Black history intricately weaves into the broader tapestry of American history, and its inclusion in our educational curriculum is imperative—not just during Black History Month, but throughout the entire year. The provided lesson, while coincidentally aligned with this commemorative month, has been designed to help students learn to understand the ndispensable contributions of Black Americans to the fabric of our nation’s story, especially the American Revolution. It was met with great enthusiasm and engagement from my student and I hope that your students will likewise find this lesson to be both enlightening and inspiring.
Getting Information
First, students explored these PBS Interactive Images. They include one of my FAVORITES– actually, it includes my absolute favorite, Soldiers at the siege of Yorktown, including 1st Rhode Island Regiment soldier (left), a 1781 illustration by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine DeVerger as well as images with Peter Salem, James Armistead Lafayette, and a general image students can explore about Black Loyalists. What’s interesting about what PBS does here is that the students can learn by clicking “hot spots” on the image. PBS also includes a question sheet, but I had students do their exploration without it.
Second, students watched The American Revolution: Crash Course American History #8 with Clint Smith. Students read some of Clint Smith’s How the Word is Passed so they really enjoyed seeing and hearing the author speak. As students watched, they wrote down names and ideas that interested them.
Third, since we’re from New Jersey, students explored NJ Revolutionary Neighbors. As they researched their neighbors, they found those who, in the information written about them, identified as Black (they did not guess because you can’t tell someone’s identity by looking at them!) and answered the questions “What does liberty mean to this person?” and “What was this person’s role in the Revolution?” Many chose to learn and write about Colonel Tye.
Everyone is a Part of the Puzzle
Students then made puzzle pieces about one of the people or groups they learned about. You can find the directions here and download a puzzle piece template with a simple Google search. When students came in with their pieces the following class, they spoke about their person with each student in the room for 1 minute each. During their minute, and this is key, the person talking spoke and the person listening listened. There were no questions. Further, they used this graphic organizer to keep notes. I arranged the desks so that there was an inner and outer circle and students had to face one another in their seats. The inner circle spoke first, then the outer circle, and the outer circle moved clockwise when I asked them to so that they could switch partners and talk again. (see the graphic below) I participated, too!
When students finished talking, the built the puzzle in the hallway for all to see.
Cue the Primary Sources
Since my students were particularly interested in Colonel Tye, we then did a primary source analysis. I found an advertisement by his enslaver in the Pennsylvania Gazette with a reward for Tye’s return for self- emancipating and two letters from Monmouth about raids that Tye read in the Revolution. We talked about who wrote each source and how that perspective matters before reading, and upon translating each source we discussed how each helps us build an understanding of who Colonel Tye was, which students decided was both enlightening and limiting considering the source material. We also had a discussion about vocabulary and outdated words. You can find the primary sources by clicking here.
Our exploration into the life of Colonel Tye through primary source analysis offered the class a unique lens into the complexity of historical narratives. The biases and limitations inherent in each document underscored the importance of critical reading and diverse sourcing to assemble a more holistic picture and this entire lesson from beginning to end challenged the students to think critically and empathetically about the past.