Leadership in American History

The Opper Project website (http://hti.osu.edu/opper/)  provides instructors with the information necessary to introduce students to using editorial cartoons as primary sources. Named after Ohioan Frederick Burr Opper, the first great American-born cartoonist, the Opper Project is an on-line collection of historic editorial cartoons. The cartoons, which span over one-hundred years of American history, are organized topically with associated lesson plans.

The cartoons are from the collection of The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library. Most are American, but some reflect the views of international cartoonists on the America. There are some famous cartoons here, but most of the images are not the ones typically reproduced in text books and instructional materials.

All the cartoons are evocative and teachable, and the topics available include a wide variety of central historical events and periods, including Reconstruction, American Imperialism, Immigration, several reform and rights movements, and American involvement in international conflicts.

• This is a web-based project that showcases 52 historic sites associated with the African American history of New York City on a new interactive website.
• Funded by a grant from JP Morgan, this project is a collaboration of the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University, Creative Curriculum Initiatives, and Teachers College, Columbia University.
• At each of the 52 sites there is a short statement providing the historical background for the site. The website is a portal to glossaries of concepts and terms, profiles of historical events and figures, videotaped commentary by faculty experts, film and music clips, and historical photographs and artwork
• By February 2008, twelve sites will have lessons designed for middle and high school teachers along with one-page adaptations for elementary teachers.
• The lessons are organized into modules organized around the following themes:  The establishment of the African American community in NYC;  Resistance and self-determination in the face of slavery and discrimination;  African American contributions to building NYC
•  The sites include a range of places from the familiar (e.g., African Burial Ground, Draft Riots, Abyssinian Baptist Church, Five Points, and the Schomburg Library) to less familiar (African Grove Theater, Colored Orphan’s Asylum, Hughson’s Tavern, etc.)

·         Eventually, a printed curriculum will be produced to be distributed free of charge to one thousand teachers in New York State.

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