Star Wars and American History Mashups

Cloned Photos by David Eger

It has been hard to escape the media onslaught which is the Star Wars release. I am a fan of the Star Wars series but not a FAN like my brother. I have seen what I consider "the original three" but not the more recent ones. I collected a few Star War action figures in my childhood and remember having a set of Star Wars trading cards.  My family has not seen The Force Awakens but will over Christmas break while visiting family.

It has been interesting to see historical memes and creations mashing up history and Star Wars. Facebook and Twitter have been full of these this week.  My favorite has to be the Washington Post article on how Ken Burn would tell the Galactic Civil War story in Civil War documentary format.


I have also enjoyed the many historical images that have Star Wars adaptations.  There are a couple of my favorite George Washington Star Wars images.

America - I am your father! by Breanna Towne

George Washington and the Rebels Take on the Empire by Michael Milton

Star Wars to Teach Art History by Artsology

Star Wars American History Prints

Augmented Reality App Brings History Alive at Kansas City's Union Station

I can't wait to try this out - augmented reality brings Kansas City's Union Station to live.  Beginning today (October 31, 2014) visitors to Union Station can make history come live with their smart phone using augmented reality.

Here is an article which describes the project but I also suggest watching the video below to get a grasp of how awesome this will be at Union Station.

Request a Free DVD Set of "America The Story of Us" from the History Channel

Attention history teachers : The History Channel is offering a FREE set of DVDs from their upcoming (April 2010) new series "AMERICA The Story of US". Each school in the country can request a free DVD set if their principal fills out the information on this site.

This series will be amazing and I'm sure each school would benefit from having it in their collection.

Here is some more information about the upcoming series from History:

Video Trailer for "America The Story of Us"

Press Release on the Educational Connections to "America The Story of Us"

History Channel page for "America The Story of US"

Podcast #90 - Visiting the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois

Hello. My wife and I have been talking about visiting the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois since it opened in April of 2005 and today we had a great time soaking in the museum. We spent hours there today and enjoyed every minute of it. This podcast is a review of our experiences today at the museum. It is a must see for anyone who enjoys history or wants to learn more about Lincoln. We had high expectations leading up to our visit today and we were not disappointed, actually blown away by the great experience.

If you have any comments please leave a comment on this blog entry or e-mail us at speakingofhistory@gmail.com

You can subscribe to the Speaking of History podcast in i-Tunes using this link.

Direct link to Podcast #90 - Visiting the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois - MP3 Format - 32:13 minutes

Show Notes for Podcast #90:

- The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum Site

Podcast #89 - Visiting Lincoln Historic Sites in Springfield, Illinois

Hello. Today my wife and I spent an enjoyable day in Springfield, Illinois visiting various Lincoln historical sites. Lucky for us, many of the Lincoln sites are within walking distance of each other in downtown Springfield. This podcast is a description of the Lincoln sites we visited and our own personal reflections on the items and places we saw. We discuss the Lincoln Home site, the Old Illinois Capitol Building, the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices and the Lincoln Ledger. We also visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library but that will be featured on a future podcast.

If you have any comments about the podcast please leave a comment on this post or e-mail us directly at speakingofhistory@gmail.com

You can subscribe directly to the Speaking of History Podcast via i-Tunes here.

Direct link to Podcast #89 - Visiting Lincoln Historic Sites in Springfield, Illinois - MP3 Format - 15:45 Minutes

Podcast #89 Show Notes:

- Lincoln Home National Park Site

- Old Illinois Capitol Building

- Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices

- The Lincoln Ledger

Podcast #87 - American History Idol Project

Hello. Today I want to share one of the projects we did at the end of the school year. We were required to have our semester test finished a couple of days before the official last day of school so at South Valley Jr High we decided to have an "American History Idol" competition.

Erin Garvey, the other 8th grade American History teacher at SVJH, and I created a list of 160 famous Americans. We then printed them out on paper, cut them into strips and had our students pair up and draw a name. The students then had about an hour to research the individual they drew and create a poster that would be displayed in the commons. Students were instructed to vote for the person they felt had the greatest impact on American History in combination with the visual appeal of the poster and other factors (hey - American Idol isn't just about the quality of the singer or Melinda would have won this year!).

The first day students voted for three individuals and only 50 stayed. It was tough - Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson were sent home on the first day! After the second day of voting we cut it to 10 and then on the last day of school students were shown the results of the top 10 in a video that was shown as part of our student news broadcast. Want to find out who was in the Top 10 and who won - watch the video below (also available at Teacher Tube here)

Direct link to Podcast #87 - American History Idol Project - MP3 Format - 11:04 minutes

Subscribe directly to the Speaking of History podcast via i-Tunes here.

If you have any suggestions or comments about the Speaking of History podcast please leave a comment to this post or send an e-mail to speakingofhistory@gmail.com

Podcast #74 - Dinner For Four - Which Famous American History Figures Would You Invite to Dinner?

Hello. Today's podcast is a question that I began thinking about a couple of weeks ago as I ate at Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria, Virginia - a historic tavern that once served the likes of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. What would it be like to dine with famous Americans from US History? Who would I invite and where would we eat?

In today's podcast I explain who I would invite, where we would eat and what we would discuss.

I also want to hear from you. Who would you invite and where would you eat this amazing meal? After listening to the podcast please post your response as a comment to this blog.

I would invite 1) George Washington, 2) Abraham Lincoln and 3) David McCullough. In the podcast I discuss why I selected these individuals and what topics we would cover during the meal.

Here are the guidelines:

- You can invite 3 individuals from American history - can be living or deceased. (I am not including family relatives or major religious figures.)

- Where you would eat this meal?

- What questions would you ask and what topics do you think would be included?

Please post your comments to this blog entry. I will quickly approve all responses and post them so that we can all share in this experiment. I can't wait to see your selections and why.

If you want to contact me directly or have a question or comment about the Speaking of History podcast please e-mail me at speakingofhistory@gmail.com

You can subscribe to the Speaking of History Podcast at i-Tunes here.

Direct link to Podcast #74 - Dinner for Four - Which Famous American History Figures Would You Invite to Dinner? - MP3 Format - 12:10 minutes

Show Notes for Podcast #74:

- George Washington Biography

- Abraham Lincoln Biography

- David Mc Cullough Biography

2007 METC Conference Handouts and audio from presentation "Teaching History with 21st Century Tools"

Hello. The following are links for my presentation on February 27th at the METC conference in St. Louis. Please feel free to send any comments to speakingofhistory@gmail.com

- Audio of the entire presentation as an MP3 file - thanks to Wes Fryer of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcast for the recording!

- PDF Handout of the "Teaching History with 21st Century Tools" Presentation at 2007 METC Conference in St. Louis

- PowerPoint Presentation of the "Teaching History with 21st Century Tools" Presentation at 2007 METC Conference in St. Louis

Podcast #66 and #67 - Jerry Armstrong of the 1966 Texas Western NCAA Basketball Champions - The "Glory Road" Team

Hello. Today's episode is a presentation by Jerry Armstrong, a player on the 1966 Texas Western team which won the NCAA National Championship. This team is historically important since it was the first NCAA championship team to start five African American players. This team has recently been in the media with the opening of the movie "Glory Road" which is based on their championship season.

Jerry Armstrong, one of the white players on the team, is the father of my principal at South Valley Jr High - Brad Armstrong. Jerry Armstrong does presentations all over the country discussing his experiences as a member of the team. He recently spoke to the students and faculty at South Valley Jr High in Liberty and later that day did a presentation at the Garrison Center in Liberty.

I have created two podcasts from the presentation at the Garrison Center. Podcast #66 is the presentation by Jerry Armstrong and Podcast #67 is the Question and Answer session which followed his presentation that night.

Please check out the shownotes below for additional information about the movie "Glory Road" and the 1966 Texas Western team. If you have any questions or comments about this podcast please feel free to leave a comment to the this post or send an e-mail to speakingofhistory@gmail.com

Direct link to Speaking of History Podcast #66 - Jerry Armstrong of the 1966 Texas Western NCAA Championship Team - The "Glory Road" Team - MP3 Format - 31:57 minutes

Direct link to Speaking of History Podcast #67 - Questions and Answers from Jerry Armstrong of the 1966 Texas Western NCAA Championship Team - "The Glory Road" Team - MP3 Format - 25:55 minutes

Click here to subscribe to the Speaking of History Podcast on iTunes.

Podcast #66 and #67 Show Notes:

Official Glory Road movie site

Article about Jerry Armstrong in Rural Missouri magazine

UTEP page on the 1966 Texas Western National Championship Team

ESPN Classic article on the 1966 Texas Western Team

Wikipedia article on the movie Glory Road

Funny Jesse James Historical Sign in Liberty, Missouri

Hello. I had to post this picture - it cracks me up every time I see it in the local Godfather's Pizza place in Liberty. Our area has quite a few Jesse James landmarks. The location of the first daylight bank robbery in the history of the United States is a bank on our town square that still stands today and is currently the Jesse James Bank Museum.

The sign is posted on the wall next to the pizza buffet and every time I'm there to eat I tell myselft that I should take a picture - so I did last time. I asked the owner about it and he said he couldn't remember exactly here he bought it - somewhere in Missouri. He's had it up for several years. Funny stuff.

Podcast #57 - Reflections on 2006 National Council of the Social Studies (NCSS) Convention in Washington DC

Hello. Catching up on some podcasts over Christmas break. About a month ago I was fortunate enough to attend the 2007 National Council of the Social Studies (NCSS) Conference in Washington DC. It was a great time - catching up with old friends, meeting new ones, discussing curriculum with your peers and discovering some awesome new ideas. Washington DC is also an excellent choice for any gathering of social studies teachers so there were also some great opportunities to see a couple of sites. I will discuss some specific sessions that I attended in the next podcast.

If you were at NCSS 2007 we'll love to hear your thoughts and reactions. Please leave a comment to this blog post or send me an e-mail at speakingofhistory@gmail.com

Next year the convention moves to San Diego - another excellent conference site. I had a great time at NECC in San Diego this past summer. NCSS is currently taking proposals for presentations at the 2007 conference in San Diego.

Direct link to Podcast #57 - Reflections of the 2006 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Conference in Washington DC - MP3 Format - 18:42 minutes

Podcast #57 Show Notes:

• National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Official Site