Resources for Teaching in the Wake of Charlottesville

In a recent e-mail, the MLA’s executive director, Paula Krebs, encouraged members to share materials for teaching the issues raised by the events in Charlottesville and offered instructors a free download of the association’s Teaching the Literatures of the American Civil War.

In addition to the MLA volume, teachers may want to consult JSTOR’s “Charlottesville Syllabus: Readings on the History of Hate in America,” a powerful VICE documentary about Charlottesville, and the lesson plans and syllabi that have been shared on social media using the hashtag #CharlottesvilleCurriculum.

Krebs observed that “[t]he events in Charlottesville did not come from nowhere: MLA members and other scholars have long documented the role of racial injustice, white supremacy, and violence in American life,” and she urged members “to use social media and Humanities Commons to share historical, critical, and other resources as you find them.”

If you have a resource you’d like to share, we encourage you to deposit it in CORE, the repository of Humanities Commons, and to use the tag CharlottesvilleCurriculum to make it easier to find. If you’re looking for lesson plans or syllabi for your class, materials in CORE are open to all for free.

The Dome Room in the Rotunda at the University of Virginia. Photo by Chad Fennell