Day Nine
Slavery in New York in the early 19th Century
Today we started out the day at the Historical Society. The presentation gave me many ideas and a template for how to examine documents, solve a mystery and work with primary sources. The topic: Jacob aka William Dixon. Was he a runaway slave? Was he a freeman? How do you determine when someone is free? The documents included newspaper articles, eyewitness accounts, court testimony. I can see using this style of inquiry and applying it to various events in US history. This also provided various lenses to describe the same story. I think a similar story could be told about Kent State. Photographs, newspaper accounts, eye witness accounts, and ultimately student discussion, observation, presentation and analysis of this controversial moment 40 years ago. Other possible events to profile: Haymarket Square Riot, the Draft Riots, Watergate, Iran Contra, Sacco and Vanzetti, the Salem Witch trials.
One final note. There was a terrific mini exhibit on the New Deal and Franklin Roosevelt’s Brain Trust. It was filled with primary and secondary sources that I photographed and will use in my classroom. The sources included a sardonic revision of the 23rd Psalm which was a scathing criticism of President Hoover which I had never come across before. Other resources included, strikes, news articles, biographies, photographes, advertisments.
23rd Psalm New York Historical Society
Template for Document Analysis From Class today:
Title of Document
Source
Date
Key Points
Questions Raised
Why was this document created? (my addition)
Follow the Silk Road
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Silk, cotton, spices, all of these resources play a role in US and World History. Today we visited the Silk Road exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. What a treat! We journeyed on the Silk Road beginning in Xian, China and ending in Baghdad. Along the way we watched live silkworms, saw their cocoons, watched the cocoons boiled, unwound and spun into thread. We learned about music, money, religion, trade. Buddhism and Islam spread along trading routes, in fact missionaries set up outposts along the way to convert artisans, merchants, travelers. We visited a night market, where trading of spices, food and cloth took place during the coolest part of the day. The night market was covered in grape vines and music was playing. Camel caravans greeted us at the entrance to the Silk Road, and we listened to many musical instruments, and opened large casks of rose water, jasmine, patchouli, musk to smell the various fragrances. Recipes for delicious desserts were available. All in all this was a delightful journey. Following the Silk Road brought explanations of how religion, food and culture diffused through three continents. This special exhibit at the Museum of Natural History was fascinating.
