The first ever Civic Season, held in 2021, was shaped by many hands. Here’s a record of all that we built, together, to shape the ongoing American story.
Head to this summer's Public Square to add your voice.
Let's Do ItIn 2021, these were suggestions for quick ideas to get started – feel free to make your own and share to our Zine for this summer!
The themes for the first Civic Season were generated through Socratic Dialogue conversations with students, historians and civic practitioners.
We encourage you to hold conversations in your community and with family and friends, and have provided a simple How-To Guide to make it easy. Feel free to share the outcomes of your conversations with us at info@historymadebyus.org.
Continue momentum with civic learning throughout the summer with this Civic Season guide for students and teachers from our partners at New American History. Get the Teacher Guide or Student Guide.
What should this new tradition look like – and how can our past set us up for a better future? We held a Socratic Dialogue conversation in History Club on Clubhouse, on Thursday June 3rd 2021. Hear what people had to share from many varied perspectives.
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Freedom – it’s more than a piece of paper. How can we redefine independence, freedom and rights with a new annual #CivicSeason that looks back at our past, and informs our future? We met in History Club for a deep dive into freedom, on June 17, 2021.
Read moreNews and views on the first-ever #CivicSeason from a variety of perspectives.
By Cameron Katz
It’s 2006, I’m six, and we’re watching ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ on the portable TV in the car.
The powerful thing about democracy is that it asks all of us to take part. Ready to work towards that “more perfect union?” Here are 10 ways to get started.
By Caroline Klibanoff
Rather than just hearing one story or one source, the Civic Season makes space for the multitude of voices that shape our nation.
by Claire Haley and Kristian Weatherspoon, Atlanta History Center
For us, Civic Season looks like a virtual Juneteenth celebration spanning the entire month of June.
by Kaz Brecher
We hosted three conversations to uncover themes and questions around this season.
by Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
The opportunities of Civic Season, from remembrances of the legacy of slavery on Juneteenth to Independence Day.
by Made By Us
After you take the quiz to identify your civic superpowers, meet those in the past who share your skills.
by Caroline Klibanoff
How we remember shapes what we remember. Holidays and rituals are living monuments — where past meets present.
by Patrick Madden, National Archives Foundation
The Civil Rights Movement took both individual and collective efforts on a local and national scale to make a dent toward progress.
Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE)
Elections have become the “main event” in our system of government. They take up a lot of oxygen of the overall civic engagement spectrum.
Lila Thulin, Smithsonian Magazine
Taking stock of our national history—stars and stripes, sins and successes—and then using it as a launching pad to move forward.
Some of our favorite programs of the Civic Season to increase your understanding of Black history, just in time for Juneteenth celebrations.
By Cameron Katz
Q&A with Jon Grinspan, curator at the Smithsonian, and Catie Macauley, a 16-year-old youth voting advocate.
Join us during the all-important corridor between Father’s Day and Independence Day for our third episode.
Chris Wilson, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
History is taking a place on the front burner of the national conversation.
Steve Smith, Civic Nebraska
Are you getting into The Civic Season? Here are 31 ways you can carry that enthusiasm into your community during these three weeks – and beyond.
Kahlil Greene
“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” Frederick Douglass famously said.
How to create change during the Civic Season and year-round.
Ready to shape this moment? There are hundreds of ways to get involved.
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