Sample 11th Grade United States “Enduring Issues” Essay
Henry Dircks, Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
The “enduring issues” essay will be a hallmark of redesigned New York State Global and United States history Regents exams. This sample “enduring issues” essay and evaluation rubric was developed by Henry Dircks, a social studies teacher at Mepham High School, North Bellmore, New York.
DIRECTIONS: An “Enduring Issue” is an issue or topic that exists across time in U.S. History. It is an issue that the American people have attempted to address with varying degrees of success. Read or observe the five documents below. Then identify and define an enduring issue that is common to all the documents in the set. (For instance, documents such as the Dred Scott decision, a Reconstruction literacy test, a Harlem Renaissance poem, MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham jail and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would share the issue, “The African-American struggle for equality saw many achievements and setbacks.”) Finally, write an essay in which you:
Identify and define the issue using evidence from at least three documents.
Argue that this is a significant issue that has endured by showing either:
How the issue has affected people or been affected by people, or:
How the issue has continued to be an issue or changed over time
Include outside information from your knowledge of social studies and evidence from the documents.
DOCUMENT 1: Thomas Jefferson, Third Annual Message to Congress (1803)Source: The Avalon Project, Yale Law School Website
Congress witnessed, at their last session, the extraordinary agitation produced in the public mind by the suspension of our right of deposit at the port of New Orleans. They were sensible that the continuance of that privation would be injurious to our nation; we had not been unaware of the danger to which our peace would be perpetually exposed while so important a key to the commerce of the western country remained under foreign power. Propositions had, therefore, been authorized for obtaining, on fair conditions, the sovereignty of New Orleans; and the provisional appropriation of two millions of dollars, to be applied by the president of the United States, intended as part of the price, was considered as conveying the sanction of Congress to the acquisition proposed. The enlightened government of France saw, with just discernment, the importance to both nations of such liberal arrangements as might best and permanently promote the peace, friendship, and interests of both; and the property and sovereignty of all Louisiana have on certain conditions been transferred to the United States by instruments bearing date the 30th of April last. While the property and sovereignty of the Mississippi and its waters secure an independent outlet for the produce of the western States, and an uncontrolled navigation through their whole course, free from collision with other powers and the dangers to our peace from that source, the fertility of the country, its climate and extent, promise in due season important aids to our treasury, an ample provision for our posterity, and a wide-spread field for the blessings of freedom and equal laws.
DOCUMENT 2: An Act to Secure Land to Settlers on the Public Domain (1862)
Source: National Archives and Records Administration
SEC. 1.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section of public lands… which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted… that said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified; And That he, she or they shall prove by two credible witnesses that he, she or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit, the settler shall acquire the absolute title to the land, and be en- titled to a patent from the United States.
DOCUMENT 3: Painting: “The Trail of Tears” by Robert Lindneux (1942)Source: Woolaroc Museum, Bartlesville, Oklahoma
DOCUMENT 4: Resettlement Administration Map (1935) Source: Library of Congress
DOCUMENT 5: Treaty of Paris (1898). Source: The Avalon Project, Yale Law School Website
The United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain desire to end the state of war now existing between the two countries, who, assembled in Paris, have, after discussion of the matters before them, agreed upon the following articles:Article I: Spain relinquishes all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba and as the island is, upon its evacuation by Spain, to be occupied by the United States, the United States will, so long as such occupation shall last, assume and discharge the obligations that may under international law result from the fact of its occupation, for the protection of life and property.Article II: Spain cedes to the United States the island of Porto Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies, and the island of Guam in the Marianas.Article III: Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands. The United States will pay to Spain the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty.
Rubric for Enduring Issues Essay Assignment
POINTS
CONTENT
28-30
Enduring issue is defined and representative of documents Enduring issue is guiding theme throughout essay Discusses task in body paragraphs (people OR change) Uses more than three documents Explains history, rather than just describe it Rich in outside information
24-27
Enduring issue is defined and representative of documents Enduring issue is present throughout essay Discusses task in body paragraphs (people OR change) May use more than three documents May explain history, rather than just describe it More than satisfactory in outside information
20-23
Enduring issue is defined and representative of documents Topics discussed with little reference to enduring issue May discuss task in body paragraphs (people OR change) Uses three documents Describes history; contains satisfactory outside information
15-20
Enduring issue is not defined or not present No reference to enduring issue in essay Does not discuss task in body paragraphs (people OR change) Uses three documentsDescribes history; contains little outside information
0-15
No enduring issue Does not discuss task in body paragraphs (people OR change) Uses fewer than 3 documents Describes history; contains no outside information
Michael Adas and Joseph Gilch, Everyman in Vietnam, by Hank Bitten
In my reading of the first pages of Everyman in Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018), I found the personal narrative of Jimmy Gilch, a young man from Runnemede, New Jersey engaging me with fresh perspectives about the conflict in Vietnam. The new perspectives are likely to motivate high school and college students in asking questions about the effects of colonialism on America’s foreign policies, the influence of domestic events, and the reasons for a fragmented foreign policy, and the failure of American intervention in Vietnam. Personal letters offer a perspective that is different from studying historical documents, viewing a film, or reading about battles and events in a book.
One advantage of Everyman in Vietnam is the author’s understanding of the importance of the relationship between the chronological perspective of domestic events and Vietnamese society and culture. History is the story of time and Michael Adas and Joseph Gilch intentionally introduce the historical time machine in an analysis of America’s involvement and why many baby boomers and some of their parents did not support this conflict as their parents and grandparents did in World War II or Korea. The narrative begins with the changes in postwar America that were developing in unexpected ways.
“During the 50s an entire industry built from scratch took hold of the nation. The first telecasts offered little beyond bland news programs and “Howdy Doody,” But by the mid-1950s the broadcast industry was booming. Within a ten-year span from 1949 to 1959, the number of household television sets increased from 940,000 to 44,000,000…. After school Jimmy would often race home and sit on the red carpet in the den watching television to avoid schoolwork. He watched cartoons and teen-targeted programs, such as Tom Terrific and Spin & Marty, His favorite was Tennessee Tuxedo.” (pp.23-24)
The post World War II years were a time of significant demographic, economic, and cultural changes that students need to know as part of their understanding of the decade of the 1960s. The numbers of Americans regularly attending worship services doubled during these years as many were convinced of the value of God and country in a world threatened by the evils of Communism. An example of a new perspective in the book was the impact of President Eisenhower’s speech in 1952 in New York City that “Our government makes no sense unless it is founded in a deeply religious faith.” (p. 24) It is in this context of political and religious conformity that Jimmy and many other youth in every state evolved into school rebels with D.A. haircuts and other modes of passive rebellion.
The suburbanization of America, the way people embraced automobiles, and the fascination of America’s youth with fads in music and other forms of popular culture support the argument that these were not times of unchallenged cultural conformity but rather questioning that would lead to revolutionary challenges in 1968 when Americans questioned the containment policies of the Cold War and the domino theory that spread fears of a collapse of capitalism and democracy.
“Jimmy claimed he was not interested in what others thought of him. He did not need their approval or guidance, but he was concerned with his image. A little vain, he spent a lot of time in front of the mirror combing his hair and practicing his smile. He saw Elvis as his ideal, sported a leather jacket, and popped its collar. He enjoyed rock and roll, and western or action films. Like so many Americans in the postwar decades, he was an ardent fan of John Wayne. Jimmy was willing to conform, but he craved independence. A driver’s license and a car allowed him to escape briefly the suburban sprawl. He bought an old green truck with a big engine and a heavy frame. It had a broken passenger door, smelled of gasoline, and had little in the way of chrome fittings. When he drove his sisters to school, he kept the windows up because he wanted people to believe the truck had air conditioning. Jimmy drove the truck like a hot-rod-hard and fast.” (p. 49)
The decade of the Sixties is complicated for students to understand because it includes poverty and affluence, the civil rights movement, the space race, nuclear proliferation and non-proliferation, changing roles for women, a revolution in communications, and conflicts in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It is also a complicated period for teachers to cover because they are faced with time constraints and deciding which resources are most appropriate for engaging students with inquiry, discussion, analysis, and the evaluation of theses relating to the causes and effects of America’s foreign policy decisions in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
A second profound perspective in Everyman in Vietnam is the explanation of the culture of the Vietnamese and their struggle for national unity since the 14th century. For example, in reading the chapter about the flawed agreements of the Geneva Conference, students might search for evidence on the multiple theses if the Vietnam War was an issue of independence from the Chinese, Japanese, or French; if the conflict was about the national unity of the diversity of cultures (Amman, Cochin, Tonkin); or the spread of communism and socialism in a country dominated by extreme poverty from three centuries of colonialism and capitalism.
The information presented by the authors on the dates of the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945; the proclamation of the recognition of the Viet Minh by the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949, and the surrender of the fortress at Dien Bien Phu on May 8, 1954 (9th anniversary of V-E Day) gave me a new perspective of Ho Chih Minh, the importance of his travels to London, Paris, and New York in the 1920s and 30s, and how these historic events are turning points in Vietnam’s history and struggle for national unity.
“Ho began his brief but stirring address (before a massive crowd in Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi on September 2, 1945, V-J Day) with a quotation from the American Declaration of Independence. Abbreviating what he termed an ‘immortal statement’ from that earlier call to armed resistance against colonial tyranny, he declared: ‘All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ Ho’s decision to begin the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence with the most resonant passage from the preamble to the American one can be seen as cruelly ironic in view of subsequent history. His choice of American precedents was almost certainly in recognition of the cooperation – and the deep, mutual respect it engendered – between Vietnamese guerrilla fighters and the American Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) in the final stages of the war against the Japanese.” (p. 12)
Within the next six months, Ho sent President Truman a telegram dated February 28, 1946 with references to the principles of both the Atlantic Charter (1941) and the San Francisco Charter (1945):
“ON BEHALF OF VIETNAM GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE I BEG TO INFORM YOU THAT IN COURSE OF CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN VIETNAM GOVERNMENT AND FRENCH REPRESENTATIVES THE LATTER REQUIRE THE SECESSION OF COCHINCHINA AND THE RETURN OF FRENCH TROOPS IN HANOI (STOP) MEANWHILE FRENCH POPULATION AND TROOPS ARE MAKING ACTIVE PREPARATION FOR A COUP DE MAIN IN HANOI AND FOR MILITARY AGGRESSION (STOP) I THEREFORE MOST EARNESTLY APPEAL TO YOU PERSONALLY AND TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO INTERFERE URGENTLY IN SUPPORT OF OUR INDEPENDENCE AND HELP MAKING THE NEGOTIATIONS MORE IN KEEPING WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ATLANTIC AND SAN FRANCISCO CHARTERS.” (Document, p. 13)
Although Secretary of State, George C. Marshall was critical of the French for their refusal to accept the realities of a postcolonial world after World War II, the economic importance of Indochina’s raw materials, rice exports, and rubber plantations, and opportunities for commercial development and investment shaped the fateful decision for ‘Crossing the Rubicon’ in the transformation of Vietnam into a future battleground that divided Americans.
The third perspective that influenced my inquiry as a reader of Everyman in Vietnam was the decision faced by students graduating high school to enlist or be drafted. I was a baby boomer and turned age 18 in the beginning of my third year of college (as a result of skipping a half year of kindergarten and seventh grade) and faced similar decisions until my Class IV deferment ended with college graduation. Just as high school students eagerly look for college acceptance letters in their mailbox or email Inbox today, many teenagers in the Sixties feared the announcement in the mail from the Selective Service Administration to report to their local draft board for a physical exam. There were choices for the young boys who graduated high school and were not enrolled in college. These included enlisting for four years with the hope of a placement in Europe, joining the Reserves or National Guard, applying for an exemption as a conscientious objector on religious beliefs, writing to one’s local congressman for preferential treatment, leaving the country, or applying for a medical deferment to avoid harm’s way.
The description provided in the personal letters of Jimmy Gilch to his best friend Gerry about his basic training at Fort Dix reveals the harsh reality of how the Army made boys into men. The experiences of basic training were not limited to the privacy of one’s family and as they were shared with others through conversation and visually illustrated on the nightly TV news, everyone understood how life in the military was different from the civilian life of rock concerts, beach weekends, drive-in movies, and ice cream sundaes at Dairy Queen!
“…I learned more about hand-to-hand combat today and boy can you really hurt a guy if you want too, but what the army is teaching is nothing to play around with, it doesn’t take much to hurt a person no matter what their size or weight, if you have good foot speed and fast moves it is hard to be beat, but the enemy is not just standing there singing. If you are slow when you come in contact with him [you’re dead]. but once you get him down you smash his head into the ground 7 or 8 times and give him the heel of your boot, then you decide how to finish dispose of him and that’s where I’m told the fun starts….” (p. 72)
In a letter to his mother at the end of his Advanced Infantry Training, Jimmy writes,
“Dear Mom,
…Too bad I did not know what I know now when I was home because I would have had more respect for both you and dad and the kid’s.(sic) I wish you made me study in school, and I wish you were a lot harder on me. Tell Georgie to leave the girls alone, he doesn’t know what it is like to be away. I’ve learned a lot that I would not otherwise have if I stayed in [Runnemede] all my life…thank god (sic) I found this out now while it is not too late. I would like to go back to school when I come out and make the family proud of me like I’m proud of dad and you and Georgie. I don’t see how dad kept the family like he does, I don’t blame him for being mad sometimes because he has a lot on his mind…and everything he tried to teach me I thought I knew, but I didn’t know anything. When I get out, I will really try my best to help instead of being a pain….” (p. 76)
The fourth fresh perspective in this book is in the analysis of the military strategies as a result of the information revealed in both the declassification of documents and the secondary sources of historians and authors over the past 50 years. The information about the tunnels, use of Armored Personnel Carriers, B-52s, helicopters, tanks, chemicals, and the nuclear option are informative and engage the reader in reflective thinking.
It is difficult for teachers and students to understand how our country won most of the battles in Vietnam but did not win the war. Michael Adas and Joseph Gilch provide an excellent analysis of America’s fragmented foreign policy in each presidential administration – Roosevelt (D), Truman (D), Eisenhower (R), Kennedy (D), Johnson (D), and Nixon (R). They also explain with strong documentation the frustration experienced by President Johnson regarding his agendas for civil rights and the Great Society with the escalating costs of the Vietnam War and the conflicting views of Clark Clifford (Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board), Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defense), and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Although in 1966 the ratio was two American soldiers to one Vietnamese guerrilla, this was considered inadequate.
President’s Johnson’s frustration is expressed in an off-color analogy that he made following his deliberations at a meeting in Aspen Lodge at Camp David in the summer of 1966:
“If I left the woman I really loved – the Great Society – in order to get involved with that…of a war on the other side of the world, then I would lose everything at home. All my programs; all my hopes to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless; all my dreams to provide education and medical care to the browns and the blacks and the lame and the poor. But if I left that war and let the Communists take over South Vietnam…there would follow in this country an endless national debate – a mean and destructive debate – that would shatter my Presidency, kill my administration, and damage our democracy.” (p.96)
There are lessons for teachers and students to contemplate on the human and economic costs of the war, the stories of refugees who came to the United States, the work of military chaplains, the resilience of the Vietnamese people, and the reconstruction of Saigon and Vietnam from war to a 21st century productive economy. Teachers and students may also compare the experience of our military withdrawal from Vietnam with decisions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Syria. The Epilogue in Everyman in Vietnam provides a concise analysis preparing students for an informed discussion on the lessons of Vietnam in the big picture of 20th century military conflicts involving the United States.
Jimmy Gilch died in combat in 1966 just a few weeks before he was to go on leave in Japan,
“On the night of July 20th, six days after the army terminated Operation Coco Palms, B Company was exhausted when they returned to Cu Chi. Nonetheless, it was again ordered back into the Filhol Rubber Plantation. Jimmy’s squad would head out the next morning….
The next morning B Company was ordered to start packing their APCs with C-4 explosives and antipersonnel mines….Jimmy and B Company left base camp at 0900, and entered the Filhol by late morning….they were hyper-alert as they continued into the Ho Bo Woods and around the village of Phu My Hung, which was a well-known, well-secured area that held two enemy hospitals, a fortified headquarters, and a training depot – all mostly underground. The Filhol area was notorious for hidden enemy entrenchments and snipers, who climbed high into the trees and hid in the foliage. The GIs in B Company expected to be ambushed, so they breathed a sigh of relief as the APCs maneuvered past ground that had claimed many of their friends.
But on the return trip, guerrilla forces ambushed B Company in the same place where earlier that afternoon they had dismounted their APCs and demolished an enemy entrenchment. The ambush began with small weapons fire from the earthworks one hundred meters away. An ammo box inside Lieutenant Jagosz’s APC was struck and exploded. Jagosz was knocked unconscious and pinned to the floor by falling ammo boxes. His driver was hit in the face by shrapnel and slumped over the gears, sending the track into reverse.
The VC had placed command-detonated mines all around the area. They also hung recycled US howitzer shells from low-lying tree branches, which they shot down on the approaching Americans….In an effort to flank the enemy, Jimmy and his third squad mates took it upon themselves to move their APC around the enemy trench line to support the units that were pinned down under fire. They were hoping their flanking maneuver would disrupt the enemy’s ambush long enough for A Company to arrive and repel the guerrilla’s assault. As their track moved across the trench, it was hit by a command-detonated mine. The blast set off several pounds of explosives stored in the overhead compartments. The hood covering their engine, weighing several tons, flew at supersonic speed through the air. The only thing left of the APC was the floorboard and the driver’s steering sticks. All seven soldiers aboard were killed instantly.” (Excerpts from pp. 189-191)
The book, Everyman in Vietnam by Michael Adas and Joseph Gilch, has information and insights for everyone
Holocaust Education in a Polarized Society: Importance and Resources
Brandon Haas, Plymouth State University
Hate is coming back to people who should know better. That hate is a killer that makes people deaf and blind. -Rena Finder, Holocaust Survivor, 2018
Recent events in Charlottesville and related to immigration illustrate the divided climate in the United States, an issue that has garnered increased attention amidst the growing demonstrations emanating from the alt-right since the 2016 election. McAvoy (2016) suggests that social studies educators have an opportunity to engage with the issues of polarization for the greater good. These same events have also led to the re-emergence of the Holocaust in peoples’ stream of consciousness. Unfortunately, it is in a way that trivializes the devastation faced by millions under the Nazi regime. The constant site of Nazi flags in the media, without thoughtful discussion or analysis, normalizes the symbols of hatred in America.
McAvoy (2016) points out that this divided social and political climate is the “only political context that today’s middle and high school students have ever known” (p.31), suggesting the uphill battle for social studies educators. Salinas (2016) discusses the difficulty in conceptualizing how to “prepare an enlightened and participatory citizenry” (vii) in our work, something that many of us struggle with in the face of the media’s constant portrayal of a society wrestling with their values and identity. In response, we must stop to evaluate our pedagogical approach and rationale for difficult, yet pertinent, topics such as the Holocaust. Students today have unprecedented access to information, thereby establishing the need to infuse Noddings’ (1984) framework of care in order to further allow them to become moral philosophers. Barton and Levstik (2004) suggest that in order to have meaningful conversations regarding the historical events, students must care about them from the perspectives of those involved. Care that serves as the “mechanism for rendering history meaningful,” and “by which students…make personal connections to history” (Barton and Levstik, 2004,p. 241) thereby making connections to the affective elements.
Emphasis in Holocaust education today should focus on learning the history, while simultaneously providing for an analysis of larger issues of human behavior, choice, stereotyping, bullying, and prejudice (Haas, 2015). As students and teachers use history as a foundation for case studies on the present, students will grow in ways that meet the needs of the 21st century citizen. They will engage in controversial discussions, which Hahn (2001) points out as one of the most effective means of engaging students in the social studies, ultimately providing them with real-world opportunities for evidence-based learning and discussion. Investigating this material in the safety of a classroom community allows students to cultivate their understanding of the world and, in turn, transfer their learning about stereotyping, violence, and injustice associated with the Holocaust to a timely study of #BlackLivesMatter, Charlottesville, immigration and Standing Rock, among many other topics. Students would consequently consider actions they might pursue through civic engagement on varying levels and the role of emotion in these decisions.
We are living in dangerous times. Aviv Ovadya, chief technologist for the University of Michigan’s Center for Social Media Responsibility and a Knight News Innovation Fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia, who predicted the 2016 “fake news” crisis, contends that we are swiftly moving towards a time when “reality apathy” could become its own crisis (Warzel, 2018), suggesting that a result of the continued attack on accurate information is that the public may become less concerned about truth. Ovadya questions the consequences of information manipulation, “What happens when anyone can make it appear as if anything has happened, regardless of whether or not it did” (Warzel, 2018)? Further, a lethargic approach to the truth may jeopardize the effectiveness of democratic governance and engaged citizenship.
Empathy and moral values are central to the the maintenance of civil society. The study of history opens the door to questioning and behavior that can develop these skills more fully. The Holocaust, for example, “provides one of the most effective subjects for examination of basic moral issues” (Parsons & Totten, 1993). If the “fake news” problem successfully erodes peoples’ demand for truth, then the foundations of what we understand, and can teach students, about the conditions that allowed the Holocaust to occur will deteriorate. The normalization of hatred and bigotry, such as what is occurring in the United States under the Trump administration, leads to a lack of understanding about the roles of government and individual choice in allowing events such as the Holocaust to occur.
In 2012, the Hungarian government unveiled its new constitution that deflects any complicity for the Holocaust away from the Hungarian people. More recently, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed legislation outlawing the linking of Poland to any responsibility for the Holocaust. Karen Murphy (2018), the Director of International Strategy for Facing History and Ourselves points out that this legislation outlaws the long-accepted term “Polish death camps,” as well as punishes anyone who suggests Polish complicity in the Holocaust (Murphy, 2018). Murphy (2018) argues that “using law and punishment to manipulate historical narratives raises troubling questions about how we remember the past”(np). Outlawing the acknowledgement of complicity in the Holocaust, in the country that was home to all six Death Camps, shifts the narrative towards Holocaust denial. The result in this disturbing trend necessitates a fresh look at the teaching of the Holocaust.
The history of Holocaust education is rooted in identity and history, but the need for drawing connections to students’ lives and society today is of growing importance due to recent events in which Nazi insignia and beliefs are often on display. Davies (2000) points out that “teachers rightly do not want to see the Holocaust only in intellectual or academic terms, and yet emotion is in itself not enough. There has to be a clear rational thought as well as an emotional response” (p. 5).
Totten and Feinberg (1995) describe the concern and provide advice for educators to consider prior to beginning a unit of study on the Holocaust. It is vital that the teacher closely analyze their rationale and resources. It is no question that one can never fully comprehend the horror that victims were put through, teachers should inspire students to “avoid simplistic explanations,” use “powerful opening and closing lessons,’ choose “appropriate sources of information,” and “personalize the Holocaust” (Totten & Feinberg, 1995). In addition, educators must strive to avoid the pitfalls such as the over-use of graphic imagery or using simulations for students to “experience” the Holocaust (Totten & Feinberg, 1995).
As the world continues down its violent and apathetic path, the importance of sound pedagogy about the Holocaust remains important as ever. Students remain interested in the complexity of the topic, yielding deeper engagement with the cognitive and affective elements of studying the Holocaust (Haas, 2015). Cowan and Maitles (2016) stress that “the Holocaust has dark connotations, and this alone explains why teachers who are not required to teach it will never engage in Holocaust education” (p.13). One of the difficulties is having an understanding of what resources and pedagogy to integrate into a responsible approach to teaching about the Holocaust, especially for teachers who are not steeped in the content of the Holocaust. This becomes more pressing with the recent surge of white nationalism and other events worldwide. Students see relevance in studying the Holocaust as events such as the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville are peppered with Nazi insignia. With varying approaches to Holocaust education, there is no single, stand-alone resource that encompasses all of the important elements of responsible Holocaust education. The following three resources provide sound pedagogy and opportunity for personalizing student learning, inquiry, and relevance. Echoes and Reflections as well as IWitness utilize testimony as a central element of the learning activities. The use of testimony provides human voice for otherwise abstract content and engages the students on an affective level and inspires them to take informed action (Haas 2015), one of the tenets of the NCSS C3 Framework. While each can be used by itself, the true potential comes in integrating all three into your unit of study. Most importantly, they bring in more nuanced elements that personalize learning for students and provide voice to the experience of those who suffered through this history, rather than learning about the Holocaust in abstract terms such as six million.
Facing History and Ourselves seeks to enlighten students about hatred and bigotry so that students can effect change in the future. The Facing History scope and sequence is a framework that begins with the role of identity and choice as a starting point to discuss how events such as the Holocaust unfold, continues with the historical context, legacy, and comes to fruition with a look at how students choose to participate in their communities. Facing History seeks to engage students in inquiry that is integrates academic rigor, ethical reflection, and emotional engagement (Facing History, 2018). At its foundational level, the investigation of identity provides a lens through which students can make relevant connections to content across disciplines. The recently revised flagship resource, Holocaust and Human Behavior, provides ample historical context and progression in order to provide examples of the complicated history, while giving voice to individual action. For example, students “examine choices Germans made in the 1920s and 1930s” (facinghistory.org) in their inquiry into the fragile nature of the Weimar Republic and then consider the reasons for the Nazis’ ascent to power. It is this element of choice that helps students come to the understanding that the Holocaust was not inevitable, but a human consequence. A study of the Weimar Republic provides students with depth as to the causes of the Holocaust and the rise of the Nazi party. Structured inquiry into Weimar Germany provides an avenue for students to make connections between issues that are bubbling below the surface, as well as those that are highly evident to the public, then and now. The Facing History scope and sequence actualizes care as discussed by Barton and Levstik (2004) Students begin to “care about” the people and content of the past, as well as “care that” these events occurred (p.241). As students progress to the Choosing to Participate stage in the scope and sequence, they demonstrate that they “care to” take action against issues of hatred and bigotry in their communities, local and global, and have the necessary tools to understand that one person can make a difference. The idea of students as change-agents empowers them as active citizens.
Facing History goes beyond the Holocaust with resources that address periods in United States History, teaching of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, and necessary skills such as Fostering Civil Discourse. One of the greatest aspects of Facing History is that once you complete one of their professional development courses and become a Facing History Teacher, you have a direct line to continued support. Facing History Program Associates assist teachers in planning units and finding resources as part of an ongoing relationship. They offer continuous professional development webinars and courses, both online and face-to-face, that fit teachers’ schedules.
Echoes and Reflections is the collaborative culmination of the expertise of the Anti-Defamation League, the USC Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem. Echoes and Reflections provides a curated set of primary and secondary resources in ten lessons developed to give teachers a ready-to-go, interdisciplinary resource to teach about the Holocaust. It is a masterful blend of the expertise of the three organizations. While the depth and breadth of the resources are central for an effective and responsible study of the Holocaust, it is the curated clips of testimony from the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive that seamlessly integrate into each lesson that makes this resource stand out. Incorporating testimony into lessons with other rich resources provides human voice and, therefore, a unique opportunity for students to connect with a person who experienced this tragedy first-hand. This is a powerful learning experience because students can often demonstrate apathy to documents alone and graphic photos of the Holocaust do little to add value to students’ learning. Testimony, however, provides a person that students can connect with through their story, body language, and raw emotion as they share their experience.
In light of events since the 2016 election, Echoes and Reflections has released an eleventh lesson that focuses on Contemporary Antisemitism. This lesson encourages students to recognize that antisemitism did not end with the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel addresses the difficult reality of this continuing trend in saying, “Once I thought that antisemitism had ended; today it is clear to me that it probably never will” (Wiesel quoted in Echoes and Reflections, 2018). This quote and lesson uses resources that allow students to make connections between the Holocaust and contemporary events, further demonstrating the relevance of learning about the Holocaust.
In the lesson, Perpetrators, Collaborators, and Bystanders, students are confronted with the complexity of complicity. This lesson begins with students considering the meaning of the terms “guilt” and “responsibility” before engaging in inquiry to apply these terms to the Holocaust. Jan Karski, a survivor and resistance fighter who later became a professor at Georgetown University (Echoes and Reflections, 2018), discusses his memory of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his testimony. Students must do a close-read of Karski’s testimony clip as they consider his opinion of the President’s response to his question about what to tell the Polish people, demonstrating the importance of testimony as a primary source.
Students progress to a brief overview of the railroad system’s role in the Final Solution in order to provide context for the primary document analysis that follows. Students will analyze “Salitter’s Report,” a report from Hauptmann Salitter, an officer in charge of a transport of Jewish prisoners from Dusseldorf to Riga. Students work in small groups to analyze the document, with the knowledge that men were not forced to take jobs such as Salitter’s, which were considered prestigious. They are asked to analyze the tone and language of the report to draw conclusions regarding Salitter’s attitude towards his role, the possible reasons for some of the actions detailed in the report, such as placing children with their mothers, and to consider Salitter’s role in the murder of the train passengers in the camps.
Students’ next step is to draw up a list of people listed in the report and use a 1-4 scale to determine their level of responsibility for what happened to the Jews. This leads to small and large group discussion regarding guilt and responsibility, as well as the how and why people may have cooperated with the Nazi’s process of mass murder.
Echoes and Reflections offers professional development on teaching about the Holocaust and the use of testimony with different offerings. They are free, face-to-face workshops, webinars, and a self-paced online class. Once trained, teachers become more comfortable with integrating the resources and the effective use of testimony, which is applicable across content areas.
IWitness is a web resource developed by the USC Shoah Foundation-the Institute for Visual History and Education and designed for classroom implementation ranging from upper elementary grades through higher education. It is an educational medium that allows students to learn through testimony in student-directed inquiry. Haas, Berson, and Berson (2015) point out that “Students and teachers may search, watch, and interact with testimonies to construct multimedia projects in a secure, password-protected space” (p.107) as well as being accessible in single-computer classrooms. The technology makes use of the institute’s Visual History Archive that contains the testimonies of approximately 55,000 Holocaust survivors and witnesses, as well as witnesses and survivors of the genocide in Rwanda, Armenia, and the Nanjing Massacre. It is important to teach about genocide beyond the Holocaust in order to make students realize that there is not one form it takes and to demonstrate that it is a problem that plagues the world. The collection of testimonies beyond the Holocaust further Totten’s (2001) argument that making other genocides part of the null curriculum is problematic.
IWitness provides a framework and space for students to develop questions and construct their own digital essays on a variety of topics. The library contains over 200 pre-built activities range that from 30-minutes to multi-day, all of which focus on information literacy, inquiry, and using evidence as support. Further, teachers can design or revise existing activities in order to meet the needs of your students. A recent initiative, entitled “Inspiring Respect” empowers students and teachers to be positive agents of change (USC Shoah Foundation, 2018). Some themes represented include: “Standing up to Indifference; Courage, Resilience, and Civic Responsibility, Countering Hatred, Intolerance, and Violent Extremism,” among others (USC Shoah Foundation, 2018). These themes demonstrate the applicable nature of studying the Holocaust as a means of promoting relevance to students’ lives and the importance of being an active citizen.
An activity entitled “Immigrants and the American Dream” is part of the Inspiring Respect initiative and, like all of the activities within this set, is especially timely given the current practice of targeting and separating immigrant families. This activity asks students to consider what they believe to be the “American Dream”. Students proceed through an inquiry into clips of testimony that discuss reasons for emigrating to America. Testimony clips come from survivors and of the Holocaust during World War II, a Tutsi survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, a survivor of the 1915 Armenian genocide, a survivor of the Cambodian genocide that ended in 1979, as well as someone who acted as a rescuer during the Holocaust. Within the activity, students reflect on one story that most resonates with them and make connections to their idea of the American dream before engaging with the work of their peers.
Like the other resources mentioned, IWitness offers professional development to strengthen educator understanding of testimony-based education. They offer regular webinars on various aspects of using testimony to deepen student learning. Teachers can create an account and add their students into a class so that they can monitor progress and provide feedback in a secure digital environment.
Conclusion
Each of the resources described above offer myriad opportunities for an in-depth study of the Holocaust. A strong unit could be constructed using elements from each and could fit most unit lengths. Just as the study of the Holocaust requires time to process and reflect, teachers need to give themselves time to explore these resources and to determine what their desired learning outcomes are.
We live in a time that will one day be reflected in history as a time of deep-seated division. Therefore, teachers should approach their study of history in order to facilitate meaningful learning opportunities for students to make connections between the past and present. As previously noted, the Holocaust has often been a topic that provides opportunity associate the underlying causes of the Holocaust and basic moral values (Parsons and Totten, 1993) and the need for these affiliations has become imperative in a society with an admitted Holocaust denier running for Congress in Illinois as a primary candidate for one of the major parties during the 2018 election. This disgraceful level of public acceptance is reminiscent of the period in which the Nazi regime strived to normalize their policies of hatred. Bergen (2016) discusses the period, beginning in 1934, when the Nazis sought “routinization…by passing laws to make measures look respectable” (p.90), mirroring the recent use of the legal system and ICE to separate families of immigrants. It is essential for teachers to gain an understanding of the history and the available classroom resources . Cowan and Maitles (2017) argue that “by applying an open and engaging attitude to Holocaust Education, the next generation of politicians and government officials will be better equipped than their predecessors to address topics of prejudice and genocide (p. 3).
References
Barton, K. C., & Levstik, L. S. (2004). Teaching history for the common good. Mawah, NJ: Routledge.
Cowan, P., & Maitles, H. (2016). Understanding and Teaching Holocaust Education. SAGE.
Davies, I. (2000). Teaching the Holocaust. New York, NY: Continuum.
Echoes and Reflections. (2005). Echoes and reflections: Leaders in Holocaust education. New York, NY: Anti-Defamation League
Facing History and Ourselves. (2011). Holocaust and Human History. Boston, MA: Facing History and Ourselves.
Friedlander, H. (1979). Toward a methodology of teaching about the Holocaust. Teachers College Record, 80(3), 519-542.
Haas, B. J. (2015). IWitness and Student Empathy: Perspectives from USC Shoah Foundation Master Teachers. (unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.
Haas, B.J., Berson, M. J., & Berson, I. R. (2015). Constructing Meaning with Digital Testimony. Social Education, 79(2), 106-109.
Hahn, C. L. (2001). Democratic understanding: Cross-national perspectives. Theory into Practice, 40(1), 14-22.
McAvoy, P. (2016). Preparing Young Adults for Polarized America. Teaching Social Studies in an Era of Divisiveness: The Challenges of Discussing Social Issues in a Non-Partisan Way. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield.
Murphy, K. (2018). Poland’s Holocaust law is a threat to Democracy: Here’s why. Retrieved
Salinas, C. (2016). Foreword. Teaching Social Studies in an Era of Divisiveness: The Challenges of Discussing Social Issues in a Non-Partisan Way. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield.
Totten, S. & Fienberg, S., (1995). Teaching about the Holocaust: Rationale, content, methodology, and resources. Social Education, 59 (6), 323-333.
Totten, S. (2001). Addressing the “null curriculum”: Teaching about genocides other than the Holocaust. Social Education, 65 (5), 309-313.
VanSickle, R. (1990). The personal relevance of the social studies. Social Education, 54(1), 23-27.
Warzel, C. (2018). He predicted the 2016 fake news crisis: Now he’s worried about an information apocalypse. Retrieved from https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel
Peter Olson, California State Polytechnic University—Pomona
In 2011, California passed the FAIR Education Act which requires “instruction in social sciences to include a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans… to the development of California and the United States” (FAIR Education Act of 2011). Many teachers across the country would like to expand their curriculum to include Lesbian, Gay and Transgender people. Fortunately, and possibly in response to the California legislation, there appears to have been in the past few years a noticeable increase in the publication of quality books for children that focus on the LGBT experience.
Many researchers have explored children’s literature that contain characters that are Lesbian, Gay, or Transgender. Wickens (2011) found that there has been a “progressive inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ) characters [in young adult literature], highlighting some of the sociocultural shifts toward acceptance of LGBTQ individuals” (p. 149). Naidoo (2017) examined LGBT books written for younger children and advocated for their inclusion in the elementary grades. Cruz and Bailey (2017) argued the importance of an LGBT-inclusive curriculum: “Diversity in sexual orientation [and other personal attributes] are a part of the human experience…and because our students will necessarily be citizens in a diverse society, these topics deserve a place in the social studies curriculum” (p. 297). In this article, I attempt to build on the work of these researchers. I will analyze ten recently published books—each released in the past four years—that can be used by classroom teachers to discuss the roles and contributions of LGBT people in our society.
Family diversity
The topic of family diversity is an important concept in early grades. Decades ago children’s books about families rarely depicted LGBT individuals. However, it is estimated that almost 6 million children and young adults have a parent or caregiver who identifies as LGBT (Naidoo, 2017). “With shifting demographics in the U.S. that include more children and families from diverse background, it is incumbent upon educators to create inclusive curricular experiences that take into account various forms of diversity, including children or caregivers who identify as LGBTQ” (Naidoo, 2017, p. 308). Recently, many books are depicting families with LGBT parents and relatives. Each of the books in this section would be appropriate for elementary grade teachers to use when discussing families.
An excellent book for young children that explores family diversity is Families, Families, Families! (Lang & Lang, 2015). This book shows humorous pictures of personified animals in different family configurations. The book contains sixteen pictures of families with different attributes, such as children who live with their Mom, their Dad, their Mom and Dad, their grandparents, their two Moms, or their two Dads. On one page, two roosters wearing neckties are standing with their three little chicks. The caption reads, “Some children have two dads” (p. 6). A few pages later, an illustration of a family of koalas contains the caption, “Some children have two mothers” (p. 13). The book ends with a grand picture of all of the characters and declares that all families have love. One positive aspect of this book in comparison with other books about family diversity is that it does not directly contrast children with same-sex parents from children with opposite-sex parents. Having two Moms or two Dads are just two out of many features that can occur in a family.
While books about family diversity are useful, these books often provide only a snapshot of different types of families. Therefore, books that focus on one LGBT family (even if fictitious) can provide a more in depth look into the experiences of these families. Stella Brings the Family (Schiffer & Clifton-Brown, 2015) is about a young girl named Stella who lives with her two fathers. When her classmates find out that Stella has two dads, one classmate asks Stella who makes lunch for her since she does not live with a mom. Other classmates ask Stella who reads her a bedtime story or kisses her when she gets hurt. Stella confidently states that her dads do these things for her. Stella’s classmates have the misconception that since their mothers perform these nurturing tasks, then only mothers are capable of providing this assistance. This book can be helpful for students to better understand families with same-sex parents. Furthermore, this story could start a rich conversation about the variety of parenting styles in all types of families as many children with opposite-sex parents may have fathers who are caring and nurturing or mothers who are strong and protective.
Possibly in response to the legal victories and increased public support for marriage equality in the past decade, several recent children’s books highlight the marriages of same-sex couples. In The Flower Girl Wore Celery (Gordon & Clifton-Brown, 2016), a young girl named Emma is asked to be the flower girl in her cousin’s wedding. Emma does not know what a flower girl is, and she imagines herself in a large flower costume. She is also told that there will be a ring bearer, and she imagines an actual bear holding two rings. Emma is also told that her cousin Hannah will be marrying Alex, and Emma is later surprised to find out that Alex is a woman. At the wedding Emma asks Hannah, “Does this mean that there are two brides?” (p. 17). Her cousin says yes, and Emma—seemingly unfazed—starts to play with the ring bearer. The rest of the story depicts the wedding, which includes several Jewish traditions such as the couple standing under the wedding canopy and stomping on wine glasses.
Another story highlighting the marriage of same-sex couple is Willow and the Wedding (Brennan-Nelson & Moore, 2017). This story begins by showing the close relationship of the main character, Willow, and her Uncle Ash. Willow and Ash like many of the same things—going to the park, playing with dogs, and eating donuts. But, there is one thing that Willow loves to do that Ash does not like to do—dance. Partway through the story, Uncle Ash and his partner David announce to the family that they are getting married. Everyone is excited. Plus, they ask Willow to be the flower girl, which gives her great joy. But, Willow has an additional plan. She wants her uncle to dance at his wedding. So, she takes him to her dance class and convinces him to try dancing. At the wedding Uncle Ash surprises everyone when he and David start dancing. The book ends with all the wedding guests dancing and having a great time. This book is an example of LGBT children’s books in which there is no conflict or tension about the characters being Lesbian, Gay or Transgender. Every character in this story is happy that the couple are getting married. The conflict simply revolves around whether Willow can successfully convince her uncle to dance at his wedding.
Biographies about LGBT individuals can also enrich a curriculum about diverse families. Students can benefits from reading about real-life individuals and their partners, spouses and families. Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America’s Pioneering Woman in Space (O’Shaughnessy, 2015) is a detailed biography of American astronaut Sally Ride. The book, which is appropriate for upper elementary grades, explores Sally’s career as a scientist and astronaut. Furthermore, it provides an in depth look at her personal life from childhood to her death. The book is written by Sally’s life partner Tam O’Shaughnessy. Although they knew each other since they were teenagers, the author recalls a key moment about twenty years later: “When I looked back at Sally…my heart skipped a beat. She was in love with me—and I was in love with her” (p. 121). The book also states, “Fortunately, much of the fear that Sally felt about being gay was gone. Society was changing…. Sally was changing, too. She was becoming more accepting of herself” (p. 121). Another book that delves briefly into the personal life of a famous LGBT individual is U.S. Women’s Team: Soccer Champions! (Jokulsson, 2015). This book reveals the history of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team from its World Cup Championship in 1991 to its Gold Medal at the 2012 Olympics. It contains many photographs and short biographies of players, including star forward Abby Wambach. Wambach’s bio details her prolific goal scoring and her selection as World Player of the Year in 2012. In addition, it includes a picture of Wambach with her wife, Sarah Huffman, and identifies Huffman as her wife in the caption of the picture.
Gender expression
Some recent children’s books explore the issue of gender expression. Often, society pushes boys to act a certain way and girls to act a different way. Wickens (2011) states, “Having learned cultural and social mores regarding [gender], individuals perform in that manner, e.g., girls playing with dolls and boys playing with footballs, because that is what they learn is appropriate for their gender” (p. 150). The following books show examples of children expressing themselves in ways that may be different from how other people in society express gender.
In Jacob’s New Dress (Hoffman, Hoffman, & Chase, 2014), the main character, Jacob, likes to wear dresses. At school, he frequently takes a dress from his classroom’s dress-up center and puts it on over his “boy clothes.” His teacher is supportive of students wearing whatever they like regardless of their gender. Jacob also likes wearing dresses at home, and his parents are supportive of him wearing dresses in the house. One day, Jacob asks his mother if he can wear one of his dresses as his main outfit to school. His mother says that he cannot because those dresses are only for dress-up at home. Jacob asks if they can get him a school dress, and she does not have an answer. The next day, Jacob asks his mother again if they can get him a school dress, and she remains silent. “The longer she didn’t answer, the less Jacob could breathe” (p. 18). Finally, Jacob’s mother agrees to make him a new dress which he wears to school the next day. Jacob shows his class his new dress during sharing time. His classmates all have pleasant faces, except for one student who scowls and shouts, “Why does Jacob wear dresses?” The teacher replies, “I think Jacob wears what he’s comfortable in. Just like you do” (p. 26). In addition to addressing the issue of gender expression, this book shows interesting character development as Jacob’s mother at first is hesitant to let Jacob wear a dress to school but later supports him. Teachers and students can discuss why Jacob’s mother was reticent to let Jacob wear a dress to school even though she was supportive of him wearing dresses at home.
Annie’s Plaid Shirt (Davids & Balsaitis, 2015) has a similar theme as Jacob’s New Dress, but in this book the main character is a girl, Annie, who hates wearing dresses. The tension of the story starts when Annie’s mother tells her that they will need to go shopping to get clothes to wear for their uncle’s wedding. According to their mother, they are going to buy a new suit for her brother and a nice dress for Annie. Annie grudgingly goes to the store with her family, tries on several dresses, and hates each one. After the family arrives home with a new dress for Annie and a new suit for her brother, Annie angrily runs into her room and lies face down on her bed, clearly distraught. Her mother is concerned, but does not know what to do. On the morning of the wedding, Annie has an idea. She puts on her brother’s old suit with her favorite plaid shirt underneath. Her mother looks overjoyed, and says that it looks perfect. In addition to her choice in clothing, Annie displays other behaviors—such as swinging a bat and riding a skateboard—that are implied to be typical boy behaviors. The illustrations show some of her classmates with confused or disapproving looks in reaction to Annie’s behavior. Teachers and students could delve into how society often pressures girls to behave in a certain way which can inhibit them from acting athletically and assertively.
It is important that teachers expose students to some books in which a character’s nonconformist gender expression does not elicit a negative reaction from family members. An example of a completely supportive family is in One of a Kind, Like Me / Unico Como Yo (Mayeno & Liu-Trujillo, 2016). This story, with text in English and Spanish, is about a young boy named Danny who wants to wear a princess costume for his school’s costume parade. When Danny tells his family his costume choice, each member of Danny’s family is supportive of his desire. His younger sister immediately exclaims, “Oooh, princesa” (p. 6). His mother replies, “Okay. Let’s go find your princess dress” (p. 6). Even his grandfather gives Danny a warm wink and adds, “Try Nifty Thrifty. They have everything” (p. 6). The conflict and tension in the story surrounds the challenge for Danny and his mother to find a purple dress for the outfit. At the thrift store, they find several items which are purple—a robe, necktie and shower curtain—but no purple dress. Then, Danny comes up with the idea to create a purple princess dress with these items. It is important that students understand that many parents, relatives, teachers, and friends may react in a positive way toward their nonconformist expressions of gender. Also, these portrayals can serve as models for how children can act towards their classmates or siblings who display nonconformist expression.
Elle of the Ball (Delle Donne, 2018) is a young adult novel written by Olympic Gold Medalist Elena Delle Donne. In the acknowledgements section at the beginning of the book, the first person that the author thanks is “Amanda, my wife and best friend” (p. vii). The book is about a very tall twelve-year-old girl who loves playing basketball. Much of the book focuses on the athletic adventures of Elle and her middle school basketball team. But, the book also delves into Elle’s discomfort with certain gender norms. One of these issues arises around the Formal Dance Cotillion at her school. The cotillion is mandatory for the students. Furthermore, the required attire is gender specific—suits for boys, formal dresses for girls. Elle, who never wears dresses, expresses to her parents that she would rather wear a suit. Her mother does not agree to this suggestion and requires Elle to go shopping with her. When Elle complains, her mother replies, “Honestly, what twelve-year-old girl doesn’t want to go on a shopping spree?” In her head Elle thinks, “This twelve-year-old girl….” (p. 26). The story also explores Elle’s emotions when she is asked to dance with one of her female classmates during a dance practice session a few days before the cotillion. Elle and Amanda are paired together because their male partners are sick that day. Elle finds that she enjoys dancing with Amanda more than she had with any of the boys. For the first time she starts to look forward to the cotillion. Although she did not get to dance with Amanda at this cotillion, her mother tells Elle after the dance that she had spoken with the principal about some of Elle’s concerns. At future cotillions the school will not require girls to wear dresses, and they are considering allowing students to dance with any student regardless of gender.
Since many Lesbian, Gay and Transgender adults—such as author Elena Delle Donne—have noted that they displayed gender expansive behavior as children, gender expression is an important issue for many in the LGBT community. However, as mentioned by authors Sarah and Ian Hoffman (2014), children who show gender nonconformity do not always grow up to be Lesbian, Gay or Transgender. When discussing story characters who exhibit gender expansiveness, teachers should guide the conversations in a way that keeps open the possibility that any child might relate to these characters. Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Heterosexual individuals should feel free to identify with any aspect of these characters that ring true to themselves.
Conclusion
The ability to identify with a book is one of the most satisfying aspects of reading. As Tunnell and Jacobs (2008) state, “Almost all readers want to find an occasional title that reflects and confirms their lives” (p. 129). I hope with the help of this article, teachers can find some LGBT books that will be useful in their classrooms.
References:
Brennan-Nelson, D., & Moore, C. (2017). Willow and the Wedding. Ann Arbor, MI: Sleeping Bear Press
Cruz, B. C. & Bailey, R. W. (2017). An LGBTQ+ inclusive social studies: Curricular and instructional considerations. Social Education, 81(5), 296–302
Davids, S. B., & Balsaitis, R. (2015). Annie’s Plaid Shirt. North Miami Beach, FL: Upswing Press
Delle Donne, E. (2018) Elle of the Ball. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
FAIR Education Act, California Senate Bill 48, Chapter 81 (Cal. Stat. 2011)
Gordon, M. G., & Clifton-Brown, H. (2016). The Flower Girl Wore Celery. Minneapolis, MN: Kar-Ben Publishing
Hoffman, S., Hoffman, I., & Chase, C. (2014). Jacob’s New Dress. Chicago, IL: Albert Whitman & Company
Jokulsson, I. (2015). U.S. Women’s Team: Soccer Champions! New York, NY: Abbeville Press Publishers
Lang. S., & Lang, M. (2015) Families, Families, Families! New York, NY: Random House Children’s Books
Mayeno, L., & Liu-Trujillo, R. (2016) One of a Kind Like Me/ Único como yo. Oakland, CA: Blood Orange Press
Naidoo, J. C. (2017). Welcoming rainbow families in the classroom: Suggestions and recommendations for including LGBTQ children’s books in the curricula. Social Education 81(5), 308–315.
O’Shaughnessy, T. (2015). Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America’s Pioneering Woman in Space. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press
Schiffer, M. B., & Clifton-Brown, H. (2015). Stella Brings the Family. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books
Tunnell, M. O., & Jacobs, J. S. (2008). Children’s Literature, Briefly. (4th ed.). Boston: Merrill Prentice Hall
Wickens, C. M. (2011). Codes, silences, and homophobia: Challenging normative assumptions about gender and sexuality in contemporary LGBTQ young adult literature. Children’s Literature in Education, 42, 148–164
Shake, Rattle, and Roll—and #NeverAgain: Student Activists in 1963 and Today
Lisa K. Pennington, Governors State University
In March 2018, students across the United States participated in a walkout and March for our Lives to show their support for gun control reform. In the weeks leading up to the walkout and marches, outspoken student activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, became well known as they developed a platform for gun control reform and started the #NeverAgain movement, after 17 of their peers and teachers were killed in a mass shooting on February 14, 2018 (Gans, 2018). The Stoneman activists, as well as the students around the country who have joined the movement, are an indication of what a formidable power young people can be when they mobilize. They can also organize and mobilize themselves quickly. The March for our Lives occurred only five weeks after the Parkland shooting. During that time, activists such as Emma Gonzalez, Cameron Kasky, and David Hogg focused their social media presence on gun control, developed a mission statement with specific gun control goals, organized the March, questioned legislators, and gave countless interviews and speeches. While it remains to be seen what influence these students have on government officials and whether the movement will result in any discernible gun control reform, these students are engaged, knowledgeable, and demand to be taken seriously.
The comments section of any news story about the Stoneman activists or the walkout reveals those who believe that students should not be involved in politics or protest. However, history indicates the opposite is true. Students have played a key role in multiple social movements in the United States such as the Greensboro sit-ins in 1960 and elsewhere in the world such as the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989 (Astor, 2018; Kaiser, 2015). Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow #NeverAgain widespread visibility, and traditional media outlets have also focused a great deal on the movement. Historically however, the participation of students in social movements was not always widely known and even today the fact that students have played a role in the Black Lives Matter movement, or that students in Chicago are protesting against gun violence and the closure of schools is less well known (Martin & Corley, 2018). A noticeable difference between #NeverAgain and previous student led movements is the age range of those involved. Historically, such movements have been organized and carried out by college students. #NeverAgain however was organized and is driven by high school activists, and middle and elementary aged students joined the walkouts and marches. The age range of students involved in #NeverAgain brings to mind the Civil Rights Movement and the Birmingham Children’s March of 1963, in which middle and high school students, and one elementary aged student protested against segregation.
While these contemporary movements will hopefully inspire today’s youth to become politically active, showing students this is not a unique phenomenon and that children have often played a role in social movements which resulted in change may be beneficial. Research shows that students need to become interested in civic engagement before they reach age nine (The Civic Mission of Schools, 2003). If not, students are less likely to become civically active adults. Today, youth (ages 18-29) have consistently low turnouts in elections, particularly mid-term elections (The Center of Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, 2018). Seeking to encourage higher turnout among youth, during the March for Our Lives volunteers and activists focused on registering young people to vote, and millions of teens will be of voting age prior to the November 2018 mid-term elections (The Center of Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, 2018). However, while many students participating in the walkouts and marches were high school age, some middle and even elementary students took part (Shear, 2018).
In order promote interest among elementary students, sharing the story of the Birmingham Children’s March and making connections to contemporary student led movements like #NeverAgain could “hook” them on civic engagement and demonstrate how they too can make their voice heard. The following lesson covers several NCSS themes, including theme 2 (time, continuity, and change), theme 5 (individuals, groups, and institutions), theme 6 (power, authority, and governance), and theme 10 (civic ideals and practices) and is designed to introduce the role children played during the Civil Rights Movement to elementary students by discussing the Birmingham Children’s March.
Lesson outline
The lesson itself introduces the Birmingham Children’s March through the use of a children’s book entitled The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, A Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson. Students then examine primary source photos from the Children’s March to delve more deeply into the topic and practice historical thinking skills as described by Barton (2001).
As a warm-up activity, the teacher should allow students to independently create or fill in a concept map demonstrating their prior knowledge about the Civil Rights Movement. After this activity is complete, students will verbally share information from their individual concept maps to contribute to a whole group concept map. Once the class concept map is complete, and teachers are familiar with student’s prior knowledge about the topic, share the lesson’s guiding question: What role, if any, did children play during the Civil Rights Movement?
After the warm-up, the text is introduced to students, and a picture walk conducted. A picture walk is a method to generate student interest in a story and promote discussion. The strategy also provides support for emerging readers, English language learners, and students with disabilities as it uses pictures in a story as clues to help students familiarize themselves with the story before it is read (Reading to Kids, 2007).
To conduct the picture walk, teaches should guide students through the following steps:
First, the teacher should show students the cover and read the title of the text. Using only the cover and title, ask students what they believe the story will be about and why.
Second, examine the pictures in the text. The teacher may choose to stop and study each picture, or pick and choose pages they deem most appropriate and relevant to the lesson.
Third, as the class examines each picture, the teacher should ask questions, such as “what do you think is going on?” “who is this character?” “when do you think the story is taking place and why?” “why do you think this character looks happy/sad/excited/mad, etc.?” “what do you think will happen next and why?” “how do you think the story will end and why?” Asking such questions encourages students to actively engage with the story, use their imagination, make predictions, and use evidence from the pictures to support their answers. Of course, teacher acknowledgement of student answers should remain vague and neither confirm nor deny components of the story.
After examining the illustrations, the teacher should read the text aloud to students.
During the read aloud, discuss ideas and suggestions made by students during the picture walk. Additionally, ask follow up questions such as “do you still think the story will end that way and why or why not?” “now that we know the situation, how would you describe the character’s reaction?” and “do you think this action was a good idea and why or why not?” These questions allow students to test their ideas, consider character emotions and actions, as well as cause and effect relationships.
The focus on the visuals prior to the read aloud also provides a frame of reference for students to draw on as they hear the story, allowing them to better organize and evaluate the information (Reading to Kids, 2007).
After the story is finished, a short class discussion can help students debrief the text, consider key ideas, and ask any questions they may have. For example, the teacher may ask “in the text it read “she was going to break a law and go to jail to help make things right.” Do you think this was the right thing to do? Why or why not?” Or, the teacher may wish to discuss why some adults were so scared to march, and why so many children were willing. Finally, students can share what they thought the most important event in the story was and why. Students may be interested to know that march organizers used the radio to disseminate information through codes. Radio disc jockeys in Birmingham during the time worked with Civil Rights activists to use music to let children know about meetings and workshops. For example, 1954’s “Shake, rattle, and roll” would sound out of place in a playlist of 1960s funk songs, or phrases such as “bring your toothbrush, you ought to brush your teeth” were used as signals to let students know it was time to march, and to plan for the possibility of spending the night in jail (National Public Radio, 2013).
Once class discussion has concluded, a primary source activity will allow students to examine photos taken during the Children’s March to learn more about the event. The suggested photos, with the exception of one, (see Appendix A) correlate to events depicted in The Youngest Marcher, to provide strong connections to the text. The photos depict children marching with signs, children being escorted to jail, a group of children in holding, and children being sprayed with fire hoses. The final photo, which teachers may or may not choose to include, shows a police dog biting the sleeve of the shirt of a 17-year-old boy. Including this photo provides further evidence of the drastic measures taken by authorities against children who participated in the march.
The primary source activity follows the process suggested by Barton (2001). A sample worksheet is included in Appendix B. Students should be walked through the following process:
Students are told they will receive a set of photographs from the Birmingham Children’s March, May 1963. (Alternatively, students may be given the set of photographs in an envelope with Birmingham Children’s March, May 1963 written on the outside.) Students should not view the photos prior to completing step 2.
Students should record what they think they will see in the photos.
Students next examine the photos and record what they see. They should also note whether the photos are different or similar to what they expected.
After completing the photo observation process, the teacher may have students explain what they believe is happening in each photo, and list evidence from the photos to support their answers. This step moves students from description to analysis. Teachers may also opt to provide questions to accompany the photos for the analysis component, such as when/where do you think the photos were taken?; what do you think the people in the photos are doing?; and who do you think is involved?
For each guiding question, students should be asked to provide evidence for their answers to help them not only make inferences but support their inferences with data drawn from the photos (Barton, 2001).
After completing the photo analysis component, to provide further visual evidence about the Birmingham Children’s March, teachers may opt to show clips from the Teaching Tolerance documentary, Mighty Times: The Children’s March (Teaching Tolerance, 2004).
To conclude the activity, return to the concept map from the warm-up. The teacher should ask students to add information to the concept map based on the story, photos, and class discussion. This closure activity may be completed individually, or as a whole group discussion, and allows students to re-examine their prior knowledge and make any corrections or expansions based on the lesson. Extension activities may make connections to current events and the #NeverAgain movement, providing students with a contemporary example of children participating in and leading marches. Twitter, Facebook, and other social media and news stories provide a wealth of information for students to examine current day activists and draw comparisons between the children of Birmingham and those fighting today for gun control reform. A similar photo activity following the same format may be conducted with contemporary March for our Lives photos. Teachers may also opt to share excerpts from an article by Teaching Tolerance (Van der Valk, 2018) entitled “From Birmingham to Parkland: Celebrate the power of young voices” with their students. This brief opinion piece likens #NeverAgain to the Birmingham Children’s March and briefly describes the steps the Parkland activists took after the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. It also makes brief connections to other contemporary social movements involving young people including the Water Protectors at Standing Rock (Van der Valk, 2018), providing further evidence of social activism among today’s youth.
After completing the analysis activity with March for our Lives photos, as an assessment students may create a Venn Diagram comparing the Birmingham Children’s March and the March for our Lives, and identify similarities and differences between the two. Such an activity would allow the teacher to determine whether students have grasped key concepts such as the social causes for which children are marching, the platforms of each movement, and the planning and preparation undertaken by children to participate in the marches.
Conclusion
This lesson, while introducing students to student activists during the Civil Rights Movement meets several NCSS themes, including theme 2 (time, continuity, and change), theme 5 (individuals, groups, and institutions), theme 6 (power, authority, and governance), and theme 10 (civic ideals and practices). In addition, it may be used to help students examine the movement from a different perspective, make connections to the content, and see themselves in the curriculum, all of which are important in social studies education (Ediger, 2000; Manak, 2012; Tschida, Ryan, & Ticknor, 2014). Takaki (2012) and Tschida, Ryan, and Ticknor (2014) discuss providing students with different mirrors or windows in which to examine content-mirrors or windows that allow students to make cultural connections and see beyond the “white, middle class representations” and understand the “diverse races, classes, religions, sexualities, abilities and other areas of marginalization” that have played a role in United States history (Tschida et al., 2014, p. 28). McGuire (2007) also highlights the need for teachers to examine social studies concepts from multiple perspectives, in order to help students make connections between the content, rather than presenting information in disconnected bits. Additionally, McGuire (2007) points out the importance of helping students understand connections between content and their own lives, and their own responses and interactions to current events. Hopefully this lesson will aid teachers in making those connections to current events in order to help show relevance to the content and the role students have played throughout history in the fight for social change.
Levinson, C. (2017). The youngest marcher: The story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a young Civil Rights activist. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Manak, J. A. (2012). Exploring the American revolution from multiple perspectives: Integrating children’s literature into the social studies. Reading Today30, 14-15.
Martin, R. and Corley, C. (Hosts). (14 March 2018). In Chicago, students protest gun violence in communities [Radio program]. In Alicia Montgomery (Producer) Morning Edition. Washington, D.C: WAMU.
McGuire, M. E. (2007). What happened to social studies? The disappearing curriculum. The Phi Delta Kappan 88 (8), 620-624.
National Public Radio. (2013). Shake, rattle, and rally: Code songs spurred activism in Birmingham [Radio program]. In Carline Watson (Producer) All Things Considered: Washington, D.C: WAMU.
Tschida, C. M., Ryan, C. L., and Ticknor, A. S. (2014). Building on windows and mirrors: Encouraging the disruption of “single stories” through children’s literature. Journal of Children’s Literature 40 (1), 28-39.
I’m one of the “digital immigrants” who came to the use of computers late in life, that is, as a New Jersey high school history teacher back in the digital “dark ages” of the 1980s. Perhaps you remember the Apple IIE? The first Apple Macintosh? Oregon Trail software? During these long-ago years, a fellow history teacher (Neale McGoldrick) and I collaborated on using “desk-top publishing” software to produce historical newspapers with our students and created an historical monograph on women’s suffrage that was distributed to schools and libraries in the state (Reclaiming Lost Ground: The Struggle for Women’s Suffrage in New Jersey, New Jersey Historical Commission, 1993). We were enthusiastic about what educational technology was making possible in our classrooms.
Thus, when the federal government provided funding to teacher education institutions over a decade later, under the auspices of its Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology grant program, I signed up to explore the possibilities, what we call today the “affordances,” of teaching with technology for our master’s degree students in the Program in Social Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. In 2000, the USDOE provided $48 million for close to 100 grants “to address the challenge of developing technology proficient future educators,” according to archived materials at the PT3 website (http://www.ed.gov/teachtech/). This investment in moving technology into schools rapidly became only a drop in the bucket of what has been spent since 2000 in promoting educational technology by both public agencies and private vendors.
Lots of us got onboard the technology train, hoping to find some “value added” in using technology to teach our subject matter. To be sure, we have found quite a few benefits. For example, anyone who remembers hunting in libraries for primary sources, the ability today to construct a “document-based question” by using an online database from the Library of Congress or National Archives is nothing short of miraculous. The educational research accumulated in the CITE Journal (www.citejournal.org) is only a fraction of the work that has been done chronicling the impact of technology use on the teaching of school subject matter and on teacher education.
So, let’s be clear that neither I nor the authors of the book I want to call to your attention are Luddites. Nevertheless, claims such as the opening line in a USDOE “Dear Colleague” letter dated January 18, 2017 that asserts: “Technology can help transform learning when used with innovative instructional approaches” leaves a lot unsaid and more unsubstantiated. Even if one thinks that the use of educational technology might be a powerful lever for enacting student-centered, inquiry-oriented pedagogy (something that remains in short supply in many social studies classrooms), the promise of ed-tech in improving student learning is increasingly looking like a lot of hype. Moreover, we are coming to see that the cumulative effects of so much screen time on today’s youth may be jeopardizing the health and well-being of the “iGen” “— that is, kids born after 1995— (Twenge, 2017), both inside and outside the classroom.
In a fascinating – and troubling – new book, Screen Schooled: Two Veteran Teachers Expose How Technology Overuse is Making Our Kids Dumber, Joe Clement and Matt Miles (Chicago Review Press, 2018) perform a public service in calling teachers’ and parents’ attention to the hype of the ed-tech industry (and, I would add, their cheerleaders in policy circle) and its promotion of ever more technology use in schools. Assembling extensive research on the effects of screen-time on young people’s brains and drawing upon their own insights from years of teaching, the book serves as an indictment of the notion that the best way to teach “digital natives” is to infuse more educational technology into schools.
Here are just a few examples of the alarming research they present:
A study that found that children who have more than “one to two hours per day of screen time show a 50 percent increase in psychological disorders” (p. 149);
A study showing that “a person’s ability to develop friendships is biologically diminished the more he or she replaces face-to-face human interaction with screen interaction” (p. 150);
A study that showed that “the heavy use of screens causes young people to lose the ability to understand the emotions of other people” (p. 151);
A study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics that “found that people who spend more time playing video games have more attention problems” (p. 178);
A study that showed that computer technology is associated with “statistically significant and persistently negative impacts on student math and reading test scores” (p. 184).In the introduction to Screen Schooled, Clement and Miles start out by offering their “street cred” in authoring this book. As they write: “While we are teachers, we are neither curmudgeonly, angry, or anti-technology…. As far as our comfort with technology, I (Joe) was a UNIX system administrator before becoming a teacher. Matt was an IT major in college before a last-minute switch to education” (p. viii). Nevertheless, they’ve watched schooling change over the last couple of decades to the point where “teachers are encouraged to use laptops and iPads in every class. Instead of introducing education through educational software, teachers are now struggling to cram education into the technology.” They rightly ask: “Is this what is best for students?” “Should we do this? Ed tech-firms, with their large marketing budgets, have convinced parents and educators alike that their products are necessary for future student success” (p. ix). The book aims to question this assumption, and to argue instead that the push for technology use in schools is undermining not supporting the aims of high quality education.In 10 highly readable chapters, the authors take a sober look at “kids today” and the “myth of the technology-enhanced superkid”, the impact of social media in raising anxiety, the need for parental support in setting limits on technology, and the contribution of technology to the achievement gap. Throughout the book, the authors address the effects of technology on social-emotional functioning as well as cognition and intellectual development. Children, even toddlers, who spend hours staring at screens lose capacity for using the imagination or problem solving, which are key to critical thinking.Finally, let’s be clear that powerful inducements exist for schools to jump onboard the technology train. The ed-tech industry has numerous inducements (free iPads, anyone?), which are especially attractive to school districts burdened with shrinking budgets. The marketing firepower of the ed-tech industry is masterful in creating a sense of “needs” in place of “wants” that, like all advertising, drive parental anxieties about getting that toddler into an Ivy League school down the road. In several places, the authors use phrases such as “tech addiction” to focus the reader’s attention on how ed-tech products are engineered to create dependencies. Thus, it’s no surprise at the end of the book that the authors compare the marketing by ed-tech companies to that of tobacco companies.
At the end of each chapter, the authors provide “takeaways” for parents, teachers, and students with practical suggestions for addressing the issues raised in each chapter. For example, at the end of the chapter entitled “The Education-Industrial Complex,” they cite the recommendation for a “screen fast” of Dr. Victoria Dunckley, whose book Reset Your Child’s Brain encourages a time-out from technology in order to let children “get their brains back on track” (p. 205). They advocate alliances with parent-teacher organizations to push for sensible policies regarding the use – and over-use – of ed-tech tools in classrooms. The authors cite lots of research along the way, such as the well-known contributions of Sherry Turkle (Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age and Alone Together), who have been sounding alarms for years, but write in a way that knits together personal experience with this research to make a highly readable case for the need to bring a more critical perspective to the place of ed-tech in schools.
Of course, what’s fueling the push to infuse technology into schools is the huge opportunity for making money. Whether it’s Amazon, Google, Microsoft or one of the hundreds of other lesser known companies seeking a share of this market, the opportunities are legion. The authors confirm their love for capitalism and profit, but return again and again to their basic message—that is, the negative impact of the seductive hype and aggressive promotion of ed-tech in schools. They write: “we need to think hard about profits earned by selling schools products that make it harder to learn” (p. 192). They insist that the lack of scientific evidence behind either the notion that the way students learn is changing or that learning via digital technology is superior to non-technology assisted ways (p. 193) needs to inform future decision-making about spending public dollars on education.
As teachers who have seen their students’ ability to interact with others, contribute to classroom discussion, and focus on learning, Clement and Miles call educators’ and parents’ attention to the Trojan Horse nature of what they refer to in their second-to-last chapter as the “education-industrial complex” (p. 187), along with its sly inducements such as the pitch for “personalization of learning”. The authors echo the concerns raised by writers such as Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, who documents in her book that the “the iGen are “super-connected” but “less happy,” and the findings of researchers such as Kirschner and DeBryckere (2017), who title their recent piece in Teaching and Teacher Education, “The myths of the digital native and the multitasker”.
One can only hope that books such as Screen Schooled and efforts such as #Show the Evidence (https://www.the74million.org/article/showtheevidence-building-a-movement-around-research-impact-in-edtech) will eventually result in raising many more hard questions about the impact of digital technology on today’s youth. The authors are on the right track in providing answers that rest on the accumulation of solid, scientific research and teachers’ own classroom experiences, rather than from the companies eager to sell these products to schools and parents. This effort won’t derail the train, but it might slow it down so that it navigates the curves ahead more safely for all concerned.
Teachers Comment on Screened Schools by Clement and Miles
Nicole Waid, SUNY Oneonta: As new technologies emerge, there is a debate about whether infusing technology into instruction improves or distracts from classroom learning. Teachers sometimes shy away from new technologies because they do not know how to use them so they do not explore ways that they could utilize them in the classroom to enhance student learning. With proper training for pre-service and veteran teachers on how to integrate emerging technology into their lessons technology can invigorate instruction. Social Studies teachers typically like to talk about content and spend a lot of their class time lecturing. Some teachers ask students to write DBQs at home after hearing classroom instruction. This traditional model of learning might not be the most effective way of meeting the students’ needs. Students could listen to micro-lectures created by the teacher using a program like Screencast-o-Matic at home and answer questions on the essential points of the lecture without teacher support. Social Studies teachers who uses this model will take time in class to briefly review the main ideas of the lecture; then they can use a majority of their class time doing activities that require higher-order thinking skills such as document analysis or other activities that require an application of knowledge. The benefit of the flipped classroom model is that the teacher is available to offer support to students when completing challenging assignments rather than having students do the work independently at home with no assistance. When the flipped classroom model is used correctly, the students go from passively using lower order thinking skills taking notes in class to applying higher order thinking skills in the classroom. This model does not have to implement every day, but it could be used a couple of days a week to allow for activities that require more support and more critical thinking.
Olivia LaRocca, Syosset High School: A generation is growing up over-exposed to digital technology. In the classroom we see students who become agitated if they do not have easy access to their cell phones. As soon as the bell rings to end a class, they rush to get the latest updates on social media. I find it challenging to teach students who become so accustomed to instantaneous gratification. Digital natives have difficulty in understanding and disseminating new information because they fail to recognize its importance unless they receive it via twitter. I do use technology in the classroom for illustration, but fundamentally I want my students to be related to me and to each other, not to some electronic device.
Megan Bernth, Bellmore-Merrick School District: Everyone entering the teaching profession today receives at least some instruction in the uses of classroom technology, and usually more than just “some.” It has become impossible to navigate school without confronting new and newer digital technologies. But just because digital technologies are everywhere does not mean they are beneficial to learning. Too often technology-based assignments are gimmicky, and can be completed in more meaningful ways without using the latest technology. The best way to show what you learned about Thomas Jefferson is probably not to create a Thomas Jefferson Facebook page. When I was in middle school, back in the earlier days of technology, we received Mac laptops to use during the school year. Theoretically the computers had software that would allow our teachers to monitor what we were doing and would prevent us from going off-task. In reality, this software was seldom used and many of my classmates spent learning time playing video games and messaging their friends. Eventually some of the teachers refused to allow students to use the laptops in class.
Nabila Khan, Deer Park High School: As teachers, we confront a new generation of students who are “digital learners” and “native digitals.” Parents and teachers too frequently assume that using technology will make students smarter and more accomplished multitaskers. The danger is that other aspects of intelligence, when not used, will atrophy. I use PowerPoint, videos, and online simulations in my classroom. They offer new opportunities for “hands-on” learning and modifications for students who have different learning needs. I am just concerned that students become dependent on excessive technology; we are in essence creating new learning disabilities. I also witness too many students lost in digital fantasy worlds or buried in their cell phones. The cell phones definitely do not belong in the classroom.
Ashley Balgobind, Half Hallow Hills East High School: I use technology to illustrate points, mostly brief videos and animations. I plan occasional webquests where students search for information using prescribed links. During these lessons I have witnessed how some students ended up being distracted by the technology. Technology in the classroom can be a positive, but too much is definitely too much. Unfortunately, there has been such a big push to include educational technology in school instruction without evidence that it benefits student performance. The biggest beneficiaries of the switch to technology are the tech companies that sell the software.
Carrie Hou, Hofstra University: Digital technology is just the latest evolution in human communication, although it does bring a series of new problems hat need to be resolved. Instead of searching and thinking, students simply Google, meaning Google gets to decide what is important to know and even what to think about things. A big part of the problem is that teachers and parents are just as addicted to digital technology as the students. Teachers cannot be the police force of the digital world, not if parents permit children unlimited access digital technology when they are outside of school. Personally, I like to use technology to teach and learn. As we figure out how to more effectively utilize it in the classroom, it can become the teacher’s best friend.
Arwa Alhumaidan, Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Screens are a ubiquitous part of people’s lives. There is an addictive quality to them. Children watch screens while eating breakfast and in the car or bus on the way to school. Unfortunately, watching is sedentary, which is a problem, especially for younger children, who need more kinetic activity and socializing. We are establishing patterns of behavior that will place health at-risk as digital addicts move into adulthood and then middle age.
Steve Rosino, Whitestone Academy, Queens, NY: Students are having a hard time tuning things out that are not social media related. I teach students that it is important once in a while to turn everything off and just breathe in deeply and meditate. Downtime is essential if students are going to do their best work. Too often multi-tasking means no tasking at all.
Alan Singer, New York’s Grand Emancipation Jubilee, by Mary Liz Stewart
New York’s Grand Emancipation Jubilee: Essays on Slavery, Resistance, Abolition, Teaching, and Historical Memory – Alan J, Singer, PhD, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 2018
“Battles over how we understand the past help define who we are in the present and the possibilities for our future” (162).
This foundational principle ties together the essay topic choices and their content in Alan Singer’s newest book New York’s Grand Emancipation Jubilee published in May 2018 by SUNY Press. This sequel to New York and Slavery: Time to Teach the Truth, published by SUNY Press in 2008, is an engaging, hard to put down collection of essays that had a previous life as panel and workshop presentations and as articles prepared for academic journals. Revised and collected together in one volume, they offer an eye-opening, critical examination of slavery, resistance, abolition, emancipation, race and public memory from a New York City and State perspective that is applicable to the entire nation. While re-examining the past, Singer seamlessly weaves throughout his discourse the challenge of what do we do with this new knowledge, how do we use it to better understand who we are today, both as individuals and as communities, and as a nation, and how will we use this knowledge to move forward into the future to be a more just society.
Alan Singer received his Masters and Doctoral degrees from Rutgers University and is currently Professor of Secondary Education in the School of Education at Hofstra University. Beginning his educational career in a high school social studies classroom, Alan lets his ‘on the ground’ classroom experiences inform his writing of his valuable and provocative reflections on race, slavery, and American history.
Alan’s review of relevant literature coupled with his own research offers the reader a substantially documented examination of his thesis. Berlin, McManus, Aptheker, Foner, Still, Greeley, and many other greats referenced by Singer provide the reader with a rich selection of over 300 sources for further investigation. An incredibly detailed index complements the resource section and makes this text remarkably searchable. Inclusion of Teaching Notes in each chapter offers models of pertinent, thought provoking questions and related primary document text for both classroom and public conversation use.
However, Grand Emancipation Jubilee does leave room for some additional interpretations not offered in the text. For instance, in Chapter 4, ‘Narratives of Slavery and Escape: The Importance of Solomon Northup’, offers a summary of Northup’s narrative which helps the reader have an understanding of the content of Northup’s story. However, the significance of Northup’s narrative as compared to narratives written by others who were enslaved fails to offer for consideration the purpose of the publication of many other narratives of the antebellum period which was to raise money for the author and persuade readers to join the cause of abolition. Not wanting to discount the impact of Northup’s narrative, it must be admitted that other narratives that drew on the heart strings of the reader to generate an emotional response to the brutal treatment imposed upon people who were enslaved was an effective tool to sell books and motivate people to support, if not actively engage in, efforts to abolish the institution of slavery. As well, Northup came to the condition of enslavement as a kidnapped free man who had a family and business experiences that informed how he interacted with and recorded in his narrative the conditions under which he was enslaved.
Chapters 3 and 9, ‘Abolition in the Margins’ and ‘Abolition: From Marginalization to Emancipation’ respectively, fail to consider the civil rights work of Black abolitionists, also referenced as rights of full citizenship, as having an influence on the capacity of Black abolitionists to hammer away at anti-slavery work. As research into documents recounting the life and work of Black abolitionist Stephen Myers, it is clear that the racist perspective of even white abolitionists distracted the energies of the Black abolitionists from devoting all their efforts to anti-slavery work. Black abolitionists were not only fighting the institution of slavery, they were also fighting the discriminatory practices directed at them. For example, while Stephen Myers was engaged in his Underground Railroad activism, he was also engaged in planning and sometimes speaking at Colored Men’s Conventions. He also organized the Florence Farming and Lumber Association which was an economic development plan whereby African Americans could purchase small plots of land in the town of Florence and collaboratively farm the land and cut the lumber for personal use and for sale, he filed a lawsuit against the Albany City Public School District to desegregate the schools, he was an active member of the New York State Suffrage Association and of the American League of Colored Laborers. While engaged in these civil rights efforts he wrote for abolition newspapers and was employed at various jobs that provided financial support to his family. While these considerations, if included in chapters 3 and 9, would certainly enhance the understanding of why Black abolitionists were not as effective and speedy in achieving their goals as might have been desired, Singer is quite clear in explaining that factors external to the work of the abolitionists held significant sway in the rolling out of this history. Taken as a whole, though, one must credit Alan Singer with doing an incredible job throughout the eleven chapters helping the reader understand the numerous fractious forces that affected the impact of the abolitionists’ work.
Chapter 2, ‘Resistance! Resistance! Resistance! New York’s Black Abolitionists and the Coming of the Civil War’is a breath of fresh air in reference to the standard Underground Railroad canon. The highlight of this chapter is the emphasis on Black activism, which so often gets overwhelmed by the historians’ focus on the ideological debates of white abolitionists. The voices of Black abolitionists repeatedly call not only for the abolition of the institution of slavery, but also call for the rights of full citizenship. According to Singer, “…it was black activism, much of which was centered in New York State, that moved the challenge to slavery from the margins to the center of political debate” (30). Recoverable documents detailing the ideology of and activities engaged in by Black abolitionists have been making their way into public discourse and changing the Underground Railroad narrative. The lack of a homogenous response on the part of Black abolitionists gives evidence of free thinking individuals who ran the gamut from supporting an aggressive, “immediatist” response to the institution of slavery to a more conservative focus on the provision of assistance to freedom seekers. As the Black abolitionists had more to risk than their white counterparts, due to laws of the day and the imposition of discriminatory practices and the racist sentiments of many New Yorkers, the work of Black abolitionists becomes even more inspiring. It was Black abolitionists such as Stephen Myers and Peter Williams working in concert with others who forced the demise of the colonization movement. It was Black abolitionists such as Henry Highland Garnet and David Walker who advocated for the enslaved to take up arms against enslavers. It was Black abolitionists such as Louis Napolean and David Ruggles who openly opposed the 1793 and 1850 Federal Fugitive Slave Law. However, in the midst of the recovery of this important information, there is a desperate need to uncover the work of Black women in the abolitionist movement, especially women who were New York State residents, as their stories are few and light of content.
Kudos to Alan Singer for capturing these great essays in one volume and making them a community resource. New York’s Grand Emancipation Jubilee is a must read for formal and informal educators, high school and college students, and the adult general public. While it is not the final word on slavery, resistance, abolition, emancipation, race and public memory, as research on many fronts continues to add to the understanding of this significant episode in American history, it is, without a doubt, a major contribution to understanding where we, as a nation, have come from so that we may better understand where we are today and where we can go tomorrow.
Teaching about the Spanish Civil War: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Thomas Masterson, Hofstra University
This is an interdisciplinary unit on the Spanish Civil War and Americans who enlisted in what they believed was a fight to stop the expansion of fascism in Europe. The unit opens with a lesson summarizing the key points about the war and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. This lesson serves to introduce students to the major themes that will be focused on throughout the whole unit. In this lesson, students read an overview of the war written by the Abraham Lincoln Brigades Archive (ALBA). According to ALBA’s website, “the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives is an educational non-profit dedicated to promoting social activism and the defense of human rights. ALBA’s work is inspired by the American volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Drawing on the ALBA collections in New York University’s Tamiment Library, and working to expand such collections, ALBA works to preserve the legacy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade as an inspiration for present and future generations.” (http://www.alba-valb.org/about-us/)
The second lesson expands on this focus on theme and has students read a New York Times article from the 1980s that reflects on the choice these Americans made to go and fight in Spain. The article emphasizes the motivation that stimulated their involvement. Students are asked to reflect in a brief journal-writing task on how they feel about this situation and how they believe they would have responded if they were a young American during this time. Themes such as “fighting for the greater good ” and “selflessness” emerge through this reading and exercise.
The third and fourth lessons introduce students to two examples of the Spanish Civil War in literature. First, students read a brief excerpt from George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia and work in pairs on a close-reading exercise, again expanding on the thematic focus from earlier lessons. Then, as a class, W.H. Auden’s poem “Spain” is read and discussed. This lesson will focus on the appeal-to-emotion nature of poetry and ask students to reflect, once again, on the reality of what this war meant to young Americans (and global citizens) at the time.
Additionally, there are several lessons focused on different art produced during the war. First is a class listening of the song “Viva La Quince Brigada,” a song sung by the Spanish Republican troops during the war. Students listen to the song being performed and answer a series of questions about the lyrics and tone of the song. Second is a lesson on Pablo Picasso’s painting “Guernica.” Students are given a handout with the full painting as well as a chart outlining the eight major figures in the picture. Using this resource, students write a short response focusing on two of these central figures that they are free to choose.
Students will also be shown the photography of Robert Capa and Gerda Taro, who become internationally recognized from their brutal photographs depicting the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. This handout can be used to initiate a class discussion or be used for a short writing exercise similar to the Picasso lesson.
Finally, these introductory lessons lead into a class reading of Ernest Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Lessons throughout this reading unit frequently tie into the main themes and have students connect their reading of the novel to their reflections from the start of the unit. Primary and secondary sources from the period can be brought in throughout the reading to supplement the text. The first lesson on the book asks students to read and interpret the John Donne quote used as the novel’s epigraph.
The final assignment is a longer writing task where students have three choices for a final submission. They have the option of writing a letter home from the perspective of an American soldier in Spain, a journal entry from the perspective of Robert Jordan (the main character in Hemingway’s novel), or a thematic essay in which they define two major themes of the novel and explore representation in the book.
The Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936, after conservative military officials tried to overthrow a progressive government elected that February. The rebels were surprised to encounter massive popular resistance, especially in large urban centers. Within days the country was split in half, one zone controlled by the government (known as Republicans, Loyalists, or Reds) and the other by the rebels (also referred to as Nationalists, Fascists, or Whites). Three years of bloody fighting followed. General Francisco Franco quickly emerged as the Nationalist commander-in-chief. The main leaders on the Republican side were President Azaña and Prime Ministers Largo Caballero and Negrín. The war ended with a Nationalist victory in April 1939. Franco would rule Spain as a ruthless dictator until his death in 1975.The war quickly became internationalized. Global public opinion rallied around one of the two factions, seeing the war as either a struggle of democracy against fascism or, conversely, of Christian civilization against Communism. Fearful of escalation, several Western governments signed a Non-Intervention Pact. Franco immediately requested and received extensive military support from Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. The Republic was supported by the USSR and, to a smaller extent, by Mexico.Other Western powers refused to stand by the embattled Republic, not even allowing it to buy arms on the international market. Nevertheless, thousands of concerned citizens from some fifty nations, ignoring their own governments’ purported neutrality and rallied to the Republic’s support. Almost forty thousand men and women, including 2,800 Americans, traveled to Spain to help fight fascism. Most of them joined the International Brigades, organized in 1936 by the Communist International. The U.S. volunteers in Spain formed several battalions and served in various units (medical, transportation) and came to be known collectively as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.For all its international repercussions, the war’s root causes were domestic. Political and social tensions had been building up in Spain for years. Still predominantly an agrarian society with limited industrial centers, the country was rife with inequalities. In the countryside, traditional divisions endured between wealthy landowners, doggedly preserving their position, and a huge number of landless laborers and poverty-stricken smallholders, desperate to lift themselves from an existence of near-starvation. The situation of the urban working class was equally dismal. Illiteracy rates were high. The government that came to power after the proclamation of the Republic in 1931 embarked on an ambitious program of modernization, secularization, social justice, and greater regional autonomy, with the support of the liberal middle classes, the Socialist and Communist parties and unions, the regionalist parties, as well as the powerful Anarchist movement. It met with strong resistance from the landowners, the army, and the Catholic Church. These same three groups, together with the small but powerful fascist party (Falange), formed the backbone of the Nationalists.The Spanish Civil War claimed an estimated 500,000 dead; of the American volunteers about one third died in Spain. Many of the remaining veterans continued their fight against fascism during World War II, as did thousands of Republican exiles. With their help, fascism was finally defeated in 1945. Ironically, the outbreak of the Cold War helped secure Franco’s position as Spain’s anti-Communist dictator. When, after his death in 1975, Spain finally became a democracy, the Spanish government made honorary citizens of the international volunteers. Many of them remained life-long activists. The aging Lincoln Vets have lent their support to progressive causes of all kinds, from the Civil Rights movement to the protests against the wars in Vietnam and Iraq.
Questions·
What were the names of the two groups at odds with each other during the Spanish Civil War?·
Who was the leader of the fascists?·
How many people died in the war, and how many of these were American volunteers?·
Paragraph 4 refers to “international repercussions.” In your own words, what does this phrase mean?·
Using the information in the article and your own opinion, why do you think other Western countries refused to get involved in the Spanish Civil War?
(B) Excerpts from “They Fought in Spain: Now the Cause is Redeemed”Originally published in the New York Times on Nov. 4, 1982 by Ari Goodman
“Once they were fighters, men who tried to stop fascism in Spain with guns and grenades. Today, more than 40 years later, Americans who volunteered in the Loyalist cause in the Spanish Civil War are watching proudly as a Socialist government is coming to power in that country.”“In the 1936 Spanish elections, the Socialists emerged as a leading element in the governing Popular Front. Within months of their victory, however, a group of generals led by Francisco Franco marched on major cities and the civil war began.”“Franco won the war and ruled until his death in 1975… ‘Franco is now on the garbage heap of history,’… Some 3,300 Americans, acting without blessings of their own Government, went to fight in the Spanish Civil War; only 1,800 came home alive.” “‘The Spanish Civil War’ pitted right against wrong,’ said the 69-year-old Mr. Steck, ‘and it was very clear where the right was and where the wrong was.’ ‘I went to Spain because as a Jew and as a radical of my time I hated fascism,’ Mr. Fishman said. ‘This was a chance to do something about it.’”“‘If we didn’t stop fascism in Spain, we’d have to stop it closer to home. We still think if we could have stopped Hitler and Mussolini in Spain, we might have avoided World War II.’”“‘It was your whole life that made you go,” said Mr. Steck, who grew up in the Midwest and at the age of 6 was taken to hear Eugene V. Debs, the American Socialist.”Questions· Before the outbreak of the war, what political movement was becoming more prominent in Spain?· What two foreign leaders aided Franco in the Spanish Civil War?“
They Fought in Spain: Now the Cause is Redeemed” Journaling Response
Directions: Write a journal response (No more than 1-2 pages double-spaced) to the New York Times article about Americans that fought in the Spanish Civil War. Focus on your views about what motivated these people to go fight in a foreign war. How would you describe these people? How would you react if your best friend told you they wanted to do something like this? Could you see yourself going and doing what they did as well? What are some key parts of the article that stood out to you?Keep in mind some of the important historical context we learned about regarding the socialists, the fascists, and what the outcome of the war was. Also, keep in mind what year this article was written and published in.
(C) Excerpts from W. H. Auden’s “Spain” Background: W.H. Auden, also known as Wystan Hugh Auden, was a poet, author and playwright born in York, England, on February 21, 1907. Auden’s travels in countries torn by political strife influenced his early works. Auden visited Spain in 1937 in the middle of the Spanish Civil War and wrote this poem upon his return home. It was originally published in 1940.
Yesterday all the past. The language of sizeSpreading to China along the trade-routes; the diffusionOf the counting-frame and the cromlech [stone tomb]; Yesterday the shadow-reckoning in the sunny climates . . .Yesterday the abolition of fairies and giants, the fortress like a motionless eagle eyeing the valley, the chapel built in the forest; Yesterday the carving of angels and alarming gargoyles; The trial of heretics among the columns of stone; Yesterday the theological feuds in the tavernsAnd the miraculous cure at the fountain; Yesterday the Sabbath of witches; but to-day the struggle.Yesterday the installation of dynamos and turbines, The construction of railways in the colonial desert;Yesterday the classic lecture On the origin of Mankind. But to-day the struggle . . .To-morrow for the young the poets exploding like bombs,The walks by the lake, the weeks of perfect communion; To-morrow the bicycle racesThrough the suburbs on summer evenings. But to-day the struggle. To-day the deliberate increase in the chances of death,The conscious acceptance of guilt in the necessary murder; To-day the expending of powersOn the flat ephemeral pamphlet and the boring meeting. To-day the makeshift consolations: the shared cigarette,The cards in the candlelit barn, and the scraping concert, The masculine jokes; to-day theFumbled and unsatisfactory embrace before hurting.The stars are dead. The animals will not look. We are left alone with our day, and the time is short, andHistory to the defeated May say Alas but cannot help nor pardon.
Questions·
“Yesterday” was “abolition of fairies and giants,” “theological feuds in the taverns” and “classic lecture.”
What is Auden saying about “Yesterday”?·
What will “Tomorrow” be like according to Auden?·
What does Auden believe defines “today”?·
In your opinion, is this a hopeful poem? Defend your reasoning using evidence from the text.
(D) ¡Viva la Quince Brigada! Performed by Pete Seeger in Barcelona, 1993 Translated from Spanish
Background: This was one of the songs sung by members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and other international volunteers during the Spanish Civil War. When the international forces say they will “fight against the Moors,” they are referring to General Francisco Franco’s “Army of Africa” which included soldiers from Spain’s colony in Morocco. Franco used these troops in fascist campaigns to defeat the Spanish Republic.Songs of the Spanish Civil War rekindles the hymnal of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, honoring the more than 2,600 American volunteers who fought General Francisco Franco and his fellow fascists from Italy and Nazi Germany to defend the popularly elected Spanish Republic during the 1936-1939 conflict. Featuring Pete Seeger, Tom Glazer, Butch and Bess Hawes, Woody Guthrie, Ernst Busch, and Bart van der Schelling, these songs still inspire supporters of democratic causes around the world. – ALBA
Long live the Fifteenth Brigade, Rumba la rumba la rumba la! Long live the Fifteenth Brigade, Rumba la rumba la rumba la!It will cover us with glory, Ay Carmela, ay Carmela! It will cover us with glory, Ay Carmela, ay Carmela!We fight against the Moors, Rumba la rumba la rumba la; We fight against the Moors, Rumba la rumba la rumba la,Mercenaries and fascists, Ay Carmela, ay Carmela! Mercenaries and fascists, Ay Carmela, ay Carmela!Our only desire, Rumba la rumba la rumba la! Our only desire, Rumba la rumba la rumba la!Is to end fascism! Ay Carmela, ay Carmela! Is to end fascism! Ay Carmela, ay Carmela!On the Jarama front, Rumba la rumba la rumba la! On the Jarama front, Rumba la rumba la rumba la!We don’t have airplanes, nor tanks, nor cannon, Ay Carmela, ay Carmela!We don’t have airplanes, nor tanks, nor cannon, Ay Carmela, ay Carmela!We’re now leaving Spain, Rumba la rumba la rumba la! We’re now leaving Spain, Rumba la rumba la rumba la!We shall fight on other fronts, Ay Carmela, ay Carmela! We shall fight on other fronts, Ay Carmela, ay Carmela!Questions· How would you describe the tone of the song after hearing it performed and reading the lyrics in English?· How do you interpret the ending of the song? What “other fronts” do you think the original songwriters were referring to?
(E) Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937)
Background: Guernica is a mural-sized oil painting on canvas by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. It was completed in June 1937 while he was living in Paris. It is over 11 feet high and 25 feet wide. Picasso painted the mural in response to the April bombing of the Basque village of Guernica in northern Spain by German and Italian warplanes in support of Spanish fascist forces. The village had no military significance. The bombing foreshadowed German attacks on civilian populations during World War II.
Directions: Choose two of the central figures of the painting outlined on the following page and write a paragraph explaining your interpretation of their inclusion in the piece. Explain what you believe Picasso was trying to convey through these images, and why you think the sections you chose are perhaps the most striking.
(F) Movies about The Spanish Civil War Scenes from these movies can be used to help students envision conflicts during the Spanish Civil War.
“For Whom the Bell Tolls” directed by Sam Wood, 1943. In this adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s popular novel, idealistic American Robert Jordan (Gary Cooper) travels to Spain to join the guerrilla forces opposing dictator Francisco Franco. Jordan, who is given the dangerous task of blowing up a bridge that lies behind enemy lines, gets sidetracked when he falls for partisan Spanish girl María (Ingrid Bergman) at base camp. As Jordan’s love for María grows, he begins to question his assignment, his politics and his place in this foreign war.
(G) Robert Capa and Gerda Taro Photograph the Spanish Civil War
Robert Capa (Endre Friedmann) was a Hungarian-Jewish war photographer and photojournalist. He photographed the Spanish Civil War, the Sino-Japanese War, World War II in Europe, and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Capa died in 1954 while covering the first Indochina War. Some consider Capa the greatest combat photographer in history. In 1947 he was awarded the United States Medal of Freedom by General Dwight Eisenhower. Gerda Taro (Gerta Pohorylle), a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, was Capa’s professional partner and companion. She was a major photographer in her own right. She died in 1937 while photographing the Spanish Civil War at the Battle of Brunete. She was only 27 years old. Taro is remembered as the first female photojournalist to photograph front line battles during war.
Robert Capa: Farewell ceremony for the International Brigades. Les Masies, Spain. October 25, 1938
Robert Capa: Republican militiaman, Federico Borrell Garcia, at the moment of death, Cerro Muriano, Cordoba front, Spain. September 5, 1936.
Robert Capa: Crowds running for shelter after an air-raid alarm sounded, Bilbao, Spain, May 1937
Gerda Taro: Pro-Republican workers in a munitions factory in Madrid, June 1937.
Questions· Describe the scene in each photograph· In your opinion, were Capa and Taro as photojournalists important contributors to the defense of the Spanish Republic? Explain.
(H) Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (1938). Excerpt from Chapter One
Background: George Orwell (1903-1950) was a British novelist, essayist, journalist, and political critic. He is best known for his philosophical and dystopian literature, such as 1984 and Animal Farm. Homage to Catalonia was written as a memoir recounting his experiences fighting in the Spanish Civil War as part of the International Brigades.
A. There were no private motor-cars, they had all been commandeered, and all the trams and taxis and much of the other transport were painted red and black. The revolutionary posters were everywhere, flaming from the walls in clean reds and blues that made the few remaining advertisements look like daubs of mud. Down the Ramblas, the wide central artery of the town where crowds of people streamed constantly to and fro, the loudspeakers were bellowing revolutionary songs all day and far into the night. And it was the aspect of the crowds that was the queerest thing of all.
B. In outward appearance it was a town in which the wealthy classes had practically ceased to exist. Except for a small number of women and foreigners there were no ‘well-dressed’ people at all. Practically everyone wore rough working-class clothes, or blue overalls, or some variant of the militia uniform. All this was queer and moving. There was much in it that I did not understand, in some ways I did not even like it, but I recognized it immediately as a state of affairs worth fighting for. Also, I believed that things were as they appeared, that this was really a workers’ State and that the entire bourgeoisie had either fled, been killed, or voluntarily come over to the workers’ side; I did not realize that great numbers of well-to-do bourgeois were simply lying low and disguising themselves as proletarians for the time being.
C. Together with all this there was something of the evil atmosphere of war. The town had a gaunt untidy look, roads and buildings were in poor repair, the streets at night were dimly lit for fear of air-raids, the shops were mostly shabby and half-empty.
D. Meat was scarce and milk practically unobtainable, there was a shortage of coal, sugar, and petrol, and a really serious shortage of bread. Even at this period the bread-queues were often hundreds of yards long. Yet so far as one could judge the people were contented and hopeful. There was no unemployment, and the price of living was still extremely low; you saw very few conspicuously destitute people, and no beggars except the gypsies.
E. Above all, there was a belief in the revolution and the future, a feeling of having suddenly emerged into an era of equality and freedom. Human beings were trying to behave as human beings and not as cogs in the capitalist machine. In the barbers’ shops were Anarchist notices (the barbers were mostly Anarchists) solemnly explaining that barbers were no longer slaves. In the streets were colored posters appealing to prostitutes to stop being prostitutes. To anyone from the hard-boiled, sneering civilization of the English-speaking races there was something rather pathetic in the literalness with which these idealistic Spaniards took the hackneyed phrases of revolution. At that time revolutionary ballads of the naivest kind, all about proletarian brotherhood and the wickedness of Mussolini, were being sold on the streets for a few centimes each. I have often seen an illiterate militiaman buy one of these ballads, laboriously spell out the words, and then, when he had got the hang of it, begin singing it to an appropriate tune.
Questions·
What did Orwell notice about life in Spain that signaled impending societal change?·
How do you interpret this quote from the final paragraph: “Human beings were trying to behave as human beings and not as cogs in the capitalist machine.”·
Although resources were very scarce there was still “a belief in the revolution and future, a feeling of having suddenly emerged into an era of quality and freedom.”
In your opinion, how did the arrival of foreign fighters in support of the Spanish Republic contribute to this optimism?
(I) For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest HemingwayEpigraph by John Donne (1572-1631)
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
Questions·
Why do you think Hemingway chose this as the epigraph for his novel?·
In your opinion, how could a quote from the 16th century connect to events in Spain and the world happening 400 years later?
Ernest Hemingway (L) and Robert Capa (R) meet in Idaho in 1940.
The Spanish Civil War Final Writing Assignment
Directions:
Choose ONE of the following prompts and write a 3-4-page essay in response. Be sure to follow the specific formatting expectations outlined in each prompt.·
You are a young American in the year of 1937. The Spanish Civil War has been ongoing for the past year, and several weeks ago you and some friends took it upon yourselves to enlist in an American brigade to go and fight against fascism in Spain. Write a letter home describing how you feel about your decision. Explain what inspired you to go and fight in this war. Use our reading of Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls to offer some guidance in putting yourself in this position.·
2. Write an extended journal entry from the point of view of Robert Jordan at any point in the novel. Make sure to refer to specific points in his story. You may set your journal entry right before the start of the novel, alluding to events that will unfold early in the book.·
3. Write an essay exploring TWO major themes of both For Whom the Bell Tolls and our supplementary readings about the Spanish Civil War. Remember to cite all references to the novel and outside sources appropriately.
Arwa Alhumaidan, Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Source: Pew Research Center
In 2010 there were an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide. They are the religious majority in 49 countries. However, less than .2% of Muslims live in North America. However, over recent years the Islamic population of the United States has grown significantly. According to Pew Research Center there were about 3.3 million Muslims of all ages living in the United States in 2015. Washington DC and New Jersey both have larger Muslim populations and the total U.S. Muslim population is projected to reach 8.1 million by 2050.
Most recent Muslim immigrants came to the U.S. came from Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, or Iraq. Many left their homelands to escape from poverty or war and want to become a part of the United States and American citizens. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Muslims have faced, and continue to face, stereotyping and prejudice across the nation. The Council on American-Islamic Relations reports that between 2014 and 2016 “anti-Muslim bias incidents jumped 65 percent.” Writing in Rethinking Schools (v. 32, n. 2, Winter 2017), Alison Kysia, a Muslim educator and curriculum developer, argued “The increasing violence against Muslims, suggests we, as Americans, are becoming less tolerant and need educational interventions that move beyond post-9/11.”
Multicultural education provides a point of identification for marginalized groups, including Islamic children in American schools, and is an essential tool for promoting diversity and challenging Islamophobia. The younger children are when they are exposed to new ideas and people, the more receptive they will be, which is why exploring children’s books about Muslims and the Islamic world is so important. The books I recommend explore different major themes, such as, wars, poverty, immigration, celebrations, Muslims’ achievements, and illustration of Islam.
War: War and its consequences play a significant role in shaping Islamic literacy, since many Muslim countries have been conflict sites for several years. These books help children consider the terrible living conditions people are exposed to in war areas, what it means to live in a refugee camp, and also understand why many people want to immigrate to the United States and other safer countries. In many of the war-torn countries children are major victims, unable to receive an education and sometimes forced to take on family responsibilities, including work, at a very young age.
Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad by James Rumford.
This book is about Ali from Baghdad who is living in a war zone. He tries to escape from the terrible life by doing his favorite hobbies; playing soccer and writing calligraphy. This book also teaches about the beauty of Arabic calligraphy. It includes a story about Yakut, the most famous calligrapher who lived in Baghdad 800 years ago.
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq by Jeanette Winter.
The book is about a brave woman named Alia Muhammad Baker who is a librarian in Basra, Iraq. She believes in the value of books for future generations. During the invasion of Iraq, Alia put herself at risk and saved the library’s books by hiding them in her house and in a neighbor’s store. The library was destroyed and Alia saved 30,000 books. The book shows that everywhere there are good people who want the best for everyone. It is also worthy story about the role women can play in an Islamic country.
Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadre Mohammed tells about the war in Afghanistan.
It is about two girls who share a pair of shoes that the relief workers brought to the refugee camp. This book successfully describes the refugees’ daily lives, waiting on a long line, washing clothes in the river, scrambling to grab anything from the relief workers, and waiting for their names to appear on the list for immigrating to America. Teachers can use this book to explore why refugees want to leave their countries.
The story in Sami and The Time of Troubles by Judith Heide Gilliland and Ted Lewin takes place in Beirut, Lebanon.
It compares life before and after the war. Peace and happiness are transformed into fear and terror. The story explains how children take major responsibilities, such as working to support their families. The illustrator, Ted Lewin, succeeds in depicting Lebanese’ culture. Some examples include the tradition of sitting on the ground and the type of food they were eating.
The Roses in My Carpets by Rukhsana Khan and Ronald Himler is about a young Afghani refugee who was facing a terrible life under war. It is a good book to get an idea about war from the sense of the people who are experiencing it. It illustrates the Afghani culture and the way people live.
Books about Immigration
Coming to America: A Muslim Family’s Story by Bernard Wolf.
This book describes the immigration experience of an Egyptian family that came to live in New York. The book illustrates how this family has integrated the American society while remaining true to their Muslim beliefs and Egyptian customs.
Sitti’s Secrets by Naomi Shihab Nye; illustrated by Nancy Carpenter.
The book tells about a girl who went to visit her grandmother who lives on the other side of the earth. The girl and her grandmother couldn’t communicate orally, but they found another way to understand each other. In the end, the girl wrote a letter to the U.S President telling him that Palestinians only want peace.
Islamic Religion and Culture: These books focus on illustrating the Muslim religion. They present an accurate image of the Muslim cultures and how people celebrate around the world.
Night of The Moon is a Muslim holiday story by Hana Khan and illustrated by Julie Paschkis.
Teachers can use this book to invite children to experience the traditions of the month of Ramadan through the eyes of a Pakistani-American girl named Yasmeen.. It explains how in the Islamic calendar the months follow the lunar cycle. Through this book, the author why Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan. It is a rich source available for teachers to use in their classrooms to present the Muslims’ holiday of Eid Al-Fitr and its traditions.
The White Nights of Ramadan by Maha Addasi takes place in Kuwait.
It is about a traditional festival called Girgian that comes in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan. In this festival, children dress in traditional clothes and go from house to house collecting treats from their neighbors. Teachers can use this book to introduce children to a different cultural experience of celebrations. Children can identify the similarities and differences in people’s celebrations. Most people around the world celebrate by eating sweets use lights as symbols and signals, and gather with each other. Children can also identify cultural differences.
The Day of Ahmed’s Secret by Florence Parry Heide, Judith Heide Gilliland, and Ted Lewin.
Ahmed lives in Cairo, Egypt. The book describes the city and his daily life. Ahmed helps his family financially by driving a donkey cart to deliver butane gas. In the end, he shared his secret that he can write his name in Arabic. This is a very realistic book that makes it as if you traveled to the actual place.
My Own Special Way by Mithaa al Khayyat; retold by Vivian French; illustrated by Maya Fidawi.
This is a story about Hamada who is a young Muslim girl who wants to be like her sisters and wear the veil. Each sister suggested a different way to wear veil, but in the end, Hamada chose her own way. Teachers can use this book to illustrate that it is not necessary to be like others. It is wonderful to be different. This book is a great addition to build cultural literacy.
Deep in the Sahara written by Kelly Cunnane; illustrated by Hoda Hadadi.
The book is about Lalla a little girl who lives in Mauritania. She wants to wear a malafa like the Mauritanian women. Through the story, Lalla discovers that wearing a malafa is more than being beautiful and mysterious and valuable. It is an expression of faith. This book is a valuable book with realistic illustrations about Mauritanian culture.
MY ITALIAN SECRET: The Forgotten Heroes is a feature length documentary that tells the story of courageous Italians, including sports idol Gino Bartali, who carried out ingenious schemes to rescue and protect Jews in Nazi-occupied Italy. The film is narrated by Isabella Rossellini with Robert Loggia as the voice of Gino Bartali. It is available on disc, at Amazon Video and on iTunes.
MY ITALIAN SECRET tells personal accounts that reflect this little known piece of history. Through witnesses’ stories, viewers revisit a time when an entire continent was engulfed in genocide. They learn how approximately 80% of Jewish people living in Italy, including foreign Jews, survived the Holocaust. On September 8, 1943 the Nazi’s invaded Northern Italy and the deportation of thousands of Jewish people and others to Auschwitz began. This film asks: Why would someone risk his or her own life and put their family in jeopardy to ‘do the right thing’ and protect the life of another person . . . a stranger?
Yad Vashem posthumously recognized Gino Bartali from Italy as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’. Bartali was a champion cyclist and a beloved public figure. During the German occupation of Italy (beginning in September 1943), Bartali, a devout Catholic, was part of a rescue network spearheaded by Rabbi Nathan Cassuto of Florence together with the Archbishop of Florence Cardinal Elia Angelo Dalla Costa (previously recognized as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’). This Jewish-Christian network, set up following the German occupation of Italy and the onset of deportation of Jews, saved hundreds of local Jews and Jewish refugees from territories which had previously been under Italian control, mostly in France and Yugoslavia. Gino Bartali acted as a courier for the network, secreting forged documents and papers in his bicycle and transporting them between cities, all under the guise of training. Knowingly risking his life to rescue Jews, Bartali transferred falsified documents to various contacts, among them Rabbi Cassuto.
Although Gino Bartali is a sports legend, his most daring triumph came when he risked his life countless times to save Jews threatened by Nazi extermination. The story of Bartali and the secret network of which he was a member, is just one example of the heroism exhibited by thousands of ordinary Italians who risked their lives to save others from capture and death. As an entire continent was engulfed in a genocide, which took the lives of most Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe (11 million people perished, including 6 million Jews), approximately 80 percent of Italy’s Jews survived. Bartali, like most of the rescuers, never sought recognition or reward. Few of those he helped knew his name or what role he played in their rescue. In addition to Gino Bartali, thousands of conscientious individual Italians risked their lives in order to assist people who in many cases were complete strangers. Most of these heroes never spoke of their courageous deeds.
Guiding Questions: Use the documentary “My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust” to provide evidence to answer the following questions.
Identify one segment that is a primary source and one segment that is a secondary source.
Provide one positive example and one negative example of how some Italians treated the Jews during the Holocaust.
Describe three ways in which Italian rescuers helped the Jews during the Holocaust.
In your opinion, which of the six individual characters in the documentary displayed the most courage. (Explain the reason for your answer.)
Can the experiences of the people portrayed in the documentary be related to the current refugee crisis? (Explain)
A) Who was Gino Bartali?
Gino Bartali is well known in the sport of cycling and holds the record for the longest time span between victories at the Tour de France (ten years). Bartali’s life provides a powerful lesson in how moral endurance can empower from within. As Bartali attained “super star status” in the sport of cycling, he never lost sight of the fact that it was his inner strength that carried him through the most difficult moments of his life.
As he told his son Andrea, “If you’re good at a sport, they attach the medals to your shirt and then they shine in some museum. That which is earned by doing good deeds is attached to the soul and shines elsewhere.”
In 1943, when Italy was under the German army occupation, Archbishop Elia Angelo Dalla Costa and Rabbi Nathan Cassuto organized a resistance network. Bartali was recruited by the network and worked as a courier. In addition, Bartali aided the Assisi resistance movement that was organized by church members from his hometown. He also sheltered a local Jewish family in his home. As part of his job as courier, Bartali hid documents in the handlebar and seat of his bicycle. These documents were primarily export visas, giving numerous Jews the chance to evade deportation to the death camps. Long bike rides were common place for professional cyclists, even during the war. Bartali was able to travel thousands of kilometers around Italy under the guise of training rides, while he smuggled forged identity papers in the frame of his bicycle to Jewish families trying to desperately flee the country.
After the war, Bartali never spoke of his underground activities and refused all attempts at interviews. He simply remarked that “he had been motivated by his conscience and therefore did not want to have his activities documented.” Bartali’s decision to act was heroic not because he felt no fear but rather because he did not let his fear prevent him from doing what he felt was ethically right. He demonstrated moral endurance, forged in a moment of danger that few of us could ever hope to fully understand. Although the exact number of people is unknown due to Bartali’s taciturn nature, he is credited with saving 800 lives. Yad Vashem recognized Gino Bartali as a ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ in 2013. In spite of the heroic title, Bartali never thought of himself as a genuine hero. He once said, “Real heroes are others, those who have suffered in their souls, in their hearts, and their spirit, for their loved ones. Those are the real heroes. I’m just a cyclist.”
Questions
Why is Bartali famous?
What did Bartali mean when he said, “That which is earned by doing good deeds is attached to the soul and shines elsewhere.”
How did Bartali become involved in saving Jews?
What was Bartali’s role in the resistance movement?
How did Bartali demonstrate his moral endurance?
B) The Rescue of Jews in Assisi, Italy
Essay Assessment: Write a response to the following question that includes an introduction, at least two body paragraphs and a conclusion. To what extent was Gino Bartali’s role in the resistance movement in Italy successful? In your response, be sure to address the following: supporting evidence from the reading and website, individual’s actions/participation, and results of the action taken.
Father Brunacci in Assisi
The only time in history when there is a record of Jews living in Assisi, Italy was during the Holocaust, when the town and its churches, monasteries and convents became a safe haven for several hundred Jews. Shortly after the German occupation, when the manhunt for Jews began, the Bishop of Assisi, Giuseppe Nicolini, ordered Father Brunacci to head the rescue operation of Jews and to arrange sheltering places in some twenty-six monasteries and convents. The Bishop authorized the hiding of Jews in places that were closed to outsiders by monastic regulations. The Committee of Assistance that Bishop Nicolini organized transformed Assisi into a shelter for many Jews.
In addition, many other Jews were provided with false papers enabling them to travel and survive in other places. Later, Father Brunacci was arrested and tried in court for his involvement in Jewish rescue efforts but was released after the intervention by the Vatican. Father Rufino Niccacci, the Guardian of the St. Damiano Monastery, played an important role in the network. He arranged false papers and found hiding places in the monasteries and convents, disguising the Jews as monks and nuns. The network not only saved Jewish lives, but also made great efforts to supply Jews with some of their religious needs. After the war, Father Brunacci described how during Yom Kipper, the Day of Atonement and the highest holiday in the Jewish religion was celebrated in Assisi in 1943. The convent nuns prepared the special meal for the ending of the fast.
Not only priest and nuns of the church participated in this collective effort, but many others played key roles in the rescue of Jews. One such person was Luigi Brizi who owned a souvenir shop in Assisi that operated a printing press. Brizi and his son became members of the Assisi rescue network and risked their lives by printing false papers for the persecuted Jews. Luigi’s son, Trento, bicycled to Foligno, 20 kilometers from Assisi, to a friend who used his etching skills to produce seals in order to stamp the false documents. The Viterbi family was one of the families that lived openly due to the false papers provided by Brizi. After the war, Brunacci remarked that about 200 Jews had been saved from the persecutors. As a result, Yad Vashem in Israel, honored the following people for their role in saving Jews: Father Rufino Niccacci was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 1976; Bishop Giuseppe Nicolini and Father Brunacci were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 1977; and Luigi Brizi and his son Trento were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 1977.
Questions
Why did Jews move to Assisi?
How did the Bishop of Assisi, Giuseppe Nicolini, react to the German occupation?
Explain what happened to Father Brunacci as a result of his rescue efforts.
How did Father Rufino Nicacci’s role in the rescue network help Jews?
How did Luigi Brizi and his son Trento participate in the saving of Jews?
How did the Jewish people give thanks to those who saved their lives in Assisi?
Essay Assessment: Write a response to the following question that includes an introduction, body paragraph and a conclusion. To what extent were the activities of the Assisi Underground network successful in the saving of Jews during the Holocaust? In your response, be sure to address the following: – supporting evidence from the reading – action of individuals – results of action taken
C. Courageous Hall of Fame
Directions: Review the following list of individuals who performed acts of courage (up-standers). Choose one individual to research the actions taken by the individual and answer the five project questions (only one student researching an individual). After completing the research, the teacher may choose to have students present their arguments for their nominee to the class. The teacher may also have students vote to determine if the arguments/evidence presented was strong enough for the nominee to be inducted into the Courageous Hall of Fame.
Alternative Strategies: Write a letter to the Courageous Hall of Fame award committee presenting your arguments/evidence to nominate your individual person to the Courageous Hall of Fame. Write a thank you letter to the individual researched thanking him or her for his/her acts of courage.
COURAGEOUS HALL OF FAME NOMINEES: Father Joseph Andre; Aristides de Souza Mendes; Mordecai Anieleswicz; Dr. Giuseppe Moreali; Gino Bartali; Father Ruffino Niccacci; Father Arigo Beccari; Bishop Giuseppe Placido Nicolini; Father Marie Benoit; Uri Orley; Tuvia, Zusia, Aasel Bielski (brothers); John Pehle; Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Giorgio Perlasca; Dr. Giovanni Borromeo; Marion Pritchard; Leon Feldhendler; Bishop Angelo Roncalli; Anne Frank; Irene Sandler (Opdyke); Varian Fry; Oskar Schindler; Meep Gies; Monsignor Schivo; Ana Ginno; Sophie Schole; Paul Grueninger; Tempo Sugihara; Alicia Appleman-Jurman; Hanna Szenes; Jan Karski; Marie Agnes Tribbioli; Father Maximillian Kolbe; Andre Trocme; Janusz Korczak; Raoul Wallenberg; Abba Kovner; Elie Wiesel; Take & Edna Lasow; Sir Nicholas Winton (Kindertransport)
MY ITALIAN SECRET: The Forgotten Heroes is a feature length documentary that tells the story of courageous Italians, including sports idol Gino Bartali, who carried out ingenious schemes to rescue and protect Jews in Nazi-occupied Italy. The film is narrated by Isabella Rossellini with Robert Loggia as the voice of Gino Bartali. It is available on disc, at Amazon Video and on iTunes.
MY ITALIAN SECRET tells personal accounts that reflect this little known piece of history. Through witnesses’ stories, viewers revisit a time when an entire continent was engulfed in genocide. They learn how approximately 80% of Jewish people living in Italy, including foreign Jews, survived the Holocaust. On September 8, 1943 the Nazi’s invaded Northern Italy and the deportation of thousands of Jewish people and others to Auschwitz began. This film asks: Why would someone risk his or her own life and put their family in jeopardy to ‘do the right thing’ and protect the life of another person . . . a stranger?
Yad Vashem posthumously recognized Gino Bartali from Italy as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’. Bartali was a champion cyclist and a beloved public figure. During the German occupation of Italy (beginning in September 1943), Bartali, a devout Catholic, was part of a rescue network spearheaded by Rabbi Nathan Cassuto of Florence together with the Archbishop of Florence Cardinal Elia Angelo Dalla Costa (previously recognized as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’). This Jewish-Christian network, set up following the German occupation of Italy and the onset of deportation of Jews, saved hundreds of local Jews and Jewish refugees from territories which had previously been under Italian control, mostly in France and Yugoslavia. Gino Bartali acted as a courier for the network, secreting forged documents and papers in his bicycle and transporting them between cities, all under the guise of training. Knowingly risking his life to rescue Jews, Bartali transferred falsified documents to various contacts, among them Rabbi Cassuto.
Although Gino Bartali is a sports legend, his most daring triumph came when he risked his life countless times to save Jews threatened by Nazi extermination. The story of Bartali and the secret network of which he was a member, is just one example of the heroism exhibited by thousands of ordinary Italians who risked their lives to save others from capture and death. As an entire continent was engulfed in a genocide, which took the lives of most Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe (11 million people perished, including 6 million Jews), approximately 80 percent of Italy’s Jews survived. Bartali, like most of the rescuers, never sought recognition or reward. Few of those he helped knew his name or what role he played in their rescue. In addition to Gino Bartali, thousands of conscientious individual Italians risked their lives in order to assist people who in many cases were complete strangers. Most of these heroes never spoke of their courageous deeds.
Guiding Questions: Use the documentary “My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust” to provide evidence to answer the following questions.
Identify one segment that is a primary source and one segment that is a secondary source.
Provide one positive example and one negative example of how some Italians treated the Jews during the Holocaust.
Describe three ways in which Italian rescuers helped the Jews during the Holocaust.
In your opinion, which of the six individual characters in the documentary displayed the most courage. (Explain the reason for your answer.)
Can the experiences of the people portrayed in the documentary be related to the current refugee crisis? (Explain)
Gino Bartali
A) Who was Gino Bartali?
Gino Bartali is well known in the sport of cycling and holds the record for the longest time span between victories at the Tour de France (ten years). Bartali’s life provides a powerful lesson in how moral endurance can empower from within. As Bartali attained “super star status” in the sport of cycling, he never lost sight of the fact that it was his inner strength that carried him through the most difficult moments of his life.
As he told his son Andrea, “If you’re good at a sport, they attach the medals to your shirt and then they shine in some museum. That which is earned by doing good deeds is attached to the soul and shines elsewhere.”
In 1943, when Italy was under the German army occupation, Archbishop Elia Angelo Dalla Costa and Rabbi Nathan Cassuto organized a resistance network. Bartali was recruited by the network and worked as a courier. In addition, Bartali aided the Assisi resistance movement that was organized by church members from his hometown. He also sheltered a local Jewish family in his home. As part of his job as courier, Bartali hid documents in the handlebar and seat of his bicycle. These documents were primarily export visas, giving numerous Jews the chance to evade deportation to the death camps. Long bike rides were common place for professional cyclists, even during the war. Bartali was able to travel thousands of kilometers around Italy under the guise of training rides, while he smuggled forged identity papers in the frame of his bicycle to Jewish families trying to desperately flee the country.
After the war, Bartali never spoke of his underground activities and refused all attempts at interviews. He simply remarked that “he had been motivated by his conscience and therefore did not want to have his activities documented.” Bartali’s decision to act was heroic not because he felt no fear but rather because he did not let his fear prevent him from doing what he felt was ethically right. He demonstrated moral endurance, forged in a moment of danger that few of us could ever hope to fully understand. Although the exact number of people is unknown due to Bartali’s taciturn nature, he is credited with saving 800 lives. Yad Vashem recognized Gino Bartali as a ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ in 2013. In spite of the heroic title, Bartali never thought of himself as a genuine hero. He once said, “Real heroes are others, those who have suffered in their souls, in their hearts, and their spirit, for their loved ones. Those are the real heroes. I’m just a cyclist.”
Questions
Why is Bartali famous?
What did Bartali mean when he said, “That which is earned by doing good deeds is attached to the soul and shines elsewhere.”
How did Bartali become involved in saving Jews?
What was Bartali’s role in the resistance movement?
How did Bartali demonstrate his moral endurance?
B) The Rescue of Jews in Assisi, Italy
Essay Assessment: Write a response to the following question that includes an introduction, at least two body paragraphs and a conclusion. To what extent was Gino Bartali’s role in the resistance movement in Italy successful? In your response, be sure to address the following: supporting evidence from the reading and website, individual’s actions/participation, and results of the action taken.
Father Brunacci in Assisi
The only time in history when there is a record of Jews living in Assisi, Italy was during the Holocaust, when the town and its churches, monasteries and convents became a safe haven for several hundred Jews. Shortly after the German occupation, when the manhunt for Jews began, the Bishop of Assisi, Giuseppe Nicolini, ordered Father Brunacci to head the rescue operation of Jews and to arrange sheltering places in some twenty-six monasteries and convents. The Bishop authorized the hiding of Jews in places that were closed to outsiders by monastic regulations. The Committee of Assistance that Bishop Nicolini organized transformed Assisi into a shelter for many Jews.
In addition, many other Jews were provided with false papers enabling them to travel and survive in other places. Later, Father Brunacci was arrested and tried in court for his involvement in Jewish rescue efforts but was released after the intervention by the Vatican. Father Rufino Niccacci, the Guardian of the St. Damiano Monastery, played an important role in the network. He arranged false papers and found hiding places in the monasteries and convents, disguising the Jews as monks and nuns. The network not only saved Jewish lives, but also made great efforts to supply Jews with some of their religious needs. After the war, Father Brunacci described how during Yom Kipper, the Day of Atonement and the highest holiday in the Jewish religion was celebrated in Assisi in 1943. The convent nuns prepared the special meal for the ending of the fast.
Not only priest and nuns of the church participated in this collective effort, but many others played key roles in the rescue of Jews. One such person was Luigi Brizi who owned a souvenir shop in Assisi that operated a printing press. Brizi and his son became members of the Assisi rescue network and risked their lives by printing false papers for the persecuted Jews. Luigi’s son, Trento, bicycled to Foligno, 20 kilometers from Assisi, to a friend who used his etching skills to produce seals in order to stamp the false documents. The Viterbi family was one of the families that lived openly due to the false papers provided by Brizi. After the war, Brunacci remarked that about 200 Jews had been saved from the persecutors. As a result, Yad Vashem in Israel, honored the following people for their role in saving Jews: Father Rufino Niccacci was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 1976; Bishop Giuseppe Nicolini and Father Brunacci were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 1977; and Luigi Brizi and his son Trento were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 1977.
Questions
Why did Jews move to Assisi?
How did the Bishop of Assisi, Giuseppe Nicolini, react to the German occupation?
Explain what happened to Father Brunacci as a result of his rescue efforts.
How did Father Rufino Nicacci’s role in the rescue network help Jews?
How did Luigi Brizi and his son Trento participate in the saving of Jews?
How did the Jewish people give thanks to those who saved their lives in Assisi?
Essay Assessment: Write a response to the following question that includes an introduction, body paragraph and a conclusion. To what extent were the activities of the Assisi Underground network successful in the saving of Jews during the Holocaust? In your response, be sure to address the following: – supporting evidence from the reading – action of individuals – results of action taken
C. Courageous Hall of Fame
Directions: Review the following list of individuals who performed acts of courage (up-standers). Choose one individual to research the actions taken by the individual and answer the five project questions (only one student researching an individual). After completing the research, the teacher may choose to have students present their arguments for their nominee to the class. The teacher may also have students vote to determine if the arguments/evidence presented was strong enough for the nominee to be inducted into the Courageous Hall of Fame.
Alternative Strategies: Write a letter to the Courageous Hall of Fame award committee presenting your arguments/evidence to nominate your individual person to the Courageous Hall of Fame. Write a thank you letter to the individual researched thanking him or her for his/her acts of courage.
COURAGEOUS HALL OF FAME NOMINEES:
Father Joseph Andre; Aristides de Souza Mendes; Mordecai Anieleswicz; Dr. Giuseppe Moreali; Gino Bartali; Father Ruffino Niccacci; Father Arigo Beccari; Bishop Giuseppe Placido Nicolini; Father Marie Benoit; Uri Orley; Tuvia, Zusia, Aasel Bielski (brothers); John Pehle; Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Giorgio Perlasca; Dr. Giovanni Borromeo; Marion Pritchard; Leon Feldhendler; Bishop Angelo Roncalli; Anne Frank; Irene Sandler (Opdyke); Varian Fry; Oskar Schindler; Meep Gies; Monsignor Schivo; Ana Ginno; Sophie Schole; Paul Grueninger; Tempo Sugihara; Alicia Appleman-Jurman; Hanna Szenes; Jan Karski; Marie Agnes Tribbioli; Father Maximillian Kolbe; Andre Trocme; Janusz Korczak; Raoul Wallenberg; Abba Kovner; Elie Wiesel; Take & Edna Lasow; Sir Nicholas Winton (Kindertransport)
Suggested Reading for Young Adults: Altshuler, David. Hitler’s War against the Jews. New York: Berhman House, 1978.
Anflick, Charles. Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistance Who Fought Nazi Tyranny. NY: Rosen, 1999.
Bartlett, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow. Scholastic, 2012.
Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Girl by Anne Frank. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1947.Lee, Carol Ann. Anne Frank and the Children of the Holocaust. U.S.A.: Puffin Books, 2006.
Rapport, Doreen. Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust. Summerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Publishers, 2012.
Warren, Andrea. Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps. U.S.A.: Harper Collins, 2001.
Meltzer, Milton. Rescue: The Story of How the Gentiles Saved Jews in the Holocaust. NY: Harper, 1988.
Rogasky, Barbara. Smoke and Ashes: The Story of the Holocaust.New York: Holiday House, 1988.
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