Teacher Workshop, Oct. 2, 2015
The 1882 Foundation and the Alexandria Black History Museum collaborated on a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of landmark legislative acts that have transformed America over the lat half-century. As part of the week’s activities, teachers from Alexandria City schools participated in a full-day workshop entitled The World Comes To Us: A Fresh Look at What we Teach and the Students We’re Teaching. A variety of sessions were designed to recognize the intersection of the African American experience and civil rights with that of Chinese and Asian Americans, and to better understand how these experiences have enriched our lives.
The collaboration allowed us to look at the theme from many perspectives. Katie Orr of the National Park Service, led the group through a lesson plan about the Rosenwald Schools funded by Julius Rosenwald, CEO of Sears Roebuck back in the early 1900s, including one in Alexandria. Kate Reeder had teachers examine artifacts unearthed from Alexandria Black and Freedmen’s sites; Ting-Yi Oei used sources tying the 1965 Immigration Act to the Civil Rights Movement. Krystyn Moon,Director of American Studies at University of May Washington, captivated teachers with a comparative timeline of Civil Rights and immigration history with many connections to local history.
Link to Rosenwald School Lesson: http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/159rosenwald/159rosenwald.htm
Another National Park Service resource is this guidebook entitled Asian Reflections on the American Landscape, a printed copy of which was given to each of the teacher participants: http://www.nps.gov/history/heritageinitiatives/pubs/Asianisms.pdf