Stephen Ambrose says that the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1868 was the great achievement of the 19th century.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes how the Native Americans fought back throughout the 19th century, as the U.S. Army tried to contain them on smaller and smaller parcels of land.
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Author David McCullough discusses his book John Adams, profiling the life of the second president of the United States. McCullough talks about the relationship between Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and also with his wife Abigail.
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Time Magazine's Christopher John Farley discusses the election of 1800 and the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's term in office is remembered for a war on terror, and the Louisiana Purchase, and a scandal.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces King Philip's War, begun by King Philip, a Wampanoag chief, after years of tension between English and Wampanoag cultures. The Indians launched raids on dozens of English towns, but they were ultimately defeated and hunted down.
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March is Music in Our Schools Month! Have you considered using historical tunes in your classroom? Here’s one possibility—the 19th-century popular song “John Brown’s Body.” Answer these questions about the song’s history.
1. When was the music for "John Brown's Body" first printed?
c. 1858
The tune that would later become "John Brown's Body" developed in the religious camp meetings of the Second Great Awakening (a period of widespread evangelical religious revival, from the early to mid-1800s). Though it existed in various forms for at least several years beforehand, the music first appeared in print in choral books in 1858. Religious lyrics accompanied these versions—and included the "glory, glory, hallelujah" chorus that would remain in "John Brown's Body."
2. Which of the following lines was not in the early versions of "John Brown's Body?"
d. But tho' he lost his life in struggling for the slave
According to the most common "origin story," the tune to "John Brown's Body" gained its most famous lyrics—"John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave"—in 1859, some time after the execution of John Brown, the abolitionist who led an antislavery raid on Harper's Ferry, VA, and was subsequently hanged. However, these lyrics were not, originally, about that John Brown. Instead, they referred to a Massachusetts Union soldier, whose fellow soldiers improvised the song from the original camp-meeting tune and religious lyrics to tease him. The song gained verses and lyrics and spread, to be heard by others who assumed "John Brown" was John Brown the abolitionist. Later lyrics, like (d) above, worked from this assumption.
3. In 1861, William Weston Patton published a version of the song in which John Brown was whom?
d. A radical abolitionist executed in 1859
William Weston Patton (pictured here), abolitionist and president of Howard University, heard the song "John Brown's Body" in one of its early versions and wrote a more polished, elaborate set of lyrics for the tune. These lyrics changed the song from being about a John Brown (sometimes the abolitionist and sometimes not) to the John Brown, explicitly telling the story of Brown's execution and memorializing him as a martyr to the abolitionist cause.
4. Julia Ward Howe wrote the lyrics to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (which shares a tune with "John Brown's Body") after hearing "John Brown's Body" sung by whom?
c. A battalion of soldiers in Washington, DC
Abolitionist Julia Ward Howe (pictured here) first heard "John Brown's Body" sung by soldiers during an 1861 troop review in Washington, DC. The tune struck her, but the lyrics, in one of their early forms referring to John Brown of the Massachusetts militia, did not. Shortly afterwards, she woke in a DC hotel and composed the words of a poem set to the tune of "John Brown's Body" while lying in bed. In 1862, the Atlantic Monthly published her new lyrics—a paean to the Union Army—to be sung along with the music that had inspired her to write it.
Foundations of U.S. History: Virginia History as U.S. History, a Teaching American History Grant project, offers a two-day 4th-grade lesson plan on the history of "John Brown's Body" and contemporary popular opinion on abolitionist John Brown's raid and execution. The lesson includes a historical overview; a collection of primary sources, including photographs, letters, articles, and the lyrics to several versions of the song; and links to resources on both John Brown and "John Brown's Body." The site also hosts video of teacher Heather Coffey discussing the lesson and implementing it in a classroom.
For the Clearinghouse's summary and review of this lesson plan, check out this entry in Examples of Teaching.
Foundations of U.S. History also features a 45-min. Primary Source Activity contrasting the lyrics to two versions of the song. Also check out the Primary Source Activity that compares the 1859 and 1861 lyrics of another song: "Dixie."
For higher grades, a NHEC blog entry covers a project at Harpers Ferry Middle School in which 70 students worked to create their own mini-documentaries on John Brown and the events at Harper's Ferry.
PBS' website John Brown's Holy War, designed to complement the American Experience documentary of the same name, includes primary sources, a timeline, and maps, as well as a short history of "John Brown's Body," with audio clips.
The University of Virginia's John Brown and the Valley of the Shadow archive uses contemporary accounts to link the story of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry into the area's local history.
A podcast from Backstory reviews the history of the song in under eight minutes, if you're in a hurry.
And for more on teaching with music, check out "Making Sense of Popular Song", written by historians Ronald G. Walters and John Spitzer.
From the Facing History and Ourselves website:
"This film [Journey to Freedom] tells the story of Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts, and his wife Martha, a social worker, who helped feed and shelter thousands of refugees and assisted anti-Nazi dissidents and Jews as they escaped to safety, first in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and later in France. The Sharps were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem—the highest recognition accorded by the state of Israel to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the World War II. The Sharps' compelling story reveals a largely unknown chapter of Holocaust history and provides a new perspective on America's relationship to it. This film is an important addition to Facing History's collection of classroom resources that focus on rescue and resistance during the Holocaust. The Facing History Film Series is presented in partnership with the Denver Film Society.
The workshop is in two parts. Part 1 (4:30-6:30 pm) will be an educator workshop focused on pedagogy. Part 2 (7:00-9:00 pm) will include the film presentation. A light dinner will be served between the two parts."
This workshop provides in-depth training about the Winston Churchill Memorial's education curriculum specific to the 68 classroom. This workshop will assist teachers in preparing students for participating in the Memorial's various on-site and outreach school programs.
This workshop provides in-depth training about the Winston Churchill Memorial's education curriculum specific to the 912 classroom. This workshop will assist teachers in preparing students for participating in the Memorial's various on-site and outreach school programs.
From the Lincoln and New York website:
"This course introduces teachers to the scholarship behind the groundbreaking exhibitions Slavery in New York and New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War. Beginning with a survey of Dutch, British and American practices of slavery, teachers will explore the varied experiences of the enslaved men and women who built New York. In Part II of the course, teachers will examine key themes of the exhibition New York Divided, including New York City's economic and social connections to Southern slavery; the co-existence of anti-black and abolitionist sentiment in New York; and major events in New York during the Civil War, including the Draft Riots and the raising of African-American regiments."
"Teachers wishing to receive professional credit must register online with the New York After-School Professional Development Program; visit their website: https://pci.nycenet.edu/aspdp/. Teachers who do not wish to receive credit may register on Ed-Net, available at http://www.nyhseducationdb.org/login.aspx."
NOTE: The dates for this program are not yet set. It will take place in Spring 2010.
