Reclaiming Hidden History: Students Create a Slavery Walking Tour in Manhattan
Teaching Activity PDF. By Alan Singer. 7 pages.
How a teacher and his students organized a tour of the hidden history of slavery in New York.
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A group of more than 60 high school students chanted, “Time to tell the truth, our local history, New York was a land of slavery!” and “Resist! Resist! Resist! Time to be free! Resist! Resist! Resist! No more slavery!” as they marched around New York City’s financial district. At each of 11 stops they hung up posters detailing New York City’s complicity with slavery and stories of heroic resistance and they handed out hundreds of fliers to tourists, workers, and students on school trips.
According to Shiyanne Moore, a senior at Law, Government and Community Service Magnet High School in Cambria Heights, Queens, and a trip organizer, “I learned the truth about our city’s past from this project. I also learned the more noise you make the more things can change. Permanent historical markers about slavery could inspire people to fight for change. I am proud that I was involved in helping to create the African American Slavery Trail.”
Published by Rethinking Schools.
Keywords: New York City, slavery, resistance, African American Slavery Trail, Citibank, trans-Atlantic slave trade, Newsday, Downtown Alliance, Washington Street, The New York Post, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Law Government and Community Service Magnet High School, Manhattan, May 1741, British North American colonies, Michael Pezone, African American Burial Ground, South Street Seaport, The New York Historical Society, Hofstra University, walking tour, Wall Street, Naadira Nemley, African American Free School, Celeste Rimple, Amistad defense committee, New York state Human rights curriculum, Department of Education, Freedom Trail, underground railway, slavocracy, Civil War, New York and Slavery: Complicity and Resistance, Gateway to the City, Allied Human Services, Brooklyn Historical Society
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Zinn Education Project
Thursday, February 9th at 13:46 Happy birthday Alice Walker. Author and activist.
History in Pictures - February
Alice Walker, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, author, and activist, was born in Eatonton, Georgia, on Feb. 9, 1944.
See Walker's website for photos, essays, poems, books, and conversations: http://alicewalkersgarden.com/
Also, see:
Undaunted By The Fight: Spelman College And The Civil Rights Movement, 1957-1967: http://zinnedproject.org/posts/5544
"Saying goodbye to my friend @[151141887957:274:Howard Zinn]" in @[5637143257:274:The Boston Globe]: http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/01/31/alice_walker_says_goodbye_to_her_friend_howard_zinn/
Interviews on @[17414523278:274:Democracy Now!]: http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/alice_walker
Image from Architects of Peace: http://www.architectsofpeace.org/architects-of-peace/alice-walker
History in Pictures features just a few of the many stories that are often left out of the textbooks. The sources for these stories include: This Week in History from Peace Buttons (http://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/thisweek.htm), Planning to Change the World: A Social Justice Plan Book for Teachers (http://www.justiceplanbook.com/), This Day in Civil Rights History (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/13684), History.com (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history), 50 American Revolutions You Are Not Supposed to Know (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/11632), A People's History of the United States (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/67), Black Facts Online (http://www.blackfacts.com), Today in Labor History (http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history), and many more.
Zinn Education Project
Thursday, February 9th at 13:07 The National Museum of the American Indian is in the early planning stages for an exhibit on the Native people of New York State and the surrounding regions. They seek insights into how teachers are covering historic and contemporary issues around Native Americans in their classrooms so that they can best integrate the needs of students and teachers into the exhibition. If you are currently teaching, or have recently taught content related to Native Americans from the Northeast, they would appreciate hearing your input on the survey at the link below. As a thank you, you will automatically be entered in a raffle to win one of three books.
Zinn Education Project
Thursday, February 9th at 7:31 On this day in 1950, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy delivered a speech during which he claimed to hold a list of known communists in the U.S. State Dep't. The speech grabbed national headlines and launched the paranoia and persecution now known as “McCarthyism.”
Here are classroom resources, including a young adult novel, on McCarthyism:http://zinnedproject.org/posts/tag/mccarthyism
Are there other books, films, lessons you recommend to teach about McCarthyism?
History in Pictures - February
On Feb 9, 1950, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy delivered a speech at the McLure Hotel during which he claimed to hold a list of known communists in the U.S. State Department. The speech grabbed national headlines and launched the paranoia and persecution now known as “McCarthyism.”
Here are classroom resources, including a young adult novel, on McCarthyism: http://zinnedproject.org/posts/tag/mccarthyism
History in Pictures features just a few of the many stories that are often left out of the textbooks. The sources for these stories include: This Week in History from Peace Buttons (http://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/thisweek.htm), Planning to Change the World: A Social Justice Plan Book for Teachers (http://www.justiceplanbook.com/), This Day in Civil Rights History (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/13684), History.com (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history), 50 American Revolutions You Are Not Supposed to Know (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/11632), A People's History of the United States (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/67), Black Facts Online (http://www.blackfacts.com), Today in Labor History (http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history), and many more.
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