Background:  Students will have completed the study of American history 1754-1820 before they begin the OurStory project.  Learning experiences will have included activities from the Library of Congress.

American Memory:

• American Life Histories
• Map Collections, 1500-1999

Learning Page

• Citing Electronic Sources
• Copyright
• Historians’ Sources (identifying and analyzing primary sources)
• Collecting Primary Source Materials
• Web Page Evaluation worksheet
• Linking and Bookmarking in American Memory

 OurStory Activities

1. Students will visit the Dean Cemetery (Major Road, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey).  The Cemetery is hidden in a woods behind a field planted in hay.  Students will be able to walk to the Cemetery which is located about three-quarters mile from the Crossroads School.  The Cemetery contains 61 marked graves and 16 unmarked fieldstones.  The earliest marked stone is Aaron Dean Sr. d. February 27, 1798, aged 65 years and the latest is Aaron Dean, son of Thomas and Mary R. Dean, b. May 1, 1831, d. February 9, 1910.
   
   Students will take notes, sketch and photograph their observations.  Data will be organized and students will look for patterns of information and state hypothesis about the individuals buried in the Dean Cemetery.
   
   Discussion will focus on the Dean family and the unmarked fieldstones.  What happened between the lives of the first Aaron Dean and the last?  Students will work in groups to post their statements about the individuals buried in Dean’s Cemetery.
   
   Students will be asked to find one individual who lived during the approximate time 1754-1820.
   
   Abraham Dean, d. March 25, 1816, aged 63 (located next to the stone of Isabell Dean)
   
   Students will work in groups to develop questions about the cemetery and the lives of the individuals buried in Dean’s Cemetery.  For example,
• Why are there unmarked fieldstones in the cemetery?
• Why are the unmarked fieldstones placed in a line?
• What are the names of the individuals who have unmarked fieldstones over their graves?
• Why are some headstones larger than others?
• How did George and Ann McDowell cope with the deaths of their children?
• Daniel, August 26, 1862, Four months
• Cornelia, September 29, 1865, Nine years
• James Henry, October 10, 1865, 17 days
• Infant son, December 20, 1866
• Infant son, February 4, 1867
• What happened to the Dean family after 1910?
2. Students will be shown photographs of the Titus burial ground located in Kendall Park, New Jersey.  Presently, the grounds are owned by South Brunswick Township.  There are no grave markers.  There is no indication that the land is a burial ground.
   
   Students will be shown a photo of the tombstone of Thomas Titus as it lies in the attic of the township department of parks building.
   
   Thomas Titus, d. July 21, 1819, 65 years old
    
3. Students will break into teams to review American history 1754-1820 and create class timeline showing United States history, NJ History, and African American history.  

Resources:

Africans in America, PBS Video
The African American Experience in Monmouth County, 1700-1865
http://zorak.monmouth.edu/afam

OurStory resources:

A History of Afro-Americans in New Jersey, NJ Historical Commission
A Study of Slavery in New Jersey
Afro-Americans in New Jersey
Blacks in the Revolutionary Era

4. Two South Brunswick me live at approximately the same time.  
   
   Abraham Dean, 1753-1816
   Thomas Titus, 1754-1819
   
   Students will discuss how these two men can be brought to life in 2003.  Abraham Dean was a white man living in South Brunswick in the eastern part of the township.  Thomas Titus was a Blackman living in the western part of the township.
   
   Students will be placed in cooperative groups to research the times and men’s lives.  Students will use primary and secondary sources to bring Thomas Titus and Abraham Dean back to life.  Students will record and share information.
   

5. Students will visit Rockingham to view an 18th century working farm.  Rockingham was the home of George Washington in 1783.  He wrote and delivered his Farewell Address at Rockingham.  
    
6. “AUTOBIOGRAPHY”  Using researched information, students will write a 300-500 word essay as Thomas Titus or Abraham Dean.  Students will receive a list of topics and select one topic to write about in detail.  Model is enclosed.

Selected Topics:

Dunmore’s Proclamation
Runaway slave ad for Titus the slave owned by John Corlies
Washington’s troops encamped in South Brunswick on their journey to the Battle of Monmouth
Fugitive Slave Act
Battle of Princeton
The birth of Thomas Titus’ daughter Charlotte (recorded in the Birth of Black Children, Middlesex County)
Is Slavery a Sin?
Bill of Rights

7. Students will discuss what is important to know about the lives of ordinary people living in South Brunswick from 1754-1820.  How did the institution of slavery impact their lives and shape the community? How have your ideas of history changed?  Students will draw conclusions based on research and discussion.

8. Students will create a museum exhibit to detail the lives of Abraham Dean and Thomas Titus.  The exhibit will answer essential questions:
• What is history?
• Whose story is it?
• How are stories told?
• How do members of society define the common good?
• How do societies balance the rights of individuals and the common good?

To prepare for this exhibit, students will view and read:

American Memory
Arkansas Memory Project
Persistence of the Spirit: African American Experience in Arkansas

Sousa, Jean L.  Telling Stories in Art Images. Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1997.