The Andres Pico Adobe is one of the oldest residences in the City of Los Angeles. It represents a bygone era and the rich historical past of the San Fernando Valley. Inside are museum displays of native American beads, Mission and Spanish-Mexican era artifacts, costumes and clothing that span more than a century, and furniture from the Victorian era, when the Adobe was home to members of the Pico family.
The Center consists of two historical museums and surrounding outdoor exhibits. The Historical Museum depicts life on the plains during the American pioneer movement and westward expansion periods. Exhibits treat topics including Native American and pioneer life, railroads, agriculture, and the Victorian and cow-town eras. The Museum of Independent Telephony recreates the unique flavor of early independent telephone system history with hands-on displays of antique telephones, insulators, switchboards, and pay stations. Outside is the Pioneer Community, with actual buildings from around the county and the Parker Carousel, a national landmark carousel. Exhibits include a log cabin, barn, store, phone office, agriculture equipment, windmill, chickens and more.
The center offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).
"The Los Angeles Fire Department Museum and Memorial offers one of the most exciting, realistic, and valuable fire service experiences available anywhere in the world. With two museum facilities, plus our new memorial plaza, your fire service adventure is just around the corner. We have more rigs, more photos, more artifacts and more history than anyone..."
The Society's Museum focuses on exhibits exploring Folsom's native people; the discovery of gold and the formation of mining camps; ethnic groups who contributed to this area; the formation of the town and the growth and establishment of the railroad, prison, and powerhouse; and later efforts at gold mining. The Museum's Pioneer Living History Center allows visitors a look at Folsom's past through vehicles; machines; equipment; and replicas of a miner's shack, blacksmith shop, carriage shed, and more.
The society offers educational and recreational events; the museum offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.
"Share in the Homestead Heritage of the Mission Valley and Flathead Lake area as it is preserved in the Polson-Flathead Historical Museum. Other area museums focus on the Native American presence in the region, but our museum focuses on the pioneers and homesteaders who first inhabited the region. See the development of the area progress over the years through viewing real-life exhibits such as
*The Trading Post, actually see what it was really like to shop in the only store in the region in the 1880's!
*The Flathead "Monster"!
*Marvel at the stagecoaches and buggies that carried passengers to, through and from the Valley!
*Old time Fire Trucks!
*Stand in the middle of a true-to-life kitchen from the 'good old days' and imagine what it was like to cook a meal, wash clothes or preserve food with few labor saving devices!"
"The Historical Society of Federal Way collects, preserves and interprets the history, ethnic heritage, and cultural history of Federal Way, Washington. The Society's current major projects include the restoration of the historic Denny and Barker cabins and placement of markers which give details regarding points of historic interest."
"The galleries at the Southwest Museum of the American Indian are closed to the public at this time. However, the Museum Store is open on Saturdays and Sundays and we will continue to offer great programs and events throughout the year.
The galleries are closed due to extensive rehabilitation of the building and conservation of its rare collection of Native American artifacts, with the goal of moving most of the collection to a new state-of-the-art home by 2009. Plans call for the infrastructure improvements to the Southwest Museum to be completed by 2010, when the building will be open for a new cultural use, fulfilling founder Charles Lummis' vision and belief that all indigenous peoples be understood."
My middle school students contain tremendous physical energy and can struggle with the transition into the adult world of sitting still. Meanwhile, real kinesthetic learning is one of the most difficult areas to incorporate effectively into your history classroom. Last year, to meet my goal of getting the students moving in a relevant and productive manner, I created Policy Pull-Out—a fun and interactive game related to the key concepts of American Expansion.
Picture students moving around, excited about history vocabulary, with all learning levels engaged. Welcome to Policy Pull-Out! As the winter months drag on, allowing the students to be active will be extra important to their moods and their excitement about learning. This game will also reinforce and add a dimension to ideas vital to American history class.
Policy Pull-Out was created to specifically support and review for DC's 8.5.2: Explain and identify on a map the territorial expansion during the terms of the first four presidents. The game has been played with 8th grade in American History but I feel could be age-appropriate from 4th through 10th depending on your students and your spin on it. Although a teacher hopes that students always picture history in 3-D, that concept seems especially important in this unit. The students should be able to reflect on what expansionism means, what Manifest Destiny looks like, and what isolationism feels like. Once the students have a deeper understanding of these political concepts, they can begin putting themselves in the position of 1800s decision makers imagining the benefits and foreshadowing the issues that will arise.
Policy Pull-Out stemmed from a game that I had played as an after-school coordinator, called “Huggie Bear.” In Huggie Bear, the students mingle around until the teacher calls out a number. Whether the number is seven or two, the students have to gather in a group of that number of students. If students do not find a group that size or cannot find a group fast enough, they are out.
In Policy Pull-Out, we use history-related calls demanding different numbers of people group together or do a specific action. The motions they use in these calls directly relate to understanding the meaning of the words.
As mentioned, the students mingle in place until they receive one of the following calls:
Once the students have those four calls, I then add on three more rules:
First, you need to secure an adequate space. For teachers whose weather permits, I recommend trying this outside. For other teachers, a gym or large classroom would be appropriate. A basketball court is a useful playing field because it allows definite borders.
Before leaving the classroom, I recommend reviewing the first four calls and having a volunteer demonstrate each one. The students should have already been introduced to the key concepts and vocabulary but this would be a good time to discuss why certain words represent certain motions and allow them to make the connections for themselves. Perhaps they could even add to the game with their own ideas! You can give students the option of a cheat sheet depending on the situation.
After the class has arrived at the chosen location, the games can begin! The students love this game and are always very excited to be doing an activity out of the norm, but it is important to anticipate problems and set up ground rules about student-to-student contact, referee absolutes, and what to do when you are out. In the past, the students have been very invested in playing the game and are afraid to be taken out as long as you define clear borders. I limit the first round to four calls and then add as we go by gathering the group back together.
At the end of the game, debriefing is necessary in order to reinforce the purposefulness of the game: Did anyone feel safe when they were isolated? Did anyone prefer expansionism? How did you like running to the borders for Manifest Destiny? Do you think that our early presidents may have experienced some of these feelings? As the individuals within a class will form different opinions of their favorite motions, there are mixed opinions about the policies that would be best for our country.
This conversation should be a jumping-off point for more directly connected historical thinking activities. As the following step in scaffolding, I recommend using a collection of primary sources including documents that supported expansion and ones that warned against it. As another logical step, several research assignments could stem from this. For example, the students could compare George Washington to the later presidents that preferred expansionism, or research the motivations of different presidents who did expand (e.g., Thomas Jefferson’s motivations compared to James Monroe’s). Policy Pull-Out should be viewed as an early scaffold to more critical thinking about these concepts.
I hope that you and your students enjoy this game! It has been a highlight of my teaching. When spun correctly, Policy Pull-Out will reinforce the connection between human history and geography to help your students remember and understand why our 50 states exist today!
For more suggested activities for secondary-level classrooms, read Schaefer's blog entries on teaching 9/11, the Declaration of Independence, and mental mapping.
One of the most notable developments in early American expansionism was the Louisiana Purchase. Listen to historian Leah Glaser analyze a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Congress, asking for funding for the Corps of Discovery, or search our Website Reviews for materials on the Purchase and the Corps. Digital collections such as the Library of Congress's George Washington Papers, Thomas Jefferson Papers, and James Madison Papers can also provide insight into early presidents' policies and thoughts.
How did the Alamo happen?
When Americans started to move westward after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, many found the Mexican government happy to have them in Texas (they were called "Texians" there), alongside the Tejanos (Texans of Mexican or Latin-American descent). Because settlements were few and far between, the Mexican government needed settlers to protect the area from the Apaches and the Comanches, and the central government, centered far to the south in Mexico City, therefore encouraged the formation of regional militias.
Mexico achieved independence from Spain in 1821, and the Mexican Constitution of 1824 established the newly independent country as a Federal Republic. In 1833, after years of political volatility and coups, however, Mexico emerged as a centralized dictatorship under the control of General and President Antonio López de Santa Anna. As a result, several Mexican states rebelled against the reversal of federalism, including Coahuila y Tejas (the area that would become Texas), and formed their own regional governments. At a convention called in 1833 by dissidents to the central government, Stephen F. Austin was chosen as the representative of the self-declared "new" state of "Texas."
By this time, Anglo settlers in Texas outnumbered Tejanos by more than 5 to 1. Mexico was convinced that the United States coveted Texas. In 1827, President John Quincy Adams had offered to buy the region for a million dollars, and in 1829, President Andrew Jackson had increased the offer to $5 million. Mexico had rejected both offers.
By this time, the central government was dissatisfied that the Anglos refused to assimilate into Mexican culture. They resisted the legal requirement to support the Catholic Church, refused to learn Spanish, and refused to emancipate their slaves (Mexico had outlawed slavery in 1829). In 1830, the central government prohibited further immigration from the U.S. into Texas.
At the same time, the Tejanos felt betrayed by Santa Anna's consolidation of political power. They had long felt alienated by the government in Mexico City and by the circles of power further south.
By mid-1835, "Texas Committees" in the U.S. sent money to Texas and recruited volunteers to help Texians resist the central government. Not long afterwards, Stephen Austin called for Texan independence.
Mexican soldiers assaulted the Texian garrison at Gonzales with the goal of forcing the settlers there to return a cannon they were given for self-defense. The Texians raised a flag picturing the outline of a cannon and the words "Come and Get It." The Mexicans were forced to retreat.
In November, at San Felipe de Austin, Texans formed a provisional government, the "Consultation," that expressed allegiance to the annulled Mexican Constitution of 1824. The Consultation authorized the creation of a new Texas regular army force (apart from the volunteers who were by then headed by Stephen Austin) commanded by Sam Houston.
In December 1835, Jim Bowie and his volunteer troops defeated the forces of Santa Anna's brother-in-law, General Martin Perfect de Cos, after a siege of the Alamo Mission at Béxar (modern San Antonio, Texas). The Texians released De Cos and his 1,000 men and paroled them. Afterwards, the Texians encamped at the Alamo and fortified it, although a confused chain of command among the various Texan military commanders shortly stripped the Alamo of most of its provisions and all but 100 or so defenders.
General Santa Anna left Mexico City at the end of November 1835, with a force of 6,000 soldiers to put down the revolt in Texas. Shortly thereafter, the Mexican Congress, encouraged by Santa Anna, declared that all "foreigners" captured fighting against the government should be regarded as "pirates" and summarily executed. By February 23, Santa Anna reached San Antonio and occupied the town, beginning a siege of the Alamo, then under the joint command of Jim Bowie and William B. Travis. Davy Crockett was among the Anglo defenders.
Meanwhile, Texans met 175 miles to the east, at Washington-on-the-Brazos, and on March 2 signed a Declaration of Independence from Mexico, declaring a new Republic of Texas. On March 4, Sam Houston was appointed commander of Texas forces, and he set out to raise and train an army in east Texas, in advance of Santa Anna's route.
The Alamo's defenders, still no more than about 200 men (but including a band of 25 Tejanos led by Juan Seguín) were determined to block Santa Anna from proceeding to east Texas to confront Houston and his men while they were building in strength. They pledged to defend the Alamo to the death.
Santa Anna occupied San Antonio and, with 1,500 soldiers, laid siege to the Alamo, trading intermittent cannon fire for about a week. The defenders refused to surrender. Santa Anna's forces overran them on March 6, 1836, in an early morning attack, under orders not to take prisoners. The defenders gradually fell back and collected around the chapel, where non-combatants (women, children, and slaves) were gathered.
The Mexicans reached the chapel and captured it. They released the non-combatants, but all defenders (including 8 Tejanos) died, either in the battle or, according to some accounts, by execution after surrender.
On March 19, 1836, 90 miles to the southeast, at the Battle of Coleto, forces under General José de Urrea defeated the Texian garrison stationed nearby at the Presidio La Bahia at Goliad. Eight days later, the Mexicans massacred the Texan garrison of more than 350 they had taken as prisoner, including its commander, James Fannin.
Santa Anna was branded throughout Texas as bloodthirsty, and as a result, Houston's forces grew with outraged volunteers. Sam Houston and his newly formed army proceeded into east Texas, closely pursued by Santa Anna, whose divided forces clashed several times with Texans.
At San Jacinto, 250 miles east of the Alamo, the Texan forces turned on Santa Anna's overconfident army in a surprise attack during siesta time. The Mexican army was defeated in 20 minutes. Seven Texans were wounded and up to 300 Mexicans died.
In the confusion, Santa Anna attempted to escape by donning the uniform of a corporal and hiding in a marsh, but the Texans noticed that the "corporal" was wearing silk underwear and figured out his identity. Under a tree nearby, Houston and Santa Anna negotiated a treaty giving Texas its independence and Santa Anna was released.
The Alamo has an extensive website that includes a good reading list on the battle at the Alamo and the Texas Revolution.
The Texas State Library and Archives Commission's website has a number of primary documents from the events surrounding the Alamo battle.
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Thank you for your assistance, and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Janssen, Volker. "When the 'Jungle Met the Forest: Public Works, Civil Defense, and Prison Camps in Postwar California." Journal of American History96 (Dec. 2009), 702–26. Accessed May 1, 2011.
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