Listing Details
| ID: | 908 |
| Title: | History Is Elementary |
| URL: | http://historyiselementary.blogspot.com/ |
| Category: | Education & Training |
| Description: | A site for history teachers or anybody interested in history education. |
| Slavery: Not Quite Gone with the Wind - Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:16:00 +0000 |
 I met up with a teacher the other day that has theprivilege of introducing the Civil War to her fourth graders each year. The word “introducing” is a little misleading,however. I live in Georgia wherenatives, no matter the ethnicity, are born with “The War” ingrained in oursouls. We can’t escape it, we can’tdeny it – it’s always there. Some ofour earliest collective memories are filled with the statues around the townsquare, old family photographs; we hear the stories and see the preservedbattlefields that dot our landscape. I haven’t met a fourth grade student yet who doesn’t knowsomething about the Civil War, but the fourth school year is designated by theGeorgia Social Studies curriculum to formally learn about the war in anacademic setting. My own personalexperience indicates students are eager to begin the process. A formal study helps them connect to familystories still lingering around the Sunday dinner table and helps them siftthrough the facts and myths they already know. I asked my teaching friend how she taught her Civil Warunit. Even with today’s mandatedstandards every teacher has his or her own personal methods that make eachlesson unique. I was interested to knowthe ingredients to her Civil War unit. My colleague responded, “Well, we read the text, I add insome graphic organizers, we build a word wall, and I have some really greatCivil War worksheets.” I really hoped that wasn’t everything so I asked, “Whatis the focal point of your unit….or better yet, what is the culmination of yourunit?” “Well…..I wrap it up by showingGone with the Windover a few days. I give the unit test, and we move on.” Oh. Really????? Now, I likeGonewith the Windas much as the next southern belle, and I really don’t mindstudents watching the movie, but I have a real problem when teachers allow themovie to stand in the place of real content. They are merely passing along myths of the “Old South” instead ofcorrecting them. A formal academic viewof the Civil War should help students connect to the prevalent myths, but itmost certainly should correct them as well. The movie can be shown, but the proper context should be present. Gonewith the Wind, the movie, is Hollywood entertainment atits very best with a few facts thrown in. Gone with the Wind, the book,by Margaret Mitchell, won the Pulitzer Prize forFiction, and yes….there is a reason why I present the word“fiction” in bold face. There ARE historical inaccuracies withGone with the Wind. From the websiteInternet Movie Databasewe findthere are inaccuracies with dates. WhenMr. O’Hara announces the war is over because Lee surrendered the movie makes nonote that Lee’s surrender had no real effect on Georgia. In fact, Georgia state troops didn’tsurrender until the following month, and General Kirby Smith’s surrender inTexas on May 26 is considered the end of the Civil War. When Melanie is nursing a soldier he tells her he hasn’theard from his brother since the Battle of Bull Run. A Confederate soldier would never havereferred to the battle by that name. Itwas known in the North as the Battle of Bull Run, but Southerners knew thebattle as The Battle of Manassas. When Frank Kennedy is killed we assume he and other menin Atlanta were attending a Ku Klux Klan meeting, but the group is neveridentified. They are mysteriously absent yet were part of the true story. Margaret Mitchell was dismayed at the scale of the Taraand Twelve Oaks sets. She advised, “Igrieve to hear that Tara has columns. Ofcourse, it didn’t, and looked nice and ugly like Alex Stephens’ Liberty Hall inCrawfordville, Georgia.”(See imagehere) Mitchell advised nothing like the movieversions of Tara and Twelve Oaks were ever seen in Clayton County and advisedfurther, “When I think of the healthy, hardy, country and somewhat crudecivilization I depicted and then of the elegance that is to be presented, Icannot help yelping with laughter…” IMBd also advises the problems regarding the scenecommonly referred to as “the Burning of Atlanta.” It was not the actual burning of the city byGeneral Sherman in November, 1864. Instead, the scene represents the night, two months earlier, when theretreating Confederate army torched its ammunition dumps to keep the Union armyfrom capturing them. Then there are the convicts Scarlett O’Hara leases fromthe state to work at the sawmill. Discussing this with students would provide an opportunity to connectthe end of slavery to the next unit of study regarding Reconstruction. If you go back and watch the scene theconvicts are depicted as white prisoners. In truth this is very incorrect. It is highly likely that the workforce Scarlett would obtain from theconvict lease program would have been black and the charges that had resultedin their incarceration would be highly suspect today. Convict leasing became a common practice following theCivil War. In his book titledGoing up the River: Travels in a PrisonNation, Joseph T. Hallinan advises, “After the war, many Southern statesstrapped for cash, leased their convicts to private businesses. Their best customers were those that offeredsome of the worst work: railwaycontractors, coal mines, and lumber and turpentine companies.” I agree withHallinan…..unfortunately, the lease system largely resembled slavery. Hallinan advises, “Most Southern convictsafter the Civil War were black and under most lease systems employers virtuallyowned the convicts they leased. Theywere free to move them around the state unsupervised. The system led to horrible abuses, many inmateswere flogged, shackled or placed in the stocks. Inmates were often ill clothed and ill fed,and many of them died. In Louisiana, asmany as 3000 inmates died under the convict lease system.” I’m almost certain there is a reader out there wonderingthe two words that signify indifference, so I’ll insert them here: So what? I can see your point. They were prisoners. Murderers,rapists, thieves, and were just getting what they deserved, right? Have you ever heard of the Black Codes? Those were laws passed in the Southimmediately following the war that controlled the labor and migration of newlyfreed slaves. Thisnewspaper articleadvises most of the convicts were charged with minoroffenses such as jumping a freight train, adultery, or gambling. Many were merely deemed to be vagrants – aperson without a settled home or work, and when they couldn’t prove they wereemployed the state sentenced them to many months of hard labor. At that point their contracts were sold toprivate companies under the convict lease system.  In his book,Slaveryby Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War toWorld War II, Douglas A. Blackmon advises The Tennessee Coal, Iron andRailroad Company was one of the largest users of convict leasing for coalmining labor in Alabama. Eventually TCIwas bought by U.S. Steel During theirfirst year oownership…..1908…..almost 60 convict workers died fromworkplace-related accidents. One of the U.S. Steel mines….the Pratt Mine inBirmingham…..had over 1,000 men working the mine requiring them to dig and loadcoal. Their daily quota was 8 tons orthey could expect to be whipped. Theywere chained at night. The men sufferedfrom disease and when they died they were dumped in shallow graves. Most worked off their sentences at the rateof $12.00 per month. Blackmon’s website seenherediscusses the term “neoslavery” – a term that encompasses all of the variousways black men across the South were sold into bondage or involuntaryservitude.  During an interview withNPR,Blackmon advised: On July 31, 1903, a letter to President Theodore Rooseveltarrived at the White House from Carrie Kinsey, a barely literate AfricanAmerican woman in Bainbridge, Georgia. Her fourteen-year-old brother, JamesRobinson, had been abducted a year earlier and sold to a plantation. Localpolice would take no interest. "Mr. Prassident," wrote Mrs. Kinsey,struggling to overcome the illiteracy of her world. "They wont let me havehim. . . . He hase not don nothing for them to have him in chanes so I rite toyou for your help." Like the vast majority of such pleas, her letter wasslipped into a small rectangular folder at the Department of Justice and taggedwith a reference number, in this case 12007. No further action was everrecorded. Her letter lies today in the National Archives. Ina Newsweek interviewBlackmon was asked why the U.S. government allowed“neoslavery” to continue even though it was investigated as early as 1903. Blackmon responded: All the investigations that began in 1903 failed for variousreasons, but the main one was that it wasn't a crime in America to hold aslave. The 13th amendment passed in 1865 made slavery unconstitutional. Therewas no federal statute that made it a crime to hold a black person as a slave.When the U.S. attorney general in the South began investigating slavery in 1903and attempted to bring charges, they realized they did not have a clear federalstatue. So the prosecution was brought under other crimes that were similar butin the end all the prosecution failed because the laws were not applicable andno [Southern] jury would convict a white man for any crime against blacks.  Blackmonwas also asked the connection between the end of neslavery and the beginning ofWorld War II. He responded: The end of neoslavery came as a direct result to the attack onPearl Harbor. When President Franklin Roosevelt convened his cabinet to discussretaliation, the main issue was propaganda and the Japanese ability toeffectively embarrass America for the treatment of blacks in the South.Immediately President Roosevelt passed a congressional law criminalizinglynching. Four days after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. attorney general ordered amemorandum that instructed all federal prosecutors to aggressively prosecuteall cases of involuntary servitude. Readingthe textbook, throwing a few worksheets around, and showing Gone with the Winddoes not teach students about the war. It merely marks time until the next unitleaving students to own the myths they had when they walked into theclassroom. Find out what they alreadyknow or THINK they know and move from there. Provide opportunities for studentsto discover the truth. PBSwill be airinga documentary based on Blackmon’s book on February 13th. The documentary is a mix of interviews withhistorians, dramatic reenactments filmed in the Deep South, and emotionaltestimony from descendants of both enslaved blacks and their captors….” I strongly urge educators to watch. The Telfair Museum in Savannah, Georgia is currentlyshowing an exhibit inspired by Douglas A. Blackmon’s research created by RobertClaiborne Morris using mixed media such as portraits of the enslaved, maps ofthe slave mines, newspaper articles and letters to the Department ofJustice. Thislinktakes you to more information regarding the exhibit. The black and white photos with this post came from Douglas A. Blackmon's website.  |
| HighBeam.com Spotlights History Is Elementary! - Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:06:00 +0000 |
Many months ago I set upa Facebook page for this blog where folks could like the page and could haveyet another way to keep up with updates. Lastweek I was surprised to see someone had placed something on my wall that reallymade me smile. HighBeam.comhad stopped by my Facebookhome to advise the following: Tothank you for all your hard work and dedication we would like to acknowledgeyou by including History Is Elementary in our Top 10 Favorite Blogs foreducational research. Now, isn’t that nice?!? Notice my little badge is over in the sidebar. HighBeam'sblogshared a link to this blog along with the other nine. Here they are: Homeroom: TheOfficial Blog of the U.S. Department of Education HonorsCollege Admission Blog: The Honors College Admission Blog forWestern Kentucky University with valuable commentary and tips TheCollege Solution: The Blog of Lynn O’Shaughnessy, a nationallyrecognized college expert, higher-ed journalist, consultant and teacher TheQuick and the Ed: Published by Education Sector, this blogoffers in-depth analysis on the latest in education policy and research NYCPrivate Schools: An online community that encompasses allaspects of NYC private, independent, and religious schools CoolCat Teacher Blog: Written by Vicki Davis, a full time teacherand blogger, who strives to share her insights on how to reach this generationof learners with teachers and parents Tween Teacher:Heather Wolpert-Gawron discusses the latest news in education, curriculumdesign, educational policy and how to enjoy teaching GenerationYES Blog: Thoughts on empowering the current generation oflearners with current technology The Wired Campus: TheChronicle of Higher Education featuring the latest news on tech and education In caseHighBeamis new to you….it’s a paid search engine including the archives from newspaperssuch asThe Boston Globe,The Washington Post, andAssociated Press. They also have numerous trade magazines suchasAdvertising AgeandAuto Weekand journals likeThe Journal of Education ResearchandThe Journal of SocialPsychology. All total a subscription toHighBeamprovides access to over 6,500publications. Many thanksHighBeamfor the nod! I would like to startposting something a little more regularly on the Facebook page to interact withyou. While I don’t want to clog up yournewsfeed I would like to interact with you a bit more. You are important to me…..Iappreciate each and every one of you so much! So far I’ve gotten inthe habit of linking to new postings as I publish them….eventually I hope toget in the habit of updating the page with pictures, a thought, etc. eachday. Don’t give up on me!  |
| A Christian Nation? Be Careful What You Preach - Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:13:00 +0000 |
 A good friend sent methis articletheother night written by Rob Boston and published in thePittsburg Post-Gazette. Myfriend wanted to know my thoughts about the article. He also wanted to know if the article wasfactual. After reading the entire piece I advised my friend thearticle was indeed factual even though it was contrary to those who happen tothink certain members of the Founding Fathers were Christians in the same sensethe Religious Right profess to be. For the mostpart while I tend to be a Conservative in political matters, I also tend topart ways with the Religious Right in this county who follow a hard-line stanceregarding their view concerning our nation was founded on Christian beliefs. It reallycomes down to understanding what the Religious Right believes a Christian to beand how the majority of our Founding Fathers actually viewed Christianity whenyou place them under a microscope. I advised myfriend, “We have to remember these were all educated men duringtheir time and as such their classical education included views of the Age of Enlightenment….science and fact took the lead. While they believed in God their views regarding Christianity don’texactly match up with the Christian Right today. Bostonbrings up the issue of Deism when discussing George Washington. Deistsbelieved in God but didn't necessarily see him as active in human affairs. Heset things in motion and then stepped back. Washington saw religion as necessary for goodmoral behavior but didn't accept all Christian dogma. He seemed to have aspecial gripe against communion and would usually leave services before it wasoffered. Stories of Washington's deep religiosity, suchas tales of him praying in the snow at Valley Forge, are pious legends inventedafter his death. Ihave to agree with Boston. Back in2007, I wrote about Washington praying in the snow at Valley Forgehereandhere. I’ve also examined the controversy aboutWashington’s inauguration and the fact that there really isn’t any true documentationregarding those little words, “So help me God!”here. Bostondidn’t just pick on historical myths regarding Georgia Washington. He discussed John Adams, Thomas Jefferson,James Madison and Thomas Paine as well. Boston states John Adams wasUnitarian, although hewas raised a Congregationalist and never officially left that church. Adamsrejected belief in the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, core concepts ofChristian dogma. In his personal writings, Adams makes it clear that heconsidered some Christian dogma to be incomprehensible. In February 1756, Adams wrote in his diary abouta discussion he had had with a conservative Christian named Major Greene. Thetwo argued over the divinity of Jesus and the Trinity. Questioned on the matterof Jesus' divinity, Greene fell back on an old standby: some matters oftheology are too complex and mysterious for we puny humans to understand. Adams was not impressed. In his diary he wrote,"Thus mystery is made a convenient cover for absurdity." As president, Adams signed the famous Treaty ofTripoli, which boldly stated, "The government of the United States ofAmerica is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion ..." Itis very well known among historians that Thomas Jefferson,our third president, did not believe in the Trinity, the virgin birth,the divinity of Jesus, the resurrection, original sin and other core Christiandoctrines. He was hostile to many conservative Christian clerics, whom hebelieved had perverted the teachings of that faith. Bostongoes on to discuss what is known asThe JeffersonBible….. Although not an orthodox Christian, Jeffersonadmired Jesus as a moral teacher. In one of his most unusual acts, Jeffersonedited the New Testament, cutting away the stories of miracles and divinity andleaving behind a very human Jesus, whose teachings Jefferson found "sublime."This "Jefferson Bible" is a remarkable document -- and it wouldensure his political defeat today. (Imagine the TV commercials the religiousright would run: Thomas Jefferson hates Jesus! He mutilates Bibles!) WhileI have written about James Madison and his college daysatJersey College….we know it today asPrinceton… I have left his religious beliefs alone until now. Boston doesn’t. He advises….Nominally Anglican, Madison, some of his biographers believe, wasreally a Deist. He went through a period of enthusiasm for Christianity as ayoung man, but this seems to have faded. Unlike many of today's politicians,who eagerly wear religion on their sleeves and brag about the ways their faithwill guide their policy decisions, Madison was notoriously reluctant to talkpublicly about his religious beliefs. Madison was perhaps the strictest church-stateseparationist among the founders; taking stands that make the ACLU look like a bunchof pikers. He opposed government-paid chaplains in Congress and in themilitary. As president, Madison rejected a proposed census because it involvedcounting people by profession. For the government to count the clergy, Madisonsaid, would violate the First Amendment. Madison, who wrote the Constitution and the Billof Rights, also opposed government prayer proclamations. He issued a few duringthe War of 1812 at the insistence of Congress but later concluded that hisactions had been unconstitutional. He vetoed legislation granting federal landto a church and a plan to have a church in Washington care for the poor througha largely symbolic charter. In both cases, he cited the First Amendment. Finally,we come to Thomas Paine. The man whonever held office but wrote a little pamphlet we remember as “Common Sense.” Boston advises he was also a radical Deist whoselater work, "The Age of Reason," still infuriates fundamentalists. In the tome, Paine attacked institutionalizedreligion and all of the major tenets of Christianity. He rejected propheciesand miracles and called on readers to embrace reason. The Bible, Paineasserted, can in no way be infallible. He called the god of the Old Testament"wicked" and the entire Bible "the pretended word of God."(There go the Red States!) Bostonstates, “There was a time when Americans voted forcandidates who were skeptical of core concepts of Christianity like theTrinity, the divinity of Jesus and the virgin birth. The question is, could anyof them get elected today? The sad answer is probably not. Basedon this knowledge, wouldn’t it would be interesting to see the founding of ournation played out in more contemporary times? I havea feeling it would be as much of a circus as our primary and election seasonshave become today.  |