In this third episode of our Virtual Professional Learning Series, "Teaching the Civil War through a New Lens," art will take center stage. Using the story of ‘Li’l Dan the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story by Romare Bearden, this one-hour conversation will explore how to increase the inclusion of different perspectives in teaching the American Civil War. How can we use the arts, then and now, to help students explore the experiences, memories, and impressions of enslaved Americans? Why did artists like Romare Bearden attempt to recast how we view slavery, the Civil War and reconstruction? How can teachers move past curriculum coverage to teach a more impressionable and reflective history of this country? 

PBS Digital Innovator All-Stars Sebastian Byers, Mike Lang and David Olson will be joined by Darcy-Tell Morales from the education department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to discuss Bearden’s story, and to consider hands-on art activities to help students express themselves and better connect to the American Civil War, Reconstruction and lasting lessons of the period.

Access the certificate of attendance for this event here.