Yesterday I "taught out" of my semester's notes for my State and Local Government class; so, in order to fill the remaining time I used them as guinea pigs for an activity I'm adding this fall to my National Government classes. By August it would seem that immigration reform will most likely be the "front burner" issue and I decided it would be a good idea to give the students a glimpse of the legal process to become a citizen that is being abused by illegal immigrants. One activity I had planned was to give the class some sample questions from the test required for gaining U.S. citizenship.
I went ahead and gave 20 of those questions to my 14 students in State and Local Government yesterday. Now, to be fair, not all of these students have taken National Government and we did not directly discuss many of these topics in State and Local Government as the U.S. Constitution and government only enters the class peripherally. Still some of the results were VERY disturbing. Below I'm going to list each question and beside the question provide the number of students in the class who answered the question correctly out of the 14 who completed the exercise.
1. What is the supreme law of the land? - 9 out of 14
2. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constituion. What are these words? - 9 out of 14
3. What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution? - 12 out of 14
4. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment? - 13 out of 14
5. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence - 0 out of 14
6. Name one branch of the government. - 13 out of 14
7. Who is in charge of the Exeuctive Branch? - 7 out of 14
8. What are the two parts of the U. S. Congress? - 6 out of 14
9. How many U. S. Senators are there? - 3 out of 14
10. We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years? - 5 out of 14
11. In what month do we vote for President? - 8 out of 14
12. What are two Cabinet positions? - 6 out of 14
13. Who is the Chief Justice of the United States? - 2 out of 14
14. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence - 9 out of 14
15. There were 13 original states. Name three. - 10 out of 14
16. Who was the first President? - 13 out of 14
17. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s. 9 out of 14
18. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s - 14 out of 14
19. Name one American Indian tribe in the United States. 12 out of 14
20. Name one state that borders Canada. - 11 out of 14
Now I guess the one that disturbed me the most was question #5. To me, the Declaration of Independence is the single most important document in our history. The phrases in question -- among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" -- defines what it means to be an American citizen. I'm a little unclear how from the nine students who knew that Jefferson was the principle author of the document, none knew those key words. That result along is causing me to change slightly how I teach the Declaration in American History. Those inalienable rights are the one thing I want to make sure my students recognize.
All-in-all, it was a sobering experience to see how little the students really know about our nation and a challenge to do a better job of teaching. (By the way, I didn't provide the answers in the blog -- sort of tease to perhaps make some folks uncomfortable . . . . LOL!!!)
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Hidden History
I'm reminded of the Ray Stevens' song, It's Me Again Margaret, because once again the urge to blog has struck and the topic is the history right under our noses that escapes notice. Seems like the only thing I blog about.
Monday night I presented a program on the Civil War in Minden at the Dorcheat Historical Association's A Night for the Museum. As almost always happens when I present a program, history and historical information just seems to crawl out of the woodwork. Three different people came forward and spoke to me either about historical topics of which I was not aware or with artifacts of our past.
One man told me of being shown a huge collection of Civil War artifacts found by a man spading up his garden in Sibley. The fellow speaking to me was shown all the items over 40 years ago, and the man who owned them is long dead and I would imagine the articles were scattered. However, the quantity of artifacts described indicate that there was some sort of sizeable presence of Confederate forces in that area at some point during the war. I've never seen that documented before, so it adds a little to the knowledge of Confederate activity in our area.
A second man showed me and actually gave me a plain paper copy of a photograph of his grandfather and grandmother. The grandfather in question served as Sheriff of Webster Parish for 12 years during the early 20th Century and although I have written about him on several occasions, I had never before seen his picture. It was good to put a face to the name I knew so well. A few years ago, while Ted Riser was still Sheriff, we were trying to put together pictures of all the Webster Parish Sheriffs. I don't know if Gary Sexton continued the project but at least I now know where one image can be obtained.
The third man brought the original letters filed by his grandfather to apply for a Confederate Pension from the State of Louisiana. The grandfather was not from this part of the state, so it really wasn't local history, but this was the first time I had been shown the actual letters. I've used many of those files and seen the microfilm copies of pension files, but it was fun to see the "real thing."
These are examples of the reasons I am so glad we finally have a first-class museum in Minden, and, as I've said before, I still have faith that some of those artifacts stowed away in the attics of Minden might yet be revealed and eventually be on display at the Dorcheat Museum.
Monday night I presented a program on the Civil War in Minden at the Dorcheat Historical Association's A Night for the Museum. As almost always happens when I present a program, history and historical information just seems to crawl out of the woodwork. Three different people came forward and spoke to me either about historical topics of which I was not aware or with artifacts of our past.
One man told me of being shown a huge collection of Civil War artifacts found by a man spading up his garden in Sibley. The fellow speaking to me was shown all the items over 40 years ago, and the man who owned them is long dead and I would imagine the articles were scattered. However, the quantity of artifacts described indicate that there was some sort of sizeable presence of Confederate forces in that area at some point during the war. I've never seen that documented before, so it adds a little to the knowledge of Confederate activity in our area.
A second man showed me and actually gave me a plain paper copy of a photograph of his grandfather and grandmother. The grandfather in question served as Sheriff of Webster Parish for 12 years during the early 20th Century and although I have written about him on several occasions, I had never before seen his picture. It was good to put a face to the name I knew so well. A few years ago, while Ted Riser was still Sheriff, we were trying to put together pictures of all the Webster Parish Sheriffs. I don't know if Gary Sexton continued the project but at least I now know where one image can be obtained.
The third man brought the original letters filed by his grandfather to apply for a Confederate Pension from the State of Louisiana. The grandfather was not from this part of the state, so it really wasn't local history, but this was the first time I had been shown the actual letters. I've used many of those files and seen the microfilm copies of pension files, but it was fun to see the "real thing."
These are examples of the reasons I am so glad we finally have a first-class museum in Minden, and, as I've said before, I still have faith that some of those artifacts stowed away in the attics of Minden might yet be revealed and eventually be on display at the Dorcheat Museum.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Taking Secrets to the Grave
If you've read this blog before you know I "love" to complain about lost history because those who lived the history don't record or share their memories. Well, I'm back at it tonight as I prepare for this week's classes.
Right now I'm in the midst of the "HueyLongathon" I have every semester. In my Louisiana History, Louisiana Government and American Government classes I have my students watch Ken Burns' "Huey Long" and write an essay on Huey's career. I sincerely believe that one cannot understand the history of Louisiana and its government without spending some serious time learning about Huey. He is the most transformational political figure in any state in American History. For my American Government students, the stated political goals that Long was advancing cut to the core of one of the two most consistently divisive issues in American politics -- the role of the state in the lives of individuals. We are seeing that battle played out in the streets today with the Tea Party movement and Huey's programs provide a wonderful chance to look at that issue in context. So, each semester I see the video at least four times. This semester I've seen it four times and this week will see it for a fifth time with my Louisiana History students.
Each time I "teach" Huey, I am reminded of probably the greatest single frustration in my local research. Starting in 1983, I began seeking to interview someone who was present on Thursday night, November 9, 1933, when Huey made a speech outside the Webster Parish Courthouse (the 1905 courthouse that was torn down in 1970) here in Minden. Huey was in the middle of a speaking tour attacking FDR and the programs of the New Deal, throughout the state he had been making charges about our local Judge Harmon Drew in each speech. According to T. Harry Williams, a plot had been hatched here in Minden to kill Long on that night. The plan was that when Long attacked Drew, the Judge would stand to answer the charges. Williams claimed that when Drew stood, there were armed men placed throughout the crowd who would open fire on Long.
Williams never identified his sources and the Drew family has long objected and labeled the story as false. Harmon Drew actually studied under T. Harry at LSU and discussed the issue with the Professor. Harmon believes that Williams only talked to those in the Long camp and also strongly believes his grandfather would not have been involved in such a plot. Having done my Master's Thesis on John Sandlin, a contemporary politician to Drew and Long, I agree with Harmon. I find it unthinkable that the Harmon Drew I came to know through research would have been involved in such a plot.
On the other hand, I think Williams was correct in one way. I think there was a plot hatched by local anti-Longites who were friends of Judge Drew to assassinate Senator Long on that night. I think the presence of Long aide, Louie Jones of Minden, at that speech was precisely as Williams' believed, to allow Long's bodyguards to be able to locate the men in the plot and neutralize them before they could take action. That is basically what happened as the events unfolded.
Anyway, over my 27 years of seeking I came up with precisely one person who remembered that night and was willing to discuss the events. She told me in detail about what made a great impression on her that evening. Her parents had bought her an ice cream cone at the drug store and just as Huey started to speak, the top scoop on her cone fell to the ground. She was crushed. I guess that's what one can expect from the memory of a 10-year old. Now, nearly 77 years after the speech, I am convinced I'll never get a first hand account, I can only hope that someone shared with their family and the story emerges one day.
On a positive note, I'm looking forward to tonight's premiere of "Treme" on HBO. I was impressed by the clip I have seen where John Goodman's character is so angered by the journalist who suggest New Orleans should not be rebuilt. It reminds me of how we discuss in my Louisiana History class the role New Orleans filled as the 2nd most important city in this country in the Antebellum years and how ridiculous it was to suggest it not be rebuilt. Can't wait to see this Louisiana story.
Right now I'm in the midst of the "HueyLongathon" I have every semester. In my Louisiana History, Louisiana Government and American Government classes I have my students watch Ken Burns' "Huey Long" and write an essay on Huey's career. I sincerely believe that one cannot understand the history of Louisiana and its government without spending some serious time learning about Huey. He is the most transformational political figure in any state in American History. For my American Government students, the stated political goals that Long was advancing cut to the core of one of the two most consistently divisive issues in American politics -- the role of the state in the lives of individuals. We are seeing that battle played out in the streets today with the Tea Party movement and Huey's programs provide a wonderful chance to look at that issue in context. So, each semester I see the video at least four times. This semester I've seen it four times and this week will see it for a fifth time with my Louisiana History students.
Each time I "teach" Huey, I am reminded of probably the greatest single frustration in my local research. Starting in 1983, I began seeking to interview someone who was present on Thursday night, November 9, 1933, when Huey made a speech outside the Webster Parish Courthouse (the 1905 courthouse that was torn down in 1970) here in Minden. Huey was in the middle of a speaking tour attacking FDR and the programs of the New Deal, throughout the state he had been making charges about our local Judge Harmon Drew in each speech. According to T. Harry Williams, a plot had been hatched here in Minden to kill Long on that night. The plan was that when Long attacked Drew, the Judge would stand to answer the charges. Williams claimed that when Drew stood, there were armed men placed throughout the crowd who would open fire on Long.
Williams never identified his sources and the Drew family has long objected and labeled the story as false. Harmon Drew actually studied under T. Harry at LSU and discussed the issue with the Professor. Harmon believes that Williams only talked to those in the Long camp and also strongly believes his grandfather would not have been involved in such a plot. Having done my Master's Thesis on John Sandlin, a contemporary politician to Drew and Long, I agree with Harmon. I find it unthinkable that the Harmon Drew I came to know through research would have been involved in such a plot.
On the other hand, I think Williams was correct in one way. I think there was a plot hatched by local anti-Longites who were friends of Judge Drew to assassinate Senator Long on that night. I think the presence of Long aide, Louie Jones of Minden, at that speech was precisely as Williams' believed, to allow Long's bodyguards to be able to locate the men in the plot and neutralize them before they could take action. That is basically what happened as the events unfolded.
Anyway, over my 27 years of seeking I came up with precisely one person who remembered that night and was willing to discuss the events. She told me in detail about what made a great impression on her that evening. Her parents had bought her an ice cream cone at the drug store and just as Huey started to speak, the top scoop on her cone fell to the ground. She was crushed. I guess that's what one can expect from the memory of a 10-year old. Now, nearly 77 years after the speech, I am convinced I'll never get a first hand account, I can only hope that someone shared with their family and the story emerges one day.
On a positive note, I'm looking forward to tonight's premiere of "Treme" on HBO. I was impressed by the clip I have seen where John Goodman's character is so angered by the journalist who suggest New Orleans should not be rebuilt. It reminds me of how we discuss in my Louisiana History class the role New Orleans filled as the 2nd most important city in this country in the Antebellum years and how ridiculous it was to suggest it not be rebuilt. Can't wait to see this Louisiana story.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Healing Wounds to Tell the Story
I can still remember 42 years ago tonight, as I sat watching Gomer Pyle USMC the dreaded "special report" interruption of the conclusion of the show. One of my first clear memories is that of Walter Cronkite interrupting Momma watching As The World Turns to announce the Kennedy Assassination while I sat in front of the TV playing. Since that time, any interruption of programming -- even in this day of the 24-hour news cycle -- chillls me because of that first memory. Of course, on that night 42 years ago the announcement was the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
In light of that anniversary and the death of Rodney Seamster, I felt I needed to express a problem that has bothered me for a long time. Perhaps this is a problem I shouldn't air publicly, but clearly I've not learned yet when to shut up. That problem is preserving the local record of the Civil Rights Era from the viewpoint of the black community.
I am a child of the Civil Rights Era. I grew up during the desegregation battles -- Blaine A. Gilbert et al v. Webster Parish School Board was filed during November of my 2nd grade year. As a result, in January, two months later, Beverly Hampton came to Mrs. Hortman's room at Richardson and sat across the aisle from me as one of the eight black children to first desegregate an all-white school in Webster Parish. (I even caught the Chicken Pox from her as a present for my 8th birthday.) More than 8 years later, as my 11th grade year at MHS began, we saw the merger of Minden High and Webster High as part of the "final act" of that law suit. My chosen field in graduate studies was the Civil Rights Era. Although I have shied away from writing about it much in the newspaper -- a mixture of cowardice and not wanting to "rock the boat" for the newspaper -- I have continued the research and am still wrestling with the process of writing a "real book" on the subject. Even if I never complete that project, the notes will be available for someone else to tackle that chore after I'm gone.
During my years of research I have become more and more troubled about how we will preserve the entire story locally. The "white" side can be written easily from the newspaper stories of the day, but the other side, the side of those fighting for their rights is not as easily ascertained. Until the late 1950s, the only mention of any news from the black community was Robert Tobin's column, "Negro News" that ran periodically in the local newspaper. I was made very aware of the total vaccuum of "black" news by two different situations that took place when I worked for the Webster Parish Library. The first was the problem that arose when contacted by descendants of black local residents seeking obituaries -- they simply didn't exist in local news until the 1970s. The second involved the athletic successes of Webster High School. I had a relative of Wilbert Frazier, the star Webster High basketball player who went on to Grambling and the ABA, contact me seeking information about Webster's back-to-back appearances in what was considered the national championship game for black high schools in 1961 and 1962. Scouring the Minden and Shreveport newspapers I was disappointed to tell him the only mention was a one-paragraph article in the local paper headlined -- "Wolves lose in Houston tournament."
Beyond the news blackout is another problem. Many of the senior citizens in the black community can still not bring themselves to trust a white researcher and black researchers have not really focused on our area. I understand the roots of that distrust. Personally I have run into problems because I have not taken a strong enough stance in my newspaper columns regarding those years. That creates doubts as to whether I will give the story a "fair shake" and whether it is worth sharing with me. Along with that is the idea that the "past is the past" and leave it buried. As a historian I cannot support that idea, all history, good or bad, if told fairly and factually is useful.
The depth of the problem was really driven home to me about three years ago when a historian from San Francisco State University contacted me as he researched a tragic historic event that took place here in Minden in 1946. At that time he planned to make a book-length manuscript totally about the Minden incident. I contacted several members of the black community and got them to agree to talk with the researcher. He came to town, talked to all of them, and essentially was given nothing to work with. Minden ended up being about a two-page discussion in his eventual book.
Every time I talked with Rodney Seamster, we discussed putting the past behind us and working toward combining local black and white history to tell the whole story. But Rodney had so many projects and I was frankly too lazy to push the issue. Now Rodney is gone. I am proud to report that through the work of Schelley Brown and the Dorcheat Museum we have made great strides in this area. Dr. Roy Phillips and Mr. James Smith worked for months compiling a black history project for the museum. Part of their research has already been used in exhibits at the musuem and more is to come. That project has done much to fill the void, but there is so much more that can be done.
The part that is most troubling is that we have a success story here in Minden. I know that many have felt I was being a trouble maker by wanting to discuss the subject. But in Minden we moved from a city that saw that horrible lynching in 1946, from being a commuity at the forefront of the investigations of the United States Civil Rights Commission, from being in a parish that was one of the first to be sued by the United States government for intentional voting discrimination, to becoming a community where today we have a "majority minority" City Council in a community without a "majority minority" population. Are we color-blind? Not yet, but we have made a quantum leap just in my lifetime.
Again, as I think of Rodney's death, I can't help but chide myself for not working harder and hoping that before I go I'll be able to help make progress in preserving the stories of our past in those pivotal years before all those who know the stories are gone.
In light of that anniversary and the death of Rodney Seamster, I felt I needed to express a problem that has bothered me for a long time. Perhaps this is a problem I shouldn't air publicly, but clearly I've not learned yet when to shut up. That problem is preserving the local record of the Civil Rights Era from the viewpoint of the black community.
I am a child of the Civil Rights Era. I grew up during the desegregation battles -- Blaine A. Gilbert et al v. Webster Parish School Board was filed during November of my 2nd grade year. As a result, in January, two months later, Beverly Hampton came to Mrs. Hortman's room at Richardson and sat across the aisle from me as one of the eight black children to first desegregate an all-white school in Webster Parish. (I even caught the Chicken Pox from her as a present for my 8th birthday.) More than 8 years later, as my 11th grade year at MHS began, we saw the merger of Minden High and Webster High as part of the "final act" of that law suit. My chosen field in graduate studies was the Civil Rights Era. Although I have shied away from writing about it much in the newspaper -- a mixture of cowardice and not wanting to "rock the boat" for the newspaper -- I have continued the research and am still wrestling with the process of writing a "real book" on the subject. Even if I never complete that project, the notes will be available for someone else to tackle that chore after I'm gone.
During my years of research I have become more and more troubled about how we will preserve the entire story locally. The "white" side can be written easily from the newspaper stories of the day, but the other side, the side of those fighting for their rights is not as easily ascertained. Until the late 1950s, the only mention of any news from the black community was Robert Tobin's column, "Negro News" that ran periodically in the local newspaper. I was made very aware of the total vaccuum of "black" news by two different situations that took place when I worked for the Webster Parish Library. The first was the problem that arose when contacted by descendants of black local residents seeking obituaries -- they simply didn't exist in local news until the 1970s. The second involved the athletic successes of Webster High School. I had a relative of Wilbert Frazier, the star Webster High basketball player who went on to Grambling and the ABA, contact me seeking information about Webster's back-to-back appearances in what was considered the national championship game for black high schools in 1961 and 1962. Scouring the Minden and Shreveport newspapers I was disappointed to tell him the only mention was a one-paragraph article in the local paper headlined -- "Wolves lose in Houston tournament."
Beyond the news blackout is another problem. Many of the senior citizens in the black community can still not bring themselves to trust a white researcher and black researchers have not really focused on our area. I understand the roots of that distrust. Personally I have run into problems because I have not taken a strong enough stance in my newspaper columns regarding those years. That creates doubts as to whether I will give the story a "fair shake" and whether it is worth sharing with me. Along with that is the idea that the "past is the past" and leave it buried. As a historian I cannot support that idea, all history, good or bad, if told fairly and factually is useful.
The depth of the problem was really driven home to me about three years ago when a historian from San Francisco State University contacted me as he researched a tragic historic event that took place here in Minden in 1946. At that time he planned to make a book-length manuscript totally about the Minden incident. I contacted several members of the black community and got them to agree to talk with the researcher. He came to town, talked to all of them, and essentially was given nothing to work with. Minden ended up being about a two-page discussion in his eventual book.
Every time I talked with Rodney Seamster, we discussed putting the past behind us and working toward combining local black and white history to tell the whole story. But Rodney had so many projects and I was frankly too lazy to push the issue. Now Rodney is gone. I am proud to report that through the work of Schelley Brown and the Dorcheat Museum we have made great strides in this area. Dr. Roy Phillips and Mr. James Smith worked for months compiling a black history project for the museum. Part of their research has already been used in exhibits at the musuem and more is to come. That project has done much to fill the void, but there is so much more that can be done.
The part that is most troubling is that we have a success story here in Minden. I know that many have felt I was being a trouble maker by wanting to discuss the subject. But in Minden we moved from a city that saw that horrible lynching in 1946, from being a commuity at the forefront of the investigations of the United States Civil Rights Commission, from being in a parish that was one of the first to be sued by the United States government for intentional voting discrimination, to becoming a community where today we have a "majority minority" City Council in a community without a "majority minority" population. Are we color-blind? Not yet, but we have made a quantum leap just in my lifetime.
Again, as I think of Rodney's death, I can't help but chide myself for not working harder and hoping that before I go I'll be able to help make progress in preserving the stories of our past in those pivotal years before all those who know the stories are gone.
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