Day 4-Baseball

The question posed today is how we would use baseball to teach about history. It would be easy to tie it in to the Harlem Renaissance. For instance, I could use the example of how the Boston Red Sox were some of the most racist baseball organizations in the league. But they did integrate just like the others did. Most students know who Jackie Robinson was but it would be great to have them find more sports figures who were discriminated against because of their race. I would open it up to all races not just African Americans.

Day 4-Harlem Renaissance

Today's discussion focused on the Harlem Renaissance. I loved this morning's discussions. I would have to say that I learned more this morning than what I had on any other day. I had not realized that so many of the men and women involved in the movement had some connection to Kansas. Even though I do not teach Kansas History it is always a great way to make a connection with the students when they know that some of these people lived or worked right here in Kansas. Also, as a bonus I found a great Dramatic Interpretation piece for one of my forensics students to perform next year.
An interesting discussion we had in our small group was whether or not to use the "n" word in class. But I think some of us want to make the information as relevant as possible and would be willing to break away from ourselves use the term so the students would know that it had a different meaning 100 years ago than what it does now.

Day 3-lynching

A funny question for today. How would I teach my students about race riots and lynching. The truth of the matter is I did a day last year with my junior American History class. I had prepared a powerpoint presentation the summer before about the Tulsa, Oklahoma race riots of 1921. There was photographs of the men and women rioting, but also there were pictures of the aftermath of the riot. I wanted them to see what the end result of the hate driven riot. The students were amazed at the amount of damage that was done in a few days. I then talked about the race riot that took place in Independence, Kansas the year before. The kids did not know that Independence made national news because of the riot against a person who did not actually commit a crime. The way I taught my students was to be honest with them. They need to know what happened and they need to know that it is up to them not to make the same mistakes.

Day 2-Constitution

A couple of weeks ago I did a blog post that said what I do in my classroom to teach the Constitution. After today I have since found out that I was wrong on a number of things I had been telling my students. First of all I have never completely analyzed a court case with them. I think that would be very helpful for them to look at all aspects of a court case and have to make a decision that coincides with what the Constitution says. This can be harder than what you would think it would.
Another thing that amazed me is when reading the articles and amendments you can interpret them in many different ways. This is how so many people have been able to bring so many cases to court by manipulating what was originally written by our founding fathers.
I am looking forward to tomorrow when we talk about DuBois and Washington more. I am learning to put myself in the time frame when these speeches and documents were first being published.

Day1-slavery discovery

Today Dr. Finkleman addressed some of the myths that I had always held as truths. For instance the myth that 1/3 of all slaves died on the way to the colonies. Also, he addressed slavery for what it was. Not necessarily a biased against a race of people. It was a profitable business that many people made money at. It was not just in the colonies but it was started in other parts of the world and grew developed in the United States also. After Thomas Jefferson writes that all men are created equal, slave owners take that to truth. Some set their slaves free and others even bought them passage back to their homelands. People began to look at deeply immoral and could no longer treat other human beings at a commodity not a person.

Some of the founding fathers believed that slavery would eventually die out on its own. It does not it continues to grow and will eventually cause another war.

Day 1 Discovery-Dr. Wintz

Dr. Wintz spoke to us this morning about African American history and four of the leading participants in civil rights. His discussion focused Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, and A. Phillip Randolph. I learned a lot of interesting facts this morning. I was like a lot of people and believed that everyone who was an activist was for the same political cause. What I did not realize was that they were rivals in their political thought and did not necessarily compete for a common good. There was also the idea of either for African Americans to assimilate into white society or should they leave to establish their own society in Africa?

Also, I did not realize that the NAACP was established by blacks and whites for a common good. I believed that it was established by African Americans only. But I did know that they were for developing the minds of young black youth to become strong in their society.

After looking at these men I think they could have accomplished far greater success if they could have put away their differences and worked together to better their race. If that would have happened there may not have been such a violent civil rights movement in the 1960s. If there is anyone who could add to my new found knowledge I would appreciate it.