John Brown's Raid: Park Videopack for Home and Classroom. INSTITUTION National Park Service (Dept
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 445 957 SO 031 281 TITLE John Brown's Raid: Park VideoPack for Home and Classroom. INSTITUTION National Park Service (Dept. of Interior), Washington, DC. ISBN ISBN-0-912627-38-7 PUB DATE 1991-00-00 NOTE 114p.; Accompanying video not available from EDRS. AVAILABLE FROM Harpers Ferry Historical Association, Inc., P.O. Box 197, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425 ($24.95). Tel: 304-535-6881. PUB TYPE Guides - Classroom - Teacher (052)-- Historical Materials (060)-- Non-Print Media (100) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Civil War (United States); Curriculum Enrichment; Heritage Education; Historic Sites; Primary Sources; Secondary Education; *Slavery; Social Studies; Thematic Approach; *United States History IDENTIFIERS *Brown (John); United States (South); West Virginia; *West Virginia (Harpers Ferry) ABSTRACT This video pack is intended for parents, teachers, librarians, students, and travelers interested in learning about national parklands and how they relate to the nation's natural and cultural heritage. The video pack includes a VHS video cassette on Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, an illustrated handbook with historical information on Harpers Ferry, and a study guide linking these materials. The video in this pack, "To Do Battle in the Land," documents John Brown's 1859 attempt to end slavery in the South by attacking the United States Armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). The 27-minute video sets the scene for the raid that intensified national debate over the slavery issue. The accompanying handbook, "John Brown's Raid," gives a detailed account of the insurrection and subsequent trial that electrified the nation and brought it closer to civil war. The 76-page handbook is profusely illustrated with historic photographs and engravings. The study guide complements both the video and the handbook and can help teachers prepare students to understand John Brown's Raid through a series of thematic lessons and activities. It can also be used to lay the groundwork for a visit to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. (BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. John Brown's Raid: Park VidectPack for Home and Classroom. I00 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 Harpers Ferry and the Story of John Brown T 3 Where History and Geography Meet Today, John Brown's war against slavery can be seen as a deep, divisive influence on the course of mid-19th century American politics. This Study Guide, along with the book John Brown Raid and the video To Do Battle in This Land, is designed to help junior and senior high school teachers prepare their students to understand this essential issue in American history. It can also he used to lay the groundwork for a visit to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, where travelers can explore firsthand the places associated with the event that intensified national debate over the slavery issue and helped to bring on the Civil War. AVAILABLE BESTCOPY Harpers Ferry and the Story of John Brown T ir-1-71 U Produced by the Division of Publications, National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., 1991 Ell BEST COPYAVAILABLE Contents Introduction The Study Guide and How to Use It4 Using the Book and Video Synopsis6 Pre-viewing Discussion Questions and Activities7 Post-viewing Discussion Questions and Activities8 Extended Lessons Law, Politics, Government, and Religion 10 The Importance of Geography 12 Slavery and the Constitution13 Property and Economics14 The Role of the Media15 Women's Rights16 Literature17 Music18 Resources Glossary 19 Chronology of John Brown's Life and Related Events20 Chronology of John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry, 185922 Harpers Ferry and Vicinity in 185924 Harpers Ferry in 185925 U.S. Armory and Arsenal in 185926 6 Harpers Ferry Today27 Suggestions for Additional Research Books for Students28 Audiovisual Resources30 Books for Teachers31 Visiting Harpers Ferry32 Learning Places in the Parks Although schools, libraries, and museums provide the foundation for a sound educational system, our physical surroundings also offer fertile opportunities for scholastic development. Like other nations, the United States draws upon its many natural and historical sites as "learning labs" for the young. These out-of-doors classrooms augment school studies, stimulating the desire to learn from the environment itself. A century ago, in 1891, Professor Rollin Salisbury of the University of Chicago, took geology students to what was soon to be Glacier National Park for a summer of field exploration in that remarkable mountain setting. Now, more formally called interpretation, park educational work has expanded to encompass the places, events, and individual contributions that have shaped the American experience. National parks offer opportunities to study geography, history, and the natural sciences in settings that are part of our national culture. Whether indoors with effective teaching tools or afield in these great natural or historical settings, parks are places with a special invitation for people to learn. Introduction 4 The Study Guide and How to Use It In 1859, John Brown and the 21 men These are well-documented events of Using the Book and Video, which known as his "raiders" took up arms American history. Their importance includes a synopsis of the book and against slavery in Harpers Ferry, Vir- lies in what they mean, both to the video as well as pre-viewing and post- ginia (now West Virginia). At the time people of the mid-19th century and to viewing discussion and activities re- of the raid, four million people in the students today. The Park Service has lated to the video as a whole; and United States were slaves. Within the prepared classroom materials to help next year-and-a-half, the issue of slav- teachers in junior and senior high Extended Lessons, which suggests ways ery would be crucial in a war that wouldschools explore that meaning with their of using both video and book to focus cost 600,000 lives and rip the country students. on specific parts of the curriculum, apart. such as government, social history, This Study Guide is based on the geography, economics, literature, art, Although there is disagreement over following two instructional aids: and music. Lessons contain class- some details about what happened at room activities as well as "Points to Harpers Ferry, the basic facts concern-1. John Brown's Raid, a 70-page paper- Discuss." The latter can also be used ing John Brown's attack are not in dis-back book that chronicles Brown's to stimulate research and writing pute. Brown and his men secured the life, his commitment to abolishing slav- assignments. two bridges into town, freed slaves fromery, his raid on Harpers Ferry, and his surrounding farms and plantations, andtrial and execution. took hostages. Within a few hours, four townspeople, ten raiders, three liber- 2. To Do Battle in the Land, a 26-minute ated slaves, and one marine had been video about John Brown's raid nar- shot and killed in what would become rated by actor Ossie Davis. known as "John Brown's Raid." Brown was captured and, before the year wasTo get the most out of the Study out, tried and executed. Guide, start with the following sections: 8 laPe nrr - Je US Marines under the direction of Li Israel Green attack the armory engine house in which John Brown (right) and some of his raiders had taken refuge BEST COPY AVAILABLE Using the Book and Video 6 Synopsis The book John Brown's Raid and the major issues related to the event. These The drama of John Brown's trial, sen- video To Do Battle in the Land tell theinclude the rights of the individual tencing, and hanging are presented at story of John Brown, an abolitionist versus the rights of the government length in both book and video. In the whose raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia,and the constitutionality of slavery. video, Ossie Davis presents various in 1859 brought the issue of slavery in Throughout the video, visitors to Har- reactions to Brown's case while stand- the United States to the forefront of pers Ferry offer comments about John ing at the Charles Town courthouse the political and social agenda. Brown and his cause in the form of a where Brown was tried. Davis explains running debate. how John Brown used his access to the The book is illustrated with contem- press to influence not only public porary photographs, engravings, and Both the book and the video describe opinion but such writers as Thoreau, paintings, and follows John Brown's how John Brown's childhood and relig-Emerson, Longfellow, and Louisa May life from his birth to his death on the ious convictions led him to become a Alcott. Finally, Davis tells how news- gallows 59 years later. Although it radical abolitionist. Each reviews paper reporters kept Brown's cause emphasizes the attack on Harpers Brown's activities in Kansas following alive. Ferry, the book provides background the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act information to explain Brown's mo- of 1850 and identifies features that led The video ends with John Brown's tives and objectives. him to select Harpers Ferry as his hanging. The book carries the story target. Each recreates the attack and into the Civil War years and describes The video uses period music and illus- its aftermath, raising the question of the effect the war had on Harpers trations, as well as specially commis- why Brown allowed himself to be en- Ferry.