Interpreting Oral Histories

Relevant Standards: This lesson meets Michigan Content and Benchmark Standards for Social Studies: I:1-4: Time and Chronology, Comprehending / analyzing / judging the past

Depending on the narratives chosen, other standards may also be met (i.e. IV: Economic Perspective, V: Inquiry)

This lesson is designed to engage students in interpreting oral histories, and use these to construct larger narratives of the past.

Objective: Students will read oral histories from people involved in the Southwest Michigan Fruit Belt.  They will connect these narratives to events occurring in the national timeline, interpret the events of the past in a critical way, and think about the consequences of past events.

Activity:

1. Students should choose 3-5 oral history excerpts from the Fort Miami Heritage Society Oral History Archive. 

2. Have students read the excerpts, thinking about issues like technology, economics, labor, and national/world events.  Students should complete Worksheet 4: Interpreting Oral Histories.

3. Using the answers from their worksheet and the information found in the oral histories, have students compose a 1-2 page essay about the fruit belt.  These may be framed in one of the following ways:

• A journalist’s report for a newspaper on some aspect of the fruit industry (its decline, conditions in the past, its personal connection to local communities, etc.)

• A creative essay about a fictional character’s experience in the fruit industry

• A letter from a laborer to a relative describing conditions in the fruit industry

• A diary entry, or memoir of a person’s experience in the fruit industry

• Any other expository essay that engages students in relating local history to events in the national timeline