The Invention of the “Indian” | Facing History and Ourselves
Short article can be used by teachers to explain how a term, or label, can emerge in context, then persist through time, long after the context that contributed to it emergence disappears
01: Colonization
Before the Mayflower | History Today
This article is interesting not only for its ability to show us once again, that we should always be hesitant to claim that an event was the "first ever", there is always more evidence out there to disprove our assertions. But this story of an failed expedition of religious refugees before the pilgrims exposes another element of history - some of the stories are just not told. It could be shared with students for those two reasons alone, but it also shows how French, Spanish and English were struggling for what every they could get a hold of in North America
Fort Mose – Historical Archaeology
In 1738, the Spanish created a town in Florida for escaped slaves that became the refuge and destination of escaped slaves the British colonies to the North. This is an African American history separate from slavery and oppression
Dr. Boylston Experiments with Smallpox Inoculation
Anti-vaxxing sentiment has a deep history in the US. Cotton Mather's house was firebombed in the 1720s because he supported the small pox inoculation which he learned about from a slave. Smallpox epidemics were a prominent and ever-present part of colonial life that never appears in the taught narrative canon of US History. Teachers looking for a direct connection for students can assign this shor reading
...SIX OF THE ORIGINAL THIRTEEN COLONIES ARE NAMED AFTER BRITISH KINGS & QUEENS!
The lesson here is that there is a history behind everything
The day of doom, or, A poetical description of the great and last judgement, with other poems : also, a memoir of the author, authobiography, and sketch of his funeral sermon : Wigglesworth, Michael, 1631-1705 :
Published in 1662 and popular (some claim more than 1,800 copies sold) this book provides some insight into the fears of Puritan ideology. As much as teachers emphasize the motive of "freedom of religion" that prompted migration to the colonies, there is little insight into just what that religion was. Have students look through the this and just ask questions about it.
Indenture Records Project - Digitization from the American Philosophic Library & Museum
Interactive visualizations of data following themes of distance, gender, and time-based on records of 5,000 indentured servants registered in Philadelphia from 1771 through 1773. The presentation of these materials already has questions and a narrative path, it would not take more than a half-hour of a teacher's time to turn this site into a valuable instructional exercise
PDF-The-John-Punch-Court-Decisions-and-the-Advent-of-Slavery-in-Virginia-Full-Lesson.pdf
Several documents in a lesson that focuses on three escaped Indentured Servants in 1640 Virginia and the different sentences they received when they were caught. This lesson can be combined with others to highlight the early system of slavery in the colonies
Tribe meets white man for the first time - Original Footage (1/5) - YouTube
" From Tribal Journeys The Toulambi. A series by Jean-Pierre Dutilleux - segments of a documentary showing the first contact with an isolated tribe. This might provide insight into what the first context between European and Native Americans might haave looked like "
Map of Discoveries | Historic Jamestowne
Give students ten minutes to click through this site to see how Jamestown is still an active archaeological site. We are still learning more about Jamestown
Scientific Reports | Historic Jamestowne
21st century goes far beyond paper primary and secondary source documents and even beyond artifacts. Current research combines the latest research biology and entomology
Wall Street 30th Anniversary - "Greed is Good" Clip - YouTube
Greed is Good. This is minute long clip from the film Wall Street is a powerful "Do Now" set up question for any lesson related to colonization. Do students agree with Gordon Gekko?
Legislating Reproduction and Racial Difference in Virginia - Women & the American Story
Shepherding students through colonial slave laws with a source that provides the side-by-side text and explanation in plain language shows them how to decipher the text while also showing them the pervasiveness of the system. This source comes with discussion questions - easy to use in a pinch by just posting the link, or as part of a more developed lesson sequence
Rhode Island Dominates North American Slave Trade in 18th Century - Online Review of Rhode Island History
Nowhere in the taught narrative canon of American colonial history is the fact that Newport Rhode Island played a prominent role in the slave trade of the 1700s. The fact can be demonstrably proven through primary source evidence, though it is simply ignored
The present state of Virginia by Hugh Jones (1724) - Complete Book
Internet Archive version of books, students can search through for "religion", "servants", "negroes"
July 21, 1656: Elizabeth Key Wins Her Freedom - Zinn Education Project
The story of Elizabeth Key could easily be included in a lesson which follows the evolution of slavery laws in the 1600s.
Cases like Elizabeth Key’s help highlight the ways in which justifications for discriminatory practices were built over time, and the fluidity of status and freedom for people of African descent in early colonial Virginia. She initially lost her case because she and her son were classified by the court as “Negroes,” but was able to win by highlighting her father’s whiteness and her Christian faith.
Penalty for Keeping Christmas, 1659
Massachusetts Bay Colony
SB2538 (As Introduced) - 2021 Regular Session
Should should know how much of the history they are learning is fought over in state legislatures
Inventory of Robert Carter's Estate, November 1733
What did one of the richest men in British North American own? This answers that question. Students can be asked what they would think about looking through the personal inventory of Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk? Here they get to do just that. This provides insight into the material culture of the wealthy colonists but a truly detailed look into slavery. Just click on the locations and look at the names and ages of the persons he enslaved.
Christmas Celebration Outlawed
"a law was passed by the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony requiring a five-shilling fine from anyone caught "observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way." "
a law was passed by the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony requiring a five-shilling fine from anyone caught "observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way."
Inventing Black and White | Facing History and Ourselves
This reading and question set describes Bacon's rebellion as a revolt actuated by both white and black settlers, provoking a response by the colony to distinguish between white and black in the laws. Is this accurate? How can we account for the Virginia laws distinguishing between black and white in the 1640s?
Lockean Liberalism and the American Revolution | AP US History Study Guide from The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
This essay on John Locke conveniently ignores his writing of the Constitution of the Carolinas - "Every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slaves, of what opinion or religion soever. "
In Locke’s writings we witness the birth of liberal social theory, which posits the autonomous independent individual as the center of the social universe, for whom social and political institutions are self-willed constructs whose purpose and function are to secure the rights and interests of self-seeking individuals.
Government only protects life, liberty, and property. It keeps peace and order in a voluntaristic, individualistic society.
The First Decades of the Massachusetts Bay; or Idleness, Wolves, and a Man Who Shall No Longer Be Called Mister - Commonplace - The Journal of early American Life
Short essay for teachers to show that their teaching may be reflective of only one or two segments of society, ignoring the vast expanse of human experience at the time. It makes a strong argument for using the Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay to better understand the period
Without this work, John Winthrop’s will be the only story told in textbooks about this country’s colonial history. Instead, the <em>Records of the Governor and Company </em>allow us to teach other realities, like that of the unnamed Indian woman who was coerced into sex by John Dawe. The Puritan freemen may have the loudest voices in the archive, but theirs are not the only narratives being told.
Records of the governor and company of the Massachusetts bay in New England. Printed by order of the legislature : Massachusetts (Colony) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
These are court records of the colony of Massachusetts Bay from 1628 through 1641, the raw material of the past. Having students search "whiped", "indian", "slave" or any other terms can reveal a lot about Massachusetts's society in the 1600s ignored by the narrative canon
2021 Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife: Living with Disabilities in New England, 1630-1930 — Historic Deerfield
Initiatives to broaden the historical lens used to teach students the past, the LGBTQ+ mandate also challenges teachers to find material to do so. The speakers and papers in this 2021 conference sponsored by Historic Deerfield shows that this field is well-trod by historians Case in point - what evidence do we have of how New Englanders in the 16th and 17th century dealt with disabilities?
Boston 1775: Dublin Seminar on Disabilities, 25-26 June
This shows how there is so much more history available than teachers will ever recognize. A panel discussion on "Living with Disabilities" in New England from 1630 through 1930. This means not only is there one person who can speak to the history of people with disabilities in New England in the 17th century - but an entire panel!
Phips Bounty Proclamation — Upstander Project
"he Phips Proclamation promised a bounty to be paid by the colonial government for every Penobscot Indian captured and brought to Boston. Bounty hunters were paid 50 pounds for living captive Penobscot males 12 years and older, 40 pounds for the scalps of dead Penobscot males age 12 and over, 25 pounds for the scalps of women, and 20 pounds for the scalps of children under the age of 12. The average annual salary of a teacher during this period was between 60 – 120 pounds."
Freedom Narratives
The Project uses an online digital repository of autobiographical testimonies and biographical data of Atlantic Africans to analyze patterns in the slave trade of West Africa, specifically in terms of where individuals came from, why they were enslaved, and what happened to them. Freedom Narratives focuses on people born in Africa and hence in most cases had been born free rather than on those who were born into slavery in the Americas or elsewhere.
The Great Dying 1616-1619, “By God’s visitation, a wonderful plague” – Historic Ipswich
Pride and Prejudice: Honoring historic LGBTQIA+ voices
This show how there are many lives of the past that haven't been a significant part of historical scholarship until recently. It's significant also that organizations like Williamsburg are engaged in this work