6-14-10

Today we began at the Women’s Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls. The Seneca Falls Convention’s Declaration of Sentiments was fascinating and its purposeful likeness of the Declaration of Independence is something I will use in my classrooms- possibly for American Government and U.S. History II. There also is a Women’s Rights Travelling Trunk that is available for classroom use and I may look into that. The tour was interesting; however I could not get a song from a Women’s Suffrage Movement video I used to show in class out of my head. It ridiculing women who wanted equal rights and the vote, and it was called In the Land where the Women Wear the Trousers.

I also found the Susan B. Anthony quote: “Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences” very profound, true, and admirable.

Susan B. Anthony

The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Home was interesting and comparing it to the picture of when it was dilapidated (before her father put her in charge of its renovation) was a testament to her force of will.

The M’Clintock House was also interesting and standing in the parlor where the Declaration of Sentiments was written was important to me. It should remind me in the future to cover the Declaration of Sentiments in my U.S. History classes (I have been remise in this in the past). I also did not know that the M’Clintock House was an active part of the Underground Railway.

The William Seward Home was also enlightening. I also did not know that this home was another active part of the Underground Railway and that it was used as such even when Seward was a U.S. Senator. I believe touring this site will remind me to teach about Seward’s (and his wife’s) abolitionist beliefs and practices. Admiration is how I felt upon learning that he practiced what he preached. As a lover of books, the book collection was entralling.

The Harriet Tubman Home was something I was really looking forward to seeing; unfortunately we did not get to spend much time there. There was a wall exhibit about branding slaves. I have heard of this infamous practice, but I thought it was a rarity. They had a picture of some of the actual brands and it said they were often branded on their breast or shoulder and that the brand conveyed the ship’s name which was shipping them. I will try to teach about this now that I know it was so common (and so horrific).

It was also important to me to get something I do teach about reaffirmed. I teach that some slaves committed suicide by refusing to eat. The exhibit said the same thing, although it did not mention the device used to force slaves’ mouths open so they could be forced-fed because slavers did not want to lose such valuable cargo (“Black Gold” or “Living Gold”).

Also the Harriet Tubman Home had a quote from a slave ship captain that was horrible: Thomas Phillips- 1746- “I have been informed that some commanders have cut off the legs or arms off the most willful slaves, to terrify the rest.” This was truly chilling in itself, but also because some African indigenous beliefs thought that loss of a limb meant one could never return home.

The guided boat tour of the Erie Canal was also very educational. I do not teach much about the importance of the canal (my U.S. History Ii class begins at the end of Reconstruction), but maybe I will mention it when I discuss the Panama Canal. The locks are very similar to the Panama Canal and I asked the guide if the doors were held shut by the weight of the water like in the Panama Canal’s locks, he said yes. I also did not know that the Erie Canal reduced New York shipping costs by over 90%. The guide, interestingly, told us that there is approximately 500 miles of canals in this system and that the original version had 84 locks, whereas this version has only 35. Much of the canal is still original from when it was completed in 1825.

Advertisement