ASSIGNMENT – Colonial Williamsburg
Teaching American History
This exercise is designed to engage you while you tour Williamsburg, but it also offers an
example of how your own students can be challenged to explore a site and learn how to
interview people. The results also will help us shape our view of Tidewater society. The number
of questions will vary with the number of participants.
Historic interpretations and “recreations” such as Colonial Williamsburg offer us the
opportunity to think about how life was different in past times. Re-enactors and interpreters take
on roles, trying to immerse themselves in old ways of doing things, older habits, and older ways
of thinking. The contrast between these past lifeways and our own sometimes can be striking.
This assignment is both an individual and a group assignment. Below is a list of nine
issues that each of you should think about while touring Williamsburg. Your assignment is twofold. First, each of you will be a member of a two-person team – your team will be given one of
these nine issues which you must explore together. Tomorrow, you will present your findings on
your questions. During this session, other members of the group are expected to contribute their
own insights, observations and viewpoints. So although your team has primary responsibility for
one of the questions, the second part of the assignment is to contribute to discussion on the other
eight issues. In other words, DO NOT concentrate solely on your own question, to the exclusion
of the others.
Think about these issues/questions through a combination of observation and questioning
of interpreters in the Historic Area, as well as other site staff and visitors. You also can draw on
lectures or reading materials, as well as what you’ve seen elsewhere in this program. Keep notes
and then outline your answers to these questions for a later group discussion. The observation
process should begin as we start our tours, but you will have a dedicated period tomorrow
afternoon to more fully explore your issue. We’ll draw slips to determine who gets which
question.
1.
Messages about History: Based on the Historic Area, the Visitors Center and the various
materials you’ve seen, what are the primary messages that the Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation intends to portray? How do they do this? What is the relevance – in your
opinion – of these messages and how successful are they? Are intended messages
conveyed? Are potential messages ignored?
2.
Freedom & Slavery, Scales of Power: Colonial Williamsburg had two different
populations – free and enslaved. How did life differ for these two populations, and how
did they affect each other? What mechanisms were used to keep each population in its
place? Another segment of the population was indentured servants – how did this form of
bound labor compare with slavery? Although we’ve done away with slavery, are there any
ways in which these kinds of differences (not just between white and black, but between
other segments of the population in the region) still exist and are maintained today?
3.
Politics & Law: Colonial Williamsburg places great emphasis upon politics and legal
relationships in its interpretations/displays. Drawing on materials at the Capitol, the
Governor’s Palace and elsewhere, what was the nature, structure, and power balance of
colonial politics and law-making? What are some of the ways in which this differs from
that of today? (Think not just about structure, but about issues such as scale, the role of
community, the role of the church, access to power, etc.)
4.
Trades, Crafts – Social & Environmental Impact: Various crafts and trades are on
display in the Historic Area of Williamsburg. Many of these trades use various materials
to create or transform objects. Thinking about and observing both the process of “making
things” and the origin of the materials used, what is the impact of these trades on society
and the environment, either here or elsewhere in the region? Which of the trades do you
think had the greatest impacts on society and the environment, and what would those
impacts be? How do these impacts compare with those of some of the trades/crafts that
are practiced in our region today?
5.
Art & Ideology: Art, including painting and many other forms of material culture (such
as architecture, furniture, pottery, and more) often reflects the world view and ideology of
a people. Looking at these elements in 18th C. Virginia, what kinds of insights can you
glean about the people who lived in Williamsburg? In particular, how did they view
nature, the world around them, and their place in that world? Give some concrete
examples from the Historic Area or our other travels.
6.
Music & Ideology: Music can take many forms, and it can offer powerful insights into
how people think. You have heard a variety of music on your visit to Williamsburg –
what kinds have you heard? What kinds of insights can you glean about the people who
lived in Williamsburg, based on what you have heard? In particular, how might the music
you hear reflect their views of nature, the world around them, and their place in that
world? Give some concrete examples from the Historic Area or our other travels.
7.
Foodways & Culture: Foods and the way people prepare and eat them (“foodways”)
vary dramatically across time and culture. Foodways often reflect the environment in
which a people live, as well as their technoeconomic system. Characterize the foodways
on display in Williamsburg, and explore how they differ among different parts of the
population. What do they tell us about the economy of this region? How do foodways
reflect colonial Virginians’ views of nature, the world around them, and their place in that
world? Give some concrete examples from the Historic Area or our other travels.
Other questions to think about:
Fences, People & Landscape: Explore Williamsburg’s fences – where are they, what are they
made of, what do they do – and why? What do they tell us about the relationship of people with
their landscape? How did these concepts change over time during the colonial period, and how
do they differ from attitudes of today? (You can also find various laws written concerning fences
in colonial Virginia.)
Weather: To what extent were people of the 18th C. dependent upon or impacted by the weather
in ways that are different from today? Think not just about town people, but also about farmers
and sailors. What aspects of this relationship have you observed in Williamsburg and other sites
we’ve visited? How and to what extent would such factors shape the way you think (or even
care) about weather and – in a larger sense - nature? Contrast this with today and discuss any
implications this may have for human-environmental interactions.