American History Workshops

My husband and I have been fortunate to attend Landmarks of American History workshops over the past five summers. They have been jointly sponsored by a local entity and by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Much of the material from these workshops (including photos) is incorporated into lesson plans whenever possible. The workshops attended are:

2004:

• “The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson, and America 1801-1861”

• Plymouth, MA - “Encounters and Change: Expanding Perspectives on Natives and Colonists in 17th Century Plymouth”

2005:

• "Becoming American: Trade, Culture, and Reform in Salem, Massachusetts, 1801-1861"

• Lockport, IL - "America's Last Great Canal: How the I&M Canal United 19th Century America"

2006:

• Lowell, MA - “Inventing America: Lowell and the Industrial Revolution”

2007:

• Kalamazoo, MI - "The American Farm in U.S. History"
• Dearborn, MI (Greenfield Village) - "America's Industrial Revolution"

2008:

• A View from Mount Vernon: Shaping the Constitution 1783-1789

By the way, here is a photo of our friend from Indonesia, Sopyan Kosasih; he is shown sitting between my husband and Mr. David Passman, a good friend from Chicago who also attended the Mt. Vernon workshop. We hope we will be corresponding with his students this school year.



2009:

• War of Invasion—War of Liberation: Occupied Nashville and the Civil War and Emancipation in the Upper South. As part of this workshop, we took a trip to Chickamauga National Battlefield near Chattanooga, Tennessee. We discovered that a statue in honor of Union Lieut. Col. Melvin Mudge of the 11th Michigan was seriously vandalized (see below). I will be attempting to involve students in a campaign to write letters to various Michigan and national organizations to determine if funds can be procured to repair the damage to this monument.