This week, I am facilitating my first national teacher seminar for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York City. Yesterday, I was charged with moderating a one-hour question/answer session with two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient Dr. Alan Taylor, author of multiple books on American history, including the recommended American Colonies: The Settling of North America.
One of the goals and challenges of the question/answer sessions is to keep things as chronological as possible and remain focused on the history at hand rather than using a shotgun approach. I've had to manage this with a little planning of my own, but with spontaneity as well. When participants in the seminar have their own questions, I need to be able to sort them out on the fly and discern whether to ask them immediately or postpone them for a day or two. For someone who doesn't enjoy virtual meetings (or talking on the telephone, or ordering in a drive-through), this poses a bit of a challenge. Still, I think I did a decent job of keeping things moving. I've seen these things drag on with a lot of dead time and ums and uhs from the presenters, but we were able to maintain momentum throughout. I suppose I should be pleased with that.
Here are the prepared questions I used in yesterday's Q&A with Dr. Taylor:
Here are the prepared questions I used in yesterday's Q&A with Dr. Taylor:
- There is a monument to Samuel de Champlain in Ticonderoga, New York. On it, Champlain is named by many titles: soldier, mariner, explorer, mapmaker, artist, writer, naturalist, humanist (friend of Algonquin), visionary, and leader.
- By this account, Champlain sounds pretty incredible. Is this an example of whitewashed and therefore romanticized history? Talk to us about the real Samuel de Champlain. What about this is true and what is possibly embellished?
- Was alcohol as detrimental to the indigenous peoples as is often stereotypically characterized? Did it affect some groups more than others?
- Were they using the King James Version of the Bible in Jamestown while the Puritans were still using the Geneva Bible? How might the religious differences alone affect contrasting lifestyles in Jamestowne and Plimouth? Whereas people in England were predominantly Anglican/Protestant, was there conflict caused by the differences in people’s religion now that they were an ocean removed?
- Once again, we have to constantly acknowledge that history is ugly. Would you point to a particular event as the ugliest portion of colonial history in the Americas?
- Are there questions you would like to have been asked that apply to this session?
