Riverside History-Social Science Framework Conference

LGBTQ-related content appears in the Framework in grades 2, 4, 5, and 8. What’s the best way to teach it in accurate, engaging, accessible, and age-appropriate ways? In this session, educators will workshop different possibilities for elementary and middle school classrooms. We will focus on two key areas that might feel especially challenging conceptually and pedagogically—Native American gender diversity and so-called “passing” men and women in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Framework signals multiple entry points into teaching the embraced third- and fourth-gender roles within Native American cultures—“two-spirit” traditions—and the impact of the loss of those roles due to European conquest and settler colonialism. How can these histories be incorporated into 4th-grade California mission history, 5th-grade Early American history, and 8th-grade histories of western expansionism? How did some people assigned female at birth passed and lived as men during the Revolutionary era and the Frontier West? What did this mean then, and what can it tell us about those times and places? How do these histories live on with us in the present? Professor Romesburg will share primary and secondary sources from which educators will collaborate on strategies to bring this content into their classes. This session aligns with Framework Chapter 7 (pp. 68, 76, 78, 79), Chapter 8 (p. 98), and Chapter 12 (pp. 249, 264, 274).
Presentation Team: