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| navigate: home: magazine: fall 2003: article | |
| Teaching about freedom struggles | ||||||||
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Dr. Anthony Kaye, assistant professor of American history at Penn State, is trying to convey to a class the dramatic differences in the experiences of American slaves. From how slaves resisted their owners to how slaves worked from day to day on plantations, Kaye offers up details of their lives with compelling stories. A student in the class, comprised of secondary school teachers, raises her hand and asks a question aimed at the heart of the matter: “Were there good relationships between owners and slaves?” “How would you define good?” Kaye replies. A lively discussion ensues about whether slaveholders could be humane. “You can’t be a humane slave holder, because it is not humane for one person to own another,” Kaye suggests. The discussion is one example of the thoughtful interchange that occurred during a recent session of this year’s George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center teachers’ institute titled Freedom Struggles. The center’s third annual institute, sponsored by Arthur J. and Susan W. Glatfelter, is a weeklong outreach program for middle and high school teachers, offering the latest scholarly perspectives on the struggles of African Americans, from the origins of slavery to the Civil Rights movement. Dr. William Blair, director of the Civil War Era Center, described the experience as a delight for the instructors. “The teachers soak up the material like sponges. The environment is electric; they’re so enthusiastic. In the end, the instructors often have gained more than they’ve given.” The purpose of the institute, explained Blair, is to improve teacher expertise in the Civil War era, while creating a partnership between University scholars and K–12 teachers. “There are so many advances in Civil War era scholarship, and this is a chance to get the most up-to-date knowledge into the hands of students,” he said. The institute spreads the scholarship through readings, historical documents, lectures and discussions—all aimed at helping teachers develop specific lesson plans. Teacher Anne Pletcher from Reading High School said she found primary documents shared by the scholars especially helpful. “I’ve already told the teacher of African American history at our school that I’ve got lots of stuff for him. He’s excited to see all of it,” she said. For example, Dr. Robyn Spencer, assistant professor of African American studies and history gave the class the text of a controversial speech by John Lewis, now a U.S. Representative from Georgia, delivered during the 1963 March on Washington. Spencer said she showed Lewis’ speech to demonstrate its contrast to Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech. “The course is a good opportunity to help teachers think about their lesson plans in new ways ... Martin Luther King’s speech was conciliatory and challenging. John Lewis was more blunt about economic problems in the black community,” she explained. She also delved into the history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and showed how other women who were arrested before Rosa Parks helped lay the groundwork for the protest. State College Area Senior High School Teacher Deb Poveromo found learning about the Civil Rights movement from the viewpoints of lesser-known individuals will indeed help her in the classroom. “When you teach Civil Rights, students say, ‘Oh, here we go again. We’ve heard this before.’ Now I can teach it from a new perspective,” she said. Pletcher added that the course books also presented many interesting topics for discussion, including American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta, by Associate Professor of American History Nan Woodruff, who helped organize the institute. “I’d never heard of the massacres at Elaine,” the 1919 racial slayings, a topic the book explores, Pletcher said. “That will certainly peak students’ interest in race relations in the United States.” While in the Mississippi Delta researching her book, which examines the formation of a black rural political culture in the South, Woodruff worked with local teachers on its subject matter. “The history is painful to people down South,” Woodruff said. “You never know what memories you are going to stir up.” Still, she said no matter where she works with teachers, she finds them to be “inspirational.” Each year, the content of the institute’s curriculum changes with the availability of faculty. While Woodruff writes about the 20th century African American South, Kaye’s area of expertise is slavery and emancipation, and Spencer’s work focuses on Black Nationalism and social protest movements. “That we keep coming up with new content taught by different faculty highlights a real strength of the Richards Center. We feel strongly that the Civil War Era needs to be approached from a broad perspective that captures the complex social, economic and political influences that continue to affect us today,” Blair said. Poveromo, who has attended all three institutes, added, “It’s foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity to have access to all that scholarship and to be able to ask questions in a one-on-one atmosphere like that. I walk away with a wealth of knowledge.” An outreach program of the Department of History and the College of the Liberal Arts | |||||||
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