Sign up now to receive a link to a 30-minute presentation by “History Bill” FOR STUDENTS that will be sent the morning of Monday, May 4 — which you can show anytime during the month of May.
The lessons:
The best place in the state to see the Tennessee River is here, in Marion County
1. Caves, Canyons and The Suck: The Fascinating World of Tennessee Geography”
(This lesson is intended for students as from first grade through high school.)
“History Bill” will begin with the 3 Grand Divisions, the 3 river systems and the 4 big cities. Then it’ll get REALLY interesting:
* Tennessee has more caves than any other state.
* Parts of Tennessee are east of parts of South Carolina.
* Contrary to public opinion, the Mississippi River is NOT the western boundary of Tennessee.
* Before dams, the Tennessee River had famous barriers to navigation which greatly affected the history of our state. History Bill’s favorite: “The Suck” — a place so important that Johnny Cash wrote a song about it!
Click here to register for the student open house on “Caves, Canyons and The Suck: The Fascinating World of Tennessee Geography.”
The view looking up Kings Mountain
2. Tennessee During the Revolutionary War
(This lesson is intended for students from grades 4 through high school.)
“History Bill” will cover:
* Why, how and where the British were giving weapons to Native American nations as part of the war effort.
* How one of the first places in America named for George Washington was in Tennessee, and what that proves.
* The REAL reason Andrew Jackson hated the British (the old textbooks are wrong about this one)
- * The Battle of Kings Mountain
* How Revolutionary War land grants caused the population of Middle Tennessee to go way up after the war.
Click here to register for the student open house on “Tennessee During the Revolutionary War.”
During the maneuvers, it wasn’t unusual in Middle Tennessee to look out your front window and see something like this! (PHOTO: TN Maneuvers Collection, Albert Gore Research Center, MTSU)
3. Tennessee During World War II
(This lesson is intended for students from fifth grade through high school.)
“History Bill” will cover the home front during World War II, including:
* How the system of rationing affected families
* The conversion of factories to wartime production
* How war maneuvers affected everyone in Middle Tennessee
* The POW camps for German prisoners in places such as Coffee County and Cumberland County
* The Manhattan Project — known during the war as the “Clinton Engineering Works”
Click here to register for the student open house on “Tennessee During World War II.”
Bobby Cain walks into Clinton High on the first day of school in August 1956. (Library of Congress photo)
4. The De-segregation of Tennessee’s Public Schools
(This is a presentation intended for MIDDLE and HIGH SCHOOL students.)
History Bill will explain:
* What the Tennessee Constitution of 1870 said about integrated schools
* How Black students had to attend “negro” schools, and how some counties did not have a high school for Black students, requiring Black students to be bussed to other counties
* How Brown v Board shocked everyone
* How Oak Ridge became the first school system in Tennessee to desegregate in the fall of 1955
* Why there were protests and violence when Clinton High School desegregated in the fall of 1956
* What was the “Nashville Plan,” and how affected many parts of the South.
* What occurred when the courts ordered Memphis and Nashville public schools to be integrated using busing in the fall of 1971, and how this affects both cities today.
Click here to register for the student open house on “The Desegregation of Tennessee’s Public Schools.”
