Celebrating Gratitude: Thanksgiving 2021

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Though President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day proclamation was issued in1863 during the height of the Civil War, the example had been set by George Washington on the same day in 1789. It was 400 years ago this year that the very first celebration occurred in the Plymouth colony, among the Pilgrim settlers and the Wampanoag people. Our content team has put together this Thanksgiving playlist to help you and your students understand the origins of this national holiday.

In December, the Bill of Rights Institute will be releasing its latest primary source-based collection, The Plainest Demands of Justice: Documents for Dialogue on the African American Experience. This curriculum is designed to put teachers and students in conversation with those who strove and continue to strive for a greater realization of the promises of liberty and equality as outlined in the Declaration of Independence. We hope you’ll join the conversation. Sign up for the community to be notified as items become available.

How did W.E.B. Du Bois, prominent African-American intellectual, contribute to understanding the Black experience in America? In this episode of our new Scholar Talk series, "Black Intellectuals and the African American Experience," BRI Senior Teaching Fellow Tony Williams is joined by Derrick P. Alridge, Professor of Education at the University of Virginia and affiliate faculty member in the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies. Dr. Alridge is the author of The Educational Thought of W.E.B. Du Bois: An Intellectual History.

Tackle planning and pacing 500+ years of American history with the Bill of Rights Institute’s free online personalized adaptive-learning resource Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Join us on Tuesday, December 7, from 5-5:45 p.m. ET for a free webinar. Participants will receive an overview and demo of our new online personalized adaptive-learning resource committed to viewpoint diversity with essays by over 95 contributing authors.

How much of the Pilgrims' story is a myth, and what exactly is important to remember about the meal they shared with local Native Americans? In this Fabric of History podcast episode, Mary is joined by Tony and Kirk to delve into the Pilgrims' harrowing journey to Plymouth and first winter to understand and appreciate the larger themes of what we commemorate as Thanksgiving today.

Student Spotlight

Meet Ariana Maria Perez!
Ariana Maria Perez, one of our recent Think the Vote debate winners, is a young woman who is optimistic about her future. “The future looks bright to me,” says Ariana, “Sometimes I think of working for NASA, other times I think of being a scientist studying chemistry or a doctor studying anatomy. I am also interested in law and government, so maybe I will go to law school...Read More.

BoE: Bottom of Email

"All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don't. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity." Robert F. Kennedy, Law Day Address, University of Georgia, May 6, 1961

Dear John,

As the fall semester begins to wind down and Thanksgiving approaches, one of the things we are most grateful for at BRI is how often we have gotten to connect or reconnect with many of you at in person or virtual events over the last several weeks. We are grateful, too, that 2022 will begin with even more opportunities to connect, with 21 seminars and webinars planned. S ome of them are already scheduled and registration is open. Please check back for more in the coming weeks.

Connecting and listening to you, we are reminded that the times we live in continue to be challenging, and today we are more grateful than ever for the work you and your students and colleagues are doing to meet those challenges and seek out the opportunities that lie within them.

We are grateful that we are able to help you meet those challenges with more resources like our soon-to-be-released curriculum, "Plainest Demands of Justice; Documents for Dialogue on the African American Experience," and student programs like our My Impact Challenge Citizenship Contest and the We the Students Essay Contest, both designed to support and amplify student agency and student voice during these challenging times.

The Bill of Rights Institute family wishes all of you and your families a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Warmly,

Laura Vlk
Director, Educator Engagement
Bill of Rights Institute

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