History
At Emma, history courses transcend disciplines by offering introductions to arts studies, social sciences, and cross-disciplinary scholarship.
The History Department stresses observation and interpretation of primary sources and data; critical engagement with scholarship; research and writing; and seminar discussion of ideas. We also provide opportunities for students to draw on our own extensive school archives, to visit historic sites in the Capital District, and to work with local public historians, museum staff, archivists, and others as they explore the past.
All our students complete a three-year core history sequence built upon the school’s academic pillars of intellectual flexibility, purpose and community, and equity and justice. This sequence is designed to offer students a progression of reading, discussion, writing, research, and critical analysis skills; students in all levels regularly practice historical thinking by focusing on sourcing, corroboration, contextualization, and close reading. Threaded through this sequence is a set of special History Seminar lessons created to foreground how historical thinking skills can help us connect across differences, build empathy, honor one another’s point of view, and contemplate essential questions such as “What is justice?” and “What defines citizenship?”
In their first two years at Emma Willard, students engage with global history through a program that celebrates the diversity of the world’s cultures by encouraging deep study of individual regions as well as cross-cultural comparisons. Ninth graders take Classical Mediterranean History in the fall semester and then a global history elective (African History, East Asian History, or Indian History) in the spring semester. Tenth graders then enroll in a second world history elective (European History, Latin American History, or Middle Eastern History) in the fall semester before completing the global history requirements with Contemporary World History in the spring semester.
After completing this global history sequence, eleventh graders have the choice of taking United States History, Advanced Studies United States History, or United States History: Experiential Learning Through Site Visits. All three courses explore the most significant and recurrent themes of American history, paying particular attention to the evolving and highly contested notions of liberty, democracy, citizenship, and equality.
Beyond their graduation requirements, students can choose to continue their study of history or branch out into related disciplines through an extensive elective program that includes Advanced Studies courses and an array of classes designed around our teachers’ personal passions.
History Department Chair Katie Duglin’s goal is to create an engaging learning environment that allows students to draw connections between class material and current events. There is no better forum for that work than the Comparative Government and Politics class she introduced to the Emma Willard School curriculum this year.
The Emma Willard Model UN team just returned from the Boston University Model UN conference this past weekend—all members, including co-heads Dora W. ’25 and Anya K. ’25, did a wonderful job in the competition.
What can incredible faculty do with the gift of time? Innovate! Over the past three years, Emma Willard School’s Curriculum Innovation Projects have created the necessary time and space for teachers to stretch beyond convention.
Two hundred years ago, the Marquis de Lafayette was welcomed as a guest of the United States to honor him for his service in the Revolutionary War. One of his stops was right here in Troy, New York, where Madame Emma Hart Willard welcomed him for a visit to Troy Female Seminary (now Emma Willard School). On September 18, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lafayette’s visit to our school.
In cooperation with the Oakwood Cemetery, Emma Willard School has recently seen to it that a state historical marker be set at Emma Hart Willard's gravesite in Troy.
Download our course catalog for more details and graduation requirements.