Red Clay Teacher Named Winner of Innovative Curriculum Contest
Andrew Bedell, a teacher at Cab Calloway School of the Arts, has been named one of the ten winners of the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s inaugural American History in 100 Documents: An Innovative Curriculum Contest.
This contest, created to identify and support teachers who find innovative ways to use primary source documents in the classroom, was open to all teachers in the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s international network of 30,000 Affiliate Schools.
Bedell's winning lesson plan was titled African American Veterans of the Revolutionary War. As Bedell explained it, “the lesson seeks to understand the world that Black veterans found themselves in at the conclusion of the war, and the challenges they faced even after being freed from enslavement.” In the lesson, students explore the unique problems faced by African American veterans whose service rendered them injured or sick.
As one of the winning entrants, Bedell will receive a $500 Prize as well as a free one-year subscription to American History: 1493-1945, the fully digitized Gilder Lehrman Collection, for his school.
American History: 1493-1945 provides K-12 schools, universities, and institutions—including Harvard, Yale, and the Library of Congress—access to tens of thousands of rare letters, artwork, broadsides, and maps spanning six centuries of American history. It is renowned for its interactive and in-depth access to primary source documents—from Paul Revere’s engravings to Civil War diaries to rare photography through the end of World War II. Learn more about American History, 1493-1945 here.
About the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
The Institute was founded in 1994 by Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, visionaries and lifelong supporters of American history education. The Institute is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to K–12 history education while also serving the general public. Its mission is to promote the knowledge and understanding of American history through educational programs and resources.
At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. Drawing on the 75,000 documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection and an extensive network of eminent historians, the Institute provides teachers, students, and the general public with direct access to unique primary source materials.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is supported through the generosity of individuals, corporations, and foundations. The Institute’s programs have been recognized by awards from the White House, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Organization of American Historians, and the Council of Independent Colleges.
Learn more at gilderlehrman.org