Minnesota Humanities Center

Rochester - Headscarf Story Circle Series
2025-11-15 12:00 - 14:30 (America/Chicago) | Rochester Area Economic Development Inc (RAEDI), 221 1st Ave SW, Suite 600, Rochester, 55902, United States
The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) is excited to host Headscarf Story Circle – a series of offerings that recognize the strength and resiliency of women. Join us for our first of three offerings in Rochester as we gather together through the shared connection of the headscarf and its complexity. “Women Balancing Entrepreneurship and their own Wellness” is the theme.
This event is co-hosted by Rochester Women Magazine with Tawonda Burk, Publisher/Owner and features inspiring speakers from the Rochester community.
The Host Partner: Tawonda Burks, ABD, MBA is an educator, entrepreneur, and community leader dedicated to advancing economic opportunity and equity. She is the owner and publisher of Rochester Women Magazine, founder of the Minority Owned Business Foundation, and CEO of ELOCINA. Through her work, Tawonda champions entrepreneurship, leadership, and wealth-building across Southeast Minnesota.
The Keynote Speaker: Psalms T. Frye is the Founder and Owner of Peace and Compassion Birth Services, LLC and an advocate for black maternal health justice. Psalms has been a DONA certified birth doula for 5 years and is also a certified lactation counselor (CLC). She holds a Master’s in Business Administration and a Master’s in Theological Studies from Liberty University. She is married to Sidney Frye I and is a homeschool mom to their six children. Psalms enjoys hiking at National Parks with her family, reading books on parenting, and learning new things about birth that she can share with her clients to help them have an empowered birth experience.
Speaker: Manal Abbadi is a Senior Program Coordinator at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she assists with the development and implementation of evidence-based, community-informed strategies aimed at advancing cancer education, prevention, and research participation among populations across the Midwest. With a background in legal advocacy and a strong foundation in community-based programming, she specializes in stakeholder engagement, health equity, and project management. Her work focuses on building sustainable, trust-based partnerships that address cancer disparities and ensure community voices are embedded throughout the research continuum. Manal is a mother to young children, who keep her active and engaged in their daily activities.
Speaker: Asha Aden is a Rochester resident committed to equity, love, and justice. She graduated from Luther College in 2020 with degrees in political science and religion. As an engaged member of the Rochester community, Asha is passionate about intersectional and interfaith work, which form the foundation of her activism and personal belief. She is committed to continuous learning and unlearning.
Guests are encouraged to wear a headscarf or head dress that is symbolic of anything from a fashion statement, cultural identity, health related, or memories, and beliefs.
Learn More About Headscarf Story Circles
Learn more about Headscarf Story Circles program in this video produced by the Minnesota Humanities Center.

Registration
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

Staples - K-8 Social Studies Standards Workshop
2025-11-18 08:30 - 14:30 | Sourcewell, 202 12th Street NE, Staples, MN, 56479, United States
We invite K-8 social studies educators to a workshop that will provide an overview of the new 2021 Minnesota social studies standards. This workshop includes time for teachers to work together to bundle benchmarks into cohesive, interdisciplinary instructional units. Participants will also have work time to start aligning these units with existing resources and primary sources.
A collaboration between Sourcewell and the Minnesota Humanities Center, this workshop will be led by Sourcewell education consultant Jen McLachlan and will feature Brittany Rawson Haeg, Social Studies Content Lead for the Minnesota Department of Education.
Workshop Leader
Jen McLachlan serves as an education consultant at Sourcewell, lending her expertise to programs such as ElevatePD, New Teacher Academy, and the Social Studies Network. With a background as a middle-level educator in both math and social studies, as well as serving on a school board, she is deeply passionate about empowering teachers to become innovators and catalysts for change.
Workshop Presenter
Brittany Rawson Haeg is the Social Studies Content Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education. She began her teaching career as a high school social studies teacher in Brooklyn, New York. She taught middle and high school social studies in the Twin Cities. Prior to teaching, she was a staff assistant in the New York City Department of Education Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. She believes in the power of social studies education to help students develop greater empathy and understanding.
Registration
$60 per participant from districts in the five-county service area and partner schools; Comprehensive Package pricing: $6 per participant; $80 per participant from all other schools; Lunch provided.
For more information and to register, visit the Sourcewell event listing.

Online - Digging Into Disciplinary Sources K-12
2025-11-19 07:30 - 08:30 | https://www.mnhum.org/event/online-digging-into-disciplinary-sources-k-12/
Learn how to identify, evaluate, and integrate disciplinary sources effectively. This session will provide strategies for engaging students with primary and secondary sources to develop their disciplinary literacy skills.
The Minnesota Department of Education, in partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center, will host virtual and in-person sessions to support planning for and implementation of the 2021 K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies, held monthly during the 2025–26 school year. These sessions are open to anyone with building or district-level responsibilities for curriculum planning and development in all social studies content areas, including curriculum directors, department leads, and teachers. Pre-registration is required for in-person sessions.
Virtual sessions will have content similar to in-person sessions, and whenever possible will feature the same speakers.
In-person sessions will be an hour longer than virtual sessions and will allow time for supported collaborative work and networking.
While districts are encouraged to have a representative at each monthly session, either in-person or virtual, participants do not need to commit to attending all nine sessions. Participants are also welcome to attend either session type throughout the year, as is best suited to their needs and schedule.
K-12 educators will receive 1 clock hour.
Registration
Registration Questions: brittany.rawson-haeg@state.mn.us
Register Now

St. Paul – Celebrating Native Language and Culture Through the Joy of Games
2025-11-19 18:00 - 20:30 | Minnesota Humanities Event Center, 987 Ivy Avenue East, Saint Paul, MN, 55106, United States
Put the cellphones away and join us for an evening of fun, food, and cultural connection. This National Native American Heritage Month, the Minnesota Humanities Center welcomes Tony Drews and Nashke Native Games for a lively, intergenerational game night.
Unlike mainstream board games that reflect dominant cultural experiences, Nashke Native Games center Ojibwe language, stories, and values, offering a playful way to engage with culture, strengthen family and community bonds, and support language preservation. The evening begins with a light dinner from Trickster Tacos and conversation from 6:00–6:30 p.m., followed by games starting at 6:30 p.m.
As part of the evening, guests will also have a chance to participate in a raffle for prizes, including items from Nashke Native Games and books from Native American Lives, the Minnesota Humanities Center’s biography series highlighting Native voices. One title, “Charles Albert Bender: National Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher,” tells the story of Bender and his passion for baseball – a reminder that games, in all forms, bring people together.
Educators and cultural leaders will discover practical ideas for integrating play into classrooms and community work. Whether you come with family, friends, or on your own, you’ll leave with new words, fresh insights, and a deeper appreciation for the power of play in preserving culture and fostering connection. Everyone is welcome—families, educators, and community members ages 10 and up.
K-12 Educators will receive 2 clock hours.
Registration
Registration for this event has SOLD OUT. Please join the waitlist. If a spot becomes available, we will contact you in the order received.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Join the Waitlist

Minneapolis - Digging Into Disciplinary Sources K-12
2025-11-20 09:00 - 11:00 | Minnesota Department of Education, 400 NE Stinson Blvd, Minneapolis, MN, 55413, United States
Learn how to identify, evaluate, and integrate disciplinary sources effectively. This session will provide strategies for engaging students with primary and secondary sources to develop their disciplinary literacy skills.
The Minnesota Department of Education, in partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center, will host virtual and in-person sessions to support planning for and implementation of the 2021 K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies, held monthly during the 2025–26 school year. These sessions are open to anyone with building or district-level responsibilities for curriculum planning and development in all social studies content areas, including curriculum directors, department leads, and teachers. Pre-registration is required for in-person sessions.
Virtual sessions will have content similar to in-person sessions, and whenever possible will feature the same speakers.
In-person sessions will be an hour longer than virtual sessions and will allow time for supported collaborative work and networking.
While districts are encouraged to have a representative at each monthly session, either in-person or virtual, participants do not need to commit to attending all nine sessions. Participants are also welcome to attend either session type throughout the year, as is best suited to their needs and schedule.
K-12 educators will receive 2 clock hours.
Registration
Registration Questions: brittany.rawson-haeg@state.mn.us
Register Now

St. Paul - From Mountains to Lakes: Celebrate HERstory
2025-11-24 18:00 - 20:00 | Minnesota Humanities Event Center, 987 Ivy Avenue East, Saint Paul, MN, 55106, United States
Join the Minnesota Humanities Center and Hnub Tshiab: Hmong Women Achieving Together (HWAT) as we celebrate with Kaohly Vang Her a defining moment in St. Paul and Hmong history, the election of Her as St. Paul’s first women and first Hmong mayor. From refugee beginnings to civic leadership, the Hmong story is one of strength, courage, and transformation. Together, we will enjoy food, hear from inspiring speakers and performers, and reflect on what this moment means for all of us.
Program
6:00pm: Social and Appetizers
6:30pm: Program Begins
7:45pm: Photos with St. Paul Mayor Elect Kaohly Vang Her
8:00pm: Program Concludes
Registration
Registration for this event has closed.

Online Content Session - Era Four: Imperial Expansion and Native Dispossession
2025-12-02 16:00 - 17:30 | Online
Trace the effects of U.S. expansion on Native nations and examine how policies of land seizure and sovereignty denial shaped the 19th century. Led by Dr. David Aiona Chang and moderated by Dr. Katharine Gerbner, this session will provide deep historical context, source analysis, and thematic framing.

View Dr. David Aiona Chang’s Bio

I am a Native Hawaiian historian of Indigenous people, colonialism, borders and migration in Hawaii and North America, focusing especially on the histories of Native American and Native Hawaiian people. My work moves between hyperlocal and global scales while centering the perspectives and experiences of Indigenous people and integrating close textual analysis, granular social history, theoretically informed analysis of race, gender, sexuality and nationalism, and Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies.

My second book, The World and All the Things Upon It: Native Hawaiian Geographies of Exploration was published in 2016 by the University of Minnesota Press. It speaks to a foundational imperative in Indigenous studies: the need to not just understand Indigenous people from their own perspectives, but to understand the world from their perspectives as well. It traces the ways that Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) explored the outside world and generated understandings of their place in it in the century and half after James Cook stumbled on their islands in 1778. In doing so, this book examines indigenous people as the active agents of global exploration, rather than the passive objects of that exploration, broadening our understanding of geographical knowledge production and power in the context of colonialism.

My first book, The Color of the Land, argues for the central place of struggles over the ownership of Native American lands in the history of racial and national construction by Creeks, African Americans, and whites in the Creek Nation and eastern Oklahoma. The Color of the Land was awarded the 2010 Theodore Saloutos Prize for best book in agricultural history from the Agricultural History Society and was granted Honorable Mention in the competition for the American Studies Association’s 2011 Lora Romero First Book Prize.

All Content Sessions will be conducted via Zoom and a Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)-hosted Canvas learning community. Each session’s lectures and discussions will be recorded and registered participants will receive access to the Canvas course with session recordings, curated resources, and collaborative planning tools.

High school U.S. History teachers and 5th and 7th grade educators are invited to participate in companion Pedagogy Sessions.

Registration
Content Sessions are open to all K–12 educators interested in historical content and source-based instruction. Educators are welcome to register for individual sessions that align with their interests and schedules. Join us for one or more sessions throughout the year.

This event is free but registration is required. Separate registration is required for each offering.

Registration Questions: Brittany.Rawson-Haeg@state.mn.us

Register Now

This offering is part of Navigating the U.S. History Eras: Content, Pedagogy, and Inquiry in the Classroom is a yearlong professional learning opportunity supporting implementation of Minnesota’s 2021 K–12 Academic Standards in Social Studies presented by MHC and MDE.

St. Paul - From Mountains to Lakes: The Museums We Carry
2025-12-03 08:00 - 16:00 | Minnesota Humanities Event Center, 987 Ivy Avenue East, Saint Paul, MN, 55106, United States
Across mountains, oceans, generations, and borders, the Hmong people have carried songs, textiles, and rituals that tell the stories of their identity for hundreds of years. Elders serve as living museums, passing knowledge from one generation to the next. Yet what happens when that transfer is disrupted, when younger generations reach for knowledge through the internet or AI, without understanding that Hmong truths live in many forms, shaped by clan, dialect, nationalism, and landscapes across the globe?
From Mountains to Lakes: The Museums We Carry is a daylong retreat that brings together Hmong cultural bearers, educators, and community leaders to examine the dangers of cultural extinction and explore collective ways to preserve identity. Held at the Hoċokata Ti Cultural Center, participants will engage in a guided learning experience led by members of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, reflecting on how Indigenous peoples sustain culture, language, and identity across generations. The retreat concludes with a collective reflection on the challenges ahead and a call to action to carry these living museums forward together.
Agenda:

8:00am Check-in at Minnesota Humanities Center, light continental breakfast will be served (8:00am – 8:45am)
8:45am Load Bus
9:00am Travel to Hocokata Ti Culture Center (Shakopee, MN)
9:45am Culture & Exhibit Tour (indoor & outdoor)
Noon Indigenous Lunch & Culture Exchange Panel Discussion
2:00pm Depart Hocokata Ti Culture Center and return to MHC
3:00pm Reflection
4:00pm Adjourn

K-12 Educators will receive 4 clock hours. Participants are welcome to wear traditional clothing.
Registration
Registration for this event has SOLD OUT.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
