Let's Learn

This curriculum incorporates the work of our founder, Tiya Miles, into a lesson on Native Americans and the Underground Railroad. We're excited to share it. We hope you'll take a look!

The Freedom Seekers Curriculum

We are delighted to learn that Tiya Miles' article Native Americans and the Underground Railroad, featured on the National Park Service website, is being used in the Freedom Seekers curriculum, a collaborative project between several organizations and schools throughout the Great Lakes.

As described in the project announcement on the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant website: The Freedom Seekers curriculum is a collaborative project between several organizations and schools throughout the Great Lakes. It is part of a professional development effort for educators to increase their knowledge of the Great Lakes and environmental issues while incorporating Environmental Justice Education (EJE) approaches to K-12 teaching. These EJE approaches leverage cross-curricular connections that focus on increasing the awareness of local issues and history in the Great Lakes region.

These lessons introduce an innovative way students can engage in place-based learning by discovering their local history with the Underground Railroad and its connection to the Great Lakes. Curriculum topics include maritime connections to the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, how to conduct historical research, how race and historical US Census data connect to the Underground Railroad, and famous Black scientists and inventors. Read the full announcement.

Tiya's work is used in Lesson 8 - Native Americans and the Underground Railroad and begins on page 59. View the lesson series online or download the PDF.