The past is only a part of the Reginald
F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and
Culture. Through a partnership with the Maryland State Department
of Education to reach more than 860,000 students and 50,000
teachers, the museum will invest itself just as heavily
in the future – a future that will assuredly burn brighter
as we work to close the African American achievement gap
and foster greater understanding among all students.
Even as exhibits are being designed and artifacts collected,
a task force of educators, historians, and museum staff
is writing a K-12 state-wide curriculum that borrows the
museum’s themes and materials. The point is to make
the museum more than just a field trip. The curriculum –
dealing with work, family and community, and, arts and enlightenment
– will link the museum to the classroom in a way that
provides for multi-year, multi-course study.
The curriculum will require that students intensively prepare
for their trip to the museum (or for the museum’s trip
to them – traveling exhibits are one of the museum’s
features), reflect upon it afterward, and use its lessons
to guide future learning. The task force will begin writing
curriculum for grades 4-8 before turning its attention to
high school and, finally, to the primary grades. The grades
4-8 curriculum will be completed in time for the 2004-05
school year.
Training teachers well in the curriculum will be key to
its success. In addition to district- and school-based workshops
on incorporating the museum’s themes into instruction,
Maryland teachers will be given lectures and tours by museum
staff so they can prepare lessons. They’ll also be
able to tap a cadre of experts in African-American art,
culture, history, and contemporary life so they can make
those lessons more interesting to students.
But, of course, the museum isn’t only for African-American
students and neither are the heroes it celebrates. These
are the stories of democracy, and their lessons apply to
all. This is why the curricular connection is so important:
it ensures that every Maryland child will understand the
role African Americans played in our past and appreciate
its implications for our future.
