room - Second Wednesday of the month, 7 PM Eastern / 4 PM Pacific. Named for Devva Kasnitz, a space that brings disability studies and history to everyone, not  just academics. Each evening includes learning, discussion, networking, and time to connect. Co-presented by I Love You-Lead On with Disability History and Culture Collective (DHACC). Register for Devva’s Room
  4. Justin's Room - Third Wednesday of the month @ 7 PM Eastern / 4 PM Pacific. A storytelling space honoring Justin Dart's tradition of traveling the country to hear disabled people's stories. Features a lead storyteller. Co-presented with Disability History and Culture Collective (DHACC) and I Love You-Lead On Community. Register for Justin’s Room.
  5. Federal Oversight of Special Education and Educational Civil Rights Must Remain Strong and Coordinated - Learning Disabilities Association of America. 
  6. Apply by September 20 to present at the April 23-24 virtual conference of the Society for Disability Studies

 

Events @ Emerging America

Learn more about current Emerging America professional development events

Conversation with Dagmar Herzog: Author of the Question of Unworthy Life - book talk sponsored by the Disability History Association.

  • September 15, 2026, 7-9pm Eastern Time. 
  • Emerging America's Rich Cairn, board member of the Disability History Association will interview the author. 
  • Register for the webinar
Logo of the Teaching Disability History program

Teaching Disability History Interest Group

  • Teachers, disability advocates, historians, higher education students and allied organizations meet quarterly to share resources and discuss how to advance the field. ASL and CART provided. Supported by a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources grant. Next meeting is September 17, 5:00-6:00pm Eastern Time. To join the group, email Rich Cairn - rcairn @ collaborative.org. 

Recordings and Resources from Recent Emerging America Events: 

 

Other Events

In-person, unless noted. Hybrid = in-person and virtual options. 

Logo of the National Book Festival shows the dome of the Library of Congress building and books in the air in a starlit sky
  1. July 27 - 5:00-6:15 - webinar - Get a Mule, Forty Acres or So…: Teaching Reconstruction Through Land, Freedom, and Justice - Self-Evident Education. 
  2. August 11 - 2pm - webinar - Geography and Map Virtual Orientation - Library of Congress. 
  3. August 13 - 2pm - webinar - Overview of Public International Law - Law Library of Congress. 
  4. August 20-22 - Boston - Free + $250 stipend - Teacher Workshop: Genealogy in the Classroom: Bringing History to Life with Family History - American Ancestors. 
  5. August 22 - Washington, DC - National Book Festival. Library of Congress. 
  6. December 4-6, 2026 - Chicago - National Council for the Social Studies 106th Annual Conference. NCSS conference info. [Join Emerging America, Keene State College and friends from the Teaching Disability History movement! - Editor] 
  7. January 23, 2027 - SOURCES conference - University of Central Florida. SOURCES conference info
  8. March 5-6, 2027 - Providence, Rhode Island - National Council for History Education conference. NCHE conference info. [Join Emerging America and friends! - Editor.]

 

Teaching Resources

  1. A People's Playlist: U.S. History with Music as a Primary Source - TeachRock. 
  2. An Enlightened Idea: The Constitution Drew on Centuries-Old Principles - video and curriculum - RetroReport. 
  3. Designing DBQs for All: A Practical Guide to Inclusive Historical Inquiry for Multilingual Learners - Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies. 
  4. The Battle Over Marriage Equality - Archive of Public Broadcasting. 
  5. Kemet: One Nation, Many Journeys - Public Service Announcement video - Music of US. 
  6. Using Primary Sources in High School Language Arts Classes - Claflin University. 
  7. The QFT [Question Formulation Technique] in the Age of Generative AI
  8. Teaching Medieval History with primary sources - University of West Georgia. 
  9. The Daughters of Billitis - podcast on lesbian activists in the 1950s - History Unerased. 
  10. 45 Reading Like a Historian lessons - Digital Inquiry Group (formerly SHEG). 
  11. Teaching Medieval History with Primary Sources - University of West Georgia. 
  12. In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School - by Tom Weiner and Amilcar Shabbazz. 
  13. Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music

 

 

New at the Library of Congress

  1. "Page from The Journalist newspaper describes four women journalists, including Ida B. Wells, a Black woman with a high collar and her hair in a bun atop her head.
    Ida B. Wells and other women journalists, The Journalist. 1889.
    New Primary Source Set: Newspaper Journalism
  2. Online exhibition: The Declaration's Project: A Revolutionary Idea
  3. Get to Know the 2025 Literacy Awards Honorees
  4. How News of the Declaration of Independence First Spread
  5. Applying Students’ Historical Thinking Skills to Oral Histories as “A New Way of Writing.”
  6. Mapping Malaria: Exploring Patterns and Public Health Solutions with Primary Sources
  7. The National Women’s Trade Union League: Analyzing Emblems and Handbooks from the Progressive Era

 

 

Image Credits

  1. Demonstrator in a wheelchair wearing a yellow star with a wheelchair symbol inside at the first nationwide West German disability rights demonstration in Frankfurt am Main, 1980. Demonstrators also carried a banner declaring: “Don’t pity the disabled person; pity the society that rejects him.” Photo © 1980, 2020 by Walter H. Pehle. Courtesy Dagmar Herzog. 
  2. "Newspaper article, “Miss Ida B. Wells (Iola) has been called the ‘Princess of the Press . . .’” 1889. Image 5 of The journalist (New York), January 26, 1889. Chronicling America. Library of Congress. 

 

 

 

About Emerging America's Inclusive History News

Committed to Access and Inclusion of All Learners in Civics, History and Social Studies 

Created in response to teacher requests in 2013, the History eNews emailed monthly short descriptions and links of quality history and social studies events and resources. Today, items appear in an Emerging America blog page, with regular Constant Contact email notices to our subscribers. Sign up free at the bottom of the page. 

We welcome your news & events! 

  • Published on the first of the month, updated continuously through the month. 
  • Submit items any time to rcairn @ collaborative.org. 
  • Archived at: http://EmergingAmerica.org/blog
  • Register for CES events: https://www.collaborative.org/professional-development/events/.
  • Teacher-created lessons, primary source sets, assessments, & teaching strategies at: http://EmergingAmerica.org
  • Follow Emerging America on LinkedIn.  
  • Email rcairn @ collaborative.org to be added to or removed from this list. 
  • Content created and featured in partnership with the Teaching with Primary Sources program does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.

Rich Cairn

Civics and Social Studies Curriculum and Instruction Specialist, Collaborative for Educational Services
Rich Cairn founded Emerging America in 2006, which features the Teaching Disability History project, supported by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program. Also, the Accessing Inquiry clearinghouse promotes full inclusion of students with disabilities and English Learners in civics and social studies education.