mary jo powell
<mpowell@sedl.org>
Austin TX
__________________
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 09:04:06 -0500
To: woetjen@uvm.edu
From: Mary Jo Powell <mpowell@sedl.org>
Subject: Abigail Adams et al
>Can anyone recommend reading or teaching materials about Abigail Adams?
I really can't Bill, but the four books listed at the bottom seem
appropriate for the age group you are dealing with. I did want to remind
you that there were scads of groups excluded from the writing of the
Constitution. Not just slaves and women (even upper-class women like A.
Adams) but also all Native Americans and property-less people. Indentured
servants, including lots of white men, had no part in the process and
neither did those who were in remote settlements especially on the other
side of the Appalachians. Mostly no readily available resources exist on
these groups--at least for the period and for fifth graders--but you might
be able to get the kids to think about these people on their own. I used to
do this with community college students and I think it would work also for
younger children. You would just have to keep your vocabulary to their
level and ask them to think about the people who were not invited to
Philadelphia. Possibly they could then think about what these people might
have included in the Constitution if they had had a chance and then maybe
go from there in working out some reading ideas of their own. Is that any
help?
Abigail Adams by Angela Osborne (American Women of Achievement series)
Abigail Adams by Helen Stone Peterson (Discovery Biographies series)
Abigail Adams: Girl of Colonial Days by Jean Brown Wagoner (Childhood of
Famous Americans series)
Abigail Adams: Partner in Revolution by Clare Hodgson Meeker (Benchmark
Biographies series)
mary jo powell
<mpowell@sedl.org>
Austin TX