Praise for Remedial Herstory

"I just want to applaud your project, which I think is essential... Your idea is courageous and this work is sorely needed!"
--A Woman's History Professor, PhD

"You ladies seem extremely fun to be around, and your intelligence shines through. Thank you for taking the time to put this together."
--A Homeschooling Mom

"Everything was exceptional. I learned so much. I am so grateful for all the resources!... I am going to use all the resources shared in my courses this fall!"
--A History Teacher
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"This podcast is so powerful. As an educator, parent, and citizen, we all need to listen and learn... Bravo to this team, as I continue to listen I am not only learning but questioning and challenging myself to grow and be better."
​--An English Teacher

What are you looking for?

We have so many tools and resources on our site, it can sometimes be hard to find what you need. Below is a handy tool kit to get you there.

Lesson Plans

We have dozens of inquiry-based lesson plans on our site for both US and World history and links to many more lessons created by others. Navigate to the Lesson Plans Dashboard to find 7-12 Lessons for both and to K-6 Lessons for tools for younger students.

Books

We don't know what we don't know and our educations have failed to give us comprehensive women's history. Start your journey by reading. Check out our list, in chronological order, of women's history books we love at Reading, under Resources. You can also join our Book Club!

Films

Bring women's history to life in your classroom with our film recommendations that pass the Feminist-film test. You can find them at Films, under Resources. We also recommend short clips under our Lesson Plans. Or, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel and find all sorts of videos from Others in our playlists.

Professional Development

We have live PD offered biannually in August and February. You can always register to get access to recordings of PD you missed. Head over to Professional Development for paid certificate opportunities or tune into our Podcast for free teacher training and tools.

Gear

Women's history and RHP gear is all the rage and will spice up your wardrobe. You can buy it at our Store or get it shipped to you throughout the year by becoming a Patron and making a monthly contribution to our work. 

Other

Project Based Learning got you down? We have a growing list of women we think would make excellent research topics in your class on our Women page and tools for doing NHD in your classroom. We also have a Calendar of events in women's history you could start each day of the year with!

You can watch the livestream of our TEDx Talk here. Kelsie and Brooke come on at 1:46.

 “It is flagrantly unjust to keep women out, by whatever unconscious means we do so; and we simply cannot afford to do without women’s expertise… If that means fewer men get into the legislature as it must do – social change always has its losers as well as its winners – I am happy to look those men in the eye.“ –Mary Beard, Women and Power, p.86.  

“Although standards are standards, in reality, they're all pretty vague. How you interpret these standards and what you decide to include and exclude is a powerful political choice. And I ask you to exercise that agency and not shy away from issues critical to women's humanity.” --Alex Cuenca, Board Member for NCSS at the "Where are the Women? Summit"

THANK YOU to our SUPPORTERS and PATRONS:
Jeff Eckert
Barbara Tischler
Brooke Sullivan
Christian Bourdo
Kent Heckel
Jami Heckel
Jenna Koloski
Nancy Heckel
Megan Torrey-Payne
Leah Tanger
Mark Bryer
Nicole Woulfe
Anne Larson
Sarah Reardon
Alicia Guitierrez-Romine
Katya Miller
Michelle Stonis
Jessica Freire
Laura Holiday
​Jacqui Nelson

Why the name "Remedial" Herstory?

While in the process of turning her research on social studies education and women's studies into the founding of The Remedial Herstory Project, organization founder Kelsie Eckert was lost on a name for the new organization. So many sources were named "Herstory" in different variations, but few were actually about women's history. In her spare time, she was feverously reading women's history books, including Gloria Steinem's collection of essays, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, when she stumbled upon a line about women's studies that resonated. Digging deeper, Eckert found an interview where Steinem elaborated:

"Women's history and women's studies are absolutely crucial for all students. Maybe we should call them 'remedial studies', which is what they really are- and will remain until we have human history and human studies."

Steinem goes on:

"For instance, in 1976, Devaki and I thought we had a  great idea to take Gandhi's letters and writings and make a little book or pamphlet for women's movements around the world, since his non-violent tactics were so well suited to women's movements. And we were going full steam, interviewing people and so on until we came to Kamaladevi (Chattopadhyaya). She listened to us with great patience and then she said, 'Well, my dear, we taught him every thing he knew.' The methods he used were often the methods the women's movement used in fighting sati and child marriage. The independence movement subsumed and absorbed them, so we end up looking to or wait ing for another Gandhi for what we ourselves invented. That is the great penalty of the absence of women's history: you not only have to reinvent the wheel, but you end up by being grateful to men instead of honouring what women have accomplished - and continue to accomplish. There's a quote: 'I honoured dead men for their strength, forgetting I was strong.' In that sense I am very grateful to women's studies - very, very grateful."

You can examine this full interview using the citation below. For Eckert, this quote was everything: a summation of the continuing problem in K-12 education even if it was resolved at universities, a bitter stab at her own education, and a rallying cry. How bizarre that Steinem's experience in the 1970's was so similar to that of a woman born a decade later trying to teach inclusive history, but failing.

Remedial Herstory co-founder, Brooke Sullivan, often laments that "Remedial Herstory" is too hard to pronounce, and she is probably not wrong. But the story behind the name has provided fuel to our mission.

Steinem, Gloria, Meenakshi Mukherjee, and Ira Pande. “A Conversation with Gloria Steinem.” India International Centre Quarterly 34, no. 2 (2007): 90–105. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23006309.