This, of course is a painting by the artist known as Childe Hassam, an American Impressionist artist best known for his series of flag paintings. I’ve used this painting before as an image here at History Is Elementary in my Fourth of July postings because it is aptly titled “Fourth of July”. (By the way…the link takes you to a list of several Fourth of July postings that appeared here in the past.)

Here are some of the other paintings in the series…a series of thirty paintings…and more information regarding this interesting artist.

Labels: Fourth of July, Historical Paintings

What makes a good plot line for a story?

First I think you need interesting characters….people you can care about….people you are willing to invest a few minutes of your time with. Second, you need an interesting backstory…something going on in the background to move the story along …throw in a little true life to the characters and to the events of the back story and gee, you’ve got a genuine blockbuster.

That’s what I look for when I teach history standards. In and of themselves the standards can be a little boring. Teaching in a “just the facts ma’m” kind of format will more often than not lead to a room full of students with glazed over eyes and off task behaviors…doodling, throwing spit balls, reading ahead in the text, repairing make-up, etc.

I look for the details of history that will enthrall others, old and young alike, the quirkiness of history, the stuff of history that make it alive and worth remembering.

The Civil War is a historical topic full of facts and my Georgia teaching standards are quite clear as to what students should know when they tackle that test each April. The Civil War is also a historical topic that is jam packed with great backstories and wonderful, real characters that can be used to motivate students to delve deeper into the content and analyze the context of the times and the motivation behind all of the parties involved.

The story of the CSS Hunley is interesting not just from a naval and technological viewpoint, but since I have to consider my audience and what will drag them kicking and screaming to the historical roundtable, the story of the Hunley is a gem for any serious teacher of history.

Last week for my wordless post I presented the front view of a gold coins that seem simple enough at first glance, but oh….what a story these gold coins have to tell. Homeschooling Granny made a correct assumption that the coins I pictured were indeed the coins given to George Dixon by his sweetheart Queenie Bennett as he left for war.

Highlighting literature is an important part of my teaching style and the book The Story of the H.L. Hunley and Queenie's Coin Edition 1. (True Story) by Fran Hawke and illustrated by Dan Nance (2004) is a wonderful story to share with history students from 9 to 90.

Throughout our great history men have gone off to serve our country and have received parting gifts from their loved ones. George Dixon was no different.

During the Civil War many soldiers received miniature paintings or photographs of their sweethearts, a handkerchief, scarf, or a tender love letter.

As he left in 1862 to join the 21st Alabama Regiment to serve under General P.G.T. Beauregard George Dixon’s sweetheart, Queenie Bennett, handed him a $20 gold coin. George instantly placed the coin in his pocket where he carried it into war. Can’t you see him sitting around a campfire at night pulling out the coin, turning it over and over in his fingers, thinking of Queenie….thinking of home?

What was given as a token of love actually served many more purposes. On April 6, 1862 at the Battle of Shiloh the coin actually stopped a bullet from injuring his leg. Dixon would have a lasting limp from the injury, but he survived because of the coin.

When he returned to Mobile he had the coin inscribed….Shiloh, April 6, 1862 My life preserver GED…and he continued to carry the coin in his pocket as a symbol of his love and devotion to Queenie as well as to commemorate his experience at Shiloh.

Dixon was unable to return to the battlefield, but continued to serve the Confederacy. He volunteered for another duty working with a new type of weapon the Confederacy was investigating….a new type of boat called a submarine. The Confederates hoped the submarines would allow them to bust the blockade that had blocked Charleston’s harbor as well as several other Confederate harbors.

At this point Fran Hawke’s book takes the interesting love story of Queenie and George and moves it to the sidelines a bit to tell the story of the Hunley. The text explains:

Learning and experimenting as they worked, the men molded iron plates into a sleek shape.

There would barely be room for eight or nine men, sitting on a wooden bench, turning the shaft that moved the propeller.

A long pole was affixed to the front of the submarine. It would hold an explosive, which would be jammed into the hull of an enemy ship.

Then, of course, as stories often do the plot returns to love. After a couple of disasterous tests George shared with Queenie that he was going to request command of the Hunley. He felt certain that the South should use submarines. He stifled any fear Queenie might have regarding his safety by reminding her he carried her gold coin.

George convinced Gen. Beauregard by telling him, “Sir, the Hunley is still in perfect working order. It only sank because the other crews made mistakes…The submarine is temperamental, but she is not a death trap.”

Under George Dixon’s command the Hunley was finally ready to attack Union ships in Charleston Harbor on February 17, 1864.

The book continues with a discussion regarding how the Hunley attacked the 200-foot-long USS Husatonic, and how the Hunley tore a hole in the side of the Union ship and sank her.

Sadly, however, the Hunley never returned to port.

The Confederacy tried to keep the loss of the Hunley secret, hoping that the Union would fear more attacks. Any hope of ending the Union blockade ended with the missing submarine and Queenie’s George.

Over the years quite a few myths surrounded the Hunley and her disappearance.

PT Barnum, a late nineteenth-century circus owner, offered a reward of $100,000 to anyone who could find the Hunley for him to display in his traveling show.

More than 100 years after the Hunley disappeared, famed author, Clive Cussler, arrived in Charleston to begin his search for the submarine. He was a Civil War expert, an underwater archaeologist, and an author. “Shipwrecks,“ he liked to say, “are never where they are supposed to be.” Cussler and his team kept looking, on an off for 15 years.

The Hunley was finally located on May 3, 1995 but it was not raised until August 8, 2000.

The book goes on to detail the painstaking efforts the folks at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, South Carolina made to excavate the Hunley’s secrets…the propeller shaft, the crew’s bench, the men’s clothes, pipes, pocketknives, canteens, a wallet, a brooch, and a corked bottle. The remains of the crew members were also gathered for a proper buriel.

But what of Queenie’s gold coin?

Maria Jacobsen, the chief archaeologist sifted through the area where Lt. George Dixon would have sat. Through the mud she saw the glint of the lucky gold piece.

The coin is displayed today at the Hunley Exhibit at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center.

Fran Hawke’s book is a perfect addition to any history classroom and can be used with any age group. The story motivates students to learn more about the submarine by drawing them into the tragic love story of Queenie and George, by strategically interchanging the back story and the historical record back and forth in such a way you are totally unaware that you are learning something.

You can see both sides of the coin here.

The website for Friends of the Hunley can be found here

A picture of Queenie and more information can be found here

Labels: Children's Literature, Civil War, Great Books, Teaching Resources, Wordless Wednesday

This week’s mystery involves the coin you see above. There is quite a story surrounding this coin….one that involves a much larger and much more tragic story during a very difficult time in American history.

Can you tell me why this coin is important? Where was it found?

I’ll be writing about this coin next week with full disclosure, but for now…how about a guess?

Find other blogs posting wordless images here.

Last week’s explanation can be found here

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

Before we begin, please listen to some personal messages.

Jean has a long mustache.

There is a fire at the insurance agency.

The rabbit is going down his hole.

The door should be left open.

Are the nonsensical sentences I’ve written above part of some strange grammar exercise?

Are we going to diagram sentences?

As much as I like diagramming….no, I won’t do that to you.

Hmmm…..has Elementaryhistoryteacher finally lost it? Well, the answer to that question could morph into a huge debate, but no….for the most part I’m in complete control of my faculties…for now.

The sentences I’ve listed above are what you might have heard if you were part of the French Resistance during World War II and you were listening to the BBC. What seemed to be nonsensical sentences were actually coded phrases that contained pre-arranged orders for the hundreds of French Resistance groups across France.

Time and time again the nonsensical messages played a part in Allied victories across France. The people of France were alerted that the beginning of Operation Overlord, or the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, would begin in 24 hours when the first stanza of Paul Verlaine's poem…Chanson d’Automne or Autumn Song…was broadcast.

Resistance groups were made up of men, woman and sometimes children who heeded General Charles de Gaulle’s words after the fall of France to German occupation: But has the last word been said? Must hope disappear? Is defeat final? No!...Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished. Tomorrow, as today, I will speak on the radio from London.

When teaching World War II events it’s very easy to discuss D-Day and then slide into a quick wrap-up of the war in France. I’ve seen teachers do that time and time again, but D-Day wasn’t the only invasion into western Europe via France, and we are doing students a disservice when we create the perception that all was well and things were merely mopped up after the hit the beaches at Normandy.

This week my wordless Wednesday mystery invovled a rock formation. My clues included Europe, west, and hat. Go take a look at the image again, and THIS TIME think about Napoleon and his bicorn hat. See the resemblance?

Homeschooling Granny came the closest in her guess that the formation was called Napoleon’s Rock. She asked if the formation was in Morocco. Well, I discovered in my research that there are many rock and geographic formations called Napoleon’s Hat all over the world. I know the image I posted is not the one in Morocco, but can I testify in court it is truly the one the coded messages refer to? No, I can’t. Here is another link to an image of the Napoleon’s Hat in Brittany....it could or might not be the one the coded message referred to.

So what does a rock formation have to do with coded BBC messages to the French Resistance?
Well…..first you need to know that the rock formation referred to as Napoleon’s Hat is located near the village of Perros-Guirec in Brittany. The area is known as the Cote de Granit Rose (the Pink Granite Coast). While pink granite can be seen all along the coast from Tregastel to Brehat, the rock formations in Perros-Guirec are exceptional and visitors have fun analyzing what the formations resemble.

Second….it would helpful to know that following D-Day the Allied operations became bogged down among the hedgerows of the French countryside.

Finally….the significance of the Napoleon’s Hat rock formation….French Resistance members in Brittany listened day after day for the message that would alert them that their position had changed and that they could finally exert all out war and revenge on the Germans occupying their villages and towns. The nonsensical question they longed to hear was Le chapeau de Napoleon, est-il encore a Perros-Guirec? Translated the question means is Napoleon’s Hat where it has always been – at the village of Perros-Guirec?

The question signaled the impending second D-Day invasion. Yes! There were two D-Day invasions. The second one took place on July 25, 1944 eight weeks after the first one and it was referred to as Operation Cobra.

Once members of the French Resistance heard the coded message regarding Napoleon’s Hat they were able to enter into the third phase of their work. The first phase consisted primarily of identifying and attacking sabotage targets – [they] cut railways, block[ed] roads, destroy[ed} telecommunication systems – which would cause delays for the Germans. The Second phase was keeping their original targets out of order while arming themselves and training for the mass uprising that would occur in the third and final stage. The third stage would not commence until the Napoleon’s Hat message was heard signaling the beginning of Operation Cobra. The difficulty was in maintaining the careful balance between too little action, which would allow the Germans to advance to Normandy, and too little action, which would force them to retaliate and wipe out the Resistance groups before the third phase began.

Though Operation Cobra began with several friendly fire incidents due to the large number of bombs dropped from Allied airplanes the operation was a success. French Resistance groups were no longer invisible, and they excelled in their methods to frustrate the Germans in any way they could.

By July 30th, and in less than a week after the second D-Day began, a breakthrough of 60 kilometers had been made along with the taking of 18,000 prisoners. The stalemate had come to an end and the war of attrition had suddenly and dramatically been replaced by a war of movement.

My inspiration for posting the Wednesday Mystery and this article came from a fantastic book by Colin Bevan titled Operation Jedburgh - D-Day and Americas First Shadow War…..I’ll be writing more about it later.

This page has links to BBC broadcasts with personal messages

You can hear actual recorded messages here.

This web article details one of the transmitters used to send some of the nonsensical messages.

Labels: D-Day, Operation Cobra, Wordless Wednesday, World War II

Did you know the Library of Congress has a blog. You can find it here.

The National Recording Preservation Board, part of the Library of Congress, has released their 2008 list of recordings added to the LOC collection to maintain and preserve sound recordings and collections of sound recordings that are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and for other purposes.

The entire list of the 2008 Registry can be seen at this link, but I’m presenting my favorite 13 of the 25 below.

If you don’t have Real Player you might want to download it to hear the clips. My mind is already turning over how these clips could be used to teach certain aspects of 20th Century history.

1.“At Last!,” Etta James (1961) ….Etta James’ recording of “At Last” is widely acknowledged as a “crossover” masterpiece…Her sultry, blues-inflected approach to “At Last” -- set in a brilliant strings and rhythm section arrangement by Riley Hampton -- transcends genre, like all great crossover interpretations.

2.“Rank Stranger,” Stanley Brothers (1960) ….The Stanley Brothers, one of the premier bands of the formative days of bluegrass, included sacred songs as a featured part of their performances. Their recording of “Rank Stranger,” written by famed gospel songwriter Albert E. Brumley Sr. and sung with reverence and simplicity in the traditional mountain style, shows why the Stanley Brothers continue to influence performers today.

3.“2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks,” Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (1961) ….The secret to living 2000 years? “Never touch fried foods!” In their party routine first performed for friends, Mel Brooks played a 2000-year-old man, while Carl Reiner, as the straight man, interviewed him. After much convincing, the two writers for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” recorded their ad-libbed dialogue for a 1961 album.

4."The Who Sings My Generation,” The Who (1966) ….On their first album, The Who, assisted by The Kinks’ producer Shel Talmy, laid down a set of tracks that would include both enduring classics and mainstays of their later concert performances. Pete Townshend penned the rebellious title track, “My Generation,” which features John Entwistle playing one of the earliest bass leads in rock.

5.“No News, or What Killed the Dog,” Nat M. Wills (1908) …This recording captured a gifted monologist at his best and became one of the most popular performances on early records. The “No News” monologue, with roots in oral tradition, was one of vaudeville’s most famous and often-copied routines

6.NBC Radio coverage of Marian Anderson's recital at the Lincoln Memorial (April 9, 1939) ….By 1939, Marian Anderson had been hailed as the greatest contralto of her generation, yet she was refused the use of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. because she was an African-American. The ensuing controversy climaxed with her historic recital on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939. There she sang to an audience of over 75,000 people, with a national radio audience of millions more. Though brief newsreel excerpts of her brilliant performance have become familiar and even iconic since that time, the contemporary impact of this live, continuous radio coverage cannot be underestimated, and it is now our most complete documentation of this key event in the struggle for civil rights.

7.“A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” Dylan Thomas (1952) …Part nostalgic childhood remembrance and part poetic incantation, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” was issued with five of Dylan Thomas’ poems on Caedmon Records’ first release. According to the label’s co-founder Barbara Holdridge, Thomas arrived in the studio with insufficient material to fill an entire LP, but he remembered writing a Christmas story for Harper’s Bazaar. Holdridge and her business partner, Marianne Roney, were able to identify the piece as “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and obtained a copy from the magazine. It became one of Caedmon’s most successful releases and has been credited with launching the audiobook industry in the United States. “We had no idea of the power and beauty of this voice,” Holdridge said of Thomas’ reading, “We just expected a poet with a poet’s voice, but this was a full orchestral voice.”

8. “West Side Story,” original-cast recording (1957) …While there are over 40 recordings of the score to the Broadway show “West Side Story” in various languages and styles, the original-cast recording is in many ways unequaled. The orchestra was increased to 37 for the recording, but the performances of this rich score are visceral and passionate. Bernstein’s music—with its Latin, jazz, rock and classical influences—was arguably the most demanding score heard on Broadway up to that point.

9. “Rumble,” Link Wray (1958) ….Asked for a tune that kids could dance “The Stroll” to, Link Wray came up with this powerfully menacing guitar instrumental on the spot, and the crowd went wild, demanding encores. When he couldn’t recreate the distorted sound of his live version in a studio, Wray poked holes in his amp speakers, cranked up the tremolo, and was then able to capture what he wanted in three takes -- for a cost of $57.

10. “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” George Jones (1980) ….George Jones has said that he initially thought “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was too sad to be very popular, but, at one of the lowest points of his career and personal life, he made it one of country music’s defining and most enduring songs.

11. “Tom Dooley,” The Kingston Trio (1958) ….The Kingston Trio recorded their version of “Tom Dooley” on their debut album for Capitol Records in early 1958. The song was already part of their regular set list and was also in the repertoire of other folk revivalists such as the Tarriers and the Gateway Trio. In spite of Dave Guard’s distinctive and dramatic opening narration, the song attracted little attention on its own until a Salt Lake City radio station began playing it heavily, prompting Capitol Records to place an 1866 murder ballad on a 45rpm record for the teenage market. This sparked a modern-folk revival, the influence of which would be felt throughout American popular music.

12. “Night Life,” Mary Lou Williams (1930) …When a record producer asked for an impromptu solo piano performance, 20-year-old Mary Lou Williams created an original three-minute collage of stride, ragtime, blues and pop styles that summarized the art of jazz piano to that time while pointing to the future of that genre and her own career in it. At the time, she was a pianist, composer and arranger for Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy, one of the great jazz bands of the Midwest. She later said that thoughts about the nightlife of Kansas City had driven this composition.

13. “Sinews of Peace” (Iron Curtain) Speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill (March 5, 1946)…. The LOC site did not provide a link to the audio file. Here is one to a YouTube video. Lamenting the deepening shadow of the Soviet Union’s occupation of Eastern Europe and fearing Soviet-directed, fifth-column activities in the West, Winston Churchill delivered this opening salvo of the Cold War at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. The speech heralds an increasingly widespread feeling in the West that a tougher stance was needed toward Russia, a departure following the positive image that the country enjoyed as a wartime ally in World War II. Churchill famously pronounced that “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

View some of my other Thirteen posts here.

See what other bloggers are posting about by visiting the Thursday Thirteen hub.

Labels: Sound Recordings, Teaching Resources, Technology, Thursday Thirteen

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks around here at Elementaryhistoryteacher Central….Recently I’ve loaded my plate up with so much stuff I’ve needed a Chinet (you know….the Cadillac of paper plates) just to tote it all around.

Sadly in my rush to get around town and cross one more thing off my to-do list I’ve been leaving dead bodies in my wake….For some crazy reason squirrels and snakes seem to jump out at me when I least expect it. So far the carnage count from last week is three squirrels and one very long snake who thought the roadway might be an interesting place to work on his or her tan.

As much as squirrels annoy me and snakes just scare me to death I don’t relish hearing the sound and feeling the thud as their little bodies thump against the tires of my car.
It devastates me to kill an animal, and it really, really ruins my day.

Though I strongly feel squirrel are just rats with good PR, I don't really want to run them down with my car. One of the bushy-tailed creatures was hit on my street….close to my home. Gee, a neighborhood squirrel….not some random squirrel I didn’t know, but one that’s probably scampered across my yard, teased my cat, or even wintered in the attic of my home. It didn’t help that Dear Daughter jumped out of the car once I wheeled in the drive and ran up the street to take pictures with her cell phone camera of the BREAKING NEWS.

Mother, Teacher, Blogwriter crushes squirrel and abandons it to die alone….Details at 11!

Oh, the shame.....

That was the first death to occur at my hand last week….by the time I had killed two additional squirrels and then ran all four wheels over a snake stretched out across the roadway I decided I must do something to appease the Animal Kingdom. Perhaps that’s the only way I can avoid killing anymore creatures.

I actually stayed in all day today just to keep the death toll at a minimum.

Then I remembered I had saved the link to a story about a Michigan squirrel. Over Memorial Day the folks at Mount Hope Cemetery near Detroit place close to 1,000 small American flags on soldier’s graves. From one day to the next cemetery workers noticed many of the flags were missing….all that was left was the wooden stick the flags had been attached to.

Hmmm…was it the work of terrorists? Anarchists? Vandalizing hoards of teens?

Nope.

Just a dang squirrel….and a patriotic one at that.

My kind of squirrel! I bet it knows the pledge as well.

The little varmit detached a flag stapled to a staff and carry it up a tree to its nest in front of the cemetery superintendent. The squirrel was using the flags to line its nest.

Here's a link in case you missed the story.

So, I hope by posting this I have now appeased the animals ,and they will just stay the heck out of my way for the rest of the summer.

Labels: Animals, Patriots, Personal