Humanities and the Social Studies: Studying the Civil War Through the Third Space

Trace Schillinger

The mood in our class is barely-contained restlessness among my squirmy eighth Gettysburg, and you are gazing graders—a group of students eagerly anticipating their winter break, but willing to over this beautiful landscape. give me some of their attention during our final meeting before the mad dash to the You have a notion of what hap- airport, ski hill, video games, or the mall. My students drop themselves into their pened here, but you have not yet seats around our large table. They secure their overfilled backpacks under their studied the Civil War as we have feet, arrange their materials in neat piles in front of them, and take on an attitude of together this year. So when you “scholarly demeanor.” My plan on this day involves one last visit to Gettysburg, and, stand there, what do you see? though my students are too kind to tell me straight out, I know that we have dwelled too long in this haunted place. The Civil War, this frustrating, never ending, bloody, Student: Pretty hills, a curvy dark era in American history, must surely make these dreary winter days seem even landscape, markers along the longer for my students. But the Civil War … the temptation to linger on it is always way, lots of people wandering strong. I cannot help myself. Silently, I vow to limit our time studying this unit next around. I might think about the year. We will move on to other revolutions and lighter times more quickly, next year. Gettysburg Address and wonder But right now, before we separate for winter break, I surrender to Gettysburg, drag- what it means. ging these young minds with me. Other students share similar responses…. Because of its enormous significance shaped events following the Civil War. to American history, I want my students And through these historical investiga- Me: Now you are an 8th grader to gain a rich understanding of the Battle tions, I have woven a strand of study that who has just completed a unit of at Gettysburg; I also would like them encourages students to make emotional study about the Civil War and to make a strong emotional connec- connections to the characters and events, Gettysburg. You are standing on tion to it. I want my students to engage engaging their imaginative and literary that hill, full of all the knowledge with the Battle of Gettysburg on many powers to enter the world of their history and understanding you possess. levels—to become tangled up with the studies by engaging in literary activities You are looking over this beauti- past. My goal is to guide them toward an such as reading and writing stories, poems, ful landscape at Gettysburg, but in-depth understanding of this event— and diary entries from the perspectives of what do you see? What do you the larger historical context in which it the historical figures we meet along the see? Write about that. occurred, the ideology that drove many way. This weaving together of diverse Confederate soldiers into this battle (an content strands, discourses, and skills is And so we write about that. When I ideology grounded in the spirit of the my work as a humanities teacher. hear pens dropped on our table or chairs Enlightenment and the Revolutionary So on that restless day before winter pushing back, laptops closed and feet War), the events that caused both Union break, our final work at Gettysburg goes shuffling to the printer, I look up. Nory, and Confederate soldiers to converge at something like this: who has been waiting to catch my eye, Gettysburg, the dramatic stories of people Me: Imagine that you are a 7th shoots her hand in the air. Here is what who participated in the war or waited grader. You are standing on a she wrote on that day: anxiously at home, and how this battle hill called Little Roundtop, at

S o c i a l Ed u c a t i o n 384 where the disciplines of literature and history become entangled—not in the traditional sense, where one discipline is taught alongside another discipline, like teaching The Crucible alongside a study of the Puritans. But rather, I make note of the times when our Humanities work looks like a hybrid discipline where the lines of disciplinary literacies become crossed, the content woven together, the experience enriched, and the work itself redefined. Maybe the point of a course titled “Humanities” really is to function as a hybrid discipline. Elizabeth Moje et al. consider how hybridity theory, a concept that emerges out of social and critical theories, describes the ways in which people integrate what seem to be competing discourses, social practices, literacies and knowledges in productive Eighth grader Nory talks with fellow students after reading aloud her poem about and generative ways.1 It’s become clear Gettysburg. (Courtesy of Trace Schillinger) to me that each single discipline can be enhanced by the inclusion of another disciplinary literacy that values diverse Gettysburg a prolific series of moving, historically subjects, ideologies, and methods. Men died here. detailed poems. She is our chronicler, our As a humanities teacher, I am required Lee failed himself here. Walt Whitman. to possess and model fluency in the disci- Armistead died With this poem, Nory highlights the plinary literacies of both history and liter- On a hill, events and people with whom she has ature study, and I am required to negotiate A little hill. connected while studying Gettysburg. the competing and contrasting methods In Western Pennsylvania. She has captured key historic details and values inherent in each discipline. Lee walked here. in this poem—she includes the names Negotiating these methods and values Garnett rode here. of significant figures, she demonstrates within one course often causes an uneasy Longstreet cried here. an understanding of the geography and balance within the subject humanities, Chamberlain charged. topography of Gettysburg, and she refers because of the division between the two On a hill, to crucial moments in the battle. As she disciplines. However, I have observed A little hill, reads the poem, her voice and her words how powerful it is when we merge these In Western Pennsylvania. express a deep emotional connection to disciplines, creating a third space, a gen- the story of Gettysburg and to the place erative space, with its own rules, its own The fact that Nory has produced a itself. As I listen to this poem, gener- literacy, and its own discourse. Edward poem in response to a question about ated in response to our history stud- Soja’s description of “Thirdspace” seems our history work comes as no surprise. In ies, I reflect on the figurative space in to reflect what that space looks like when fact, many of my students express their which Nory is working. Is she working it is created in my classroom: learning about history through the genre in the disciplinary realm of history or Everything comes together in of poetry. Someone once said that the best literature? Or is she working in another, Thirdspace: subjectivity and way to become a poet is to read poetry, undefined, space? My students and I objectivity, the abstract and the so we try to write poetry together almost often find ourselves in this undefined concrete, the real and the imagined, every day, exploring both the genre and space. Strange, yet appropriate if you the knowable and the unimagi- the content of the poems we read. And are an eighth grader who mostly lives nable, the repetitive and the dif- Nory, because of her passion for and skill in undefined spaces, seeking concrete ferential, structure and agency, with poetry, functions in a way as our answers while simultaneously question- mind and body, consciousness class poet, a role she takes on with great ing every answer tossed your way. and unconsciousness, the disci- pride. In fact, before the year is over, she As the school year progresses, I silently plined and the transdisciplinary, will have detailed our history studies with note the times when we enter this space everyday life and unending his-

N o v e m b e r /De c e m b e r 2007 385 tory. Anything that fragments Reading is an imaginative act. Writing ing. Besides that, history is a natural Thirdspace into separate spe- is an imaginative act. As Jeffrey Wilhelm with children. It’s filled with adven- cialized knowledges or exclusive asserts, tures, battles, heroes and villains; domains—even on the pretext of Literature is transcendent: it offers they all just happen to be true.4 handling its infinite complexity— us possibilities; it takes us beyond Perhaps my desire to examine this destroys its meaning and open- space, time, and self; it questions hybrid discipline, this generative third ness.…[Thirdspace is] a complex the way the world is and offers space, results from the desire to have my totality of potential knowledges possibilities for the way it could students experience learning history as but rejects any totalization that be. It offers a variety of views, I learn history. For me, it is crucial to finitely encloses knowledge pro- visions, and voices that are so vital understand the “structural lines” and the duction in permanent structures to a democracy. It is unique in the historical facts, but it’s also important for or specialized compartments/ way it provides us with maps for me to connect with the subject matter in disciplines.2 exploring the human condition, an imaginative and emotional way. For I think that Nory’s poem characterizes with insights and perceptions into example, I recently studied the journey of work created in this third space. It is in life, and with offerings for ways to Lewis and Clark for a course I was taking. this space, somewhere between the expe- be human in the world.3 After reading a general summary of Lewis riences provided by the study of history The study of literature allows us to and Clark, I read their diary entries about and literature, that my students deeply connect with these views, visions, and the expedition. What struck me as the grasp the difference between a pretty voices in a way that a history textbook, most interesting subjects in these entries hill in a town called Gettysburg, and often a second level interpretive docu- were the Native American women they the haunted, hallowed Little Roundtop ment, cannot. Teachers of literature also encountered and observed throughout where soldiers witnessed General Pickett understand the value of providing the the expedition. Numerous references leading his frightened, doomed soldiers historical context of a piece of literature exist about these diverse women, but the in a tragic charge. However, at what point, to help students understand and talk references were brief and vague: “The exactly, does this sort of awakening hap- about a literary text. The poetry of Walt squaws are chearfull fine loo’g womin not pen for students of history, at what level Whitman, for example, has an emotional handom. High cheeks dressed in skins. … of their understanding? My challenge impact on me as a reader—many of his Do all their laborious work & I may say as a humanities teacher is to figure this pieces inspire me to consider the tragedy perfect slaves to the men…“ 5 A reader out—where the disciplines of literature of war, the loss of young soldiers, and of these diaries might be tempted to skim and history interact and how they inform the important sacrifices they make for over these passages about women and each other. their causes. Yet I connect much more continue investigating one of the larger I believe this third space is truly a deeply to his poems detailing moments stories highlighted in the diaries. But discrete subject, the subject that we call and battles from the Civil War, when I I wanted to discover more about the “humanities.” And in this space, we con- approach my reading with a knowledge of women. Were they truly like slaves to struct new ways of learning and imagining this war in general and the specific battles the men of their tribes? Were their lives the stories of human experience. This that inspired specific poems. These are simply hardship and drudgery? I wanted space combines traditional history stud- the stories Whitman’s poems inspire me to connect with the women in some way ies with a student’s (informed) imagina- to reflect upon. to better understand and visualize their tion, an imagination that is developed and And, of course, the stories of history lives. This desire essentially shaped the nurtured by our studies of literature. themselves naturally inspire our emotions research I conducted. Through literature we learn to make and imaginations, which provide excit- I needed to learn more about the emotional and imaginative connections ing material to read, discuss, and analyze Native American women mentioned by to the subjects we study. I often wonder as we would the literary imaginings of Lewis and Clark in order to envision how much we undervalue these kinds authors. Joy Hakim, who writes about them, yet there was not enough informa- of connections when studying history, the benefit of reading history to inspire tion in the primary source documents— because that the ability to truly connect literacy instruction in classrooms, touches the diaries. My next step was to locate with a subject results from a deep knowl- on this idea when she describes the ways more facts about their lives in secondary edge of that subject, a knowledge that is in which true stories from the past inspire source accounts. Here is a sample of what gained when we involve ourselves in the the imaginations of readers: I read: rigorous work of using our imagination And history … We aren’t sharing Arikara women did the farming. in an informed way, and expressing our what we all know: when it comes Europeans, accustomed to seeing imaginings effectively with language. to critical reading, history shines. men in the fields, consistently mis- An English teacher understands Hardly anything approaches it in understood the native division of the value of a developed imagination. its demands for analysis and think- labor and labeled Indian women

S o c i a l Ed u c a t i o n 386 “squaw drudges.”…What Clark, nothing can kill us but people in the past fashioned and Tabeau, and other Europeans did loneliness. maintained their beliefs, we can not understand was the seasonal better evaluate, criticize, and per- nature of woman’s work, their Again, I used my research, my informed haps change our own.8 companionship in the shared labor, imagination, and the language of poetry the elevated ritual status of Arikara to more fully consider lives lived 200 The necessity for a connection with women, because of their role as years ago. And in this way, I found myself her subject matter expands the vision I earth mothers, and the substantial considering my own life as well. What have of how my students, too, will work demands made on men in trade, is my position in society as a woman? with historical subjects. It is important to war, and hunting.6 What are some of the important values render embodied versions of the subjects With more information, I was better and details of my life? This kind of deep we study, in order to accomplish the goals able to envision the women and their lives. connection and study must surely be one Faust outlines in the above passage. Once I had attained enough information, of the larger values of historical study. My student Nory, by the time she has I sought to represent understanding with In this way, working in a third space written her poem about Gettysburg, has poetry, which is the way I find easiest accomplishes what Bailyn describes as already worked in the distinct realms of to express my perceptions. Poets like one of the ultimate goals of history stud- history and literature. She has done the Tess Gallagher, Julia Alvarez, Adrienne ies, it “…provide(s) a way of getting out paradigmatic work of a history student— Rich, Louise Gluck, and other women of the boundaries of one’s own life and reportage, facts, analysis, chronology, and who create narratives about their lives culture and of seeing more of what human logic, and the narrative work of an English through poetry, served as my models and experience has been …so that you know student—stories, poetry, drama.9 The guided me as I moved from the discipline where you are and where we have come poem emerges in that third space, out of history, into the discipline of English from and so you don’t fantasize about the of her work in both disciplines. Prior (poetry), to produce a product I believe past and make up myths to justify some to drafting the poem, Nory produced represents the third space—where both immediate purpose.”7 an analysis of the people and events she disciplines intertwine. This way of working with history repre- refers to. She has read the letters of sol- sents the kind of investigation I hope my diers written home, and the diaries and Arikara students will conduct when they engage news reports of people who witnessed with the subjects that interest them. When the battle; she has studied Lincoln’s Little sister, as you grow toward the presenting history topics to students, it Gettysburg Address. She has placed this sun of womanhood, remember seems impossible to anticipate what ques- battle in its historical context. She com- the earth speaks. Listen. tions or subtopics they might pursue. But prehends the structural lines of the larger The future of us depends on you. allowing time and space for this kind of story of the Civil War and the American Watch carefully for the signs. self-directed research is important if stu- experience. She can explain why both In what direction do the buffalo dents are to connect deeply with their his- armies are at Gettysburg, what they hope sweep across the plain? tory studies. Historian Drew Gilpin Faust, to achieve, and what battles they have How fast does the wind fly and who writes about the lives of Confederate walked away from. She has also read the what scent does she carry? women during the Civil War, articulates novel The Killer Angels and has reflected How much does the moon reveal this desire to make a profound connec- on the characters and the events as they of herself? tion with her subjects of study, in order are portrayed by Michael Shaara. She has Whose spirit do you feel hovering to more fully understand them: read, discussed, and written about their around your shoulders? motives, their relationships to the Civil Clear, plant, tend, harvest, feed, I hope to give a sense of how people War and other soldiers, their ideolo- trade, preserve. are shaped and constrained by the gies, what and who they have left behind Attend to your sisters. world into which they are born, of them at home, and their reactions to the Share the labor. Share all labor. how their choices are limited by battle. She has even compared the liter- Recognize and read the angles from the “taken for granted”-ness of ary, imagined version of some of these which their social universe. We need characters to historical record. She has that warrior views you. not forgive their rationalizations, also explored Walt Whitman’s poem Nurture these men but it is imperative that we under- “Pensive on Her Dead Gazing, I Heard as they trade, hunt, fight, and die. stand them. I would like us to rec- the Mother of All” as another perspec- They will die. ognize that we too are subject to tive on this battle. By the time she writes Pay attention to the details offered self-delusion, to the limited vision her Gettysburg poem, Nory has traveled in the stories of the old ones. imposed by the social arrangements on what Wilfred M. McClay calls “the Remember. We are one and of our time. As we understand how mystic chords of memory,” a historical

N o v e m b e r /De c e m b e r 2007 387 A group of students are photographed reading Michael Shaara’s Civil War novel, The Killer Angels, in their humanities class. (Courtesy of Trace Schillinger)

consciousness that allows the student to what presents itself to conscious- 4. Joy Hakim, “Reading, Writing, and … History,” connect back to the stories and people ness is to be realized.11 History Matters/Online edition, www.nche.net/ page12/page13/page13.html (April 1996) National of history in ways that go beyond simply Council for History Education. memorizing facts or analyzing primary The school year sped forward, and 5. Landon Y. Jones, ed., The Essential Lewis and Clark 10 (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2000), p. documents. I believe that working in the before I fully realize it, we are sitting in 19. third space brings us closer to the kind of one of our final middle school assemblies. 6. James P. Ronda, Lewis & Clark Among the Indians engaged, fully conscious, and meaningful Between good-bye songs and dance per- (University of Nebraska Press, 2002), 47. 7. Bernard Bailyn, On the Teaching and Writing of work Maxine Greene deems crucial in formances, Nory stands in our packed History (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New classrooms: theatre with a spotlight on her, reading England, 1994). another history-inspired poem in a stir- 8. Drew Gilpin Faust, “What Do We Want History to Do?” History Matters/Online edition, www.nche. There must be an answering activ- ring, passionate manner reminiscent of net/page12/page14/page14.html (January 1997) ity if we are to perceive what our classroom experience. As I listen, I National Council for History Education. presents itself to us; we must ponder ways to work my class more often 9. J. Bruner, Actual Minds, Possible Worlds (Cambridge/ London: Harvard University Press, 1986) reach out toward the object or into that third space next year. Now that 10. Wilfred M. McClay, “Acquiring Historical text or performance through an I have identified it and begun to define Consciousness: The Mystic Chords of Memory,” act of consciousness that grasps it, I look forward to spending more time History Matters/Online edition, www.nche.net/ page12/page16/page16.html (Oct. 1996) National that which is presented. In our there, generating important work with Council for History Education. engagements with historical texts students. 11. Maxine Greene, Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change (San too, with mathematical problems, Francisco: Jossy-Bass, 1995). scientific inquires, and (not inci- Notes dentally) the political and social 1. E. Moje, K. Ciechanowski, K. Kramer, L. Ellis, R. Carillo, and T. Collazo, “Working toward Third realities we have constructed along Space in Content Area Literacy,” Reading Research with those around us, it is never Quarterly (January/February/March 2004): 41-68. 2. E. W. Soja, Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Trace Schillinger is a middle school humani- enough simply to label, categorize, Other Real-and-Imagined Places (Malden, Mass.: ties teacher at the Poughkeepsie Day School, in or recognize certain phenomena Blackwell, 1996), 56-57. Poughkeepsie, New York. This article was written or events. There has to be a live, 3. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, You Gotta BE the book: Teaching during a research writing retreat sponsored by the Engaged and Reflective Reading with Adolescents Hudson Valley Writing Project. aware, reflective transaction if (New York: Teachers College Press, 1997), 39.

S o c i a l Ed u c a t i o n 388