Voices of the past, classrooms of today
Oral history program at Lincoln Presidential Library offers lesson plans on Ag, POWs and more

[October 01, 2015]  SPRINGFIELD – Teachers can bring the voices of POWs, politicians, farmers and social reformers into their classrooms using new resources provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

The presidential library has created a series of lesson plans built around the hundreds of first-person interviews recorded by the library’s Oral History Program. Teachers can use them to cover such topics as agriculture, women’s rights, the atomic bomb in World War II, veterans’ experiences and the growth of women’s athletics after Title IX.

Dr. Mark DePue, director of the presidential library’s Oral History Program, said the interviews can make a dramatic impact in the classroom.

For instance, the teacher resources on prisoners of war include a Korean War veteran explaining how claustrophobia after months in a Chinese POW camp forced him to sleep on the deck of an aircraft carrier when returning to America. A pilot describes enduring torture and a broken back after being shot down in Vietnam. A World War II veteran discusses guarding Japanese POWs, including General Hideki Tojo.

“Listening to a POW talk about his harrowing experiences really makes history come to life for students,” DePue said. “It’s just so much more meaningful to hear their stories first-hand than reading about it in a textbook.”

The lesson plans are available at www.oralhistory.illinois.gov in the “Teacher Resources” section.

Each teacher resource includes audio and video clips from the program’s extensive collection, explains how the lesson relates to state and Common Core learning standards and provides a list of potential discussion questions and secondary sources.

The material offers a well-rounded look at each topic. If you’re interested in why the Equal Rights Amendment failed in the early 1980s, you can hear both liberal supporter Dawn Clark Netsch and conservative opponent Phyllis Schlafly.

“There’s something for everyone,” DePue said. “We strive to interview people on all sides of an issue, then let our users decide.”

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum holds an unparalleled collection of Lincoln documents, photographs, artifacts and art. It has some 12 million items pertaining to all aspects of Illinois history, making the library one of the nation’s leading institutions for genealogy and history research.

The museum is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. For information on all our events, visit www.TenYearsLincoln.com.

[Chris Wills, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum]