Developing Historical Detectives

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Active History is proud to present a video each week from New Directions in Active History. The conference took place at Huron University College on October 2-4, 2015 and brought together scholars, students, professionals and community members to discuss a wide range of topics pertaining to the practice of active history.

In this week’s video, Lindsay Hall, Head of History at Clark Road Secondary in the Thames Valley District School Board, discusses the challenges facing teachers of history in the public school system. Hall explains that since students are required to only take one Canadain history class throughout high school, teachers must strive to instill curiosity in their grade 9 students. Hall provides examples of innovative activities and projects designed to build student confidence and subsequently, encourage students to take an interest in studying the past. Hall goes on to say that before students can “think like historians”, skills like close reading need to be developed. In her own experience, many grade 9 students lack reading skills, requiring her to become a “teacher of reading” before a “teacher of history.” Hall also encourages educators to be cognisant of the way student’s encounter the past in their everyday lives through tv shows, video games, novels, and the internet, among other topics. She ends by arguing  that skills taught inside the history classroom can extend beyond the its walls and can encourage students to become critical thinkers and problem solvers.

 

Activehistory.ca repost – Black History Podcasts and Talks

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As part of Black History Month every Friday in February we’re featuring some of our most popular posts and podcasts on Black History.

Today we’re featuring some of our favourite podcasts and recorded talks on Black History from the past few years.

History Slam Podcasts:

  • Episode Twenty-Six: The Black Panthers in Saskatchewan
    In this episode of the History Slam podcast, Sean Graham talks with Dawn Flood of Campion College at the University of Regina about Black Panther Fred Hampton and his visit to Saskatchewan. They chat about racial discrimination in Chicago, the reputation of the Black Panthers, the reason for coming to Saskatchewan, and Fred Hampton’s death.
  • Episode Forty-One: Race, Identity, and Newfoundland Culture in Robert Chafe’s Oil and Water  On February 18, 1942 off the coast of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, the USS Truxton and the USS Pollux ran aground in the midst of a harsh winter storm. Of the 389 sailors on both ships, only 186 survived. Of those, one stood out: Lanier Phillips. After being rescued by a group of locals, Phillips became the first African American in St. Lawrence, an experience that forever changed him and the community.  The transformation of Phillip’s life is the focus of playwright Robert Chafe’s Oil and Water.  In this episode of History Slam Sean Graham speaks with Robert Chafe about his play, Lanier Phillips’ legacy and the challenges of representing a true story on stage.
  • Episode Fifty-Eight: African Canadians in the US Civil War
    Sean Graham and Richard Ried discuss the challenges of researching African Canadians in the Civil War, the tasks given to black regiments, and the domestic policies that shaped British North Americans’ participation in the conflict.  They also examine the legacy of African Canadians fighting in the war and the historical oddity of Civil War pensions being paid into the 21st century.(Sean Graham and Richard Ried)

Recorded Talks:

  • The Drake “Smoke Screen” Phenomenon: Canadian Hip Hop History
    A conversation Francesca D’Amico hosted with award-winning journalist, radio and TV broadcaster, Dalton Higgins.  Higgins and D’Amico engaged in a discussion intended to use the life and music of Drake as a lens by which to discuss broader issues such as: the history of urban music in Toronto; class and authenticity in urban music; and race, ethnicity, identity and notions of multiculturalism and acceptance in Canada.

 

History Slam Episode Seventy-Eight: Disaster Drawn

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

By Sean Graham

Disaster DrawnAs anyone who has ever done archival research knows, there are moments where things can get incredibly dull. To get over this, we all try to find little things that keep us going. When I was in the midst of reading every issue of the Moose Jaw Times between 1931 and 1934, for example, I very much enjoyed following the daily exploits of Little Orphan Annie. Most days nothing noteworthy happened – in fact, some strips were simply announcing that she was changing locations – but it all worked together as a serial and, every couple weeks, something exciting happened that made you glad you had followed the story all the way through. When compared to today, where people binge television programs, the long-term connection and slow unfolding of story lines over the course of weeks and months seems to have been lost.

One place where binge consumption isn’t as prominent, however, is comics. Just as it took Annie a couple weeks to resolve a problem, comic strips today still evolve at a slower pace than other forms of entertainment. There are plenty of daily comic strips that still operate as a serial, serialized comic books release a new issue every few months, and even graphic novels, while not always serialized, have a tendency to allow stories to unfold at a slower pace.

Because of this, comics have distinguished themselves as a form of popular culture. Through their unique ability to tell stories, they have often been able to illicit strong emotional reactions from readers. And while there are plenty of examples of comics being subversive, they have not received the same attention from censors or law makers as film, television, and music, meaning that through the twentieth century they were able to operate in a less regulated environment and regularly presented narratives that may not have made it into mainstream popular culture. This is particularly true of depictions of war, which is the subject of Hillary Chute’s new book Disaster Drawn: Visual Witness, Comics, and Documentary Form.
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Violence in Early Canada

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We are crossposting this essay as part of our partnership with the new early Canadian history blog Borealia.

By Elizabeth Mancke & Scott See

Saint-Eustache-Patriotes

Charles Beauclerk, Bataille de Saint-Eustache, 1840. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

In the months since the 19 October election, Canadians – from Justin Trudeau to church groups preparing for Syrian refugees – are reasserting one of the most recognizable tropes about Canada, that the country is an international leader in humanitarian aid and an advocate for multilateral and conciliatory approaches to international challenges. In mid-November the Globe and Mail ran an editorial referencing the Geneva Convention of 1949 and urging Canadians to reaffirm the country’s commitment to international law and humanitarian traditions; “as a leading member of the international community, [Canada] must do its part to uphold the letter and spirit of humanitarian law,” including acting as a leader in calling for an independent commission to investigate the American bombing of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan in October. Unarticulated but central to the editorial’s argument was that ideological differences need to be set aside in the interests of international justice; the three authors were Joe Clark (former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister), Ed Broadbent (former NDP leader), and Irwin Cotler (former Liberal MP and Minister of Justice). The editorial also reaffirmed that Canadians and Americans have substantively different understandings about how to respond to violence both internationally and domestically, about when it is appropriate for a state to use violence, and what the boundaries to that violence should be. Indeed, the decision of the Liberal government to withdraw Canadian fighter jets from bombing ISIS contributed to the Minister of Defence Harjit Sajjan not receiving an invitation from the US Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, to a multilateral meeting to discuss coalition strategies to end the threats of ISIS.

As historians of pre-Confederation Canada and the United States, we have committed a great deal of our intellectual energies, individually and collaboratively, to understanding why the two countries have such profoundly different understandings about the role of violence in defining the character of social order, from localities to the international community. We know that the frequent contrast between Canada as peace-loving and the United States as more violent can too often mask episodes of violence in Canadian history. As well, we know that Canadian history is often dismissed as irrelevant to understanding the modern world because its historical narrative is not intensely shaped and punctuated by episodes of large-scale violence. Yet as Jerry Bannister reminds us, colonialism is intrinsically violent, involving at the very least the traumatic displacement of indigenous peoples. Involving Indigenous leaders in relocating their nations, as the British did with Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) and the Mohawks after the American Revolution, does not assuage the suffering of the ordeal. And as the recent report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Residential Schools tells us, cultural genocide through education is a profoundly disruptive form of social violence that echoes down the generations in Indigenous communities, hampering if not handicapping their ability to build strong nations. [Read More…]

The Future of Public History Programs in North America and Abroad

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Active History is proud to present a video each week from New Directions in Active History. The conference took place at Huron University College on October 2-4, 2015 and brought together scholars, students, professionals and community members to discuss a wide range of topics pertaining to active history.

Continuing the conversation on the future of Public History programs this week is Jean-Pierre Morin, a member of the board of directors of the National Council on Public History. Morin offers insight on the growth and decline of Public History programs in North America, as well as internationally. Morin discusses why many programs are being closed down on the regional and local levels, as well as addressing the decreasing number of students enrolling in public History Programs in Canada and the United States. Focusing on the international scene, Morin discusses the growth of public history in Europe, and how Europeans are adapting their programs to the North American models that have been established here. He also discusses the identity crisis that faces many Public History graduates and their prospects of finding work after graduation.

Activehistory.ca repost – Why “I Used to Love H.E.R,” Why I Still Love H.E.R: Hip Hop THEN, Hip Hop NOW

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As part of Black History Month every Friday in February we’re featuring some of our most popular posts and podcasts on Black History.

The following post was originally featured on March 14, 2011.

An impromptu performance held at the Hub (the area around 3rd Avenue and 156th Street) by The Mean Machine. One of the benefits of institutional neglect was that public concerts like this, common to the early days of Hip Hop, allowed artists to express themselves freely without the need for formal compliance.

By Francesca D’Amico

Chicago’s Cominskey Park on July 12th, 1979 was a scene like no other. Disco Demolition Night was a promotional event meant to protest the shift in radio programming from rock to an all-disco format. In exchange for admission, fans were asked to bring an unwanted disco LP. Following the first of a double-header game, a large crate of the collected records was detonated in center field. Against chants of “disco sucks,” 59,000 fans swarmed and vandalized the field. As the scoreboard flashed, “please return to your seats,” police in riot gear cleared the field and eventually cancelled the second game. This was the night Disco died and made way for Hip Hop.

Hip Hop had been developing in the boroughs of New York City since 1973. Black and Puerto Rican youth who had long been denied access to Disco clubs created their own recreational spaces in response. Party organizers would steal city electricity from the street lamps to connect their equipment and perform in accessible venues such as community parks and apartment recreation rooms. Borrowing from the Jamaican traditions of the soundsystem and toasting, Deejays used turntables to create new sounds, while graffiti artists used subway trains as canvas and breakdancing battles evolved from gang confrontation.

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History Slam Episode Seventy-Seven: Prime Minister’s Row

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

By Sean Graham

Laurier Ave E in Ottawa

Google Map of Laurier Ave E in Ottawa

Before I moved to Ottawa, my only experience with the city was a brief research trip, during which I heard about the nation’s capital radius rule. The rule holds that if you’re standing on Parliament Hill you can walk 15 blocks in any direction and still feel like you are in a national capital. That radius includes the Supreme Court, Library and Archives Canada, several museums, a variety of embassies, high commissions, and consulates, and the core of the city’s ‘business district.’ Once you wander outside that radius, however, Ottawa feels like any other town in this country, with its mix of suburban housing, strange traffic patterns, and chain restaurants.

When I first got to Ottawa in 2009, I lived inside that radius and rarely left – mostly because every time I ventured further afield, I was reminded that the radius was a pretty accurate description. More recently, however, the city has undergone a bit of a revitalization that, in my opinion, has either expanded the radius or made it an obsolete concept. The completion of Lansdowne Park, the construction of light rail, and the redevelopment of Lebreton Flatts are a couple examples of Ottawa’s newly found penchant for growth. There is work to be done, of course, as Tim Harper in the Toronto Star recently asked “Why is our Nation’s Capital so drab?”

In addition to the major projects spearheaded by the municipal government, there are plenty of grassroots groups working on improving the city’s cultural reputation. One of these is Prime Minister’s Row, a group which is conducting research on the many historical figures that lived on Laurier Avenue East in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood. Their goal is to take advantage of the city’s built heritage to create Ottawa’s first street museum. By including both cultural and political figures in their research, the group hopes to attract a diverse audience to a part of the city that isn’t on the radar of many tourists.
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A Century Long Debate over Sexual Education in Ontario

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Michelle Hutchinson Grondin, PhD

 

On February 23, 2015, Ontario Education Minister Liz Sandals announced revisions to provincial sexual education program, which includes teachers explaining “gender expression” in grade five, masturbation in grade six, the hazards of sexting in grade seven, and same-sex relationships in grade eight. [1] Even though the Ontario curriculum had not been updated since 1998, the Liberal government met intense opposition to the proposed modifications. Premier Kathleen Wynne was criticized by MPP Monte McNaughton of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario who argued that “It’s not the premier of Ontario’s job, especially Kathleen Wynne, to tell parents what’s age appropriate for their children.”[2] While tensions flared at Queen’s Park, protestors clamored outside the legislature. Participants included members of the Campaign Life Coalition, an anti-abortion group, and the Roman Catholic group Parents as First Educators. Despite these protests, the curriculum was implemented in the fall of 2015. The decision to move ahead with the new curriculum can be contrasted with the Dalton McGuinty government’s revised sexual instruction guidelines in 2010, when vocal religious conservative minorities successfully prevented the Liberals from up-dating the sexual education program.[3]

While the press reported rather exclusively on both the 2015 and 2010 controversies, little was said on the history of sexual education in Ontario schools. This absence was blatantly clear when Thames Valley District School Board superintendent Don MacPherson observed that, “there will always be an element of parents that won’t be happy. But we’ve been teaching sexuality in Ontario’s schools for 50 years.”[4] MacPherson, however, was mistaken, because the subject has actually been taught in Ontario schools since at least 1905, when missionary and English professor Arthur Beall travelled to schools and taught boys that masturbation drained their “life fluid,” and the importance of Christian values and morality.[5] From 1925 to 1933, the Ontario Health Department employed Agnes Haygarth, a social service nurse, to travel across rural Ontario and give lectures on health to public school children. She showed students films on health, and mainly taught girls, unless there were no male health officers available to talk to the boys.[6] Continue reading →

Archival Literacy and the Role of Universities in Archival Instruction

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By Krista McCracken

Photo comic by Rebecca Goldman CC-BY-NC

Photo comic by Rebecca Goldman CC-BY-NC

Over the past few years one of the many hats I’ve worn at Algoma University has involved providing introduction to archives sessions and educational programming around our archival holdings.  This work often leaves me thinking about archival literacy and the skills historians need to be successful at archival research.

Archival research is a vital part of historical research however many history programs do not offer critical training in archives and most history majors tend to learn by trial and error how to navigate archival repositories. History classes may include a visit to the archive but these orientation sessions are often superficial and do not focus on the hands on development of research skills.

Looking back in my undergrad, archives were a bit of nebulous place that I didn’t know much about.  I had the opportunity in the third year of my undergraduate program to visit a local archives, become acquainted with the staff, and do a project that focused on the archive. However even that project was fairly artificial – it involved visiting the archive and using reading room resources but didn’t include requesting archival materials or an explanation of how to do so.  It was a good exposure to an archive but it felt very much along the lines of ‘show and tell’ and I was still left with many questions around access and how to most efficiently approach archival research. Continue reading →

The Future of Public History Programs in Canada

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Active History is proud to present a video each week from New Directions in Active History. The conference took place at Huron University College on October 2-4, 2015 and brought together scholars, students, professionals and community members to discuss a wide range of topics pertaining to active history.

Continuing the conversation on the future of Public History programs in Canada is Dr. John Walsh, co-ordinator of the Master’s of Public History program at Carleton University. Walsh discusses the tension often present in Public History programs between theory and practice. He advocates for programs to offer a combination of reading and hands-on projects. Walsh points out that students in the program come from all over Canada and from diverse academic backgrounds. He stresses the range of projects that students can undertake apart from a traditional thesis, including documentary film making, dance and theatre, etc. He adds that graduates from the program have gone on to work in a multitude of fields including academia, government agencies and in the private sector. Lastly, Walsh raises the point that the Public History program is at an “interesting moment” as many MA graduates are choosing to complete a PhD on a Public History topic. He questions what this would mean for the structure of a PhD program in Public History versus a traditional PhD of History.