Civil War Stories

[L Verge]

That's wonderful to hear, Christine, because American history has pretty much been wiped out in our local school systems here in Maryland. Herb is right that everyone has to teach to the state exams now and the emphasis is on reading, math and science.

I have practically screamed at teachers that history is a wonderful exercise for developing reading skills, analytical thinking, etc. They look at me as if they don't understand what I'm talking about.

I actually had a class of sixth graders several years ago, while I was still doing school programs at the museum, where not one child in the class knew who Lincoln was - until I mentioned a five-dollar bill. Then the response was from one young man, "Oh yeah, he's the dude on the money." This from children who live within 15 miles of the Lincoln Memorial, Ford's Theatre, and the White House and Capitol.

When it became difficult to get students into Surratt House for field trips, we began moving the mountain to Mohammed. I now have four staff members (one a natural-born teacher) who can take our story into classrooms. We have about three different programs based around the Surratt story and geared to various grade levels.

We also have a large number of special needs students visit because they have to be mainstreamed. They are a joy to work with because we do touchy/feely programs with them using reproduction clothing, replicas of antiques, etc. One facet that they love (even children who visit with parents) is comparing mattresses. My staff has created easy-to-hold pillows stuffed with corn husks, feathers, horsehair, straw, and pine needles. These are passed around for the children to squeeze and smell and decide which would be the most comfortable to sleep on. The corn husks win because they make the loudest noise! To heck with comfort.

Our signature program for grades 4 and up is a PowerPoint presentation on the Lincoln assassination and the role of Mary Surratt - especially the legal issues. Then the class is divided into defense, prosecution, and judges and present their case for and against Mrs. Surratt. Sound familiar, Roger??? Believe it or not, the majority of the time, the lady is found guilty.

We also work with the local, state, and National History Day competitions and are finally seeing our local schools taking an interest in it. For years, I would be helping children from as far away as Oregon and Utah. In fact, the young lady from Utah won her state competition with a great project on The Case of Mary Surratt.

As you can tell, once a teacher-always a teacher. Seeing kids get enthusiastic about history just makes my day! Give me 30 children above 10 adults any day...