What is it?

“Manifest Destiny” — the idea that the U.S.-Americans had a religious certainty that would settle the breadth of the North American continent from coast to coast — has become a kind of shorthand for explaining the expansion of the United States. This notion has also been reinforced by many U.S. History textbooks. The reality, as is often the case with history, is quite a bit more complicated. This guide provides resources to help teachers support students as they consider Manifest Destiny more critically. Not only did territorial expansion have many causes and motivations, it was not destined in any sense.

Key Points

• The activities outlined here will take one 90-minute period or two 45-minute periods. It is appropriate for a high school U.S. history classroom, but can be modified for a variety of learners.
• Students will analyze, interpret, and evaluate primary sources. 
• Students will learn to critically analyze the term "Manifest Destiny" and learn more about the history of Comanche people in the American Southwest. 

Manifest Destiny in Textbooks

Many U.S. history textbooks frame the territorial expansion of the United States before the Civil War using the idea of “Manifest Destiny.” For example, in McGraw Hill’s United States History and Geography Unit 7 that covers 1820-1848 is titled “Manifest Destiny.” The unit also presents the expansion of the United States as more or less inevitable rather than a result of specific choices made by people in the past, thereby reinforcing rather than critiquing the premise of Manifest Destiny. When Native Americans are mentioned in the unit, they tend to be portrayed as an obstacle to this process. Teachers can encourage students to question the idea of Manifest Destiny and to reconsider how this narrative is being framed by their textbook by engaging with sources and historical scholarship that presents a more complex picture.

In the Classroom

Warm Up - Reframing Manifest Destiny

To encourage students to question the way the textbook frames the territorial expansion of the United States as Manifest Destiny provide the two images linked below for student to compare:

Image one: https://www.loc.gov/item/97507547/

Image two: https://iltf.org/get-involved/

The first image, the 1872 painting American Progress by John Gast, will likely already be familiar to students as it is used in many textbooks often in the same chapter that deals with “Manifest Destiny”. The second image is from the web page of a Native land rights advocacy organization the Indian Land Tenure Foundation. Titled “Reversing Manifest Destiny” it explains the mission of the organization while also commenting on Gast’s painting and the concept of Manifest Destiny. While students examine these images have them consider the following questions:

• What similarities do you notice between the two images?
• What differences do you notice?
• What story do you think each image is trying to tell?
• Why do you think the Indian Land Tenure Foundation decided to use an image based on Gast’s painting?

Comanche Nation in the Southwest

To better understand this period in American history, students can explore the history of Indigenous people who were already living in the West at the time “Manifest Destiny” was first introduced. In 1845, when columnist John O’Sullivan coined “Manifest Destiny,” a large part of the West was controlled by the politically and economically formidable Comanche, which actively thwarted expansion efforts on multiple fronts. One historian, Pekka Hämäläinen, even goes as far as calling the Comanches an “empire”. Hämäläinen writes, “For a century, roughly from 1750 to 1850, the Comanches were the dominant people in the Southwest, and they manipulated and exploited the colonial outposts in New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and northern Mexico to increase their safety, prosperity, and power.”

It is important to note that not all historians agree with Hämäläinen’s argument and reject the idea that Comanches or any other Indian groups constituted an “empire” at this time. Indigenous historians including Ned Blackhawk and Jameson Sweet and scholar Delphine Red Shirt argue that using the term “empire” distorts Indigenous history and culture and does not properly account for the effects of U.S. colonialism on Indigenous communities. Sweet wrote specifically that “Forcing the ‘empire’ label onto the Comanche was inaccurate and misguided”.

So whether there was a Comanche Empire is a topic of debate among historians, but the consensus among historians is that the Comanche were a formidable power in the American Southwest. This is not the impression that readers would get from U.S. history textbooks, however. In the McGraw Hill textbook, a small section deals with Native Americans and then only focuses on the Northern Plains. Meanwhile in three other sections titled “The Hispanic Southwest,” “Independence for Texas,” and “The War With Mexico,” the Comanches are mentioned only in passing and only in the context of attacks on white settlements. In both these instances, the Comanches are mentioned along with the Apache, so no independent treatment is provided for students about this group that shaped the Southwest for over a century.

Source Activities

Source Activity 1: Comanche Strategy

The Comanches mastered a divide and conquer style of politics and consistently played their rivals against each other. After warring on and off with the Spanish colony of New Mexico in the 1770s and 1780s, for example, the western Comanche leader, Ecueracapa, signed a peace treaty with the military governor of New Mexico, Juan Batista de Anza in 1786. As part of the treaty, the Comanche joined forces with Spain to attack their mutual rivals the Apaches in New Mexico. The results of one such battle are depicted in the source below.

Primary Source #1
[Comanche pictograph map of the Battle of Sierra Blanca, 1787]. | Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/item/2014590059/

It is important for historians of Indigenous people to use sources created by the Indigenous people themselves whenever possible. This map is one such source. The map was drawn after the battle by a Comanche participant and then it was sent to Governor Anza as the official record of the altercation. The key below the map, the letters A-G with Spanish text, was added by Spanish officials to interpret the map. Together they relate how many Comanche warriors were involved in the battle, how many on each side were killed, and how many people and horses were captured. Anza certified the document himself — signing and dating the document July 30, 1787 on the bottom.

The source is also significant for being a rare example of a source created by a Comanche from this period that has survived to the present day.

When using this map to students teachers can ask them to consider what this source created by Comanche people can tell us about the Comanche. Remind students to keep in mind that the source provides only the information that this group of Comanches wanted the government of Mexico to know.

Questions for students to consider:

• Why do you think the Comanches recorded this information and sent it to the governor of Mexico?
• How might the Comanches stand to benefit from the result of this battle?
• This map was created in 1787, one year before the U.S. Constitution was ratified and over 50 years before “Manifest Destiny” was first used. In what ways does this source make us reconsider what was happening in the American West at this time?

Source activity 2: Geography

By the 1840s, Comanchería, as the territory the Comanches controlled was called, stretched from Sante Fe in the West to San Antonio in the East. In the North, it stretched to approximately the Arkansas river in the North and in the South to the Pecos river. While powerful, the Comanche also remained “hidden” in a sense. The Comanches allowed and even sometimes encouraged settlements in their territory, but then also gained economically from those territories through raids and trade. Thus maps of the period tended to downplay the range of territory that the Comanche controlled.

Primary Source #2:
A new map of Texas, Oregon and California. 1846 https://www.loc.gov/item/00561203/.

For students to gain a better understanding of the geography of the Comanche influence in the Southwest, have them analyze this map. So that the students can zoom in on parts of the map this activity would work best on a computer - either as a whole class with the map projected on a screen or individually or in pairs with personal laptops or tablets.

First, draw their attention to the area shaded green and labeled “Texas” in the bottom part of the map. Zoom in or have students zoom in and examine this area closely. The Comanche controlled region at the time the map was made extended roughly to the following:
Eastern border - Warrenton on the Red River
Western border - Santa Fe in the West
Northern border - Arkansas River
Southern Border - Pecos River

Key questions:

• What evidence is on the map that the Comanches lived in this region?
• Would they conclude from that map that the Comanches controlled the territory? Why or why not?
• Students could additionally find the same area on a map in the textbook from this chapter - Are the Comanches are mentioned at all?

Source Activity 3: Trade Network and Economic Power
The Comanche’s power in the Southwest was fueled by a vast trade network that connected various American markets. This trade network featured a supply chain that provided horses and mules to the growing Euro-American settlements in Missouri, Arkansans, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In addition to livestock, the Comanche traded bison hides from animals they hunted on the prairie which were highly sought after by buyers in cities on the east coast of the United States. In addition to these exports, the Comanche imported goods from all over the continent. Staples like maize from New Mexico, molasses from New Orleans, and coffee and wheat flour from the United States. Blankets were imported from Navajo country and metal goods such as kettles, pans, and knives came from eastern U.S. cities. Vast supplies of weapons too entered Comancheria in the form of lead, powder, and muskets which further bolstered the Comanches ability to conduct raids into Mexico and Texas.

A key part of this trading network and a key part of the Comanches success overall was the ability to acquire and trade horses. To give students a sense of how horses fit into the culture of the Comanche and other Southern Plains groups have them examine this collection of sources from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/horsenation/trading.html

Questions to consider about these sources:
Choose one of the sources in the NMAI gallery to examine in detail

• What purpose did the object serve?
• What details do you notice?
• What evidence is there that this object took a long time to create?
• What evidence is there that this object took expertise to create?
• What do these sources tell us about how the Comanches along with the Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, Ute, and Shoshone valued horses?

In discussing this vast Comanche trading network with students, teachers could return to the 1846 map (Primary Source #2) or any other map from their textbook and see if they can locate  Bent’s Fort. On the 1846 map it is obscured by shading but it can be found on the Arkansas River on the northern edge of Comanchería. Bent’s Fort was a U.S. military fort but it also served as a trade hub for the trade goods listed above coming into and flowing out of Comanchería. Students could then find locations like New Orleans, New Mexico, Navajo country to appreciate the reach and extent of this trade.

Along with examining the map and considering the trade that centered at Bent’s Fort, Students could also examine a drawing of the fort itself:
Drawing of Bent’s Fort, 1859 https://www.loc.gov/item/2004661632/

Land Theft and Extermination of the American Bison
The United States did eventually expand into Comanchería, but this expansion could not be called Manifest Destiny. Instead it was a drawn out process that met with fierce resistance from the Comanche and relied on the purposeful extermination of almost an entire species of animal. After the end of the Civil War in 1865, the U.S. government turned its attention to settling the west and devoted increased military resources to accomplish this goal. To open up the land for settlers, the U.S. planned to designate tracts of land as reservations for Native Americans to live on. Another goal of this policy was to assimilate Native Americans into white-U.S. culture and to end the practices associated with hunting and religious practices.

One group of reservations would be for Indians of the northern plains, the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, Northern Arapahoes and Crows, and would be located in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory. Another group of reservations would be for the Indians of the Southwest and southern plains, including the Comanches, Kiowas, Naishans, Southern Cheyenne, and Southern Arapahoes, and would be located in what is today western Oklahoma.

In 1867, the Medicine Lodge Treaty officially created the southern reservations. The Comanches and several allied groups agreed to the terms but had their own interpretation of what those terms meant. The treaty also granted bison hunting rights to the Comanche in the region south of the Arkansas River. These hunting grounds extended beyond the reservation tract and to the Comanches thinking that meant that this land had not been ceded. Comanche made use of the reservation but only seasonally — raiding and hunting in the spring, summer, and fall and then returning to the reservation in the winter. Thus while the U.S. government sought to end the way of life of the Comanche and other southern plains Native people, the Comanches instead incorporated the reservation into their seasonal migration. With bison to hunt the Comanche did not need the support of the U.S. government that the reservation represented.

Unable to control the Comanches using military force, the U.S. government’s response was to eliminate their means of support: the bison. Beginning in 1868, under the direction of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and his subordinate Gen. Philip Sheridan, the U.S. Army actively engaged in the mass killing of bison and encouraged private hunters by organizing hunting excursions and even supplying firearms when requested
.  
Primary Source #4
Sherman to Sheridan, 10 May 1868, The Papers of Philip H . Sheridan, microfilm reel no. 17, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC (hereafter Sheridan Papers)
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss39768.017_0007_0246/?sp=4
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss39768.017_0007_0246/?sp=5
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss39768.017_0007_0246/?sp=6

By some estimates, this campaign resulted in the killing of 31 million American bison between 1868 and 1881. Some were harvested for their valuable hides or meat, but many were just left to rot. The purpose was to deny the resource to the Native people. Thus deprived of their primary source of food and their most valuable trade good, the Comanche were unable to mount as formidable a military force as they had in the pre-Civil War period. As historian David D. Smits argues: “In the end, the frontier army’s well-calculated policy of destroying the buffalo in order to conquer the Plains Indians proved more effective than any other weapon in its arsenal.” Under the charismatic leadership of Quanah Parker, however, the Comanches continued to hold out against efforts by the U.S. Army to confine them to the reservation. Not until September 28, 1874 with the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, part of what was known as the Red River Wars, were the Comanche forces defeated.

Born in 1845 to a Comanche leader (Peta Nocona) and an Anglo American mother (Cynthia Ann Parker), Quanah Parker was not only an effective and resourceful military leader but was also representative of the Comanche’s flexible understanding of race and tendency to incorporate captives into their society.

Primary Source #5

[Quanah Parker, Comanche Indian Chief, full-length portrait, standing, facing front, holding feathers, in front of tepee] | Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/item/89714963/

Questions to ask about this source:

• Why do you think Quanah Parker chose to present herself in traditional Native clothing.
• What might have been his reasons for this choice?

Comanche Nation Today

Despite the efforts of the U.S. government to undermine the Comanches, the Comanche Nation still exists today with approximately 17,000 enrolled tribal members. The Comanche Nation Constitution ratified in 1966, declares that the mission of the Comanche Nation is to:
“1. To define, establish and safe guard the rights, powers and privileges of the tribe and its members.
 2. To improve the economic, moral, educational and health status of its members and to cooperate with and seek the assistance of the United States in carrying out mutual programs to accomplish these purposes by all possible means.  
3. To promote in other ways the common well-being of the tribe and its membership.

The headquarters for the Comanche Nation is located in southwestern Oklahoma in a town called Lawton. In 2007, the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center opened in Lawton. https://www.comanchemuseum.com/index.html

Manifest Destiny - Additional Approaches

Other sources to explore

An important source for understanding the history of Indigenous people are the collected stories passed down from ancestors. A Comanche man, Francis Joseph Attocknie, collected the stories of his grandfather and great grandmother passed their ancestor, Ten Bears, who was a Yamparika Comanche leader who lived from 1790 to 1872. Attocknie compiled these stories in the book The Life of Ten Bears: Comanche Historical Narratives. Attocknie writes of these collected stories:

The greatest and most reliable source of Comanche history was the enjoyable, time-passing evening sessions of storytelling by wise, ancient, and loving grandfathers and grandmothers. Those story sessions entertained as well as taught. Sometimes there would be more than one person holding the session; a visiting ancient one might collaborate or add bits here and there, or just audibly agree to the account as it unwound and held spellbound its listeners, both young and adult. Repetition never bored the enthralled listeners. In fact, the young, especially, often asked for repeats of favorite accounts of certain events or stories. These stories, too, often had musical tones as the storyteller interspersed the accounts with an appropriate song that had a place in the telling of an account.

Other lessons

“How Did Six Different Native Nations Try to Avoid Removal?” National Museum of the American Indian
An excellent lesson plan about the strategies that six American Indian nations tried to avoid removal from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Afterwards students select a case study and closely examine the sources that tell a story of removal.
https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/removal#titlePage

The Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) has put together a great activity with primary sources that demonstrates the multiple motivations behind expansion as well as sources from those at the time who opposed this expansion. https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons/manifest-destiny

Other approaches

In addition to incorporating an activity on the Comanches, there are a number of other ways teachers can help students understand the complexity behind Manifest Destiny and territorial expansion.  Students can, for example, consider the writings of John L. O’Sullivan, the columnist who coined the term Manifest Destiny, in their historical context. O’Sullivan was an enthusiastic advocate of westward expansion, and used Manifest Destiny in a column advocating for the United States to annex the then independent republic of Texas in 1845. The very fact that O’Sullivan was trying to make the case for annexation implies strongly that not everyone agreed with his position. Clearly not everyone in the United States at the time felt that the United States had a moral obligation to expand. O’Sullivan himself gives more than one rationale for expanding, noting that a U.S. that spread across the continent would engender the “immense utility to the commerce of the world” which hints that there were also economic reasons to support expansion.

Teachers might introduce a unit on Manifest Destiny by playing this brief audio clip (~5 minutes), a group of historians explain what Manifest Destiny means and how they approach the topic with students. https://www.r2studios.org/show/consolation-prize/season-2-trailer-what-is-manifest-destiny/  
The terminology might be difficult for some students, but even if not used in the classroom the clip is helpful for teachers looking for a brief but scholarly perspective on Manifest Destiny.

Teachers could also have students search Manifest Destiny on Google Books Ngram Viewer <https://books.google.com/ngrams/>. This search engine charts the frequencies of any word or phrase using a yearly count found in printed sources that have been digitized by Google. The graph shows that the term was used increasingly in the 1840s through the 1850s. Teachers could ask students why they think that was the case. It seems to suggest that rather than describing that the Manifest Destiny served as a justification after the expansion occurred.  https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=manifest+destiny&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3

 

General Tips for Teaching Controversial Subjects

• Center activities on primary sources. Primary sources are tangible evidence that allow students to engage directly with history. These primary sources in particular were preserved and digitized by the Library of Congress because they were deemed important to the history of the United States.
• Discussion and analysis of these sources can be wide ranging, but within each class those discussions can always be turned back to the source itself.
• The sources are also, by definition, only pieces of a puzzle. They bring us closer to understanding the past but there is always room for doubt and uncertainty.  
• Questions, Observations, and Reflections should come from students. These are primarily student-directed learning activities. It is the instructor's role to create a space for inquiry and empower students to drive the inquiry.
• It may help to remind students at the outset that it is normal for different individuals to come to different conclusions, even when we are looking at the same sources. Further, it would be strange if we all agreed completely on our interpretations. This can normalize the strong reactions that can come up and enables educators to discuss the goal of historical research, which is to hopefully go beyond the realm of individual  perspective to access a fuller understanding of the past that takes multiple perspectives into account.
• Teaching historical topics that involve violence and other trauma can be traumatic for some students as well. Providing students with previews of what content will be covered and space to process their emotions can be helpful. The following video series from the University of Minnesota contains further tips for teaching potentially traumatic topics: https://extension.umn.edu/trauma-and-healing/historical-trauma-and-cultural-healing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is it?

“Westward expansion” is a topic covered in many U.S. history textbooks and one that appears in most every state's social studies standards. At the same time, most states also mandate that students be taught to consider history from multiple perspectives or points of view. But what does it mean to consider multiple perspectives about westward expansion? What would it mean to consider the point of view of Native Americans who were the most directly affected by the process called western expansion? A change of perspective might reveal a great deal. As historian Daniel Richter notes in his book, Facing East From Indian Country, “if we shift our perspective to try to view the past in a way that faces east from Indian country, history takes on a very different appearance.” Historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz makes a similar point in her 2015 An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, “Writing US history from an Indigenous peoples' perspective requires rethinking the consensual national narrative. That narrative is wrong or deficient, not in its facts, dates, or details but rather in its essence. Inherent in the myth we've been taught is an embrace of settler colonialism and genocide.” This guide provides teachers with resources to analyze Library of Congress primary sources so that students can account for Indigenous perspectives that “faced east” in their analysis of westward expansion, colonialism, and land rights.

Key points:

• The activity outlined here will take one 90-minute period or two 45-minute periods. It is appropriate for a high school U.S. history classroom, but can be modified for a variety of learners.
• Students will analyze, interpret, and evaluate primary sources. 
• Students will learn about Native peoples responses to the settlement of the western U.S. and gain new perspectives to better understand "Westward Expansion".

Approach to Topic

Even the term “westward expansion” assumes a facing-west point of view rather than a perspective of someone already living in the west. While U.S. history textbooks now include more topics related to Native people, these topics are typically presented as a subset of a larger story about westward expansion. For example, in McGraw Hill’s United States History and Geography, the chapter on westward expansion, “Settling the West,” contains a section titled “Native Americans”, but it comes after two other sections: “Miners and Ranchers” covering the California gold rush and cattle ranching in the west, and “Farming the Plains” which deals with white settlers seeking farmland in the west. Framing and organizing the topic this way presents Native people as obstacles or complications to the westward movement of settlers. This framing also implies that westward expansion was more or less inevitable rather than a series of deliberate choices, an idea often closely linked with the concept of “manifest destiny” as a divinely-ordained establishment of the United States.

The textbook narrative obscures the fact that the taking of Native people’s land was an intentional project backed by the U.S. federal government. Instead of emphasizing the deliberate dispossession of Native land, students usually read about a series of general breakdowns in relations between two groups, settlers and Native people. For example, the 1867 Indian Peace Commission is presented under a subheading of “Doomed Plan for Peace” while the 1887 Dawes Act is presented as a largely positive plan to help Native Americans that simply “failed to achieve its goals.” In other places the purposeful destruction of Native resources is described in the passive voice, such as “The buffalo were rapidly disappearing.” In response to these textbook depictions, teachers can encourage students to analyze how these topics are framed in their textbooks and think about how they might look from another point of view.

To teach students to consider the multiple perspectives on westward expansion, it is also important for teachers to think critically about their own relationship to place and support their students in doing the same. The history of “westward expansion” involved a series of events where Native people were displaced, removed from their land, and coerced into signing disadvantageous treaties many of which were later broken by federal, state, or territorial governments. As scholars Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang have written:

In order for the settlers to make a place their home, they must destroy and disappear the Indigenous peoples that live there. Indigenous peoples are those who have creation stories, not colonization stories, about how we/they came to be in a particular place - indeed how we/they came to be a place . . . For the settlers, Indigenous peoples are in the way and, in the destruction of Indigenous peoples, Indigenous communities, and over time and through law and policy, Indigenous peoples’ claims to land under settler regimes, land is recast as property and as a resource. Indigenous peoples must be erased, must be made into ghosts.

In teaching this topic to students, it is therefore necessary to not make Native people into the “ghosts” that Tuck and Yang reference and to understand that Native people did not disappear, indeed they refused to, despite the repeated efforts of governments and settlers.

One challenge to including the perspective of Native people at this time is that colonial record-keeping disproportionately documented the perspectives of white men in positions of social authority this is part of the same disappearing process described by Tuck and Yang. Though the sources are sometimes more difficult to locate, resources do exist to help teachers actively include the perspectives of Native people and share it with students. Many Native people throughout the past and up to the present day have continued to assert their points of view in spaces visible to the wider U.S. public. Their voices are sometimes visible within colonial sources, including through a process of reading against the grain. Indigenous people have vigorously defended against settler land theft and continue to invest in their cultural, governmental, artistic, linguistic, and social systems today, despite centuries of colonial disruptions.

This guide will focus on two examples of Indigenous people who advocated for Indigenous rights in the early 1900s: Zitkala-Ša (also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin)  and Charles Eastman (also known as Ohiyesa). Both were important figures in the Society of American Indians, an organization established by Native intellectuals from across the country in 1911. The members of the SAI, in scholar Philip J. Deloria’s words, “worked actively to preserve elements of Native cultures and societies from destruction.” Through their words and actions teachers can locate an alternative to the westward expansion point of view and make a different history more apparent.

Description

Zitkála-Šá
Zitkála-Šá (pronounced Zeet-KA-la-sha) was Yankton Dakota, born on the Yankton Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1876. Like many thousands of Native children at the time was also forced to attend a boarding school far away from her home. At eight years old, Zitkála-Šá left Yankton and her family to attend the Indiana Manual Labor Institute in Wabash, Indiana over 700 miles away. At the institute she was given the name Gertrude Simmons (later Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) which she also used at various points in her life. Zitkála-Šá would attend the boarding school for three years and there learned to play violin and piano. She returned to Yankton, and then went back to the institute three years later. Upon graduation, she took a position as a music teacher at the school. Zitkála-Šá/Gertrude Simmons became an expert at navigating two cultures. Some scholars have seen Zitkála-Šá as a person who assimilated into white-U.S. culture, but more recently scholars have emphasized how she used these cultural skills to support and defend Native people and culture. As historian Tadeusz Lewandowski writes in his biography of Zitkála-Šá, she “fought the dispossession of Indians with every tool of white society she had mastered.”

In her life, Zitkála-Šá rose to prominence as a musician, writer, and political advocate. An accomplished violinist, she performed at the White House for President William McKinley in 1900 and as a soloist at the Paris Exposition that same year. A prolific writer, Zitkála-Šá’s presented depictions of American Indians that emphasized family and community in books such as American Indian Stories and presented her own experiences in personal essays for Harper’s Monthly and The Atlantic Monthly.

In perhaps her most famous work, The Sun Dance, Zitkála-Šá translated the sacred, ceremonial dances performed by various Native groups across the Americas - dances that had been declared illegal by the federal government - into an opera. Working with composer William F. Hanson, Zitkála-Šá used her training in western music and her knowledge of Native culture to demonstrate the beauty of these dances in a form that would draw the attention of the larger U.S. public.

For more background on how The Sun Dance opera came to be written by Zitkála-Šá and Hanson have students listen to an excerpt from this interview with Zitkála-Šá P. Jane Hafen from the podcast Unsung History https://www.unsunghistorypodcast.com/zitkala-sa/. The excerpt on The Sun Dance is from 21:16 to 25:53. 

Questions to ask about this source: In what ways was The Sun Dance a product of western culture and in what ways was it a product of Native American culture? How does it demonstrate Zitkála-Šá’s understanding of two cultural worlds?

Zitkála-Šá also used her cultural expertise to lobby the government directly on policies that affected Indigenous people and in particular advocated for the government to protect Native people and culture.

Primary Source #1
“She is Watching Congress,” Evening Public Ledger, February 22, 1921 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045211/1921-02-22/ed-1/seq-20/

Primary Source #2
“Sioux Princess Closely Watches Indian Welfare,” The Richmond Palladium and Sun-Telegram, February 26, 1921 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86058226/1921-02-26/ed-1/seq-15/

Questions to ask about these primary sources:

• Although white reporters regularly used stereotypical and condescending terms to refer to Zitkála-Šá (i.e. describing her as a “Sioux princess” who was “watching Congress”), she chose to present herself in traditional Native clothing. What might have been her reasons for this choice?
• How might this decision have fit with her goals to influence Congress on Native issues?
• Compare these photos to a photo of Zitkála-Šá in western clothing: https://www.nps.gov/people/zitkala-sa.htm
• Why might she choose one form of dress over another depending on the situation?
• How might her choice of clothing affected how audiences viewed her?
• How might her choice of clothing made it more likely for white audiences to listen to her?

Along with other members of the Society of American Indians, Zitkála-Šá advocated for Native Americans to receive the full benefits of United States citizenship including the right to vote. Scholar K. Tsianina Lomawaima argues that the Society for American Indians saw citizenship as a tool to defend Native people from dispossession and protect their land. The Dawes Act, also known as the General Allotment Act of 1887, converted Indigenous territories from collective management and converted that territory to private, transferrable land deeds for individual land tracts based on western land ownership. As a result of the Dawes Act, Indigenous people lost 90 million acres of land in less than fifty years.

Under the Dawes Act, Native people whom the US government did not see as “competent” had their land (called an “allotment”) held by the US government. Though Native people were already citizens of their Native nations and did not necessarily want US citizenship, Zitkála-Šá saw U.S. citizenship as one possible form of protection against land loss. She not only advocated for citizenship for Native Americans but also for women to receive the right to vote. In this source from 1918, Zitkála-Šá addressed the National American Women's Suffrage Association and tied together the causes of the women’s vote and the vote for Native Americans:

Primary Source #3:
Maryland Suffrage News, June 15, 1918
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89060379/1918-06-15/ed-1/seq-5/

Question to ask about this primary source:

• Why might Zitkála-Šá have decided to speak to the National American Women's Suffrage Association?
• What were her goals? [For more resources on Native American women advocating for womens’ suffrage, see the guide on Native Women and Suffrage]

In 1924, partially as a result of the lobbying of Zitkála-Šá and the Society of American Indians, the Indian Citizenship Act was passed. This concluded the process of making all Native people born in the United States citizens. Although it is important to note that states could restrict the Native people’s right to vote and states such as Utah and New Mexico did just that. Zitkála-Šá continued to speak out on Native issues to both national and local groups. For example, in 1928 in Bismarck, North Dakota she gave a talk on the history of Native people and the current Native issues to the Rotarians, a community-based organization.

Primary Source #4:
“Rotarians Hear Famous Woman at Weekly Meeting,” The Bismarck Tribune, June 14, 1928. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042243/1928-06-14/ed-1/seq-7/

Questions to ask about this primary source:

• According to the newspaper article, what did Zitkála-Šá tell the Rotations about the history of Native people?
• Why do you think the article addresses Indigenous participation in the World War?
• What did she say about the current situation faced by Native people?
• Why do you think she chose to emphasize these issues?

Charles Eastman
 As was the case with Zitkála-Šá, Charles Eastman’s upbringing involved direct experience with white society, his Dakota nation, and a variety intertribal communities. He too developed skills to move within and between these social spaces. Born in 1858 near Redwood Falls, Minnesota to a Dakota woman named Winona who died in childbirth, he was given the name “Hakadah.” He fled with his family to Canada following the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. As an older child, he was given the name Ohiyesa (pronounced oh-he-yes-suh and meaning “the winner”) after a victory in a lacrosse match. When he was 15, his father — who had been estranged from the family — returned and demanded that Ohiyesa live with him in Dakota Territory near present day Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Ohiyesa’s father had converted to Christianity and taken the name “Jacob Eastman”. His father changed Ohiyesa’s name to “Charles Alexander Eastman” and enrolled him in white schools. Similar to Zitkála-Šá, Eastman grieved about the separation from the culture he was born into while, at the same time, he also excelled in his new environment. After secondary school, he attended college at Beloit College and then Dartmouth, and eventually earned his degree in medicine from Boston Medical School in 1890.

Eastman sought to use his training to help Native people so shortly after earning his degree, he accepted a position on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. On December 29, 1890, only a few weeks after Eastman’s arrival, 500 soldiers of the United States 7th Cavalry confronted a band of 350 Miniconjou Lakota Indians that included women and children and fired on the unarmed group killing more than 150 people. It is important to emphasize that this incident, which would become known as the Wounded Knee Massacre was not an isolated incident but part of a pattern where U.S. military forces, often commanded by officers with little to no knowledge of Native people and irrationally paranoid about their safety fired on defenseless Native groups that included unarmed men, women, and children with deadly results. Soldiers and travelers took souvenirs and graphic photographs document the carnage. At Pine Ridge, Eastman helped treat the few who survived. For more on the Wounded Knee Massacre read this entry from the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains: http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.war.056

In addition to his career as a physician, Eastman wrote about Native American people and culture in a way that both defied the stereotypes prevalent among whites at the time and also countered the prevailing notion that Native Americans were a disappearing people and culture. In this account, Eastman related a visit to the Objibwe of Northern Minnesota.

Primary Source #5:

As I approached the island next morning. I saw a pretty procession of birch-bark canoes converging upon it. This was evidently a gathering of the clans whose highway is the blue water, and the graceful canoe their sole means of transportation. Invariably the man sits in the bow of the light craft, his wife at the stern, and the children by pairs between so low that only the tops of their black heads are visible. All the household effects are carried, except the dogs, who are obliged to run along the shore and swim the narrows from island to island.

The whole family, even little children, paddle the canoe, and such skill, confidence and safety I have never seen elsewhere. "When the wind rises and the water is so rough that no one can be found willing to venture out in launch or row boat, these people may be seen skimming the big waves like aquatic birds. Along the shore I saw women here and there, setting their gillnets for the wily pike and bass. Most of them do this as an every-day duty. In camp, some were making nets, others working upon their birchen cones, preparing the bark and the cedar bindings, or soaking the strappings and boiling pitch to glue the seams.

Majigabo's immediate village was the meeting-place, and there was the "sacred ground" where they initiate new members into their lodge, consecrate some of the children, celebrate old rites, and commemorate the departed. There were feasts galore of the delicious wild rice, venison, dried moose meat, bear steaks, and sturgeon. Maple sugar packed in small birchen boxes called "mococks" was plentiful and of the finest flavor. Here is one chief just beyond sight of the smoke of the locomotive, in the heart of a wilderness already penetrated by the whistle of the saw-mill, who still preserves many of the ancient usages of his forefathers.

 Charles Eastman, “My Canoe Trip Among the Northern Ojibwe Indians of Minnesota The Oglala light. [volume], May 01, 1911. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2017270500/1911-05-01/ed-1/seq-13/

Questions to ask about this primary source:

• What year did Eastman write this account? 
• In what ways does the account reveal the persistence of Indigenous intellectual traditions and technologies despite colonial pressures to assimilate? 
• How does this reshape the narrative about westward expansion present in your textbook?
• In what ways did Eastman emphasize family, community, and land relations in his description? Why do you think he did that?

In the Classroom
The primary sources above can be incorporated into a unit that also covers westward expansion. Teachers can use this opportunity to have students reflect on how the term “westward expansion” only considers some perspective while leaving others out — namely the perspectives of those in the “west” who are “facing east”.

In the classroom, students can be prompted to reflect on these east-facing perspectives:

• In a 5 minute think-pair-share activity, students can think of their own response, talk it through with a partner, and then “share out”.
• Then students can be asked how they could learn about the missing points of view - what kind of evidence or sources might provide these perspectives? Again students can come up with ideas in another 5 minute think-pair-share activity.
• The class can then transition into analyzing the primary sources included in this guide.  Communicate to students that this is one way to consider multiple points of view. Referencing their list of other points of view to consider and what evidence might be used, teachers can and should acknowledge that not all points of view are being considered nor will they be able to analyze and consider all of the evidence, but the sources they will examine do provide a valuable perspective that is not present in most textbooks.
• Put the students in groups of 3-4 and give them a selection of 2-3 sources.
• As the students examine the sources, prompt them with the guiding questions included above with each primary source.  For more scaffolding, teachers may have students fill out primary source analysis sheets for one or more of the sources: https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/getting-started-with-primary-sources/guides/
• After examining the sources, ask the students to discuss in their groups: What issues related to Native people were Charles Eastman and Zitkála-Šá most concerned with?  What perspective do these sources provide on westward expansion? How does the term “westward expansion” hide other perspectives, namely the struggle of Indigenous people over their homelands and livelihood? What would an east facing version of this story look like?

Extension/enrichment ideas: Students could research further into the history of the Society of American Indians or any of its prominent members such as Rev. Sherman Coolidge, Arthur C. Parker, Angel DeCora, Francis LaFlesche, or Marie Bottineau Baldwin. Using this research students could then develop a multimedia digital project that presents a “facing east” history of westward expansion. As part of this project students should reflect on what they would want to communicate about this point of view, to show that “westward expansion” was not inevitable and to show how Native people persisted and refused to simply disappear. Primary sources like those above and others from the Library of Congress could be featured in a website or slide presentation. As part of the project, students might also research the history of their own communities and the Native people who lived there in the past and live there in the present.

Teaching history inevitably means teaching about topics that generate strong reactions from a wide range of people. While not every reaction can be anticipated, the following tips can provide a strong basis for a rationale for your learning activities:

General Tips for Teaching Controversial Subjects

• Center activities on primary sources. Primary sources are tangible evidence that allow students to engage directly with history. These primary sources in particular were preserved and digitized by the Library of Congress because they were deemed important to the history of the United States.
• Discussion and analysis of these sources can be wide ranging, but within each class those discussions can always be turned back to the source itself.
• The sources are also, by definition, only pieces of a puzzle. They bring us closer to understanding the past but there is always room for doubt and uncertainty.  
• Questions, Observations, and Reflections should come from students. These are primarily student-directed learning activities. It is the instructor's role to create a space for inquiry and empower students to drive the inquiry.
• It may help to remind students at the outset that it is normal for different individuals to come to different conclusions, even when we are looking at the same sources. Further, it would be strange if we all agreed completely on our interpretations. This can normalize the strong reactions that can come up and enables educators to discuss the goal of historical research, which is to hopefully go beyond the realm of individual  perspective to access a fuller understanding of the past that takes multiple perspectives into account.
• Teaching historical topics that involve violence and other trauma can be traumatic for some students as well. Providing students with previews of what content will be covered and space to process their emotions can be helpful. The following video series from the University of Minnesota contains further tips for teaching potentially traumatic topics: https://extension.umn.edu/trauma-and-healing/historical-trauma-and-cultural-healing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is it?

The founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (whose followers are often referred to as Mormons) is a significant event in U.S. history. The publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830 led to the formation of what became the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the eventual creation of a Mormon settlement in the American West. It represents both the founding of a religion that as of 2020 counted over 16 million adherents worldwide and an important episode in the westward expansion of the country. By looking closer at this history, students can better understand the religious movements that grew out of the Second Great Awakening as well. One crucial dimension of the birth of the Mormon Church is the role of place. Early Mormons moved multiple times to find a favorable location to grow the church before establishing a community far from any other white settlement. This settlement of the west would eventually lead to the creation of the state of Utah in 1896 only after the church formally abandoned the practice of polygamy. In the activity below, students will build a digital story map that incorporates primary sources from the Library of Congress related to the history of Mormonism. Note: Tutorials for teachers on how to use digital mapping platforms are linked below.

Key Points:

• This activity will take one 90-minute period or two 45-minute periods. It is appropriate for a high school U.S. history classroom, but can be modified for a variety of learners.
• Students will analyze, interpret, and evaluate primary sources. 
• Students will learn about the origins of Mormonism, an important religious movement in antebellum America. 
• Students will learn about the westward migration of Mormons to present-day Utah, a key event in the westward expansion of Americans.  

  

Approaching the Topic

In this activity, students will engage with a variety of primary sources to create an interactive digital map. Students should pay particular attention to the time and place in which each source represents in order to place it on their map. It will be useful for students to have some background information on the Second Great Awakening. Resources on this topic can be found in this exhibit from the Library of Congress.  Teachers may also decide to place this activity in the context of westward expansion. Resources here from the Library of Congress are helpful for providing this context. Also a review of these topics in a standard history textbook would also be sufficient for this activity. The guide will also contain tips for teaching about religion generally to help teachers engage students with what can be a challenging topic to teach. 

 

Description

This activity facilitates students’ engagement with primary sources as they explore the early history of the Mormon church in the United States. Students will examine sources carefully, note details, particularly the time and place associated with the source. Note that several of the sources were created several decades after the event they depict. Students should take this into account as they interpret the source. Students work together to create an interactive digital map using three or four of the sources to communicate how movement and place shaped the history of this religion.

 

Teacher Preparation

Make the primary sources below available to students either through links, if using electronic devices, or by printing them out. According to your students’ needs, for text sources you may need to guide students to the relevant excerpts or share the excerpts separately. These excerpts are included below. 

The story map students create in this activity can be done on a variety of platforms including StoryMapJS or Google My Maps. An overview of StoryMapJS can be found here. An overview of Google My Maps can be found here. A helpful tutorial for using StoryMapsJS with students created by the Gilder Lerhman Institute can be found here: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/storymapjs_tutorial.pdf. A tutorial for Google My Maps can be found here: https://jessicaotis.com/tutorials/google-maps/

Teachers will want to familiarize themselves with whatever platform they choose to use. In creating a digital map, students will learn how place and location affect history and how to communicate that history succinctly but accurately in an interactive digital presentation.  

Differentiation note: Depending on students reading abilities, teachers may want to consider accommodations for engaging with the primary sources below. Excerpts from text sources have been included along with annotations to highlight the most relevant passages. Teachers may also elect to read excerpts out loud to students or to assign smaller chunks of texts for students to examine in small groups. 

 

Primary sources

The Book of Mormon 

https://www.loc.gov/item/77352721/

Annotation: The Book of Mormon was published by Joseph Smith in March of 1830 in Palmyra, New York and is a central religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement. Palmyra is in western New York, an area known in the early 1800s as the “Burned-over district” due to the intensity of religious revivals in the region which were a major part of the Second Great Awakening. In addition to the establishment of the Mormon Church by Smith, religious groups such as the Millerites and the Oneida Colony were founded in this region and other groups like the Shakers and the Ebenezer Society were active as well. 

For Latter-Day Saints, the Book of Mormon represents a new revelation something the text itself makes the case for new holy texts and new revelations:
“Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews? Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my dword unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?”

Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 29:6-7

O my father

https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-67865/

An important hymn for the Latter-Day Saints, “O my father” was written by Eliza Snow in 1845. The hymn introduces some innovative elements of Mormon theology, such as the notion of a "Mother in Heaven" and the belief in an individual’s spiritual pre-existence prior to being born as seen in the following lyrics:

O my Father, thou that dwellest

In the high and glorious place,

When shall I regain thy presence

And again behold thy face?

In thy holy habitation,

Did my spirit once reside?

In my first primeval childhood

Was I nurtured near thy side?

Snow was also one of Joseph Smith’s plural wives. Smith’s advocacy of men having more than one wife, a practice known as polygamy, was controversial at the time within the church. The church’s practice of polygamy also made the church more controversial to many non-Mormons.

The Mormon Temple at Kirtland, Ohio - (59 x 79 feet), cost $70,000, dedicated March 27, 1836. | Library of Congress

https://www.loc.gov/item/2018651591/

Annotation:
In 1831, Joseph Smith moved the church headquarters to Kirtland, Ohio and there decreed that a temple should be built. The structure was large for its time, one of the larger buildings in northern Ohio. Smith received a revelation to, in his words, "Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." The architecture of the Kirtland Temple is a mixture of Federal and Gothic style. 

Joseph Smith's original temple, Nauvoo, Ills. - digital file from original print | Library of Congress

https://www.loc.gov/resource/pga.03332/

Annotation: After the church in Ohio collapsed due to a financial crisis and dissensions, in 1838, Smith and the body of the church moved to Missouri. However, they were persecuted and the Latter Day Saints fled to Illinois. In Nauvoo, Illinois another temple was constructed this one larger than the previous temple in Kirtland. At 128 feet long by 88 feet wide and a total height of 165 feet the second temple 60 percent larger than the first reflecting both the growing membership and power of the Morman Church. Note that the Nauvoo Temple was considerably more ornate than the Kirtland Temple and the architecture is a departure as well being in the Greek Revival style. 

Martyrdom of Joseph and Hiram Smith in Carthage jail, June 27th, 1844 / G.W. Fasel pinxit ; on stone by C.G. Crehen ; print. by Nagel & Weingaertner, N.Y. | Library of Congress

https://www.loc.gov/item/96508302/

Annotation: In Nauvoo, more conflicts arose between members of the Mormon Church and non-members in the community. The one issue that caused the most controversy was the Mormon practice of polygamy — a practice where one man could have more than one wife. The practice was allowed by Smith while viewed as immoral under most other Protestant religions. Members of Smith's own church broke with him over this issue as well. In Nauvoo in 1844, a local newspaper denounced Mormons and Smith for polygamy and in response the Nauvoo City Council, controlled by Mormons loyal to Smith, ordered the newspapers printing press to be destroyed. Smith in turn was charged with inciting a riot. Smith and his brother Hyram surrendered and were taken to the jail in Carthage, Illinois, but the jail was attacked by an  anti-Mormon mob and Smith and his brother were killed. The death made Smith into a martyr as far as the Mormon Church was concerned — a person within a religious faith who was killed because of their faith. The violence also convinced many Mormons that they needed a new home far away from settlements that might object to their religious practices. 

Bird's eye view of Salt Lake City, Utah Territory 1870. | Library of Congress

https://www.loc.gov/item/75696611/

Annotation: The Mormon Church split into factions after the death of Joseph Smith, but one group under the leadership of Brigham Young left Nauvoo to journey across the continent and settle in what the Mormons called Deseret, in present day Salt Lake City, Utah. Here is a birds eye view map of Salt Lake City in 1870, 22 years after the settler arrived. The Mormon Temple built here was larger and more ornate than the one in Nauvoo and it’s very prominent on the map. Even though the Mormon Movement under Young had gone to great lengths to put distance between themselves and settlements of non-Mormons, the controversy surrounding the practice of polygamy still resulted in conflict. The state of Utah would not be granted statehood until 1896 - over 50 years after the arrival of Mormons in the territory and only after the Mormon Church officially renounced the practice of polygamy.  

 

In the Classroom

Warm up (5 minutes)

When teaching the history of religion it is important to communicate to students that they are learning about religion to better understand people who lived in the past. Thus the goal is not to judge the validity of those beliefs or to accept or reject them.

To warm up, introduce the following source for the class: Route of the Mormon pioneers from Nauvoo to Great Salt Lake, Feb'y 1846-July 1847. https://www.loc.gov/item/gm69002272. If students have their own tablets or laptops encourage them to explore the map, zoom in, and ask what details they notice. Prompt questions might include:

• What does this map depict? 
• Where does the journey begin and end? 
• What details are given about the journey?
• Why do you think these settlers moved west? For the same reasons as other settlers or does this move seem different? 
• Why might it have been important for this map maker to note where the pioneers stopped each day and how long each day’s journey was?

The purpose of this warm-up is two-fold. First to model primary source analysis for students by working through the source as a class. Students should be encouraged to slow down their thinking, notice details, and reflect on what those details might mean. Second, to get students thinking about how the migration of Mormons to Salt Lake City is central to the history of the religion as evidenced by the fact that this map documents every stop and every mile of every day of the journey.  

Step One: (30 minutes)

Introduce the sources to students. The annotations included with the links above can be used to help frame the sources for students. Each source relates to the early history of the Mormon Church beginning with the founding of the Church and publication of the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith in upstate New York, then to the Mormon relocation to Nauvoo, Illinois, and finally to the migration to present day Salt Lake City, Utah. 

After introducing the sources, inform students that their goal will be to create a digital interactive map using these sources to explore the history of the early Mormon Church. Examples of these kinds of maps can be found here:
https://storymap.knightlab.com/#examples

Pass out the sources (or provide students with links) giving each student one of the sources to start. They can either jot these down as notes or if more scaffolding is needed, you may have them complete a primary source analysis sheet for their source. Have students read/examine 3 sources total. 

Step Two (40 minutes)

Note: If done over two periods this step can be started on day one and completed on day 2. 

To create their digital maps, students may work in small groups or individually. To create the map they should choose 3-4 sources and place them on the map using the search feature of the platform. For each slide or pin in the map, students should attach the source and write a 1-2 sentence description based on their analysis of the source. The goal of the digital interactive map is to communicate the history of the Mormon Church and how movement and place shaped that history. 

Step Three (20 minutes)

Virtual gallery walk. Create a google doc for students to post their links and share it with the class. Have students take the time to examine their classmates’ maps. Alternatively, teachers could set up technology stations in the classroom with different student maps on each and have students do a physical gallery walk. 

 

General Tips for Teaching Controversial Subjects

Teaching history inevitably means teaching about topics that generate strong reactions from a wide range of people. While not every reaction can be anticipated, the following tips can provide a strong basis for a rationale for your learning activities:
 

• Center activities on primary sources. Primary sources are tangible evidence that allow students to engage directly with history. These primary sources in particular were preserved and digitized by the Library of Congress because they were deemed important to the history of the United States. 
• Discussion and analysis of these sources can be wide ranging, but within each class those discussions can always be turned back to the source itself. 
• The sources are also, by definition, only pieces of a puzzle. They bring us closer to understanding the past but there is always room for doubt and uncertainty.  
• Questions, Observations, and Reflections should come from students. These are primarily student-directed learning activities. It is the instructor's role to create a space for inquiry and empower students to drive the inquiry. 
• Linking to state or national standards can provide support and justification for classroom activities such as these. Westward expansion is explicitly mentioned in many state standards for example. The activities in this guide also link to NCSS Themes including Theme 1: Culture ("How do various aspects of culture such as belief systems, religious faith, or political ideals, influence other parts of a culture such as its institutions or literature, music, and art?")  and Theme 3: People, Places, and Environments ("study the causes, patterns and effects of human settlement and migration") 

 

What is it?

The history of the labor movement in the United States and the history of religion in the United States are two topics that are often taught, but rarely taught together. However, there are a number of compelling reasons to consider how they connect. Religious beliefs informed how Americans viewed their work and shaped how they thought employers ought to be treating them. Religious leaders at times supported organized labor’s efforts, while at other times sided with employers. At the same time, ideas about labor shaped Americans’ views of religion as the attitude of some churches toward labor demands put workers’ deeply held beliefs into conflict.

Key Points:

• This activity will take one 90-minute period or two 45-minute periods. It is appropriate for a high school U.S. history classroom, but can be modified for a variety of learners.
• Students will analyze, interpret, and evaluate primary sources. 
• Students will learn about the American labor movement and how religion and culture affected political and social issues.

 

Approach to Topic

To facilitate students engaging in this history, a variety of Library of Congress primary sources from 1910-1920 will be used. It will be useful for students to have some background information on the labor movement at that time including the fight for the 8 hour work day, the 1886 Haymarket Affair, the 1892 Homestead Strike, the 1894 Pullman Strike. The Library of Congress has engaging resources on these topics on their website. A review in a standard history textbook would also be sufficient for this activity. The guide will also contain tips for teaching about religion generally to help teachers engage students with what can be a challenging topic to teach. 

In introducing this topic to students, review briefly the effects of the industrial revolution on workers and the efforts by labor organizers to advocate for shorter working hours and safer working conditions. At the same time, communicate to students that the United States in the early twentieth century was a very religious nation and by this time it had become much more diverse in terms of religion with millions of Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Hungary, Orthodox Christians from Greece, and Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe arriving in what had been a predominantly Protestant nation. 
 

 

Description

This activity facilitates students’ engagement with primary sources as they explore the relationship between labor and religion in the United States in the early twentieth century. Students will examine sources carefully, note details, and then interpret what the details might mean based on what they know and their interpretations of the other sources. Students work together to create a brief multimedia presentation using two to three of the sources making the case that religion is shaping labor in this period or the opposite. 

 

Teacher Preparation

Make the primary sources below available to students either through links, if using electronic devices, or by printing them out. According to your students’ needs, you may need to guide students to the relevant excerpts or share the excerpts separately. These excerpts are included below. 

For presentations, a variety of formats might be used including PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Canva, are free to use or have free versions for teachers and students to use. Alternatively, teachers may have students create brief video presentations using iMovie or another video editing app or platform. 

Differentiation note: Depending on students reading abilities, teachers may want to consider accommodations for engaging with the primary sources below. Excerpts from text sources have been included along with annotations to highlight the most relevant passages. Teachers may also elect to read excerpts out loud to students or to assign smaller chunks of texts for students to examine in small groups. 

 

Primary sources

N.D. Cochran, “Is the Church the Best and Truest Friend Labor Ever Had?” The day book. September 05, 1913.

Note: Have students examine the front page of the source first. Then, depending on their reading level they can read through the article or read the excerpts below

Page 1: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-09-05/ed-1/seq-1/

Page 2: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-09-05/ed-1/seq-2/

Page 3: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-09-05/ed-1/seq-3/

Page 4: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-09-05/ed-1/seq-4/

Excerpt(s):

[From pages 2-3]

Yes, the head and founder of the church was a laboring man and He

chose laborers to help Him carry on his work. But He went forth to the

laborers and ministered to their physical wants as well as to their spiritual

needs. And the people loved and followed Him. He loved them and suffered for them.

The case of Cardinal Manning and the London dockworkers was an

isolated case, but it shows what the attitude of the church would be toward

labor if all-ministers practiced their Christianity as Cardinal Manning did.

And if that were the general attitude of the church toward labor the church

would be packed with laborers every Sunday. They would get acquainted

with the preacher during the week, when they were solving their daily

bread-and-butter problem.

But how many times has Rev. Mr. Lloyd gone to the workingmen in

their troubles and tendered his aid toward getting them justice?

How many ministers of the church took up the fight for justice and a

living wage for the clerks in Chicago department stores when the O'Hara

committee exposed the starvation wage policy of those stores?

How many ministers of the gospel even lifted up their voices in the

pulpit to help arouse a public sentiment that would insist on a decent living

wage for the department store clerks?

What ministers of the gospel went down into the loop last year to help

the striking newsboys and save them from the assaults of newspaper sluggers and policemen?

How many labor strikes have ministers investigated? How many have

they taken enough interest in to find whether the demands of the men were

just or unjust?

How will you make workingmen and women believe the church is the

ally of labor unless the church is with them in their most serious trouble

when they are striving for a living wage and a fair chance to feed, clothe,

house and educate their children?

I am asking these questions to be helpful, for I know something of what

is running through the minds of men who are struggling with all their

might to keep their heads above water in the fight for an existence.

I have talked with preachers about the “falling off” of church attendance.

I have talked with men and with women. I find no falling off of reverence

for religion or of love for the Christianity of Christ. So there is nothing the

matter with Christianity. It must be there is something the matter with

the church.

N.D. Cochran, “Why Rich and Poor Can’t Always Worship the Same God in the Same Church,” The day book. May 26, 1914. 

Page 1: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1914-05-26/ed-1/seq-1/

Page 2: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1914-05-26/ed-1/seq-2/

Page 3: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1914-05-26/ed-1/seq-3/

Page 4: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1914-05-26/ed-1/seq-4/

Excerpt(s): 

[From pages 2-3]

My own notion is that the main trouble with our churches is much the same as the main trouble with many of our newspapers; and that is, too much editing from the business office. 

I mean by that, too much commercialization the wealthy pew renter being too influential in the church, just as the big advertiser is too influential with the newspaper; and the common people, and their everyday life problems, receiving too little sympathetic attention. 

The attitude of "the burning bush" toward labor unions cannot be said fairly to be the attitude of the churches, for the general church attitude is not openly hostile, and varies with the convictions and courage of the individual ministers. Some are openly friendly. Others are more neglectful than openly hostile. They don't understand their Christianity, and while they preach beautiful sermons on Sunday, they have, to hump themselves the other six days of the week as ministerial business men, raising money to build a new church or pay off the debt on the old one; and in the meantime trying to keep alive on a beggarly wage, which is oozed out to them by a stingy congregation that pretends to love its religion but hates like the dickens to pay for it. 

I don't know much about country churches, but have seen many country parsons wearing shiny clothes; and I imagine their congregations got all the ministering they paid for. 

In the cities, however, the job of preaching beautiful sermons to rich congregations is a soft snap, for the rich congregation pays well and wants very little religion. The well kept preacher can't get away with much real christianity, for his bread-and-butter comes from exploiters of labor. And he would get in bad if he asked his patrons how they got it. 

They will give up the money necessary to build a beautiful church, and furnish the preacher with' a fine parsonage and an automobile so long as their christianity doesn't interfere with business. And labor unions interfere with "business, " because they insist on a greater share of the product of their labor than the employer would otherwise have to let them have. 

There are many such churches, and I don't object to them if rich "Christians" want them. But I can't see any reason for poor people attending them. They are not wanted there in the first place, and won't feel comfortable or very religious if they go there. And such a church, can't be friendly to labor unions on Sunday because it can't be friendly to them on week days, when it might hurt business.

Annotation: From the 1880s to the 1930s the labor movement in the United States made multiple attempts to organize the mass of industrial workers into unions to advocate for better wages, safer working conditions, and a shorter work day and work week. Employers resisted these efforts, sometimes violently, either by employing private security forces or by calling on the police or even the national guard to end labor strikes. As conflicts grew in number and intensity, it is not surprising that churches and religious leaders would be drawn into the conflict to endorse the goals of one side or the other. These articles from a Chicago pro-labor newspaper gives one perspective on how some labor organizers perceived church leaders as being too friendly to employers. In the first from 1913, the author responds to a church leader declaring that the church is “best and truest friend labor ever had” by pointing out that the same reverend voted against laws that labor unions supported. For a positive example of a religious leader helping labor the author points to Cardinal Manning in England who worked with striking dock workers in the 1898 London Dock Strike to help them achieve their demands. Some religious leaders in the United States supported the labor movement too arguing that a shorter work week would make workers more likely to attend church. Also note that the author does not criticize religion for being anti-labor but instead criticizes the church saying that working people are still religious even if they are moving away from the church. 

The second article by the same author in 1914 argues that churches too often take the side of employers because the wealthy employers have more influence on churches. The author argues that churches are afraid to offend the “wealthy pew renter” (a person who pays for the exclusive use of a particular pew in a church) because “They will give up the money necessary to build a beautiful church, and furnish the preacher with' a fine parsonage and an automobile so long as their Christianity doesn't interfere with business.” Again the author notes the difference between the church and religion saying “There are many such churches, and I don't object to them if rich "christians" want them. But I can't see any reason for poor people attending them.”

Alice Henry, The trade union woman, 1915. 

https://www.loc.gov/item/15024465/

Excerpt(s):

[From page vii-viii]

Many of the difficulties and dangers surrounding the working-woman affect the workingman also, but on the other hand, there are special reasons, springing out of the ancestral claims which life makes upon woman, arising also out of her domestic and social environment, and again out of her special function as mother, why the condition of the wage-earning woman should be the subject of separate consideration. It is impossible to discuss intelligently wages, hours and sanitation in reference to women workers unless these facts are borne in mind.

What makes the whole matter of overwhelming importance is the wasteful way in which the health, the lives, and the capacity for future motherhood of our young girls are squandered during the few brief years they spend as human machines in our factories and stores. Youth, joy and the possibility of future happiness lost forever, in order that we may have cheap (or dear), waists or shoes or watches.

Further, since the young girl is the future mother of the race, it is she who chooses the father of her children. Every condition, either economic or social, whether of training or of environment, which in any degree tends to limit her power of choice, or to narrow its range, or to lower her standards of selection, works out in a national and racial deprivation. And surely no one will deny that the degrading industrial conditions under which such a large number of our young girls live and work do all of these, do limit and narrow the range of selection and do lower the standards of the working-girl in making her marriage choice.

Give her fairer wages, shorten her hours of toil, let her have the chance of a good time, of a happy girlhood, and an independent, normal woman will be free to make a real choice of the best man. She will not be tempted to passively accept any man who offers himself, just in order to escape from a life of unbearable toil, monotony and deprivation.

Annotation: This excerpt is from a book, The Trade Union Women, written by Australian-American journalist Alice Henry. Henry wrote for several labor-oriented publications and was interested in making her (largely middle class) readers understand the lives of working class women. Henry was also a member of the Women’s Trade Union League, an organization that included both working women and middle class women and advocated for women’s suffrage. The source is both an example of how middle class progressives tried to advocate for working women and how those efforts could be hampered by a patronizing attitude toward culture and morality. In addition to class differences between these women, there were religious differences too as most of the middle class activists were protestant and most of the poorer working women were Catholic or Jewish. In this excerpt, Henry laments that young women who work in factories are less likely to choose a suitable husband simply to “escape from a life of unbearable toil, monotony and deprivation.” The implication is that women who choose lower quality husbands will have lower quality children, a notion that reflects ideas about eugenics which were common among middle class progressives at the time. 

 

In the Classroom

Warm up (5 minutes)

To warm up, ask the class to list what they remember about the goals of the labor movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s (8 hour working day, safer working conditions, higher pay etc). You may have them write the answers on the board. Then ask them how they think these ideas might connect to religion. What religious beliefs might be related to worker goals? What might religious leaders have said about these labor goals? Why might religious leaders support a shorter work week? Why might they support the interests of employers? Inform students that the goal of the activity will be to examine primary sources to better understand religion and the labor movement in the early 1900s. The purpose of this warm up is to communicate to students that they are learning about religion to better understand people who lived in the past - judging the validity of those beliefs or to accept or reject them is not our goal.

Step One: (30 minutes)

Introduce the sources to students. Two are articles from the newspaper The day book, a pro-labor paper for workers in Chicago. More on the background of The day book can be found here at the Library of Congress. The third is a book, The Trade Union Women, written by Australian-American journalist Alice Henry. Henry wrote for several labor-oriented publications and was interested in making her (largely middle class) readers understand the lives of working class women. Henry was also a member of the Women’s Trade Union League, an organization that included both working women and middle class women and advocated for women’s suffrage. 

Pass out the sources (or provide students with links) giving each student one of the sources to start. They can either jot these down as notes or if more scaffolding is needed, you may have them complete a primary source analysis sheet for their source. Have students read/examine 3 sources total. 

Step Two (40 minutes)

Note: If done over two periods this step can be started on day one and completed on day 2. 

To create their presentations, students may work in small groups or individually. The presentation should be on religion and labor in the early twentieth century. 

Each presentation will feature 

• A main argument that religion shaped ideas about labor OR that labor shaped ideas about religion. 
• Evidence from primary sources the students analyzed supporting their position.
• A title for the presentation

Again this presentation could be designed as a slides presentation or a video using the tools mentioned above. 

Step Three (20 minutes)

Share presentations with the class. If students worked in groups, there should be enough time for all students to share. 

 

General Tips for Teaching Controversial Subjects

Teaching history inevitably means teaching about topics that generate strong reactions from a wide range of people. While not every reaction can be anticipated, the following tips can provide a strong basis for a rationale for your learning activities:

• Center activities on primary sources. Primary sources are tangible evidence that allow students to engage directly with history. These primary sources in particular were preserved and digitized by the Library of Congress because they were deemed important to the history of the United States. 
• Discussion and analysis of these sources can be wide ranging, but within each class those discussions can always be turned back to the source itself. 
• The sources are also, by definition, only pieces of a puzzle. They bring us closer to understanding the past but there is always room for doubt and uncertainty.  
• Questions, Observations, and Reflections should come from students. These are primarily student-directed learning activities. It is the instructor's role to create a space for inquiry and empower students to drive the inquiry. 
• Linking to state or national standards can provide support and justification for classroom activities such as these. The labor movement, unionization, and reforms like the 8-hour workday are explicitly mentioned in many state standards for example. The activities in this guide also link to NCSS Themes including Theme 1: Culture ("How do various aspects of culture such as belief systems, religious faith, or political ideals, influence other parts of a culture such as its institutions or literature, music, and art?")  and Theme 7: Production, Distribution, and Consumption ("What is the most effective allocation of the factors of production (land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship)?") 
   

What is it?

As historian James McPherson has written “Religion was central to the meaning of the Civil War, as the generation that experienced the war tried to understand it.” However, many of the resources available for students learning about the war do not deal with the religious themes of the war and therefore miss important context to one of the most consequential topics in U.S. history.

Key points:

• This activity will take one 90-minute period or two 45-minute periods. It is appropriate for a high school U.S. history classroom, but can be modified for a variety of learners.
• Students will analyze, interpret, and evaluate primary sources. 
• Students will learn more about the causes of the Civil War as well as the course and character of the war and its effects on the American people. 

 

Approach the Topic

This guide will use a variety of Library of Congress sources including sheet music from marching songs that soldiers sang as they marched to battle. These songs often contained religious themes that connect to what soldiers viewed as the meaning of the war. Students will also read excerpts from sermons by various religious leaders in the North and the South as they looked to religious texts in an effort to explain the war. The guide will also contain tips for teaching about religion generally to help teachers engage students with what can be a challenging topic to teach. 

In introducing this topic to students, emphasize that the United States at the time of the Civil War was a very religious nation. Church attendance was frequent in all regions of the U.S. and significantly Americans on both sides of the war often invoked God and the Bible when justifying the war. According to historian Mark Noll, this took a variety of forms. For example, the Bible was frequently used to both condemn slavery and justify it. Similarly, American Protestants in both the North and South identified strongly with the notion of divine providence, that is, the idea that God was actively working to shape events and this work could be perceived by people as the events happened. However, which events to cite and how to interpret them differed greatly depending on which side of the conflict a person supported. In this activity students will examine primary sources to note how Americans invoked religion during the Civil War and how understanding the role of religion changes our understanding of the war. 

 

Description

This activity facilitates students as they engage with primary sources and understand better how religion shaped the beliefs of Americans during the Civil War. Students will examine sources carefully, note details, and then interpret what the details might mean based on what they know and their interpretations of the other sources. Working in groups, students will use these interpretations to create a museum exhibit (either physical or digital) to communicate the role of religion in the Civil War.  

 

Teacher Preparation

Make the primary sources below available to students either through links, if using electronic devices, or by printing them out. According to your students’ needs, you may need to guide students to the relevant excerpts or share the excerpts separately. These excerpts are included below. 

Prepare the necessary materials for students to create their exhibit. If it’s a physical exhibit this could be as simple as scissors to cut out excerpts from primary sources and materials to create captions or annotations for those sources. Poster board can also be used if the exhibits are to be more permanent or for display in another part of the school. 

For digital exhibits, a variety of formats might be used including PowerPoint, Google Slides, Google Sites, Canva, or Omeka There are all free to use or have free versions for teachers and students.  

Differentiation note: Depending on students reading abilities, teachers may want to consider accommodations for engaging with the primary sources below. Excerpts from text sources have been included along with annotations to highlight the most relevant passages. Teachers may also elect to read excerpts out loud to students or to assign smaller chunks of texts for students to examine in small groups. 

 

Primary sources

J.H. “A prophecy of the Southern Confederacy” Jefferson County, Virginia [1862?].

Excerpt(s):

That God should love thee, has been demonstrated in favour of the South, with the abundant crop, supplies and comforts to support the Armies with the material of war, is strongly shewing I have loved thee, and the men for thee. Isaiah 43d chapter 14th verse is England, with Europe, now acting in behalf of the South, by the receiving of our Commissioners or Ministers. The result of that act alone will stay the Northern power from continued aggression—thereby “giving a people for thy life.” After this promise, hear the 5th verse: “Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west.”

Annotation: White American Protestants, both in the North and South, strongly believed in divine providence — that God was actively working to shape events and that God’s efforts could be perceived as these events were happening. This source from Jefferson County (part of West Virginia today) in 1862 is an example of this thinking. Presenting itself as a “prophecy,” it predicts that the Confederacy will achieve victory over the Union because God’s love “has been demonstrated in favour of the South.” Further signs that the Confederacy will win, according to this author, are seen in the “abundant crop, supplies and comforts to support the Armies with the material of war”. The “prophecy” goes on to predict that England will side with the Confederacy against the Union and bring about an end to the war. Given the estimated year, 1862, which was early in the war, the source is likely a reaction to the success Confederate armies were having against Union forces at that point in the war. 

A sermon on the war, by the Rev. Elias Nason, preached to the soldiers at Exeter. N. H. May 19, 1861. 

https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.09400400/

Excerpt(s):

My hope of ultimate success does not so much repose in our superiority to our enemies in point of military skill, or power, as in our going forth to the field of contest in confederation with Almighty God. . . 

Why then am I hopeful in this dreadful conflict? I answer fairly: not so much because of our numbers, gold, or fleets, or generalship at the north; not so much because of our union at the north; not so much because of our “materiel;” our “sinews of war” at the North—No, no, no! not these alone.—but I am confident of final victory because of the plans and the action of that wise Spirit whom we come into this temple to worship today; because we have set up our banners, not in our own, but in his Almighty name; and because I believe we go forth under his benediction to the battlefield—and one with God upon his side is an invincible legion. The South has set up its banner in the name of secession, in the name of rebellion; in the name of oppression! The poisonous rattlesnake is its fitting emblem. Such a banner ought to fall; it is opposed to human progress; learning, liberty; it is opposed to the great leading ideas of the nineteenth century; such a banner ought to fall; and I feel assured that God through your right arm intends to make it fall; and the illustrious “Star spangled banner” rise, heaven-lighted with the swelling songs of Freedom, over it.

Annotation: The notion of divine providence, that God would actively shape events in favor of the American people, was just as strongly held in the North as in the South. Here a sermon by Reverend Elias Nason, delivered to Union troops in New Hampshire, expresses faith that the Union will defeat the Confederacy because God will be on their side. “I am confident of final victory because of the plans and the action of that wise Spirit whom we come into this temple to worship today.” Nason also declares the Union on the side of “freedom” as well as “human progress; learning, liberty” likely references to fighting against slavery. To Eason this was further evidence that God was on the Union side. Note too the month and date of the sermon, May of 1861, was a month after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter and still a few months before the first major battle of the war. At this point many on both sides would have predicted a short victorious war. 

“The Nutshell: the system of American slavery "tested by Scripture," being "a short method" with pro-slavery D.D.'s, whether doctors of divinity, or of democracy, embracing axioms of social, civil, and political economy, as divinely impressed upon the human conscience and set forth in divine revelation; in two lectures,” 1862

https://www.loc.gov/item/12005595/

Excerpt(s):

[From page 22-23]

And yet will ye plead the Scriptures in justification of American Slavery? We can imagine but one mode of evading the common sense application of the “Golden Rule.” It is substantially this: “With my present experience and knowledge,” says the apologist, “of the conditions of mankind, were I a black man,I would prefer for myself and posterity forever the condition of Slavery to that of Freedom. So do I unto others as I would they should do unto me.” Dare ye answer thus at the bar of God in the day of final account! at His bar who commands: “Break every yoke and let the oppressed go free”!

Annotation: Slavery was the central issue dividing the Union and Confederacy and on this issue too both sides believed that the Bible supported their position. While pro-slavery Christians pointed to the existence of slavery in the Old Testament of the Bible, anti-slavery Christians tended to argue that the teaching of the New Testament were opposed slavery as it was practiced in the United States. In this 1862 pamphlet, the author identified only as “Layman of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Connecticut” argues that the Golden Rule, found in the book of Matthew and Luke as part of the Sermon on the Mount, necessarily means that slavery is not justified. The author then quotes from the book of Isaiah, ““Break every yoke and let the oppressed go free” a passage often invoked by abolitionists. 

Battle hymn of the Republic / by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. [Philadelphia] : Published by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments, [1863?]

https://www.loc.gov/item/98101743/

Battle hymn of the republic - background information 

https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200000003/

Battle hymn of the republic audio

https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100010455/

Song of the first of Arkansas ... written by Captain Lindley Miller, of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment
https://www.loc.gov/item/amss.cw105500/

Excerpt(s):

Oh, we're the bully soldiers of the “First of Arkansas,”

We are fighting for the Union, we are fighting for the law,

We can hit a Rebel further than a white man ever saw,

As we go marching on.

Chorus: Glory, glory hallelujah.

Glory, glory hallelujah.

Glory, glory hallelujah.

As we go marching on.

2. See, there above the center, where the flag is waving bright,

We are going out of slavery; we're bound for freedom's light;

We mean to show Jeff Davis how the Africans can fight,

As we go marching on!

(Chorus)

3. We have done with hoeing cotton, we have done with hoeing corn,

We are colored Yankee soldiers, now, as sure as you are born;

When the masters hear us yelling,

they'll think it's Gabriel's horn,

As we go marching on.

(Chorus)

4. They will have to pay us wages, the wages of their sin,

They will have to bow their foreheads to their colored kith and kin,

They will have to give us house-room, or the roof shall tumble in!

As we go marching on.

(Chorus)

5. We heard the Proclamation, master hush it as he will,

The bird he sing it to us, hoppin' on the cotton hill,

And the possum up the gum tree, he couldn't keep it still,

As he went climbing on.

(Chorus)

6. They said, “Now colored brethren, you shall be forever free,

From the first of January, Eighteen hundred sixty-three.”

We heard it in the river going rushing to the sea,

As it went sounding on.

(Chorus)

7. Father Abraham has spoken and the message has been sent,

The prison doors he opened, and out the pris'ners went,

To join the sable army of “African descent,”

As we go marching on.

(Chorus)

8. Then fall in, colored brethren, you'd better do it soon,

Don't you hear the drum a-beating the Yankee Doodle tune?

We are with you now this morning, we'll be far away at noon,

As we go marching on. (Chorus)

Annotation: The United States at the time of the Civil War was a very religious nation and soldiers in the Civil War often expressed their understanding of the war in religious terms. This can be seen in the marching songs that were used to recruit soldiers to the war and that were later sung by the soldiers themselves to keep time during marches and engage soldiers’ interest. A famous example of a marching song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, incorporates religious themes implying that God is on the side of the Union in their effort to defeat the Confederacy and end slavery. Many versions of this song with different lyrics were sung by Union troops including “Song of the first of Arkansas”, the first of Arkansas being a regiment of Black soldiers. In addition to the “Glory, glory hallelujah” chorus, the song references Gabriel’s Horn which in many Christian traditions signals that Judgment Day has arrived. In the song, when the “masters” hear the first Arkansas coming they will think it’s Gabriel’s Horn. 

In the Classroom

Warm up (5 minutes)

When teaching the history of religion it is important to communicate to students that they are learning about religion to better understand people who lived in the past. Thus the goal is not to judge the validity of those beliefs or to accept or reject them. To set the stage, begin by posting the quote above by historian James McPherson and then asking students how historians might come to this conclusion that religion was important to Americans during the Civil War. “What kinds of evidence do you think historians might use to come to this conclusion?” Answers can be written on the board. The purpose of the warm up is to remind students that their goal is to try to understand these beliefs, not assess the accuracy or legitimacy of these beliefs. Inform students that the goal of the activity is to better understand what role religion played in the Civil War. 

Step One: (20 minutes)

Place students in groups. Each group member receives the same primary source and each group receives a different primary source. This is a jig-saw group activity so students will join new groups to create their exhibits. In their primary source groups, direct students to examine the source carefully noting all the words that might relate to religion. Students should also note the date of the source, who created the source, and who they think the audience might be. They can either jot these down as notes or if more scaffolding is needed, students may complete a primary source analysis sheet for their source. 

Step Two (40 minutes)

Place students in new groups such that each group has a member with a different primary source. Instruct students that each group will be responsible for creating a museum exhibit on the topic of religion and the Civil War. Each exhibit will feature 

• The primary sources the students analyzed 
• Captions for each source of about 50 words explaining what the source is and what it tells us about religion in the Civil War. 
• A paragraph introducing the exhibit.
   
• A title for the exhibit (Note: Exhibit titles are often phrases from one of the sources used in the exhibit).

Again this exhibit could be designed as a physical exhibit or a digital exhibit using the tools mentioned above.

Step 3 (25 minutes)

Students group share exhibits with class. This can either be done with each group presenting to the class or using a “gallery walk” where half the students’ exhibits are on display with their creators there to explain and answer questions while the other half of the class walk around to view the exhibits. Halfway through this period the groups switch places. 

 

General Tips for Teaching Controversial Subjects

Teaching history inevitably means teaching about topics that generate strong reactions from a wide range of people. While not every reaction can be anticipated, the following tips can provide a strong basis for a rationale for your learning activities:

• Center activities on primary sources. Primary sources are tangible evidence that allow students to engage directly with history. These primary sources in particular were preserved and digitized by the Library of Congress because they were deemed important to the history of the United States. 
• Discussion and analysis of these sources can be wide ranging, but within each class those discussions can always be turned back to the source itself. 
• The sources are also, by definition, only pieces of a puzzle. They bring us closer to understanding the past but there is always room for doubt and uncertainty.  
• Questions, Observations, and Reflections should come from students. These are primarily student-directed learning activities. It is the instructor's role to create a space for inquiry and empower students to drive the inquiry.
• Linking to state or national standards can provide support and justification for classroom activities such as these. The Civil War is explicitly mentioned in many state standards for example. The activities in this guide also link to NCSS Themes including Theme 1: Culture ("How do various aspects of culture such as belief systems, religious faith, or political ideals, influence other parts of a culture such as its institutions or literature, music, and art?")  and Theme 2: Time, Continuity, and Change ("How do we learn about the past? How can we evaluate the usefulness and degree of reliability of different historical sources?")