Read Along with the Teacher's Institute

St. John’s College Teachers Institute is a place for educators to reinvigorate themselves and return to their classrooms refreshed and inspired.  Every year, despite their demanding schedules, teachers from all over the world join us in-person and virtually to read important books and exchange ideas with a network of educators who value the life of the mind.

If you are an educator that couldn’t join us this summer, below is a reading list for this year’s seminar.  It is a demanding list of books.  Are you up for the challenge?  

Summer Teacher’s Institute 2021
Reflections on Inequality

Day 1 – Monday, July 26th
Morning Seminar:
The Declaration of Independence
The U.S. Constitution
The Bill of Rights
Federalist #54
Afternoon Seminar:
Selections from the Dred Scott Decision
Justice Curtis’ Dissent

Day 2 – Tuesday, July 27th
Morning Seminar:
Lincoln: Fragment on The Constitution and the Union
Speech on the Dred Scott Decision
Selections from Debates with Douglas (7th Debate)
My Paramount Object, Gettysburg Address
Afternoon Seminar:
Frederick Douglass, “The Constitution of the United States: Is It Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery?”
“Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln”

Day 3 – Wednesday, July 28th
Morning Seminar:
Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass
Afternoon Seminar:
DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk, selections. Library of America

Day 4 – Thursday, July 29th
Morning Seminar:
Zora Neale Hurston, “Sweat”