The HistoryMakers Education Institute was launched in April 2003, as a year long educational program. Drawing on the resources of The HistoryMakers archives, the Institute was designed to work effectively as part of both social studies and language arts curricula.

The Institute was established to:

1. create a more inclusive and relevant curriculum
2. foster teacher preparation and student learning and achievement, and
3. encourage intergenerational learning through a role model/mentor program.

The HistoryMakers Education Institute includes:

• Teacher summer training institute
• Curriculum Implementation in Classroom
• Ongoing teacher support
• Meet the HistoryMakers: A Day of Education
• HistoryMakers Speak-Out School Assemblies
• My OWN Story
• It's Cool To Succeed

 In 2003, when The HistoryMakers Education Institute began, it worked in close partnership with the DePaul Center for Urban Education under the direction of Barbara Radner, Ph.D. That first year, The HistoryMakers selected forty teachers from twenty middle and high schools in a competitive application process. During the summer, the teachers participated in a week long session where they learned how to incorporate The HistoryMakers’ resources into their core curricula. They also learned about oral history methodology, genealogy and public history, as well as African American history and culture. Quarterly sessions were then held to discuss teaching strategies and to allow the teachers to share both their own project work and their students’ work.