At the heart of the Center is education. Center faculty regularly offer courses at UMKC on the American Midwest, as well as work with area schools to provide continuing education opportunities for K-12 teachers. These high-impact learning experiences offer students and community members an opportunity to learn about the history and culture of the American Midwest.
Recent courses include:
- Teaching Regional History at Watkins Mill State Historic Site
- History of Kansas City
- The Missouri/Kansas Border Wars
- #Heartlandia: Digital Histories of the Midwest
- Telling Stories: History, Memory and American Life
- Archaeology Field School: Bates County, Missouri Burnt District
Crossroads of Conflict National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
The Center has received five Landmarks of American History and Culture grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the summer workshop, Crossroads of Conflict: Contested Visions of Freedom and the Missouri-Kansas Border Wars. More than 350 K-12 teachers from across the country have attended these week-long workshops. Through visits to historic sites and meetings with scholars, they have learned about the differing definitions of “freedom” that fueled the conflict along the Missouri-Kansas border during the era of the Civil War.
“I am more knowledgeable about Kansas and Missouri because I was actually in these places. I crossed over the borderline. … Having had these experiences will help me enrich lessons and activities with students.”
– Crossroads Workshop Teacher