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Currently I am taking a course on primary sources. Basically, I am being led to primary documents that I can use in the classroom. The class is awesome! I have so many sources at week two, that my mind hurts when thinking about it. Looking at them all has also given me ideas to use in the classroom. Just this last week I had my students look at images of America during the 1930's to get a better understanding of the setting to the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Primary documents rock!
What this class has also done for me, which I didn't expect, was better understand Senegal. Earlier this week I as clicking around on the Internet and found this incredible website from the New York Public Library Digital Gallery called Africana & Black History (that's a link). There they have primary documents from as early as the 1600's on different regions from Africa.
Looking at the images has made me realize that not a whole lot has changed and that I am living in history (does that even make sense?). I have photographs of some of the images above and nothing has changed. It's amazing! Seeing the images from the 1820's has helped me realize why I have some of the frustrations I do. This place is so different than anything I have ever experienced. How can I expect it to be anything like home? How can I expect locals to live like me?
1 comment:
I am excited to see some of those places. Plus To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my favorite books.
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