Educational Resources :: Local History - The Stories of People and Places
Local History/The Stories of People and Place
The stories of this land and the people that have lived here are vibrant tales of patriotism, social justice, treachery, misfortune, prosperity, hope, and promise. The past is an integral part of who we are today, shaping our current lives in ways that we could not even have imagined. Students will be excited to make connections with the history of The Last Green Valley, the history of their communities, as they examine the stories that have shaped this place.
a. Prudence Crandall: Connecticut's State Heroine (Canterbury, Connecticut)
Prudence Crandall became the center of the equality and social justice movement of the 1830's when she admitted an African-American woman to her prestigious boarding school for white female women of the area. The following school term, Prudence Crandall only admitted young women of African-American heritage from all over the Northeast. She and her students were the subject of harassment, discrimination, and threats with Prudence Crandall being jailed for breaking Connecticut's newly created Black Law, forbidding the education of out-of-state black students.
Your students will examine and understand the story of Prudence Crandall, those that supported and denounced her, while considering the viewpoints and perspectives of the United States within the 1830's.
Prudence Crandall Summary and Discussion Questions (Grades 3-5)
Prudence Crandall: Considering Multiple Viewpoints: Understanding the Story of Our State Heroine and Discrimination through Primary Sources (Middle School - High School)
Prudence Crandall Simulation
The following activities and lessons were developed by Donna Dufresne, teacher and dramatic interpreter of Prudence Crandall. Her attention to detail and commitment to interactive learning is exemplified through these educational materials. It is our pleasure to provide a space for teachers like Donna to share activities and lessons that focus on understanding, developing, and nurturing a connection to this place...The Last Green Valley.
Overview and Reflection on this Simulation
Simulation Activity Resources: Character Cards and Posters
b. Sharing Our History Through Story and Song
This curriculum guide serves as a resource for elementary and middle school teachers. By focusing on local history, students can understand the stories that have shaped their families and communities. Through investigations of primary sources, biographies, video presentations, interviewing, storytelling, songwriting, etc., students will develop meaningful connections to the history of this place. This particular guide written and compiled by Sally Rogers, Sandy Andersen, and Thomas R. Beardsley, focuses primarily on the rich mill history of The Last Green Valley and the immigrant populations that supplied the work power. This guide is comprehensive and can be followed in its entirety, or certain sections can be utilized to complement your school's curriculum. By teaching the history of local people and place, you will be rediscovering the story that tells us how we got to where we are today!
Telling the Story of How We Got Here
A Curriculum by Sally Rogers, Sandy Anderson, and Thomas Beardsley
This curriculum has been separated into "chapters" for downloading purposes.
1. Curriculum Guide Introduction: Introduction with authors' statements, table of contents, goals and objectives, options for assessment
2. Making Timelines and Visual Records of Data: Unit 1
3. Examining Primary Sources: Photographs, Letters, and Collected Data*: Unit 2
Census Data for Eastern Connecticut: 1790-1990
4. Primary Sources: Autobiographies: Unit 2 Continued
5. Examining Autobiographies and other Historical Literature: Harriet Hanson Robinson and Bobbin Girl.
Venn Diagram for Harriet Hanson Robinson and Bobbin Girl
6. Biographies, Examining Mill Town Life, and Using Sound and Song to Tell a Story
Sample Rhythm Pattern
Sample Sound Pattern
Making a Waterwheel Pattern
7. Immigration within The Last Green Valley: The Industrial Revolution
Changes the Populous.
8. Understanding Point of View when Examining History: A Look at the Willimantic Mill Industry and Labor Strikes and Songwriting as an Assessment Tool. Appendix.
9. Willimantic Daily Chronicle Excerpts from 1925:
* For the section requiring photographs, use this as an opportunity to focus on your local mill history. Historical societies are a great place to start for such documentation. The CT History Online website (http://www.cthistoryonline.org) has thousands of mill photographs categorized by town. It also has a great instructional approach for how to look for information within photographs.
Museums, Historic Houses, and Sites
Curriculums & Lessons Home Page
