Edited
Consortium Partner Local Learning have developed a learning packet on Mount St. Helens using oral histories from the Washington State Parks. It is designed for Museum Educators, but would be wonderful in the classroom too.
The packet includes primary sources, oral histories, worksheets, and graphic organizers.
3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Social Studies/History Science volcano Washington Mount St. Helens museum
If the name "Amache" does not ring a bell to you, then you are not alone. It was a Japanese Interment Camp located near Granada, Colorado. People with the last names of Saito, Yasuda, and Hamamoto were suddenly rounded up in the weeks following the attack on Pearl Harbor and forced into camps in the most rural areas of the US -- all because they had Japanese ancestry.
Amache officially became America's newest National Historic Site. It will be preserved in perpetuity. The video linked here has a moving conversation with a woman who was a small child incarcerated at Amache. Many of the people who survived Amache moved into farming communities in eastern Colorado. Brighton has a number of Japanese-American families who had been at the camp.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2015632197/
The National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places is an excellent way to use our largest primary sources in new and creative ways. The NPS Website has an entire section on Japanese-American Incarceration.
Using the Project Zero True for Who Inquiry Strategy can help your students work through internment camp collections and oral histories.
The Ninomiya Family in their barracks at Amache
https://www.loc.gov/item/2023632674/
Japanese-American Veterans Association -- Michael Honda oral history collection
Granada Pioneer Japanese Language Newspaper
University of Denver Amache Reunion, 1998, Interviews
Densho Digital Repository for Japanese Internment Camp Primary Sources (search the name of the Internment Camp you are looking for)
3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Social Studies/History Japanese Japanese-American Internment Internment Camp Teaching with Historic Places Colorado
World renowned artist, Faith Ringgold, has passed, leaving behind a powerful legacy of art. She was New York's own, and so many of the article below will come from New York Museums, and how her art had an impact. I have included the lessons from the various art institutions with an emphasis on The New York Times Learning Network, which has both a local and national perspective on Ringgold's considerable body of work.
The New York Times Learning Network has origins to MoMA's original Visual Thinking Curriculum (VTC) which has undergone a number of incarnations. I had the privilege of helping to launch the initial VTC so the questioning techniques and strategies are those I always enjoyed.
NYTimes: Faith Ringgold Dies at 93; Wove Black Life Into Quilts and Children’s Books
NYT Up Close: Faith Ringgold: 'Didn't Want People to Be Able to Look, and Look Away'
NYT – T Magazine feature article : – Why Faith Ringgold Makes Sure Her Pieces Bear Her Signature
NYT Art and Design: Faith Ringgold’s Path of Maximum Resistance
Guggenheim Museum: Artist Faith Ringgold Discusses "Tar Beach" on "Craft in America" - May 9, 2012
On the television series Craft in America, pioneering artist Faith Ringgold is interviewed at the Guggenheim about her life, her process, and her story …
The Guggenheim Museum: Ashley James on Faith Ringgold’s “Tar Beach”
Brooklyn Museum: Faith Ringgold
The Guardian: Art - Faith Ringgold: 'I'm not going to see riots and not paint them'
Faith Ringgold Chronology (from her site)
Faith Ringgold, quilt and visual artist, dies at 93 : NPR
Lesson Plans, Faith Ringgold
FREE Faith Ringgold Story Quilts, Grades 2-4 — VISIONARY ART COLLECTIVE
Faith Ringold matt museum lesson plans - Visionary Art Collective
Virtual Views: Faith Ringgold | MoMA
Five Photography Assignments That Invite You to Look Closely at the World
Pre K - 2 3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Art/Music English/Language Arts Social Studies/History Faith Ringgold, Artist
The New York Times Learning Netowork MoMA Guggenheim Museum
Éirinn go Brách
Tyler Anbinder, professor emeritus at George Washington University, has a new book out entirely rooted in wonderful primary source materials. In Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York, the myth of the poverty-stricken Irish immigrant being a drain on American society is dispelled all because of a treasure trove of bank records. The records of the Emigrant Savings Bank, housed at the NY Public Library, show that even day laborers were averaging $150 in their savings accounts -- equivalent to about $6000 today!
How can primary sources be used to disprove other stereotypes?
Why is this set of data significant to American history?
What other primary sources can be combined with this bank data to get a clearer picture of the lives of Irish immigrants to America?
How are the reactions to the 19th century mass emigration of Irish to America similar to events happening today?
Irish Americans Free to Use and Reuse
Herald of the Times, and Rhode Islander, January 18, 1847 -- Famine!
The Irish Republic Newspaper, 1867-68, Chicago
Irish Colonists in New York, 1906
Where the blame lies, 1891 (anti-immigration cartoon)
Immigration Challenges for New Americans
Irish-Catholic Immigration to America
Immigrant Laborers in the Early 20th century, audio recording.
Irish Contributions to the American Culture
The Immigrant Experience: Down the Rabbit Hole
Only a small portion of the Emigrant Savings Bank Records have been digitized, but they are fascinating! The bank records span from 1841 through 1923.
Immigration: The Irish, New York, PBS Media
EPIC: The Irish Immigration Museum
Irish-American Heritage Museum
When America Despised the Irish: The 19th Century Refugee Crisis
3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Social Studies/History museum Irish
I want to highlight the comments shared by our group member 
Janice Warju
, who is a colleague at The Henry Ford Museum. DM her if you have questions about these amazing resources and how to incorporate them into your classroom.
Remember, Chronicling America has wonderful newspaper articles and ads to complement the Museum resources!
It's also worth a visit, if you want to go somewhere totally unexpected. The Henry Ford and the Edsel and Eleanor Ford Museums are like Disney for 20th century history nerds! Lots of gems in Michigan!
From Janice:
Happy to share this link to the new educator platform The Henry Ford has established to share educator resource guides, artifact spotlights, and professional development opportunities. We are continuing to build out the platform, but memberships are free for most of our opportunities.
https://inhub.thehenryford.org/
For those unfamiliar, we often hear that the assumption is we are a car museum. Well, we do have about 300 cars in our collection, and around 100 on display, but we also have 18 airplanes and half a dozen trains on display. We also have the only remaining Dymaxion House designed by Buckminster Fuller and the bus Rosa Parks was riding when she was arrested in December, 1955.
Membership has a free option and includes most of our opportunities for educators.
We often hear that many people think THF is just an automobile museum, and we do have about 300, with around 100 on display, but we also have 18 airplanes, half a dozen locomotives, and so much more. We have the only remaining Dymaxion House, designed by Buckminster Fuller, and the bus Rosa Parks was riding in December, 1955. And then, there is Greenfield Village and the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, so please reach out with any questions.
Pre K - 2 3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Social Studies/History Technology Vocational/Technical Training
Good afternoon to all. Just joining the group as the Specialist, Learning Content Development for The Henry Ford, including the museum, Greenfield Village, and the Ford Rouge Factory Tour.
If your class would benefit from a conversation with the staff of one of these historic sites, please message me (the envelope icon at the top of the page). I can put you in touch with the right person.
Coronado Historic Site -- topics: Ancestral Pueblo History, Coronado's entry into New Mexico
Jemez Historic Site -- topics: Ancestral and Modern Pueblo, La Entrada, Catholic influences on the American Southwest
Fort Selden -- topics: El Camino Real, La Entrada, Buffalo Soldiers
Los Luceros -- topics: Spanish settlement north of Mexico - La Entrada and La Reconquista, Mary Cabot Wheelwright and "The New Women" of the American West, Churro sheep, the Livestock Reduction Act
Bosque Redondo -- topics: westward expansions effect on Native American tribes, Navajo history, Apache history, The Long Walk, the Livestock Reduction Act
Fort Stanton -- topics: western military history and the effect on Native American tribes
Lincoln Historic Site -- topics: Billy the Kid, the Lincoln County War, western history
Taylor-Mesilla House -- topics: John Paul Taylor, history and culture of the Southwest through art
Pre K - 2 3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Social Studies/History Art/Music Navajo Apache military history westward expansion Spanish colonial Buffalo Soldiers
CodeSwitch, a podcast from NPR, just aired an amazing program with the audio recordings of the women who led the Montgomery Bus Boycott that began with Claudette Colvin's arrest and became a full-on movement with Rosa Park's arrest.
It's worth having your students listen to the entire 36 minute episode.
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/17/1197954608/the-women-who-masterminded-the-montgomery-bus-boycott
What did you hear that surprised you?
Were there things that happened prior to Rosa Parks' refusing to move that you had never heard before?
Why do you think women were so integral to the boycott?
How was Martin Luther King, Jr important to the boycott?
Look at contemporary resources -- how has Montgomery, Alabama changed since 1956? How has it resisted change?
Library Resources on the Boycott
The Bus Boycott: Rosa Parks Papers
Looking Back on the Bus Boycott blog post
Instructions to carpool drivers and passengers
Newspapers across the nation talking about the Boycott
Where Rosa Parks Waited for the Bus
Rita Dove and "On the Bus with Rosa Parks"
Museum Resources
Standing Up by Sitting Down E-learning
3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Social Studies/History Black History Montogmey Bus Boycott Civil Rights
When I want to confound and amaze kids I often use food as the vehicle.
One of my favorites is "Where Does it Come From?" A world map, laminated photos of various food items like: rice, sugar, chocolate, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, chiles, cows, chickens, pigs, etc, and some sticky tack are all you need for an hour-plus long lesson in world geography, trade, and lunch.
Another favorite is "WHEN did it Come From?" to get kids thinking about dates of when things were invented or patented.
For example, Thomas Jefferson designed a macaroni machine in 1787.
When was Campbell's Soup patented?
1897 -- though it had been invented in 1869!
Turns out that 1897 was a very good year for convenience foods.
Jell-O was also trademarked that year, having been invented in 1895 (see below for 1895 milestones). The Jell-O Gallery Museum has some WONDERFUL trivia, puns, and history that your students will slurp up!
https://www.loc.gov/item/2023638978/
A brand of Gelatine was trademarked in 1881, but, as we are reminded -- it is not Jell-O!
Knox trademarked theirs in 1890
1895 was ALSO a landmark year in food.
Shredded Wheat was patented in 1895
Coca-Cola was officially being sold in every American state, having been invented less than 10 years earlier by Dr. John Pemberton.
And, the FIRST shipment of CANNED pineapple left Hawai'i -- a trademark soon followed
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, famous for the Battle Creek Diet System, patented a way to grind peanuts to more efficiently make peanut butter -- a basis for his fake meat diet plan.
This is just a sampling of the possible foods to spark inquiry (and hunger) among students. Discussions of geography, nutrition, perceived health benefits of fad diets, and so much more can be drawn from just one year's food inventions.
What year will your students choose to explore?
Pre K - 2 3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Social Studies/History Technology Food history
In the cold winter of 1858, a boy was born near Redwood Falls, Minnesota. He was given the name "the pitiful last" because his mother died shortly after his birth. Hakadah, his Santee Dakota name, would grow up to become a respected physician, lecturer, and author. Eleven years after the Dakota War, the young man now known as Ohiye S'a (or Ohiyesa) would convert to Christianity and adopt the name Charles Eastman.
Eastman would graduate from Beloit College, Dartmouth, and Boston University, where he earned his M.D. and became the "first" Native American physician. Following his graduation, Eastman and his wife settled in South Dakota just before the (trigger warning: violent content, death) Massacre at Wounded Knee. He became the Pine Ridge reservation physician and provided medical treatment to the massacre survivors.
Later, Eastman would settle in New Hampshire and serve as the Native American advisor to the Boy Scouts. He traveled widely and lectured about Native cultures. Articles, such as this one from La Opinion (Los Angeles) in 1933, acknowledge Eastman's contributions to helping non-Native people understand the first peoples of North America. His birthplace even became part of a local legend.
In 1902, Eastman published his first book Indian Boyhood. He went on to write many books including: From the Deep Woods to Civilization: Chapters in the Autobiography of an Indian in 1916, The Raccoon and the Bee Tree (a children's book), Old Indian Days, Wigwam Evenings: Sioux Tales Retold in 1928, Indian Scout Talks: A Guide for Boy Scouts and Campfire Girls, My Canoe Trip Among the Northern Ojibwe, and The Soul of an Indian.
Eastman, Ohiye S'a, died in 1939 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Detroit.
How can you incorporate first hand Native American authors into your ELA lessons? What value to they have in presenting a picture of life during the Reservation Period? What stereotypes may Eastman have contributed to and why do you think he may have done it (refer to Dartmouth portrait)?
Learn more about Ohiye S'a's life:
Lakota Museum and Cultural Center
National Museum of the American Indian
Boston University School of Medicine
3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Social Studies/History English/Language Arts Native American history Dakota history
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