Local History in the Classroom: Connecting Community & Curriculum
A brief guide to linking local history & community heritage to curriculum topics.,focusing on the Mid-Hudson area of New York State, by S. Gardner 2023
- Intro: "The questions are all here"
- Historical Markers: Events & Values
- Maps: Culture, Environment & Industry
- Cemeteries: Veterans & World History
- Experiencing "Things": Local & Global
- Black, Native, & Other "Hidden History"
- Newspapers, Local Docs & Oral History
- Technology: Local Patents
- Historic Places & Structures
- Images: Photography & Art
- USA 250 and Your Town
- Sources for Sample Lesson Plans
- Connecting to experts & HELP FORM
REFRAMING FOR BLACK, NATIVE, OTHER UNDERDOCUMENTED GROUPS
Include discussion of under-documented groups in local history lessons. Here are some ideas:
- MAPS: Are there place names that are deriived from Native American, Black, Hispanic, or other under-documented groups?
- CEMETERIES: Check the 1790 U.S. Census for your town.
- How many enslaved persons are listed? Are their burial locations known? Are their names shown?
- How would Native Americans be represented in the census? Are their burial locations known?
- FREE BLACK & ENSLAVED PERSONS RECORDS
- Does the official register of slave births and manumissions required by the State when the gradual emancipation law was passed exist for your town? If not: How can we document them better to know who they were? When did the Census start to record the names of more free black heads of households
- Discussion: In the past, the incorrect attitude was that slavery in the North was more benign than in the South, that enslaved persons were "more like family members." What does the lack of known cemeteries or permanent headstones tell us?
- DOCUMENTS OF DIVERSITY
- For the Town of Warwick can be found at this link, offering a model for information discovery: https://guides.rcls.org/diversity
- IMMIGRATION
- Look at your town's census for a 1880. How many people were born in other countries? From where? Can you find an obituary for them, to understand more about their lives?
- In the 1930 census, Mexicans were classified as "non-white" can you find some likely Mexican persons by looking at last names?
- Platt Defends His FreedomA rare incidence of a man freed by an earlier New York State slave law defends himself in the newspaper.
- Goshen Indian Treaty of 1745Documents relating to the Goshen treaty with the Munsee Lenape.
RESOURCES
- Using Material Culture to Teach Inclusive U. S. HistoryA webinar for teachers from PBS/GBH.
SAMPLE LESSON MATERIALS: THE 1745 GOSHEN TREATY
- Goshen Treaty of 1745Lesson plan & documents for the agreement of English Colonial government representatives and the Cochecton Munsee Lenape
- Last Updated: Nov 6, 2023 10:08 AM
- URL: https://guides.rcls.org/local
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