Voices from the Past

by Amy Shultz

History is comprised of stories and conversations with voices from the past. These voices captivate our imaginations and spark our curiosities, making us wonder what it would have been like to live in another time and to be faced with different circumstances. These voices challenge us to learn from the past while facing the future -- unless, of course, the voices are silenced and history is only presented as a memorized list of names, places and dates.

Listen to the voice of ex-slave, Sarah Frances Shaw Graves, at the age of 87:

…Some masters was good an’ some was bad. My mama’s master whipped his slaves for pastime. My master was not so bad as some was to their slaves. I’ve had many a whippin’, some I deserved, an’ some I got for being blamed for doin’ things the master’s children did… I belong to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, an’ I ain’t never cussed but once in my life, an’ that was one time I nearly got two whippin’s for somethin’ I didn’t do… (p.137).

Consider the power of this first person account. Imagine yourself in her shoes. What questions do you have about her story? Consider what a conversation with her would be like.

Nonfiction literature is an effective way to connect students with the past. Diaries, letters, pictures, documents, and interviews all teach kids the value of eyewitness accounts found in primary sources. Reference materials such as atlases, online encyclopedias, newspapers, and magazines go a long way in clarifying unanswered questions about historic events.

Historic fiction is another way we can move students beyond facts into a deeper understanding of how past events touched peoples’ lives. No matter what their age, read aloud to your students, and share the journey of discovering rich, historically-based literature. You and your students may laugh together at Johnny Tremain’s arrogant behavior, or cry along with Jethro Creighton in Across Five Aprils, and as your hearts are touched, you will also gain insight into what it meant to live through the American Revolution or the Civil War.

Engage your students’ minds by inviting them to write accounts of a time period. Such writing blends the past with the present, offering students the opportunity to more thoughtfully enter the future. Encouraging students to write across many genres gives students plenty of room to showcase their knowledge. Consider giving students a choice in writing plays, newspaper articles, maps, timelines, diary entries, narratives, editorials, and letters. We want our students to be successful on tests and to have a solid knowledge about important places, names, and dates, but facts quickly crammed are easily forgotten, while writing that is well researched and labored over becomes part of our memory bank.

Responding to historical literature invites students to connect with the issues of the past and to synthesize opinions. This process helps them to examine their own ideas and opinions. Would coming across the voice of former slave Sarah Frances Shaw Graves prepare your students to face some of their own challenges with a new perspective?

We have the privilege to open the eyes, ears, hearts and minds of our students through stories of the past. And, we can give them the gift of their own voices through the act of writing. As educators, and as human beings, we have to be brave enough to listen to history ourselves, beyond the facts, to the issues of the heart and mind.

Sources

Federal Writers’ Project 1936-1938. Sarah Frances Shaw Graves.

Slave narratives: A Folk history of slavery in the United States from interviews with former slaves. 2001, digital manuscript. Washington: Works Progress Administration, 1941. Born in slavery: Slave narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project 1936-1938, Missouri narratives. volume x. American Memory. Library of Congress. Retrieved May 4, 2007 from http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage

Amy Shultz

Amy Shultz, former fourth grade teacher, works as a facilitator for the Buddy Teaching and Learning Center. She also writes for The Write Connection newsletter and The Writing Site, under the Buddy System Project.

This featured article appeared in Volume 2, Number 4 issue of the Write Connections quarterly newsletter. View other archived newsletters , a topical organization of all newsletters, or sign-up to receive notification when the next newsletters are ready to download.