Historic Decisions Guides

During a Historic Decisions forum, participants deliberate about the options which were available at the time for addressing a shared ethical dilemma. Engaging with our history through this problem-based approach nurtures the commitment, knowledge, and skills needed for participating in our democracy today. Democracy, understood in this way, is not limited to what governments do, but about how everyday people can make decisions about the challenges of living well together. To learn more, click here to read Historic Decisions: Looking Deliberatively at the Past. Click here to see Creating and Using Historic Decisions Issue Guides: An Online Introduction.

 

1963 - Separate & Unequal: How Can We Provide a Better Education for Boston’s African American Students?
1976 - The Japanese American Incarceration: How Should A Wrong Be Righted?
1956: What Should Be Done To Ease Tensions In Montgomery?
The Long Road Home: What Should the United States Do About Those Still Suffering from World War II? (1952)
Forging a New City: How Should We Shape Modern Pittsburgh? (1946)
Learning From Catastrophe: What Should We Do To Prevent World War III? (1945)
Woman Suffrage and World War I: What Should Woman Suffrage Advocates Do in Response to the Great War? (1917)
World at War: What Role Should the United States Play in International Conflicts? (1915)
Hetch Hetchy: What Kind of Relationship Should We Have with Our Environment? (1906)
What Rights and Opportunities Should Be Afforded to African Americans? (1866)
“Bleeding Kansas”: How Do We Tend to Our Expanding Nation? (1857)
Slavery or Freedom Forever: What’s at Stake in the Kansas-Nebraska Act? (1854)
1965 - The Hart-Celler Act: What Would a Fair Immigration System Look Like?
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: What Do You Do When the Border Crosses You? (1848)
The Pueblo Revolt: What Should be Done in the Face of Oppression? (1678)
The Creek War of 1813-14: What Would You Do?
A New Land: What Kind of Government Should We Have? (1787)
1776: What Should We Do?