The Gilder Lehrman Institute is pleased to invite middle and high school teachers to participate in a free professional development workshop as part of the Veterans Legacy Program. The session will feature a 45-minute lecture and 15-minute Q&A with an eminent scholar followed by a 50-minute pedagogy session with a Master Teacher and 10-minute virtual tour of Massachusetts National Cemetery,

Topic: Women in Service across American Military History

• Scholar Lecture: This lecture will focus on American women’s service in World War I and World War II, and the social values that shaped them. They will examine how women in service were highly visible and crucial to war mobilization even as traditional notions of women’s role in the family and widespread gender and racial discrimination persisted. The presentation will conclude with a brief discussion of women in the military in the 21st Century.
• Pedagogy Workshop: Through analyzing an affidavit, a diary entry, and a letter by American women who served in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II, this portion of the workshop will offer tools for examining with your students the common threads that connected these women across a century and why they decided to serve despite many obstacles.

Scholar: Professor Lynn Dumenil (Occidental College)

Master Teacher: Gena Oppenheim

Virtual Tour Site: Massachusetts National Cemetery