I stand in front of a classroom teaching primary sources, Washington warning about factions, Madison warning about minority tyranny, Douglass warning about complacency, while watching 2025 unfold like the footnotes of their fears.

Teaching history isn’t just nostalgia, it’s often a warning sign these days!

Nearly 250 years ago, we said NO KINGS

We fought a revolution to reject the idea that one man could rule over a free people. And today, millions across the country took to the streets to say NO KINGS again.

From New York City to small towns across America, people gathered to protest what they see as an assault on democracy and the creeping return of authoritarian power.

Early reports estimate nearly seven million marched nationwide on October 18. The NYPD reported 100,000 in New York City alone. I was there and it was definitely far more than that out on the streets.

The founders may have declared independence in 1776, but every generation has to defend it.

Were you there today?

As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, the Trump administration has announced a new “patriotism commission” to shape how that history will be told. But as historian Timothy Snyder warns in his work on memory laws, when governments dictate how we remember the past, it’s not about education, it is about indoctrination and control. We need to ask: whose version of history is being promoted, and whose voices are being silenced…and why?

This week I spoke with PIX11’s James Ford about how educators teach 9/11 today.

Watch and read the full piece here

It’s a conversation I’ve been having for years. In fact, I first wrote about teaching 9/11 for PBS NewsHour Classroom in 2021 on the 20th anniversary.

Four years later, I find myself returning to those reflections, because the way we teach 9/11 keeps changing, just like the world around us.

My first day of student teaching was supposed to be September 11, 2001.

That morning, I woke up to Z100’s “Morning Zoo,” half-asleep, thinking they were making a dark joke about the World Trade Center. When I turned on the Today Show, it was horrifyingly real. A friend called from her office rooftop on Canal Street. I screamed at her to run as the first tower collapsed. Hours later, she found her way to my Hell’s Kitchen apartment, which quickly became a refuge for friends and my brother. We sat together, stunned, as the world shifted under our feet.

By the time I started student teaching at Stuyvesant High School later that year, I walked past Ground Zero every day. The hole in the skyline never got easier. My students had fled for their lives on 9/11, yet many seemed numb. Was it shock? Trauma? I didn’t yet have the words for it, but I knew teaching 9/11 would never be straightforward.

From memory to history

For my earliest students, 9/11 was a lived memory. They wrote poems, stood in silence as the names were read, and carried the event with them. But as the years passed, new classes came of age too young to remember. Suddenly, 9/11 shifted from lived trauma to a page in the textbook.

So I shifted too. I told my story. I brought in primary sources. Later, I connected it to what came after: Islamophobia, surveillance, and the creation of ICE. For my undocumented students, I found myself saying words I never imagined needing in 2001: “You’re safe here. ICE can’t touch you in school.”

A new kind of fear

By 2020, my students were less worried about Al Qaeda and more worried about their own government. Then came January 6th. Watching the Capitol insurrection unfold, I felt the same frozen fear I had on 9/11. The next day, my students summed it up in the chat: White supremacy. Not surprised. Disappointed.

Gen Z has never known a world without crisis. They’ve grown up under the shadow of 9/11, endless war, the Great Recession, Trump, a pandemic, and now domestic terror. And layered onto all of this: the constant threat of gun violence. For many of them, active shooter drills feel more real and immediate than foreign terrorism ever did.

24 years later

This fall marks my 24th year teaching history in New York City. For me, 9/11 frames my entire career. For my students, it’s one of many chapters in an ongoing story of fear, resilience, and survival.

It is my job as an educator to arm my students with facts, critical thinking skills, and an empathetic understanding of the past. If we’ve learned anything over the past twenty years, education is crucial if we have any hopes of creating a world that is one day free of violence, fear, and terror.

If you missed my PIX11 conversation with James Ford, you can watch and read it here.

Also, this is my original PBS News Hour Essay.

I had the honor of sitting down with Cait Conley, a Hudson Valley native, decorated Army veteran, and one of the Democrats challenging Republican Rep. Mike Lawler (NY-17). Conley traces her call to service back to 9/11, a moment that led her to West Point and a 16-year Army career with six combat deployments across Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen. Rising from military police officer to special operations leader, she earned three Bronze Stars and the Presidential Unit Citation. These experiences forged her conviction that true leadership demands accountability, sacrifice, and integrity, qualities she argues are absent in Lawler’s politics.

Conley makes a compelling case for urgent investment in the Hudson Valley’s future, in infrastructure, education, and vocational training and does not mince words about Lawler’s record. She charges that his votes have consistently undermined working families, and that he fundamentally underestimates the voters of NY-17.

Grounded in service and community, Conley offers a vision of leadership that prioritizes people over politics and reminds us that resilience is not just a military value but a civic one.

Introducing a new series: History Tea!

Warren G. Harding wasn’t just America’s 29th president, he was also one of the most scandal-ridden. Corruption rocked his administration, and his private life was even messier: a decades-long affair with Carrie Phillips (their very steamy love letters were finally released in 2014) and a secret child with Nan Britton, confirmed by DNA testing in 2015.

In 1923, Harding suddenly died while on a West Coast tour. His wife Florence refused an autopsy, fueling rumors that she poisoned him to cover up the scandals. Most historians agree it was natural causes—but the mix of love letters, affairs, and conspiracy theories left Harding with one of the most complicated legacies of any U.S. president.

What strikes me is how familiar this feels. Harding’s death sparked endless speculation because there was a void of information. A century later, we see the same thing play out with Donald Trump: murmurs about mystery hospital visits and health cover-ups.

In both cases, secrecy creates conspiracy. The difference? Harding’s story was locked in history. Trump’s is unfolding in real time.

In this conversation, Mike Cortese traces his path from Nashville’s music industry to the Metro Council and now to a congressional campaign against Representative Andy Ogles in Tennessee’s 5th District. His story is rooted in community, service, and the belief that politics should be about showing up for people, not special interests. After arriving in Nashville in 2001 with no car, no computer, and no connections, Cortese built a career in the music industry and tech sector, even teaching at Belmont University, before turning to public service. Elected to the Metro Council in 2023, he now brings that experience of resilience and grit to his run for Congress.

Cortese speaks candidly about the state of Nashville politics, the economic challenges families face, and his determination to rebuild trust between voters and those who represent them. His campaign theme, “hometowns over headlines,” underscores his promise to prioritize the needs of working families over partisan theatrics. Against an opponent like Andy Ogles, known more for MAGA loyalty and Trump bootlicking than tangible results, Cortese is betting on a message of accountability, economic fairness, and a commitment to public service.

This won’t be an uncontested path. Cortese faces a Democratic primary field that includes Joyce Neal and James Torino, with Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder also weighing a run.

But his approach is clear: keep the focus on community engagement, honest communication, and economic solutions that transcend party lines. As he puts it: “We need to show up for you.”

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In this episode of Senators x History, Senator Tammy Baldwin honors fellow Wisconsin trailblazer Robert M. La Follette Sr., the fearless Progressive Era reformer known as “Fighting Bob.” La Follette took on corporate monopolies, advanced workers’ rights, and pushed through groundbreaking reforms like direct primaries and stronger government accountability. He even carried his message to the national stage with a presidential run in 1924.

As the first openly LGBTQ+ Senator, Baldwin reflects on how La Follette’s bold legacy of challenging entrenched power and expanding democracy continues to inspire her work today. His fight for fairness, transparency, and the rights of ordinary people remains as urgent as ever.

As someone who teaches democracy in my classroom every day, I wanted to hear directly from Representative Jason Crow about how he sees the fight for it unfolding in Congress. In our conversation, he breaks down his lawsuit against ICE, the critical role of congressional oversight, and what it takes to defend democracy in today’s political climate.

The fight he describes reminded me of past moments in U.S. history when oversight was essential, from Watergate to the Church Committee, proof that accountability has always been a cornerstone of democracy. From the threat of authoritarianism to the need for civic engagement and coalition-building, Crow underscores the Democratic Party’s commitment to fairness, inclusivity, and a level playing field for all Americans.

This isn’t just about Congress, it’s a reminder that all of us have a role to play in safeguarding democracy.

In this episode of Senators x History, Senator Mark Kelly selects Thomas Edison as the historical figure he’d teach about. Edison, often called “the Wizard of Menlo Park,” was a prolific inventor whose creations, including the light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture camera, reshaped how people lived, worked, and connected with one another.

For Kelly, who spent decades as a Navy pilot and NASA astronaut before serving in the Senate, Edison represents the spirit of innovation that fuels both space exploration and America’s broader progress. Edison’s relentless experimentation, thousands of failed attempts before achieving success, serves as a reminder that perseverance is at the heart of discovery.

Kelly’s choice highlights how science and technology don’t just solve problems, but also inspire new possibilities for the future. His lesson underscores that America’s greatest breakthroughs have come from those willing to push boundaries, embrace failure, and keep working toward bold ideas.

Stay tuned for more episodes of Senators x History, where U.S. Senators share the lessons from history they’d bring to the classroom.

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