AP English Language Students Dive into Local History While Honing ELA Skills

This year, AP English Language classes took a deep dive into the topic of local history and abolition as they honed their skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, the four ELA standards.

Our unit on Cazenovia's pivotal role in the Fugitive Slave Law Convention of 1850 that was held here has been in development since Covid hit Caz CSD in the Spring of 2020.  As AP English classes tried to cope with the constraints of the pandemic by finding creative avenues to learning, we began this unit studying Caz's history and involvement in abolition.  

Along the way, classes have read and studied Frederick Douglass's first Narrative, have traveled to the Gerrit Smith Estate in Peterboro to hear abolition expert Norm Dann and Peterboro resident and activist Jimmy Corpin speak about Gerrit Smith, have toured the village with Caz Public Library librarian Elisha Davies to learn about important sites related to the Caz Convention, have learned, in class, about famous abolitionists and concepts in Abolition, and have invented ways to redesign the current Fugitive Slave Law Convention monument on Sullivan Street and to reimagine the space that it is in.

This year, classes were challenged to research one aspect of the Convention (a person; a place; a concept or idea) and then synthesize these research papers into a community tour that would be offered to interested participants.  Along the way, students honed their skills in research, note-taking, citing, effective outlining, and expository writing with a rhetorical situation in mind.  Tours were given this week, and audience members included parents, local Madison County historians, teachers, and many other interested community members from both inside and outside of Caz.  

The unit dovetails perfectly with the history department's study of the young United States of America that takes place in the fall; gives students the opportunity to study rhetoric and argument in a manner that emphasizes the practical application of it; stresses the importance of modern-day philanthropy and activism; and encourages engagement in local history.