Working with the Schools

[L Verge]

Surratt House has a forty-year history of giving school tours at the museum; but about five years ago, we began going into the schools (if they can't come to us) to tell the story of the Lincoln assassination - or for younger children - what life was like in the mid-19th century.

Three years ago, we were asked to help develop a section of the fifth grade curriculum based on the role of Mrs. Surratt in the assassination and the issue of guilt or innocence. This evolved from one of our programs on a mock trial.

This past week, we were approached by the Supervisor for Social Studies in the county schools to help develop the legal theme tied to military tribunals vs. civilian courts. This will be used in five of our county's high schools that now have law courses offered as part of the curriculum. This is going to be a tad more difficult. It seems that the U.S. government can't even clearly define whether military courts should be used to try enemy belligerents!