Theme and Objective

Theme:

Exploring Human Rights in America. In the twenty first century, the universal right of the individual is a generally accepted premise, but this has not always been the case. As history informs us, the definition of "human rights" has not always held the same currency and therefore, historically, not all individuals have been treated with equal concern. The current conception of "human rights" did not come into its common notion until the twentieth century. Primary Source Seminar emphasizes the changing conceptions of human rights as revealed through historical documents. We encourage an open discussion of human rights by exploring some of the definitions societies have proposed, and we discuss the types of world events, legal-ethical codes, political systems, and cultural conventions that affect those definitions. For our Primary Source Seminar, we have intentionally chosen documents from our collection to springboard our discussion of human rights. These documents pertain to three groups historically on the margins in terms of access to human rights in America: Native Americans, African Americans, and Women.


Objective:

Primary Source Seminar is designed to give advanced placement students and teachers the unique perspective of working with authentic, unedited eighteenth- and nineteenth-century manuscripts from our own Lloyd W. Smith Archival Collection. As primary document analysis is an important component of the AP U.S. History curriculum, we are in the unique position to offer teachers a vitally useful resource. We guide students through source use and analysis activities that promote effective and meaningful primary source investigation and develop historical thinking skills. Though we choose to focus on manuscripts pertaining to Native American, African American, and Women's issues, we do not claim to be experts on these topics. Our seminar focuses primarily on modes of document analysis. The purpose of our endeavor is not to act as historical authorities or to seek definitive answers, but rather to inspire productive observation and inquiry generated through document analysis.


Enriching for Everyone:
The concepts taught in this unit benefit all budding historians (even if the documents themselves don't pertain to your current thematic unit).

Though the documents we have selected for the seminar certainly pertain to specific events and lives, we believe the document analysis skills acquired and the human rights conversation had during the Primary Source Seminar are valuable to every student of history, no matter the current unit of study. Our focus is on the PROCESSES of document analysis and analytical thinking. We use primary documents to practice these PROCESSES.


Primary Source Seminar Information Packet (pdf)

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