Upcoming Institutes

Using Last Seen Ads to Teach Slavery and Reconstruction (Summer 2025 Webinar Series)

On July 15 and 16, 2025, Humanities Texas will hold a webinar series to introduce teachers to the  Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery  project and accompanying resources available for classroom use.

Curriculum and Faculty

The webinar series will take place on Zoom from 1:00–2:30 p.m. CT on July 15 and 16, 2025. Attendance for both sessions is encouraged but not required.

This webinar series will introduce teachers to the Last Seen Project and the teaching materials developed for fifth- through twelfth-grade students. In the post-emancipation period, thousands of formerly enslaved people placed ads in African American newspapers published across the country. In these ads, they searched for family and loved ones from whom they had been separated as families were torn apart and trafficked through the domestic slave trade.

The Last Seen Project database has over 4,900 of these ads that teachers can use to teach this history. The website also has several freely downloadable ready-made lesson plans and a wide array of select primary sources that teachers can use to create their own sets of primary sources. There are over 600 ads either placed by formerly enslaved people in Texas or that mention being trafficked to Texas, making this collection an especially good resource for teaching Texas history.

During the webinars, participants will analyze ads, collaborate on ways to use ads in the classroom, create individualized collections of ads, and read short-story narratives based on the ads created especially for students. Teachers will receive concrete strategies and materials for using the ads to teach about slavery, the domestic slave trade, the lives of the enslaved, and Reconstruction.

Content will align with the TEKS. Like all Humanities Texas teacher programs, the webinar series will be content-based and teacher-centered, with an emphasis on teaching with primary sources and developing effective pedagogical strategies.

Signe Peterson Fourmy of The University of Texas at Austin will lead the webinar.

Eligibility

The webinar series is open to secondary-level humanities teachers in Texas schools.

CPE Credit

The online program is free to teachers and their schools. Participants will receive CPE credit and a wealth of curricular materials. Participants are encouraged, but not required, to attend both sessions. CPE hours will be based on Zoom attendance and adjusted if a participant misses any portion of the program. In order to attend the webinars and receive CPE credit, you must be a registered participant.

How to Apply

Complete the online application for the "Using Last Seen Ads to Teach About Slavery and Reconstruction" online series. Please apply as soon as possible, as registration will occur on a rolling basis.

Sponsors

The institute is made possible with major funding from the State of Texas, with ongoing support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.