The GIS activities add three important dimensions to the study of each topic:

• Students are able to put the events involved firmly in place as well as time.

• They are able to bring large amounts of place related data to their studies that tend to have little meaning outside a geographic framework and that provide an entirely new avenue for understanding.

• GIS investigations are fun. The software involved is an elaborate tool that with a limited amount of initial guidance puts students in charge of meaningful historical investigation.

Units -

The Cherokee Removal		Materials focus on the Cherokee removal from the southeastern United States in the 1830s. They provide background on Cherokee culture, the national debate over Indian removal, and accounts of the Trial of Tears itself.
Yosemite		The "national park" idea was born in 1864 when the U.S. Congress granted Yosemite Valley to the state of California to "be held for public use, resort, and recreation; ... inalienable for all time." The materials included here provide an insight into the impressions held by the first visitors to the park, early business people, and by those who fought to preserve the place.
The Great Migration		The movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North in the first three decades of the 20th century is one of the most significant mass migrations in the nation's history. The materials include primary and secondary sources as well as detailed demographic data.
The Dust Bowl		The traditional story of the Dust Bowl focuses on the agricultural practices of settlers in a foreign environment. Recent accounts look more closely at climate as the most significant factor in this story. Students will get a chance to explore the issue from both points of view.
Japanese American Internment		The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II represents the degree to which racial and cultural intolerance can be carried when mixed with the fear and hysteria of war. The history of the event represented in the documents and activities here is at once a story of immigration, significant constitutional issues, racial discrimination, and the lengthy amalgamation of cultures.

Source Materials -

GIS Activities -

	GIS assignments are an integrated part of the materials in this collection. Students will need access to My World GIS, a software package designed for middle and secondary student use. A trial version is available for 45 day trial. There are introductions to each GIS activity that include detailed examples of using the software in ways that will help students complete the related assignments on their own or with a partner's help. In a classroom setting I would recommend using a PC viewer to project for the whole class as you talk through specific software procedures and, more importantly, preview the types of analysis in which students will be involved.

You must download the My World files for each unit:

Contact -

Your comments and suggestion about these materials are more than welcome.

If you have ideas for additional topics that would lend themselves to the approach taken here, please pass them along. I'd enjoy collaborating with you.