njcssjournal

by Stephanie Skier

Editor’s Note: this lesson is retrievable from https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans/lesson-1-1828-campaign-andrew-jackson-expansion-voting-base; Henretta et al (2014). America’s History, For the AP® Course, 8th edition.

Key Historical Themes/Trends: expansion of the franchise; rise of popular politics; rise of “democracy”; decline of notables (prominent elites) – John Quincy Adams as “the last notable president” (JQA refused to adjust to the new style of party politics); explicit exclusion of women and African Americans: “white men’s democracy”; rise of political machines; new forms of political corruption

Learning Objective: Explain the causes and effects of the expansion of participatory democracy from 1800 to 1848.

Historical Developments: The nation’s transition to a more participatory democracy was achieved by expanding suffrage from a system based on property ownership to one based on voting by all adult white men, and it was accompanied by the growth of political parties.

Do Now: Silently and independently answer questions 1-5 based on the following maps (figure 1): Figure 1:

1. How many states or territories had property qualifications for voting in 1800?
2. How many states or territories had property qualifications for voting in 1830? 
3. How many states or territories had universal white male suffrage in 1830?
4. What do you think could have caused this the expansion of the franchise from 1800 to 1830?
5. In your opinion, what is the significance of the change shown in the maps?

White Man’s Democracy

Old cultural rules and new laws denied the vote to most women and free African American men.  When women and free African Americans sought voting rights amidst the new expansion of voting rights to poorer white men, legislators wrote explicit race and gender restrictions into state constitutions.  These exclusions often covered not just voting, but also serving on juries and running for public office. An 1821 New York State constitutional convention approved nearly universal suffrage for white men but set a high property threshold for blacks. The new constitution was overwhelmingly approved by New York State voters in January 1822 by 74,732 to 41,402.

“Article II, Section 1. Every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been an inhabitant of this state one year preceding any election . . . shall be entitled to vote in the town or ward where he actually resides . . .; but no man of colour, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this state, and for one year next preceding any election, shall be seized and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, over and above all debts and incumbrances [debts] charged thereon; and shall have been actually rated, and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at any such election.

Turn and talk:

1. How did New York State restrict voting rights for men of colour [black]?
2. In your opinion, why do you think that race and gender restrictions on voting were added at the same time that property restrictions on voting were removed? 
3. Do you think that the results were more democratic or less democratic than before?

Political Parties Take Command

1. As the power of the notables declined, the political party emerged as the organizing force in the American system of government.
2. Parties were political machines that gathered the diverse agenda of social and economic groups into a coherent legislative program.
3. Although the beneficiary of elitist education and financial support, Martin Van Buren advocated a political order based on party identity, not family connections.
4. Between 1817 and 1821, Van Buren created the first statewide political machine, and he later organized the first nationwide political party.
5. Keys to Van Buren’s political success were his systematic use of party newspapers to promote a platform and drum up the vote and his use of patronage. He and his party made six thousand political appointments in New York. Van Buren then used the spoils system to award public jobs to political supporters after an electoral victory. Under the spoils system, public jobs were given to reward party allegiance, not based on an individual’s qualifications for the job.
6. Van Buren insisted on disciplined voting as determined by a caucus, a meeting of party leaders, to ensure passage of the party’s legislative program.

Directions: Fill in the political parties and key political leaders for the Transition and the Second Party System shown in the diagram below. List 3 key organizing tools/methods that political parties used under the Second Party System and the purpose or effect of each of those tools/methods. (Hint: look among the bolded words in the “Political Parties Take Command.”

Method used by Political Parties	Purpose or Effect

Directions: Answer the question below based on the following diagrams.

Question: Describe the overall trend in voter turnout (the percentage of eligible voters who actually voted) from 1824 to 1844.

Image Analysis

Directions: For your group’s assigned image, follow the 4-step Image Analysis procedure below, discussing with your group and jotting down very brief notes in response to the Image Analysis questions (3 minutes).  Then answer the content-specific questions for your image 10 minutes.

Before answering the content-specific questions for your image, conduct a general image analysis using the following four-step procedure.

1. Visual Inventory: Describe the image, beginning with the largest, most obvious features and proceed toward more particular details. Describe fully, without making evaluations. What do you see? What is the setting? What is the time of day, the season of the year, the region of the country?
2. Documentation: Note what you know about the work. Who made it? When? Where? What is its title? How was it made? What were the circumstances of its creation (if known)?
3. Associations: Begin to make evaluations and draw conclusions using observations and prior knowledge. How does this image relate to its historical and cultural framework? Does it invite comparison or correlation with historical or literary texts? Do you detect a point of view or a mood conveyed by the image? Does it present any unexplained or difficult aspects? Does it trigger an emotional response in you as a viewer? What associations (historical, literary, cultural, artistic) enrich your viewing of this image?
4. Interpretation: Develop an interpretation of the work that both recognizes its specific features and also places it in a larger historical or thematic context.

Figure 1: George Caleb Bingham, The County Election, oil on canvas, 1851-1852

Group A: With your group, analyze the painting below and answer Questions 1-7.

1. According to the painting, who is shown participating in elections?  Describe the people shown in the crowd in terms of their race/ethnicity; sex/gender; class; and age.
2. As shown the painting, was this election day gathering formal or casual?  What does that suggest about politics during this time period?
3. According to the painting, what might have drawn people from rural areas to go the polling place on election day, aside from the election itself?
4. Based on the painting, where and how did people cast their votes?  Was voting by secret ballot or in public? 
5. Based on the painting, how do you think the people shown were getting information about the candidates and forming their decisions about how they will vote?
6. Do you see anything in the painting to suggest to presence of political parties? How does Bingham portray them?
7. What does the painting suggest about elections in which common people (not just wealthy property owners) can vote?

Group B: With your group, analyze the political cartoon and captions below and answer Questions 1-

Agrarian Workingmen’s Party of New York City, political cartoon, 1830

Captions:  Upper left: “We are in favour of Monarchy, Aristocracy, Monopolies, Auctions, laws that oppress the Poor, Imposture and the rights of the rich man to govern and enslave the Poor man at his will and pleasure, denying the Poor the right to redress, or any participation in political power.” Satan: “Take any, my dear Friend, they will all help you to grind the WORKIES [workingmen]!!”   Box in Satan’s hand: “Ballot Box”   Man in top hat: “My Old Friend, give me one of your favourites — TAMMANY — SENTINEL, or JOURNAL, or the POOR will get their rights. I’ll pay all.”   Box in lower left foreground: “This contains the cause of all the misery and distress of the human family.”   Upper right: “We are opposed to Monarchy, Aristocracy, Monopolies, Auctions, and in favour of the Poor to political power, denying the right of the rich to govern the Poor, and asserting in all cases, that those who labour should make the laws by which such labour should be protected and rewarded and finally, opposed to degrading the Mechanic, by making Mechanics of Felons. Our motto shall be Liberty, Equity, Justice, and The Rights of Man.”   Liberty’s banner [Candidates of the Agrarian Workingmen’s Party, Nov. 1830 election]: “Register, John R. Soper, Mariner. Assembly, Henry Ireland, Coppersmith; William Forbes, Silversmith; William Odell, Grocer; Micajah Handy, Shipwright; Edmund L. Livingston, Brassfounder; Joseph H. Ray, Printer; Merritt Sands, Cartman; Samuel Parsons, Moroccodresser; Thompson Town, Engineer; Alexander Ming, Senior, Printer; Hugh M’Bride, Cartman. For Lieutenant-governor, Jonas Humbert, Senior, Baker. Senator, George Bruce, Typefounder. Congress, Alden Potter, Machinist; John Tuthill, Jeweller; Thomas Skidmore, Machinist.   Worker: “Now for a noble effort for Rights, Liberties, and Comforts, equal to any in the land. No more grinding the POOR — But Liberty and the Rights of man.”   Box in Liberty’s hand: “Ballot Box”

1. Compare the clothes of mainstream political party politician (shown in the middle left) with the clothes of the working man (middle right). What do their clothes indicate about each man?
2. What is the politician doing in the cartoon?
3. According to the cartoon, what were the roles of political parties and their newspapers?
4. What is the Devil (on the left)) shown doing?  What is his symbolism in the cartoon?
5. What is “Mother Liberty” (the figure on the right) shown doing?  What is her symbolism in the cartoon? 
6. What opinion of the Working Men’s Party (the list of candidates shown on the right half of the cartoon) does the cartoonist present?
7. Which figure — the working man or the party politician — did the cartoonist present as being the legitimate protector of the accomplishments of the American Revolution?
8. What solution does the cartoonist offer to solve the problems of political corruption and working-class oppression?

Education: Debates and Changes

Question: What were some of the major changes in education that occurred over the period of the 1820s-1850s?

• Although families provided most moral and intellectual training, republican ideology encouraged publicly supported schooling.
• Bostonian Caleb Bingham, an influential textbook author, called for “an equal distribution of knowledge to make us emphatically a ‘republic of letters.’”
• Farmers, artisans, and laborers wanted elementary schools that would instruct their children in reading, writing, and arithmetic.
• Although the constitutions of many states encouraged the use of public resources to fund primary schools, there was not much progress until the 1820s.
• To instill self-discipline and individual enterprise in students, reformers chose textbooks that praised honesty and hard work while condemning gambling, drinking, and laziness. American history was also required learning.
• Horace Mann (1796–1859), the nation’s leading educational reformer, led the fight for government support for public schools. As a state legislator in Massachusetts, in 1837 Mann took the lead in establishing a state board of education and his efforts resulted in a doubling of state expenditures on education. He also won state support for teacher training, an improved curriculum in schools, the grading of pupils by age and ability, and a lengthened school year. He was also partially successful in curtailing the use of corporal punishment. In 1852, three years after Mann left office to take a seat in the U.S. Congress, Massachusetts adopted the first compulsory school attendance law in U.S. history.
• However, most northern cities specifically excluded African Americans from the public schools. It was not until 1855 that Massachusetts became the first state to admit students to public schools without regard to “race, color, or religious opinions.” 
• Women and religious minorities also experienced discrimination. For women, education beyond the level of handicrafts and basic reading and writing was largely confined to separate female academies and seminaries for the wealthy. Emma Hart Willard opened one of the first academies offering advanced education to women in Philadelphia in 1814.
• Many public school teachers showed an anti-Catholic bias by using texts that portrayed the Catholic Church as a threat to republican values and reading passages from a Protestant version of the Bible. Beginning in New York City in 1840, Catholics decided to establish their own system of schools in which children would receive a religious education as well as training in the arts and sciences.
• In higher education, a few institutions opened their doors to African Americans and women.
• In 1833, Oberlin College led by the revivalist minister Charles G. Finney, became the first co-educational college in the United States. Four years later, Mary Lyon established the first women’s college, Mount Holyoke, to train teachers and missionaries. A number of western state universities also admitted women.
• Three colleges for specifically for African Americans, including Lincoln University, were founded before the Civil War.  A few other colleges, including Oberlin, Harvard, Bowdoin, and Dartmouth, admitted small numbers of black students.

Final Writing Task

Directions: Silently and independently read and annotate the quotations below.  Then write a 3-5 sentences response to the prompt based on the quotations.

1. Compare and contrast the opinion presented by Alexander Hamilton and the opinion presented by the New York Working Men’s party.

2. Connect to the theme: How do these primary source documents connect to larger changes in U.S. politics that occurred over this time period?

Vocabulary turbulent: unsteady, fluctuating, stormy imprudence: recklessness, lack of caution, lack of forethought New York Workingmen’s Party: Formed in 1829, rose quickly to prominence and then disappeared in 1831, when much of the party’s agenda and voters were coopted by the Tammany Hall Democratic Party political machine.  The New York Workingmen’s Party successfully supported the end of imprisonment for debt in New York state and expanded funding for public education in New York City.

 “All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and the well born, the other the mass of the people… The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. … Give, therefore to the first class a distinct permanent share in the government…. Can a democratic Assembly, who annually revolve in the mass of the people, be supposed steadily to pursue the public good? Nothing but a permanent body can check the imprudence of democracy.” —Alexander Hamilton, 1787

“All children are entitled to equal education; all adults, to equal property; and all mankind to equal privileges.” — New York Workingmen’s Party, 1829

The Alice Paul Institute

I think about how much we owe to the women who went before us-legions of women, some known but many more unknown. I applaud the bravery and resilience of those who helped all of us – you and me – to be here today.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice

Grade: 6-8 / Duration: 2 class periods

OBJECTIVES:

• Students will develop analytical research skills, work cooperatively, and practice positive presentation skills.
• Students will learn about a diverse array of women’s rights activists and how they shaped the suffrage movement.

MATERIALS:

• Craft supplies – construction paper and/or poster board, plain white paper, markers, glue, scissors, etc.
• Computers with internet access for research
• Missing Persons Report handout
• List of activists (included) to assign students

PROCEDURE: After watching Alice at a Glance, debrief with students:

• Who were the main historical figures presented in the DVD?
• What did they contribute to their women’s suffrage movement?
• What obstacles did they face, and how did they overcome them?
• Was women’s suffrage achieved with the work of only these women, or did it take many different hands?

TASKS: In groups of two or three, students will each research a different activist who somehow played a role in women’s rights. While all of these activists are well known among historians for their contributions, most of us have never heard of them before. Each group will craft a creative “Missing Persons Report” on their historical figure (see assignment handout). They should include a bibliography of their sources used. Students should use the resources available at the school to conduct their research, including internet research databases and library materials. (Google searches should only be accepted as a last resort and information must be from reputable websites.) When students have completed their research (See handout for guidelines of relevant information) they should begin creating their Missing Persons Report. Encourage students to get creative. They may wish to bring in materials from home to complete their Missing Persons Report the following day. When all students have completed their Missing Persons Report, give students time to present their posters to the class. Students should present basic background information about their activist, highlight their contributions and briefly explain why they think this activist should be better known. Display the posters in the classroom or hallway to share students’ research about lesser-known women’s rights activists.

EVALUATION: Consider evaluating students’ learning for a grade based on their group participation, research bibliography, and finished product. Check in on student’s understanding as they research–they may need additional support with the research process or sorting through information about their activist.

ADAPTATIONS: A more extended project might involve the creation of a class book, group PowerPoint project, or a project using other media. Consider creating an interdisciplinary project on persuasion with a Language Arts class by asking students to use persuasive techniques in their final projects. Expectations of final products and analysis involved will vary with grade levels.

LIST OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

The following activists worked for women’s suffrage; even if students are familiar with some of the names, they often don’t know the activists’ contributions to women’s rights in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Here’s a chance for them to find out: Jane Addams; Ida Wells Barnett; Antoinette Brown Blackwell; Henry Blackwell; Harriot Stanton Blatch; Mary Ann Shadd Cary; Carrie Chapman Catt; Anne Clay Crenshaw; Paulina Wright Davis; Rheta Childe Dorr; Frederick Douglass; Lillian Feickert; Abigail Kelly Foster; Matilda Joslyn Gage; Angelica Emily Grimke; Sarah Moore Grimke; Ida Husted Harper; Julia Ward Howe; Alice Duer Miller; Esther Morris; Lucretia Mott; Parker Pillsbury; Robert Purvis; Jeanette Rankin; Caroline Severance; Anna Howard Shaw; Mary Church Terrell; Sojourner Truth; Victoria Woodhull; Maud Younger

Missing Persons Report

There are many activists (female and male) who made tremendous contributions to women’s rights. Most are well-known by historians, but many of us don’t recognize the names of people who had a major impact on women’s rights. As historical detectives, you will research one activist who fought for women’s right to vote. With your group, you will create a Missing Persons Report about your historical figure. Get creative with your report! Be sure to address:

• Who your figure is (name)
• When they lived
• An image of the activist
• Their major contributions to women’s rights
• Why you think people should know about this activist
• Consider including symbols of your activist’s work and life, quotes by or about your activist, or pictures of their work – anything that will show others who your activist was.

Institute for Curriculum Services

Editor’s Note: this lesson is retrievable from https://icsresources.org/curriculum/the-arab-israeli-conflict/

The Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) is dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 education on Jews, Judaism, and Israel in the United States. They do this by developing standards-aligned curricula and training teachers around the country (www.icsresources.org). Steve Goldberg, a former President of the National Council for the Social Studies, is the New York regional trainer for (ICS).  In this lesson, students examine letters, agreements, and official statements that were written during World War I and shortly after it ended. These documents show how the British made conflicting promises to Jews and Arabs during this period. These are planned as a two-day lesson.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

• What role did the Allied Powers (especially the British Government) play in setting up conflicts in the region which persist today?
• Why did the British Government make promises that conflicted with each other?

Learning Outcomes – Students will be able to:

• Understand the connection between the broken promises made to Arabs and Jews during World War 1 and current challenges in the Middle East.
• Situate a modern conflict in its historical, cultural, and geographical context.
• Derive information from political maps.
• Determine the central ideas or information from a primary text.
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases used in a text.

Materials: Broken Promises video and Primary Sources, Key Words, and Maps (available online)

Primary Sources

• DOCUMENT 1: Hussein-McMahon Correspondence (1915) and Maps ?
• DOCUMENT 2: The Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916) and Map ?
• DOCUMENT 3: The Balfour Declaration (1917) ?
• DOCUMENT 4: The Feisal-Weizmann Agreement (1919) ?
• DOCUMENT 5: The Covenant of the League of Nations, Article 22 (1919)

Handouts: Tweet the Document Exercise; SOAPSTone Graphic Organizer; Exit Slip

Introduction: Ask the students to talk to their elbow partners about times when they’ve experienced promises being broken. Has a friend broken a promise? A parent or guardian? A family member? What did it feel like? Is there any way to make up for a broken promise? What do broken promises do to relationships? At this point, the teacher can segue into the topic of the class: What happens when nations make promises that they can’t or won’t keep?

Activities: Watch the film, “Broken Promises,” available online; if you didn’t do Lesson 1, watch the film, “Land Matters,” also online. Alternatively, you may introduce the topic with the following talking points:

• To understand the Arab-Israeli conflict, it’s important to consider the broken promises that the British made to Arabs and Jews as they tried to secure allies in the Middle East during World War I.
• During WWI, the geographic territory that now comprises the State of Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, was known as “Greater Syria” and had been part of the Ottoman Empire for six centuries.
• Because of its geographic location, this region is a land bridge connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe and was strategically important to the Allied Forces (Britain, France, Russia, and later the United States and Italy) in their fight against the Central Powers (primarily Germany and the Ottoman Empire).
• Britain first engaged Arab leaders as allies during World War I by promising them independence at the end of the war (as seen in DOCUMENT 1: The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence).
• Shortly after, Britain enlisted Jewish support in the war effort by promising to create a Jewish national home in the ancient Jewish homeland (as seen in the DOCUMENT 3: Balfour Declaration).
• While some Arab and Jewish leaders recognized the benefits of the establishment and maintenance of respective territories within this region (as seen in the DOCUMENT 4: Faisal- Weizmann Agreement), the ruling powers (Britain and France) secretly made an agreement to exercise political control through spheres of influence (as seen in the DOCUMENT 2: Sykes-Picot Agreement).
• Shortly after World War I ended, European nations formed the League of Nations as a way to settle international disputes and prevent future conflict. The DOCUMENT 5: Covenant of the League of Nations, Article 22, provides the framework for what should be done with the colonies and territories that had controlled by the Central Powers before the war.

Primary Source Analysis

Option 1: Working in small groups, students will analyze primary source documents using the social media platform, Twitter. This activity works best with Documents 1-3. Each group should have one Tweet the Document handout and one of the first three documents. Each group will do their own document analysis using the Tweet format (see handout). Explain that Twitter is an online news and social networking site where people communicate in short messages called Tweets. Using a maximum of 280 characters, the Tweeter’s ideas are explained in brief but meaningful phrases, promoting the focused and intentional use of language. Hashtags (#) are used to categorize Tweets so that they are part of a narrowed conversation and are easier to find in a Twitter search. They are also used to add extra emphasis to the Tweet, similar to bullet points.

Option 2: Students should form groups of four or five so that they will be able to work independentlyandtheninsmallgroupsevaluatefiveprimarysourcedocuments. Distribute the primary source documents so that each group receives a full set. If there are only four students in a group, they can skip either Document 4 or 5. Each student should read the introduction to the text to get a sense of authorship, audience, setting, time, and type of document. Then, each student will read the assigned primary source document, using the SOAPSTone Graphic Organizer to record pertinent details. Students will then present their findings to their small groups.

Variation: Students form groups of two (or three) and each pair will work on one text and fill out the SOAPSTone Graphic Organizer together. The small groups then present their findings to the class so that the whole class is exposed to the full set of documents. In order to make use of both types of primary source analysis, students may use the exercise for because they are shorter and more conducive to the Tweet format. Using the exercise for Documents 4-5 gives students the opportunity to focus on the more nuanced language in these sources, especially with regard to purpose and tone.

Option 3: In order to make use of both types of primary source analysis, students may use the exercise for because they are shorter and more conducive to the Tweet format. Using the exercise for Documents 4-5 gives students the opportunity to focus on the more nuanced language in these sources, especially with regard to purpose and tone.

Conclusion: Students can answer the questions on the Exit Slip, either as part of a class discussion or individually.

______________________________________________________________________________

DOCUMENT 1: Hussein-McMahon Correspondence (1915)

BACKGROUND: Beginning in the summer of 1915, Sir Henry McMahon (1862-1949), British High Commissioner in Cairo, exchanged letters with Hussein Ibn Ali (1853/54-1931), the Sherif of Mecca. In these letters, which became known as “The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence,” McMahon agreed to support Hussein’s request for Arab independence in exchange for Arab support against the Ottoman Empire in World War I. NOTE: The maps that accompany this document were not part of the original correspondence; they represent the request that Hussein made and the response that McMahon provided. What precisely was promised later became the subject of great debate.

Source: The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict. W. Laqueur and B. Rubin, editors. New York: Penguin Books, 2008.

EXCERPT From Sir Henry McMahon, 24 October 1915

“I have received your letter of the 29th Shawal, 1333 [in the Islamic calendar], with much pleasure and your expressions of friendliness and sincerity have given me the greatest satisfaction.

“I regret that you should have received from my last letter the impression that I regarded the question of the limits and boundaries with coldness and hesitation; such was not the case . . .  I have realised, however . . . that you regard this question as one of vital and urgent importance. I have, therefore, lost no time in informing the Government of Great Britain of the contents of your letter, and it is with great pleasure that I communicate to you on their behalf the following statement, which I am confident you will receive with satisfaction.

“The two districts of Mersina and Alexandretta and portions of Syria lying to the west of the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo cannot be said to be purely Arab, and should be excluded from the limits demanded. . . I am empowered in the name of the Government of Great Britain to give the following assurances and make the following reply to your letter:

1. Subject to the above modifications, Great Britain is prepared to recognize and support the independence of the Arabs in all the regions within the limits demanded by the Sherif of Mecca.

2. When the situation admits, Great Britain will give to the Arabs her advice and will assist them to establish what may appear to be the most suitable forms of government in those various territories.

3. On the other hand, it is understood that the Arabs have decided to seek the advice and guidance of Great Britain only, and that such European advisers and officials as may be required for the formation of a sound form of administration will be British . . .

“I am convinced that this declaration will assure you beyond all possible doubt of the sympathy of Great Britain towards the aspirations of her friends the Arabs and will result in a firm and lasting alliance, the immediate results of which will be the expulsion of the Turks from the Arab countries and the freeing of the Arab peoples from the Turkish yoke, which for so many years has pressed heavily upon them.”

KEYWORDS

The area with diagonal lines (ARABIA) represents what Hussein originally requested as territory for a future Arab state. See Schneer, Jonathan, Balfour Declaration the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict  (New York: Random House, 2012).

McMahon’s Response

In his letter, McMahon offers Hussein everything to the right of the thick dark line (which corresponds to Arabia on the map to the right, but was technically called the Villayet of Damascus because it was part of the Ottoman Empire). The area in the shaded region, McMahon said, was not properly Arab and could not be included.

DOCUMENT 2: Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916) (EXCERPT)

Source: The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict. W. Laqueur and B. Rubin, editors. New York: Penguin Books, 2008.

BACKGROUND: On May 9, 1916, Great Britain and France reached a secret agreement, drafted by their representatives Mark Sykes and Francois George-Picot, respectively. As part of this agreement they outlined their spheres of influence in the Middle East, territory for an Arab state or confederation of Arab states, dividing most of the Ottoman Empire into areas of British and French control which would take effect at the end of World War I. This agreement became public in March 1917 (See accompanying map).

KEYWORDS

DOCUMENT 3: The Balfour Declaration (1917)

BACKGROUND: On November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930) wrote a letter, endorsing the British Government’s establishment of a Jewish national home in the geographic territory of Palestine. Lord Rothschild, to whom the letter was addressed, was the unofficial leader of the British Jewish community. Source: Balfour Declaration November 2, 1917. The Avalon Project at Yale Law School.

Foreign Office, November 2nd, 1917 Dear Lord Rothschild, I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.   “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”   I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.   Yours sincerely, Arthur James Balfour

DOCUMENT 4: Feisal-Weizmann Agreement (1919) (EXCERPT)

Source: The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict. W. Laqueur and B. Rubin, editors. New York: Penguin, 2008.

BACKGROUND: On January 3, 1919, Emir Feisal (1885-1933), son of Hussein ibn-Ali and an Arab leader and military commander, and Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952), President of the Zionist Organization, entered into an agreement with each other to formalize the national aspirations of both the Jews and the Arabs with the aim of establishing independent states for both peoples. Note: In this agreement, the term Palestine referred to a Jewish state.

His Royal Highness the Emir Feisal, representing and acting on behalf of the Arab Kingdom of Hedjaz, and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, representing and acting on behalf of the Zionist Organisation, mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish people . . . have agreed upon the following Articles:

• Article I: The Arab State and Palestine [Jewish State] in all their relations and undertakings shall be controlled by the most cordial goodwill and understanding . . . .
• Article II: The definite boundaries between the Arab State and Palestine shall be determined by a Commission to be agreed upon by the parties hereto.
• Article III: Measures shall be adopted . . . or carrying into effect the British Government’s Declaration of the 2nd of November, 1917 [the Balfour Declaration].
• Article IV: All necessary measures shall be taken to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale . . . In taking such measures the Arab peasant and tenant farmers shall be protected in their rights and shall be assisted in forwarding their economic development.
• Article V: No regulation or law shall be made prohibiting or interfering in any way with the free exercise of religion . . .
• Article VI: The Mohammedan Holy Places shall be under Mohammedan control.
• Article VII: The Zionist Organization will use its best efforts to assist the Arab State in providing the means for developing the natural resources and economic possibilities thereof.

Reservation by the Emir Feisal: If the Arabs are established as I have asked in my manifesto of 4 January, addressed to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, I will carry out what is written in this agreement. If changes are made, I cannot be answerable for failing to carry out this agreement.

KEYWORDS

DOCUMENT 5: Covenant of the League of Nations, Article 22 (1919) (EXCERPT)

Source: The Covenant of the League of Nations, 1919. The Avalon Project at Yale Law School.

BACKGROUND: As World War I was coming to a close, many of the European powers sought to form an international organization to settle disputes between nations. Member nations would agree to defend each other if attacked and would not declare war without the consent of the others. The Covenant of the League of Nations is the document which created the League of Nations and defined its mission. The League of Nations formally came into being in 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference. This section of the Covenant talks about what should be done with the colonies and territories controlled by the Central Powers before World War I.

To those colonies and territories which as a consequence of the late war have ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilization and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant . . . 

The tutelage of such peoples should be entrusted to advanced nations who by reason of their resources, their experience or their geographical position can best undertake this responsibility, and who are willing to accept it, and that this tutelage should be exercised by them as Mandatories on behalf of the League.

The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of the development of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, its economic conditions and other similar circumstances.

Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire [Ottoman Empire] have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognized subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory.

Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage that the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience and religion, subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms traffic and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the establishment of fortifications or military and naval bases and of military training of the natives for other than police purposes and the defense of territory, and will also secure equal opportunities for the trade and commerce of other Members of the League . . . 

The degree of authority, control, or administration to be exercised by the Mandatory shall, if not previously agreed upon by the Members of the League, be explicitly defined in each case by the Council.

Source: The Covenant of the League of Nations, 1919. The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Web.

KEYWORDS

CLOSURE ACTIVITIES

Tweet the Document Exercise: Twitter is an online news and social networking site where people communicate in short messages called Tweets. Tweets are limited to 280 characters. Hashtags (#) are used to categorize Tweets so that they are easier to find in a Twitter search. Hash tags are also used to add extra emphasis to the Tweet, similar to bullet points. Tweet the central message(s) of your document using the Twitter format.

SOAPSTone – Graphic Organizer

	Close Reading	How do you know?
SPEAKER	Who is the speaker? What can you tell or what do you know about the speaker that helps you understand the point of view expressed?
OCCASION	What is the time and place of the piece? What is the current situation (that prompted the writing)? Is this a political event, a celebration, an observation, or a critique? Identify the context of the text.
AUDIENCE	Who are the readers to whom this piece is directed? It may be one person or a specific group. Does the speaker specify an audience? What assumptions exist in the text about the intended audience?
PURPOSE	What is the purpose behind the text? (Why did the author write it? What is his goal?) What is the message? How does the speaker convey this message?
SUBJECT	What topic, content, and ideas are included in the text? State the subject in a few words or a short phrase.
TONE	What is the attitude of the author? Is the author emotional, objective, neutral, or biased about this topic? What types of diction (choice of words), syntax (sentence structure), and imagery (metaphors, similes, and other types of figurative language) help reflect the tone?

EXIT SLIP

1. What promises did the British make during World War I?

2. Why did the British make conflicting promises? Which promises did they break?

3. What kind of agreement did Faisal and Weizmann make with each other?

4. What do you think happened in the region after World War I because of broken promises?

From Lesson to Assessment: What are the First Amendment rights of assembly and petition?

Do Now: According to the First Amendment to the Constitution – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This cartoon is from 1909. The photograph is from 1917.

Questions

1. Who do the two people in the cartoon represent?
2. Based on the photograph and the year, what change do you think the petitioner is demanding?

1. The women are assembled in front of the White House. In your opinion, is this a constitutionally protected assembly? Explain.
2. This campaign started in 1848 with a woman’s rights convention. In your opinion, why did this campaign take so long to achieve success?

A. Should there be limits on assembly? Did New York State violate Nicole Carty’s constitutional rights?

Disorderly Conduct in New York, Penal Law 240.20: A person is guilty of disorderly conduct when, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof:

• He engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior; or

• He makes unreasonable noise; or
• In a public place, he uses abusive or obscene language, or makes an obscene gesture; or
• Without lawful authority, he disturbs any lawful assembly or meeting of persons; or
• He obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic; or
• He congregates with other persons in a public place and refuses to comply with a lawful order of the police to disperse; or
• He creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose. Disorderly conduct is a violation.

People v. Carty (Nicole) 2016: Defendant was convicted, after a nonjury trial, of two counts of disorderly conduct, arising from her participation in an “Occupy Wall Street” protest. Defendant’s present arguments relating to the legal sufficiency of the evidence, to the extent preserved for appellate review, are lacking in merit. Nor was the verdict against the weight of the evidence. The People’s proof established that defendant obstructed pedestrian traffic (see Penal Law § 240.20) by laying down on a busy Wall Street sidewalk at 4:00 PM on a trading day, side-by-side with other “Occupy” protestors, and refused to comply with a lawful police order to disperse.

B. Did the Gag Rule violate the United States Constitution? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gag_rule#United_States )

• In 1834 the American Anti-Slavery Society began an antislavery petition drive. Over the next few years the number of petitions sent to Congress increased sharply. In 1837—38, for example, abolitionists sent more than 130,000 petitions to Congress asking for the abolition of slavery in Washington, DC. As antislavery opponents became more insistent, Southern members of Congress were increasingly adamant in their defense of slavery. In May of 1836 the House passed a resolution that automatically “tabled,” or postponed action on all petitions relating to slavery without hearing them. Stricter versions of this gag rule passed in succeeding Congresses. At first, only a small group of congressmen, led by Representative John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, opposed the rule. Adams used a variety of parliamentary tactics to try to read slavery petitions on the floor of the House, but each time he fell victim to the rule. Gradually, as antislavery sentiment in the North grew, more Northern congressmen supported Adams’s argument that, whatever one’s view on slavery, stifling the right to petition was wrong. In 1844 the House rescinded the gag rule on a motion made by John Quincy Adams.

Exit Ticket: In your opinion, what limits, if any, should be placed on the rights of assembly and petition?

The photograph below was taken in front of the White House in 1917.

What were the women demanding?

1. The women in the picture were campaigning for independence from Great Britain.
2. The women were demanding an end to slavery in the United States.
3. The women were demanding the right to join a labor union.
4. The women were demanding the right to vote.

Why were the women criticized for these protests?

1. No women had this right anywhere in the United States.
2. They were criticized because the federal government had already agreed to approve this right.
3. They were criticized as disloyal because the United States was engaged in World War I.
4. They weren’t criticized and President Wilson joined their protests.

In 1834 the American Anti-Slavery Society began an antislavery petition drive. Over the next few years the number of petitions sent to Congress increased sharply. In 1837—38, for example, abolitionists sent more than 130,000 petitions to Congress asking for the abolition of slavery in Washington, DC. As antislavery opponents became more insistent, Southern members of Congress were increasingly adamant in their defense of slavery. In May of 1836 the House passed a “gag rule” that automatically “tabled,” or postponed action on all petitions relating to slavery without hearing them. Representative John Quincy Adams, a former President of the United States, argued that whatever one’s view on slavery, stifling the right to petition was wrong.

What was the “gag rule”?

1. Northern abolitionists wanted to prevent speeches in Congress by Southern supporters of slavery.
2. Southern supporters of slavery wanted to block anti-slavery petitions from being read in Congress.
3. When he was President, John Quincy Adams stopped all Congressional debate over slavery.
4. A bill to end slavery in the United States and prevent a Civil War.

What Constitutional grounds could Adams use to challenge the Congressional gag rule?

1. The 5^thAmendment to the Constitution ensures all people due legal process.
2. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution ensures the citizen rights of all Americans.
3. The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery in the United States.
4. The 1st Amendment protects the right of Americans to petition the government.

Examine documents A and B and then write a persuasive essay of approximately 250-words where you take a position on whether there should be limits on the right to assembly. Refer to at least two, either hypothetical or actual incidents, to support your position.

1. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

• Defendant was convicted, after a non-jury trial, of two counts of disorderly conduct, arising from her participation in an “Occupy Wall Street” protest. Defendant’s present arguments relating to the legal sufficiency of the evidence, to the extent preserved for appellate review, are lacking in merit. Nor was the verdict against the weight of the evidence. The People’s proof established that defendant obstructed pedestrian traffic (Penal Law § 240.20) by laying down on a busy Wall Street sidewalk at 4:00 PM on a trading day, side-by-side with other “Occupy” protestors, and refused to comply with a lawful police order to disperse.

The FIRE Student Network

Editor’s Note: The entirety of this teacher’s guide is retrievable at https://www.thefire.org/research/publications/fire-guides/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjOrtBRCcARIsAEq4rW5nV-s7ioI5LvIaZ1_p0WRDFfU0CwEWwxE91-pGgD3-nZNmz97_SkIaAssHEALw_wcB

FIRE’s work to protect fundamental rights on campus concentrates on four areas: freedom of speech and expression; religious liberty and freedom of association; freedom of conscience; and due process and legal equality on campus. Ultimately, FIRE seeks to end the debilitating fatalism that paralyzes students and faculty by bringing public attention to the issue while providing protection to those who are now helpless in the face of abuses of power on campuses across the nation.

The right to due process means that fair procedures must be followed before someone accused of wrongdoing is found responsible and punished. This primer outlines rights that students should have within campus disciplinary proceedings and details a handful of warning signs that Student Due Process Rights May Be At Risk. For a more thorough analysis of due process rights on campus, consult FIRE’s Guide to Due Process and Campus Justice.

Procedural Due Process Rights Guaranteed at Public Institutions under the Fourteenth Amendment

Notice and an Opportunity to be Heard

If you face suspension or expulsion from a public university, you have a right to hear the evidence against you and to have an opportunity to rebut it. This right was first recognized by the Supreme Court in Goss v. Lopez (1975), which held that “[a]t the very minimum … students facing suspension and the consequent interference with a protected property interest must be given some kind of notice and afforded some kind of hearing.” The Court in Goss held that the opportunity to be heard includes the right to both “an explanation of the evidence the authorities have and an opportunity to present his side of the story.” Although the right to be heard does not, in the school setting, guarantee the right to a right to a formal hearing, some circumstances “may require more formal procedures.” Goss holds that the more serious the potential punishment, the more due process protections are required.

The Right to Be Present at a Formal Hearing

As established in Goss, you have the right to hear for yourself “an explanation of the evidence” against you before you present your defense. As a result, if your public university uses a formal hearing to decide your case, you have the right, even where potential punishments are minimal, to be present at all of the hearing in order to hear the evidence being used against you.

Composition of the Hearing Panel

Hearing boards in university disciplinary cases must be free from unreasonable bias. If you believe that the tribunal charged with hearing your case is biased, you should object in writing before the panel considers your case or as soon as possible.

Procedural Safeguards Granted By Institutional Policies or Legislation

In addition to the constitutional rights students at public institutions enjoy, students at both public and private institutions may be afforded additional procedural safeguards through school policies or state legislation. For this reason, it’s important to know and understand your university’s disciplinary policies and procedures. For example, the law does not require colleges and universities to offer a full and formal judicial hearing, but many institutions offer a more robust hearing to students accused of misconduct. Federal law does not guarantee that attorneys hired by students can actively participate in proceedings, but some universities have provisions that allow for such participation, and some states have enacted laws guaranteeing students the right to active assistance of counsel. Similarly, although federal law does not require campus tribunals to permit cross-examination of witnesses in all cases, some universities have policies specifically granting students that opportunity. When a school offers more than the law requires, it has a moral and often contractual obligation to live up to its promises. Courts in some jurisdictions will compel both public and private institutions to give you all of the procedural protections that they have promised you. If your college or university fails to follow its own rules, do your best to document everything and contact FIRE for help.

Due Process Red Flags to Watch For

Due process rights may be infringed not only by unfair or unclear disciplinary procedures, but also policies that are vague, overbroad, or unfair.

Vague Rules

Rules must be written with enough clarity that individuals have fair warning about prohibited conduct. The courts do not demand perfect precision in the formulation of rules, but they can find a law “void for vagueness” if people would have to guess at its meaning or would easily disagree about its application. For the courts, how much clarity is required depends on the extent to which constitutional rights are implicated. For instance, rules restricting free expression must be wholly clear to avoid “chilling” free speech.

Overbroad Rules

Laws are said to be overbroad if, in addition to whatever else they prohibit, they restrict protected First Amendment freedoms. The overbreadth doctrine has its roots in the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech, assembly, and press. When a provision of a law violates the First Amendment, it is possible to salvage the rest of the law by removing the o ending section.

Unfair Rules

Public universities possess significant authority to prevent disruptions of the educational process. However, this does not give them the authority to enact rules that are arbitrary or grossly unfair, violate the First Amendment or other constitutional rights, or intrude unnecessarily upon the rights of privacy or conscience.

Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES Integrated Social Studies/ELA Curriculum

by April Francis Taylor

Editors Note: This is the second day of a multi-day lesson in a three-lesson sequence designed for fourth grade on slavery and New York developed by April Francis Taylor  for the Putnam | Northern Westchester BOCES Integrated Social Studies/ELA Curriculum. Lesson 3 will be included in a future issue of Teaching Social Studies. Lesson 1 addresses the compelling question “What were the experiences of enslaved African Americans in New York State?”

Compelling Question: Why did New Yorkers have differing views of American slavery in the 1800s?

• NYS Social Studies Framework: 4.5a: There were slaves in New York State. People worked to fight against slavery and for change. Students will examine life for enslaved people in New York State.

NYS Social Studies Practices

• Gathering, Interpreting, and Using Evidence; Comparison and Contextualization; Economics and Economic Systems; Civic Participation
• NYS Next Gen. ELA Standards: 4R6: In informational texts, compare and contrast a primary and secondary source on the same event or topic. (RI); 4R8: Explain how claims in a text are supported by relevant reasons and evidence. (RI&RL); 4W5: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to respond and support analysis, reflection, and research by applying grade 4 reading standards.

Learning Objectives

• Identify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948; Examine reasons why some New Yorker’s would support the slavery system; Organize various sources into categories; Develop ways to effectively work in a group setting; Formulate a persuasive letter using various sources

Suggested Timeframe: 1.5 days (90 mins.)

Materials

• Source 1- “Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948” adapted excerpt
• Source 2 -Newspaper advertisements
• Source 3- Inventory List
• Source 4- “Why did some New Yorkers support slavery?” (reading)
• Source 5- NYS Slave Codes

Graphic Organizer, Video on Human Rights: humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/videos/born-free-and-equal.html

Formative Task: Pretend you are a human rights advocate, write a persuasive letter to a supporter of slavery stating why it violates human rights.

Lesson Narrative & Procedure

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948” document that highlights reasons slave systems are inhumane. Additionally, students will analyze various documents that demonstrate reasons (economic and social) why some New Yorkers supported the slave system between the 1600s to the mid-1800s as a Northern state. As a culminating activity, students will role play as Human Rights Advocates and write a letter to supporters of slavery informing them of the reasons why slavery is inhumane.

Preparation for Day 1: Make copies of Source 1 and the “Graphic Organizer” Smart board to project documents 2-3 sets of printed (enlarged if possible) copies of Source 2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5 for a classroom gallery walk.

gallery walk.

Day 1 Engage (15 mins.) Note: Suggested strategy- using the “Talking Circle” strategy from the “Let’s Talk” booklet.

1. The teacher should begin the lesson by asking students, “What do you think is a human right?” The teacher should have students share their ideas and give examples.

• Next, the teacher should state, “Did you know in 1948, most of the countries in the world created a document called the Universal Human Rights Declaration, do you want to know what the first human right they listed was? Let’s watch this video to see.” Teacher should queue video “United for Human Rights.” (1 min.) – So what was the first human right they listed? Why do you think that was the first one?” (have students share)

• Next, the teacher should distribute Source 1: Universal Human Rights Declaration, display it on the smartboard, and state “Let’s review some other Human Rights they listed.” The teacher can then have a whole class read aloud. During the read aloud, the teacher can include annotation or close-read strategies. After the reading the document, the teacher can ask the following questions:
• Who created this Declaration? (UN) Does anyone know where they met? (NY)
• Why do you think they created it? (if students mention it was after World War II- the teacher can choose to briefly share about the Holocaust and how millions of European Jews were killed based on prejudice and discrimination by the Nazi government in Germany in the 1930s-1940s)?
• What is one right that stands out to you in this document? Why? (varies)
• Based on what we have already learned about NYS and the slave system, do you believe they had laws like these in the 1600s-1800s? Why or why not? (This question can be a lead into the activity- Why did some New Yorkers show support for slavery? – there were no laws against it then.)
• The teacher can transition by stating, “Well, today we are going to examine ‘Why did some New Yorkers support the system of slavery?’ And then we will think of what we would tell them today based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Laws.”

• Next, the teacher can inform students that they are going to participate in a “Gallery Walk” to explore the supporting question. The teacher should distribute the Graphic Organizer to each student. Suggested arrangement of the gallery walk could be placing students into groups of three or four. The teacher should model how students can use the graphic organizer by using Source 1 as a practice. (see Graphic Organizer worksheet). Alternative activity: Teachers can choose to have students work in groups, each student can receive a different document and then participate in a “Think-Pair-Share” with their group.

Explore & Explain (25 mins.)

1. Students will explore each station, using the guiding questions to help them analyze the documents. After reviewing the document for 5-7 mins., students should fill in the area on their chart that coincides with the document they are examining, each student should fill in their own chart.

2. Students should repeat step 1 for each document station. (total 5 stations)

Elaborate (15 mins.)

1. After students have completed each station, the teacher can ask students to return to their seats, and have a whole class share and discussion on the information they wrote on their charts. The teacher can clarify any information shared

2. The teacher should record student answers on large chart paper or the smart board for a visual for all students.

3. The teacher should bring student attention back to Source 1 “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” and ask students, “Would the reasons for support of slavery in NYS be in violation of the Universal Human Rights Declaration today? Why?” (Students should all answer yes, they would be in violation- and share various reasons.)

Evaluate (20 mins.)

1. After students share their answers, the teacher can have students begin the Formative Task

Activity:

a. Pretend you are a human rights advocate (a person who publicly supports a cause) and write a persuasive letter to a supporter of slavery stating why it violates human rights. [Note: This task may need additional time to complete, depending on individual student needs.]

Source 1: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the original version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, to safeguard all people from inhumane (cruel) treatment. Below is an excerpt from the adapted version:

In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations has stated in clear and simple terms the rights which belong equally to every person. 1 When children are born, they are free and each should be treated in the same way. They have reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a friendly manner . . .   3 You have the right to live, and to live in freedom and safety. 4 Nobody has the right to treat you as his or her slave and you should not make anyone your slave. 5 Nobody has the right to torture you. 6 You should be legally protected in the same way everywhere, and like everyone else. 7 The law is the same for everyone; it should be applied in the same way to all . . .   Source: www.tolerance.org

2b: NY Runaway Advertisement

Source: New-York Gazette; or, the Weekly Post- Boy, October 27, 1763

teaching.msa.maryland.gov

Source 3: Inventory from the Will of Frederick Philipse II (1749)

From “New York and Slavery: Complicity and Resistance” Social Science Docket V. 5 N. 2

Vocabulary: Will- distributes a person’s possessions to people they choose upon their death.

Inventory- list of items, goods, products of a building

Men: Ceaser Dimond Sampson Keiser Flip Tom Venture	Men not fit for work: James Charles Billy	Boys: Tom abt 9 years old Charles 9 Do Sam 8 Do Dimond 7 Do Hendrick 5 Do Ceaser 2 Do Harry 1 & 4 months	Women: Susan Abigal Massy Dina Sue Betty 3 years old a girl
2 Silver Tankards 1 Do Mugg 6 New Silver Spoons 6 old Ditto 1 Silver Teapott 6 Silver forks 1 Do pepper box	(In the Garrett) April 19th 1750 6 flax Spinning wheels 2 Woll . . . Do 1 old gun Some wool & Tow a Miners pick Ax 4 Siths & 2 handles a flax Reel a pr of old scales and weights Some old baskets and old Cask a tin Cullender

Source 3: Guiding Questions

1. What is an “inventriy?”
2. Whose “will” does this inventory belong to?
3. Where does this person live?
4. What “goods” are described in this inventory? Does this surprise you?

Source 4: Why did some New Yorkers support slavery?

Vocabulary: clergyman- religious leaders

1. It was said that in New York City the rich merchants, politicians, and clergymen were completely tied into the economic system of [using slave] labor for profit. The sugar [factory] businesses first based in Manhattan and then in Brooklyn relied on those crops grown by slaves. The New York merchants provided the money and operated the Southern cotton trade:  “Cotton production by slaves in the South was a major source of profits and employment for shipping, banking, insurance, and textile (cloth) industries that were based in New York.”   2. Roman Catholic Archbishop John Hughes in a sermon at the old St. Patrick’s Cathedral “cited passages from the Gospel (Bible) . . . to justify slavery, comparing the slave master to the father of a family. Hughes claimed to recognize “slavery as an evil” but declared that it was “not an absolute . . . evil” because it brought Africans to Christianity.

Source: “New York and Slavery: Complicity and Resistance” Social Science Docket V5 N2

Source 4: Guiding Questions

1. According to the document, what did the sugar factory business rely on from enslaved Africans?
2. What other economic areas relied on enslaved people’s labor?
3. What did Archbishop John Hughes use to justify the slave system?
4. Why do you think supporters of the slave system would use the Christian Bible to justify slavery?

Source 5: New York’s first slave code (1702):

Slave codes are laws to limit the rights of enslaved people. Below is an excerpt from the New York General Assembly (lawmakers).

REGULATING OF SLAVES IT ENACTED BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL AND REPRESENTATIVES convened [gathered] in General Assembly, and by authority of the same, That no Person or Persons hereafter throughout this [colony], do presume to trade with any [enslaved person] either in buying or selling, without…consent of the Master or Mistress [slave owners], [if they do they would have to pay] triple the value of the thing traded for… to the Master or Mistress of such slave . . .

AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority, That [now] it shall…be lawful for any Master or Mistress of slaves to punish their slaves for their Crimes and offences at Discretion, not exceeding to life.

Source: “New York and Slavery: Complicity and Resistance” Social Science Docket V. 5 N. 2

Source 5: Guiding Questions

1. What are slave codes?
2. When were New York’s first slave codes adopted?
3. Why do you think they needed to create laws to:
   1. Not allow traders to trade with enslaved people without their owners knowing?
   1. Allow slave owners to punish their enslaved people?

Graphic Organizer: Why did some New Yorkers support slavery?

Directions: Use this chart to organize your information when you review each document.

Document	Primary or Secondary	How does it support the slave system?	Evidence
1- Universal HR
2a
2b
3
4
5

Formative Task Activity: Pretend you are a Human Rights Advocate. Write a persuasive letter to the 1702 NYS General Assembly of New York, making the claim that slavery violates the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” In your letter include evidence from at least two documents from the Gallery Walk to support your claim.

During World War II American Indians from 33 tribal groups were recruited by the United States Army as Code Talkers. These soldiers sent send secret messages in codes based on their native languages so that enemy forces could not understand communications between American troops. The word for “turtle” might be used for tank.

The best known Code Talkers were members of the Navajo Nation from the Southwestern United States. There were also Mohawk Code Talkers from the St. Regis reservation in New York State. Mohawk Code Talkers served in New Guinea, the Philippines and the South Pacific. In 2008 Congress passed the Code Talker Recognition Act to commemorate the achievements of all of the Code Talkers.

The St. Regis reservation is known in the Mohawk language as Akwesasne. It is located along both the American and Canadian sides of the St. Lawrence River. Most of Akwesasne and the area with the largest population are located in New York. The Mohawk Nation is one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. They are the “People of the Flint.” The Iroquois Confederacy includes the Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations.

Kanien’kéha, the Mohawk language, is a living language. Several Kanien’kéha words and phrases along with English translations are included below. There is an online Mohawk Dictionary at www.kanienkeha.net/ and a spelling and pronunciation guide at www.native-languages.org/mohawk_guide.htm. There is a video with Mohawk pronunciations at www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPRaVOd-UrQ.

Kanien’kéha word or phrase	English Translation
Oh nahò:ten iesá:iats?	What is your name?
Tó: na’tesohseriià:kon?	How old are you?
Sátien tánon tesatská:hon	Sit down and eat
Orhen’kè:ne í:ieks / Énkie / Okara’snéha i:ieks	Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner
Ahserí:ie tanon kenenio’kón:ni	Spaghetti and meat balls
Ka’serehkówa Ratórie’s Ka’serehkowa Iotórie’s	Truck Driver (male) Truck Driver (female)
Shakorihonnién:ni Iakorihonnién:ni	Teacher (male) Teacher (female)
Skén:nen / Karihwakweniénhtshera /Kanoronhkwáhtshera / Atenró:sera	Peace / Respect / Love / Friendship
Sekon / Ó:nen	Hello / Goodbye
Ista / Raké:ni	Mother / Father

by Michael Catelli and John O’Leary

In today’s global society we are bombarded with sources of information from thousands of different outlets with varying degrees of expertise and knowledge. All consumers of media have heard the term fake news as a catch all term to describe information that is falsified or misrepresented, but not many know what to do about it.  When people have a question, the first step most take is to input the question into Google or to check out social media for a list of relevant links that friends have shared. A study of the 2016 presidential election determined that 62% of adults obtained some of their news through social media (Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017). With the rise of the internet comes easier access to established news sources, but also easier access to unverified information. In a 21st-century classroom, our students need to examine fake news in all its forms which must be integrated through a robust media literacy lens.

One of the difficulties in discussing methods to teach fake news is that the term itself is fluid and ever changing.  In the past, the term fake news was generally used to describe fabricated news, but recently the term has also been used to refer to other types of news typically targeting opinions. To break down some of these complexities for educators, we will divide fake news into two types: falsified news and biased news.

The most obvious use of the term fake news is news that is completely made up, or fabricated news. It could be fabricated to target a specific issue or it may be fabricated based on a rumor that was not validated by a source. The reasons for creating fabricated news may be as varied as the fake news itself. It may be for political motives, for profit, or an author provoking responses for their own amusement. It is important to note that there is a difference between fabricated news and news that was reported, but turned out to be wrong—rather, fabricated news refers to news that is intentionally falsified. What’s more, the term fake news is frequently thrown around as a means of discrediting opposing viewpoints, making the term even more convoluted.  In today’s social media landscape, many fake news sources start as Facebook or Twitter posts, but students must learn essential media literacy skills to test the validity of sources like this and how to confirm information to determine if something is true.

Biased news, or articles that clearly state an opinion, is a more nuanced category that may be labeled fake news by some. It is not inherently false information, but may be called fake by a person with an opposing point of view. Opinion pieces are clear examples of this, as they express a viewpoint which can be disagreed with, the reader’s bias often plays a large role regarding how they view these types of sources. This category can also be applied to more subtle issues, such as news that is trying to change the focus of an issue to distract from debatable points on the topic at hand. These types of articles may attempt to redirect the topic away from relevant facts to focus on a different issue. Critics of an opinion may refer to it as fake news in an effort to bring up a new idea that they want to discuss since the initial opinion may not be favorable to them. Students cannot simply check if a fact is true to assess this type of information, but rather need to examine an author’s voice and argument.

Teachers and schools cannot hide from discussing the concept of fake news because they feel it could be a politically heated. Media literacy, or the ability to interpret and evaluate information from news sources, is an essential 21st-century skill, but this skill has become far more complicated and is ever-changing. Schools cannot simply block fake news websites on their servers or provide a simple list of credible versus non-credible publications—after all, students can still access them outside of school. Also, these strategies fail to teach students how to deal with the issue when they encounter it in their daily lives. Some school districts have approached this topic with their media specialist, but fake news has become more nuanced over time and all teachers need to accept responsibility to teach this topic.  Social Studies educators must make sure students are equipped with the necessary critical reading and thinking skills that will help them evaluate what is credible within the news source. Educators must make sure students are comfortable using strategies outside of the classroom, this is the only way to create real change.

There are many ways to help students be successful with these skills in the classroom. The best way to address fake news is for educators to push their students to make an argument for why they do or do not support a point of view based on credible facts, not just opinion. Educators must work with students to examine how critically they are examining a source, but students must also learn to think about their own confirmation bias (Nickerson, 1998)—in other words, are students giving more weight to an article because it confirms something they want to believe? Students also need to understand the dangers of a filter bubble (Flaxman, Goel, & Rao, 2016) and examine multiple sources of news. If students are only taking in information from sources that support their opinions, they may be stuck in a filter bubble. It can be difficult for students to gauge if they are only getting one perspective, since it can seem like a person in a filter bubble is taking in a lot of information. Staying in touch with news that is different, even counter, to one’s opinion can help them to understand multiple perspectives on an issue. Over multiple days, students can collect information on what media sources and websites they see news from, then create a word cloud using sites like wordle.com to visualize their information sources.

As mentioned previously, a person’s inherent beliefs or bias can play a large role in how they view a particular topic. This can be even more troubling when viewing fake news, since the difficulty of deciphering what is credible increases exponentially. The first hurdle that one must approach with students is making them more self-aware of their own implicit biases. Implicit biases refers to the idea that we all have positive and negative beliefs that affect the way we view certain issues, people, and events. Since we all have these inherit beliefs, the natural reaction for most people is to find information to reinforce what they already believe. Confirmation bias helps explain this idea of why we gravitate towards information that confirms our thoughts and opinions. Social media outlets and search engine filters have made it convenient for consumers to omit information and stories that do not coincide with their opinions and instead selectively choose stories that reinforce their current beliefs and biases.

The cornerstone to helping students understand and decipher fake news can be found in a set of skills often used in the Social Studies classroom: sourcing, close reading, contextualizing, and corroborating. Sourcing asks students to think about who produced the document in order to determine the author’s viewpoint and intentions. Close reading asks students to analyze the language within the text and think about what is said and how it is said. Contextualizing then focuses on when and where the event took place. This helps students place the document into a broader context of what they are reading. Lastly, corroborating allows students to determine points of agreement and disagreement and to compare these points across multiple documents (Whelan & Leon, 2016). This also helps with biased news because students can utilize these skills to see how different pieces of information can create a narrative across different sources.

Once you have established a set of skills necessary for the analysis of informational text like close reading and contextualizing students will be in a more comfortable position to discuss some of the nuances that appear when analyzing fake news. A good way to introduce the topic of fake news is to play a modified version of the game telephone. This game is fun and familiar to students and is a simple way to pull them into the complexity of the topic. In this version of telephone the only difference is prior to the game starting secretly place a student in a location to tell them to spread a false message regardless of what they are told. At the end of the game you can debrief with students to discuss how misinformation can spread so easily either unintentionally or intentionally through fake news sources. This introduction helps enforce the idea with students that just because they hear information for a source doesn’t necessarily mean that it is true, their job as consumers is to know how to decipher who is telling the truth versus who is trying to manipulate their thoughts or opinions.

The next step in teaching fake news is to equip students with a set of strategies they can use to determine whether or not a source they are viewing is a credible news source or falsified in some manner. We would recommend that students use four basic steps laid out in Mike Caulfield’s (2017) Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers. These are simple strategies to pick up and apply since they leverage the power of the internet to help with the investigation. The first step in this approach asks students to check already established fact checking sites like the ones listed in the appendix section of this article, to see if another source has already analyzed the source in question. The next step students take in this investigative process is to use the power of search engines like Google to find the original origin of the source they are analyzing. Once students have found the source the last step research what others say about aspects of the source such as author and publisher to determine if the source should be deemed trustworthy. If at any point students run into roadblocks, have them return to the original source and search a different aspect of the article to help find the original source (Caulfield, 2017). Once an investigation method has been established it is helpful to practice these new skills with students. A fun and engaging way to do this is by playing a game where students need to detect the fake news story and what makes it fake. If possible, arrange students into teams and share various fake news sources with them electronically. It helps to have a mixture of absurd sources to those that are only slightly biased so students can understand the different iterations of fake news. After each source review with students what makes the source fake or false. It is recommended that you pick some sources that deal with important issues. This is important for debriefing with students at the end of the activity. Picking issues of significance helps students understand the dangers and influence articles and news sources like the ones presented in the attached lesson can have on individuals and communities. 

Common questions that students should ask when analyzing a news source for perspective and bias are: What are the motives or intentions of the author? Why is the reporter’s information credible? Who is the intended audience? What other relevant stories or events have recently taken place? Having students ask these questions about fake news sources will help them start to realize that rarely is any news source completely unbiased. Often the author has their own opinion on the subject, or they may be motivated to get the reader to buy a certain product. By using historical thinking and close reading with news and current events teachers can make a process students often see as tedious feel more connected.

Covering fake news in a classroom will vary depending on time available, objectives, and the level of the students in the class. Using the lesson described above and partnering with your media specialist to discuss the resources and goals you have in mind when having students analyze fake news is a great place to start. Due to the complexity of the topic, the approach that one may take will be influenced by grade level and ability. A media specialist can provide you with school resources you may not know about. If time is a constraint and devoting a full lesson to analysis of fake news is not possible, there are still ways to incorporate the same analysis strategies into other places within the curriculum. Handout One is a tool that can be used either as homework or in class activity to analyze sources that are found online. This could be incorporated into a multitude of different subjects including early explorers. One suggestion would be to show students various new sources regarding who discovered America and have them determine what sources are credible or false.

Lastly, since biased news is so nuanced, a teacher may wish to approach the topic with a long-term assignment. Many politicians and pundits now use various social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to reach their followers. Have students track the links and language used by these various figures and answer questions about the intent behind their posts. Students could even compare various figures and see how they discuss similar events, or start a Twitter account themselves where they play the role of fact-checkers and correct mistakes or fabrications by these individuals.

Our primary goal as social studies educators is not simply to transfer facts of history, but to help students develop necessary civic discourse and civic engagement skills that will make them productive citizens. Fake news has created an obstacle that our students must overcome if they wish to effectively be part of true civic discourse. Addressing fake news is a complicated task for a social studies educator. It is a multi-layered issues that requires multi-layered approaches to be able to tackle in a classroom. The risks, however, of not addressing it in classrooms are too great. Students will come across falsified news or extremely biased news when they are not in school, and they must be equipped with the tools to be able to address that situation.

References

Allcott, H. & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 211 – 236.

Caulfield, M. (2017).Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers. (n.p.) Author

Flaxman, S., Goel, S., & Rao, J. M. (2016). Filter bubbles, echo chambers, and online news consumption. Public Opinion Quarterly 80(Special Issue), 298 – 320.

Nickerson, R. (1998). Confirmation bias: a ubiquitous phenomenon, many guises. Review of General Psychology, 2(2), 175 – 220.

Whelan, S. & Leon S. (2008). Model of historical thinking. Loudon County Public Schools. www.chnm.gmu.edu/tah-loudoun/wp-content/guidelines/historical-thinking.pdf

Appendix A: Teacher Resources

1.  Media Bias/Fact Check: A website that looks at the bias of various news sources- https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

2.  Lead Stories: a website that debunks fake news stories using international fact checking sites- https://leadstories.com/

3.  FactCheck: a website that fact checks mostly political news stories- https://www.factcheck.org/fake-news/

4.  Snopes– A fact checking website that looks at a verity of topics- https://www.snopes.com/

5.  Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers- a book that provides helpful tips on how students can become fact checkers- https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/

6.  William Paterson University Library– Tips from media specialist on how to determine the validity of a source- https://guides.wpunj.edu/fakenews

7.  Pace University Library- Tips from media specialist on how to determine the difference fake and real news- https://libguides.pace.edu/fakenews

8.  Politifact- Fact checking website that looks at the truthfulness of political news stories- https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/

9.  PBS News Hour: Contains lessons regarding the topic of fake news and how analyze the news. Includes lessons for grades 7-12. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/tag/fake-news/

10.  TedEd Damon Brown: A short video that gives helpful hints regarding how to approach the news and tips to ensure that you are being a smart consumer of information. https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-choose-your-news-damon-brown#watch

by Georgia Belesis

Art is a universal language shared by all civilizations, despite their regional, social, cultural, and economic differences. Learning history from art, changes the way history has been documented, since artistic masterpieces reveal a history that has collectively and equally been created by both males and females belonging to all socio-economic spectrums of society (Eisner, 1991). Aristotle defined art, as “capacity to make, involving a true course of reasoning,” (p.143), emphasizing that the predominant objective of art is to externally represent the internal beauty of an individuals’ endoskeleton. Art is perceived to be the first form of reasoning and communication that an individual has with the visible world.  Correspondingly, the history of humanity has depicted that the earliest forms of artistic expression and communication were illustrated almost 75, 000 years ago in the caves of Lascaux, Chauvet, and Altamira. Therefore, the study of history through the aesthetics becomes the literal bridge that unifies the individual with their origins.

What are the Aesthetics?

The aesthetics are a field of study, concentrated upon the interrelated studies of the arts, music, literature, drama, visual arts, and philosophy. Aesthetic education is defined by Maxine Greene (2018) as “a process of initiating persons into faithful perceiving, a means of empowering them to accomplish the task—from their own standpoints, against the background of their own awareness” (p.45). As a veteran pedagogue of Advanced Placement World History courses who integrates the aesthetics within their instruction, I have witnessed through my own students, how the aesthetics have gradually developed their historical literacy and have also assisted them to obtain a three or better in the AP World History Examination. Therefore, I have determined based on my own pedagogical justifications and evidence-based research, that aesthetic-based teaching and learning practices have a significant impact upon Advanced Placement History Courses, since students can become emotionally connected to the past, develop their historical literacy and advance their academic performance in their Advanced Placement examinations. 

How does aesthetic-based instruction within AP Courses impact students’ historical literacy and academic performance?

Aesthetic-based teaching and learning practices within Advanced Placement Social Studies Courses can emotionally connect students to the past. Historians are artists and artists are historians, since according to John Dewey (1988), “Artists have always been the real purveyors of news, for it is not the outward happening in itself which is new, but the kindling by it of emotion, perception, and appreciation” (pp. 183-184). Through works of art students become engaged in a continuous cycle of discovery between the visual, personal, and historical dimensions of that masterpiece (Greene, 2018).  Learning history through the arts, “makes perceptible, visible, and audible that which is no longer, or not yet perceived, said, or heard in everyday life” (Marcuse,1977/1978, p.72), (Greene, 2018, p.49). Therefore, having students think “aesthetically” not “anesthetically” (Greene, 2018, p.49).  The art of teaching is the art of questioning, which can inspire an individual to discover the unsung voice of their endoskeleton. Brooks (2013), states that “young learners have the opportunity to develop and display historical understanding when they are given the chance to formulate their own questions about the past, to examine related historical evidence, and to create historical narratives and arguments of their own” (p.61). 

Art and history educators must design open-ended questions about particular pieces of art, about “art in itself and about its place in the art of human life” (Greene, 2018, p.37). Only if educators do so Greene (2018) claims, “they are likely to clarify what they bring about in their classrooms, whether they call it enhanced awareness, heightened understanding, enlightenment, or a new mode of literacy (p.37). When bulletin boards of history classes, become draped by eminent pieces of art, by Leonardo da Vinci, El Greco, Francisco Goya, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, among others, students become conceptually and emotionally inquisitive to learn about the art and the individuals concealed behind these illustrations (Greene, 2018).   

 History can be interpreted differently by an individual, through the distinct instrument of art (Eisner, 1991).  Many students are visual learners, and when they study artistic masterpieces or graphic novels, they become socially and emotionally connected to these images because they directly relate them to their personal lives and become inspired to learn more about the history concealed behind those illustrations. Terrie Epstein (1997) who is an adherent of Elliot Eisner’s educational ideology, correspondingly argues that by integrating the arts into the history curriculum, educators are stimulating students to connect with the past through the process of historical empathy. “The music of the slaves, the myths and stories that were a part of their lives, their folksay, programs like Roots, the music and dance of the period, the architecture of their quarters, and those of their masters, are all relevant sources for enlarging understanding (Epstein, 1989, p. 253). Accordingly, Anne McCrary Sullivan (2000) claims that, “aesthetic vision suggests a high level of consciousness about what one sees… Teachers who function with aesthetic vision perceive the dynamic nature of what is unfolding in front of them at any given moment” (pp. 220-221). The epicenter of aesthetic education starts and continues with the cognitive and emotional pathos of the instructor, that is reflected upon the students; therefore, Greene (2018) states, that learning becomes paradigmatic, since it is stimulated by the desire to explore, to find out, to go in search” (p.47). History educators teaching Advanced Placement courses, should have the “aesthetic vision” to design intellectually stimulating lessons that encourage students to not only evaluate the history related to the aesthetic masterpieces but investigate their meaning and connection upon their lives. Through the instrument of aesthetic education students in history courses will comprehend that the past was not an invisible world, but a visible world that transcended to the present through the contributions of individuals who chose to become agents and recipients of change (Greene, 2018).  Pedagogical creativity that is enhanced through the aesthetics, develops both cognitive and emotional intelligence and fosters the foundations for a learners cognitive reframing since they provide a positive and rational approach of explicating an individual’s concealed endoskeletons.   

How do I implement Aesthetics into my Advanced Placement History Courses?

When I teach the Spanish Civil War in my AP World History Course, I introduce the lesson through the visual window of Picasso’s Guernica, which was his most renowned masterpiece. The lesson is an introduction to the concept of war through the critical lens of political art; exposing students to the dehumanization of war that plagued Europe and the International Community from 1936-1945. Imperatively, through this lesson, students evaluate how art can be utilized as an instrument to not only illustrate history but essentially act as a defensive symbol for social and political changes.  Therefore, through the aesthetics, students are analyzing and interpreting significant multi-faceted historical pieces of the social, cultural, political, and economic progression of humanity.  Subsequently, another lesson that I have designed for my AP World History Course requires students to design a virtual interview with three earlier or contemporary philosophers or artists.  For example, Through the evaluation of Plato’s, Leonardo da Vinci’s and Nikos Kazantzakis’, perspectives of art, students can recognize the predominant role the aesthetics have within the development of transformative knowledge. These scholars of aestheticism collectively perceived that art is a visible expression of the invisible fragments concealed within an individual’s mind and soul.  The instrumental and communicative domains of Mezirow’s (1991) transformational learning are evident within each of their ideology since they all, distinctly interpret art as an expression of cognitive and emotional intellect. The conclusions that can be retrieved from this interview is that every individual is an artist; whether they exemplify Plato’s true artist, da Vinci’s artistic scientist, or Kazantzakis’ hero-warrior artist; as human beings we innately acquire the capability of accomplishing the impossible-if we correlate the power of our minds, bodies, and souls. Consequently, art becomes the unifying bridge, which reveals the beauty of the endoskeleton through the instrument of our exoskeleton.

Correspondingly, to my aesthetic-based history instruction, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Art Spiegelman, argued that “Comics are a gateway drug to literacy”.  For a history instructor, comics are an alternative pedagogical approach to develop and improve a student’s historical literacy (Robinson, 2011). Primarily, the topic I incorporate comics, through the instrument of a graphic novel within my AP World History Course, is the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The Middle East has historically been inundated as a region encompassed by religious and geopolitical dispute; it has been the primary focus of conflict that continues to have an international impact. Therefore, I have designed a summative unit project that is based upon students aesthetically formulating their own resolution to the multi-faceted Arab-Israeli Conflict (Robinson, 2011). The graphic novel that this project is culminated upon is Joe Sacco’s ‘Palestine’.  I first have students read the novel individually, and then I have them critique it within their designated groups (Nass & Yen, 2012). After students have examined the novel-using it as a prototype, in addition to both primary and secondary sources, as contextual evidence, students design and illustrate their own resolution to the Arab-Israeli Conflict through the construction of a graphic novel. Subsequently, within their groups-each student is responsible for at least one visual component of the graphic novel (Nass & Yen, 2012).  Art is the visual passage to history; directly linking the past with the present. Art is a universal language shared by all civilizations, despite their regional, social, cultural, and economic differences. Learning history from art, changes the way history has been interpreted, since it had been initially written from the male point of view. However, artistic masterpieces reveal a history that has collectively been created by both men and women and by individuals belonging to all socio-economic spectrums of society. Fundamentally, art represents the soul of society, it represents as Aristotle says, “the inward significance” of a society, and individuals can interpret it any way they want.       

 Aesthetic-based teaching and learning practices within Advanced Placement History Courses can also develop students’ historical literacy.  The foundations for inquiry- based learning were first designed by Socrates whose method of questioning has established the conceptual framework for inquiry- based instruction.  The case study conducted by John K. Lee and referenced by Yaeger & Davis (2005) evaluated the teaching methodology of AP European History instructor Mike Nance, who despite the pedagogical challenges he encountered with standardizing testing, his pedagogy focused upon the high order historical thinking of his students through inquiry-based instruction.  Nance’s lectures encompassed dialectical discourse, which is a form of interactive explanatory pedagogy, and supports student’s conceptual and emotional interests (Yaeger & Davis, 2005).  The framework of aesthetic education and aesthetic thinking is fostered upon questioning, “and the questions must multiply and not be covered by the answers” (Greene, 2018). Through inquiry-based instruction, students’ can develop their high order historical thinking in high school history classes that execute high stakes examinations.Nance’s lectures are a historical narrative focused upon the central theme of the lesson which transcend into student discussion by the level of questions that he asks his students.  Nance’s primary instructional objective is to develop his student’s historical literacy, and he accomplished that, by facilitating critical thinking through questions aligned with Bloom’s Taxonomy; questions that alternatively teach, not test students about history (Yaeger & Davis, 2005).  Through the obscure knowledge of the textbook, students in high school history courses have been taught to objectively study the contextual work of the source without evaluating the point of view of the author or inquire about the reasons why they wrote their work (Epstein, 1997). Accordingly, to Nance’s (Yaeger & Davis, 2005) pedagogical ideology and instruction of his advanced placement course, Eisner (1991) argues that social studies textbooks can severely limit the development of students’ historical literacy.  “Thus, attention to the arts, to music, to literature in social studies programs is not a way to gussy-up the curriculum.  It is a way to enlarge human understanding and to make experience in the social studies vivid” (Eisner, 1991, pg. 553).  Correspondingly, to Nance’s (Yaeger & Davis, 2005) pedagogical approach, inquiry- based instruction is established in my AP world history course through dialectic discussions such as Socratic seminars. During the execution of my Socratic seminars, my students possess the autonomy to question, comment, and argue historical sources in an ethical and democratic methodology; in which they listen, respect, and are tolerant and empathetic of each other’s commentary. Through the critical discourse of Socratic seminars, one can interpret and question the validation of empirical knowledge. Consequently, with Socratic seminars my learners become active participants of an ethical democratic society. 

Analogously, to Nance’s (Yaeger & Davis, 2005) case study and Eisner’ (1991) ideology, in 1991, Epstein (1997) formulated a two-week American history curriculum in a Boston high school to develop students’ comprehension of the slavery period in America, through the implementation of television programs, stories, myths, music, visual art, and poetry. Through the student feedback collectively retrieved from interviews and questionnaires, Epstein (1997) argued that students commented on how the aesthetic-based curriculum provided them with a feeling and vivid illustration on what slavery was like as opposed to the summary and subjective account of facts documented in their textbook. Through this discipline arts-based integration students, Greene (2018) claims that educators can initiate their students “into what it feels to live in music, move over and about in a painting, travel round and in between masses of a sculpture, dwell in a poem” (Reid,1969, p.302), (Greene, 2018, p.8). Correspondingly, to both Eisner (1991), Epstein’s (1997) studies, and Greene’s (2018) studies, Laney (2007) in the article, Jacob Lawrence’s the migration series: Art as narrative history argues:

The natural affinity of the arts and social studies is obvious. Society and culture impact the arts, and the arts impact society and culture. The arts are a reflection, of cultural heritage, serving as vehicles for expressing diverse view- points within democracy…….Discipline-based arts educators and comprehensive arts educators advocate using works of art as organizing centers for interdisciplinary instruction. In the discipline-based arts education approach, students analyze a work of art through art history (including general history and social studies), art criticism, aesthetics, and art production. Comprehensive arts education expands the integrated approach to include nonvisual forms of art such as music, drama, theater, dance, movement, and literature…”(pg. 131).

Educators as myself who are teaching AP World History courses can utilize the studies by Epstein (1997), Laney (2007) and Greene (2018), to integrate poetry, while teaching historical content within their courses. One of the achievements that distinguish the Tang Dynasty and identify the rise and decline of their civilization is their literature. Poets such as Li Bo and Tu Fu are still considered the greatest poets produced by the Chinese civilization.  Through the study and analysis of the Tang’s cultural advancements- with the principle case study being Chinese poetry, students will comprehend how the Golden Age of the Tang Dynasty changed China politically, economically, socially, and culturally. Students will also develop their cognitive skills for historiography, since they will analyze the poetry of the two predominant poets of the Tang Dynasty and evaluate the commonalities and differences of their work.  Primarily, the intent for this lesson is for students to comprehend how primary sources such as poetry can reveal the political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of any earlier or contemporary civilization, which are integral to their academic performance in the AP World History examination. Consequently, through this aesthetic lesson students, will be able to collectively develop their aesthetic and historic literacy, by emotionally and conceptually connecting to the literary arts.

Service learning has become an integral constituent within the nation-wide school curriculum and specifically within the Social Studies and Advanced Placement world history curriculum. Dr. Rahima Wade (2008), has analytically evaluated educational research on service learning, defining service learning, it’s “rationale”, and application within Social Studies education. According to the Alliance for Service Learning in Education Reform (ASLER):

Service Learning is a method by which young people learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences: that meet actual community needs, that are coordinated in collaboration with the school and community, that are integrated into each young person’s academic curriculum, that provide structured time for a young person to think, talk and write about what he/she did and saw during the actual service activity, that provide young people with opportunities to use newly acquired academic skills and knowledge in real life situations in their own communities, that enhance what is taught in the school by extending student learning beyond the classroom, that help to foster the development of a sense of caring for others (pg. 111). 

This type of learning provides an external learning experience for the student, therefore coercing them not only to academically excel, but to become present and future active civic and political members of their society. Therefore, for my AP World History Course, I have designed an aesthetic- civic based simulation lesson on the Party Negotiations within the Conference of India between 1930-1932.  These series of conferences were organized by the British Government to deliberate constitutional reforms in India. Accordingly, I divide my students into the four political and religious parties of India, to diplomatically evaluate, deliberate, and argue with their opposition about the formulation of an equitable central government for India, that would equally support all of their rights. My instructional methodology is constructed upon student directed instruction, however as the moderator and facilitator of this simulation, I will ensure that all my students explicate their intellectual excellence, guiding and encouraging them within their groups to thoroughly develop their arguments (Robinson,2011). The design and execution of this simulation focused upon my learners exhibiting high order historical thinking and substantive critical discussion within their groups and with their adversaries; as they struggle to develop governmental policies that would collectively support their and their oppositions political interests. Through this activity my students developed their cognitive skills, because they utilize historical evidence, such as the philosophies of the political and religious parties in India to create decisions that will have prolific social and political implications upon society.  Through this simulation, students examined and comprehended the developmental stages of government policy, regardless if these policies were created in India and not in the United States. For instance, a group designed their central government, within the political framework of the United States. Imperatively, through their group deliberations, students not only evaluated the ideology of their parties, but also of the lawmaker, who arduously struggles to find possible resolutions to impossible issues. These young adults through this simulation exercise, became the actual policy makers, and become challenged by the political and religious issues in India, that still remain unresolved today. Subsequently, this particular aesthetic- based inquiry lesson inherently synthesizes the pedagogical ideologies of Dr. Wade’s (2008) service learning approach and Cornel West’s (2008) democratic paideia, since my students became inspired to pursue their civic involvement in the future, and have the education, experience, and passion to develop a more progressive democratic American society and international community(Robinson,2011).

Aesthetic-based teaching and learning practices within Advanced Placement History Courses can also contribute to the advancement of their academic performance in their Advanced Placement examinations. Within my AP World History Courses, ever since I started integrating the aesthetics four years ago within my instruction, I have identified significant one to point increase within my students’ examination scores. Concurrently, along with the aesthetics and questioning, the impact of my student’s scores also derived from their intensive writing. Along with questioning, the integral component of teaching history is writing. Intensive writing was another key feature of Nance’s instruction and the essential foci of Advanced Placement History examinations.  In Nance’s course students independently and interdependently worked on essays, that he gave as assignments in advance so that they could formulate study groups (Yaeger & Davis, 2005).  Nance also offered personal and public commentary to students about their essays; perceiving that through the discussion of his student’s weaknesses in writing they can autonomously and collectively improve their historical thinking and writing (Yaeger & Davis, 2005).  Analogously to Nance’s (Yaeger & Davis, 2005) methodology another innovative aesthetic assignments that I integrate within my AP course having my students write weekly reflective journal entries of their academic triumphs, challenges, and personal interests within the AP course. During the closure of every Friday’s class, my students, through the means of critical dialectical discourse collectively discussed their journal entries with, myself and each other; critically reflecting and learning autonomously within an interdependent team of learners, that contributed to their overall intellectual and emotional excellence within the course. After the conclusion of each of my AP classes on Friday afternoons, I documented the strengths and weaknesses of each of my lessons in my academic journal, through the journal responses of my students. Through the documentation of my students’ journal entries, I aesthetically aspired to utilize my content reflection of my student journal entries as an instrument towards the development and reconstruction of my instructional methodology. Subsequently, I also applied my student’s journal responses as an instructional framework to design inquiry-based pedagogical activities that could explicate my student’s intellectual and emotional creativity; lessons that intertwined with their personal historical interests and develop their historical literacy.  Comparatively, to Nance’s (Yaeger & Davis, 2005) study, Eisner states:

“Like the arts, the school curriculum is a mind-altering device; it is a vehicle that is designed to change the ways in which the young think…Each of the different art forms participates in a different history, has its own features, and utilizes different sensory modalities. By learning to create or perceive such forms, the arts contribute to the achievement of mind”. (Eisner, 1991, pg.16).

Within this discipline, arts-based integration students are not only expected to think like historians, but they are also able to distinguish between diverse historical sources and argue their evidence within Advanced Placement History courses. Lastly, through an inter-disciplinary art-based pedagogical approach, such as the one advocated by Eisner (1991), Epstein (1997), Laney (2007), and Greene (2018), within Advanced Placement History courses students will develop their high order historical thinking and writing skills and consequentially improve their examination scores, as my students have gradually accomplished.

Conclusion

“The successful search for knowledge requires the ability to analyze a line of reasoning and evaluate a work of art. It requires honesty, the willingness to question one’s beliefs, and the willingness to subordinate personal desires and preconceptions to the dictates of logic” (Markie, 2004, pg. 487).  Aesthetic-based instruction provides an internal learning experience for the student, coercing them not only to academically excel in their AP History courses and examinations, but to also become present and future active civic and political members of their society. Correspondingly, Aesthetic-based instruction is also reflective of Cornel West’s (2008) concept of a democratic paideia; which is a form of education in which learners perceive themselves as agents of change; comprehending that they can make mistakes, learn from them, and consequently utilize that new-found knowledge to collectively empower their lives and the lives of others (West, 2013).  Greene (2018), quoting Sartre states:

“at the heart of the aesthetic imperative is the moral imperative” because “the work of art, from whichever side you approach it (1949, pp.62-63) is an act of confidence in the freedom of human beings.  We feel that freedom here—to interpret, to reflect, and (now and then) change our lives” (p.198).

Fundamentally, aesthetic education within Advanced Placement History courses will provide students with the skills of empirical and aesthetic excellence to restructure the ethical utilitarian framework of the international community; that is essentially embedded upon the socio-economic happiness and prosperity for all human beings.  Through the ideals engrained by an aesthetic -based education the current trend of “The Millennial Generation insisting on solutions to accumulated problems and injustices, and an emerging Generation E calling for equilibrium” (Marx, 2006, p. 48) will be achieved through the disciplines of history, philosophy, literature, the visual arts, music, and religion (Sullivan & Rossin, 2008).  Consequentially, students will apply their aesthetic knowledge within any career path they decide to embark upon in the future.

References

Aristotle (2007). “The Nicomachean Ethics”, p.143, Filiquarian Publishing, LLC

Brooks, S. (2013). Teaching for Historical Understanding in the Advanced Placement Program: A Case Study. The History Teacher, 47(1), 61-76. 

California State University Sonoma. (2008). Cornel West.  Retrieved from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZzWWq_rQt8   

Dewey, J. (1988). The Public and Its Problems: Athens, OH: Swallow Press.

Eisner, E. W. (1991). What the arts taught me about education. Art Education, 44(5), 10-19.

Epstein, T. (1997). Social Studies and the Arts. The Social Studies Curriculum, 235.

Greene, Maxine. (2001). Variations on a blue guitar: The Lincoln Center Institute lectures on aesthetic education. New York: Teachers College Press

Markie, P. (1994). A professor’s duties: Ethical issues in college teaching. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Marx, G. (2006). Future focused leadership: Preparing schools, students, and communities for tomorrow’s realities. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Development.

McCrary, A. S. (2000). Notes from a marine biologist’s daughter: On the art and science of attention. Harvard Educational Review, 70, 211–227.

Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning (1st ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Robinson, K. (2011). Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. West Sussex, UK: Capstone Publishing Ltd.

Yaeger, E.A. & Davis, O.L. (Eds.). (2005). Wise social studies teaching in an age of high stakes testing: Essays on classroom practices and possibilities. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

by Kyle Stapinski

America has seen many hills and valleys when it comes to trust in media and government. Beginning with the Comstock laws of the late 1800s where Americans were subject to mail subversion to prevent the spread of “reproductive products”, Americans have typically been at the cannon’s mouth of both the government and the media. As the Comstock laws declined, American trust in government was never fully restored. During the early 1900s, Muckrakers would survey the United States, and uncover some of the social equalities they found. This was one of the first major pushbacks against the current state of news media. What was being reported prior to the Muckrakers sphere of influence was typically what the government or military was doing. After the Muckrakers revolution before the First World War, this elitist-style of reporting would quickly be paralleled to reporting the “average Joe”—the everyday American and their struggles.

            According to Tom Engelhardt, the post-World War II period was comprised of a declining victory culture, where Americans would spend the second half of the twentieth century learning how to lose. The theory of victory culture is used to promote the idea that before the Cold War and Korean conflict, Americans were used to victory, so used to it that it was engraved into American culture. America also required an enemy, according to this theory, that would prove itself over the latter half of the century. After the decline in German and Japanese influence, America was hoisted to the pedestal of a world stage, where it would find itself assuming a role way beyond its borders. Now America was responsible for instilling a system to restore the destroyed world. The United Nations was created to fill this gap, but the United States held many of the responsibilities of the United Nations.

            This decline of victory culture, beginning with the Korean Conflict and continuing until today, can be viewed through the lens of news media. Media has always been a major contributor to the American war effort, but Korea is the first time during this technological era where America was not as blatantly victorious as they had been before. Also, with the looming communist ideology also in competition on the world stage, America found itself stretched thin in terms of influence and deemed it necessary to save the free world. Korea was more than just a foreign civil war. American press coverage of the Korean Conflict varied differently than the previous major military conflicts. At first, the American press was encouraged to report the war in its totality. The government figured it would be a quick conflict, where America could continue its running victory culture, but through the following years they come to a different result.

            Since the UN forces were successful in their push against the North Koreans, General MacArthur and the American government were fine with this total style of reporting. The New York Times provides two different style of articles during the early days of 1951. First, the article titled Korea Front Calm before Offensive discussed what United Nations’ soldiers were doing on New Year’s Day, 1951. Not even a week after, the New York Times released another publication titled Korea censorship Tightened Again which highlights some of the legislative changes paralleled to the military defeats in Korea. As the North Koreans began to challenge the UN forces, censorship was strictly imposed, even to where censors were appointed to read any and all information leaving Korea. This created a state where the media was less free to report what they wanted and had to submit to MacArthur’s wishes. He claimed it was for the security of the military but had no problem with the same information being published while they were on the offensive. This strict censorship remained in place until the deportation of United Nations’ troops in 1953.

            A decade later, the United States is attending another civil war overseas to prevent the spread of communism in Vietnam. The reporting of Vietnam was drastically different than that of Korea, not just the style of reporting but media technologies as well. The television was much more common in houses now than during the previous Korean conflict, and Americans are generally more exposed to these atrocities. Aside from the technologies, the style of reporting varied as well. The military did not want to repeat its stance on media that it underwent during the Korean conflict, but instead would call for a more open press. When reporting any war, it can be dangerous, and reporters often find themselves alongside soldiers in these sticky situations. Vietnam is no exception, but compared to a majority of previous American conflicts, the guerilla fighting style of the North Vietnamese’s made for a more total war. Reporters would have to rely on the flow of information from the top, so the stories they were actually able to report were often identical to that of other publication companies, but with their own little twists.

            Americans decline in trust of these major establishments is severely strengthened during the Vietnam conflict, and the following greater Cold War. The mishaps in publication made for incomplete stories, and as the American people would realize that media and government were not always on the same side, they began to question the integrity of these establishments. The overall declining victory culture set the stage for Americans to lose faith over time and can be observed through News Media and war time press.

            Today, Americans are continuing this growing mistrust in government. Fake news is a major talking point, and people are generally aware of the declining credibility of media and government. Being a Secondary Education and Social Studies teacher would constitute talking about these modern political issues in class. Students will always have questions about the world around them, but to better equip them to understand the current relationship between the people, government and media is essential. This research can be broken into a lesson, where students view print media publications prior to, and after the Second World War. Students could compare the different media corporations or discuss specific individual articles. The style of reporting prior to the second world war is generally more in favor of the United States government then after, due to the decline of victory culture. By comparing these articles, students will be able to identify this overall decline on the positive outlook of government and can trace how it formed the current day political and news media scene.

            Another way to teach this concept would be to have students compare magazine or newspaper articles from the Korean or Vietnam wars. Here, there are many events that received media coverage, and students can take the same event and compare different companies’ reports on that event. This will help contextualize biases within reporting and can contribute to a greater unit about credibility of sources. All of these skills are necessary for successful history students, and twenty-first century citizens.

References

“Nixon has no Peace Plan, Says Harriman.” (1970). Chicago Tribune, May 08, 1970. Retrieved from http://library.rider.edu:4048/login?url=https://athena.rider.edu:2278/docview/169857897?accountid=37385.

“Tiny Peorian Outtalks 19 Nazis; Nabs All.” (1944). Chicago Daily Tribune, Jan 10, 1944. Retrieved from http://library.rider.edu:4048/login?url=https://athena.rider.edu:2278/docview/176921012?accountid=37385.

“After the Tet Offensive.” (1968). New York Times. February 8, 1968. Retrieved from https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/02/08/88925050.pdf

 “Korea Censorship Tightened Again.” (1951). New York Times. January 7, 1951. Retrieved from https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/01/07/87088432.html?pageNumber=14.

 “Korea Front Calm before Offensive.” (1951). New York Times. January 1, 1951. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/01/01/89765923.html?pageNumber=2.

 “U.S. Group to Push Free Press in UNO.” (1945). New York Times. December 30, 1945. Retrieved from https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/12/30/109349330.html?pageNumber=1.

Engelhardt, T. (1995).  The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the disillusioning of a generation. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3t0j.