Harper’s FerryAlbertine. Alyce, Maureen, Nancy,

Paula, & Ruth

A “step back in time”

A “step back in time” is what Harper’s Ferry website (http://www.nps.gov/hafe/index.htm) offers. The events at Harpers Ferry were the sparks that ignited the Civil War. This comprehensive web site invites you to take a virtual tour, listen to scholar interviews, and view multi-media presentations. These presentations include the 150th commemoration of Harpers Ferry, photos of John Brown’s Fort and visuals of Jefferson Rock.

Educators• If you are an educator there is an educator’s

package that is downloadable. The package includes primary sources, speeches and visuals.

• If travel to Harpers Ferry is not possible this site will definitely provide you with a “Step Back in Time” and an amazing teaching tool to be used in your classroom.

• Teaching Strategies that I will use – Reader’s Theatre – This consisted of having

students assume the roles of the historical figures at Harper’s Ferry, including both the town’s people who were eye witnesses to the events, members of John Brown’s Raiders, and government officials who captured, and tried the Raiders. Lesson

– Choral Reading- Round Robin reading

Key Players• If books intrigue you the

site provides links to books on line focusing on issues of Harpers Ferry. Also provided is detailed information about all of the key players at Harpers Ferry.

Did You Know• Another fun and

informative aspect to this site is the “Did You Know” at the bottom of each page. These tidbits offer interesting, amusing and hard to find facts about Harpers Ferry. This site is engaging, informative and user-friendly.

Did you know that American poet Langston Hughes' grandmother was married to Lewis Leary, one of John

Brown's raiders?

Robert Harper operated a ferry across the Potomac River in 1747.  His heirs, the Wagers, maintained the operation until 1824 when a bridge was built across the

Potomac.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation creating Harpers Ferry National

Monument on June 29, 1944.

John Brown's Fort has been moved 4 times:  in 1891 to Chicago to the World's Columbian Exposition, in 1895 to the Murphy Farm near Harpers Ferry, in 1909 to Storer College Campus and in 1968 to its present location.

Books On-line from the Website

•De Witt, Robert M. The life, trial and conviction of Captain John Brown, known as "Old Brown of Ossawatomie," with a full account of the attempted insurrection at Harper's Ferry. New York: Robert M. De Witt, 1859.

Du Bois, W.E.B. John Brown. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Company, 1909.

Hinton, Richard J. John Brown and his men: with some account of the roads they traveled to reach Harper's Ferry. New York: Funk & Wagnells Company, 1894.

Redpath, James. The public life of Capt. John Brown, with an autobiography of his childhood and youth. Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, 1860.

Sanborn, F.B. The life and letters of John Brown, liberator of Kansas, and martyr of Virginia. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1885.

U.S. Senate. Select Committee on the Harper's Ferry Invasion. Report [of] the Select committee of the Senate appointed to inquire into the late invasion and seizure of the public property at Harper's Ferry. Washington: s.n., 1860.

Villard, Oswald Garrison. John Brown: 1800-1859, a biography fifty years after. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1910.

Music & songsSong Sung to the music of the Battle Hymn of the Republic• John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, /|

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,But his soul goes marching on. Chorus:Glory, glory, hallelujah, /|Glory, glory, hallelujah,His soul goes marching on.

• He's gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord, /|He's gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord,His soul goes marching on.Chorus:

• John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back, /John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,His soul goes marching on.Chorus:

• John Brown died that the slaves might be free, /John Brown died that the slaves might be free,His soul goes marching on.Chorus:

• The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down, /The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,His soul goes marching on.Chorus:

Poem•Old John Brown’s body lies moldering in the grave,While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,His soul is marching on.•John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,And Kansas knows his valor when he fought her rights to save;Now, tho the grass grows green above his grave,His soul is marching on.•He captured Harper’s Ferry, with his nineteen men so few,And frightened "Old Virginny" till she trembled thru and thru;They hung him for a traitor, themselves the traitor crew,But his soul is marching on.•John Brown was John the Baptist of the Christ we are to see,Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,And soon thruout the Sunny South the slaves shall all be free,For his soul is marching on.•The conflict that he heralded he looks from heaven to view,On the army of the Union with its flag red, white and blue.And heaven shall ring with anthems o’er the deed they mean to do,For his soul is marching on.•Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,The death blow of oppression in a better time and way,For the dawn of old John Brown has brightened into day,And his soul is marching on.

Teaching Strategies• Pre-Assessment• Formative Assessments

– Conversation Calendar - This allows for honest individual expression on discussions or questions posed during classroom activities.

– “Using your Brain” What was the most important thing that you learned today? Minimum of three things should be placed in order of importance (categorizing through analysis).

• Summative Assessment– The students will prepare a written essay that asks them

after all of their research and activities how they perceived John Brown’s actions at Harper’s Ferry?

Pre-Assessment

Why would this place be important?

Formative Assessments

• Conversation Calendar - This allows for honest individual expression on discussions or questions posed during classroom activities.

• “Using your Brain” What was the most important thing that you learned today? Minimum of three things should be placed in order of importance (categorizing through analysis).

3 Things I heard

1___________________________________

2___________________________________

3___________________________________

Most important idea I should not forget

How would you view John

Brown?

You decide!

Summative Assignment

• AP Class Doc– 3 Interviews of Old

John Brown– John Brown & his

Friends

• CP Class Doc– John Brown’s speech

prior to sentencing– Madness of Brown– Stonewall Jackson’s

reflection on John Brown

Students might analyze documents and write an essay on how you view John Brown’s actions at Harper’s Ferry

Value of Field Experience as a

Teaching Strategy:• Provides first - hand knowledge of the subject

content. This strengthens our ability to teach the material and gives life to history.

• Bring back own photos to help explain the subject

Images

Materials PurchasedBooks:• Midnight Rising – Tony Horwitz• Loyal Hearts - Michael Zucchero• Red Eye - Robert J Trout• Harpers Ferry Under Fire - Dennis Frye• Civil War Paintings of Mort Kunstler • Gettysburg – Stephen Sears• Intimate Strategies of the Civil War – Carol Blesee & Lesley Gordon ed.

Visual - Panorama of Harper’s FerryCD – Songs of the Civil WarBullet models with book of explanationsSamples of Civil War money