Join the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and leading educators from around the country for a two-day teacher seminar at the VOC Museum to explore how America’s founding document inspired liberty movements and liberty champions across the globe. Participating teachers will receive a travel and lodging stipend, as well as a certificate upon completion of the seminar. For more information, please email Milda Mataciunaite-Boyce at Milda.Boyce@victimsofcommunism.org.
Day 1: Panels
Panel One: Domestic Reverberations (1:00 – 2:00 PM)
What are the claims of the Declaration of Independence, and what differentiates it from other declarations, announcements, and revolutionary claims? Was this the beginning of a ‘revolution’ that violently overthrew the existing social order, or something else? What was uniquely American, rooted in both the thought and practice of the colonial period (1620-1776)? How have the claims of America’s charter been understood by Americans over the past 250 years?
Panelists:
Professor Mark David Hall, Regent University
Professor Flagg Taylor, Miami University
Dr. Elizabeth Edwards Spalding, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Dr. Eric Patterson (Moderator), Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Panel Two: International Reverberations (2:15 – 3:15 PM)
How has the Declaration of Independence been understood and influential in the Western Hemisphere? This panel specifically looks at contemporary freedom movements, such as in Cuba and Venezuela, and their ties to the ideas of the American “revolution of ideas” rooted in the claims of the Declaration of Independence.
Panelists:
Yuri Perez, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Dr. Deborah O’Malley, University of Toledo
John Suarez, Center for a Free Cuba
Ken Pope (Moderator), Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Break
Invitation to VOC’s Captive Nations Summit (4:00 – 5:15 PM)
—————–
Day 2: Teachers Workshop at the VOC Museum
Session 1: The Unity and Logic of the Declaration of Independence (9:30 – 10:15 AM)
Presenter: Professor Flagg Taylor, Miami University
Session 2: Teaching Liberty vs. Communism: Resources and Methods (10:30 AM – 11:45 PM)
Presenter: Catherine O’Connor
Presenter: Rebekah Pignaloso
Lunch break
Session 3: The Declaration and its Global Influence (1:15 – 2:15 PM)
One scholar observes that the Declaration of Independence has been the model for over 200 declarations, not to mention countless other political speeches and statements, over the past 250 years. What are some of the most important contexts for its impact? How and why has this document been so influential in so many contrasting times and places?
Panelists:
Dr. Eric Patterson, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Dr. Matthew Slaboch, Arizona State University
Dr. Bostjan Marko Turk, European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Yuri Perez (Moderator), Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Session 4: Strength, Sacrifice, & the Future of Freedom (2:30 PM – 3:15 PM)
Presenter: Ken Pope, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Session 5: VOC Museum Tour and Educational Resources (3:15 PM)
Dr. Eric Patterson, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Session 6: Keynote Address (4:00 PM)
Professor Mark David Hall, Regent University
