James Bailey
North Dorchester High School, Caroline County Public Schools
The “Hometown History” program provided an abundance of outside resources (both on-line and offline) for teachers of history to get out of their textbook and worksheets, and invent and utilize primary source lessons, which is a prime initiative of the Teaching American History program, and various other grants for history educators.
I hope to bring more primary sources into my current lessons with the Civil War Era. The “brother vs. brother” tag truly depicts Maryland in this era (especially the Eastern Shore) and I want to combine that with the impact that primary sources can deliver. Additionally, since Dorchester County is the birth place of Harriet Tubman, I want to utilize more primary and local source lessons to explore the topic of slavery through the lens of Maryland.
"Colonel Wallace of the Union 1st Maryland wrote, "The 1st Maryland Confederate Regiment met us and were cut to pieces. We sorrowfully gathered up many of our old friends and acquaintances and had them carefully and tenderly cared for."
As an introduction activity to the Civil War proper, I would like to use the tragedy of the engagement described above (Culp’s Hill, Battle of Gettysburg) to depict the impact of the war on our local area. I would use the America's Historical Newspapers archive to have the students find local Maryland newspapers describing the tragedy, and have students do the 5 W's and report out on their findings.
Discovering all the new on-line primary source hubs with the two day seminar was great. Yet finding the time to become familiar, search and utilize these primary resources outside of the seminar is both a daunting and worthwhile professional challenge. Getting as close to the history as possible, acting as the most direct link to the history we are teaching, is the tremendous benefit of primary sources.
