1 Women of the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area University of North Alabama One Harrison Plaza Florence, AL 35632 msnha.una.edu
[email protected] 256-765-5028 Packet developed by: Julia McGee, MSNHA Graduate Assistant 2 Table of Contents Historical Overview 3 Curriculum Standards 9 Biographies 10 Primary Source Activity: Susan Price 26 Word Search 27 Cross Word Puzzle 29 Bingo 31 Poster Project 32 Primary Source Activity: Sallie Independence Foster 33 Writing Prompts 34 Resources 35 Special Thanks 41 3 Historical Overview This curriculum packet is intended to provide fourth-grade educators with resources and classroom activities on women’s history in northwest Alabama. The packet serves to make the connection between Alabama Course of Study requirements and local history. The Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area (MSNHA) was designated by Congress in 2009 and consists of the six counties that historically were connected to the over-forty-mile stretch of the Tennessee River known as the Muscle Shoals. Those counties are Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan, Franklin, and Colbert. This area of the river has been home to Native Americans for over 12,000 years. Native people first moved through the area as nomadic hunters, staying in rock shelters during their time in the valley. As communities became more settled and began to practice agriculture, they built their own structures along the river. The mussels of the Tennessee River provided a ready and stable food source; huge piles of shells, known as shell middens, dotted the edge of the river. During the historic period, the Cherokee and Chickasaw both called the region home.