Joe Brewer is a Teach Plus Leading Edge Fellow and principal of Lewistown JH/HS in Lewistown, Illinois. He manages a local public history podcast with students called “The Forgottonia Project.” Joe was selected to serve as a facilitator for the Smithsonian Democracy in Dialogue Virtual Exchange program (2024) and has participated since 2022 in the National Council for History Education’s Rural Experience in America grant program. He has led Library of Congress–funded workshops on teaching local history and gives presentations on public history, rural education, and place-based civic learning. Joe serves on the Illinois Humanities Foreground Rural Initiative Advisory Committee. He earned a BS in social science education from Olivet Nazarene University and MA in sociology and MS in educational leadership from Western Illinois University. Joe’s-eds have appeared in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, Cass County Star-Gazette, and The Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools blog.
