Library of Congress-Teaching with Primary Sources Southeastern Louisiana University

Volume 2, Issue 2

Charlotte Chaney at JB Martin Middle School teaching Social Studies using

primary source analysis tools.

Contact Information: Mary Ellen Scherer Mary.Scherer@selu.edu Laura Hancock Laura.Hancock@selu.edu

In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson. This ruling

upheld the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities as “separate but

equal”. This decision remained in effect until the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. Board of

Education.

On October 18, 2012, The Department of Teaching and Learning and the Teaching with Primary

Sources program at SLU hosted the descendents of Plessy and Ferguson. Keith Plessy, President of the

Plessy & Ferguson Foundation, and Phoebe Ferguson, co-founder of the Foundation, led a forum on the past

policies of “separate but equal”, and spoke about the role of their ancestors in this famous case. Plessy is a

descendant of the plaintiff Homer Plessy, and Ferguson is the great granddaughter of Judge John

Ferguson, who authored the decision that upheld segregation. Ms. Brenda Square, archivist and librarian

for the Foundation, also contributed to this discussion. Faculty, students and the SLU Lab School enjoyed

the panel presentation. See the Lab School presentation here: SLU Lab School Plessy vs. Ferguson

The Level I workshops for next summer will be held June 10th – 13th and

July 8th – 11th. Please share this information with your colleagues who

are interested in attending this workshop. Contact Laura Hancock at

985-549-2229 for more information. EDUC 675, a Level II graduate

course, will be offered in Fall 2013. The Library will pay the in-state

tuition for a limited number of teachers. Please help us in promoting

these workshops.

Locate Plessy v.

Ferguson

at the

Library of

Congress:

Kids and Family,

America’s Story.

Library of Congress-Teaching with Primary Sources Southeastern Louisiana University

We are pleased to invite you to participate in a beta test of the TPS Teachers Network, an exciting new online

community designed to facilitate peer-to-peer support and learning focused on classroom use of digitized primary

sources from the Library of Congress.

The release of the TPS Teachers Network is slated for January 2014. Leading up to that month, the Library of

Congress Educational Outreach office is asking teachers who have attended TPS workshops and courses to help

conduct a robust beta test of the Network. Information from this test will inform the look, functionality and

management of the permanent TPS Teachers Network.

By joining the Network beta test, you’ll be helping the Teaching with Primary Sources program develop a tool that

will enhance teaching with Library of Congress online materials. More importantly, you’ll find great primary

sources, while learning and sharing primary source-based teaching strategies with other educators from across the

country.

Instructions for Joining

1. Click http://www.tpsnetworkbeta.org/campaign/tps-network to join

the TPS Network!

2. Fill in your name and email address. Submit.

3. Check your email for a confirmation message. Click on the

confirmation link.

4. The confirmation link takes you to the TPS Teachers Network

profile page. Fill out all fields of your profile as completely as

possible, and please upload a photograph of yourself, if you have

one!

5. In the “Employment” section of your profile, we ask that you

indicate your current job title, teaching level, and content area in the

“Position” field, and the city and state in which you work. Other

fields are self-explanatory.

6. In the “About Me” section of your profile, in addition to sharing

general information of interest to your colleagues, please…

a. Indicate the number of years you have been teaching.

b. Describe your previous contact with the TPS program

(Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institutes, a

workshop delivered by a Library of Congress partner, a

conference, other). Please indicate the year(s) of your

TPS connection.

7. To return to your profile settings, select your name (top of any

screen)/Settings/Profile Fields.

8. You automatically become a member of four communities: TPS

Network Home, Getting Started with the TPS Network, Getting

Started with the Library of Congress, and the Teaching with

Primary Sources Commons. You are also free to join all other

public communities.

Library of Congress-Teaching with Primary Sources Southeastern Louisiana University

May 5, 1862 Cinco de Mayo is national

holiday in Mexico that

celebrates independence.

May 7, 1915 The British ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German U-20 submarine,

hastening United States entry into War World I.

May 9, 1754 “Join, or Die” was considered to be

the first American political cartoon

that was published in a newspaper by

Benjamin Franklin.

May 14, 1606 Jamestown, Virginia was established by Captain John Smith.

May 9, 1914 President Woodrow Wilson issued a

proclamation establishing Mother’s Day.

May 22, 1802 Martha Washington,

wife of George

Washington, died of a

severe fever.

May 30, 1868 The first national celebration of Memorial

Day took place at Arlington National

Cemetery on May 30, 1868.

May 27, 1937 The Golden Gate Bridge was opened to the public for

“Pedestrian Day” which celebrated the opening of the bridge.

May 10, 1869 Officials and workers of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railways held a ceremony on Promontory Summit

in Utah celebrating the first transcontinental railroad.

May 20, 1862 President Lincoln signed the

Homestead Act which provided

settlers with 160 acres after a

payment of filing fee and 5 years

of continuous residence.

Did you know you can search

“Today in History” by

month? Click Here.

May 31, 1819 Walt Whitman, American poet, journalist,

and essayist, was born on May 31, 1819.

Library of Congress-Teaching with Primary Sources Southeastern Louisiana University

The use of primary sources can be an integral part of addressing the newly adopted Common Core Standards. The shift to using more

informational text promotes the use of these sources: documents, maps, photographs, editorial cartoons, motion pictures, artifacts, all

sources that can be read, examined and analyzed. The Library of Congress has spotlighted articles, blogs and sites on the Teacher’s Page

that address primary sources and the Common Core.

Try out this Common Core State Standard Activity

Place these primary sources at various stations around the room. Have the children examine these primary sources using post it

notes to record observations. Then have the children work in small groups or as a class to decide which of these standards relate to the

primary sources. Let the children understand that photographs, maps, political cartoons, artifacts, and letters can all be informational text.

Did you know that you can search all of the classroom materials on

the Library of Congress’s website by using the standards from the

Common Core?

Search for classroom materials by standards on the Teacher’s Page

at www.loc.gov/teachers.

Teaching with the Library of Congress Blog

The Library offers several blog articles for

teachers on using primary sources and how they

relate to the new Common Core Standards:

Common Core State Standards and Library of Congress Primary Sources

Common Core State Standards and Library of Congress Teacher Resources: Find Lesson Plans (and More) That Meet Your CCSS Needs

Informational Text, the Common Core, and the Library of Congress: A Resource Center Rich with Primary Sources and Teacher Tools

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