Landmark Moments in United States History
Landmark Moments in United States History is a Social Studies enrichment course designed to enable students to understand significant historical events through the critical analysis of primary and secondary source documents. In the course, students will learn the skills necessary to examine and analyze some of the most important documents, writings, and speeches in American History to understand their importance and context. Students will develop the historical thinking skills of analysis, causation, context, and synthesis in both individual and group settings. The culminating activity of the course will allow students to work in a group to create, and present, an in-depth critical analysis of a famous document from American history.
Some examples of documents that will be studied are: the Massachusetts’ Bay Charter, the Declaration of Independence, the letters of Abigail Adams, the Bill of Rights, Washington’s Farewell Address, the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural, the Gettysburg Address, the war correspondences of Marguerite Huggins, the testimony of Fanny Lou Hamer before the Credentials Committee, Letters from an Alabama Jail Cell, and others.
Plans for In-Person Workshops
1st Face-to-Face Workshop
During the first face-to-face meeting students will be presented with an overview of the course and its objectives. The instructor will also provide information about the course’s structure and weekly online activities. Students will learn how to effectively analyze documents and be given the opportunity to examine several historical documents as individuals and in groups. Lastly, there will be time for students to get to know their classmates and ask any general questions they have.
2nd Face-to-Face Workshop
During the second face-to-face meeting the class will work on any of the historical thinking skills that they have been struggling with during online document analysis and discussions. The end of the year group project will be introduced and detailed, groups will be formed, and groups will begin planning their project.
3rd Face-to-Face Workshop
In the final face-to-face meeting student groups will present their critical analysis project. The project will provide contextual information about the documents researched, the causation for the document, and synthesis to show how the document relates to the broader historical time period and why it is considered to be a famous document in American history. The project will not only highlight the students’ abilities to analyze documents but their public speaking and demonstration skills as well.