Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Charles Fuller discusses his life and motivations as an African-American author. The presentation also includes discussions and performances which bring the testimonies of slaves, soldiers, reporters, and activists from the Civil War to life, focusing on African-American history during the Civil War and African-American memory of the war.
Three scholars present papers on the history of Native American and African slavery and the slave trade in New England. The papers are "Another Face of Slavery: Indentured Servitude of Native Americans in Southern New England," "Freedom and Conflicts over Class, Gender, and Identity: The Evolving Relationship between Indians and Blacks in Southern New England, 17501870," and "Enslavement and Indians in Southern New England: Unraveling a Hidden History."
Authors Philip McFarland and Debby Applegate trace the lives of the Beechers, a family which included the siblings Henry Ward Beecher, a famous preacher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Audio and video options are available.
Author Lisa Alther talks about her work to trace her family genealogy and determine whether her ancestry includes any members of a perhaps-folkloric group of Tennessee residents called the "Melungeons." She talks about how people reconstruct their family trees, adding and omitting to create the history they wish to remember.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson examines the contemporary popular perspectives on the Civil War, both of Northerners and Southerners, civilians and soldiers. McPherson uses the popular music of the period as a framework for discussing the changing views, and focuses on the growing desire to end the war and the increasing sense of hopelessness that it would ever end.
An audio version can be downloaded.
Author Zoe Trodd follows the history of protest literature in the United States, looking at its use in movements ranging from pre-Revolutionary War to the present day. The presentation also includes Adoyo Owuor reading the Emancipation Proclamation, Timothy Patrick McCarthy reading Eugene v. Debs Statement to the Court, John Stauffer displaying a collection of 20th-century protest photography, and Doric Wilson presenting excerpts from his play Street Theater.
An mp3 of the presentation may be downloaded.
This Electronic Field Trip uses the history of early baseball as a window into American life in the 19th century. Watchers journey back in time to discover a young land as its enterprising soul comes of age in the villages and towns of 19th-century America and follow the exploration of a western frontier after an anguishing Civil War to see how natives and naturalized citizens forge a familiar pastime while learning each other's customs and cultures.
Note: Thank you for your interest in our posters. We no longer have the Civil War poster in stock, but you may print a copy or visit the interactive online version.
What can a quilt, a map, some photographs, a haversack, and a receipt tell you about the past? Thanks to Teachinghistory.org’s new FREE poster, “How Do You Piece Together the History of the Civil War?,” these objects can teach a lot about the Civil War and about how historians piece together the past.
This 24 x 36 inch poster features an engaging collage of primary sources and related questions that get students thinking about how we know what we know about the past, especially in relation to our country’s most devastating conflict, the Civil War. The question, “How can geography impact a battle?,” accompanies a map of Gettysburg while a slave receipt prompts students to think about the laws, economics, and people involved in the institution of slavery.
As a special bonus for teachers, Teachinghistory.org has created an interactive version of this poster with links to teaching materials and websites related to the Civil War. Topics include children’s voices during the Civil War, African American perspectives, women’s roles, Civil War era music, and emancipation, as well as military history and life on the battlefield.
This poster and online resources illustrate that it takes many sources and perspectives to develop a rich understanding of the Civil War in all of its complexity.
The Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site commemorates the Civil War-era Battle of Perryville, fought October 8, 1862. This event was the most destructive Civil War battle in Kentucky, leaving more than 7,600 killed, wounded, or missing. The park museum tells of the battle that was the South's last serious attempt to gain possession of Kentucky. The battlefield is one of the least altered Civil War sites in the nation; vistas visible today are virtually those of 1862.
This site offers exhibits, a self-guided walking tour, reenactments, and a four-hour educational program that teaches students about life as a Civil War soldier.
President Obama's new Summer of Service Initiative—United We Serve—calls on Americans to make community service part of their daily lives, and on June 25, The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership (JTHG) at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park unveiled a ground-breaking service-learning program in keeping with this initiative. Seventy students from Harpers Ferry Middle School launched their own historic research and preservation project: Of the Student, By the Student, For the Student. These students created six mini-movies examining the October 6, 1859, John Brown raid on the Harpers Ferry arsenal. These videos are now on view at the historic site and online to help students from around the globe connect to that history.
Beginning in January, the middle school students conducted research, then wrote, edited, and designed their project. The use of iPods, cell phones, and YouTube engaged the students, and the project promoted both leadership qualities, collaborative learning, and critical thinking skills. As the project introductory video explains, "It's critical for students to be connected to stories in their own backyard . . . and technology immediately attracted them."
John Brown's raid was polarizing, and historians continue to reexamine its meaning and impact. In researching and developing their project, students explored these controversial interpretations, examining contradictory primary sources and interviewing historians and current residents of the area. They explored the contours of the narrative: John Brown and 21 supporters (both black and white and including two of his sons) planned to seize the arms stored at the arsenal, then retreat into the Allegheny Mountains and fortify a base to encourage, assist, and defend additional slave insurrections and escapes.
Brown was an ardent and militant abolitionist, and in 1837 he declared, "Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery." He aided fugitive slaves, worked with free blacks to resist the Fugitive Slave Law, and fought against proslavery forces in the battles of Bleeding Kansas leading the Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856—his response to pro-slavery attacks on settlers in Lawrence.
After Harpers Ferry, Brown envisioned an interracial, utopian community in the mountains with shared labor, shared resources, and shared property. It was a tall order for the small band of 22 men and it failed—not surprisingly in view of the numbers of civilians and members of the armed forces of the U.S government arrayed against Brown and his men. Brown was tried and executed for treason, murder, and fomenting insurrection.
The aftermath of Harpers Ferry reverberated throughout the nation, and the middle school students explored various responses to define their own opinions. Abolitionists called Brown a martyr and grieved at his execution; proslavery southerners believed him a madman, symbolic of the North's egregious intentions toward the south. Moderate abolitionists rejected his violent tactics, but supported his ideals. Abraham Lincoln called him a "misguided fanatic."
The student's research led most to conclude that John Brown was neither good nor bad, but a man committed to a cause, and their videos chart the processes and the path toward their conclusions. They also demonstrate that a useful historical argument isn't confined to text-based narrative: rap, music, reenactment and dance are among other interpretive methods. Presentations such as John Brown: Children of the Raid are among the videos that demonstrates the unique perspectives of historical inquiry students brought to their examination of primary sources (with background music from the Harpers Ferry Middle School Concert Band).
As part of the project, students wrote a letter to Malia and Sacha Obama, daughters of President Barack Obama, explaining their project and inviting them to the project opening. Don't miss press releases, process videos, and other background materials about the project.
Of the Student, By the Student, For the Student is the outcome of a variety of collaborative efforts to make history relevant to young people. It is a program created, developed, and sponsored by The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership created at the request of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) and Harpers Ferry National Historic Park.