L1: What is History?

Which of the following is an example of an artifact that a historian might use to reconstruct a Civil War battle?

• A modern song written about the battle

• An interview with the grandson of one of the soldiers

• A modern map of the battlefield site

• An unexploded shell found on the battlefield

What is one difference between primary and secondary sources?

• Secondary sources usually reflect signs of bias; primary sources do not.

• Secondary sources are usually written documents; primary sources are not.

• Primary sources are usually eyewitness accounts; secondary sources are not.

• Primary sources usually include historical interpretation; secondary sources do not.

What is historical interpretation?

• The act of locating the creator of a historical source

• The process of assigning meaning to historical events

• The process of categorizing historical sources by name

• The process of visiting a historical site

Read the quotations from two historians below. Why is it possible for both of these historical interpretations to be correct?

“As a master mariner and navigator, Columbus was supreme in his generation.” —Samuel Eliot Morison, Christopher Columbus; Mariner, 1955

“Columbus would never have made it to Asia . . . He would have been doomed by the great expanse of sea. But he was lucky.” —Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States, 2005

• They both discuss how Columbus changed history.

• They both focus on the great skills Columbus had as a ship's captain.

• They are using different primary sources for their interpretations.

• They have chosen to emphasize different facts in their interpretations.

Read the quotation below from a noted historian. Which of the following reasons to study history is referred to in the quotation?

“History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity.”

—Robert Penn Warren, "The Legacy of the Civil War," 1961

• History is an interesting story.

• History helps us become better thinkers.

• History makes us better informed about public issues.

• History helps us develop empathy for people everywhere.

After historians collect evidence, their next step is to

• construct a chronicle, or a simple listing, of what happened year by year.

• ask a question they hope to answer based on the evidence they collected.

• carefully examine each source of evidence for the creator’s point of view, perspective, or outlook on events.

• accept all of their primary sources of evidence as fact.

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King gave his “I have a dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. What historical connection do you think Dr. King was attempting to underscore by giving his speech at the Lincoln Memorial?

• the connection between the oppression of Jews in Eastern Europe and the civil rights movement

• the connection between the civil rights movement and President Abraham Lincoln’s efforts to end slavery

• the connection between Mahatma Gandhi’s Indian independence movement and the civil rights movement

• the connection between the civil rights movement and César Chávez’s movement to unionize migrant farm workers

When studying a historical event, what is the first step in a historian’s process?

• coming up with question he or she hopes to answer or the problem he or she wishes to solve

• collecting evidence pertaining to the historical subject he or she is studying

• a reconstruction and interpretation of the past

• a hypothesis that can either be proved or disproved

Why do historians establish a chronology, or sequence of events in time?

• They can identify causes and effects among different events by looking at when they happened.

• When historians are certain of the correct order of events, they are better able to make connections among them.

• They can begin to look for long-range changes and trends that may have developed over many years or even decades.

• all of the above

Which of the following is the more challenging part of a historian’s task?

• to establish a chronology, or a sequence of events in time

• to interpret the past—to produce a story that helps readers draw meaning from history

• to collect all the evidence pertaining to a specific historical event

• to differentiate between primary sources and secondary sources