Shifting Power on the Plains: Fort Robinson and the American West

FAIN: BH-50332-09

Nebraska Wesleyan University (Lincoln, NE 68504-2760)
Kevin Bower (Project Director: March 2009 to June 2011)

Two one-week workshops for eighty school teachers at Fort Robinson National Historic Landmark on the role of the fort in American history from 1868 until the end of World War II.

The Great Plains were witness to dramatic shifts in power during the 19th Century, with rapid expansion transforming it into a world of refugees competing for resources and adapting to new realities. Fort Robinson National Historic Landmark is among America's most historically diverse sites, illustrating the story of the American West for more than a century. Nebraska Wesleyan proposes to host two teacher workshops at this vital historic site in 2010. The "Shifting Power on the Plains" seminars will improve the way history is taught in classrooms by providing teachers with the knowledge and resources to ignite their student's curiosity and learning. Participants will be immersed in the historic and geographic context while living in historic structures within the boundaries of Fort Robinson. Teachers will work with academic historians, visiting scholars, curators, and master teachers to form a learning community in a remarkable historic place.