Recently our History Day program assistant, Auni Husted, interviewed Amie Sanner of Calvert High School in Calvert County about her History Day experience. Ms. Sanner was honored with the 2011 Patricia Behring High School History Day Teacher of the Year award.

[Auni] What classes and grades do you teach?

[Amie] I have 9th, 10th, and 12th graders in Honors World History, United States History, and AP World History. I am actually teaching a pilot 9th grade AP World History class this year too, and it is going great!

How many years have you participated in History Day?

I have participated for 5 years.

How many of your students are participating in History Day this year?

All of my students complete History Day projects, which comes out to about 150 students.

How do you use History Day in your classroom? Is it a required assignment for all of your students, for just a certain class, or an option for one or more individual students who express interest?

For my underclassmen (Honors World History and United States History) they get the freedom to choose which way they would like to present their History Day project, but they all must complete a project. They also get the freedom to choose their topics (as long as they fit it into the theme). For my AP World History students they must complete the research paper (since these are skills I would like them to focus on in a rigorous college level class) and it can be on a topic of their choice, as long as it fits into the NHD theme. I also encourage other students in the school, whose teacher doesn’t participate in History Day, to complete the project. I have after school help sessions for any student that needs extra help, or wants to dig deeper into reasearch.

Do your students receive a grade for their History Day projects?  Extra credit?

All of my students receive multiple grades for completing their History Day project. I start with smaller “process” grades (such as collecting sources, correct annotations, creating a thesis statement, etc.) over the entire period of the project. At the end when the final project is due I grade them on a “product” grade. This grade is broken up into multiple parts on a rubric (follows NHD guidelines, connects to the NHD theme, overall appearance, creativity/originality, good use of primary sources, etc.).

Do you make classroom time available for History Day work?  Do you provide after school sessions?

History Fair is a 6 month long project in my class. I use about 3-5 days a month in the media center working on computers with students on various things (introducing and researching the theme, finding topics, looking for primary and secondary sources, creating the process paper and annotated bibliography,etc.). I also provide 2 Thursdays every month from September to February for after school help sessions (which I open up for any student in the school working on History Fair), and then in February I open up my classroom after school for a week for students to work on constructing and creating their projects (exhibits mostly). I have a lot of lower-income students who need to have supplies provided for them to complete the project, so I call them “Martha Stewart” days, when they get to use everything in my classroom (backboards, hot glue gun, computer and printer for pictures, construction paper, markers, decorations, etc.), and they create their project.

How much class time to you devote to History Day (per week and/or throughout the year)?

As a class we work on History Day every month from September through February. We spend between 3-5 days a month in the media center, but we spend time in class too working out the kinks in things too.

Personally, I spend a lot more of my time working on History Day than I like to admit. J I use Noodletools with my students to interact with their Annotated Bibliography, and it helps me to communicate with them about poor sources or weak annotations. This is one of my favorite things about technology, I can work on their projects when I’m in my PJs at home, and they get the feedback immediately.

I am Calvert High School’s History Fair Coordinator, so I spend a good portion of my time working with other social studies teachers on their projects with students too. I try to come up with newer and better ways to have our school’s History Fair, and more efficient ways to have other teachers feel comfortable working with their students on completing a History Fair project.

Do you partner with teachers in other disciplines or bring in outside resource people (such as archivists, local museum professionals, etc.)?

I have reached out to our English department to help work on Historical Papers, and our school’s theater department to help with Performances and Documentaries. We have two wonderful Media Specialists also who help our History Day students every step of the way. We are also fortunate enough to have the local D.C. museums within driving distance, so field trips to places like the Holocaust Museum provide students with other resources they can use for their projects as well.

Are there History Day research field trips?

I wish. Our funding is very tight. I have to provide my own resources and materials for my after school help sessions.

How do you involve parents in the process (e.g., evening introductory session, regular updates, showcase projects for families and the community)?

Throughout the process of completing History Fair we have numerous things for parents and students. Our school’s Media Specialist has History Day as the welcome page to our Media Center’s website (http://chsmedia.blogspot.com/), and it is also on our school’s website. I also personally send out emails to parents with my History Fair resource packet and helpful places for them to research. We also have a History Fair showcase in the school’s auditorium and a website gallery in the media center during History Fair.

Gatherings of United Stated military veterans grab the heart—on parade, in advocacy groups, at other significant events.For those of us who are not Veterans, we give their impenetrable solidarity its due not as a matter of shared experience; rather, we do so out of respect for sacrifice and for enduring the traumatic.However, on Wednesday, 16 November, at the Old Executive Office Building at the White House complex, Veterans and members of the humanities community, including the National Federation of State Humanities Councils and their stakeholders gathered to acknowledge that there are, in fact, ways to illuminate the Veteran’s experience so that caregivers and others can better appreciate its dimensions.The appeal, of course, is to the humanities.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) offered “Using the Humanities to Support the Veteran Community” and highlighted a Maine Humanities Council-led program that now plays out in 20 VA facilities in 14 States.Jean Wortman, who organizes the Maryland Humanities Council (MHC) component of the Literature & Medicine program, was present, along with Phoebe Stein Davis, our Executive Director, Board members, and participants in the program as it takes place in Baltimore.NEH Humanities Chairman Jim Leach introduced the session, which engaged a broad audience in responding to a poem about airborne medical care and its sequelae:AB Negative (The Surgeon’s Poem) by Brian Turner.The conversation was stunning.The audience was moved.And once again, disparate individuals were able to rely upon the humanities to expose the universal in the unique and learn how such conversations in the health care environment are able to bolster empathic communication so generally needed in the hospital setting and so critically required among those who care for our Veterans.

Later in the afternoon, we also saw how New York’s Aquila Theater used the award-winning “Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives” program to place today’s combat veterans in a timeless setting.I was proud to be there among my MHC colleagues, program participants, and many others.But my mind kept drifting to the airborne poem and wondering whether the fact that its subject played out at an altitude of 10,000 feet made the subject soar in a heavenward direction, or simply elevated our discourse.In the end, what matters more is that all were in its grasp.

View the NEH White House Presentation on YouTube.

Photo From Left to Right (MHC Lit & Med Program Officer Jean Wortman, Baltimore VA participants Frank Williams Jr. and Mary Ann Wilkinson, MHC Executive Director Dr. Phoebe Stein Davis, and Baltimore VA participant Linda Keldsen.

The author, Adrianne Noe, is a member of the Board of the Maryland Humanities Council and a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, an organization that fosters understanding of human health and medical issues at extreme altitude. She attended the November 16th presentation at the White House, “Using the Humanities to Support the Veteran Community.”

Noah Tunis, a 4^th grader at Roland Park Elementary Public School, gave us his reflections on this year’s One Maryland One Book pick, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. A big fan of Alexie’s work, Noah was able to meet him at the Baltimore Book Festival and to get his book signed by the author.  What would you ask Sherman Alexie about the book if you had the chance?

Noah gets his book signed

I think I connected most to Junior/Arnold Spirit Jr. or whatever you want to call him. The way Mr. Alexie told the story you could really imagine it happened although that is probably because most of it did. Junior goes through terrible times and he somehow goes through them and continues to live his life. One of the first examples of this is when he opens his math book and sees his mother’s name. He gets very mad and throws the book at his teacher but afterwards just doesn’t talk about it anymore except when his old teacher does. Another example of this is when Junior’s sister Mary has run away and married a man in Montana. She had a party with some friends in her new trailer in Montana. While she and her husband are passed out in a side room somebody left out a bowl of soup and a curtain touched it and the trailer burned down while she was asleep. When Junior hears this news in the middle of school and is let out early, for the minutes before his dad picks him up and mostly afterwards, he remains calm and doesn’t get mad or terribly depressed but just lives through it. Junior also keeps you connected with his opinions and drawings about his life and what happens in it.

I think this book is so popular with people of all ages is because it is such a good and well written story that even for young people of maybe 8 or 9 they would still love it even if they couldn’t understand all of the context and humor. Saying that, for people who do understand it, it is a really hilarious book.

Junior encounters many bullies and heroes and even a bully who turns out to be a hero. For one there is Roger the giant who starts out to be so mean and racist he actually makes a remark quoting “Did you know Indians are living proof n*****s f**k buffalo.” When I understood that and realized how terrible that was, I thought Roger could never be good. Actually he turns out to be a nice guy, lending Junior money and driving him places. I can’t say there are any bullies in my life that I can compare to the first impression of Roger but there are some good heroes. Firstly there are my parents who provide me with food, clothes and a home. Next are my teachers who don’t treat me any different than children of a different race and teach me lots of things.

In the book Junior seems very nice and cool. I think why that is, is because 1) he is just a nice guy and likable person but also 2) because he is the main character. Now you might not believe me but I have always found that when authors write books you always end up cheering for the main character even if he/she is the bad guy. Authors just write the story so that even if you can see other characters’ points of view you always either think the main character is better with a better reason or you just side with the main character in the story.

A few questions I would like to ask Mr. Alexie are 1) Was the girl in your book named Penelope real and if so was she your girlfriend/friend like you described in the book? 2) Did Eugene (Junior’s dad’s best friend) and Mary (Junior’s sister) really die as terribly as you describe it? I would love it if Mr. Alexie would answer these questions but unless he checks this blog I’ll never know the answer to these questions so I hope he checks it!!!!!!!!

Thank you to National History Day for posting this op-ed by retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, Norman Augustine, titled “The Education Our Economy Needs. We lag in science, but students’ historical illiteracy hurts our politics and our businesses”. This contribution was printed in the Wall Street Journal on September 21st.

You can access his article as a PDF, re-posted  via the National History Day website.  WE WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS!

The Education Our Economy Needs
We lag in science, but students’ historical illiteracy hurts our politics and our businesses.
By NORM AUGUSTINE
Wall Street Journal, September 21, 2011

In the spirit of the new school year, here’s a quiz for readers: In which of the following subjects is the performance of American 12th-graders the worst? a) science, b) economics, c) history, or d) math? With all the talk of America’s very real weaknesses in the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math), you might be surprised to learn that the answer—according to the federal government’s National Assessment of Educational Progress—is neither science nor math. And despite what might be suggested by the number of underwater home loans, high-school seniors actually fare best in economics. Which leaves history as the answer, the subject in which students perform the most poorly. It’s a result that puts American employers and America’s freedoms in a worrisome spot.
But why should a C grade in history matter to the C-suite? After all, if a leader can make the numbers, does it really matter if he or she can recite the birthdates of all the presidents? Well, it’s not primarily the memorized facts that have current and former CEOs like me concerned. It’s the other things that subjects like history impart: critical thinking, research skills, and the ability to communicate clearly and cogently. Such skills are certainly important for those at the top, but in today’s economy they are fundamental to performance at nearly every level. A failing grade in history suggests that students are not only failing to comprehend our nation’s story and that of our world, but also failing to develop skills that are crucial to employment across sectors. Having traveled in 109 countries in this global economy, I have developed a considerable appreciation for the importance of knowing a country’s history and politics.
The good news is that a candidate who demonstrates capabilities in critical thinking, creative problem-solving and communication has a far greater chance of being employed today than his or her counterpart without those skills. The better news is these are not skills that only a graduate education or a stint at McKinsey can confer. They are competencies that our public elementary and high schools can and should be developing through subjects like history. Far more than simply conveying the story of a country or civilization, an education in history can create critical thinkers who can digest, analyze and synthesize information and articulate their findings. These are skills needed across a broad range of subjects and disciplines.
In fact, students who are exposed to more modern methods of history education—where critical thinking and research are emphasized—tend to perform better in math and science. As a case in point, students who participate in National History Day—actually a year-long program that gets students in grades 6-12 doing historical research—consistently outperform their peers on state standardized tests, not only in social studies but in science and math as well. In my position as CEO of a firm employing over 80,000 engineers, I can testify that most were excellent engineers—but the factor that most distinguished those who advanced in the organization was the ability to think broadly and read and write clearly.
Now is a time to re-establish history’s importance in American education. We need to take this opportunity to ensure that today’s history teachers are teaching in a more enlightened fashion, going beyond rote memorization and requiring students to conduct original research, develop a viewpoint and defend it.
If the American economy is to recover from the Great Recession—and I believe it can—it will be because of a ready supply of workers with the critical thinking, creative problem-solving, technological and communications skills needed to fuel productivity and growth. The subject of history is an important part of that foundation.

Mr. Augustine, a former under secretary of the Army, is the retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin.

Spotlight on Ethan McComb, NHD Gold Medalist

Maryland’s first ever National History Day (NHD) gold medal winner answered a few questions about his experiences with the History Day program. McComb, who starts eighth grade at Plum Point Middle School in Calvert County this fall, competed in the junior individual exhibit category at the national level when he was in both sixth and seventh grades.

1. How did you pick your topic?  What did you know about the Marshall Plan before you started your research for History Day?

I chose my topic by analyzing the theme and then finding a topic that not only fit the theme, but was a researchable topic and one I would enjoy exploring. Before I started this research, my knowledge on the Marshall Plan was limited, but this research vastly increased my knowledge to a point of being able to create an in-depth project such as my History Day exhibit.

2. How much time did you spend working on your project each week or overall? How did you balance your project with your other schoolwork and extra curricular activities?

Throughout the entire process I have spent over a hundred hours working on and perfecting my project. I always kept in mind that school came first and if that meant having to go shoot baskets in the dark then so be it. I made sure to do my homework and my History Day project before sports, but on some nights you don’t have enough time, so I just did more work the next night.

3. What skills did you learn from your History Day experience that you may use in other courses or activities (in the future or today)?

I learned to be a better researcher and a better writer. These skills helped me excel as a student and will benefit me in whatever job field I choose to enter.

4. What were some of the most rewarding parts of your History Day experience (besides winning a gold medal)? What was exciting about the competitions themselves (e.g., seeing other projects, camaraderie with other students, talking to judges)?

The most rewarding part of History Day is the historical knowledge you gain and meeting all the other contestants. This allows you to get a better understanding of how other students think and how they choose to go about completing a History Day project. I also enjoy seeing the other exhibits that I was competing against and learning about those topics.

5. What was the most challenging part of History Day?

The most challenging part of History Day is staying dedicated and continuing to improve on your project, but if you do you will see yourself move on further and further in the competition.

6. What did you do to improve your project between each competition?

Between each competition I improved my project by continuing to do research and adding additional things to my project. For example, between states and Nationals, I conducted research at the National Archives. This research greatly improved my project by giving me primary source documents and real telegrams about the Marshall Plan which I used in my project.

7. What sources were the most important for your project, and where did you find them?

The sources that were most important for my project were the George C. Marshall Foundation and doing actual research at the National Archives.

8. What suggestions do you have for other History Day students?

Pick a topic you will enjoy doing and stay dedicated. Remember the reward of knowledge and understanding is well worth the price.

9. In what ways do you think History Day changed or impacted your life?

History Day changed the way I research and how I manage a large project. The History Fair has only impacted my life and my learning experience for the better.

10. Do you want to study history in the future—at college or perhaps as a career?

History has always been my passion and I truly love it. I haven’t decided what I want to be when I am older, but I am sure that history will in some way be involved with my life.

Photo: Classic Photography, courtesy of NHD

Ethan McComb with NEH Chairman Jim Leach at National History Day 2011.

Bill Peak writes a monthly article for the Star-Democrat about working at the Talbot County Free Library. Thank you, Bill, for allowing us to reprint this in our OMOB blog—and for your thoughts about our One Maryland One Book Selection.

An Indian Visits the Talbot County Free Library, by Bill Peak
Printed in the Star-Democrat, August 14, 2011

It’s become an annual event in my life. Every year the Maryland Humanities Council selects their One Maryland One Book (the book people all across the state will read more or less at the same time), and every year I worry that the work selected—inevitably a book written for adults—will have little appeal for teens and pre-teens, an age-group we very much want to interest in reading. So what did I think when I learned that this year, for the first time in the history of the program, they’d chosen a work of teen fiction? I worried that our adult patrons wouldn’t read it. (Note to Maryland Humanities Council: “Library guys aren’t easy to please.”)

But that wasn’t the worst of it. Not only was the work written for teens, it was written and drawn for teens. That’s right, throughout Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” there are hand-drawn cartoons. Now you have to understand, when it comes to baseball and literature I am a dyed-in-the-wool conservative. Baseball should be played only on living, breathing, sun-drenched grass, and literature should enter our minds only through the medium of living, breathing, meaning-drenched words. There are things a cartoonist can do with his pencil that a writer can’t do with hers … and vice versa. For a writer to resort to cartooning to make his point strikes me as an admission of defeat: I am not a good enough writer to communicate this with words, so I am going to draw you a picture instead.

But one of the hats I wear at the Talbot County Free Library reads “One Maryland One Book Coordinator,” which means that, however reluctantly, I had to check out a copy of Alexie’s book and read it.

And I have to admit, I couldn’t put it down. Told from the point of view of a young Indian boy who, at the beginning of his freshman year, makes the momentous, politically incorrect decision to attend a white high school “off the rez,” the book is an exploration of all the cross-currents of self-hate and reverse discrimination that can sometimes afflict today’s under classes. A story that one might reasonably expect to be very sad turns out (thanks to the great cockeyed wit of its teenaged narrator) to be not only funny but, occasionally, laugh-out-loud funny as well. It also manages to stay true to the experience of adolescent males the world over … which is code for: “Some people may find some of the material in this book morally objectionable.” But, then again, I suspect some people may find adolescent males in toto morally objectionable.

Oh, and about those cartoons. They end up being a lot of fun too, extending and enhancing the story Sherman Alexie has to tell in the same way that Sidney Paget’s original illustrations extended and enhanced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s. So stop by the Talbot County Free Library when you get a chance and check out a copy of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” then sign up for one of the book discussions I’ll be hosting on September 22 and 26. Who knows, we may all find our opinion improved of the sometimes clownish, sometimes glorious, adolescent male.

The following three posts are the collection of posting in a series in which the Derlan Family—mother, father and son—discuss the value they find in reading the same book and then talking about it as a family. They read this year’s book, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Each year, MHC encourages people across Maryland to read and then discuss the One Maryland One Book selection. We believe a great work of literature provides an excellent springboard for discussion about issues critical to our lives and communities.

Do you plan to read the book as a family?  We encourage you to visit the Reader Resources section of our website to access Readers’ Guides and other resources which contain helpful context and discussion questions.  Please share your comments!

PART ONE:  By Sharon Derlan, Mother

Sharon Derlan teaches English at Northern Garrett High School. She is an active volunteer with the New Embassy Theatre of Cumberland, MD. Mrs. Derlan is married to Bill, an editor at Cumberland Times-News and the proud mother of Ben, a student at Allegany High School.

When I was in second grade, our teacher Miss Brown read The Boxcar Children aloud to us. She read only a few pages each day, so when we got to the part where Violet gets sick, we had to wait to hear what happened. Almost 40 years later at a class reunion, my friends and I remembered that anxiety and suspense. It was almost as if those children in the book had been our classmates. My brothers and sisters and I are very different, but we all read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school and we all love the book. We know which of us is most like Scout, and which is more like Jem and we know our dad, who died when the oldest of us was only 10, was like Atticus.

My husband and I wanted to give our son the pleasure we have in words and reading. When he was small we read aloud to him, and the stories we all shared became part of our relationship. We’d quote from the books, “Love you forever, like you for always…” After reading Audrey Penn’s The Kissing Hand, we all gave each other goodbye kisses that way for years.

As Ben grew, it became a little more difficult to share stories this way, but Harry Potter saved us. We all read all of the books, first reading aloud to Ben, and later each of us reading them in turns. We found books on CD to listen in the car on long road trips, like P.B. Kerr’s The Akhenaten Adventure. It is so easy to grow apart as children grow more independent. For me the value of reading and talking about books is in keeping a part of the closeness alive. I also want my son to have the memories of special books; connected to the people he has grown up with, as I have had.

One of the interesting things we’ve found with Absolutely True Diary is that I focused so much more on Junior’s sister, Mary Runs Away than either my husband or son did. She is a girl I have met many times in my teaching career. Talking about the character of Mary led me to talk about some events from my childhood, and about some of the students I taught many years ago. Sharing the book, helps us to share ourselves.

PART TWO:  By Bill Derlan, Father

Bill Derlan is an editor at the Cumberland Times-News. In addition to reading and writing, he enjoys gardening and vacations at the beach.

It has been said that the family that prays together, stays together. While that may be true for some, I also believe that the family that reads together, succeeds together.

Our son is 16 now, and we have shared books since he was little. Though his taste in literature is different than that of his mother and me, we frequently manage to find common ground, which leads to great conversation after we have finished. Such is the case with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

As Arnold “Junior” Spirit tells his story, bits and pieces of my formative years come back to me. My family was not as dirt poor as his, but we didn’t have a telephone until I was 13 years old, and didn’t have a car until I was 14. We wore hand-me-downs. My maternal grandmother lived with us throughout my childhood.

I had a best friend, and like Junior and Rowdy, we were practically inseparable. Naturally, as teenage boys, we pulled some pretty stupid and somewhat dangerous stunts.

The book gives the reader a close look at the life of despair that most American Indians face on reservations, or, as Junior calls them, “death camps.” I have always been repulsed by their treatment at the hands of the federal government. I’m proud to be an American, but also ashamed.

At any rate, the book is fun to read and, even though it relates great sadness, it is a story of victory over adversity, told in the self-deprecating style of a boy who has nothing to lose.

By reading the same book within several months, we were able to discuss it while the narrative was still fresh in our minds. We agreed that it was humorous and the illustrations were a perfect accompaniment. We were touched and saddened by the fact that Junior’s father couldn’t afford to take his ailing dog to the veterinarian and instead shot the animal.

We talked about the perils of the addiction to alcoholic beverages and how difficult it would be to lose two family members and a close family friend in a short period of time. Reading the same book helps bind us together as a family.

PART THREE:  Ben Derlan, Son

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a great book with its colorful characters and interesting “diary” first person point of view. It is quite a fascinating read. I liked that I could relate in some ways to the main character, Junior. He is around my same age and we share some of the same interests and hobbies, like drawing, cartoons, and basketball. The book gave me glimpses at a world apart form my own, showing me hardships I have never encountered. Reading the book showed me just how lucky I am. When Junior talks about the worst part of being poor, I could really sympathize for him. I would recommend the book to anyone. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part time Indian gives a great perspective on a different way of life and may lead to more understanding and kindness between us all. In reading this book at the same time as my parents did, we could discuss and enjoy the story as a family. My mom talked about students that she taught who were similar to Junior’s sister, and why she thinks some things are harder for girls to overcome. My dad and I talked more about Junior’s friend Rowdy and how all of us know people who are part friend, part bully.

Ben Derlan is the son of Sharon and Bill Derlan. He is a junior at Allegany High School, where he participates in mock trial, tennis and other clubs and activities.

Have you read the book yet?  If so, what character stood out to you in an unexpected way?  What do you think Mary Runs away represents in the story…to Junior?  We’d love to read your comments and reflections.

Each year, MHC encourages people across Maryland to read and then discuss the One Maryland One Book selection. We believe a great work of literature provides an excellent springboard for discussion about issues critical to our lives and communities.

The following is the first in a series of three guest posts in which the Derlan Family—mother, father and son—discuss the value they find in reading the same book and then talking about it as a family. They read this year’s book, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  Thank you to the Derlan Family, for their participation!

When I was in second grade, our teacher Miss Brown read The Boxcar Children aloud to us. She read only a few pages each day, so when we got to the part where Violet gets sick, we had to wait to hear what happened. Almost 40 years later at a class reunion, my friends and I remembered that anxiety and suspense. It was almost as if those children in the book had been our classmates. My brothers and sisters and I are very different, but we all read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school and we all love the book. We know which of us is most like Scout, and which is more like Jem and we know our dad, who died when the oldest of us was only 10, was like Atticus.

My husband and I wanted to give our son the pleasure we have in words and reading. When he was small we read aloud to him, and the stories we all shared became part of our relationship. We’d quote from the books, “Love you forever, like you for always…” After reading Audrey Penn’s The Kissing Hand, we all gave each other goodbye kisses that way for years.

As Ben grew, it became a little more difficult to share stories this way, but Harry Potter saved us. We all read all of the books, first reading aloud to Ben, and later each of us reading them in turns. We found books on CD to listen in the car on long road trips, like P.B. Kerr’s The Akhenaten Adventure. It is so easy to grow apart as children grow more independent. For me the value of reading and talking about books is in keeping a part of the closeness alive. I also want my son to have the memories of special books; connected to the people he has grown up with, as I have had.

One of the interesting things we’ve found with Absolutely True Diary is that I focused so much more on Junior’s sister, Mary Runs Away than either my husband or son did. She is a girl I have met many times in my teaching career. Talking about the character of Mary led me to talk about some events from my childhood, and about some of the students I taught many years ago. Sharing the book, helps us to share ourselves.

Sharon Derlan teaches English at Northern Garrett High School. She is an active volunteer with the New Embassy Theatre of Cumberland, MD. Mrs. Derlan is married to Bill, an editor at Cumberland Times-News and the proud mother of Ben, a student at Allegany High School.

Have you read the book yet?  If so, what character stood out to you in an unexpected way?  What do you think Mary Runs away represents in the story…to Junior?  We’d love to read your comments and reflections.

MHC extends its gratitude to author and blogger Scott L. Mingus Sr., for his guest contribution to our Chautauqua-themed blog.

Jefferson Davis served as the only president the Confederate States of America would ever know. The Kentucky-born and Mississippi-raised Davis was a West Point graduate; veteran of the Mexican War; former U.S. Congressman, Senator, and Secretary of War. His vast network of contacts spanned the country.

Following Mississippi’s secession from the Union on January 9, 1861, the 52-year-old Davis resigned from the Senate and returned home, where he accepted a commission as a major general of Mississippi troops. Scarcely a month later a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, named the well-known Davis as the fledgling Confederacy’s provisional president. He was inaugurated on February 18, 1861, and immediately began the process of organizing a government. In May the capital moved to Richmond, Virginia, following the Old Dominion’s secession.

Maryland, a slave state bordering free-state Pennsylvania to the north, proved to be problematic for both the Federal government and the Confederacy in the first year of the Civil War. Less than two percent of Marylanders had voted for Republican Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election, and Southern sympathies were strong in several areas, including Baltimore and Annapolis. While Jefferson Davis was still in Alabama, on April 9, 1861, the Pratt Street Riot drew bloodshed when angry crowds faced off with newly trained Massachusetts troops passing through the city while en route to Washington, D.C.

Over the next few months, the Federal government stepped in to quell the secessionist sentiment, including incarcerating leading pro-Confederate politicians and civic leaders. Maryland remained in the Union, although some 25,000 men joined the Confederate army (more than twice that number enlisted in the Union army). Federal troops, including the 87th Pennsylvania, were dispatched into northern Maryland to guard the Northern Central Railway which ran from Baltimore to Harrisburg, and thousands of other Union soldiers guarded the vital east-west running Baltimore & Ohio.

President Davis believed that the pro-Southern sentiments in Maryland, though squelched in part by perceived heavy-handiness by Washington, remained strong. He later wrote, “The condition of Maryland encouraged the belief that the presence of our army, though numerically inferior to that of the North, would induce the Washington government to retain all its available force to provide against contingencies which its conduct toward the people of that state gave reason to apprehend. At the same time it was hoped that military success might afford us an opportunity to aid the citizens of Maryland in any efforts they should be disposed to make to recover their liberty. The difficulties that surrounded them were fully appreciated, and we expected to derive more assistance in the attainment of our object from the just fears of the Washington government than from any active demonstration on the part of the people of Maryland, unless success should enable us to give them assurance of continued protection. Influenced by these considerations, the army was put in motion.”

When he authorized General Robert E. Lee to invade Maryland in early September, 1862, Davis instructed Lee to issue a proclamation “to the people of Maryland, the motives and purposes of your presence among them at the head of an invading army…”

Davis stipulated:

1st. That the Confederate Government is waging this war solely for self-defense; that it has no design of conquest, or any other purpose than to secure peace and the abandonment by the United States of their pretensions to govern a people who have never been their subjects, and who prefer self-government to a union with them.

2d. That this Government, at the very moment of its inauguration, sent commissioners to Washington to treat for a peaceful adjustment of all differences, but that these commissioners were not received, nor even allowed to communicate the object of their mission; and that, on a subsequent occasion, a communication from the President of the Confederacy to President Lincoln remained without answer, although a reply was promised by General Scott, into whose hands the communication was delivered.

3d. That among the pretexts urged for continuance of the war, is the assertion that the Confederate Government desires to deprive the United States of the free navigation of the Western rivers, although the truth is that the Confederate Congress, by public act, prior to the commencement of the war, enacted that “the peaceful navigation of the Mississippi River is hereby declared free to the citizens of any of the States upon its boundaries, or upon the borders of its navigable tributaries,” a declaration to which this Government has always been, and is still, ready to adhere.

4th. That now, at a juncture when our arms have been successful, we restrict ourselves to the same just and moderate demand that we made at the darkest period of our reverses, the simple demand that the people of the United States should cease to war upon us, and permit us to pursue our own path to happiness, while they in peace pursue theirs.

5th. That we are debarred from the renewal of formal proposals for peace by having no reason to expect that they would be received with the respect mutually due by nations in their intercourse, whether in peace or in war.

6th. That, under these circumstances, we are driven to protect our own country by transferring the seat of war to that of an enemy, who pursues us with a relentless and, apparently, aimless hostility; that our fields have been laid waste, our people killed, many homes made desolate, and that rapine and murder have ravaged our frontiers; that the sacred right of self-defense demands that, if such a war is to continue, its consequences shall fall on those who persist in their refusal to make peace.

7th. That the Confederate army, therefore, comes to occupy the territory of their enemies, and to make it the theater of hostilities; that with the people themselves rests the power to put an end to this invasion of their homes, for, if unable to prevail on the Government of the United States to conclude a general peace, their own State government, in the exercise of its sovereignty, can secure immunity from the desolating effects of warfare on the soil of the State by a separate treaty of peace, which this Government will ever be ready to conclude on the most just and liberal basis.

8th. That the responsibility thus rests on the people of the United States continuing an unjust and oppressive warfare upon the Confederate States—a warfare which can never end in any other manner than that now proposed. With them is the option of preserving the blessings of peace by the simple abandonment of the design of subjugating a people over whom no right of dominion has ever been conferred, either by God or man.

Lee’s army would be thwarted on September 17, 1862 near Sharpsburg at what the Northerners called the Battle of Antietam. Much to the surprise of Jefferson Davis and other Confederate leaders, few Marylanders had rushed to arms to support the invasion. The state would remain in the Union column for the remainder of the war.

Scott L. Mingus, Sr. is an author, tour guide, multiple award-winning miniature wargamer, patented scientist, and history buff based near York, Pennsylvania. His Civil War blogs include “Cannonball”, “Charge!,” and “Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna River.” Learn more at www.scottmingus.com.

How do you think Davis was viewed in rural mountain Maryland, versus the bustling, populous hub of Baltimore, versus the agricultural domain of the Eastern Shore?  What factors contributed to this range of opinions?

What impact do you think the Pratt Street Riots–at the start of the war–had on Jefferson Davis’ view of Baltimore?  Maryland?

How did Maryland’s “problematic” or conflicted stance during the Civil War influence the state in the 150 years following it?  What lasting effects can be seen/felt in Maryland today?

The Maryland Humanities Council is incredibly proud of all of the students who advanced to the national competition and excited to announce results from yesterday’s awards ceremony!

Ethan McComb & Jim Leach at the awards ceremony

Ethan McComb, a student at Plum Point Middle School in Calvert County, received the Gold medal (1^st place) in the Junior Individual Exhibit category for his exhibit titled “The Marshall Plan: America’s Soft Power Diplomacy Saves Europe from Economic and Political Chaos Following World War II.” This is the FIRST TIME a Maryland student has garnered a first place award. His teacher is Merry Ellen Fallica. This was Ethan’s second year participating in the national contest. The National Endowment for the Humanities Scholars Award, which is also given to each first place winner, includes a cash prize.

Michael Keen, a homeschooler from Montgomery County, instructed by his mother Christine Keen, received the Bronze Medal  in the Senior Paper category. His paper is titled “Lost Opportunities for Peace: Vietnam, 1945 -1950.” Michael, who has competed since he as in sixth grade, took the same prize that his brother Eric won in 2010. Often History Day is a family affair—two sets of Maryland siblings competed in the national contest.

Other Awards Received

• A special prize was awarded to Camila Uechi for her Senior Individual Web Site. As a result, Uechi receives a scholarship to Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her website was titled “The Bay of Pigs: A Diplomatic Turning Point.” Camila is a student at the Bullis School in Montgomery County; her teacher is Sara Romeyn.
• Anne Arundel County student Alexandra La Pierre’s Senior Individual Exhibit, “Diplomacy of Appeasement: The Munich Agreement of 1938” was selected for display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. She attends Broadneck High School; her teacher is Traci Anderson.
• Additional recognition included two awards for Outstanding State Entry:

· Junior Division: Maria Viera, Mayfield Woods Middle School, Howard County (Junior Individual Web Site, “The Cuban Missile Crisis”) Teachers: James McVey, Charla Phillips, Tim Grafton

· Senior Division: Emily Galik, Marriotts Ridge High School, Howard County (Senior Individual Exhibit, “Patients or Prisoners? Dorothea Dix and the Debate Surrounding the American Asylum Movement”). Her exhibit will also be on display at the Maryland conference of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) in October. Teacher: Richard Malt.

Two other students’ projects matriculated to the final round of competition. Duncan Rheingans-Yoo’s Junior Paper, “Post War Korea: Negotiations, Impact, and Korea Today,” and Kane Herrick’s Senior Individual Web Site, “Iran Hostage Crisis: America’s Failed Diplomacy” were considered in the final rounds of judging. Duncan is a student at Oakland Mills Middle School in Howard County and Kane Herrick is a student at the Bullis School in Montgomery County. Duncan’s instructors include Karen Saunderson and Kathleen Quinn. Herrick’s teacher is Sara Romeyn.

The two Maryland teachers who received the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year awards for Maryland were also recognized during the June 16^th ceremony. They were Amie Sanner, the Maryland High School History Day Teacher of the Year (Calvert High School in Calvert County) and Rebecca Castle, the Maryland Middle School History Day Teacher of the Year (Isaac Gourdine Middle School, Prince George’s County).

The full list of winners is available at http://nhd.org/AwardsWinners.htm

The main NHD website may also prove useful: http://nhd.org/

Congratulations to all of our student Scholars! Recent studies have shown that History Day participation affects students lives in a positive way, including increased test scores and enhanced critical thinking skills. Are you a former History Day participant?  How was your experience? We’d love to know!