Rationale
Brashear, located in the Beechview neighborhood of Pittsburgh, is the largest high school sin the Pittsburgh Public Schools. There are also students throughout the city who attend Brashear because of various magnet programs we offer. There are approximately 1400 students and the demographics are: African American (36%), Asian (14%), Caucasian (41%), Hispanic (4%), and Multi-Racial (5%). In addition, 77% of the student’s qualify for free/reduced lunch.
I chose to create a unit based on the steel industry for an 11th grade U.S. History class. To teach industrialization, one cannot ignore the major role the steel industry had in Pittsburgh. The city continues to maintain strong ties to its steel past as displayed through the spirit of the city and various public history projects. Lastly, students today do not have a direct memory of Pittsburgh producing a third of the world’s steel. However, students observe this history by seeing the name “Carnegie” in various ways throughout the city, the name of the NFL team, as well as the various ways the city still holds on to its steel past. Through the use of public history tools, such as oral histories and walking tours, I want students to not only study the past but to see how the past impacts the present and consider why there seems to be a need to hold on to the past.
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