Category Archives: history

Tenement Museum

Posted on July 20, 2011 by

History is a long period of time but when looked at as a series of lifetimes it doesn’t seem that far away. At the Tenement Museum in New York City, the visceral and palpable meaning of this nearly overwhelmed us. … Continue reading →

Posted in history, museums | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

“The cap in your mouth can obstruct breathing if swallowed.”

Posted on May 19, 2011 by

Riding home last night I was listening to NPR which had a report on the 14th annual Wacky Warning Labels Contest, started by Bob Dorigo Jones in 1997. The idea behind the contest is that in our litigious society, we are being over-warned … Continue reading →

Posted in education, history, memoir, school, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Debs ate his bribe

Posted on March 3, 2011 by

Today were our Pullman Strike debates. Jane Addams, Eugene Debs, Governor Altgeld, Attorney General Olney, General Miles and the Federal Troops, George Pullman, the General Managers Association (GMA), Reverend Carwardine, and Pullman workers were at the table negotiating, something that … Continue reading →

Posted in activism, history, labor, school, Teaching, union | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

“I just forgot in which pockets to look.”

Posted on March 2, 2011 by

GR came up to me today to let me know that he hadn’t been able to find any good resources for his research paper on Joe “King” Oliver. “I can’t believe that. He’s a pretty well-known musician, very influential in … Continue reading →

Posted in books, history, school, Teaching | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Lillian Gish and Lady Gaga

Posted on February 17, 2011 by

We’re halfway through watching D.W. Griffith’s 1915 Birth of a Nation. Not an easy movie to watch—filled with racism and revisionist history. We have been immersed in the intricacies of Reconstruction and it seemed a perfect way to discuss how the … Continue reading →

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Cries of discovery

Posted on February 15, 2011 by

We are at the beginning of a research project. The parameters for the research have to do with the two World’s Fairs here in Chicago. The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition was all built in white (with one exception) and was … Continue reading →

Posted in history, school, Teaching, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

“History is not was.”

Posted on February 8, 2011 by

In the beginning of the year, one of the ideas the students and I grapple with is in understanding that history is tricky. We read an account of the explorer, Henry Stanley, describing an encounter with a group of Congoans … Continue reading →

Posted in history, school, Teaching, truth | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments