World War I history from the bottom up

Forty K-12 history teachers became students again on Oct. 21, in the first of an American Legion-supported seminar series to help educators bring World War I to life for their students.

“Teaching Literacy Through History” was presented at the McConnell Center on the University of Louisville campus. Presented by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, it was sponsored by the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission. Five more seminars are planned across the country during the 2017-2018 academic year.

The American Legion supported the program through a $50,000 grant. Department of Kentucky Adjutant Ted Austin, a former teacher, began the proceedings by welcoming attendees and describing how one aftereffect of the Great War was the Legion’s formation. “That’s pretty close to us,” he said, going on to explain how the early Legion – led by World War I veterans – oversaw the creation and implementation of the GI Bill during World War II, which “changed the face of the country as we know it.”

The morning was spent with Michael Neiberg, chair of war studies and professor of history at the U.S. Army War College. He gave an in-depth lecture on the time period between the breakout of World War I in 1914 and U.S. entry in 1917. Wanting to give the teachers “a better way of thinking about the war,” he described the period as one of increasing conviction on the part of the American people – if not so much on the part of those in power – that some kind of involvement was inevitable and necessary. “The American people knew this was going to change everything … that it was the most significant event in their lifetimes.” The feeling only grew through the sinking of the Lusitania, the infamous intercepted telegram between Germany and Mexico, and report after report from American journalists abroad, he explained.

Neiberg went into detail about how Americans’ convictions led them to take action, from volunteers in foreign armed services – he quoted an estimate that 80,000 Canadian volunteers in the British army may actually have been born in the United States – to massive charitable contributions, and a new focus on preparedness by individuals and corporations alike. By 1917, when the United States officially entered the war, the consensus was that it was a matter of survival for the country. He also offered examples of how the war and its aftermath led to geopolitical effects that continue today.

Focusing on the actions and reactions of the people, rather than the government, is an example of a “bottom-up” social way of looking at history rather than a “top-down” political perspective. This is the way “Teaching Literacy Through History” is designed to help educators teach. One method of doing that is using primary sources – direct or firsthand documents – rather than secondary sources like textbooks. Neiberg used period political cartoons and newspaper accounts in his lecture, which provided a perfect segue into the afternoon session.

Nathan McAlister is a master teacher fellow at Gilder Lehrman and a Kansas educator who leads classroom missions to document Civil War veterans’ graves in his part of the state. He focused on strategies for working with primary source documents, such as the competing speeches made to Congress for and against a formal declaration of war, and a letter from an African-American soldier to W.E.B. Du Bois describing his experiences and hopes for the future. The teachers did group study to anaylyze these primary sources. Helping students interact directly with history, by “understanding the ideas of the people who made the history,” can increase both content knowledge and critical thinking skills as well as “student ownership of learning.”

Sue Roe teaches at Bullitt East High School in Mount Washington, Ky., but grew up in the Chicago area in The American Legion Family through her World War II veteran father. “That’s why I have great respect (for The American Legion)," she said. Roe has participated in Gilder Lehrman seminars before, and found this one “wonderful …. It worked really well for me.” She anticipates that it will help her and other teachers in her department alike.

Matthew Brotherton teaches at Somerset Christian School in Somerset, Ky. He saw the seminar as matching his style of teaching, which is that “history is cyclical … things keep coming back around.” Connecting directly with those who made history will help in his mission: “I try to get my students to ask why.”