|
Summary and Objective
This activity uses local primary documents from the early 1900's to focus on changes that gave rise to Ku Klux Klan activity in the late 1920's in the Pioneer Valley region of western Massachusetts. The goals of this activity are to strengthen student analytical skills. From this activity, students will understand that threats to traditional values and lifestyles can produce extreme responses.
Teaching Plan
Step 1.
Students are to brainstorm major developments that had a possible impact on life in the early 1900's and 1920's. These developments could include: automobiles, World War I, Prohibition, women's rights, immigration, electrification, the Red Scare and movies and music.
Step 2.
Model the process of analyzing a primary resource for local evidence of changes by discussing as a class one of the digital items included here. Ask students to identify local changes documented by this resource.
Step 3.
Students are then to search the American Centuries web site for local evidence of the developments they brainstormed. Students will download 2 to 5 items and analyze them with respect to their meaning and impact on the local area. At least one of the items must be a written document or statistical data.
Step 4.
Students will present their findings and their analysis to the class.
Step 5.
Students will keep a list of the possible impact of the national developments in their area.
Step 6.
Students will read and analyze the local "Mohawk Klan" K.K.K. document and seek to explain it as a response to changes caused by the above national developments.
|
