Connecting past and present
History connects the past with the present, shedding light on the most important issues we face today. It also shapes our identity and helps us understand how we—and our world—came to be. Sometimes, history is mistakenly conflated with ancient artifacts displayed in museums and dusty documents and text books. There may also be a misperception that history is best studied in a rearview mirror, rather than as a present-day phenomenon. Nothing could be further from the truth.
History is not frozen in time – it is dynamic and fluid. We help make history every day through our collective decisions and actions. Yet history is not only about today.
When we use a historical lens to understand the world around us, we open ourselves to new insights about the present and what will inform and shape our future. Nearly two centuries after Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass played a major role in shaping American society, some of the issues that spurred their activism are still present today. These two stalwart individuals have been deceased for more than a century, and they continue to make and shape our history.
Bring social justice topics to life and relevance into your classroom with our History in the Making video collection.