Adventures through U.S. History

I am teaching U.S. History, once again. When I teach U.S. History, I like to hit it on all fronts: audio, visual, along with the required history book, which can or cannot be considered “dry”. We read a lot of historical fiction and biographies. We read different American authors. We watch movies. Tonight was “movie night”. I used to have a box of videos and CDs, but somehow and somewhere I have misplaced it. Yes, a “bankers” sized box. Full. So I did the next best thing: I co-opted our Netflix account.

Now mind you, we rarely use our Netflix account. In fact, we started getting two DVDs at a time and a couple of years ago we went to one DVD at a time. However, when I take it over and we watch “educational” films, I mostly get groaning and complaints.

I decided to do it differently this time. Instead of getting documentaries, and narrations from Discovery or the History Channel, I spent hours and hours and hours searching for titles that were good movies with good historical facts, that we could enjoy together and I would not hear the groaning. Now, I cannot vouch for the facts of these movies, but here is the list I made:

The Crucible (1996) – PG13– The Salem Witch Trials. Review: It was rated PG-13. Since I have an almost 14 year old son and a 16 year old son, I was thinking this was "safe". In the first 10 minutes there was partial female nudity, rear and front that took us by surprise! It was too late to fast forward. When they get to the scene of the girls dancing wildly in the woods, and the Pastor comes upon them, quick, fast forward. The rest of the movie was OK. I'm trying to remember if there were even mild cuss words, because they were all speaking with early American accents and the Puritan speak that we would expect. I don't remember any. But, in any event, because of the 2 seconds of nudity, I think this movie should have been rated R. This movie captured the hysteria, the deceit, the people trying to save themselves by confessing, and those standing in their innocence until their death. Because of the affair of one of the men accused of witch craft, I wouldn't recommend this to students younger than Junior High. It will make me do a thorough search on the Salem Witch Trials tonight to see what was inconsistent, so that tomorrow, when I talk with my boys, I can talk about what different historical perspectives said really happened, along with I Samuel 28. One of the inconsistencies that I found was that Abigail Williams, played by Winona Ryder, in the movie, had an affair with John Proctor, which caused her to accuse John's wife of witchcraft. According to a textbook that I read, Abigail Williams was 11 years old. And evidently, there was a family feud between the Putnams and the Porters, so that they charged each other with witchcraft. To sort through all of the names from all of the different sources, I'd have to draw a family tree. Since I'm ready to move on in history, I'm not inclined to do that. If someone else does, please let me know!

The Last of the Mohicans (1991) – The French and Indian War
Review: We originally decided not to do the R rated 1991 version, and we rented the 1971 Masterpiece Theater version. That version had 2 discs, and each disc held 3 shows. Well, two teenage boys raised with Hollywood versions and the DVD playing amidst the laughter, I hurriedly checked a website that would detail the vulgarities. The authors rated it extremely violent, with only a prolonged kiss that was done fully clothed, with moderate cursing. They mentioned someone was scalped, someone had their heart cut out, and someone committed suicide, along with showing lots of dead bodies. With two teenage boys at home, and one at a university in the Corp of Cadets, I figured they could handle the violence. After the first show on the first disc ended of the Masterpiece theater production of The Last of the Mohicans, we streamed the 1991 version, starring Daniel Day-Lewis (who coincidentally was hanged as a witch last week in The Crucible). The reviews were true. It was extremely violent, but I've seen National Geographic documentaries worse. At least we knew it was all acting. The plot stayed true to the story that I remember reading 25+ years ago. And it was a good reminder to our sons that war is violent, even way back during the French and Indian wars, and they sure had strange rules of engagement!

Johnny Tremain (Disney 1956) – New England Colonies - bummed. It's showing as "Saved" on my queue!

John Adams - the miniseries 2008 - We purchased this set and would watch it on and off, when a movie was short, or we had a spare evening home.  We really enjoyed this and got caught up in the history of John Adams.  This became one of our favorites throughout the year.

1776 (1976) – The Summer of 1776 in Philadelphia - Review: although a musical, we did enjoy it and the boys hung through it all. It did show the agony of the different delegates and their lack of unity. And then even after Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration, there were still compromises that needed to be made, including slavery, to get the Southern States to sign on. And although the sequences between John Adams and Abigail Adams seemed fanciful, it seemed that their "conversations" were really the letters that went back and forth.

April Morning (1988) - made for Hallmark. Rated G. A young man, who is barely of age to "bare arms", signs himself up for the militia, somewhere between Lexington and Concord. After the "shot heard around the world", he realizes that he doesn't have it in him to actually shoot and kill someone, and spends the rest of the movie reconciling his actions with his true beliefs. We should have seen this BEFORE 1776.

The Crossing (2000) – George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware on Christmas Day

Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor (2003) – Battle of Saratoga win to traitor to the United States

The Patriot (2000) – Revolutionary War - I watched this the first time.  I can't stomach the violence, but I let my teenage boys watch it.

Davy Crockett: King of the wild Frontier (Disney 1954) – Early Indian wars to the Alamo - my boys thought this was "lame".  I thought it was "wholesome".

The Alamo (1960 - John Wayne) – 1835 Texas Revolution

Amistad (1997) – American Slavery in the 1830’s

Amazing Grace (2006) – Abolition of Slavery in England (I know it isn’t U.S. History, but I thought it might be a good follow-up on Amistad.

Lincoln (2012) - Accurate portrayal of Lincoln according to the history books.

12 Years a Slave (2013) - The autobiography of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was abducted from New York state and sold into slavery in the mid-1800's.

Dead Man’s Walk (1999) – The 1840’s Texas Rangers!

The Comancheros (1961 – John Wayne) – again the Texas Rangers of the 1840’s.

The Santa Fe Trail (1940) – the life of J.E.B. Stuart. We’ve spent a lot of time in Harper’s Ferry, so I think the boys will like it.

Gangs of New York (2002) – covers the immigration of the 1840’s to the 1860’s and the slums of New York, all while the Civil War was beginning. Don't do it!  It didn't seem like it was worth it for all of the sexuality and nudity.

Gone with theWind (1939) – I’ve never seen it before, so I guess now is the time.  Never got around to seeing, but we added a bunch of other movies!

Far and Away (1992) - Irish Immigrants and the land grabs in Oklahoma in the 1890's.

Gods and Generals - Stonewall Jackson - We ended up watching this as we saw on IMDB that it was the "prequel" to Gettysburg.  We enjoyed it.  I actually got tired of war movies about this time.

Gettysburg -

World War I, American Legacy

Andrew Carnegie, the Age of Steel - documentary - about this time I realized that I needed to switch back and forth between movies and documentaries!

Geronimo and the Apache Resistance

Charlie Brown - THESE were a lot of fun!
     -The Birth of the Constitution
     -The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad
     -This is America, Charlie Brown!
     -You're not elected, Charlie Brown!
     -The Mayflower Voyagers

The Lost Battalion (2001) - A drama about an American battalion of over 500 men that gets trapped behind enemy lines in October 1918, during the closing weeks of World War 1.

The Doughboys, Heroes of WW1

Dear Home, Letters from World War 1

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - The Great Depression Era

Saving Private Ryan (1998) - As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, Ranger John Miller and seven others are ordered to find a brother, who has already lost 3 brothers in the war.  Some movies you don't have to wait until American History to watch!

Band of Brothers (2001) - The story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborn division and their mission through V-J Day. Again, why wait until you teach American History?

The Longest Day (1962) - D-Day.  I think my guys watch this every D-Day!

A Motion Picture History of the Korean War

The Red Baron

Underground Railroad hosted by Alfre Woodard

The Last Stand at Little Big Horn

Thirteen Days (2000) - JFK and the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

I thought that I’d document these movies, so that if anyone else is teaching U.S. History, they can benefit from my research. As I go along, I’ll try to give a review from the point of view of a conservative, homeschool mom.

I have 20 more weeks to cover, but I’m thinking that at some point I’ll find that box of videos. In the meantime, I am open to suggestions.