Crossroads of Conflict: Contested Visions of Freedom & the Missouri-Kansas Border Wars
Crossroads of Conflict: Contested Visions of Freedom and the Missouri-Kansas Border Wars will explore the clash of cultures and differing definitions of liberty that played out on the Missouri-Kansas border in the decade before the firing on Fort Sumter and throughout the Civil War. Workshop presenters and participants will consider the forces and events that precipitated “Bleeding Kansas” and led to the abandonment of the understandings reached in the Missouri Compromise, the rejection of popular sovereignty in the Kansas Territory, and the establishment of the shadow “Free State” government. They will also examine the nature and intensity of the struggles between the Kansas Jayhawkers and Missouri Bushwhackers during the Civil War and the general mayhem these vicious disputes and guerrilla activities engendered. Perspectives of gender, race, class and ideology will be examined and analyzed.
This workshop will give K-12 teachers tools to devise fresh techniques for using historical settings, architecture, material culture, art and drama along with historical documents and records to enable students to engage the past and gain a better understanding of the forces that shaped and continue to influence national and local history. Observation of historic landmarks, geography, the built environment, art, artifacts, will be blended with new approaches to using primary sources and scholarly interpretation for effective classroom teaching that emphasizes student research and performance-based learning.
Summer 2008 Workshop Dates: July 13-18 and July 27-August 1
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