Wash U offers Black studies workshop to teach educators about St. Louis' Black history

The African and African American Studies department at Washington University is offering a summer institute program that teaches regional Black history to high school educators to help them integrate lessons on Black culture, history and the arts into their curriculum.

Twelve teachers from across the region beginning today will learn about slavery in St. Louis, race and medicine, St. Louis’ Black music scene, Ferguson and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and local Black institutions. Participants also can visit with curators of the university’s Black special collections library to find local archival material for future lessons.

Educators have struggled to teach African American history, but researchers must take the knowledge they possess and disseminate it, said Shanti Parikh, Washington University’s African and African American Studies department chair.

“St. Louis and Missouri play such an important role in the history of America, and particularly African Americans,” Parikh said.

The summer institute aims to deepen participants' knowledge of Black history and support them with instruction for teaching the Advanced Placement course on African American Studies.