A guide for teachers to use New Haven Museum’s ArcGIS map as a classroom tool.
The New Haven Museum recently updated and redesigned their permanent exhibition on the Amistad rebellion, subsequent trials in the U.S. courts, and story of repatriation of the Amistad survivors. Amistad: Retold centers the people who led the 1839 revolt and their harrowing journey to freedom while also highlighting key figures in New Haven’s abolitionist networks.
Mapping Amistad on ArcGIS
As a New Haven Public Schools teacher, I took my students on a field trip last year to a museum and I observed how students were interacting with the exhibits. Students were looking at artifacts and reading the panels, but would then grab their phones to find more information in a geographic context. As a result, my students at Engineering and Science University Magnet School became an inspiration for me as we redeveloped the Amistad exhibit. The question became – how do we make this vital history accessible to as many people as possible? That’s how the digital exhibit came about.
The website identifies key sites and primary sources connected to the Amistad trials. ArcGIS is a digital mapping program that is especially helpful in crafting digital humanities projects. ACCESS THE ARCGIS SITE HERE. The webpage is accessible and easy to use – simply scroll down and students will be able to interact with the story of Amistad and New Haven in a variety of ways. Click on the video below to view a short preview of how to navigate the page.
The digital map illustrates how Amistad is a transnational story and highlights key sites. Students can explore the story spatially; each address listed includes a description, weaving together this illustrious story. Teachers planning a field trip to New Haven Museum, can use the ArcGIS site in a pre- or post- lesson to prepare students to view the exhibition or as an extension activity. New Haven Museum offers school programs, which includes an exploration of our permanent exhibit and an optional walking tour component. Teachers can use this map in a variety of ways depending on their grade-level and curriculum. Elementary school teachers can distill the content for their students, especially for 5th grade U.S. history. Ideally, the site is most accessible for grades 7-12 and can be utilized in the following courses:
- Black/African American and Latino/Puerto Rican Studies
- United States History
- World History
- Civics/ U.S. Government and Politics
Once you scroll down past the digital map, you’ll find other useful primary sources that you can incorporate into your curriculum, including the Political Tensions in New Haven in the 1830s. A section entitled the Thorns of Colonization section includes a digitized 1828 source from the Whitney Library at New Haven Museum that contextualizes the colonization movement in association with anti-slavery efforts, underscoring that not all abolitionist efforts were anti-racist. Amistad Rebellion in the Arts and Media features artistic interpretations of the events, highlighting the importance of incorporating art and media into students’ inquiry. Lastly, the ArcGIS page concludes with the pencil sketches of the Amistad captives by William H. Townsend from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. These images humanize the people who were the center of the story of resilience for those that survived. It is crucial when examining political history that teachers identify the systems that were designed to deny the West African captives their humanity, and their reverberations in our modern world.
Essential Questions:
- How do citizens engage in the democratic process to challenge unjust laws?
- How was New Haven, Connecticut a crucial site in the Amistad trials?
- How does the story of the Amistad transcend national borders?
- How does ‘place’ play a significant role in historical events?
Connecticut Social Studies Standards Alignment:
4-3. Regional Interdependence (Grade 4):
4.Civ.14.a. Illustrate historical and contemporary examples of individuals and groups effecting change in a region (e.g., civil rights, clean air policy, conservation, determination of National Park status, healthcare access, water and land rights).
5-2. The Colonial Era (Grade 5):
5.His.14.d. Explain Connecticut’s connection to the transatlantic slave trade (e.g., New London’s deep water ports, Wethersfield-constructed ship The Tryall).
7-2. Governance and Human Rights (Grade 7):
7.Civ.1.a. Identify the powers and responsibilities of individuals, groups, and media in addressing human rights issues in both governmental and nongovernmental contexts (e.g., Declaration of Human Rights, International Refugee Assistance, United States Border Security, United Nations).
8-2. Expansion, Influence, and Economic Growth (Grade 8):
8.His.1.c. Analyze the events and developments related to the institution of slavery in the early republic (e.g., Haitian Revolution, Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves, cotton gin, textile industry).
8.His.3.a. Develop questions to analyze the significance of the methods of resistance employed by enslaved and free Black people in the United States (e.g., work resistance, violence, sabotage, petition, forming maroon communities, independent churches, and educational associations).
Modern World History:
MW-6. Economic Globalization and Global Governance
MW.His.3.a. Develop questions about strategies used to promote and extend human rights and their significance in both historical and contemporary global contexts (e.g., litigation, lobbying, protests, social media, economic sanctions, diplomacy).
United States History:
Perspectives:
United States History:
US-1. Reconstruction
US.His.16.a. Analyze the political, economic, and social agency demonstrated by Black Americans throughout the period of Reconstruction using evidence from multiple relevant historical sources (e.g., Black Republicans, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Edisto Island).
Process, Rules and Laws:
CIV 9–12.5 Analyze how societies institute change in ways that both promote and hinder the common good and that protect and violate citizens’ rights.
Geographic Representations: Spatial Views of the World
GEO 9–12.1 Use maps and other geographic representations to analyze the relationships between the locations of places and their political, cultural, and economic history.
Black/African American, Latino/Puerto Rican Studies:
3.2 The Militant Period (1830 to 1840)
HIST 9–12.3 Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.
HIST 9–12.12 Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.
Civics and Government:
CG-2. Structure & Function of Government
CG.Civ.5.a. Evaluate the relationship between law-making, enforcement, and interpretation in balancing the rights of the individual with the well being of society (e.g., Bill of Rights, Supreme Court cases).
CG.Civ.13.a. Evaluate how a regulation or law can create or eliminate systemic inequalities involving race, gender and sexuality, ability, socio-economic status, belief systems, or access to resources.