NEH ANNOUNCES FIRST "LANDMARKS OF AMERICAN HISTORY" GRANTS; NATIONAL TEACHER WORKSHOPS OFFERED AT 17 U.S. HISTORIC SITES

NEH Chairman Bruce Cole also announces 1st quarter 2004 We the People grants

ST AUGUSTINE, FLA. (January 29, 2004) -- The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced the first "Landmarks of American History" teacher workshops that will be held this summer at 17 historic and cultural sites across the United States. NEH established the grant program for "Landmarks of American History" as part of the Endowment's We the People initiative to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture.

These new residence-based, week-long workshops will bring more than 2,000 school teachers together with scholars for a week of intensive study on history and literature associated with each historic site.

NEH Chairman Bruce Cole announced the new grants at Flagler College in historic St. Augustine, Fla., the site of a Landmarks project sponsored by the Florida Humanities Council called "Spanish St. Augustine: Between Columbus and Jamestown." Chairman Cole also announced other new We the People grants awarded during the first quarter of 2004. [A full list of these new grants, please visit www.NEH.gov.]

"From walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to studying the Constitution at Mount Vernon to exploring Pearl Harbor, teachers will learn about significant American events at the places where history was made," said Cole. "We know all too well that America's history is in danger of fading from memory-particularly among young people. The Landmarks workshops will impact generations of students as teachers apply their knowledge and experiences in the classroom."

Teachers from across the United States will participate in these academically rigorous workshops; teachers selected to participate will receive a stipend of $500 each to help defray their transportation, books, and living expenses.

Public, private, and home school elementary and secondary educators may apply by March 15, 2004, to one or more of the following workshops:

Shaping the Constitution: A View from Mount Vernon, 1783-1789
June 28-July 2 and August 2-6, 2004
Location: Mount Vernon, Alexandria, Va.
Sponsor: The Bill of Rights Institute,
Arlington, Va.

Stony the Road We Trod: Using Alabama's Civil Rights Landmarks to Teach American History
June 20-26; June 27-July 3; July 11-17; and July 18-24, 2004
Locations: Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma, and Tuskegee, Ala.
Sponsor: Birmingham Civil Rights Institute,
Birmingham, Ala.

The Last Great American Canal: How the Illinois and Michigan Canal United Nineteenth-Century America
June 20-26; July 5-11; and July 26-August 1, 2004
Locations: The I&M Canal at Lockport and Chicago, and Lewis University, Romeoville, Ill.
Sponsor: Canal Corridor Association,
Lockport, Ill.

A Vast and Many Voiced Creation: Congress and the Capitol
August 1-7 and August 8-14, 2004
Locations: The U.S. Capitol and The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Sponsor: Council for Basic Education,
Washington, D.C.

Remembering Pearl Harbor: History, Memory, and Memorial
August 2-6, 2004 (2 Workshops)
Locations: East-West Center and USS Arizona Memorial, Honolulu, Hawai'i
Sponsor: East-West Center,
Honolulu, Hawai'i

Crossroads and Conquest: People, Place, and Power on the Vancouver National Historic Reserve
July 12-17 and July 26-31, 2004
Location: Vancouver National Historic Reserve
Sponsor: Educational Service District 112,
Vancouver, Wash.

Spanish St. Augustine: Between Columbus and Jamestown
June 28-July 3; July 5-10; July 12-17; and July 19-24, 2004
Location: Flagler College, St. Augustine, Fla.
Sponsor: Florida Humanities Council,
St. Petersburg, Fla.

Landmarks of American Democracy: From Freedom Summer to the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
July 25-31 and August 1-7, 2004
Locations: Jackson, Miss.; Memphis, Tenn.; and The Delta
Sponsor: Jackson State University,
Jackson, Miss.

Tom, Huck, and You: Teaching Mark Twain in the Classroom
July 12-16 and July 26-30, 2004
Location: The Mark Twain House and Museum, Hartford, Conn.
Sponsor: The Mark Twain House and Museum,
Hartford, Conn.

The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson, and America 1801-1861
June 28 - July 2 and July 12-16, 2004
Location: The Hermitage, Nashville, Tenn.
Sponsor: Middle Tennessee State University,
Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Shifting Power on the Great Plains: Fort Robinson and the American West
July 6-12 and August 2-8, 2004
Location: Fort Robinson National Historic Landmark, Crawford, Neb.
Sponsor: Nebraska State Historical Society,
Lincoln, Neb.

Crafting Freedom: Thomas Day and Elizabeth Keckly, Black Artisans and Entrepreneurs in the Making of America
June 18-23; June 25-30; July 16-21; and July 23-28, 2004
Locations: The North Carolina Museum of History (Grantee), Raleigh; Stagville Plantation, Durham; the Union Tavern, Milton; the Burwell School, Hillsborough; and other historic sites in North Carolina Sponsor: The Thomas Day Education Project,
Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Slavery and Freedom in Charleston and the Low Country
July 12-16 and July 19-23, 2004
Locations: Charleston, S.C., and the Sea Islands
Sponsor: Richards Center for the Study of the Civil War Era,
University Park, Pa.

Encounters and Change: Expanding Perspectives on Natives and Colonists in Seventeenth-Century Plymouth
July 12-16; July 26-30; and August 2-6, 2004
Location: Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth, Mass.
Sponsor: Plimoth Plantation, Inc.,
Plymouth, Mass.

Salem, Massachusetts (1801-1861): National Culture, International Horizons
July 4-9; July 11-16; July 18-23; July 25-30, 2004
Locations in Salem: Salem State College, Peabody Essex Museum, House of Seven Gables, Salem Historic Homes and Buildings, The Friendship; locations in Boston: Museum of Fine Arts and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Sponsor: Salem State College,
Salem, Mass.

Planned, Built, and Preserved: Savannah's Three-Century History
July 19-23 and July 26-30, 2004
Locations: Massie Heritage Center and Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Ga.
Sponsor: Georgia Historical Society,
Savannah, Ga.

Landmark Events in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the Transformation of American Identity, 1765-1800 and 1890-1920
July 18-23 and July 25-30, 2004
Locations: University of New Hampshire-Durham, Strawbery Banke Museum, The Moffatt-Ladd House and Garden, The Wentworth Coolidge State Historic Mansion, The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, The Portsmouth Athenaeum, and The Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail
Sponsor: Center for New England Culture,
Durham, N.H.

Teachers who wish to apply for the 2004 NEH "Landmarks of American History" teacher workshops can find detailed application information on NEH's website. Applications materials are submitted directly to the project directors of the workshop(s).