If there’s such a thing as presenter-high, that’s me buzzing after an awesome session. The room’s energy, thoughtful questions, and post-talk conversations left me smiling and reflecting. Timely topic, real support for teachers. Grateful and inspired! @icivics.bsky.social @sxswedu.com #SpringBreak26

Join us today! 11-11:45 Room 412 Hilton Austin Downtown 🗺️🍎 @vannabbott.bsky.social @icivics.bsky.social @sxswedu.com

If you are attending the @sxswedu.com Conference, please stop by our session especially since it is Civics Week! #SpringBreak2026 #NHTOY @icivics.bsky.social

IT'S OFFICIAL. WE'RE GOING TO #SXSW2026! 😭 On March 18, join me and IWPR for a session titled "The Cost of Inclusion," where we will break down DEI rollbacks, Black women in our economy, and more. If you're coming, add our session here: schedule.sxsw.com/events/PP116...!

What do the NHTOY do on her first day of Spring Break! Of course, headed to the @sxswedu.com Conference in Austin, TX. #HistoryNerd @icivics.bsky.social @gliamericanhistory.bsky.social

Spent part of the morning reviewing page proofs for my upcoming article on religious literacy and the @socialstudies.org Religious Studies Companion Document. Always exciting to see research move one step closer to publication. Looking forward to sharing the final version soon. #religiousliteracy

Melanated and Unapologetic—Justice Jackson and Black Women Claiming Space is live on Substack. Reflecting on cultural roots, Anita Hill’s courage, and Black women’s persistence shaping history and the Court. open.substack.com/pub/valencia...

Mother Nature pushed our Black History Month meeting into March—but we know Black history is 365. 📚✨ Thank you to our RECHS History Club members who brought the soul with Soul Food! For some, it was their first taste of collard greens, cornbread, or sweet potato pie. History you can taste. 🥧🥬🌽

Mother Nature pushed our Black History Month meeting into March—but we know Black history is 365. 📚✨ Thank you to our RECHS History Club members who brought the soul with Soul Food! For some, it was their first taste of collard greens, cornbread, or sweet potato pie. History you can taste. 🥧🥬🌽

Switching out the bookshelves for Women's History Month! Can't get students to read as much as I want, but still gonna be a classroom of books! #Read

I’m really struggling to imagine Congress without Rep Jasmine Crockett next year. We need more fighters, not fewer.

Years ago, I added 1984 to my Civics course because it felt necessary. Last year, I considered replacing it. Something told me not to. Grading projects, I’m struck by how less “fiction” it feels to my classroom. That realization is unsettling. The novel stays—for now. And that saddens me.

📢 Teachers — I am collecting stories for my upcoming book Bringing Religious Literacy to the Classroom: Global Competence for K-12 Social Studies (@routledgebooks.bsky.social ). 👉 More info & Share here: bit.ly/BRL2theClass... Deadline: April 1, 2026 #religiousliteracy #globalcompetence

In praise of archivists and librarians at HBCUs: jacksonadvocateonline.com/from-tuskege...

A month of reflections on Black faith, community, and the men of Griggs v. Duke Power comes together in one essay. Explore how the Black church preserved memory, nurtured leadership, and held history in its pews. open.substack.com/pub/valencia...

Day 2 wrapped strong with way more educators than I expected for my session on the final day and the final session of the conference. Deeply grateful for the educators who came through with energy, questions, and community. Winston-Salem was a powerful setting for NCCSS’s new chapter. #NHTOY

Day 1 of the North Carolina Social Studies Conference done! #NHTOY #NCCSS2026

Our Pulitzer-winning "Friends of the Court" series began with this story that revealed how SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas had, for 20+ years, been treated to undisclosed luxury vacations by real estate titan and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. (Published April 2023)

“Black history isn’t just what happened, but how communities learned to survive systems designed to erase them. This week’s Black Friday History post: The Fathers We Don’t See in the Footnotes: Reclaiming Black Men from the Case File open.substack.com/pub/valencia...

Friends in the D.C. area. Don't miss @brianjoneseducator.bsky.social & @edgeofsports.bsky.social in person on Wednesday Feb. 25 at @busboysandpoets.bsky.social (14th & V). Hosted by @teachingchange.bsky.social & BBP. Books onsite for purchase & signing. Order from menu throughout the event.

When I need a trusted source for teacher resources, ZEP (@zinnedproject.bsky.social) is always at the top of my list. And now, to see a “Forever Student” return to pour into our current scholars, that’s the power of teaching, of people, and of platforms like Zinn Education Project. ✊🏾📚

Of all the teacher duties I do in my classroom, one of my absolute favorites is switching out my bookcase to display and highlight the month’s theme! So loving Black History Month to spotlight one of the historians I am adding to my Fav List. Thank you, ZEP, for getting me his latest! 📚 #Read

A Friday happy hour toast to: Bad Bunny—for his gorgeous joyous inclusiveness Teal Robe Lady in Minnesota—for standing up for good & being a bad ass Uncelebrated people around the USA helping neighbors. I celebrate you Good teachers, librarians, & those standing tall for facts We the People

Matthew Delmont joins David, Torie, and David Maraniss to discuss Until the Last Gun Is Silent, his examination of Black activism during the Vietnam War. Coretta Scott King and Dwight “Skip” Johnson get their due. If you think you know this chapter of history, think again. 🎙️📚 Listen" buff.ly/OW9tVyM

#TDIH 1946 Black WWII vet Isaac Woodard beaten & blinded by white SC police chief. Learn how Woodard & NAACP organized, and Orson Welles took up his case on the air, in new @radiodiaries.bsky.social series. They galvanized support for Army desegregation." ⬇️ www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/is...

I had to watch this twice to fully appreciate the Blackness of it. LOL

Thank you to everyone who celebrated with me 🖤 Honored to be named NCHE’s 2026 Paul A. Gagnon Prize recipient. Join us in Montgomery (March 2026) for my session, Road Tripping Through Black Routes & Resistance. Playlist recommendations welcome!

If you are an educator, scholar, or community leader committed to justice-centered education, I strongly encourage you register an learn more!

If you are an educator, scholar, or community leader committed to justice-centered education, I strongly encourage you to register for this event!

Right now, communities across the country are showing up for one another. That's not new, it's what people have always done. As history educators, you help students see that legacy: the long line of people who chose connection and solidarity. Take care of yourselves and each other. We're with you.

Thank you @historyed.bsky.social NCHE for this honor!!

Fugitive Slave Act forced question: "Were Northerners prepared to watch their neighbors, many of whom had lived in their communities for years, be violently removed from their homes or grabbed off the streets? For many, answer was no." - @jelaniya.bsky.social Read ⬇️ www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

Black History Month is a time to recognize the lived, shared experience of all Black folks who have fundamentally shaped, challenged, and ultimately strengthened America. It’s about taking an unvarnished look at the past so that we can create a better future.

Matt Delmont is speaking in our Teach the Black Freedom Struggle series on April 13. Please send a teaching story about your project using Half American and we'll send books in appreciation www.zinnedproject.org/news/free-bo... www.zinnedproject.org/news/until-t...

Snow days = time to build something meaningful ❄️📚 Finalizing my #NCCSSVoice presentation, Africa to Carolina: Water as Salve and Salvation. Born from a teacher PD space that no longer exists still felt, still needed. The work continues. Hope to see you there. #NHTOY2025 #NCHTOY2025

Third Dr. Delmont book loading… 📚✨ Grateful to @zinnedproject.bsky.social for feeding my historian heart. This makes book three by Dr. Matthew Delmont, and if the first two taught me anything, this one will linger. #AlwaysLearning #HistoryNerd #NHTOY #NCHTOY #Read

This is hilarious!! 🤣 🤣

Snow days = time to build something meaningful ❄️📚 Finalizing my #NCCSSVoice presentation, Africa to Carolina: Water as Salve and Salvation. Born from a teacher PD space that no longer exists still felt, still needed. The work continues. Hope to see you there. #NHTOY2025 #NCHTOY2025

The first thing Virginia Spanberger did after being sworn in as Governor of Virginia was repeal Youngkin’s executive order requiring state and local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE. This is the kind of leadership Democratic governors nationwide should be emulating.

January 14, 2026 From Classroom to Community: A National History Teacher’s Journey www.dpi.nc.gov/blog/2026/01...

Love sharing my nerdy and pedagogical history topics with other educators, but for me, every presentation is an opportunity to dig deeper into a subject that is a seed of passion. Mia Bay’s book is becoming an indispensable source as I put my presentation together. 🔥📖 @historyed.bsky.social

Coogler's use of the Choctaw points to a larger intersection here, that is that Native Americans were also a crucial part of the mixture that gave us modern music: www.theguardian.com/music/2017/j... It is significant, tying into the larger themes of music to come. #Sinners #HATM

Love sharing my nerdy and pedagogical history topics with other educators, but for me, every presentation is an opportunity to dig deeper into a subject that is a seed of passion. Mia Bay’s book is becoming an indispensable source as I put my presentation together. 🔥📖 @historyed.bsky.social

January 14, 2026 From Classroom to Community: A National History Teacher’s Journey www.dpi.nc.gov/blog/2026/01...

#tdih 1865 Demands by Black ministers after Ebenezer Creek Massacre led to Special Field Order #15: a short-lived land distribution to freed people. They established civic institutions, schools, militia (for defense from Klan), & more. #TeachReconstruction 🧵 www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/sp...

"I could not move, because history had me glued to the seat. . . It felt like Sojourner Truth’s hands were pushing me down on one shoulder & Harriet Tubman’s hands were pushing me down on another shoulder, & I could not move." — Claudette Colvin Claudette Colvin ¡Presente! has died at age 86. 💔

Does anyone know of an African American man or woman, who lived in Boston during the Civil War, who left a diary or correspondence that covers this history? It could be published in some form or located in an archive. Thank you.

It's time to officially let X/Twitter go. That platform's decline from a vibrant public square to what is now a platform for hate & disinformation has been painful to experience. I’ve already in this great community & look forward to continuing our conversations. www.reuters.com/business/med...

😬

ICE used pepper spray on students at a school in Minneapolis last week. We need ICE out of schools. Send a letter to Congress right now. actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...