What Is Social History?

Sunday School children, 9/1930.

Women with skis, ca. 1950.

Teaching the Lesson

Introduction

Begin by asking students to consider the guiding question, "Can we make connections between our personal lives and the world around us?"

Procedure

• Class Brainstorm Ask students to refer to the James Becker Story Excerpt . What historic event had an impact on his life, and how? As a class create a Venn diagram to illustrate the connection between his personal life and world events. Refer to the attached James Becker Sample Venn Diagram
  
  
• Paired Practice Next, ask students to work in pairs to create Venn diagrams that relate to their own lives. Ask students to volunteer a few additional examples.

Check for understanding: Students will identify areas where a life moment has connections beyond personal and familial bounds.

• What is Social History? Ask students to think about the Venn diagram activity, and how our daily actions reflect bigger issues in our world. Discuss the term 'social history':
  "History happens in government buildings and newsrooms, but it also happens in the way that all people act and react to the events in their lives. 'Social History' is about people like you and me. Based on the flow chart activity and our class discussion, can we work together to come up with a good definition of 'social history?'"
  
  Write responses on the board. The final definition should read something like this: "Social history examines the lives of everyday people -their experiences and beliefs- and can help us to gain insight into big historic events."
  
  
• Ask students to think back to the James Becker story. Remind them that he is discussing a moment in history called "World War II," when a variety of factors combined to involve most Americans in a concerted effort to fight the war.
  
  As a class, discuss the pros and cons of using a historic narrative like this to learn about an era. What can we learn from historic narrative? How accurate is it? How can we develop our understanding of an era through historic narratives, and what additional information is needed to place it in context?

Check for understanding: A historic narrative like James Becker's story can offer personal insight that helps to illuminate a historic moment beyond the facts and dates of textbook history. Social history uses many historic narratives and oral histories to give a descriptive overview of how a population was affected by history. Narratives are the building blocks of social history, but all historic narratives, oral histories and social history are enriched by context, or knowledge of the bigger historic events that shaped individuals' experiences.

• Tell students, during upcoming lessons, we will be collecting oral histories, to create a social history of our community during World War II.

Evaluation

Collect students' pair Venn Diagrams and check that they have been completed.

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