Youth Historians in Harlem: An After-School Blueprint for History Engagement through the Historical Process

ABSTRACT

This manuscript, written with the educator in mind, describes the Youth Historians in Harlem (YHH) program, a twenty-week after-school history program that engaged urban students in history by immersing them in aspects of the historical process. Throughout the program, a group of Black male high school students were apprenticed as historical scholars, learning the various skills of a historian through a carefully sequenced, four-step curriculum. Furthermore, students self-selected a historical topic relating to their lives, personal interests, and mostly, their Harlem community in which they live and/or learn. Despite new pedagogical strategies in history education, still, rarely are students exposed to history by “doing” it in ways that model the processes undertaken by historical scholars and that promote deep engagement in the discipline itself. Despite the relatively short length of the program, students were able to create historical projects and developed a newfound interest in history through this approach. Most importantly, student participants became empowered as intellectuals and learned various skill sets that they had previously not had. Overall, this manuscript illustrates how a Youth Historians paradigm has the potential to expand educators' notions of student engagement in history while serving as a blueprint for future, more expansive programs to be developed.

KEYWORDS:

• History pedagogy
• history engagement
• urban education
• social studies curriculum

Notes

1. Although only seven students finished the program and attended the majority of the sessions, there were also three additional students who participated early in the program, including two females. Unfortunately, because of personal reasons, these students were unable to complete the program.

2. The Schomburg Center has one of the largest depositories for historical documents and artifacts regarding African Americans and also serves as a public library located in the heart of Central Harlem between 135th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard. For more information about the Schomburg Center, please visit http://www.nypl.org/locations/schomburg.

3. Teachers conducting a similar Youth Historians program should plan at least one community field trip or guest visit from a community role model; it is important for students to understand the richness of their community in which they live and learn. Examples of speakers who serve as community leaders include the head of a local library, a local religious leader, or a community elder (such as one of the students' grandparents) who can speak about his or her experiences growing up in the community.