Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Julia Troche joins Eric and Rob to discuss teaching about Ancient Egypt.  Dr. Troche is an Egyptologist and a Professor of History at Missouri State University.  She begins by noting that with the enormity of ancient Egyptian history, teachers should emphasize continuity and change to help their students better understand that Egyptian history is not static.  One example of how they can do this is by looking at the role of kingship across time.  While kingship remains an important factor in Ancient Egyptian politics and culture, views of the king change during different eras.  For instance, a statue of King Khafre in the Old Kingdom includes a small representation of the god Horus, revealing that the king is not seen as a god on earth.   However a statue of King Nectanebo from the New Kingdom includes a much larger representation of Horus, revealing  the increased role of divinity in what has become a more theocratic political system.  Belief in life after death is another example of continuity and change.  While the belief in an afterlife remains consistent across time, changes in funerary texts from Pyramid Texts in the Old Kingdom, to Coffin Texts in the Middle Kingdom, to the Book of the Dead in the New Kingdom demonstrate greater access to funerary texts over time.  She also clarifies several misconceptions about Egyptian history.  First, the Intermediate Periods that occurred between the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms were not eras of backwardness and chaos.  Rather, they were decentralized periods where considerable creativity allowed for changes in Egyptian culture.  She also clarifies that the pyramids were built by Egyptians and they were not built with slave labor.  

Lesson Plans and resources:

The “King Khafre Enthroned” lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4xIKmfE

The “Continuity and Change in Ancient Egypt's Funeral Traditions” lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/46a7qrW

Online Resources shared by Dr. Troche:

Khafre Enthroned: https://arce.org/khafre-enthroned/ 

Nectanebo Horus statue: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544887 

Ptolemy I Soter (Greek Design): https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010279145 

Ptolemy I Soter (Egyptian Design): https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA1641?selectedImageId=36907001 

Pyramid Texts: https://pyramidtextsonline.com/sarc.html 

Teaching Resources: https://www.britishmuseum.org/learn/schools/ages-7-11/ancient-egypt 

Teaching Resources: https://www.metmuseum.org/essays?toah=true&department=egyptian-art 

Teaching Resources: https://www.ees.ac.uk/learn/digital-resources.html 

Credits

Opening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.org

Transition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.

Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.

Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.

Email us at [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwenty

Instagram:historyintwenty

Send us Fan Mail

Eric and Rob are joined by Dr. David Bell to discuss teaching about the French Revolution.  Dr. Bell is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Era of North Atlantic Revolutions at Princeton University and he teaches courses on the early modern Atlantic world, with a particular interest in the political culture of Enlightenment and revolutionary France.  He identifies several key ideas teachers should consider when presenting this topic.  First, the revolution served as a remarkable laboratory for modern political life and, within one short decade, it experimented with multiple political systems.  He also notes that the question of rights was central to the revolution from the very beginning with the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the degree to which those rights would be extended to women and enslaved people became an important topic of revolutionary discourse.  He urges teachers to place the French Revolution in the context of other Atlantic revolutions including the American Revolution that preceded it and the Haitian Revolution that resulted from it.  Teachers can also address how revolutionaries sought to communicate and spread new ideas and cultivate national citizenship in rural areas, and he explains that the missionary model of the Catholic Church became an important tool for disseminating those ideas even while the new regime took an aggressively anti-Christian stance.  Finally, he notes that the legacies of the revolution are complex including advances in democratic thought, the use of terror and political violence, and the role of autocracy to create a security state.  

Lesson Plans and resources:

The “Communicating the French Revolution” lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4g1N0ai

The “Legacy of the Revolution” lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/3TNFebn

Credits

Opening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.org

Transition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.

Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.

Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.

Email us at [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwenty

Instagram:historyintwenty

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Alan Mikhail joins Eric and Rob once again to explore themes teachers should consider when developing lessons on the late Ottoman Empire..   Dr. Mikhail is the Chance Family Professor of History at Yale University. His fields of interest include the Middle East, the Early Modern Muslim World, the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Early Modern History, Environmental History and the History of Medicine. He is the author of many award winning books including God’s Shadow:  Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World which won the Gold Medal in World History and was long listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence.  Dr. Mikhail begins by challenging the notion of decline that is often present in narratives of the Ottoman Empire after the rule of Sulieman.  He points out that this period of decline lasted 300 years, and he attributes the longevity of the Ottomans to their relatively light hand in ruling subject populations.  However, the rise of nationalism in the 19th century, promoted by both external and internal reasons, created tensions that weakened the state.  Despite attempted reforms during Tanzimat era, the Ottomans Alliance with the Central Powers during World War I led to the final collapse of the empire.  However, Alan notes that while the empire collapsed, the new Republic of Turkey continued several aspects of Ottoman culture.   

Lesson Plans and resources:

The “Taxation during the Ottoman Empire”  lesson can be found at:  https://bit.ly/44DIoRj

The “Reform, What is it Good For?”  lesson can be found at:  https://bit.ly/4vBaNm0

Credits

Opening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.org

Transition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.

Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.

Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.

Email us at [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwenty

Instagram:historyintwenty

Send us Fan Mail

Eric and Rob sit down with Dr. Alan Mikhail to discuss teaching the early Ottoman Empire.   Dr. Mikhail is the Chance Family Professor of History at Yale University. His fields of interest include the Middle East, the Early Modern Muslim World, the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Early Modern History, Environmental History and the History of Medicine. He is the author of many award winning books including God’s Shadow:  Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World which won the Gold Medal in World History and was long listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence.  Dr. Mikhail notes several important concepts that should be considered when teaching the early Ottoman empire.  First, teachers should note the longevity of the Ottoman Empire.  Also, its location between Europe, Asia, and Africa placed it at the center of trade and communication for all those regions, giving it a significant influence on the histories of its neighbors.  The empire was led by one dynasty, and the politics of succession were often filled with intrigue as various members of the Harem conspired to place their son on the throne.  He concludes by discussing the importance of Sultan Selim who is often overshadowed in history books by his son, Suileman, but who doubled the size of the empire through conquest in a short but consequential reign.  

Lesson Plans and resources:

The “Creating a Timeline of the Early Ottoman Empire” lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4eB0dGB

The “Who's calling Whom Magnificent" lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4eIyh2g

Credits

Opening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.org

Transition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.

Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.

Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.

Email us at [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwenty

Instagram:historyintwenty

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Chrisitina Snyder sits down with Eric and Rob to discuss ways to teach about the Age of Jackson.   Dr. Snyder is the McCabe Greer Professor of History at Penn State University.  She is an historian of colonialism, race, and slavery, with a focus on North America from the pre-contact era through the late nineteenth century.  Christina shares ideas from her award winning book, Great Crossings: Indians, Settlers, and Slaves in the Age of Jackson, which uses a diverse community in Kentucky as a microcosm to demonstrate the profound changes of the era.  She notes that while it is important to discuss the violent nature of Indian removal, teachers should also stress the survival and perseverance of Native people, particularly through their embrace of education.  Similarly, while US history is often marked by violent events, teachers can also explore the efforts of people to work out solutions for peaceful coexistence which was central to why many of the Native students attended Choctaw Academy at Great Crossings.  Finally, this community, which was populated by white settlers, free and enslaved African Americans, and Native Americans who spoke many indigenous as well as European languages, serves as an example of the diversity of antebellum America.

Lesson Plans and resources:

The Remembering Julia Chinn lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4uygBfu

The Congressional Debate on the Removal of Indians lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4vEPCzO

Credits

Opening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.org

Transition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.

Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.

Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.

Email us at [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwenty

Instagram:historyintwenty

Send us Fan Mail

Eric and Rob are joined by Dr. Peter Kastor to discuss ways to teach about the presidency of Thomas Jefferson.   Dr. Kastor is the Samuel K. Eddy Endowed Professor of History and American Culture Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.  He studies the history of politics, policymaking, and culture in the United States. He focuses much of his work on the half-century following American independence.  Peter advises teachers to approach the Jefferson Presidency by examining its domestic policy, its foreign policy, and how it affected the way politics operated.  He notes that Jefferson had several goals during his presidency including calming down partisan division, retiring the U.S. debt, staying out of European wars, and promoting trade and commerce.  Teachers should note the impact of foreign affairs on Jefferson’s presidency.  They resulted in the single most consequential event of Jefferson’s presidency, the Louisiana Purchase.  Both the Louisiana Purchase and staying out of European wars challenged Jefferson's goals.  Governing the Louisiana purchase required an increase in the size and spending of the government, and his Embargo Act led to increased government regulation and domestic conflict.  However, Peter notes that Jefferson normalized the precedents for the presidency set by Washington as well as securing the influence of his Democratic-Republican Party.  As such, his administration was extremely consequential and set a foundation for future presidencies.  

Lesson Plans and resources:

The Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4x0S3OH

The Embargo Act  lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4dT1JlL

The Creating the Federal Government, 1789-1829 website can be found at:  https://creatingafederalgovernment.wustl.edu/

Credits

Opening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.org

Transition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.

Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.

Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.

Email us at [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwenty

Instagram:historyintwenty

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Kidada WIlliams sits down with Eric and Rob to discuss ways to teach about the Reconstruction era in the United States.  Dr. Williams is a history professor at Wayne State University and she delves into the lives of African American victims and survivors of racist violence. Her work, I Saw Death Coming, was longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award for Nonfiction and won the 2024 Organization of American Historians’ Civil War and Reconstruction Book Award.  She urges teachers to consider four major concepts when teaching the Reconstruction era in their classrooms.  First, they should discuss what the congressional and constitutional framers had in mind regarding Reconstruction.  They should emphasize what African Americans wanted and achieved.  Teachers should also focus on who attacked and abandoned Reconstruction, and how and why that occurred.  Finally, teachers should explore the legacies of Reconstruction today since we are still living in a world created by what happened after the Civil War.  She urges teachers to challenge the notion that Reconstruction failed.  Rather, teachers should identify the important gains made while also demonstrating how Reconstruction policies and African Americans were deliberately and violently attacked by white southerners and how white northerners and westerners abandoned what was a limited commitment to advancing African American freedom, equality, and opportunity.   She notes that African Americans resisted these challenges in a number of ways.  

Lesson Plans and resources:

The African American Agency during Reconstruction lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4vPSc75

Reconstruction and the Violence Within lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4tzpYfe

Dr. Williams's Seizing Freedom Podcast can be found at https://seizingfreedom.vpm.org/

The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Educational Resources can be found at https://www.searchablemuseum.com/for-educators/

Credits

Opening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.org

Transition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.

Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.

Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.

Email us at [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwenty

Instagram:historyintwenty

Send us Fan Mail

Rob and Eric are joined by Dr. Cathleen Cahill to discuss ways to teach the women’s suffrage movement in the United States.  Cathleen is the Walter L. Ferree and Helen P. Ferree Professor of Middle-American History at Penn State.  She begins by urging teachers to conceptualize this topic beyond the standard narrative that starts with the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 and ends with the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920.  Expanding beyond this framework allows teachers to connect this story to the larger movement for voting rights which spans many years and includes a diverse array of historical actors.  When teachers do address the women’s suffrage movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries they should present it as a broad, grassroots movement that occurred at both the state and national levels.  They should also emphasize the participation of women of color who infused their concerns about larger issues of citizenship and equality into the movement.  The ratification of the 19th amendment was a turning point, and women continued to work for their political aims after 1920.  She encourages teachers to explore with their students both how women advocated for the vote in their own states and to analyze how the strategies women utilized in the late 19th and early 20th century influenced modern forms of protest and civic engagement.

Lesson Plans and resources:

The “Women of Color in the Suffrage Movement” lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4eg8FuU

The “Women’s Suffrage Movement- One State At a Time” lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4dHuKT8

The Gilded Age and Progressive Era Podcast, co-hosted by Dr. Cahill, can be found at www.shgape.org/the-gilded-age-and-progressive-era-podcast/

Database of historical state constitutions: http://www.stateconstitutions.umd.edu/index.aspx 

Credits

Opening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.org

Transition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.

Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.

Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.

Email us at [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwenty

Instagram:historyintwenty

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Dan Barish returns to the podcast to discuss how teachers should teach about the late Qing Dynasty in China.  Dan is an Associate Professor of History and the Undergraduate Program Director at Baylor University.   First, he explains that teachers should begin their discussion about the decline of the Qing in the late 18th century and focus on internal problems that resulted from imperial expansion rather than external threats such as western intervention during the Opium War and the unequal Treaty of Nanjing.   The Qing, he argues, were adept at navigating around these problematic dealings with the west.  Rather than external challenges, he suggests that teachers should emphasize internal threats like the White Lotus and Taiping Rebellions of the 19th century.  To subdue these rebellions the Qing had to empower local leaders which led to a loss of centralized power.  Third, he shares that the wave of global revolutionary movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries provided various ideologies that contributed to anti-QIng movements.  While these ideologies were varied, they contributed to a broad coalition of activists who opposed the Qing empire.

Lesson Plans and resources:

The Decline of the Qing Empire lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4c03tK7

Internal Challenges in the Qing Empire lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4bFsOaN

Credits

Opening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.org

Transition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.

Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.

Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.

Email us at [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwenty

Instagram:historyintwenty

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Silvia Escanilla Huerta joins Eric and Rob to talk about the best ways to teach Colonial Latin American History.  Dr. Escanilla Huerta is a professor at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a scholar of Latin America, who was born and raised in Argentina. She specializes in the process of Independence in Peru and Bolivia, focusing on Indigenous Peoples and Political History.   She has published several book chapters and articles in journals such as American Hispanic Historical Review and Revista de Indias.  Silvia provides three core concepts to help teachers frame this era.  First, she explains that it is critical to teach pre-Hispanic history.  Colonialism unfolded in the midst of complex indigenous societies with unique political, economic, and social systems which shaped the structures of colonial society. Second, teachers should represent indigenous people as savvy legal actors whose knowledge and actions significantly influenced colonial regimes.  Activists worked to resist oppressive policies and applied their knowledge of both indigenous and Spanish law to protect the interests of their people.  Third, teachers should not present the Latin American wars for independence as solely the effort of Creole elites.  Women, indigenous people, and people of African descent played critical roles in the struggles and sought to use the conflicts to obtain new rights and opportunities.  

Lesson Plans and resources:

The “Colonial Latin American History” lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4uj3AHI

The “Updating the Story of Latin American Independence “ lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/3Nrna47

A list of resources and books recommended by Dr. Escanilla Huerta can be found at https://bit.ly/4rWRJNY

Credits

Opening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.org

Transition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.

Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.

Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.

Email us at [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwenty

Instagram:historyintwenty