On Monday April 26 we launched this year's oral history curriculum project. We have 5 amazing individuals who are telling their stories to the students. The focus of the story telling is African Americans' involvement in the maritime trades. The participants this year are:
Olive Fulton, a niece of North Pole Explorer Matthew Henson. She told here memories of Matthew Henson's life and adventures with Admiral Peary and her work with Dr. Allen Counter of Harvard University to honor Matthew with a monument in Arlington National Cemetery.
Kenneth Guscott, a leading minority business entrepreneur and community activist. Kenneth is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and was Chief Nuclear Test Engineer at General Dynamics/Quincy Shipyard. He inspired the students with his energy and stories about how to be successful by never underestimating your potential.
Chuck Shaw, a fifth generation Bostonian. He engaged the students in stories about his family and was great at pulling his family history together with Revolutionary War history. The students studied early U.S. History this year and his stories were an excellent way to reinforce their academic work and put it in a personal cultural context.
Jackie Cox-Crite, widow of the famous Boston artist Allan Rohan Crite. Allan was also a draftsperson and illustrator at the Charlestown Navy Yard. She brought some of his old drafting tools and illustrations. She offered a great connection for the students who have all been building boats at the Navy Yard this past winter. It was a great way to connect the Navy Yard and their studies of U.S. History while putting their boat building activity into a historical context.
Ted Walcott, a member of the Merchant Marine during WW II and Korea. Ted had some engaging stories to tell the students about his travels on cargo ships during time of war. The map on the wall in the photo has all his ports of call marked. He had a story for every one. His stories were another way to engage students in a clearer understanding of world geography and the history of WW II and Korea.
Thank you to all who participated to make this project a great success for the students. I was so inspired by all of you. A community of amazing folks sharing their life experience seems as valuable as any lesson you could offer from a history book.
Thanks again to all of you!!!!
I am looking forward to the final interviews on April 30. I will post some of the student reflections at a later date.
FUNDING UPDATE
Your tax deductible donation can be made on our web site
As we near the end of our fiscal year we still have a small budget gap. Your help to close that gap would be sincerely appreciated. Our funders, listed below, have been more than generous given the economic conditions and the fact that we are a new, small organization working outside the box. Your tax deductible donation can be made on our web site or mailed to our fiscal sponsor, Third Sector New England. Checks should be made out to BFB/TSNE and mailed to TSNE, 89 South Street, Boston, MA 02111.
You can also purchase one of the student built boats to help support our program. It will surely attract attention on your dock while giving you a great story to tell about your support for the kids that built it. See details below.
Boston Family Boat Building brings critical academic subjects and skills -- math, science, social studies, spatial thinking, reading and writing -- to life with experiential learning opportunities for school children. It is a unique program serving Boston Public Schools elementary school children that draws on the outstanding natural features of Boston and its rich history. Now in its third year, the program works with 4th and 5th graders to learn navigation skills in the Harbor, construct a seaworthy 10-foot wooden rowing vessel and learn about earlier Bostonians, particularly African Americans, who worked in the maritime trades. Check out all our programs to bring exciting experiential learning opportunities to students of the Boston Public Schools at
Boston Family Boat Building is supported by volunteers, individual donors and funding from The Jane B. Cook 1983 Charitable Trust, Lawrence and Lillian Solomon Fund,
Amelia Peabody Foundation, Cabot Family Charitable Trust and
George A Ramlose Foundation.
Development of Building 125 as a maritime education center is sponsored by
Atlantic Maritime Heritage Foundation and NPS
