PRIMARY SOURCES: WORKSHOPS IN AMERICAN HISTORY (YEAR THREE)

Workshop 6. The Census: Who We Think We Are
with Evelynn Hammonds, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Every 10 years, American citizens get a new view of who they are. In this workshop, a selection of Census forms over the past 200 years shows how categories of race and ethnicity not only reflect, but can shape and sometimes obscure, America's ideas of racial identity. Onscreen participants attempt to "find" themselves in evolving racial categorizations from 1830 to 1990 and, using recent Census results, formulate appropriation priorities for a Midwestern community.

Coordinated with A Biography of America program 19: A Vital Progressivism.

Workshop 7. Disease and History: Typhoid Mary and the Search for Perfect Control
with Evelynn Hammonds, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This workshop looks at the history of infectious disease in America - particularly typhoid, diphtheria, and polio - and their "conquest" by medical research and public health regulation. With the aid of contemporary medical journal articles and New York City health records, the onscreen participants investigate the medical and civil liberties issues exemplified by the case of "Typhoid Mary" Mallon. Facing off as either Board of Health officials or friends of Mary Mallon, workshop participants debate the typhoid carrier's fate.

Coordinated with A Biography of America program 15: The New City.

Workshop 8. Korea and the Cold War: A Case Study
with Jonathan Chu, University of Massachusetts Boston

This workshop looks at the first use of military force under the Truman Doctrine, and the Korean War as the first practical manifestation of America's Cold War "containment" policy. Using works by George Kennan and Walter Lippman, treaties, and the texts of the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine, the onscreen participants take on the roles of major military, political, and strategic players at a mock Senate hearing to decide whether to intervene in Korea in 1950.