Final Blog
June 22, 2010
FINAL BLOG:
On the way to the F.D.R. National Historical Site I learned about the diversity embraced and embodied by Fiorello LaGuardia and it will stay with me as I teach about New York. I also got to touch a banister that FDR touched at the Hyde Park National Historical Site and I learned more about Eleanor Roosevelt. I will teach about FRD and Eleanor with a renewed sense of importance and I will be more correct.
At the Museum of the City of New York the 24-minute video about the history of New York was a great way to begin, as it gave an overview of the entire history of the Big Apple and the guided gallery tour of Cars, Culture, and the City was interesting. The grid system activity might be useful in my U.S. History II class when we talk about urbanization. Also, the Mayor Lindsay exhibit was fascinating, as I knew nothing about this important mayor and I found it interesting and somewhat sad that some teachers could not comprehend the concept of a Republican being anti-war and anti-poverty (as I attempt to teach my American-Government high-school students that both sides of the political spectrum contain an array of ideologies). Further, the Jacob Riis photographs were interesting. We have seen them before and have discussed their often set-up nature, but the will be very useful in a U.S. History class.
Our bus tour of Harlem and the Bronx began at the Lower Eastside in the Bowery. This area has had a sordid history as skid row-yet has seen recent revival and gentrification since the 1990s. I also learned that New York was the most important industrial city in the world 50 years ago. I would have thought it might be Pittsburg, etc., yet our guide reminded us that we must not just think in terms of steel, etc. and that we must remember cigars, sewing, and so on. This makes sense and it is something to remember for my classroom. We also saw the Hotel Theresa and I learned that Nikita Kruschev and Fidel Castro stayed at this hotel while attending the U.N. This is interestingly linked to the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame Civil Rights Exhibit and the Viva Baseball Exhibit which I will discuss later because at Coopersville they mentioned that African-American players and Latin-American players could not stay at the same hotels as their Caucasian counterparts and the Viva Baseball Exhibit mentioned that Castro had stayed at African-American Hotels. The visits to Strivers Row and the Sugar Hill areas of Harlem should be useful for my U.S. History II classes since they illustrate the rich diversity of Harlem itself. I must admit that when I teach about Harlem I over-generalize (generalization is something teachers must do, however over-generalization is the doorway to misunderstanding) and teach as if the entire area was poverty-ridden.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was impressive and it reminded me to remember that the North American also experience the Victorian Age.
The African Burial Ground Memorial/National Monument was probably the most overpowering place I visited on the entire trip, in some ways more overpowering than the fields of Ticonderoga and Saratoga. I teach about the hypocrisy of the North–not because some owned slaves, but because many New Englanders owned the ships that transported these human beings across the infamous (is there a more negative term to use here other than “infamous”?) Middle Passage, and because New Englanders were at the auction blocks where human souls were bought and sold, and on the African Coasts–but I usually only mention Massachusetts. This visit will help me to remember that New York was, from the 1680s to the 1750s, the #1 slave market and #1 slave importer in North America (which I assume to not include the Caribbean…). The Tweed Courthouse was also instructive and St. Paul’s Cathedral was profound and touching. I bought a flag with all those who lost their lives on 9/11 at the Cathedral and will now display it in my classroom. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge was amazing and I believe the experience of walking across the bridge will allow me to better relate the concept of turn-of-the-century America to my students. We then went to Central Park. I briefly teach about Central Park and the visit will enable me to teach about it more affectively.
The walking tour of the Lower Eastside taught me more about immigration than I knew, which is very important to me. With the national and local dispute over immigration in our time, I find it healthy to look to immigration in the United States’ past when I discuss this thorny issue with my American Government, Sociology, and U.S. History II students. Further, the Tenement Museum will allow me to better convey tenements to my students.
Ellis Island was also educational. Going into the areas that are basically of limits to most visitors will stay with me for a long time. I believe the immense size of what developed as the island grew is important to remember, and that most on the island had altruistic intentions, wil better allow me to teach about the subject. Also, standing at the base of the Statue of Liberty reenergizes my love for her and for what she stands for (despite one presenter’s assertion that she originally had nothing to do with immigration).
The New York Historical Society visit was very interesting and thought-provoking. We discussed the 1820′s rise of the African-American Middle Class- something that I was remise in teaching when discussing slavery. The New York African Society for Mutual Relief was also interesting. I sometimes discuss benevolent societies, but I did not know this type of society existed. Further, the slave badges in the display were disconcerting. I did not know of them, but I see the necessity in a state where there were free and enslaved African Americans. It made me think about the Holocaust’s Star of David. The importance of cotton to New York will also affect the way I teach. I would have assumed molasses and rum would have been more important and I will remember this when I discuss Independence. Finally, the Museum of Natural History was also great. The Slavery and Serfdom in Africa exhibit went hand-in-hand with what I teach. They said African slavery was more like serfdom (and I teach that African slavery (and most slavery) was not hereditary or based on skin color) which I believe as a way to word it that will help students understand the difference form chattel slavery. The exhibit eloquently stated that slaves in Africa were “put to work and gradually could secure for themselves and their descendents a full and honorable place in society.”
Sagamore Hill, the Theodore Roosevelt Museum, and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown were amazing. I believe all of them will allow me to teach more realistically about their significance. The Fenimore Art Museum and the Farm Museum were also instructive. The Women’s Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls and the other sites regarding woman’s suffrage and equal rights con only help the way I teach. Finally the guided boat tour of the Erie Canal will help me teach about the Panama Canal better, and Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga were awe inspiring.
