The Making of America: Colonial Era to Reconstruction

The Making of America: Colonial Era to Reconstruction is an in-person, two-week Summer Institute that offers K-8 educators the opportunity to explore the people, ideas, and events that made America into a cultural, social, and political reality. This Institute is designed as purposefully broad to address the needs of K-8 educators. The thirty-six teachers selected to participate will learn about Indigenous peoples and colonial societies, the American Revolution and the US Constitution, slavery and early US political and economic systems, and the causes and consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Throughout the two weeks, teachers will learn about this content through lectures, group discussions, and visits to historic sites around Washington, DC.