I received this note from Beth Doughty:

So I was watching the NBC national news last night, when a story came on about radio host Tom Joyner, and how he had received a posthumous pardon from the state of South Carolina yesterday for his 2 uncles who were executed for the murder of a Confederate veteran in 1913.  Very interesting story in general, then suddenly Paul Finkelman was being interviewed because he was the legal representative for Joyner!  I yelled out, “Holy Sh**!  It’s Paul Finkelman!!!” in front of my 3 year old son (thankfully he was otherwise occupied, and I don’t think he heard me curse.)

You can read about the case and watch the news clip at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33310170/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/; CNN’s post is at http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/15/south.carolina.pardon/#cnnSTCText.

Update:  Paul posted this message on H-SHEAR in response to a posting about the case from H-SHEAR editor Peter Knupfer:

Thanks so much for the kind words; just one tiny correction, which is
really important for this list.  The research I did and the analysis I
offered was historical, not legal.  I looked at the documents in the
state archives about the case the way historians do.  Fortunately, the
history lesson was persuasive.  This is a great example of how we
historians really can have an impact on our society.

The coverage has amazed me, incuding NBC nightly news and a British
newspaper.  If anyone asks "what do you historians do that matters," we
can point to this case.

I would be happy to write a bit about the case if there is an
appropriate venue.  We might expand it on the H-Networks or maybe a JAH
symposium on historians using our craft to right wrongs.  In this I of
course stand the shadow of Peter Irons and his incredible work on the
Japanese-Internment Cases.

Here are a few more links to the Griffin Bros. case, including two from Europe. 
It is interesting to see that people outside the US think this matters.

 http://www.independent.ie/world-news/brothers-sent-to-electric-chair-are-cleared-of-killing-1917598.html

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6366628/South-Carolina-pardons-black-brothers-convicted-of-1913-killing.html

Updated Again - Yet more Finkelmania:  
Paul also appeared on NPR's Morning Edition for a piece on the commemoration of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry.

This from Gilder Lehrman:

NEW ONLINE EXHIBITION
John Brown: The Abolitionist and His Legacy

150 years ago, on October 16, 1859, John Brown and a band of followers, black and white, attacked the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The raid was part of a larger plan to destroy the slave system by freeing and arming slaves, and it was one of the sparks that ignited the Civil War.

To see highlights from John Brown: The Abolitionist and His Legacy, an exhibition of documents and artifacts from the Gilder Lehrman Collection on display at the New-York Historical Society from September 15, 2009 to March 25, 2010, click here:

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/online/johnbrown/

Meanwhile, our friends Paul Finkelman and Spencer Crew are joined by David Blight this week as the keynote speakers at the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the raid at Harper’s Ferry:  http://www.harpersferryhistory.org/johnbrown/index.htm.

Milton Meltzer, author of so many history books worth sharing with children, died Saturday.  An obituary is posted here.  From the obituary:

“Ours is not a past of sweetness and light, no matter what the textbook tells us,” he continued. “Textbooks avoid conflicts and the disorders that have taken place in our past. No wonder they bore students.”

Visiting scholars Jenny Wahl, Paul Finkelman, and Spencer Crew

I loved our 2009 summer institute.  But what did others think?  One way of reading their enthusiasm was the evaluations.  Quantitatively, it was a winner:  on a six point scale, participants assigned the program’s value with a mean score of 5.825.

It wasn’t just the numbers that reflected their enthusiasm.  A few responses taken from the evaluations:

These institutes, past and present, are the most valuable professional development I have ever experienced. They enrich my teaching and my students’ learning.

Amazing!  Really made me realize how much I didn’t know about the lengthy legal, social, political history that led up to the Civil War.

This has really helped with my understanding of how to get students to ask questions and then develop their evidence to answer the questions.

It was excellent!  So often we are taught teaching methods, not content once we are out of school, so this was wonderful!

It was refreshing to be at an educational workshop and feel respected as an adult, as a teacher, and as a professional.

If you weren’t there, here’s hoping that the following artifacts will help you get a small slice of the great joy it wrought!

First:  You can’t tell your players without a program:

• Agenda
• Presenter Bios

The 2009 Causes of Conflict cohort started the week with two evaluation pieces:  a teacher survey and a content knowledge test.

Monday’s focus was on understanding the roots of sectionalism as laid in the nation’s founding.  Paul Finkelman led a historiographical examination of the causes of the Civil War.  He discussed how, since the final shots were fired, historians have always interpreted the war through the lens of the pressing concerns of their day.

• Audio File:  Paul Finkelman: Roots of Civil War historiography

Then, Finkelman examined the roots of secession in the revolution and the Constitutional Convention.  He presented a long list of Southern victories and Northern concessions.  One big idea?  That the mathematics of the amendment process would have required 60 states to end slavery through constitutional change rather than bloodshed.

• Audio File: Paul Finkelman – Roots of Sectionalism

Spencer Crew rounded out our first day by drawing our attention to slave narratives.  It’s hard to imagine that these incredibly powerful tales were once disregarded by historians as biased.  Crew drew from both Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (a copy of which was given to all participants) as well as other slave narratives, gathered in a handout packet.

• Rebirth of Slavery A
• Rebirth of SlaveryB
• Audio File: Spencer Crew – Who were the three-fifths?

Tuesday started with an “unpacking” of the Dig Deep CBA:

• Unpacking CBA for summer session
• Dig Deep CBA (elementary, middle, high school)
• OSPI Scoring Guide (elementary, middle & high school)
• Program generated holistic scoring guide (middle, high school)

Tuesday’s focus was on understanding the pr0- and anti-slavery argument.  The day continued with Paul Finkelman’s examination of pro-slavery thought in its legal, philosophical, pseudo-scientific, and religious manifestations.  Finkelman focused on Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia Query 14 and 18.

• Audio File: Paul Finkelman – Pro-Slavery Thought

The program continued with Spencer Crew’s presentation on Abolitionism.

• Abolitionists

The day concluded with Jenny Wahl’s presentation examining slavery as an economic force.

• eh.net – Slavery in the United States
• PowerPoint Slides: Slavery as an Economic Force
• Audio File: Jenny Wahl – Economics of Slavery Part One

Wednesday started with a “”To Light Us to Freedom and Glory Again:  Civil War Poetry with a Purpose’”, a video-conference led by Peter Armenti of the Library of Congress.  An overview with links to many poems is posted here; Mr. Armenti generously shares his presentation notes here.

Wednesday’s focus was on the Fugitive Slave Acts.  Jenny Wahl started us off with a continuation of the previous days focus (see slides and article above), followed by attention to understanding fugitive slaves’ from an economist’s perspective.

• PowerPoint Slides: Jenny Wahl – Fugitive Slaves
• Audio File: Jenny Wahl -  Economics of slavery part two

The day continued with Spencer Crew’s attention to slave resistance.  Crew described the multitude of ways slaves resisted slavery, from open rebellion to everyday acts of opposition.

• Audio File: Spencer Crew – Slave Resistance

Paul Finkelman finished the day examining the Fugitive Slave Acts themselves:  What the laws said and how they were enacted.

Audio File: Paul Finkelman – Fugitive Slave Acts

Rich Christensen and Peter Thacker finished the day with an introduction of six literacy strategies to aid students in interpreting tough documents.  The document they used as a model was an 1831 article about the Nat Turner Rebellion printed in the Richmond Enquirer.

• Document Analysis Protocol
• 7 Literacy Strategies

Thursday’s focus was understanding the role of the West (an investigation we’ll be continuing with our March 6, 2010 Center for Columbia River History program, “Neither North nor South: The Pacific Northwest in the Civil War.”

Jenny Wahl started our day, looking at the impact the Dred Scott decision had on westward expansion as well as answering questions from earlier sessions.

• Power Point slides: Jenny Wahl – Economics of Westward Expansion
• PowerPoint slides: Jenny Wahl – Answers to Questions
• Audio File: Jenny Wahl – Economics and The Role of the West

Paul Finkelman discussed the role of the west in forcing the national confrontation over slavery.

• Audio File: Paul Finkelman – The Role of The West

Rich Christen and Peter Thacker finished out the day moving the individual components of the literacy strategies introduced the previous day to their collaborative steps, then having a discussion comparing their assets.  Next, they talked about the challenges to students in moving from analyzing a single document to developing an argument synthesizing a document set.  They introduced a scaffolded approach to this challenge utilizing a set of documents related to slave resistance.  We continued our attention to this document analysis set the following day.

• Slave Resistance: Scaffolded document set

Friday’s session was limited to members of the Causes of Conflict 2009-2010 Cohort.  This group will be using the Lesson Study approach to deepen their understanding of the teaching and learning of history, as well as attending additional Reading History workshops and two History on Location programs this spring (March 6 at Fort Vancouver National Historic Reserve, open to additional participants, see above, and spring break in Gettysburg through a partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.)

For more information about our work, please contact Matt Karlsen.

Participants:  What else should be included here?  What struck you as most important?  What will you be sharing with your students?

And it’ll be great. I’ll plan on posting live tweats during the sessions @TAHMatt (that’s what people do, right?) If anyone else will be, post here and I’ll direct folks that way. Look here for audio files of presentations soon.

As a way of reducing the number of blog entries I do merely directing folks to other postings, I’m going to give Tweeting a shot.  If you want to explore it with me, you can follow me at https://twitter.com/TAHMatt.

From Fort Vancouver:

Today, the National Park Service at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site released the latest episode of the Fort Vancouver Podcast.  This episode, featuring Tessa Langford, park curator, and Heidi Pierson, museum technician, takes listeners behind the scenes with the park’s extensive museum collection: the vast array of more than two million items ranging from artifacts recovered during archaeological excavations to old photographs and textiles.

This free audio program, available online via subscription or direct download, is designed to provide a personal, behind the scenes look at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site–the Pacific Northwest’s premiere archaeological and historic site. This is also the first National Park Service podcast in the Pacific Northwest to be featured on iTunes, the dominant podcatching client.

The podcast is designed to enhance the listener’s visit to the site by providing compelling background information, history, stories, and anecdotes that shed additional light on park resources, activities and programs. Conversations with staff members, visitors, park partners and many of the site’s 400 volunteers will take listeners on an intimate journey and help show why this urban national park – with its historic buildings and landscapes, expansive recreational opportunities, reconstructed 1840’s fur trade stockade, dozens of interpretive programs and special events, and a collection of over 2 million artifacts – is relevant today, drawing nearly 900,000 visitors a year.

The podcast can be accessed online through the park website or iTunes. At the podcast’s park website (www.nps.gov/fova/photosmultimedia/fort-vancouver-podcast.htm), visitors can choose to subscribe to the RSS feed and have the episodes sent directly to their computer, or they can download the MP3 file directly from the website. The podcast is also available as a free download through Apple’s online iTunes Store. Simply enter “Fort Vancouver Podcast” into the iTunes search engine or click on the link to iTunes from the park webpage.

“From archaeologists analyzing latest finds to volunteer blacksmiths creating essential tools, from rangers crafting new programs and events to museum staff describing fascinating artifacts, this podcast will help listeners learn much about their national park,” explained podcast producer Greg Shine, the park’s chief ranger and historian,  “and hopefully help them forge their own, personal connection to this very special and significant site.”

What: Fort Vancouver Podcast, a free audio podcast produced by Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

Who: The staff of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, a unit of the national park system. Greg Shine is the podcast producer.

Where: The podcast can be accessed online through the podcast’s park website (www.nps.gov/fova/photosmultimedia/fort-vancouver-podcast.htm) or iTunes under “Fort Vancouver Podcast”.

When: The first three episodes of the Fort Vancouver Podcast are currently available; future episodes will be posted each month.

Cost: None. The podcast is available as a free download.

From the Bill of Rights Defense Committee:

Last year, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) launched the People’s Campaign for the Constitution (PCC) in order to help galvanize the movement to restore the rule of law and civil liberties. We appreciate your support and participation. This spring, after submitting letters to the Attorney General on behalf of 4,000 supporters demanding prosecution for torture-related crimes by former officials, BORDC launched the PCC’s first national affinity groups.

They bring together legal professionals in one group, and educators in another, concerned about issues including executive secrecy, warrantless electronic and physical surveillance, preventive detention, and torture accountability. The first activity of the educators’ group was a recent conference call on which several participants collaboratively defined the group’s near-term agenda. They set priorities and identified several exciting intermediate-term projects, each of which has teams in place to coordinate an effort among volunteers. We write to invite your participation in those projects.

The projects offer chances to bring civil liberties issues to the forefront of education, empowering students, supporting educators, and impacting policy. Specifically, the PCC educators’ network seeks volunteers to plug in on the following projects:

1)  Report on security measures in schools undermining the Constitution:  Developing a detailed report about how security measures in schools (e.g., comprehensive metal detector scanning without suspicion; biometric tracking and identification devices; restrictions on student speech; requirements for clear book bags) undermine the privacy expectations of students and dull their sensitivity to constitutional values.

2)  Curriculum development: Compiling educational materials to demonstrate how public policies (e.g., surveillance, detention, torture, secrecy) affect and ultimately undermine constitutional rights. The project will (a) review currently available materials; and (b) identify potential gaps and compile syllabi to fill them, with audiences including K-12 students, as well as their teachers.

3)  Forming a teacher peer network: Teachers will be gathering resources to assist one another in navigating complicated situations (e.g., how to thoughtfully discuss current events in the classroom without bias, addressing pressure from administrators, etc) and developing an online platform (e.g., a blog, forum, social networking site or wiki) to compile and make them available.

These project teams will be coordinating their respective further efforts in the next week, and would enthusiastically welcome your participation. For more information, or to get involved with one or more of these efforts, email Emma Roderick, Grassroots Campaign Coordinator for the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.

From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

A study published in the April issue of British Educational Research Journal found that 59 percent of students in a new survey reported that at least half of their lectures were boring, and that PowerPoint was one of the dullest methods they saw. The survey consisted of 211 students at a university in England and was conducted by researchers at the University of Central Lancashire.

Students in the survey gave low marks not just to PowerPoint, but also to all kinds of computer-assisted classroom activities, even interactive exercises in computer labs. “The least boring teaching methods were found to be seminars, practical sessions, and group discussions,” said the report. In other words, tech-free classrooms were the most engaging.

Now, I’m not sure the survey supports the journalist’s conclusion – there are tech-loaded ways to engage students and catalyze classroom conversation and deeper thinking – but the message holds:  Just because  you used your computer to put a slide on the board doesn’t result in engaged learning.