Links for You

I get emails all the time regarding new projects and great sites to enhance my classroom. I thought I’d share a few with you:

Cotton Campus – is designed for elementary and middle school students, their educators and parents. The site has resources to help introduce the history of cotton. The site features slideshows, games, classroom activities and a video on cotton’s sustainability, as well as downloadable and printable lesson plans for teachers. Some of the activities involve writing and research, way to develop math skills through constructing and solving equations from cotton word problems, and science experiences involving comparisons between cotton, other natural and man-made fibers. There’s also a quiz or two.

21st Century Abe – has as its main purpose to celebrate Lincoln’s 200th birthday and to take a look at his life, work and words through modern eyes. This site was created by the Rosenbach Museum & Library and highlights the museum’s collection of rare Lincoln manuscripts with a digital documement viewer, artists’ interpretations, commentary from a renowned Lincoln scholar & contests for the best user submissions.

Have you checked out the PBS show called History Detectives? I was recently informed that PBS Engage is featuring History Detectives, Tukufu Zuberi, as part of the ongoing PBS Engage series called “Five Good Questions”. The series features a PBS celebrity or insider and asks vistors to to send in questions to be answered the following week. The blog series has been very successful. Tufuku Zuberi will be the feature this week coinciding with a special episode of History Detectives next Monday….February 23, 2009…dedicated to African-Americans’ impact on history and society. You can post comments and questions here.

Democracy Web – This is a new website from Freedom House and the Albert Shanker Institute. The site not only describes the U.S. experience with democracy, but also compares it to that of every country in the world, including those where citizens lack a vote and a voice. There are two sections to the site….an interactive, global Map of Freedom and an online study guide designed to assist secondary schools and college-level educators as they prepare lesson plans.

Fresh Brain – is a great place for teens to explore technology. The site states….We give teens who are great at programming, graphics, or video a place to show off their work and develop new skills in the process…..Students can learn to make a YouTube video, program a video game, or develop a Facebook application.

And finally…..last but certainly not least

Academic Earth – this site brings together video lectures and full courses from leading educational institutions and adds in a user-friendly learning environment. There are more than 1,500 lectures (including history) and there are plans to add more in the future as well as some collaborative features and content in the next few months.

Happy clicking!

Framing History Correctly

In a post of mine over at American Presidents Blog titled Monroe Crossing the Delaware I go into great detail regarding how I use Emanuel Leutze’s painting Washington Crossing the Delaware in my classroom.

I’ve posted about the painting again over at APB. It seems the Metropolitan Museum of Art discovered a photo that depicted the painting in a special frame Leutze ordered specifically for the painting.

Per a web article I read over the weekend Leutze’s frame bore sheields at each corner and was topped with an eagle crest and a ribbon that marked lines from George Washington’s eulogy: “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen.”

You can read the rest of my post here, and see the Matthew Brady image that got the reframing started.

A Carnival For You...Even If You Aren't From Georgia

This month's Georgia Blog Carnival has posted over at Georgia on My Mind.

Head on over and check out several great reads. Posts include something about saving The New York Times, a review of Andy Crouch’s book Culture Making, sources to watch television online for free, and an opinion piece regarding a formal apology regarding slavery from an author you might be familiar with.

13 Battles Involving Thunderstorms

Some of our greatest battles occurred during severe thunderstorms. Here are a few….check out the links for more information.

1.Battle of Ox Hill (Chantilly)- took place in Chantilly, Virginia on September 1, 1862 during the Civil War. Out numbered 3 to 1, in the dark of night, with a terrible storm all around them…first [Union] General Stevens, then [Union] General Kearny were both killed in action. Stevens [was killed] while actually leading a charge up Ox Hill towards Jackson’s main column on Little River Turnpike, and Kearny [was killed] while riding his horse, alone, into a cornfield trying to determine where the Confederates were and where to send his men….after Stevens charge had been repelled. Stevens charge and Kearny’s rallying ride held the Confederates in check for the night, and gave the rest of the Union army enough time to escape. Congress later named a special medal for honor and valor after Kearny…the Congressional Medal of Honor.

2.Battle of Nanshan-occurred during the Russo-Japanese War on May 25, 1904 outside the present-day city of Dalian, Liaoning, China. During a heavy thunderstorm, the Japanese Fourth Division attacked the walled town of Chinchou (modern-day Jinzhou), just north of Nanzan hill. Despite being defeated by no more than 400 men with antiquated artillery, the Fourth Division failed on two attempts to breach its gates. Two battalions from the First Division attacked independently …finally breaching the defenses and taking the town. With his flank thus secure, General Oku could then commence the main assault on the entrenched Russian forces on Nanshan hill. The Japanese infantry was assisted by a prolonged artillery barrage from Japanese gunboats offshore.

3.Battle of Kursk- was an important battle that took place between the Germans and Soviets from July to August, 1943, during World War II. The battle occurred at Kursk, in Western Russia….[The battle involved] more than 2 million men and 3000 tanks. Kursk has been called the greatest tank battle in history and cost Germany more than 100,000 men and irreparable losses to its previously invincible tank divisions. From this site...the ground was waterlogged, and the weather during the battle featured occaisional thunderstorms….some hampered movements and the roads were in very poor shape.

4.Battle of Monterey Pass-occurred on July 4, 1863 during the Civil War. This battle is one of the most confusing battles of the Civil War and occurred during the retreat from Gettysburg ordered by General Robert E. Lee…Darkness set in during a blinding rainstorm. The Confederates wearing gum blankets, were mistaken as Union troops by General Kilpatrick’s Union calvary and were mixed in with the Union troops.

5.Battle of Evesham- happened during England’s Second Baron’s War and resulted in the defeat of Simon de Montfort against Edward I. The battle began around eight in the morning as a severe thunderstorm began. The battle was a massacre with Simon de Montfort body severely mutiliated….his head, hands, feet, and testicles cut off.

6.Battle of Oriskany – fought during the American Revolution near Oriskany, New York on August 6, 1777. Wikipedia advises this battle was one of the bloodiest battles in the American Revolutionary War and a significant engagement of the Saratoga campaign. It also has the distinction of being one of the few battles of the war where almost all of the participants were North American: Loyalists and Native Americans fought against Patriots in the absence of British soldiers…A violent thunderstorm caused a one-hour lull in the battle.

7. Battle of the Hydaspes River – involved Alexander the Great and his men in 325 BC. Alexander wanted to enter India, but this battle proved it would not happen. The Hydaspes was the last major battle fought by Alexander. Although victorious, Alexander’s exhausted army mutinied and refused to go any further into India.

8. Battle of Messines-was fought during World War I in June, 1917. One of the key features of the battle was the detonation of 19 mines immediately prior to the infantry assault, a tactic which disrupted German defenses and allowed advancing troops to secure their objectives in rapid fashion. The attack which was a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres, known as Passchendaele…At 3:10, the order was given across the line to detonate the mines, which totaled 600 tons of explosives. Of the 21 mines laid 19 were exploded. General Plumer remarked to his staff the evening before the attack, “Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography.”…The crest was blown off the Messines-Wytschaete ridge. Audible in Dublin and by Lloyd George in his Downing Street study, the combined sound of the simultaneous mine explosions comprised the loudest man-made explosion until that point. Of the two mines which remained undetonated on 7 June, the details of their precise location were mislaid by the British following the war, to the discomfort of local townspeople. One of the mines was detonated in a thunderstorm on 17 June 1955: the only casualty was a dead cow. The second mine remains undetected, although in recent years its location is believed to have been pinpointed. No-one has as yet attempted its recovery.

9. Battle of Puebla – Ever hear of Cinco de Mayo? This battle occurred on May 5, 1862 between Mexico and France. At some point during this battle heavy rains created a quagmire on the field. Learn more here.

10. Battle of Rain – this battle occurred during the Thirty Years War and is also referred to as the Battle of Lech….I included this battle only to be cute. No rain fell from the sky, but the battle did take place close to the city of Rain, Bavaria. Read about it here.

11. Battle of the Clouds – this battle is also known as the Battle of Warren, Battle of Whitehorse Tavern, or the Battle of Goshen and was fought on September 16, 1777 close to Malvern, Pennsylvania. Moments before a British attack a torrential downpour ensued. Washington and the Patriots were severely outnumbered and tens of thousands of cartridges were ruined by the rain. Washington opted for tactical retreat. Bogged down by rain and mud, the British allowed Washington and his army to escape.

12. Battle of Agincourt- October 1415…Having invaded France, Henry V met a formidable army at Agincourt, a village in the north east. The odds against him seemed hopeless—his troops were exhausted, hungry, suffering from dysentery and hopelessly outnumbered by the enemy. Their plight grew even worse the night before battle, when rain pelted down and, with very little shelter, the English were left soaking wet. Visit the link to find out who won.

13.Okinawa- 82 days of battle between the United States and Japan from March to June, 1945 with one of the highest number of casualties of any World War Two engagement: the Japanese lost over 100,000 troops, and the Allies (mostly United States) suffered more than 50,000 casualties. The much talked-about “plum rains” of Okinawa were to set in and continue day after day. Mud was to become king, and it was impossible to mount large-scale attacks during and immediately after the storms.

Out and About Sunday

The History Carnival posted this past week over at Diapsalmata. Once I finish this post I’m putting my feet up and heading over there to click through all the great reads. Yes, I’m a little late getting around to it, but in case you are unaware I had surgery again a couple of weeks ago, and s-l-o-w is the word I live by these days. :)

A few months ago the folks over at OpenSalon.com contacted me and asked me to set up a blog over at their hub. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do over there, but after copying my efforts here a few times I finally decided to focus on current events.

Sounds appropriate for a social studies teacher, doesn’t it?

At any rate my offering over there this week is titled A Real Apology and it focuses on my thoughts regarding a formal apology for slavery and an apology made just this past week from a former member of the KKK to U.S. Rep. John Lewis this past week. You can find the post here.

Finally, this past week Jennie, over at American Presidents Blog posted a picture for readers to identify. When she went to gather up her information to write a post to identify the man she discovered I had already written a post about him….former White House Chief Usher Ike Hoover… and published it here at History Is Elementary. Jennie’s a smart lady, a busy educator, and an even busier wife and mom…rather than reinvent the wheel she asked me to republish my post at American Presidents. I was happy to do so.

Ike Hoover is an example of great Americans that are behind the scenes…in Ike’s case he was behind the scenes for eight different presidents. In case you missed it on its first run you can read more about him over at American Presidents Blog.

Finally, I was sad to learn last week the folks who have run the Thursday Thirteen blog meme for the last several months have had to take the site down leaving many die-hard fans saddened. A few fans are continuing on with their regular Thirteen list, and I plan to do so as well. Even though I try to present an academic offering here I liked the idea of participating in Thursday Thirteen because the concept fit well with historical topics where I could relate thirteen facts in a very basic cut and dry fashion. Plus I liked the idea of reaching out to the non-history, non-educator crowd in an effort to show them history can be interesting and can be……should I really say it? FUN!!!!!!! Look for a Thirteen list later this week involving weather and war.

Have a great week!

Wordless: Images from the Dust Bowl

You can see a list of other bloggers posting wordless images here

From Eye of the Beholder to Presenting History Accurately

As a born and bred Southern woman with a long line of dirt poor farmers in my past, and as a teacher and writer of history charged with presenting the truth, I often find myself in the sticky conundrum of a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation regarding historical events as well as the social/cultural ideals that still haunt and permeate my southern homeland.

I’ve written here before regarding the yearly pattern of Open House at the beginning of the year when I inevitably have white parents wanting to know if I teach the truth about the Civil War, and I have just as many black parents wanting to know the same thing.

Basically they want to know if I’m going to teach their children whatever it is that they believe regardless of the truth.

Some want to make sure I teach that the issue of slavery and only the issue of slavery caused the terrible split in our country that resulted in so many lives lost and the destruction of so much property….not to mention rifts that continue even to this day.

Others want to make sure I’m someone who really knows the truth…the war was all about economic differences and that damn tariff.

Both sides have a point…both sides are right.


The Civil War was not caused by one single thing, but a list of many different things.

Some get too caught up in the romanticism of the Lost Cause moping about as if they are Ashley Wilkes while others are Big Sam or Pork (refer to Gone With the Wind if these names aren’t familiar to you) still looking for the forty acres and a mule. Those romantic types find it hard to accept and qualify the facts that slave holding was not a charitable occupation taken on by well meaning whites. It was a horrendous and nasty business that resulted in splitting families, forcible rape at times, unwanted and sometimes unaccepted bi-racial children, and a long list of other social by- products that sadly in some cases still exist today.

Not only do we wrangle over how Civil War issues are taught….we wrangle over how they are remembered as well. Some feel those in the South are wrong to erect monuments to Confederate dead….name schools and other buildings after slave owners…while many strongly advocate for their rights to remember Southern officers, officials, and leaders.

While every aspect of an event should be analyzed by students in a history class, at what point do educators move from presenting material to be analyzed in a fair and equal manner to presenting material that is compromised with personal viewpoints or too much information leaning towards one side?

At what point do we sacrifice true and honest historical remembrance for what we think we believe…for what we want to believe….for what might fit a certain modern agenda without thinking about the context of the times?

Finally, I have to ask….when we depend upon those maintaining historical sites to provide locations for students to learn about history where the history actually happened are we making sure those sites present a whole story or are we satisfied with just a story that sounds nice to make some people feel better?

During some recent research I stumbled upon a situation in Georgia during the 1840s that split the United Methodist Episcopal Church into northern and southern factions. The cause of the split was opinions regarding slavery.

The location in question is Oxford, Georgia….a place Dr. Mark Auslander discussed in his paper, Paradoxes of Blood, Law, and Slavery in a Georgia Community (2001). Oxford , as Dr. Auslander refers to it, is the birthplace of Emory University. The grounds are now the home to Oxford College and is a designated “shrine” of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In his paper, Dr. Auslander, goes on to relate the tale of James Osgood Andrew, first president of the board of trustees of Emory College, who was at the center of the split in the Methodist Church in the 1840s. I have written more about the church split over at Georgia on My Mind in my post The Methodist Split According to Andrew.

From that particular post I relate:

We end up with a clergyman who finds he owns slaves but didn’t purchase them…yet he can’t free them because he will then be in violation of state law and subject to fines and arrest. He could sell the slaves under his ownership, but they might wind up in a worse condition with a with a master who would treat them poorly…as if being a slave wasn’t poor treatment enough. To make matters worse Bishop Andrew then becomes the focus of the split of the Methodist Church.

Bishop Andrew did lead the Southern churches in their split. Later he became the first bishop of the newly formed Methodist Episcopal Church, South. During the Civil War he resided in Alabama and retired from his post in 1866. Bishop Andrew is buried in Oxford, Georgia and is remembered as the namesake for Andrew College in Cuthbert, Georgia.

Dr. Auslander’s paper zeroes in specifically on one particular mulatto slave Andrew inherited when she was twelve years old named Kitty. Today, visitors to Oxford can visit Kitty’s gravesite located in the long segregated white cemetery where many white citizens insist Kitty is the only person of color buried in the cemetery. In fact, the memorial headstone placed there was done by an all white private foundation and is known as “Kitty’s Stone.” Per Dr. Auslander’s paper the stone was updated in the 1990s.

Dr. Auslander relates…..in the standard white version of the story, Kitty was inherited by an unwilling slaveholder….after she voluntarily refused manumission (conditional on transport to Liberia) at age nineteen in 1841 she was allowed by her benevolent owner to reside in a house that he built for her, adjacent to his own house. There, he alledgedly told her, “you may live as free as I am.” In time, the story goes, she married a free African-American man [by the name of Nathan Shell] and bore him three children before her death in the 185os.

Dr. Auslander explains that there are other tourist hotspots regarding Kitty including …the carefully restored house, in which Kitty alledgedly once lived…renovated by a predominately white local historical society. Both the home and the cemetery are often spoke of , by whites, as the most important historical sites in the county.

In white versions of the story, Kitty refused manumission when it was offered to her in 1841 and was allowed by her master, Bishop Andrew to reside in her own small cottage behind his mansion in de facto freedom. There, it is said, Kitty “looked after” local children, white and black, and treated them with warmth and respect.

Dr. Auslander further relates:

Not surprisingly, African American families in Oxford have a rather different relationship to the Kitty legend. My oldest African American informants recall hearing from the “old people” of the community that Kitty was Bishop Andrew’s coerced mistress, and that Andrew was the covert father of her children, whom he never acknowledged.

Some profess to be bored by the whole business, which they regard as a puzzling (or, at times, offensive) white obsession. Still others critique local white fascination with Kitty and with the restoration of her small house (referred to as “Kitty’s Cottage” by most local whites) as an attempt to paper over the horrors of slavery and evade the full accountability for the city’s antebellum slave-owning history.

Yet for all the manifest contrasts in white and African-American renditions of the narrative, and their strikingly different responses to spaces in which the story is memorialized, are these mythic accounts entirely distinct from one another?

In addition, many African American women and men with whom I have discussed the matter express a desire to see the matter closed, once and for all. A middle aged African American woman sighed, when the Kitty question came up, “Isn’t it time we all talked about something else? We have to get beyond all that”…An older African American man grew very quiet when the conversation briefly turned to Kitty. ….He noted softy, “Sometimes, you know, the dead just need to stay good and buried.”

Finally, Dr. Auslander discusses those in the African American community who are intensely interested in researching, uncovering and broadcasting the “true facts” of the Kitty case [stating that they] find themselves facing fundamental challenges of space and geography. Many note that whites have in effect, colonized the only places where Kitty’s story could be retold, especially her cottage and the supposed gravesite. As one African American woman remarked,”Ok, let’s say we really could prove everything about Kitty and Bishop Andrew, with DNA or whatever. Where in Oxford would we ever get to tell the truth? Put on a display? Where is there? You tell me.”

Since the 1930s, her “cottage” and grave have come to function as veritable pilgrimage sites for thousands of Georgia’s white residents, including weekly busloads of schoolchildren brought in for “educational visits” from throughout the state.

One female tour guide observed to a group of schoolchildren, “You know, Miss Kitty was loved by Mrs. Andrew as if she were her own flesh and blood. And Kitty felt the same way about the Andrew children. That’s the way it was in those days, people just took care of children your age, they could just go in and out of people’s houses like they were in their own, and be fed, and loved and looked after. That’s the way things are supposed to be. But is that how we live now?”

As one white woman noted, “Kitty’s story reminds us how families used to be, and how things still should be.” Since the late 1990s, many local white families have volunteered time, money, and effort to help restore Kitty’s former residence (a process that has so far, has not included any African American residents of the town.)

Somehow I don’t think Kitty’s Cottage is a place I would put on my list of approved field trips for my students unless I prepared them in advance to challenge the docents in their interpretation of slavery regardless of the bonds that might have and did sometimes develop between whites and blacks. I would also prepare my students to challenge statements made based on historical facts to back up so called stories no matter which side was painting the picture.

Where are the letters? Where are the diaries and journals? Where are bona fide interviews?

Most importantly……where are both sides of the issue?

King Day: 2009

Today is the official recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth.

The following three posts appeared here previously and center upon Dr. King:

Get Off the Beaten Path: MLK's India Connection

MLK: It Should Be About How He Lived

Let Them Read a Book

These three post focus on Civil Rights:

Now Is the Time for Your Tears

13 Things About the Zoot Suit Riots

Marcus Garvey and the UNIA

Now Is the Time for Your Tears

In a few days a man with African American roots will become the next president of the United States….a very historic event.

However, a few short (at least to me) forty-six years ago the life of a black woman in Charles County, Maryland was worth a fine of $500 and six months in jail.

That's it.

The woman was Hattie Carroll and her fate was sealed the night of February 9, 1963, when she reported for work at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland.

During her work shift a young white tobacco farmer was attending the white-tie Spinsters’ Ball at the hotel. Apparently Ms. Carroll didn’t deliver Mr. Zantzinger’s drink fast enough , and he ended up hitting her with his cane. The cane ended up being nothing but a 25-cent wooden toy, but others who were hit with the cane that evening testified the blows were severe. Ms. Carroll was hit on the head and shoulders as Mr. Zantzinger hurled racial epithets I won’t repeat here.

From a Time magazine article:

“I’d been smacking- tapping- waitresses on the tail, and they didn’t say anything. I was just playing,” Zantzinger told the jury in Hagerstown, where the case was tried.

“I had no other purpose than to have a good time,” Zantzinger testified. “The last thing I intended was to harm or injure anyone. I never even thought about it.”

An article in the same Time magazine from February 22, 1963 states that not long after Ms. Carroll was hit she told co-workers, “I feel deathly ill, that man has upset me so.” She collapsed and was hospitalized. Eight hours after the assault the mother of eleven was dead. Though the autopsy did indicate she had hardened arteries, an enlarged heart, and high blood pressure, the report gave brain hemorrhage as the cause of death.

Mr. Zantzinger testified he remembered nothing, but admitted he had been extremely drunk. Initially he was charged with murder, but the charges were reduced to manslaughter and assault. The Time article goes on to state that the reason for the reduction in the charges were based on the idea that it was Ms. Carroll’s stress reaction to Mr. Zantzinger’s verbal and physical abuse that led to the intracranial bleeding, rather than the blunt-force trauma from the blow ….a blow that did not leave a mark.

In a second Time magazine article, titled Deferred Sentence, it was reported Mr. Zantzinger received a sentence of six months, a fine of $125 for the assault on the other hotel employees and and a $500 fine for the death of Ms. Carroll. The article goes on to state that the start of Mr. Zantzinger’s prison sentence was deferred giving him time to harvest his tobacco crop.

During the 1960s it was articles like the Time articles I’ve referred to here as well as the film clips shown on the nightly news that got the word out regarding the continued inequality that existed in the South.

Popular music also had bearing on getting the word out.

A young 20-something Bob Dylan was greatly moved by the death of Hattie Carroll. So much so that sitting in a New York City coffee shop he penned the following words:

William Zantzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin'.
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,T
ake the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

William Zanzinger, who at twenty-four years
Owns a tobacco farm of six hundred acres
With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him
And high office relations in the politics of Maryland,
Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering, and his tongue it was snarling,
In a matter of minutes on bail was out walking.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

Hattie Carroll was a maid of the kitchen.
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level,
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room,
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle.
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom,
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way without warnin'.
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished,
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance,
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence.
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears.

Copyright © 1964; renewed 1992 Special Rider Music

The song was released on Dylan’s These Times They Are A-Changin’, and soon after he wrote the song he sang it live on the Steve Allen Show. Here is a clip of the Steve Allen appearance:



I became aware of this story from the era of Civil Rights due to this article I caught over the weekend.

Seems Mr. Zantzinger passed away on January 3rd.

I think it would interesting to provide the lyrics for students and allow them to go on their own fact-finding mission regarding unraveling the story Bob Dylan presents and then arguing the merits of Mr. Zantzinger’s case.

Wordless: Lunch on a Skyscraper

With the new year I thought it was time to begin a new Wordless theme….great online videos depicting historical themes.

I must give credit to this first video to my husband. He sent me a link to it in an email, and gee….it only took me several weeks to finally getting around to looking at it.

The photographs are the work of Otto Bettmann and Charles Ebbets….more about them later.

Enjoy!



BTW…Once Upon a Time in America is one of my favorite movies.

Take a look at all the folks participating in Wordless Wednesday here.

The Great State of Franklin

As a form of review I often throw a couple dozen vocabulary words up on the board and ask students to write the words down in column one and in column two identify the word by the historical era it best belongs to. Students need to be able to explain to me, to the class, or to a partner why they wrote down the particular historical unit as their answer. Depending on the capabilities of the group or the needs of certain students I might also list all of the unit names we had discussed up to that point as a memory jogger.
For example, if I wrote the word Constitution on the board I would expect my students to correctly identify the historical unit as “Building a New Nation” while the vocabulary word potlatch would match up with “Native Americans.”

Let’s see how well you do…..the units are Native Americans, Exploration, Colonization, French and Indian War, American Revolution, and Forming a New Nation. The vocabulary words are circumnavigate, liberty, artisan, origin story, Ohio River Valley, and James Madison.

Commence to matching them up.

So, how did you match them up?

Here’s the best way….Native Americans/origin story, Exploration/circumnavigate, Colonization/artisan, French and Indian War/Ohio River Valley, American Revolution/liberty, James Madison/Forming a New Nation.

What about the word secession?

Which unit of history would it best go with?

The Civil War…right?

What if I changed the direction for the activity from which is the best unit to match the word up with to which historical period or unit is the earliest time period the word could fit?

If “that” was my direction then the Civil War would NOT be correct.

Nope….in fact the time period right after the American Revolution would be the correct historical time period.

Why?

Ever hear of the state of Franklin? Yep, it existed.

In April, 1784 the state of North Carolina gave the new United States government control of 29 million acres between the Mississippi River and the Allegheny Mountains (Appalachian) due to the extreme amount of debt the new nation found itself under.

This action, however, did not please many of the inhabitants of the area who did not want to suddenly find themselves as Spanish or French colonists should the Confederation government of the U.S. decide to sell the territory for debt relief. Apparently the legislature of North Carolina also became a bit wary as to what the national government would do with the land, so they took their offer off the table.

By August, 1784 the people living in this area had had it with the uncertainty of their fate. Were they citizens of North Carolina? Were they citizens of a new colony? The people declared they were free from North Carolina, and on May 16, 1785, a delegation asked the U.S. Congress for statehood. Their proposed name was Frankland.

Under the Articles of Confederation that governed this nation at the time a two-thirds majority of states had to vote in favor of statehood….they fell short with just seven states voting in favor.
Frankland’s leaders even opted to change the name to Franklin, after Benjamin Franklin, in hopes that members of the confederation congress would go for that, and the fact that the U.S. government did not officially declare them a state did not deter them.

A constitution was adopted, a government was seated at Greeneville, and John Sevier was elected governor. The “state”, however, could never support itself and since it was not officially recognized by the U.S. government, and because it ignored the fact that North Carolina controlled the territory, Franklin could not benefit from any military assistance.

North Carolina troops finally moved in when Franklin’s “government” refused to accept North Carolina’s offer to waive back taxes. One battle ensued at Colonel Tipton's farm in present day Johnson City, Tennessee.

After failing to garner a loan from Spain (which is ironic since so many citizens had not wanted to be beholden to the French or the Spanish), John Sevier finally turned himself into North Carolina authorities in February, 1788. His only punishment was to declare an oath of allegiance to North Carolina.

All differences between the state of North Carolina and the want-to-be state of Franklin were forgotten by the citizens of the territory when Native Americans began to heavily attack the white Franklin settlements in March, 1788. The citizens of Franklin were more than ready to declare they were in fact North Carolinians.

By 1790, the territory that had once claimed to be the state of Franklin was ceded by the government of North Carolina once more to the national government where it would become part of the Southwest Territory…..and would later become part of Tennessee where it remains today.

It’s not unusual for citizens to suddenly change the name of a proposed state or county to something that might be more favorable to those voting….see another article I wrote here.

Merry Christmas, 2008!

From my home to yours....Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings.

The Bulge Begins....

Today is an important date in World War II history….The website maintained by the
World War II Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge states:

The Battle of the Bulge which lasted from December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945 was the largest land battle of World War II in which the United States participated. More than a million men fought in this battle including some 600,000 Germans, 500,000 Americans, and 55,000 British. The German military force consisted of two Armies with ten corps (equal to 29 divisions). While the American military force consisted of a total of three armies with six corps (equal to 31 divisions). At the conclusion of the battle the casualties were as follows: 81,000 U.S. with 19,000 killed, 1400 British with 200 killed, and 100,000 Germans killed, wounded or captured.

You can find more of my World War II postings here.

Other bloggers are participating in Wordless Wednesday today….you can find them here.

A Christmas Fire at the White House

The White House has endured a few fires over the years, but one particular fire occurred during the Christmas season, and the Oval Office received some major damage.

See my most recent post…Up on the Rooftop...Hoover Watched over at American Presidents Blog.

13 Things Concerning Isaias Hellman

I recently finished reading Towers of Gold: How One Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California by Frances Dinkelspiel, and I have to say I’m a bit jealous. Isaias Hellman is the great-great grandfather of Ms. Dinkelspiel. It’s not just anyone who can claim ancestory to a man who almost single-handedly birthed the state of California. While I’ll admit that it took many, many people to birth the great state of California….Isaias Hellman’s contributions cannot be denied.

The book is well written. It kept my interest with stagecoach robberies, an assassination attempt, bank runs, the 1906 earthquake, and is the final product of eight years of research during which Ms. Dinkelspiel poured over more than 50,000 archival documents.

Isaias Hellman isn’t just an American who should be taught about in a course including California history, but he should be included in courses that include early immigration, growth of the west, growth of early cities and towns, Jewish contributions to the making of America, and 19th century financial American History.

So, just who was Isaias Hellman? Well, you really need to read the book for a clear picture, but here are a few facts:

1. Isaias Hellman was a Jewish immigrant from Reckendorf, Bavaria. He immigrated to Los Angeles in 1859, a few years after California being admitted to the Union.

2. In fact, at the time Hellman reached California the U.S. territory was still heavily entrenched in Mexican culture…..Pueblo type buildings and the rules of Spanish society were the norm.

3. Today, Hellman is thought to be one of the greatest Pacific Coast financiers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Library Journal advises [Hellman] is attributed with stabilizing the financial panic of 1893 in Los Angeles by stacking $500,000 worth of gold coins on the counter of the Farmers and Merchants Bank in plain public view, hence the title of [Ms. Dinkelspiel’s] book.

4. He founded one of the territory’s first banks which later became the Farmer’s and Merchant’s Bank. Ms. Dinkelspiel advises at the height of his power in the early 20th century, he controlled more than $100 million in capital and served as president of 14 other banks.
5. Because of his financial backing Hellman was instrumental in developing at least seven other industries that shaped California: transportation, oil, electricity, land development, water, wine, and education.
6. He controlled the California wine industry for almost twenty years, and helped develop the famous Pacific Electric red cars that crisscrossed the Los Angeles region. Hellman was also involved in agriculture raising oranges, walnuts, and lemons at Rosemeade…the Hellman Ranch.

7. Hellman was the president of the first synogogue in Los Angeles.

8. He was very involved in the founding of the University of Southern California by donating land the college sits on today, and he served as Regent for many years for the University of California.

9. Following a move to San Francisco, Hellman opened Union Trust Company, the first trust company in California. He also was involved with the Nevada Bank which later became Wells Fargo Bank.

10. During tough times it was Hellman that kept Californians moving ahead. Following the 1906 earthquake Hellman ran the Wells Fargo Bank out of home when the building that housed the bank was damaged.

11. Sugar Pine Point State Park at Lake Tahoe was originally a Hellman home before it was donated to the state.

12. San Francisco Magazine states visionary financier Isaias Hellman was the Warren Buffet and Alan Greenspan of early California rolled into one. He arrived in Los Angeles as a practically penniless, 16-year-old German Jew when there were only 300 other Europeans in town. Three decades later, he controlled much of the booming city’s capital, land, and public works….Hellman starred in so many aspects of the state’s phoenixlike rise between the Civil War and the Depression that he became our Zelig, only with a really thick portfolio.
13. The San Francisco Gate states the book is a carefully researched and superbly written memoir…Dinkelspiel’s biography not only brings to life the transformation of California into the state with the strongest economy in the nation, and the outside personalities that forged it, but rescues from the proverbial dustbin of history the remarkable life and achievements of a man whose energy, creativity, resourcefulness and love for his adopted country had been all but forgotten.
If you are looking for a great biography to read then I suggest you give Towers of Gold a try.

Other bloggers are posting their 13 lists today as well. You can locate them here.

Fleet Problem 13: Pearl Harbor Foreshadowed

You cannot research Pearl Harbor…..you cannot teach Pearl Harbor….you cannot “know” Pearl Harbor without having read Pearl Harbor: The Story of the Secret War by George Morgenstern published in 1947. James J. Martin in the Journal of Historical Review calls Morgenstern’s book the best, despite a formidable volume of subsequent writing by many others on the subject…and is probably the most widely commented upon book every produced by the World War Two Revisionist impulse in this country…Mr. Martin further states everyone writing on the subject of Pearl Harbor has either consciously or unconciously followed the “scenario” first laid down by George Morgenstern.

So, if Mr. Martin doesn’t convince you to read this definitive work on Pearl Harbor perhaps I can. First of all by bringing up Morgenstern’s work you can introduce yourself or your students to the concept of revisionist history. Just by the very moniker itself it sounds as if someone is changing history….and I’m always suspect in that. Change it if the facts bear out, but otherwise leave out your propaganda and “what if” theories. By definition historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on motives or process surrounding an historical event. The assumption of the revisionist is that the interpretation of a historical event or period as it is accepted by the majority of scholars needs a significant change.

Another reason why I would use Morgenstern’s work to round out my coverage of Pearl Harbor in my classroom has something to do with this young man:

Isn't he fine? This very capable young man is my husband….yes, Mr.Elementaryhistoryteacher, as he appeared in 1978 at the age of 19. You can find out more about his service to our country here. By bringing up a personal connection I have to the event I’m teaching, I can draw some students into the content mix. Instantly there is a flurry of “me, toos!” as students want to tell me about family members who have served or are serving in the armed forces.

If you clicked through you saw the picture of the ship I have below….a picture of the Harry E. Yarnell. For six years the good old Harry E. Yarnell was my husband’s home away from home as he sailed the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. I can’t tell you how many times I addressed an envelope to “Mr. EHT” aboard CG-17…Harry E. Yarnell….I can still recite the entire address though many years have flown by. I wish I still had all those letters….sometimes I wrote one everyday during my high school years from 10th grade on….what a diary I would have if “Mr. EHT” had held on to those letters, but alas he did not. I have his though….a good number of them.

Ok….back to the subject matter at hand—Pearl Harbor—as the attack on Pearl Harbor was remembered this past Sunday. Mr. Morgenstern’s book tells of an important event that has a connection to my husband and the ship he sailed on. You see, the Harry E. Yarnell that my husband’s ship was named for had a Pearl Harbor connection. Admiral Harry E. Yarnell served in the U.S. Navy for fifty-one years, Commander of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet (1936-1939) and perhaps the inspiration for the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941 on Oahu.

Yes, you read that right…..the inspiration for a day that has lived in infamy….yet, I would bet most Americans have never heard of Admiral Harry E. Yarnell.

Martin says of Morgenstern’s book:

Pearl Harbor was not just a disaster, he [Morgenstern] declared; it was what got the U.S.A. into the Second World War. And it was not satisfactory or sufficient to explain it away as a result of Japanese perfidy," which has dominated all discussion of it since Dec. 7, 1941. It has permitted the Roosevelt administration to "manage national policy as if it were a private show," from that time on. As a war correspondent in a strategic spot [Morgenstern] knew that Wartime censors closed in even more tightly about the field of public policy," and FDR's Decisions" were announced to the people after the event" routinely from entry into the war ever after. And, Morgenstern pointed out, increasing secrecy led to the invention of a new category of hush-hush information which could only be described in the phrase Top Secret.'" "The conclusions stated in Pearl Harbor are those to which the author was led by the record."

Morgenstern insisted, going on to say:

"Those who object to historical skepticism may complain that my book is no contribution to the political canonization of its central figure. That is no concern of mine. As to the purpose my book is intended to serve, some observations from the minority report of the Joint Congressional Committee which investigated the Pearl Harbor attack are pertinent: 'In the future the people and their Congress must know how close American diplomacy is moving to war so that they may check in advance if imprudent and support its position if sound ... How to avoid war and how to turn war -- if it finally comes -- to serve the cause of human progress is the challenge to diplomacy today as yesterday.'"

Let’s go back in time a bit before Pearl Harbor to February, 1932.

From this source...

Rear Admiral Harry E. Yarnell pioneered carrier tactics in an exercise that later came to be discussed as Fleet Problem 13. [Yarnell] commanded the carriers Lexington and Saratoga in an effort to demonstrate that Hawaii was vulnerable to naval air power.

At a time when air warfare waged from ships was radical thought Admiral Yarnell fully supported the idea.

The expectation was that Yarnell would attack with battleships, but instead he left his battleships behind and proceeded only with his carriers to the north of Hawaii where it was less likely he would be detected. With a storm as cover, at dawn on a Sunday, February 7, Yarnell’s 152 (some sources state 153) planes attacked the harbor from the northeast, just as the Japanese would ten years later. The army airfields were first put out of comission after which battleship row was attacked—with multiple hits on Navy ships. No defending aircraft were able to launch. The Navy’s war-game umpires declared the attack a total success, prompting Yarnell to strenuously warn of the Japanese threat.

The Navy exercise became known as Fleet Problem 13 and the results were largely ignored by Navy brass while the Japanese….the revisionists declared... paid close attention.

Following Pearl Harbor [Yarnell was] repelled and gravely angered by the Administration’s tactic …of scapegoating the military and especially the naval commander for it all, [and] denounced this action as “a blot on our national history.” Writing of Morgenstern’s book in Far Eastern Survey, he forthrightly declared, “Mr. Morgenstern is to be congratulated on marshaling the available facts of this tragedy in such manner as to make it clear to every reader where lies the responsibility.”

…and this brings me to third reason to explore Morgenstern’s book and Fleet Problem 13 for students. The event would make a great mystery type activity for students where they are given a designed framework to research and discover on their own. Their results could then be debated with the class with some students using Fleet Problem 13 as the inspiration for the attack on Pearl Harbor and others using more popular causes for the event.

White House Christmas Card, 2008

This year’s White House Christmas card has been sent. This is an image of the inside of the card which includes Scripture from Matthew 5:16….Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify you father which is in heaven.

If you want to see the beautiful cover image on the card you’ll have to check out my post over at American Presidents Blog….found here. I have some other links there to my past postings regarding the White House Christmas card.

Many thanks go to Michael Swartz of Monoblogue for alerting me that the greeting for this year had been sent. The image seen here is used with Michael’s permission.

Today is Wordless Wednesday. You can find other participating bloggers here.

Beach Red

I’m a huge fan of old movies….the sort Channel 17 (WTBS) out of my hometown of Atlanta used to show all day on Saturdays back when Ted Turner used to own the station. Those movies sparked my love of history by connecting events for me and providing information about manners of dress and social and cultural mores of various historical eras.

I’ve used various movies in my own classroom to spark motivation, to provide visual images in context, and mainly because movie treasures simply aren’t shown on television like they used to be without really hunting for them…..

Beach Red is the title of a film that was nominated for an Oscar in 1967 for best film editing. Cornel Wilde directed and starred in the World War II film along with Rip Torn. The film depicts American soldiers landing on a unamed beach held by the Japanese in the Pacific. The movie tells the story written by Peter Bowman who actually served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific during World War II. Many have claimed the opening sequences of Beach Red can be compared to the more modern Saving Private Ryan.

During the making of Beach Red Cornel Wilde had little assistance from the U.S. Marines as they were a little preoccupied with a place called Vietnam. The Marines did provide some old footage, but the film was so damaged Mr. Wilde spent most of the film’s budget refurbishing the film clips……a nice little present the U.S. government and historians appreciate today.

While the opening sequence could be any of the Pacific islands that saw fighting during World War II, I find the title particularly interesting…..Beach Red. Of course the significance is right there in front of you. The fighting, of course, made the pristene white beaches red…red with the blood of American and Japanese combatants.

Flip the words and you arrive at the name of an actual location….Red Beach…Red Beach on Tarawa Island…better known to some as “Bloody Tarawa” where after three days of savagery more than a thousand Americans died and more than two thousand were wounded. The Tarawa battle was the first major amphibious assault in the Central Pacific on a Japanese stronghold during the Pacific War.

Leon Cooper’s job, as a Naval landing craft officer, was to land Marines of the 2nd Division on Red Beach. He made several landings, each time watching scores of his countrymen being cut to pieces by Japanese gunfire. His sad duty later was to transport the wounded back to his ship for medical treatment. Unlike later invasions, there was no Navy hospital ship in attendance to render expert medical care. The image below shows Mr. Cooper standing next to a landing craft similar to the one he was assigned to during the war.

Far more disturbing than the garbage on Red Beach; hundreds of Americans still lie where they fell during the battle sixty-five years ago, including Congressional Medal of Honor winner, Marine Lt. Alexander Bonnyman. Backed by veterans groups, History Flight (Marathon, Florida) and WFI Research Group (Fall River, Massachusetts) have now completed an exhaustive survey of battle sites in Tarawa using radar and surveyor-quality Trimble GPS system, and have located the remains of 139 Marines. An article regarding the discovery of the remains can be found here.

The last organized effort by the Government to identify and repatriate the remains of Americans killed in Tarawa, and located in various sites on the island, was a six-month study completed on May 20, 1946. A report by the Army Quartermaster Section, Memorial Branch, dated July 3, 1946, states that, “About fifty percent of the bodies previously reported buried on Tarawa were found, and of that number, only 58 percent were identified.” There has been no effort by the Government to follow up on the 1946 investigation.

According to the Department of Defense, 72,766 American Armed Forces personnel of World War II are still listed as MIA. At least fifty percent lie where they fell in various Pacific Islands, including Tarawa.

December 7th….that day that does live on in infamy….will be the day that Leon Cooper (I wonder if he’s related to my husband’s family?) will arrive in Washington D.C. to meet with members of Congress to discuss his efforts for the last three years to have the US government remove the garbage that litters Red Beach in Tarawa [and to discuss the American remains on the island].

Time Magazine for December 6, 1943 stated, “Last week some two to three thousand U.S. Marines, most of them now dead or wounded, gave the nation a name to stand beside those of Concord Bridge, the Bonhomme Richard, the Alamo, Little Big Horn, and Belleau Wood. The name was Tarawa.”

Cooper says, “It is a sad commentary about our nation that private organizations have assumed the responsibility of locating the remains of American dead in Tarawa. They are doing this because our nation has failed to do so. These private organizations feel that those who died in defense of our country deserve to be repatriated and to be remembered with dignity and respect. Their relatives are entitled to closure. It is our nation’s shame that we have allowed these honored dead to lie in unmarked graves in that far off land all these years.”
Cooper made a trip to Tarawa this past February, returning with still painful memories of his battle experiences, taking a camera crew with him to film the garbage on Red Beach and to find out more about the American dead on the island.

The record of his visit is captured in a documentary, "Return to Tarawa--The Leon Cooper Story." (Please click the link for a documentary trailer) Narration is by movie great, Ed Harris. It will soon be released. Mark Noah, of History Flight, made significant contributions in the making of the film. Major television channels have expressed interest. A major national magazine wants to review the film.

Mr. Cooper’s books, “90 Day Wonder—Darkness Remembered,” and “The War in the Pacific—A Retrospective” are available with websites located here and here, and his blog
90 Day Wonder can be found online.

All too often we teach in our classrooms that the war continued in the Pacific after VE-Day, but by that point we are itchy to get on with other things. Oh sure, we hit the highpoints….the easy stuff like McArthur’s surrender in the Philippines, Midway, Iwo Jima and then we race headlong into into those horrendous events of August 6th and 9th—the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

What about all of the various island-hopping battles that got us to the surrender agreement signed on the USS Missouri in September, 1945?

What about the aftermath? How did the battles change the lives of the people who lived on many of those islands?

What responsibility do combatants have to the battlefield once the battle is over?

What responsibility do governments have to their fallen soldiers in foreign lands?

All of this asks interesting questions that could spark deep thought and interesting debate.

The portion of this post that you see in italics were sent to me in an email alerting me to Mr. Cooper’s efforts.

Here is another Tarawa remembrance story.

More information regarding the litter of war found on Tarawa.

…and war damage isn't the only concern Tarawa has today.

Thanksgiving Diversions

Thanksgiving is on the brain the week….who is going where, the assignments for who brings what dish, the grocery list, catching up on housework and keeping in mind those Christmas decorations need to be ready to go up the day after the feast. Then there is the cooking….cooking….cooking.

If you need a break from the preparations or if you merely need a diversion from all the family love during this time of thanksgiving check out the Plimouth Plantation website. One interesting feature of the website is the list of ongoing blogs that you can link to.

You can follow As the Wetu Turns which is a daily chronicle of daily life in the Wampanoag Indigenous program, or follow My So-Called Pilgrim Life….a chronicle of daily life in the 1627 English village at Plimouth Plantation from both a modern and historical perspective.

Even though it’s not been updated since June, 2008 Mayflower II-Captain's Blog is still a great read. Captain Peter Arenstam chronicles the events surrounding the Mayflower II 50th anniversary celebrations. You can find out what it takes to keep a 17th-century ship afloat.

Finally, The Embroiderer's Story is detailing the story of the Colonial Wardrobe and Textiles Department in their quest to recreate a 17th-century embroidered jacket.

Historical Tales and Literature Tales...They Go Hand In Hand

One of the regular patterns I tend to follow in my teaching is introducing content to students followed by textbook skills. I also like to allow students time to work with each section of content on their own or in small groups where they can discover more information on their own. This also provides an opportunity for students to confirm content I’ve introduced to them.

I smile and am quietly amused when one of my young charges trudges up to show me a historical fact we have discussed the day before. “Gee, sweetie,” I ask, “did you thing Elementaryhistoryteacher was telling tales?”

Of course, telling an interesting tale is what makes a dynamic subject to study. Sometimes you even need to add some other tales of the non-fiction kind to spice things up and motivate students to manipulate the content.

Take the inevitable unit on the framework of the U.S. government that follows the American Revolution—three branches of government each with specific duties all of them criss-crossing across the triangle of checks and balances can make even the most eager of students glaze over into dumbfounded silence watching the cloth tick away until lunch, recess, or even—thank goodness—until math class begins.

I’m real excited to discover Lane Smith’s book titled Madam President to add to my collection of government literature tales I can share with students.

There are many reasons why I would utilize this book with my government unit. Here are 13 ways I would ask student to independently interact with the book after experiencing my lesson regarding the three branches and after they have read Madam President:

1. The book contains some very interesting artwork—the little girl in each illustration captures your attention as she goes about her combined day as a little girl and as Madam President. I would ask students to compare the artwork in Lane Smith’s book to another book in my government "tale" box and write up an analysis. How are they alike? How are they different?

2. The text is limited per page (actually a good thing), but fully details the various details of the executive branch from “photo ops” to “a president must lead by example, even if it means cleaning her own room.” I would ask students to come up with a list of things the President of the United States would find it difficult to do once he or she became president.

3. Madam President is a great read aloud for children as young as four, but my small groups of nine, ten, and eleven year olds (of all reading levels) would be comfortable working with the book. I might strategically place children together depending on reading level and due to social interaction concerns.

4. Lane Smith has included many duties of the president. One activity I would ask students to complete it to use a two-columned chart titled Non-Fiction Duties (Real Duties) and Fiction Duties. For example, from the pages regarding the President’s Cabinet a student might list the Secretary of the Treasury under non-fiction but would list Secretary of Dance under fiction.

Another way the chart could be used is for students to explain the non-fiction and fiction aspects of each presidential act. In the section where Lane Smith relates the president must attend state funerals the illustration shows Madam President attending a pet’s funeral. This would go under the heading of fiction. I would then expect the student to give me an example of a real….non-fiction state funeral.

5. I would ask students to access at least three sources online regarding the duties of the executive branch. Students would compare the sources to Lane Smith’s book. Wre there any duties Mr. Smith left out?

6. Presidential veto power is in the book as a special privilege for the president. I would ask students to research the entire process regarding what Congress can do if a bill is vetoed and how a veto can be overridden….and what in the heck is a pocket veto anyway?

7. The book advises a president must keep the peace. I would extend the example illustrated in the book (two students fighting until Madam President breaks it up) by asking students to provide other ways and situations where the president keeps the peace.

8. The song “Hail to the Chief “ is mentioned in the book along with an image of actual sheet music. I would ask students to review the lyrics and based on the duties outline in the book Madam Presidents they should come up with new singable lyrics.

9. Several different ways are given to indicate Madam President is important from the title Head of State to the more fun and more contemporary Big Cheese. I would ask students to come up with other ways we could refer to the president.

10. Lane Smith tells his readers, “A president must be protected at all times.” What a great invitation to research the Secret Service!

11. One of the more fun duties of the president given in the book is “approving lunches.” The illustration shows Madam President leaving for school with her sack lunch. Students would provide me with a formal menu of their approved luncheon with an illustration.

12. Another activitiy I would include in the choices I post for students would be for students to write a campaign speech detail all of the reasons why they would make a great president and which duties they would promise to fulfill.

13. So, whether you teach in a classroom, homeschool, or teach informally during those teachable moments with your kids or grandkids Lane Smith’s Madam President is an excellent and fun resource to use when discussing the executive branch.

Go get your copy here before the inauguration!

Lane Smith’s webpage can be found here and a separate biography here.

Today is Thursday. You can find others participating in Thursday Thirteen here