Purpose
Students investigate: How can we turn historical examples of Black organizing into a useful, ethical guide for present-day organizers facing complex decisions? Beginning with a mini-salon, organizer panel, artifact gallery walk, and design challenge, teams research maroon communities, abolitionist movements, the Underground Railroad, Black political organizing, and Juneteenth using archival and community sources with support from the Schomburg Center. They interview organizers, analyze benefits and harms, and collaborate with Center for Urban Pedagogy mentors to design, test, and revise an app, workshop kit, or field guide that supports trust-building, safety planning, and coalition strategy without treating past and present conditions as interchangeable. Through sprint reviews, reflection conferences, rubrics, self-assessment, and partner feedback, students document growth and present their historically accurate, accessible tool and its evolution at a public From History to Action Expo.
Learning goals
Students will synthesize archival and literary evidence about maroon communities, abolitionist movements, the Underground Railroad, Black political organizing, and Juneteenth to create accurate case studies of trust, communication, safety, coalition-building, and collective strategy. They will evaluate differing perspectives, interview organizers, and translate partner needs and historical insights into ethical design criteria without treating past and present conditions as interchangeable. Teams will collaboratively design and test an app, interactive website, facilitation kit, or field guide, analyzing its usefulness, accessibility, clarity, and potential benefits and harms. Students will use organizer, Schomburg, CUP, peer, and teacher feedback to revise prototypes, assess their growth, and communicate their evidence-based design decisions at a public showcase.
Products
Teams will create organizer interview notes, source evaluations, historically accurate case studies, and design criteria grounded in archival materials from the Schomburg Center. They will develop and compare concepts for an app or interactive website, a facilitation guide or workshop kit, and a digital or print field guide, including an analysis of potential benefits and harms of any emerging technology used. With CUP mentors and organizers, teams will produce multiple prototypes, testing records, rubric-based self-assessments, partner feedback summaries, and revision logs focused on accuracy, usefulness, clarity, accessibility, and ethical design. Each team will deliver a polished organizing tool and present its evolution through a live pitch, hands-on demonstration, and reflection at the From History to Action Expo.
Launch
Launch with a two-day “From History to Action” mini-salon featuring an organizer panel and story stations on maroon communities, abolitionist movements, the Underground Railroad, and Black political organizing. Students examine artifact reproductions and archival materials from the Schomburg Center, noting how communities built trust, communication networks, safety, and collective strategy. Teams then complete a rapid design challenge using one historical case to sketch an ethical tool for a current organizing dilemma, with CUP mentors offering feedback on clarity and visual communication. Students share prototypes, identify the risks of treating past and present conditions as interchangeable, and choose an organizing challenge for deeper study.
Exhibition
Host a public “From History to Action Expo” where teams present a live pitch and hands-on demonstration of their app, workshop kit, or field guide. Organizers, Schomburg archivists, CUP designers, teachers, and community members test each tool and provide feedback on its usefulness, accessibility, historical accuracy, and ethical design. Each team shares a brief prototype-to-final story highlighting how research, critique, and partner feedback shaped its revisions, then formally hands off the finished resource to its intended partner.
