PRIMARY SOURCES: WORKSHOPS IN AMERICAN HISTORY (YEAR ONE)

Workshop 1. The Virginia Company: America's Corporate Beginnings
with Pauline Maier, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

How can primary sources illuminate historical events? This workshop tells the story of Jamestown, a less-than-successful example of America's capitalist beginnings and a colony as a business operation. Drawing on contemporary accounts, workshop participants assume the roles of colonists and shareholders to argue the future of the Virginia Company's settlement at Jamestown.

Coordinated with A Biography of America program 2: English Settlement.

Workshop 2. Common Sense and the American Revolution: The Power of the Printed Word
with Pauline Maier, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This workshop explores the power and importance of America's first "best-seller." Using the language of ordinary people, Thomas Paine's Common Sense called for revolution, challenging many assumptions about government and the colonies' relationship with England. This workshop contrasts the declarations of local communities with Common Sense to see how support for American independence rose up in the colonies.

Coordinated with A Biography of America program 4: The Coming of Independence.

Workshop 3. The Lowell System: Women in a New Industrial Society
with Louis Masur, City College of New York
In the earliest days of American industry, the Boston Manufacturing Company created an innovative, single-location manufacturing enterprise at Lowell that depended on the recruitment of female mill workers. This workshop debates the impact of this new form of employment on workers - for better or for worse. Participants investigate the workers' experiences first-hand - through diaries, letters, published accounts, and official mill postings.

Coordinated with A Biography of America program 7: The Rise of Capitalism.

Workshop 4. Concerning Emancipation: Who Freed the Slaves?
with Louis P. Masur, City College of New York
This workshop examines the role of the enslaved in bringing about the end of slavery in the United States. Through analysis of President Lincoln's attitudes and actions before and during the Civil War, and correspondence, speeches, legislative orders, newspaper articles, and letters written by African Americans - enslaved and free - workshop participants debate the influences prompting Emancipation.