A Teaching Note

Incorporating Popular Culture Into A History Classroom

Abstract

     Many historians, whether teaching in the schools or at the college level, moan when the ubiquitous popular culture begins to intrude into every aspect of our lives, including the classroom, making all of us somewhat unwilling participants in a version of reality television. Thus, there often is a natural reluctance by history teachers to grant space and time for popular culture in the classroom. On the other hand, popular culture is an essential aspect of the past as well as the present, ranging from Harriet Beecher's Stowe's Uncle Tom 's Cabin to MTV, the IPod, and the IPad. Bringing popular culture into the classroom should help teachers to gain the attention of some students seemingly obsessed with film, television, popular music, sport, and video games. But of greater significance is that the inclusion of popular culture should enrich student understanding and appreciation for the past. During the last quarter century, I often have incorporated popular culture into my eleventh-grade American history class and a senior history elective examining post-World War II America through the Hollywood narrative film. My experience with popular culture in these college preparatory classes has been a positive one and some of them could be incorporated on the college level as well as the schools. In fact, with increasing emphasis in the schools on teaching to the test, these observations might have more validity for teaching history at the college and university level.