The History Club has again been able to meet with a notable speaker to talk about various issues related to history. This past Friday, we were able to speak to professor and author David Detmer. 

He received his bachelor's degree at Boston University, and then went on for a masters and doctorate at Northwestern University. He is currently a professor of philosophy in the department of history and philosophy at Purdue University. He is the author of several books that include philosophy, US Mass Media, US foreign policy, and a book analyzing Howard Zinn’s critics. 

Howard Zinn is a WW2 veteran turned pacifist who went on to become a history professor at Boston university. He wrote a people’s history of the US that focuses on challenging mainstream textbook narratives that may focus on Columbus or presidents. His work is different in many ways. One example would be the emphasis on regular ordinary people fighting and causing societal change.

Dr. Detmer talks to us about his book and about the fight over historical narratives in the US. Here is our talk–we hope you enjoy it and be sure to check out Dr. Detmer’s work.

Professor Mike Gordon was able to talk to the club about propaganda, social media, and its impacts on all of us. He teaches the College of Computer and Information Technology at St. Petersburg College. He is also the CEO and senior editor of the Propwatch Project.

The Propwatch Project is an educational non-profit, whose mission is to raise public awareness of propaganda and disinformation in mass media and social media. 

They have a webpage that has various resources and even a youtube channel where they interview different experts that specialize on a different topic having to do with propaganda. 

Their goal (in their own words) is to spark critical thinking, undermine logical fallacies, and expose propaganda techniques and disinformation. 

At one point in the talk, Professor Gordon talks about the IPA or Institute for Propaganda Analysis. Essentially they're trying to do what the IPA started so long ago but for the new digital age. 

To quote their mission’s page and provide more background 

“the IPA was created to educate the American public about propaganda and spark rational thinking, to help the public have well-informed discussions on current issues. The organization focused on domestic propaganda that might become a possible threat to the democratic way of life.

In its November 1937 newsletter, the IPA wrote, "We are fooled by propaganda chiefly because we don't recognize it when we see it. ... Why are we fooled by these devices? Because they appeal to our emotions rather than our reason. They make us believe and do something we would not believe or do if we thought about it calmly, dispassionately. In examining these devices, note that they work most effectively at those times when we are too lazy to think for ourselves; also they tie into emotions which sway us to be "for" or "against" nations, races, religions, ideals, economic and political policies and practices, and so on ... With our emotions stirred, it may be fun to be fooled by these propaganda devices, but it is more fun and infinitely more to our own interests to know how they work."

See their work at Propwatch.org & Youtube.com/@thepropwatchproject

We were able to speak to Professor Noam Chomsky on a wide range of questions coming from our members…from JFK to Anarchism…from healthcare to history censorship. He is the father of modern linguistics, Professor Emeritus at MIT, author of over 100 books, he is a world renown and leading dissident, critic of US foreign policy, and specializes a wide range of topics such as history, politics, technology, freedom of speech, socio-economic systems, philosophy, ethics, media, propaganda, psychology, and the list goes on. 

If you are interested in learning more about his work, check out:

• -His webpage https://chomsky.info/

• -His books

• -Youtube with talks and clips covering many social studies related topics

• -View some of his major video work online such as Requiem for the American Dream, Manufacturing Consent, or Firing Line’s debate about the Vietnam war. 

On Thursday, the History Club was able to meet with Julie Mastrine, the marketing director from AllSides, a media solutions company that attempts to improve our democracy with balanced news, media bias ratings, diverse perspectives, and real dialogue on these issues.

All sides started in 2012 and later added Allsides for Schools in 2015. Their consumers, like their work, are well balanced showing those that use their products are 29% left, 42% center, and 29% right–this survey data cannot be said for some media companies. 

Their mission is to “free people from filter bubbles so they can better understand the world – and each other.” 

For our talk, Julie provides a brief workshop on some summary points of their work that includes media bias, objective vs subjective journalism, and spin. Throughout, some indicators of red flags are provided such as qualifying adjectives that can evoke emotion from the viewer. Afterwards, we were able to ask some questions about the current state of the media, the problem as she sees it, the role of education in this problem, and advice to students such as reading across the spectrum of left to right and having a healthy media diet. 

We hope you enjoy the talk.

To learn more, visit ​​https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

Today the history club was able to talk to Aviva Chomsky, an American historian, writer, and professor who is best known for her work on Latin American, immigration history, and advocacy. She has a Bachelor's degree in Latin American Studies from Brown University and a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley. She has written several books focusing on immigration history and myths. She continues to work  for immigrant rights groups and is currently a history professor and coordinator of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean studies at Salem State University in Massachusetts. During our talk, she discussed immigration History, race, Native Mascots, and answered a few other questions that we had. We hope you enjoy the talk.

Today the history club was able to talk to Professor Kyle Ward. Kyle Ward is the Director of the Social Studies Education program and teaches both of the methods courses and specializes in history education and the use of textbooks in the classroom. He also teaches an introductory U.S. History course and a class on World War II and the Holocaust. He is currently teaching at Minnesota state university 

In addition, he has written several books such as 

• History vs. History

• History in the Making

• In the Shadow of Glory

• Not Written in Stone

• History Lessons

• The Other Side of the Story 

During our talk, he discussed his work –especially with traveling and studying other nation’s history books to see how US history was covered the same or differently. After describing some of his interesting findings, we had a Q&A that included questions on Canadian history and natives, JFK, the Alamo, slavery, the current state of history education, and helpful skills for history students. Enjoy the talk. 

Dr. Allan Austin is a history professor at Misericordia University and specializes in US History, Immigration, and Pop Culture. He is the author of multiple books such as From Concentration Camp to Campus, Asian American History and Culture, Space and Time, and Quaker Brotherhood. 

Today he talks about Japanese immigration to the US, incarceration, and answers some of our members' questions.

We were able to speak with Historian Mimi Eisen on Reconstruction. She covered a general history, historiography about the narratives changing, and also about how these stories impact us today. Reconstruction is often not covered well if at all. However, this topic is important for understanding the nation's history. If interested in watching the talk, please send an email for the link -- jgrybos@indians.k12.pa.us 

• Reconstruction vignettes - https://www.teachreconstructionreport.org/reconstruction-vignettes : These are very short stories that are each based on a primary or secondary source. They can be fun to explore because they show a piece of Reconstruction history in all 50 states and D.C.

• Resources page - https://www.teachreconstructionreport.org/resources : This is a collection of recommended books, podcasts, lessons, films, digital archives and exhibits, etc. for learning about Reconstruction.

• Teach Reconstruction campaign - https://www.zinnedproject.org/campaigns/teach-reconstruction/ : This is the page for our campaign on the Zinn Ed site, with a bunch of different resources and readings.

We were able to speak with Historian and professor Dr. Van Gosse about the Molly Maguires. Essentially, he took us through the general information known about the Mollies but added more from Kevin Kenny's book, Making Sense of the Molly Maguires. 

To learn more about Dr. Van Gosse, please see: https://www.fandm.edu/van-gosse

To learn more about Making Sense of the Molly Maguires by Kevin Kenny, see: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Sense-Molly-Maguires-Kevin/dp/0195116313

Dr. Jeremi Suri is a historian, author, and professor at the University of Texas at Austin,. He specializes on international relations history, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and American foreign policy. Suri has written several books such as "Henry Kissinger and the American Century," "Liberty's Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama," and "The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office." He has won multiple awards, done many media appearances, and has even served as a consultant to several government agencies and NGOs.

In his new book "Civil War by Other Means: The Troubled Beginnings of Democracy in the United States, 1850–1880" he analyzes the history between the Compromise of 1850 and the end of Reconstruction.

Dr. Suri began the talk by introducing himself and talking about his most recent book. While Civil War is in the title, it covers so much more than that. He makes many connections and revelations about the war that has impacted much, even in the present. The discussion would shift and largely be a back and fourth from member questions. Thus, various topics are talked about. Check it out for yourself.

Towards the end, D.r Suri recommends several sources to those studying history: Library of Congress, Presidential Libraries, . Foreign Relations of US.

Be sure to check out his work at https://lbj.utexas.edu/suri-jeremi and https://www.jeremisuri.net

The America's Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) is a museum in Wisconsin focused on African and African American history in the US. Some examples of what is focused on is the civil rights movement, slavery, and violence. The museum was founded in 1984 by Dr. James Cameron who was a survivor of a lynching. Later he would dedicate his life to promoting black history/experience and overall awareness to related issues and solutions. In 2008, the museum closed but a new museum would reopened in 2018. The museum's mission is to provide a space for education, reflection, and dialogue on the ongoing struggle for racial justice and equality in America. Ultimately, the ABHM tries to educate on overlooked history of racial violence and injustice while also fostering a greater understanding and empathy that moves past race.

Since the museum covers so much history, our members voted on what topics to cover. The club members selected learning about Africa and African prior to slavery and the Reconstruction Era. Dr. Kaplan created a Shamokin-catered powerpoint to discuss these histories and even related examples to our own area. She took us through a general experience to use an empathetic method of teaching as if we were there. She related the history back to contemporary events. At the end, she even suggested a call to action after researching our school and area--to change the mascot. 

Be sure to check out their work at https://www.abhmuseum.org and similar work at https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/index.htm

*According to his bio: "I am an historian of religious and economic history in the trans-Atlantic world. My research focuses on religion in the early national and antebellum periods of the United States and uses this focus as a lens for examining broad themes in American history. I am particularly interested in the commodification of religion and in theologies of capitalism in the United States.

I currently serve as the director of the North American track for the online M.A. in history in the School of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at Arizona State University."

Dr. Dupey began the talk by introducing himself and how he became so interested in Capitalism and Christianity. In general, he was fascinated by ideas that shaped history. He also found that it was often true that the affluent had an easier time spreading their preferred ideas, such as having more capital to expand or contort the spread of information. For much of the talk, he defines capitalism and the spectrum of principles since there isn't an agreed upon definition. The talk flew by and at the end of it, the understanding of what Capitalism is and what it can be became more clear. Sadly, we ran out of time to explore much more than that. Luckily, a future talk is possible.

Be sure to check out his work at https://jamesdupey.com/ and https://search.asu.edu/profile/2073304

Today we were able to speak to Professor Noam Chomsky on a wide range of questions coming from our members…We discussed his reporting on Cambodia, pushback from his criticisms, Iraq, ChatGPT, Education, and more... He is the father of modern linguistics, Professor Emeritus at MIT, author of over 100 books, he is a world renown and leading dissident, critic of US foreign policy, and specializes a wide range of topics such as history, politics, technology, freedom of speech, socio-economic systems, philosophy, ethics, media, propaganda, psychology, and the list goes on. 

If you are interested in learning more about his work, check out:

-His webpage

-His books

-Youtube with talks and clips covering many social studies related topics

-View some of his major video work online such as Requiem for the American Dream, Manufacturing Consent, or Firing Line’s debate about the Vietnam war. 

I hope you enjoy the talk.