Exemplar: Mini-Unit of Study
The following mini-unit of study exemplifies the teaching strategies and forms of
engagement emphasized in this book. It is a history mystery, an orientation described in detail in
Chapter 4. However, its pedagogical structure, rather than its topical direction, is of primary
importance here. The mini-unit is meant as a teaching illustration, to showcase the kind of
teaching we invite you to do.
Teacher’s Scholarly Knowledge:
This mini-unit utilizes a children’s trade book, Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes
Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard, to introduce the notion of History Mystery. In the book,
great-great Aunt Flossie recalls her “memories” through the hats she wore during different
events. Aunt Flossie provides an oral history of her life that includes two key events: the great
Baltimore fire of 1904 and the return of Black soldiers (the 92nd Division) from WWI. This book
can motive students’ interest in oral history, spur their inquiry into two historic moments, guide
their collection of memories from a family member, and generate a historical account. As
teacher, you need to know something about oral history, the 92nd Division, and the Baltimore fire
to expertly utilize this book and guide the study it generates. So, your Teacher’s Scholarly
Knowledge taps into these ideas, issues, and events.

Oral history: History literally means his-story. Allow children to create a word for a
women’s story: her-story, or for a collective story, our-story. An oral history is a spoken
recollection of an event or era. Often an oral history focuses on the collection of information
from a surviving member of a time or place. Oral historians seek to gather multiple
recollections of a given event, in order to create a fuller account. Aunt Flossie’s memories
allow children to glimpse the past through her eyes.

The Baltimore Fire of 1904: Massive urban fires are so uncommon now that we rarely think
about them, but in the early 1900s, fires burned thousands of buildings and killed hundreds of
people in places like London, Chicago, and San Francisco. From February 7–9 in 1904, a fire
in Baltimore burned most of the commercial buildings and the pier. A strong, ocean wind
fanned the flames. Fire departments from Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Wilmington,
Virginia, came to help, but their hoses did not fit the hose couplings in Baltimore. Fireman
lined up 37 steam fire engines next to a small river that ran into the harbor. They drew water
from the river and created a wall of water that finally stopped the fire. Baltimore was rebuilt,
using more fireproof materials.

92nd Division: The armed services were still segregated in WWI. Late in 1917, the War
Department created two all-black infantry divisions: the 92nd and 93rd Divisions. More than
350,000 African Americans served in WWI, mostly as support troops. Several units saw
action alongside French soldiers and served with distinction; 171 African American soldiers
were awarded the French Legion of Honor. In response to protests of discrimination from the
Black community, several hundred soldiers received officer’s training. A reasonable question
is why did African Americans choose to fight for a nation that denied them full citizenship?
Most hoped to prove their patriotism by fighting with white soldiers, and, then, to claim their
right to equality after the war. This goal was reached, but not until after WWII. A quote by
Black leader W. E. B. DuBois in The Crisis, a journal founded in 1910 by the NAACP to
fight racial prejudice, captures the hope of this time: “The Crisis says, first your country,
then your rights! Certain honest thinkers among us hesitate at that last sentence. They say it
is all well to be idealistic, but is it not true that while we have fought our country’s battles for
one hundred and fifty years, we have not gained our rights? No, we have gained them rapidly
and effectively by our loyalty in a time of trial” (W.E.B. DuBois, The Crisis, September,
1918).
Teaching Resources:
Children’s Literature:

Bridges, R. (1999). Through My Eyes. New York: Scholastic Press. An oral history by Ruby
Bridges who, as a first grader in 1960, desegregated the public schools in New Orleans,
Louisiana. The author shares her first-hand battles with segregation.

Feder, P. K. (1995). The Feather-Bed Journey. Chicago, IL: Albert Whitman. Grandma tells
Rachel and Lewis how the feather pillow she treasures was once a huge feather bed made by
their great grandmother in Poland. The book introduces the Holocaust through grandma’s
memories of a kind farmer who helped save her life and, later, sent the remnants of the
feather bed to America.

Hearne, B. (1997). Seven Brave Women. New York: Greenwillow. A young girl recounts the
family stories she has heard about her female forebears. Each woman is placed in the context
of her time, including the war she lived through. Courage at home, rather than in war, is
celebrated. Repetition is used to illustrate story telling in the oral tradition.

Stevenson, J. (1992). Don’t You Know There’s a War on? New York: Greenwillow. The
author reminisces about his childhood during WWII. He recalls his father’s, enlistment as
well as his own contribution to the war effort at home.
Teach!
Become Informed
Focus In: Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard

Hook: Pack a small trunk with items like those mentioned in the book: old books, pictures,
dried flowers, and hats (lots of hats). Include old photos of the Baltimore fire, the 92nd
Division and Black soldiers in WWI, and a facsimile of a family photo album. Ask students:
What can you learn about history from looking in Grandma’s attic trunk? What kind of
mysteries might be inside? What stories can old photos, clothes, or scrapbooks tell?

Focus Activity: Write four to five key facts from the story on sentence strips or chart. Before
reading, ask students: Do you agree or disagree with these statements? Why?
1. Aunt Flossie’s hats are clues to important times in her life.
2. History is a story of fires, wars, and every day events.
3. Older relatives, like Aunt Flossie, can teach us about history.
4. History can be told to us by people who lived through important events.

Reading: Read Aunt Flossie’s Hats by Elizabeth Howard.

After Reading: Return to the Anticipation Guide. Reconsider: Do you still agree or disagree
with these statements. Why? Why not?
Teach for Ideas: What is oral history?

Hook: Oral means telling or saying. How did Aunt Flossie tell us about history? Raise
essential question (EQ): What is oral history?

Example #1: Colonel Charles Young was the highest-ranking African-American soldier at
the beginning of WWI. He wanted to fight in WWI and command troops in France.
However, his request was denied by the War Department, which said he was too ill (he had
high blood pressure) and too old (he was 53 years old). In order to prove that he was fit for
battle, Colonel Young rode on horseback from his home in Ohio to the War Department in
Washington D.C. Here is his memory: “As soon as the school year was over, I rode on
horseback from Wilberforce to Washington, DC, walking on foot for fifteen minutes each
hour, a distance of 497 miles, to show, if possible, my physical fitness for command of
troops. I there offered my services gladly at the risk of my life, which has no value for me if I
cannot give it for the great ends for which the United States is striving”
(http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/comment/huachuca/HI1-19.htm). Ask students what makes
this memory an oral history.

Example #1: Read selections from Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges. Ask students what
makes this story an oral history.

Create a new example: Ask students to recall the first day of school. Share multiple
memories. Ask students what makes these memories oral history.

Assessment: Ask students to explain, in their own words, what oral history is.
Teach for Inquiry: EQ: What was the 92nd Division?

Hook: What did Aunt Flossie remember about the 92nd Division? Show illustration p. 16–17.
Ask essential question (EQ): What was the 92nd Division?

Record hypotheses (or good guesses).

Give students evidence, one clue at a time. Revise hypotheses after each clue.

Clue #1: Study this photo: African Americans enlisting. Ask students if African Americans
wanted to serve in WWI.

Clue #2: Study this photo: father with 11 stars indicating 11 sons in the service. Ask students
if African Americans wanted to serve in WWI.

Clue #3: Study the recruiting poster entitled True Sons of Freedom. Ask students if AfricanAmerican soldiers were really free. Read W. E. B. DuBois’s quote about why African
Americans should fight, even if they did not have equal rights at home. (See Teacher’s
Scholarly Knowledge.)

Revise hypotheses. Come to conclusions. Answer the EQ: What was the 92nd Division?

Going Further: Consider: What can we learn from a person’s memories? Do memories tell
us all we need to know?
Think It Through
Teach through Drama:
Hook: Read more selections from Through My Eyes: by Ruby Bridges. This time, focus on the
memories of Lucille Bridges, Ruby’s mother, and Barbara Henry, Ruby’s first-grade teacher.
Ask students to consider what these memories tell us about racial inequality.

Role play: Give students roles as Ruby, her teacher, her parents, parents who took their white
children out of school, and people in the angry crowd. Narrate the story as children
pantomime their roles.

Ask students how Ruby’s fight for equality compares with soldiers in the 92nd Division
almost 50 years earlier.

Help students write two or three questions to ask their grandparents (or other older relatives)
about fights for equality (e.g., what do you remember about times when people fought for
equality? Who fought for equality? What happened?).

Guide students as needed to complete an oral history interview. Even the youngest students
can ask relatives one or two questions and remember their responses.
Write to Learn

Share findings from interviews. Tell the oral histories.

Help students write up the oral histories. It is easiest to write a narrative without quotations,
as a story. Write from the perspective of the informant. Try the following heading:
___________ (relative’s name) history as told to __________ (student’s name). Story boards
with drawings of the oral history can serve as a reporting format for younger learners.

Read or tell stories in an Author’s Chair.

Display all oral histories or publish in a class text.
Take Action
Service Learning
The collection, posting, and publishing of oral histories are community services. Students
helped to tell the memories of their relatives, and, in so doing, to share recollections of struggles
for equality.