Objectives and Rationale
The goal of this curriculum unit is to teach my students that there is history all around us, but it needs to be discovered. Richmond has an enormous amount of history and has played an important role as the capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War. The tourist attractions show only a portion of Richmond's history, and history is reconstructed to narrate the story in a particular way. But what lies behind the buildings, and beneath their feet may turn up a much richer story. I want them to understand how the in-depth study of one location can reveal much more than first meets the eye. Whether it is a parking lot, an expressway or an abandoned building, there is a story to be told.
Searching for the story may also reveal a multitude of layers that trace the changing landscape throughout time. The distinction between history and memory is at the crux of this curriculum unit. History is distant and seems to differ from our own world. Bernard Bailyn claims that our present world evolves from and contains residues of the past. History illuminates a story and shows the outcome, which we want to know. Memory is different from history because it is not a distant reconstruction. Memory involves one's experience with the past and one's emotion.(1) I want students to understand Richmond's memory and history. It is important for them to engage with human experiences and recreated stories because according to Bernard Bailyn, "We cannot afford to diminish either if we are to understand who we are and how we got to be the way we are."(2)
The idea of students discovering the story of Richmond's past that is not always told is important for all of the students in Richmond Public Schools to comprehend. My students tend to have a great deal of exposure to historical sites around the state, but it is portrayed mostly through contrived attractions and displays. I teach fourth grade at Mary Munford Elementary School and an important aspect of the curriculum is Virginia Studies. The curriculum begins with a review of explorers and then spans from the Native People who lived in Virginia thousands of years ago to the present day. The curriculum focuses on important events, often skipping decades at a time. The growth of Richmond due to industry, the Civil War, and Reconstruction are the main Virginia Studies topics that resonate with this unit. I plan to teach the unit primarily during language arts and to focus on research, oral language, and written narratives. In order to teach my students the difference between history and memory, they also need to gain historical background knowledge on the tobacco and slave industries, the Lumpkin Jail, and the Winfree Cottage. The tobacco and slave industries shaped Richmond's economical, political, and social landscapes and continue to influence them today. The Lumpkin Jail was the most infamous of numerous slave pens used to hold slaves primarily prior to auctions. The Winfree Cottage is a simply constructed building owned by a freed slave that will provide a window into the past. These foci provide a more complete history than one shaped solely on martial representations.
Comments: