70s and 80s Mini-Summer Institute

In addition to the super-fun Pop Culture night on Tuesday, AHTC teachers spent a day and a half on Wednesday and Thursday studying pop culture and foreign policy in the 70s and 80s and the ways in which the two interact. On Wednesday morning, Melani McAlister, professor at George Washington University, addressed the group about the Iran hostage crisis and the ways that it was covered in news broadcasts and manifested itself in popular culture, such as the Delta Force movies.


Urbana Free Library's Carol Inskeep out together an amazing presentation covering video and documentary resources for the 70s and 80s. She even opened with historical pictures of Champaign-Urbana from the time period.

We finished up the day with presentations by two of our AHTC teachers. Danville High School teacher Jacob Bretz presented a lesson he designed after his 2009 Fellowship at the Champaign County Historical Archives. Jacob's lesson explored the OPEC oil embargo in the 1970s and how it affected local schools. During this session, Jacob discussed the importance of President Nixon’s speech during the crisis. The following are links to additional presidential speeches, including every State of the Union Address:

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou.php

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/

Urbana High School teacher Michael Pollock drew upon his personal experiences to present about the student protests at the University of Illinois in the 1970s. Complete with pictures and newspaper articles, Michael's presentation was a great way of looking at national events through the lens of local history.


On Thursday morning, Dr. Andrew Hartman, professor of History and Social Science Education at Illinois State University, spoke about "culture wars" and what we could learn from a historical examination of them.

Overall, these were a great few days and a wonderful opportunity to turn a critical eye to the not-so-distant past. Thanks to everyone who participated for your enthusiasm and curiosity, which let to some wonderful discussions.