On this whirlwind of a day it is hard to select what was a favorite. The list begins with the church where the women’s rights convention was held. The Declaration of Sentiments was the original document that shared the women’s thoughts on what needed to change in their society. It was interesting as we entered the museum the gentlemen in our group seemed nervous. It shows that in today’s world this issue is still not completely solved. There were some displays that discussed sexual harassment in the work place today. As we watched the examples given we discussed is that really sexual harassment, it is difficult to identify for some and that is what makes this so relevant in society. Our next stop was some of the original members of the womens movement residences. It was interesting that some were more ornate then others. I was surprised at how simple Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s home was. It seems that with so little to occupy them, they had plenty of time to work passionately for women’s rights. Our next stop was William Seward’s’ home it was a beautiful mansion. I was shocked at how ornate it was, in comparison to both of the Roosevelt homes. As the day continued we toured the Harriet Tubman home and the later the tour of the Erie Canal.
As the day wore on I had several ideas of how I would use this in my classroom. In each of these sites the Underground Railroad was often mentioned. This seemed to be an unintentional theme at each of these sites. As these people sought to change our world they seem to each feel compassion for the plight of slaves. I believe that is the idea I will most likely use in my classroom. At the Seward house they had a distance learning opportunity that focused on the Underground Railroad. This would be a neat way to bring history into the classroom. When I teach this unit, mind you I teach this to freshmen, one of them always as if this was an actual railroad. Having seen where these runaway slaves were housed on their journey to freedom, it will be much easier to teach to my students. It may be interesting to see if we could research a group’s journey and map it out attempting to show where these groups stopped on their journey.
Even though this day was a little reminiscent of the Griswold’s attempt to see it all on their journeys across America and Europe in the Vacation movies, it was well worth it. Getting to see how some of these people lived, in often times simple homes, it was remarkable to see that they forever changed our world. As I listen to Maries slap happy giggle in the back of the bus, (what were you guys doing back there?), I believe that we would all agree that we got to visit some monumental figures in history.
Where’s Christie Brinkley?
You did not see her on the side of the road fixing her tire