A Southern High School history teacher with nearly three decades in the classroom has been named Maryland’s top history educator by one of the country’s leading history education nonprofits.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History has selected Jennifer M. Davidson as its 2026 Maryland History Teacher of the Year, recognizing the 29-year teaching veteran as she begins her 22nd year at Southern High in Harwood. Davidson said history education matters more than ever, arguing that students need to understand not just what happened in the nation’s past but the context behind it and the perspectives of the people who lived through it — the kind of deeper understanding she said builds critical thinking skills and a better grasp of the present. She called the recognition “truly grateful,” among the honors she’s received over a career that also included stops at Annapolis Middle School and Northeast High School before she arrived at Southern in 2005.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute, a nonprofit founded in 1994 by philanthropists Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman, has run the History Teacher of the Year program since 2004, honoring one K-12 educator annually from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Department of Defense schools and U.S. territories — more than 1,000 teachers over the program’s two-decade history. To even be considered, a nominee must be a full-time teacher of American history with at least three years of classroom experience who plans to keep teaching for at least another year; nominations, which can come from students, parents, colleagues or administrators but not the teacher personally, are due each spring. A judging panel then evaluates finalists on their commitment to history education, creativity in the classroom and use of primary sources — documents, artifacts, historic sites and oral histories — to engage students.
As Maryland’s winner, Davidson receives a $1,000 honorarium, a curated archive of classroom history resources, and recognition at a state ceremony. She also becomes Maryland’s nominee for the national title, the Gilder Lehrman National History Teacher of the Year, which carries a $10,000 prize awarded at a ceremony in New York City; a national panel of historians, master teachers and past winners will select that recipient from among this year’s 50-plus state honorees.
Southern High, a roughly 1,000-student school in Anne Arundel County Public Schools, has previously been recognized as both a state and national Blue Ribbon School. Davidson’s honor adds to a track record of Anne Arundel educators earning statewide recognition in recent years, including past AACPS Teachers of the Year who went on to be named Maryland’s overall Teacher of the Year — a separate, broader statewide award not tied specifically to history instruction.
The History Teacher of the Year award is one of several national recognitions the Gilder Lehrman Institute administers alongside its core mission of producing classroom resources, teacher training and archival materials on American history. Each year’s roughly 50-plus state and territorial winners are announced together each August, with the national winner named separately later in the fall after the judging panel completes its review of all state honorees’ application materials.
