Civic Mission of the Nation: Community College Learning Guide

Community College Learning Guide

Civic Mission of the Nation

 

This guide supports service learning in political science and government courses, particularly at community colleges. Armed with information about the history of key political institutions and practices in the United States, students will conduct their own research and create community outreach projects.

 

Image Source: "Students and Faculty take over the 500 Grand Concourse building at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx," 1975 (Hostos Community College Archives/City University of New York)

Student and faculty protestors hanging a banner at Hostos Community College

Table of Contents:

Learning Guide Overview

Voting Rights
"The Georgetown Election" in Harper’s Weekly, March 16, 1867 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC01733.09)

In this learning guide, you will find seven essays and videos created by historians for an audience of community college students. You can take an a la carte approach to this learning guide, sharing an essay or video as desired, or you can use the guide to structure your course.

Together, these resources explain why previous generations of Americans constructed, maintained, and adjusted the foundations of governance. They also reveal how the preservation of American political institutions relies on a well-informed citizenry and active participation in the polity. Each essay grounds students in the historical context while the video provides suggestions for students’ further exploration into the topic and ideas for their own public-facing research projects.

Why Use the Learning Guide?

The Gilder Lehrman Institute worked with Professors Anja Vojvodic and Chelsea Del Rio to pilot this curriculum in their Spring 2023 course “Experiential Learning in the Liberal Arts” at LaGuardia Community College. Vojvodic, Del Rio, and one of their students explain the value of these materials:

Four student participants in the Civic Mission of the Nation pilot program at LaGuardia Community College visiting the Gilder Lehrman Collection
Four student participants in the Civic Mission of the Nation pilot program at LaGuardia Community College visiting the Gilder Lehrman Collection

Most of the students I teach are not history majors, and often they have little interest in the study of the past when they enter my classroom. What changes that perspective is building an understanding of the ways in which the past laid the foundation for the functions, rights, and values of the present day. These materials support students in exploring the promises of rights and equality of a young nation as well as how many groups were systematically denied these promises.

— Professor Chelsea Del Rio, LaGuardia Community College

Classes like these are so crucial for the future of democracy, as they teach the fundamentals and then create space for more complex themes to emerge, which in the end can produce innovative ideas for progress.

— Professor Anja Vojvodic, LaGuardia Community College

This course taught me the importance of civic engagement through dialogues and discussions. My retention of the material was far greater than any course I have taken at LaGuardia Community College.

— Lucia Chavira, Student

Civics Topics in the Learning Guide

Close view of the text in original Bill of Rights

Bill of Rights

Print from 1856 showing speechifying in front of a crowd

Civil Dialogue

Watercolor portrait of a young Alexander Hamilton

Federalism

Close view of handwritten 19th century jury verdict, focusing on the words "We the Jury"

Jury System

Civil war era stationary with view of lady justice with flags and scales

Rule of Law

Black and white photograph showing the rear view of the White House, taken ca. 1860

Separation of Powers

Civil-Rights era poster with text "Civil RIghts is a challenge of Human Rights" and photos of three men who had been killed registering voters

Voting Rights

View All Topics

Implementing the Learning Guide in the Classroom

Sample Course Materials

The best advice I could give to a fellow educator teaching this course is: Engage students by connecting relevant aspects of civics to their daily lives through examples and subsequent discussions.

— Professor Anja Vojvodic, LaGuardia Community College

Student Projects

Here, you will find samples of three types of projects created by the students in this pilot course. Their projects showcase the many different ways that students can become civics educators in their communities.

Stamp with a message to "Vote for the Woman Suffrage Amendment" and a figure of a woman in white holding the US flag

LaGuardia Votes!

Learn why voting matters and why LaGuardia students should register to vote.

Read Voter Guide
Late nineteenth-century photograph by William Hicks Jackson of Colummar Basalts on Yellowstone River

Federalism and the Environment

Discover how the state can protect the environment if the national government won't.

View 'Zine
1850s Political Cartoon showing political figures with speech bubbles

Civil Dialogue Presentation

Guide a group through a difficult topic to have a productive conversation

Download Presentation

Acknowledgements

We thank the following scholars for creating the essays and videos in the learning guide

Headshot of Geraldo Cadava

Geraldo Cadava

Professor of History and the Wender-Lewis Teaching and Research Professor, Northwestern University

Headshot of Liette Gidlow

Liette Gidlow

Professor of History, Wayne State University

Headshot of Anna Law

Anna Law

Anna Law, Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights, Brooklyn College, CUNY

Headshot of Ajay Mehrota

Ajay Mehrotra

William G. and Virginia K. Karnes Research Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and Affiliated Professor of History, Northwestern University

Headshot of Kermit Roosevelt

Kermit Roosevelt

David Berger Professor of the Administration of Justice, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Headshot of Keidrick Roy

Keidrick Roy

Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows

Headshot of Rosemarie Zagarri

Rosemarie Zagarri

Professor of History, George Mason University

We thank our partners at LaGuardia Community College for piloting this program

Headshot of LaGuardia Community College President Kenneth Adams

Kenneth Adams

President, LaGuardia Community College

Headshot of LaGuardia Community College Professor Chelsea Del Rio

Chelsea Del Rio

Associate Professor of History, Social Science, & Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Headshot of LaGuardia Community College Associate Dean Dionne Miller

Dionne Miller

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Headshot of LaGuardia Professor Anja Vojvodic

Anja Vojvodic

Anja Vojvodic, Lecturer and Political Science Option Program Director

We thank our institutional partners

Logo for the Annenberg Public Policy Center

This project was funded by the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics, through its Civic Mission of the Nation Initiative.

Logo for LaGuardia Community College

A pilot project launched in Spring 2023 at LaGuardia Community College (Queens, NY) in a course offered by Professors Anja Vojvodic and Chelsea Del Rio. Students enrolled in this course included Debbie Avila, Lucia Chavira, Giovana Maldonado, and Brenda Pazaran.