Beyond the Historical Narrative: History 11 Students Step into the Dilemmas of 1776

Imagine for a moment that you are living in the year 1776, forced to choose between loyalty to the king of England, rebellion against the crown for this abstract idea of liberty, or simply trying to survive as a neutral party in the crossfire of revolution. This is the dilemma that History 11 students recently experienced during their unit on the American Revolution. History isn’t black and white, and sometimes digging past standard textbook narratives and into those gray areas of perspective and human motivation can spark thoughtful, intentional learning. 

During a recent activity focused on perspective, students in Jaclyn, Aaron, and Scott’s classes explored how a decision looked different depending on who you were: a white colonist, a free or enslaved Black person, or an Indigenous leader. With the understanding that not all of these perspectives were afforded the same value at the time, students observed a variety of opinions that people living in British-controlled North America had about the prospect of independence and the opportunities and risks it carried. 

The assignment, an adaptation of a project from Brown University, challenges students to analyze authentic 18th-century quotes and then apply those perspectives to fictional bystanders living in this time period who were “undecided” on their own potential actions in the historical moment, such as an enslaved person who was promised freedom by the King. “Our assignment aims to take the best of the original project’s content and infuse it with the critical thinking skills that we desire to focus on,” Aaron shared. 

Navigating the rhetoric of 18th-century Americans can be a challenge for students; however, Jaclyn, Aaron, and Scott pushed students not to shy away from that discomfort. “We encourage our students to lean into the difficulty and to make use of the many resources they have at their disposal—context from other sources, their peers, and a dictionary [to clarify and dissect meaning],” Aaron said.

“The level of reasoning they provided for their choices shows that they enjoy digging into the ‘gray areas’ of perspective and human motivation,” Jaclyn notes. “It can be difficult for students to humanize historical figures from centuries ago, but they appreciate the opportunity to think about them in terms of real decision-making. The discussion turned inward to consider what their own primary motivations would be when faced with a life-altering moment in history.”