Introduction

Ridgway Borough in Pennsylvania was established in 1880.

What industries helped draw people to the area?

What was life like for the laborers? What was life like for school aged

children at this time? How was music changing in the United

States during this time period?

This local history project uses primary sources to show students what life was like in the United States in the 1880s.

Students will analyze photographs, maps, diagrams, and music.

Students will discover that music was used in different facets of life.

Students will perform music from the time period along with inferring how music may sound by looking at primary source pictures and posters.

After reading about the hardships of the labors and child labors and viewing a political poster, students will compose their own nursery rhyme using key words discovered through the use of a Venn diagram.

Students will also write and perform a rap and sing a song that was written about the same time that the town was established.

All of these activities promote critical thinking skills through the use of primary sources.

RIDGWAY, PENNSYLVANIA

Est. 1880

Logging Industry

Even Children Worked in Logging

River Route Ridgway to Pittsburgh

http://www.topoquest.com/map-detail.php?usgs_cell_id=37900

How is the River Used? http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/awal/2572s2.mpg

This video shows how logs move down a raging river. You will get a sense of how powerful the river can be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY8y1_ifXpE

Documentary on Early Frankfort Logging Industry - This primary source gives you a sense of what it was like to work in the logging industry at the turn of the century.

Railroad played a big part http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~26392~1100063:Railw

ay-map-of-the-state-of-Pennsyl?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=w4s:/what/State+Atlas/where/Pennsylvania/;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=7&trs=33

1872 railroad map of Pennsylvania. This primary source shows the route the lumber would take out of Ridgway on the railroads

What was life like in

Ridgway in 1880?

Ballads tell the story!

This folk music is a series of classic American song-stories flowing from the bedrock of the American experience. Through these captivating songs, a tale is told of America "once upon a time”.

Examine the liner notes from the album. The lyrics can show you what life was like in the late 1800's because folksongs and ballads tend to tell a story.

Labor Unions

Struggle for workers forming unions http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/social_history/13labor_leader.cfm

The Autobiography of a Labor Leader: James Williams Independent LIV (Nov. 6, 1902), 2634 38. This primary source shows students the struggles of the workers as they were forming the unions that would help instill their safety.

Railroad http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=8642&PageID=608722

&mode=2&contentid=http://pubcontent.state.pa.us/publishedcontent/publish/cop_environment/phmc/communities/extranet/history/ourdocumentaryheritage/1865___1945/railroad_riots_1877.html

document on railroad riots - pillaging for food

Child Labor Laws

The Five Cent Shave by Tom Cannon

Price of a Shave in Ridgway, Pennsylvania

In keeping with the theme of a shave costing $.05 in 1880, use the link to find the cost of a shave in 1980 and 2005. 

http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/

If current trends continue, what will a shave in Ridgway, Pa cost in 2030, 2055,and 2080? 

Complete the chart, and be sure to explain how you came up with your answer. 

Year Price

1880 .05

1905 .07

1930 .18

1955 .68

1980

2005

2030

2055

2080

Performance Opportunity

After viewing slides 3-14, with a partner write a nursery rhyme to the tune of “Are You Sleeping” that focuses on what life must have been like in Ridgway in 1880.

Description of Railroad Riots

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/social_history/13labor_leader.cfm

Anti-Trust Cartoon

Compose and Perform a Rap

*Use the NARA worksheet for both the document and cartoon examples on the previous 2 slides. Dig deeper and speculate about what life would have been like.

*After completing the worksheet individually, break into small groups and use a Venn diagram to come up with common descriptive words that could be used in a Rap.

*FINAL PROJECT = group performance of a 4 measure 16 beat rap that the group composed.

*Critical thinking skills will be used to find the key descriptive words that will be used in the rap. Not only do you need to describe what life would be like, but also use a specific rhythm pattern and rhyming words so that the rap flows and follows the correct form.

What else was happening when Ridgway was established?

1868 US Treasury Warrant in the amount of $7.2 Million for the purchase of Alaska

http://www.archives.gov/education/research/exhibit/alaska.html

What else was happening when Ridgway was established?

1878 Constitution of the Knights of Labor

....We have formed the Knights of Labor with a view of securing the organization and direction by cooperative effort, of the power of the industrial classes....

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/us26.cfm

What else was happening when Ridgway was established?

1880 Thomas Edison patented the incandescent light bulb.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/amer ican_originals_iv/sections/thomas_ediso n_patent.html

1881 Portrait of Thomas Edison

Edison marrying up sound to film

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/edison.htm

Video Biography of Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison Biography - In this video, learn about the life of the American inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/thomas-edison-biography/9c3051cffc4989caceb39c3051cffc4989caceb3-415586517858?q=edison+videos&FORM=VIRE3

This is Edison's first recording, which is also considered to be one of the first recordings ever made. Recorded a full ten years before Edison's gramophone, this German language cylinder documents the sounds of lambs, cows, cuckoos and other fauna.

http://www.historicalvoices.org/earliest_voices/edison.html

What else was happening when Ridgway was established?

1881 President Garfield dies

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gar.htm

How was music changing when Ridgway was established

Short music excerpts from the late 1800s along with photos from the time period http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=2972

America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=amss&fileName=as1/as112730/amsspage.db&r

ecNum=0

The beginnings of Ragtime Music

Ragtime

Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin

Around the same time that Ridgway was established as a borough a unique American art form developed, Ragtime.

Ragtime music with its use of syncopation and improvisation is a uniquely American art form.

Before listening to examples of Ragtime music, study the picture and poster using the SEA chart. Use this to predict what the music might sound like. Discuss some of the intrinsic qualities of Ragtime (syncopation, improvisation, etc). Here is a primary source listening example of a classic rag on the LOC web site http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200035813/default.html .

Activity

Students will study Scott Joplin and his contributions to Ragtime music. Students will use the KWL chart along with a Bibliography of Scott Joplin to finish off this lesson on American music of the late 1800s.

Conclusion

This project will be taught over 5 class periods. Day 1 slides 1-8

Industry, logging, rivers, railroad Day 2 slides 9-13

Life in 1880 Ballads tell the story Labor unions Child labor laws Sing “Five Cent Shave”

Day 3 slides 14-15 Measuring worth – Price the shave goes up due to inflation

Write a nursery rhyme

Conclusion Continued

Day 4 slides 16-25 Document and Cartoon

NARA & Venn Group rap What else is happening around 1880?

Day 5 slides 26-28 Scott Joplin Ragtime

During this local history project students will use primary sources to see what life was like in 1880. They will use critical thinking skills while singing, composing, analyzing, interpreting, inferring, and reading. Students will also use several graphic organizers to help in the analysis of primary sources in this local history project.