In what ways does public history accurately portray history?

Final History Project

Essential questions:  In what ways does public history accurately portray history?

Objectives:

• To highlight the contributions African Americans have made to the community of Houston and the surrounding area. (local)
• Research a topic of local historical importance but one that has a large regional and national historical significance.
• Create a short 2-3 sentence introduction to the topic in the style of a historical marker
• Create a two to three-minute Audio & Visual video that explains the historical importance of the topic, the relevant sites connected to the topic/person/event, and the legacy of the topic/person/event.
• Document all research through a properly formatted Chicago style annotated bibliography.

TASK:  Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, Lucy Worsley argues that, “(i)f history is ‘finding whathappened in the past’, then public history is ‘telling lots of people about it’.” Public history is a collectiveenterprise that involves both scholars and public resulting in books, exhibits, and other forms of display.

For this course’s four-part project, you will research and then contribute to public history by:

1. researching and writing about a historical topic of local significance,
2. developing an annotated bibliography
3. constructing a historical marker,
4. and producing an audio&visual slideshow for public presentation. (I have provided a choice board in addition to the audio-visual slideshow)

Part I: Research and Writing about a Historical Topic of Local Significance

Working individually or in groups of 2, students should select a local history topic of interest. Theresearch topic should be a person, location, institution, or event with local historically significant that maynot be well known outside the locality but has larger regional and/or national significance. Topics shouldbe at least 25 years old to meet the criteria to be considered historical.

Each student should write a 500-1000-word topic essay that discusses the national and local historicalcontext, who, what, where, when, and why of your topic, and historical significance. In addition, thispaper should address the next steps of your research by highlighting unanswered and future questionsand where you might go for answers.

If working in groups, students should be varying their sources as a collaborative effort to engage inthorough research. Each student should use a combination of five primary and secondary sources andsubmit a working annotated bibliography in Chicago style format(see Part II for more details). As agroup, make a site visit and archival visit. The site visit is necessary to grasp how your topic is currentlybeing presented, if at all. And, the archival visit will help you develop a list of primary and secondaryresources. As a group, conduct an interview with a curator at a historical site or archive and/orhistorian.Here are general questions to help guide your research and writing:

• What is the topic?
• Why is the topic important in national and local history?
• What sites are connected to the topic?
• How is the topic relevant outside of the community?
• How and where will you find information on this topic?
• All research should be documented in an annotated bibliography completed in Chicago Styleformat.

Part II: Annotated Bibliography

You have already begun writing an annotated bibliography. You will use this aspect of the project tocomplete a more thorough review of the research on your topic. Annotate bibliography is a list ofprimary and secondary sources used in your project. You do not necessarily have to list all the resourcesyou read being that not all will be helpful, but if you use facts from a source or decide that a particularprimary source will be used in Part IV, then it should be listed in the annotated bibliography.

Anannotated bibliography has three elements to it:

1. separated alphabetically (author’s last name) into primary and secondary sources;
2. lists the bibliographically information of each resource;
3. and under the bibliographically information is a 3-4 sentence summary of what you learnedfrom the source and why it is important for your project. That is, how does it help address yourresearch questions and other content knowledge requirements.

Here is an example:

Primary Source: Bates, Daisy. The Long Shadow of Little Rock. 1st ed. New York: DavidMcKay Co. Inc., 1962.

Annotation: Daisy Bates was the president of the Arkansas NAACP and the one who met andlistened to the students each day. This first-hand account was very important to my paperbecause it made me more aware of the feelings of the people involved.

Part III: Historical Marker

A Historical Marker

To begin synthesizing research into a digestible format for the public, youand your group will create a historical marker. This marker might besubmitted to the governmental agency that manages the historicalmarkers and erects new ones upon input of the community. Your groupwill be provided with a template for creating a historical marker afterwriting 2-3 concise sentences that discuss what your topic is and why it isimportant to local and national history. When presenting your marker toyour classmates, you will also be asked to discuss the site in which youwould like this marker placed as well as any other pertinent contentquestions.

Part IV: Audio-Visual Presentation

Now that you have completed most of your research and have taken the first step in creating publichistory, it is now appropriate to produce an audio-visual slide show (iMovie/Adobe Spark, etc.) that is a more thoroughrepresentation of your group’s research. This resource will be presented first to your class, and then tothe appropriate public audiences. Such a presentation might be the foundation for the creation of amore permanent public history site, trigger local dialogue about your topic, and/or serve as a usefulresource for others interested in your topic.

The audio-visual slide show should be 2-3 minutes in length and explore the topic in depth. In order tocomplete the topic students must complete the following steps:

• gather and organize relevant photographs, video, and audio clips of interviews and relevantsound effects;
• create an audio-visual storyboard and audio script;
• construct a visual slideshow and then record voice-overs, be sure to have an introduction slide;
• edit final projects;
• and create a credit slide(s) that highlight annotated bibliography.

Completed projects should demonstrate thorough research on the topic and be able to answer thefollowing questions

• Who or what is the topic?
• What time period(s) are relevant to the topic
• What site(s) are relevant to the topic
• What is the significance of the topic to the community?
• What is the large significance of the topic outside of the community?
• What are the origins of the topic?
• What is the legacy of the topic?

Options for the audio & visual presentation choice board (you can choose one of the following instead of the audio-visual presentation, but all the same aspects/elements still apply)

If any questions, please ask before you start the assignment.

I will post some resources and suggestions on Blackboard.