135th American Historical Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, January 6-9, 2022

With the paper “Medieval Perspectives on Modern Crises: Teaching the Middle Ages in a Time of White Nationalism,” the Medievalist Toolkit took part in a panel discussion featuring professional historians of the Middle Ages and high school educators. The Medievalist Toolkit was invited to send a representative to be on the panel. The discussion explored two topics in detail. The first focused on how teachers can better respond to the radicalization of students outside the classroom. Several teachers in the audience shared their alarm at how radicalizing online content often reached students prior to class units covering the Middle Ages. This shaped students’ understanding of the period in harmful ways and meant instructors faced an uphill battle in correcting common misconceptions. The second topic explored ways in which curriculums can better decenter Europe and showcase a global view of the Middle Ages.