Maryville College professor collaborates on groundbreaking women’s history project
For years, the teaching of history has often minimized, glossed over or ignored altogether the contributions of women, people of color and other traditionally marginalized groups — and that’s something Nancy Locklin-Sofer, a history professor at Maryville College, wants to change.
“Anytime a girl learns history without women she learns history in which she doesn’t matter,” she said.
Locklin-Sofer is a specialist in pre-modern Europe, especially France, and her areas of research and publication include the history of women’s roles in the family and the economy. In teaching everything from world history to classes about witch trials, she endeavors to teach a more complete view of history that includes multiple peoples, religions, experiences and more.
History, when taught from an overview, often leaves out many groups, including women, but the Remedial Herstory Project seeks to change that, Locklin-Sofer explained. The Remedial Herstory Project is a non-profit that “[develops] and [provides] inquiry-based learning materials on women’s history [that is] free to educators,” according to the project’s website.
Locklin-Sofer got involved in the project when the founder of Remedial Herstory, Keslie Eckhert, posted an inquiry on the American History Association website, looking for a consultant for an American history module. Even though Locklin-Sofer does not specialize in American history, she responded to the query. Eckhert brought Locklin-Sofer in as a consultant and scriptwriter on a series about world history.
Remedial Herstory Project received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which enabled it to host a conference for teachers last summer. Locklin-Sofer presented to groups of high school history teachers about the women on the Silk Road, an ancient trade route across Eurasia.
Since the conference, Locklin-Sofer has been writing lesson plans, consulting and editing for the project. The work has expanded her own knowledge of history. Writing an article about the Crusades for the project, she learned for the first time that women fought in the Crusades.
“I’ve been studying women’s history my whole career, but through writing for the Remedial Herstory Project, I’ve been struck by how much more there is to learn,” she said.
The Remedial Herstory Project is available online, https://www.remedialherstory.com/, and on YouTube.