8th History

As eighth graders, we will address the complicated story of the Americas. Beginning with a study of America as it was for thousands of years, a place of hundreds of indigenous nations and cultures. We will study how the Americas were forever changed by European exploration and colonization. Examining the Thirteen Colonies, African and Native American Slavery, and the Revolutionary War. By the end of this course, you will know the events and the men and women who shaped this country into what it is today.

Why study American history?

American History is a microcosm of the historic trends which have moved nations and people. The history of natural resources and how they were conserved or exhausted, and how their use and accessibility shape people's cultures and communities. The story of the United States is the story of governments and how they have come to represent the common people, rather than oppress them. It is also the story of our government's many shortcomings, our historic oppression of women, and people of color.

We should study American History because its lessons, its warnings, and its triumphs offer answers to many of today's most pressing problems. In a country who still struggles with a legacy of racism and oppression, whose wise governorship relies upon an educated community; we are weakest when we are ignorant and strongest when we are informed.

The study of history is never about the past for the past's sake, but about understanding our place in history and finding answers to our most pressing, shared, human problems.