Teaching the 250th with Historic Places: A Field Guide to Lessons for America’s Semiquincentennial

This guide is part of the Teaching with Historic Places program.

Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence goes beyond studying the document itself. The Declaration outlined values and promises for what kind of country the United States could be. Each generation takes part in the ongoing process of defining, defending, and expanding these values.

^{Statue of Dred and Harriet Scott at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri. Many cases were argued and decided at this courthouse. The Scott’s case is perhaps one of the most famous. In 1846 the couple filed a suit to obtain their freedom from slavery. NPS photo.}

What will you find here?

This guide contains lessons designed to give students both a sense of place and the big themes in American history. The lesson plans will help students evaluate the values of the Declaration of Independence through a diverse set of historical places. These lessons are inquiry-based, student-centered and built on primary source documents. Most of them will give students extensions to explore these themes in their own community.

The ideas from the Declaration or Constitution can often feel abstract to students. Here, four themes categorize the documents: liberty, equality, memory, and belonging. Anchoring these themes in specific places help students connect to the past. The guide will highlight specific lessons in different eras of American history that showcase these themes. Teaching with Historic Places lessons give a nuanced picture of the struggles and triumphs of different generations of Americans to form "a more perfect Union."

Using Teaching with Historic Places

There are a lot of lessons on Teaching with Historic Places. The ones highlighted here are a focused sample related to American values. Lessons are tagged to show what you’ll find when you click. “Grab Bags” are long lessons in which you might want to select activities that best fit your classroom. “Bell to Bell” are designed for a 45 minute to 1 hour class and are ready to use in their entirety. Many of the “Bell to Bell” lessons have more resources linked in a longer lesson. Finally, a few lessons are “Inspiration,” they have activities but may lack primary sources or assessments. Most of the lessons are designed for middle grades but can be adapted for all classrooms.  

Check out all the great places to explore under the "Lesson Plans" tab on the Teaching with Historic Places website.  

.

While founders like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote about a country founded on natural rights and liberty, they did not include Africans and people of African descent in this vision. Slavery continued another eighty-nine years after America declared independence.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2019/10/runaway-fugitive-slave-ads-in-newspapers/.

Guiding Questions:

• How have values and promises in the Declaration of Independence been interpreted throughout American history? How have they evolved?

• Who has had access to the promises in the Declaration of Independence? How have different people fought to be included and make a “more perfect Union”?

• What is the role of place in defining and expanding American values and belonging?

Lessons by Theme:

Theme 1: Liberty

“Give me liberty or give me death,” concluded Patrick Henry in a famous address to the colonial Virginia legislature. In a time of inequality and slavery, the idea of “liberty” had different meanings for early Americans. Those meanings are still debated today. How do you engage your students in discussions of freedom and liberty?

Liberty Guiding Questions

• How have different people in America defined "liberty"? How did different people fight for liberty?  
• How have different places been part of the struggle to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity”?  

Sample Lesson Texts

Discover Touro Synagogue          (Grades 5-12)          Grab Bag  

Use this 18th century Rhode Island synagogue to explore the first amendment's freedom of religion clauses. The resources can be a hook or an extension in an early U.S. history or government course. Photographs, maps, and letters, including one from George Washington, provide insight into what religious freedom might have meant in the colonial era. 
 

New Philadelphia          (Grades 9-12)          Bell to Bell 

The lesson provides an important compliment to the story of slavery before the Civil War. Buying one’s freedom, like “Free Frank” McWorter, and creating a life for one's family introduces students to stories of resilience. It also emphasizes that freedom was hard-earned and precarious. The lesson incorporates maps and archeological sites for classes that include pre–Civil War history. The final activity invites students to do their own research on freedom narratives. For more resources go to the longer lesson. 
 

The WWII Navy Women of Floyd Bennett Field          (Grades 6-12)          Bell to Bell 

World War II can be broadly interpreted as a war for liberty. In having students think about what liberty meant at the time, they read primary sources from women who served in the United States Naval Reserve (WAVES). Oral histories and war time posters allow for dynamic source analysis. For use in a course that includes 20th century history. For more resources go to the longer lesson. 

.

Theme 2: Equality

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Thomas Jefferson wrote this famous phrase in a time of extreme inequality. These words have formed the cornerstone of debate about American values. Activists from Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Martin Luther King Jr. have invoked the Declaration of Independence in fighting to expand its application. The struggle for equality is ongoing. How is your classroom a site for furthering equality?

Equality Guiding Questions 

How have Americans addressed inequalities at different points in our history? How do we build on the legacy of prior generations?  

How have historic places been sites of struggle for equality? Does the location impact the nature of that struggle?  

Sample Lesson Texts

The Shields-Ethridge Farm          (Grades 6-12)          Bell to Bell 

Slavery tied families’ lives together over generations, but it also highlighted the stark inequalities in a single place. Comparing the white free family and the African American enslaved family lets students see the contrast in a single place. The lesson can lead students to a discussion of how those differences are felt today and what should be done to address it. Teach in early 19th century and antebellum U.S. History course. For more resources go to the longer lesson.  
 

The Rosenwald Schools          (Grades 6-12)          Bell to Bell 

After Reconstruction, segregated schools meant inequality for white and black students. To help address this, activist Booker T. Washington and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald built schools for African Americans in the South. These schools were only part of the solution during Reconstruction and Jim Crow. Students may think about how schools benefit communities and what may have remained unequal. These activities can bridge U.S. History surveys that cover late 19th and early 20th century history. For more resources go to the longer lesson. 
 

Learning from Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee          (Grades 9-12)          Inspiration 

The long struggle for the right to vote is a story of equity and inclusion. Many students have a specific image of a suffragist. It is important to include women like Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, who was active in both the struggle for women’s rights and immigrant rights. Help students discuss what it means to fight for rights that benefit them and those that help others. This lesson fits into teaching the Progressive Era and early 20th century. 
 

The First Steps of Desegregation          (Grades 6-12)          Bell to Bell 

There are a lot of ways to approach the efforts to desegregate schools and create more equality in education. This lesson built around an oral history interview with Dr. Cynthia Gaines is a way to connect students to first-hand experiences. Building historical empathy, the interview transcript and images help see individual efforts in a larger movement for equality. Then encourage students to research the history of their school. Fits into any Civil Rights or 20th century U.S. History course. For more resources go to the longer lesson.  

.

Theme 3: Memory 

As we celebrate America 250, how we remember says a lot about who we are as a nation. Studying different commemorations throughout history help us understand different historical perspectives. It can also open up a conversation in your classroom about what we should commemorate today and how. Memory shapes our knowledge of history. What decisions has your community or school made about what to teach? How does that influence the history your students remember? 

Memory Guiding Questions 

• How have different American values influenced how we remember or celebrate historical moments? How has this changed at different points in history? 
• How does a place help shape the memory of an event? Why do we preserve some places in certain ways?  

Sample Lesson Texts

Tonto National Monument: Saving a National Treasure          (Grades 9-12)          Grab Bag

Who do we remember as part of the American story? Students explore the Salado, an indigenous group in the Southwest, and the steps to preserve their culture. Nineteenth century legislation, like the American Antiquities Act, provide some federal protection. There is also a place to discuss the decision to include the Salado in the centennial celebration in 1876. Use the primary documents and photos to teach pre-colonial history, the Progressive era or social studies concepts like archeology and geography.  
 

Discover the African Burial Ground          (Grades 5-12)          Grab Bag  

While slavery is often remembered as a Southern institution, all Atlantic colonies used enslaved labor. This lesson looks at the culture of enslaved Africans in Dutch New York and honoring that community in the 21st century. Students can use primary sources to think about historical themes and modern debates. Invite students to research memorials and preservation in their own communities. Use the activities in an Early America course or in broader social studies courses with archaeology, geography or civics. The Additional Resources section has great supplemental resources.  
 

The Washington Monument          (Grades 8-12)          Grab Bag

Most students already know George Washington. Many will also know the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. That makes it a great landmark to discuss memory and celebration. Use planning documents from throughout the nineteenth century to think about how the goals of monuments, and their design, change over time. Then get students involved in studying or designing their own local monuments. Use for a class including the early American republic or as an end of the year project in a U.S. survey course.  
 

Reconciliation at Gettysburg          (Grades 6-12)          Bell to Bell

Bring the national conversation about monuments to your classroom. This lesson focuses on the Civil War monuments themselves; who built them, what they say. In focusing on Union and Confederate veterans, it asks students to think about the first draft of history. Students examine photos and primary source documents to understand the narrative created and who it excluded. Use this lesson in teaching Reconstruction, early 20th century history or current events. Then bring the lesson questions to monuments in your community.  

.

Theme 4: Belonging  

Students are often looking to see themselves in the history we teach. Many groups have struggled to be a part of the American project. Different time periods presented different ideas and challenges for inclusion. Help students see the efforts to widen the definition of what it means to be an American. What makes students feel like they are American? Do they? 

Belonging Guiding Questions

• What determines whether someone belongs in the United States? How have people fought to expand or limit inclusion in America?
• How have specific places served as sites of inclusion or exclusion? 

Sample Lesson Texts

Discover the Mary Ann Shadd Cary House          (Grades 6-12)          Grab Bag 

Before the 13th Amendment, the place of free African Americans in American society was fragile. Laws like the Fugitive Slave Act and the Dredd Scott decision limited opportunities for citizens. Mary Ann Shad Cary, born free in slave-state Delaware, was an activist for freedom. Yet she also had to move throughout the United States and Canada, helping students trace questions of belonging. Connect to national events in the history of slavery while recognizing the work of individuals to find home. Good for early nineteenth century and antebellum U.S. History classes.  

Castolon: A Meeting Place of Two Cultures          (Grades 5-12)          Grab Bag 

The nation’s border has often been a fluid space of identity. This lesson focuses on the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Both American and Mexican settlers looked for better economic opportunities. The resources are a great way to think about American identity across languages and cultures in the middle space between nations. Students can also compare it to the history of cultural mixing in their own communities. Use maps and primary sources to think about, at a very local level, who belongs in an American town. Good for classes that include Westward Expansion and nineteenth century U.S. history.  

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School          (Grades 5-12)          Grab Bag  

As the we celebrate many people’s efforts to be 'American', it is important to recognize belonging is not everyone's goal. In the late 19th century, American Indian children were being taken from their families. At boarding schools, they were forced to adopt white American culture, along with other forms of violence. Do your students feel pressure to “be American” in a certain way? This lesson provides important discussions about belonging in a multicultural society. It asks students to think about when American has failed to live up to its ideals.  A vital lesson for classes that cover 19th and 20th century United States history. 

Growing Up in the Pope House          (Grades 6-12)          Bell to Bell 

Access to the American dream was different for many racial minorities in the U.S. Teaching Jim Crow particularly raises those questions of belonging for students. This lesson on the Pope family allows for a more nuanced view of opportunities and challenges for middle-class black families. An important addition to teaching early twentieth century history, which will let students compare their own childhood to the Pope sisters.  For more resources go to the longer lesson.  

Alaska Site Summit          (Grades 6-12)          Bell to Bell 

States came to join the Union in many different ways over a hundred and seventy five years. The Cold War brought distinct questions about what it meant to be American in the face of perceived Soviet threats. Alaska’s geographic and political position makes it a great place to discuss these questions. How do your students connect belonging with geographic location? This lesson brings the discussion of American values from the Revolution to the Cold War. It includes different voices on the issue of statehood, including Native Alaskans. Teach with Cold War social and military history.  For more resources go to the longer lesson.  

Featured Lessons:

.

Revolutionary Lessons 

Looking for a lesson that speaks directly to the American Revolution for this anniversary? There are National Parks and Teaching with Historic Places lessons that cover the Revolutionary period. We hope these lessons will introduce students to multiple themes that you can carry throughout the year. Use these as a springboard to other lessons in the guide.  

Guiding Questions

• How do we remember the American Revolution?  
• What were the values originally fought for? How did people fight for them?   

Sample Lesson Texts

Independence Hall: International Symbol of Freedom          (Grades 6-12)          Grab Bag 

At the heart of American founding is Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed at this place. What contribution do students think physical location made to the documents? How does this space factor in to our commemoration of the documents? Use maps, photographs, and primary sources to discuss the events that took place in this building and how we should preserve the space.  
 

Embattled Farmers and the Shot Heard Round the World          (Grades 6-12)          Grab Bag 

The opening shots of the Revolutionary War happened at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Americans celebrated the significance almost immediately. Participants, poets and historians influenced how we remember those battles. What have students learned already and how is that shaped by the commemorative efforts of generations? Teach this lesson as part of your Revolutionary War unit to expand from military history. Use maps, images, letters and poems to analyze how we celebrate this event and how that contributes to the American narrative. 

.

About This Guide:

This guide was written by Alison Russell. Alison is a National Council for Preservation Education intern with the Cultural Resource Office of Interpretation and Education. She taught 7th through 12th grade Social Studies for 10 years in Montgomery County, Maryland. She is currently a PhD Student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with an interest in the U.S. Constitution, public memory and commemoration.

Teaching with Historic Places