Primary Sources

Primary sources can make valuable learning tools for students. They will be examined here using examples related to Rosenwald Schools.

• Reading Primary Sources
• Conducting and Analyzing Oral Histories
• Reading Buildings and Landscapes
• Related Links
  

Reading Primary Sources

What Is a Primary Source?
A primary source is an account created by someone who participated in or witnessed an event. Primary sources can include diaries, letters, speeches, drawings, photographs, cartoons, newspapers, yearbooks, posters, signs, and memoirs. 

Why Are Primary Sources Important?
Primary sources reveal personal information rarely contained in books and articles of the time. They offer students a direct link to the lives of people in the past. According to the National Archives and Records Administration, students encounter important historical concepts and develop valuable analytical skills by using primary sources. 

Students sometimes see history as a series of facts, dates, and events, usually packaged as a textbook. As they use primary sources, they begin to view textbooks as historical interpretations. They realize that any account of an event, no matter how impartial the presentation, is essentially subjective.
 

Handbills announcing public gatherings are examples of primary documents. Copies of this handbill would have been placed in numerous public areas to attract attendees (and hopefully contributors) to the rally.

Click here for a checklist for analyzing primary sources.

Photographs as Primary Sources
Like other kinds of documentary artwork, photographs tell us much about the past. Beyond showing what something or someone looked like, they reveal the values of the photographer, the subject, and even the community.

For example, formal family portraits often reflected the ideals or tastes of the time. Examine a family portrait. Is the setting plain or fancy? Does the backdrop have an exotic scene painted on it? What props are used? What kind of clothing are the subjects wearing?

The angle of a photograph gives clues to what the photographer or subject wanted to convey. Buildings or people were often photographed from below rather than straight on. This view transmitted the subconscious message that the subjects were important. Conversely, subjects could be photographed from above to emphasize their insignificance.

What photographers did and didn’t photograph also tells us something about a community. For example, the opening of a Rosenwald school was a celebrated local event. A town or county had worked hard to raise money, construct the building, hire teachers, and purchase supplies. As a result, local photographers or the state Department of Negro Education often photographed Rosenwald schools. Other African American schools, particularly those in poor condition, were never photographed.

We can use photographs to examine the construction, architecture, and decoration of buildings at certain moments in their histories. 

Photographers faced certain ethical questions. Is it acceptable to stage a photograph and present it as an authentic scene? Is it appropriate to ask a subject to dress in a manner that conveys a message even when that message is not accurate? When documenting a battle scene, should one help a person in distress or photograph the scene and move on? The choices a photographer made reflected the values and ethics of the individual or community. 

Click Here for Analyzing Photographs Student Worksheet.
Click Here for Photograph Sheet.

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What Are Political Cartoons?
Open the main section of a daily newspaper and turn to the editorial page. You will probably find a political cartoon there. Political cartoons use exaggerated images, symbols, and words to represent particular views through humor. 

Political cartoons have been a part of American journalism since 1754, when Benjamin Franklin created a cartoon urging the colonies to join together in their common defense. Needing a symbol that would evoke a broad response, he drew a snake divided into eight parts and labeled each part of the snake as a separate colony. He added the words “Join or Die” to make his point that the colonies should unite against the French and their Indian allies. The snake became a symbol that was later used to raise support in the colonies during the time of the Stamp Act and again before the Declaration of Independence was written.

More than one hundred years passed before political cartoons appeared widely in newspapers. Because early newspapers were printed using woodblocks and engraving, drawings were hard to reproduce and were not used frequently. When technology improved in the 1880s and drawings could be printed more easily, cartoons began appearing regularly in daily newspapers. Over the years political cartoons have played an important part in journalism. Jeff MacNelly, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, won three Pulitzer Prizes for his political cartoons.

Some of our national symbols began as figures in political cartoons. Uncle Sam has changed since he first appeared in the 1800s, but he still represents the United States. The elephant was first used to represent the Republican Party in an 1874 cartoon. The Statue of Liberty has symbolized American values since 1889. The imagery of cartoons changes but always includes elements that readers recognize. Caricatures—exaggerated representations of famous people—are frequently used. Today’s cartoons often include images from television, movies, and advertisements.

The Raleigh News and Observer ran this political cartoon depicting Julius Rosenwald on April 4, 1928.

Political cartoons remain popular today, but fewer full-time cartoonists work for daily newspapers. According to one North Carolina political cartoonist, the odds of making it into the National Basketball Association are better! Becoming a political cartoonist involves more than being able to draw. Dwane Powell, award-winning political cartoonist for the Raleigh News and Observer, points out that a cartoonist must read a lot and develop a social conscience so that he or she can form and express opinions about current events. John Cole of the Durham Herald-Sun says that drawing skill is secondary. He advises aspiring cartoonists to read and pay attention to the news because the most important part of drawing a political cartoon is understanding and developing ideas.

Examine the political cartoons in your local newspaper to see what opinions are being expressed about current events and issues. Do you agree with these opinions, or do you have other ideas?

Click here for a worksheet on analyzing editorial cartoons.

Using Artifacts as Primary Documents
Since the mid-1960s, historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists have slowly changed the field of history from the “great men, great deeds” approach to one that focuses on the everyday lives of all Americans. As part of this change, researchers now consider historical artifacts, landscapes, clothing, and buildings as relevant sources of historical information. There are many reasons for introducing students to the study of material objects as well as documents. Because analyzing objects is self-generated discovery, students develop confidence in observing, analyzing and drawing conclusions while learning about history. The many significant aspects of objects can also stimulate active classroom discussion and debate.

Students in the Brown Summit Elementary School in Guilford County, a Rosenwald school, used these child-sized wooden barbells in gym class. These artifacts, made in 1930, are in the N.C. Museum of History's collection.

Objects can be more honest than written or oral sources. Objects can provide reliable clues as to how they were created, who created them, and why they were/are important. For example, historians once believed that slaves in American had relatively few possessions, and what they did have were merely castoffs from owners and overseers. Analyses of slave quarters by archaeologists, however, reveal that slaves purchased some things for themselves, recycled castoffs from owners, and made household objects from available materials. Handmade objects sometimes reflected African design motifs. These findings helped change the role of slaves as consumers from passive to active.

Studying objects provides valuable information about how things were made. In many old homes, wood beams, window styles, and nail types give clues about the kinds of tools used to build structures. Ceramics often have special marks from the kiln or from an artisan’s tools. This information is important in learning about technology, individual skills, and the values of a particular culture.

Objects can teach us about the “forgotten” people in history. For a long time historians used mainly written records (diaries, inventories, journals) to learn about the past. People who existed before written records were virtually left out of history. Also, the majority of Americans could not or did not write down their experiences. Slaves, new immigrants, women, and the poor were some of these people. Although they did not leave behind many written records, they did leave physical evidence of how they lived, what they did, and who they were. Archaeologists, prehistorians, historians, and natural historians often work together now to learn more about how these people lived based on the objects they made and used.

Learning about history through artifacts stimulates the visual and tactile senses. When students touch history and see the visual evidence of human existence, history takes on new importance. Using material culture in the classroom also helps students define their own cultural identity as well as their place in history.

Click here for a worksheet on analyzing artifacts.

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Conducting and Analyzing Oral Histories

What Is Oral History?
Oral history—spoken recollections of past experiences—refers to recorded interviews with individuals that preserve historically significant memories.

Why Are Oral Histories Important?
Participation in oral history projects affords students the opportunity to become actively involved in critical analysis and documentation of the historical record. Through the medium of oral history, students are encouraged to step beyond passive reading and memorization of information—to make connections between history's “big pictures” and the personal experience and memory of historical events at the family, local, regional, national, and international levels. Furthermore, this process provides the context for students to make intellectual, emotional, and personal connections between significant historical events and decisions made by seemingly ordinary people. Finally, oral history, at its core is the act of preserving history and memory, culture and beliefs, at the family, local, regional, national, and global level.

Click here for tips for conducting an oral history project.

Analyzing Oral Histories
If you asked three people to describe an event they had participated in together, you would most likely get three stories that, while similar, varied in the details. Similarly, oral histories are firsthand descriptions of past events. In conducting an oral history project, it is important for students to recognize that they should respect an individual’s experience and recollections but that they should also do additional research to confirm the information provided (this is equally true when doing family histories). Here are several ways to verify facts in oral history interviews:

1. Check information against birth, death, and marriage records.
2. Interview (separately) several people associated with the event, if possible. Compare the results: What information was consistent among the interviews? What information differed? 
3. Use photographs, census records, diary entries, or other sources to confirm information.

Excerpt #1
Dorothy Washington, former Rosenwald school teacher
Robeson County

Q: Can you tell us what the school building interior and exterior or Marietta looked like?

A: I recall it was a wooden, white building and I can’t recall if it had three rooms on each side or four rooms on each side. At the entrance was a small room that was used as I said, like a kitchenette. A large auditorium was divided into two parts for classes. At Marietta [there was] a wood burning stove and a pipe that reached on either side of the division of the two parts of the auditorium. And I recall it would sometimes fall down (laughs).

Excerpt #2
Samuel McDonald, Jr., former Rosenwald school student
Robeson County in the 1940s

Q: How was the building heated?

A: With a potbelly wood heater. You could burn coals in it or wood. And most times we would get there in the morning, it would be so cold. The teacher would send us out in the woods with a burlap bag to find some wood. That’s when the coals were out. We’d come back and our hands would be so cold and we would stick them in water like this. A pail of water on top of it. Our hands would start aching, sure ‘nuff. We start crying. I can remember that just as well as anything.

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Reading Buildings and Landscapes

Why Read Buildings and Landscapes?
In addition to artifacts, primary documents, and oral histories, buildings and landscapes reveal important aspects of our past. How a building was constructed, where it was placed on the land, how it relates to other structures around it, and how the land was used over time can provide valuable information not found in documents. This information can include what local building materials were available, what technology the builder used, and how the individuals or community valued the building and its relationship to the community.

In discovering and analyzing Rosenwald schools, reading the architecture and site plan will help as much as reading documents. Although the schools had their own architecture, they also had many consistent features that can help you identify them.

Reading Buildings and Landscapes
In reading historic buildings and landscapes, it is helpful to have period maps, architectural drawings, and site plans. These may be found in your county archives and the North Carolina State Archives or through the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. In addition, photographs can help you understand how buildings or sites changed over time.

The cars in this photograph of a Rosenwald training building in Brunswick County, one of two in the county, help date the image. 

The Teaching with Historic Places program of the National Register of Historic Places offers the following tips for analyzing a building or landscape.

1. Look at the entire site. What do you see? What is your general description of the place and its setting?
2. Check the details. Look closely and identify specific features such as size, shape, design, spatial arrangement, location, setting, and other characteristics.
3. Form your impressions. What do your observations suggest about the place’s purpose, function, and evolution?
4. Examine your evidence. Look at your conclusions for Question 3. How do you know this? What clues did the place itself contribute? How influential were previous knowledge or preconceptions?
5. Get the Big Picture. What do you think the place suggests about people, events, or ways of life from the past?
6. Formulate additional questions. What questions did the physical evidence raise for you? What information is missing? What else would you like to know? What types of evidence might answer those questions and test your hypothesis? Where would you find that information?

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Related Links

African American Odyssey
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/aohome.html
A Library of Congress site that offers primary sources important to African American history.

AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/
Links to many important digitized American documents, from 1492 to 1917.

American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library 
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html
Over 7 million digital primary sources from the Library of Congress. 

Documenting the American South 
http://docsouth.unc.edu/
A digitized collection of sources on Southern history, literature, and culture from the colonial
period through WWI from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Lesson Framework
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/fw.html
Information on using primary sources in lesson plans.

Primary Sources and Activities
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/teaching_with_documents.html
A site from the National Archives and Records Administration that provides primary documents and teaching activities for major events in United States history.

Primary vs. Secondary Sources
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/infosrv/lue/primary.html
A comparison of primary and secondary sources.

Repositories of Primary Sources
http://www.ushda.org/
A list of over 3,400 Web sites describing primary sources that can be found in libraries, universities, historical societies, and museums worldwide.

Smithsonian: History and Culture 
http://www.si.edu/history_and_culture/
Online exhibits from the Smithsonian Institution tell history through artifacts. 

Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan: Documents Related to Brown v. Board of Education
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brown-v-board/
Background information, online primary documents, and teaching ideas on Brown v. Board from the National Archives.

Using Primary Sources in the Classroom
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/primary.html
An explanation of the types of primary sources.

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