Daily Workshop Schedule
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Introduction/Orientation
We will ask attendees to arrive in Thomasville by the early afternoon. The Courtyard Marriott, located at 207 S. Dawson Street, will serve as the headquarters lodging for attendees, and a negotiated room rate will be available. Attendees are free to book other lodging, although if they do not have an automobile, they will be encouraged to stay at the Marriott.
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4:30pm
Bus departs from Courtyard Marriott
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4:40pm
Arrival at Thomasville History Center
725 N. Dawson Street, Thomasville, Ga 31792
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4:45 - 5:00pm
Distribution of Welcome Bags
Donated by City of Thomasville
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5:00 - 6:00pm
Getting Acquainted
Welcome and Overview: Dr. Greg Mixon, Dr. G. Kurt Piehler, and Anne McCudden
We plan to offer a short orientation for all attendees and provide time for them to visit the Center and the historic buildings. To build collegiality among attendees, we will organize an informal barbecue dinner (using non NEH funds) in order for all attendees to get to know each other in a casual environment and to interact with the workshop directors and staff of the Thomasville History Center.
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6:00 - 7:30pm
Barbecue Dinner
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7:30pm
Bus Departs For Courtyard Marriott
Attendees will also be invited to walk back to the hotel. They will be led by Anne McCudden, who will discuss some of the architecture along the Dawson Street Historic District (optional and weather permitting).
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8:30pm
Workshop Concludes For the Day
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4:30pm
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9:00am
Bus departs from Courtyard Marriott
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9:10am
Arrival at Thomasville History Center
725 N. Dawson Street, Thomasville, Ga 31792
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9:15am
Morning Session
Gregory Mixon and Kurt Piehler will offer a broad overview of the African American history of Thomasville and how it relates to the wider community. The Thomasville History Center is located in the Flowers family home, The Flowers were a prominent white family that owned the Flowers Baking Company and whose home became the headquarters for the Thomas County Historical Society’s museum in 1969. In her presentation, Anne McCudden will discuss recent changes to the exhibits in 2021 which were done to provide a more inclusive history of Thomasville. She will also give an overview of the artifact and manuscript collections and offer a behind-the-scenes tour.
In a discussion led by Dr. Piehler and Rhonda Grim, the K-12 Educator, we will have attendees view several material objects and images from the holdings of the Center and discuss strategies for interpreting and using them in the classroom. We also will ask workshop attendees, as they go through the museum, to select objects and images on display that should be added to the History Center’s Website so they can be accessed by their classes when they return home.
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11:50am
Bus Departs for Eating Establishments
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12:00 Noon
Arrive at Restaurants for Lunch
(Attendees purchase lunch at their own expense). Since most downtown restaurants are closed on Monday, the bus will take attendees to an area where they can walk to several casual chain restaurants.
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1:30pm
Bus Departs from Restaurants
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1:45pm
Arrival at Thomasville History Center.
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1:45pm
Afternoon Session
Dr. Mixon will discuss how the African American community in Thomasville intersects with broader trends in U.S. History, focusing on the themes of Reconstruction, Redemption, Populism, and Disenfranchisement. Dr. Mixon will examine African American efforts to secure and protect the hard-won gains made during Reconstruction. The loss of political rights after the end of Reconstruction with Redemption was a gradual one. Even after 1877, Black voters continued to participate in electoral politics in the 1880s and 1890s in Thomasville and throughout much of the South. In Thomasville and Thomas County, Republicans continued to win elections during this period. He will show that white elites in Georgia and other southern states moved to systematically strip Black citizens of the vote, mostly as a reaction to the threat posed by the Populist movement.
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3:00pm
Break
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3:30pm
Question and Answer Discussion with Dr. Mixon.
Session will be moderated by Dr. Piehler and attendees will discuss Mr. Mixon’s scholarship focusing on the Black militia in Georgia.
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5:30pm
Bus departs from Thomasville History Center for dinner
Since most downtown restaurants are closed on Monday evenings, the bus will take attendees to an area where they can walk to a number of casual chain restaurants.
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7:00pm
Bus departs restaurant area for Courtyard Marriott
Since most downtown restaurants are closed on Monday evenings, the bus will take attendees to an area where they can walk to a number of casual chain restaurants.
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7:15pm
Arrival at Courtyard Marriott
Workshop Concludes For the Day
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9:00am
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8:30am
Buses Depart from Courtyard Marriott
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9:15am
Arrival at Tall Timbers Research Station
13093 Henry Beadel Road, Tallahassee, Florida
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9:30am
Morning Session
In the morning we will receive an overview of the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy from Kevin McGorty, the Land Conservancy Director. We will then visit the Jones Family Tenant Farm on the property. After the tour we will convene at Tall Timbers education building, where Dr. Brock will give an overview of sharecropping/tenant farming in the South and also explore the rise of hunting plantations in the Thomasville and surrounding Red Hills region. While sharecropping and tenant farming defined the post-Civil War South’s economy, the introduction of hunting plantations in Thomasville transformed the economic trajectory of the region. Hunting plantations catering to wealthy northerners not only brought an influx of capital to the region, they also promoted distinctive land use patterns, specifically the use of controlled burns in order to create a habitat for vegetation and wildlife. It is our intent to also have some descendants of the Jones Family on site to speak about their family’s role in tenant farming. This will be contingent upon their availability and ability to travel to the site due to Covid and/or their advanced ages and health.
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12:15pm
Lunch with Julia Brock (Question & Answer)
Given the distance of Tall Timbers from restaurants, a box lunch will be provided to attendees. The lunch period will also offer an opportunity to explore the site individually and interact with the speakers.
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1:30pm
Bus departs from Tall Timbers
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2:00pm
Arrival at Jack Hadley Black History Museum
214 Alexander Street, Thomasville
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2:30pm
Afternoon Session
As part of this session, we will take a tour of the Jack Hadley Black History Museum led by its founder, Jack Hadley. This museum contains an extensive collection of objects that not only trace the history of the African American community in Thomasville, but across the country and even globally.
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3:15pm
Break
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3:30pm
Visiting Scholar: Le’Trice Donaldson
Dr. Donaldson will give an overview of the life and times of Henry O. Flipper of Thomasville, who in 1877 was the first African American to graduate from West Point. After the Civil War, African Americans continued to serve in the U.S. Army, albeit in segregated units. Military service provided African Americans not only greater economic opportunity, but it also served to affirm their masculinity. African American regiments earned a well-deserved reputation for their bravery in the military campaigns in the West in the late 1800s. As part of this presentation, we will consider the efforts made to rehabilitate to the reputation of Flipper and remove the stain of an unjust court martial sentence.
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5:00pm
Bus departs from Jack Hadley Black History Museum
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5:10pm
Arrival at Imperial Hotel
738 W. Jackson Street, Thomasville
We will tour the exterior of the Imperial Hotel site, which is currently under renovation by the Jack Hadley Black History Museum. Mr. Hadley will give a brief overview of the role that Green Book hotels played for African American travelers and the Museum’s plans for interpreting the Imperial Hotel’s history.
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5:45pm
Bus departs for Courtyard Marriott
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5:55pm
Arrival at Courtyard Marriott
Workshop Concludes for the Day – July, 11th
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8:30am
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9:00am
Buses Depart from Courtyard Marriott
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9:30am
Arrival at Pebble Hill Plantation and Museum
1251 US Route 319, Thomasville
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9:45am
Morning Session
Jack Hadley will offer a walking tour of Pebble Hill and provide an overview of the role Black workers played in maintaining this hunting plantation. This tour will be documented by our videographer so it can serve as permanent resource for attendees.
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12:00pm
Lunch
Given the distance and remote location of Pebble Hill and nearby restaurants, we plan to provide a boxed lunch for attendees.
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1:00pm
Tour of Main Estate House, Pebble Hill Plantation and Museum
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2:00pm
Afternoon Session
Dr. Piehler will discuss questions of memory and race in shaping the legacy of the Civil War after 1865. Despite losing the Civil War, many scholars argue that White southerners initially won the battle over the memory of this conflict. Beginning in earnest in the 1880s, veterans of the Confederate army started joining veteran organizations. Many communities, including Thomasville, started to erect monuments to the Lost Cause. To promote national reconciliation, White northerners embraced a memory of the war that minimized the legacy of slavery and sought to stress remembering the bravery and sacrifice of combat veterans of both sides of the conflict. Like other southern towns, Thomasville had an active chapter of the United Confederate Veterans. Dr. Piehler will emphasize that Black citizens in Thomasville and across the nation, kept alive the memory of the Civil War as a battle cry for freedom. Although many northerners were more willing to remember the legacy of the Civil War in ending slavery, relatively few Civil War monuments commemorating Union soldiers have representations of African American troops. One of the few notable exceptions in the monument outside of the Boston statehouse commemorating the service of the Massachusetts 54th dedicated in 1897. Dr. Piehler will conclude his session by examining how the world wars influenced the memory of the Civil War in Thomasville and nationally.
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3:15pm
Break
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3:30pm
Individual Touring of Pebble Hill Plantation and Museum
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5:00pm
Bus departs for Courtyard Marriott
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5:30pm
Arrival Courtyard Marriott
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5:35pm
Attendees Eat Dinner on their Own
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6:40pm
Bus departs Courtyard Marriott
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6:50pm
Arrival at Thomasville Center for the Arts,
600 East Washington Street, Thomasville
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7:00pm
Evening Lecture and Reception
The Thomasville History Center is pleased to invite the general public to attend a lecture by Professor Le’Trice Donaldson titled “The Life and Times of Henry O. Flipper.” on Wednesday, July 12. 2023 at the Thomasville Center for the Arts. No reservations are necessary for this free event that will begin at 7:00 p.m., a reception and book signing will follow the lecture. The Thomasville Center for the Arts is located at 600 E. Washington Street in Thomasville, Georgia.
Born enslaved in Thomasville, Georgia on the eve of the Civil War, Henry O. Flipper became the first African American graduate at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Retired General Lloyd Austin, current U.S. Secretary of Defense, is a native of Thomasville and a distant relative of Flipper. Donaldson is assistant professor of history at Texas A & M University- Corpus Christi and author of Duty Beyond the Battlefield: African Americans Soldiers Fight for Racial Uplift, Citizenship, and Manhood, 1870-1920 (Southern Illinois Press).
This lecture has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): Democracy demands wisdom. K-12 educators from across the nation will be attending this lecture as part of a one-week funded NEH Landmarks in American History workshop The Quest for Freedom examining the Long Civil rights movement. As part of the workshop teachers will engage in place-based learning and will visit such sites as the Thomasville History Center, Tall Timbers, the Jack Hadley Black History Museum, Pebble Hill Plantation and Museum and the First Missionary Baptist Church.
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8:05pm
Q&A with Professor Le’Trice Donaldsonin-person
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8:25pm
Refreshments served
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9:00pm
Bus Departs for Courtyard Marriott
Workshop Concludes For the Day
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9:00am
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8:50am
Attendees Assemble in Lobby of Marriott Courtyard
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9:00am
Walking Tour of Downtown Thomasville
Nancy Tinker of Thomasville Landmarks will offer a walking tour of the downtown (Broad Street) and the former African American business district on Jackson Street highlighting sites of memory that have been established (plaques marking the site of former businesses) and those that are absent (no memorial to the site of the 1930 lynching). Prior to lunch we will visit City Hall for a brief presentation by Bonnie Hayes and Sherri Cain of the Office of Downtown and Tourism Development, City of Thomasville. They will discuss the city’s efforts to commemorate the history of The Bottoms and create greater public awareness among the community and visitors.
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10:30am
Tour Concludes at the Courtyard Marriott
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10:30am
Break
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11:30am
Attendees walk to the Plaza Restaurant
Attendees will be encouraged to have lunch at the Plaza Restaurant and Oyster Bar, the oldest restaurant in the State of Georgia, located downtown at 217 North Broad. Although ownership has changed several times, this eatery has been in continuous operation since 1916. During lunch, Gregory Mixon and Kurt Piehler will discuss the day’s reading in regard to racial violence.
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1:00pm
Bus Departs from The Plaza Restaurant
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1:10pm
Arrival at Flipper Cemetery
800 West Madison Street, Thomasville
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1:15pm
Visit the grave of Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper
Kurt Piehler offers a brief discussion of the role of cemeteries to not only mourn the dead, but also as sites of historical memory.
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1:30pm
Bus departs from Flipper Cemetery
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1:40pm
The bus will make stops at two prominent Black churches in Thomasville on their way to First Missionary.
The attendees will be accompanied by Nancy Tinker of Thomasville Landmarks, who will speak briefly about each church.
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1:45pm
Arrival at Good Shepard Episcopal Church
515 Oak Street, Thomasville
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2:00pm
Bus departs from Good Shepard Church
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2:10pm
Arrival at Bethany Congregational Church
1122 Lester Street, Thomasville
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2:30pm
Bus departs for First Missionary Baptist Church
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2:45pm
Arrival at First Missionary Baptist Church,
110 W. Calhoun Street, Thomasville
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3:00pm
Tour of First Missionary Baptist Church with Reverend Jeremy Rich
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3:30pm
Visiting Scholar: Dr. Maxine Jones of Florida State University
Dr. Jones will examine the vital role of Black churches in the life of the African American community. The church served as one of the few institutions in which African Americans could exercise a high degree of autonomy over their own affairs during the Jim Crow era. Church governance afforded an opportunity to empower men and women marginalized in mainstream politics. Dr. Jones will explore the significant role of Black churches in promoting educational opportunities by highlighting the role the black church in Thomasville played in the founding of the Allen Normal and Industrial School that operatedin Thomasville from 1885 to 1933. Her talk will also consider the early career of the civil rights leader Andrew Young, who served as pastor of the Bethany Congregation Church in Thomasville in the 1950s.
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5:00pm
Bus departs for Courtyard Marriott via bus
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5:10pm
Arrival at Courtyard Marriott
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5:15pm
Attendees get dinner on their own
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6:40pm
Bus departs from Courtyard Marriott
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6:55pm
Arrival for First Missionary Baptist Church
Thomasville, GA
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7:00pm
Evening Lecture and Reception (Second Session)
Dr. Jennifer Brooks will deliver a lecture on the experience of African American and White veterans returning to Georgia after World War II. Attendees in the first session of the teacher’s workshop will be able to livestream the lecture and participate in the question and answer portion. The lecture will also be posted on the workshop webpage.
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8:04pm
Q & A period with Dr. Brooks
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8:25pm
Reception served (non NEH funds)
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9:00pm
Bus departs for Courtyard Marriott
Workshop concludes for the day – July, 27th
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8:50am
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9:00am
Opportunities for individual meetings with Institute Co-Directors and Master Teacher at Courtyard Marriott and/or Grass Roots Coffee Shop
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10:00am
Bus departs from Courtyard Marriott
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10:20am
Arrive at Thomasville Regional Airport
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10:30am
Tour Airport
Airport Manager Robert Petty will show attendees around the facility. The airport was initially an advance fighter training field from 1942-1945.
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11:15am
Dr. Piehler will discuss the use of African American GIs during the two world wars.
In both wars, African Americans served in segregated units in the armed forces and generally in support units. He will discuss the influx of Black GIs into many southern communities during both wars and the hostility from White residents that often greeted them. In the end, pressure from civil rights organizations and the need for more personnel over the course of World War II resulted in army and navy policies that curbed the worst excesses of Jim Crow segregation in the armed forces.
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12:00pm
Bus departs from Thomasville Airport
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12:20pm
Arrival at Courtyard Marriott
The co-directors and master teacher will be available for small group or individual consultations during lunch.
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1:40pm
Bus departs from Marriott Courtyard
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1:50pm
Arrival at site of Historical marker for Finney General Army Hospital
400 South Pinetree Blvd. Thomasville
After viewing the commemorative plaque at the site of the former World War II army hospital, Dr. Piehler will lead a brief discussion that will continue later in the afternoon, focusing on what sites are saved and remembered and what sites are forgotten.
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2:05pm
Bus departs from Finney Army Hospital site
The attendees will be accompanied by Nancy Tinker of Thomasville Landmarks, who will speak briefly about each church.
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2:15pm
Arrival Jack Hadley Black History Museum
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2:30pm
Afternoon Session
We will begin our afternoon session with an overview of the artifacts and other holdings of Jack Hadley Black History Museum, especially those items related to military history. Mr. Hadley will provide an overview of his own career with the U.S. Air Force. Dr. Piehler will continue his discussion from the morning, outlining the military service of African American servicemen/women in the two world wars both from Thomasville and nationally.
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3:30pm
Break
1122 Lester Street, Thomasville
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3:45pm
Wrapping Up and Going Forward
The K-12 Education Specialist, Rhonda Grimm, and the co-directors, Drs. Mixon and Piehler, will lead a session focusing on “pulling it all together.” This session will encourage attendees to discuss ways they plan to incorporate what they learned during the workshop into the classroom. We will discuss strategies for integrating complex stories and problematic sources into a lesson using the excerpts from Irwin MacIntyre’s, Colored Soldiers and the free responses that are part of the American Soldier website as examples. This session will conclude with teachers’ completing an evaluation form, but they will also be afforded the opportunity to offer feedback directly to the workshop directors.
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5:30pm
Bus departs from Jack Hadley Black History Museum
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5:45pm
Arrival at Courtyard Marriott
Workshop Concludes For the Day
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9:00am
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Attendees depart for home.
CONTACT US
Thomasville History Center
725 N Dawson St,
Thomasville, GA 31792