Working Session
August Working Session — Track 1 Materials
The Houston cohort reconvenes to work through Track 1 (Founding Principles and First Texts) and plan the fall unit designs. Virtual or in person.
A Semiquincentennial Initiative · Made in the Third Ward
The American Civic Tradition at 250
Civic Literacy, Rooted in Houston.
Texas Southern University and West Texas A&M University are renewing the study of American history, civics, and self-government for the nation's 250th year — one HBCU in urban Houston, one regional university in the rural Panhandle, both serving the students most often left behind. Together we are preparing 150 Texas teachers and 100 undergraduate Civic Fellows to carry the tradition forward.
A partnership of
Texas Southern University West Texas A&M University
Supported by the American History and Civics Education National Activities Program · U.S. Department of Education
The Initiative
A partnership rooted in service, reaching across Texas.
The American Civic Tradition at 250 is a three-year, $1.9 million initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education under the American History and Civics Education National Activities program. West Texas A&M University serves as the prime applicant for the rural Panhandle; Texas Southern University, an HBCU serving urban Houston, is the co-principal partner. Dr. Walter Wendler, president of WTAMU, serves as Project Director; Dr. Michael O. Adams serves as the TSU Lead.
The premise is simple and urgent. Civic knowledge in the United States is in decline, and the gap is widest in under-resourced rural and urban schools. Closing that gap is the whole point of this work. At TSU, the initiative is housed at the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center within the Barbara Jordan–Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs, and it begins with 1776 and the founding ideals — then traces honestly how those ideals have been contested, expanded, and carried forward.
Civic education is not a luxury. In a democracy, it is the work by which every generation earns its inheritance — and passes it on.
Rooted in Houston
This work has an address.
Everything you see on this site is being made in the Third Ward — on a campus that has served Houston's Black community since 1927, in a school of public affairs named for a Congresswoman who taught the nation how to read the Constitution. That is not backdrop. It is method.
- NeighborhoodThird Ward
TSU's home; a historic center of Black civic life in Houston.
- NeighborhoodFifth Ward
Barbara Jordan's birthplace and childhood church.
- NeighborhoodHISD Corridor
Houston ISD and partner schools supplying our Grades 6–12 cohort.
- NeighborhoodThe Panhandle
Our WTAMU partners in Canyon — 600 miles and one shared civic tradition.
A Signature Legacy
Barbara Jordan taught the country how to read its own Constitution.
Her 1974 opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee — delivered as impeachment loomed over a sitting president — is required reading in our seminars. It is also our compass: a Black woman from the Fifth Ward, holding the founding document accountable to its own promises. The Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center, home of this grant at TSU, carries her conviction forward.
My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.
“What the people want is very simple — they want an America as good as its promise.”
Jordan · Commencement Address, Harvard University, 1977
Why she anchors this initiative
The Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center — home of this grant — was founded to carry her conviction forward: that rigorous constitutional literacy is the birthright of every American, and especially of those the Founders excluded.
By the Numbers
- Federal grant award, three years
- $1.9MFederal grant award, three years
- Texas teachers served (75 urban · 75 rural)
- 150Texas teachers served (75 urban · 75 rural)
- Undergraduate Civic Fellows (50 TSU · 50 WTAMU)
- 100Undergraduate Civic Fellows (50 TSU · 50 WTAMU)
- Courses in the co-designed civics sequence
- 4Courses in the co-designed civics sequence
Founding Facts
Did you know?
A rotating set of accurate civic and constitutional facts — pause, browse, or step through with the arrow keys.
Civic trivia carousel
Did You Know? · Fact 1 of 10
The Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia through the summer of 1787 — with the windows kept shut for secrecy, even in the heat.
What We Do
Four pillars of civic renewal.
From K–12 classrooms to community forums, the initiative works on four fronts — each grounded in primary texts and the practice of self-government.
Educator Seminars
A summer institute at TSU followed by biweekly-to-monthly virtual sessions and mentoring through the academic year. Grounded in primary texts from antiquity to the American Founding to modern constitutional debate.
Four-Course Sequence
A Founders-based civics sequence co-designed with West Texas A&M — a lasting undergraduate legacy of the 250th year, moving from Roots to Founding to Expansion to Today.
Civic Fellows
One hundred undergraduates — fifty from TSU, fifty from WTAMU — engaged as fellows in seminars, dialogue, and public work across the three-year initiative.
Houston ISD & Community
The Houston cohort draws Grades 6–12 educators from Houston ISD and partner schools, alongside regional roundtables and public forums in the Third Ward.
Calendar & Updates
Programming, deadlines, and public convenings.
A living record of the initiative's public work. Toggle between upcoming programming and the growing archive of past events.
Events list
Seminar
Fall Session 1 — Content Seminar with Faculty
Dr. Luis Pérez-Feliciano leads the cohort through the classical and Enlightenment roots of American constitutional democracy.
Seminar
Fall Session 2 — Content Seminar & Unit-Design Workshop
The Founding era in depth — the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Federalist–Anti-Federalist debates — followed by a unit-design workshop.
Cohort Meeting
Fall Session 3 — Progress, Mentoring & Next Steps
Teachers share redesigned unit drafts, receive faculty mentoring, and set the calendar for the spring track on Struggle and Reform.
What Texans Think · 2026 Statewide Poll
Texans overwhelmingly want strong civics. Only a quarter say their schools deliver it.
In April–May 2026, the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center polled 1,706 registered Texas voters on K-12 civics education. The findings — released the month this cohort convened — are the reason this program exists.
- say a civics class should be required in public schools.
- 91%
say a civics class should be required in public schools.
- support requiring students to pass a civics test to graduate — 89% of Republicans and 76% of Democrats.
- 81%
support requiring students to pass a civics test to graduate — 89% of Republicans and 76% of Democrats.
- say it is very important that students understand the Declaration, the Constitution, and the responsibilities of citizenship before graduation.
- 79%
say it is very important that students understand the Declaration, the Constitution, and the responsibilities of citizenship before graduation.
- say teaching the founding ideas of liberty and equality is very important for the country's future.
- 78%
say teaching the founding ideas of liberty and equality is very important for the country's future.
- believe Texas should spend more on civics education in its K-12 schools.
- 59%
believe Texas should spend more on civics education in its K-12 schools.
- of parents rate their own child's school's civics instruction as excellent.
- 25%
of parents rate their own child's school's civics instruction as excellent.
Source: Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center, The State of Public Opinion on K-12 Civics Education in Texas, May 2026. YouGov survey of 1,706 Texas registered voters, April 22 – May 6, 2026 · ±2.37% margin of error. Authored by Michael O. Adams and Mark P. Jones.
The Curriculum
Four courses, one continuous argument.
A Founders-based undergraduate civics sequence co-designed by TSU and WTAMU — from the roots of political thought to the constitutional questions of our own century.
- 01Roots
Foundations of Western Political Thought
From Athens to the Enlightenment
- 02Founding
The American Founding and Constitutional Government
The Creation of a Republic
- 03Expansion
Citizenship, Rights, and Civic Responsibility
From Theory to Practice in the American Republic
- 04Today
Constitutionalism and Civic Leadership in the 21st Century
Modern Challenges, Enduring Principles
Public Archive
Building a public record of this work.
Seminars, convenings, and community moments — documented as the initiative unfolds. New items are added throughout the three-year grant.
- Photo Placeholder
Photo: Teacher Cohort Orientation, TSU · June 2026 - Photo Placeholder
Photo: Barbara Jordan–Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs - Photo Placeholder
Photo: Release event for the 2026 Texas K-12 Civics Poll - Photo Placeholder
Photo: Faculty working session with WTAMU partners - Photo Placeholder
Photo: Third Ward community forum - Photo Placeholder
Photo: Civic Fellows at the Texas State Capitol
Leadership & Partners
The people and institutions behind the work.
- MOA
Dr. Michael O. Adams
TSU Lead, The American Civic Tradition at 250 · Founding Director, Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center
Dr. Michael O. Adams serves as TSU Lead for The American Civic Tradition at 250 and is the Founding Director of the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University's Barbara Jordan–Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs. [Full biography pending final copy.]
- MPJ
Dr. Mark P. Jones
Senior Research Fellow (contracted) · Rice University
Dr. Mark P. Jones is contracted as Senior Research Fellow for The American Civic Tradition at 250. Based at Rice University, he developed Courses 3 and 4 of the four-course civics sequence, covering the expansion of citizenship and rights and the constitutional challenges of the 21st century. [Full biography pending final copy.]
- LPF
Dr. Luis Pérez-Feliciano
Engaged for Courses 1 & 2
Dr. Luis Pérez-Feliciano was engaged to develop Courses 1 and 2 of the four-course civics sequence, tracing the roots of Western political thought from Athens to the Enlightenment through the American Founding and Constitutional Government. [Full biography pending final copy.]
Partner Institutions
- Texas Southern University
- West Texas A&M University
- Barbara Jordan–Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs
- Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center
- Houston Independent School District
- U.S. Department of Education
Get Involved
Join the work.
Sign up for updates on educator seminars, student programming, and public forums. We'll only contact you about this initiative.
TSU Program Team
Barbara Jordan–Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs
Texas Southern University · Houston, TX 77004
Texas Southern University · Houston, TX 77004