tlp_09_tross

=Teacher Lesson Page=

Taryn Ross, Medford High School
== Taryn's Primary Source Page Taryn's Teacher-Side Lesson Page Taryn's Web Quest Unit Taryn's Web Quest Lesson

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How did immigration affect American conceptions of "WE THE PEOPLE"?
 * Essential Question:**

USI.32 Describe important religious trends that shaped antebellum America.
 * STANDARDS:**
 * National:**
 * 1) The increase in the number of Protestant denominations
 * 2) The Second Great Awakening
 * 3) The influence of these trends on the reaction of Protestants to the growth of Catholic immigration

WHI.30 Describe the origins and effects of the Protestant Reformation.
 * Massachusetts:**
 * 1) the reasons of the growing discontent with the Catholic Church, including the main ideas of Martin Luther and John Calvin
 * 2) the spread of Protestantism across Europe, including the reason and consequences of England’s break with the Catholic Church
 * 3) the weakening of a uniform Christian faith
 * 4) the consolidation of royal power

How did Protestants react to the arrival of Irish Catholics in Boston? What are the similarities and differences in beliefs, values and attitudes of Boston Protestants and Catholics? What are the similarities and differences in native Bostonians and immigrants? What were the long term positive and negative effects of Catholic immigration in Boston?
 * GUIDING QUESTIONS:**

Broad Street Riot: Religious Conflict in Antebellum Boston
 * TITLE**:

The United States was founded as a nation of Protestants. Today it is the quintessential melting pot of varying religious faiths as well as races and ethnicities. The transition from one to the other was not a smooth one. Throughout our nation’s history, there have been numerous instances of conflict between people of different religious affiliations. These conflicts have come in different sizes but always serve to highlight the tensions that have and continue to exist as America defines its notion of “we the people.”
 * INTRODUCTION**:

Your assignment is to discover the details of an event that occurred on Broad Street in Boston on June 11, 1837, when a Irish funeral process and Yankee fire engine company collided. This event, which later became known as the Broad Street Riot, helps to reveal the attitudes and values of the native-born Protestant Bostonians as well as the newly arrived Irish Catholic immigrants. By examining news articles and written literature of the era, you will be able to determine what caused the riot to erupt and what consequences resulted. You will embrace these ideas as you take on the roles of actual riot participants and witnesses in a mock trial of the people arrested on that night.

In order to understand the background and specific motivations for the Broad Street Riot, you will examine a variety of primary and secondary source documents and images. You will list or discuss information gained about the riot as well as the social and political context in which the riot occurred. This examination will include a focus on the religious differences between Irish Catholics and native-born Protestants and sources of antipapal prejudice. Additionally, you will determine the immediate and long-term effects of the riot. You will act out all of these elements in a mock trial of the arrested riot participants. The teacher will assign you to represent either the prosecution or the defense. As a team, you will take on the roles of lawyers, defendants and witnesses in order to prove the arrested figures were or were not guilty of inciting or participating in a riot. Lawyers will create questions to ask the witnesses and witnesses will develop the answers. The information presented in the trial through these questions and answers will be drawn from the primary and secondary sources provided by your teacher as well as your background knowledge on Boston and the differences between Protestants and Catholics.
 * TASK**:

At the conclusion of the mock trial, you will reflect upon the connections between this religious conflict and others in history, the current state of religious and immigrant tensions in the United States, and how the notion of “We the People” has changed throughout the nation’s history. You will present this reflection in a written response followed by a class discussion.

>
 * LESSON PROCESS:**
 * __Introduction:__**
 * 1) Listen to the song __//Riot on Broad Street//__as written and performed by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and answering the following questions:
 * 2) What words do you hear?
 * 3) What does it seem to be about?
 * 4) Who, when, and where is the song about?
 * 5) What are your personal reactions to the song?
 * 6) What seems to be the overall tone, attitude or message of the song?
 * 1) Discuss your responses with the teacher and other students. The teacher will reveal the lyrics of the song (**Appendix A**) and correctly identify the song’s subject as the Broad Street Riot that occurred in Boston on June 11, 1837, between Irish Catholics and native-born Protestants. Make predictions about the cause and effects of the riot by reviewing the lyrics. Also review the basic differences between Catholics and Protestants as learned during study of the Protestant Reformation as well as the religious temperament of the first British settlers of North America as learned in studies of early U.S. history.


 * __Activity 1: Examining Background Info__**
 * 1) As a class, examine the Boston Public Library’s map of Boston from 1838 (**Appendix B**). Use map analysis questions in order to aid your examination (**Appendix C**). In your examination, identify Broad Street, East Street, Summer Street, and Leverett Street as they will all be referenced in the accounts of the Broad Street Riot. Also be sure to read the key and use it to understand characteristics of the culture in Boston at that time. Make inferences as to what Bostonians did and what they valued.
 * 2) The teacher will provide information about Boston’s demographics in the early 1800s through a Boston city directory for 1837 (**Appendix** **D**).
 * 3) Receive a number from the teacher. The number will correspond with one of the excerpts from the Boston City Directory for 1837. Complete a document analysis worksheet for your page of the directory (**Appendix E**).
 * 4) After you complete the analysis, consider the following question:
 * What new information does the directory provide about the make-up of Boston’s community?
 * 1) Discuss your observations and insights as a class. In general, what are the behaviors, attitudes and values of Bostonians in the early 1800s?


 * __Activity 2: Understanding the Event__**
 * 1) Individually read an account of the Broad Street Riot in either the Boston Daily Atlas or Boston Advertiser from June 12, 1837, and fill out the document analysis worksheet (**Appendices E** and **F**).
 * 2) While you work on the analysis, the teacher will distribute a cause and effect graphic organizer (**Appendix G**). Begin to fill out the basic facts for the event of the Broad Street Riot as well as any possible causes once you have completed the analysis worksheet. Continue to fill out the details of the event and its short and long term causes as the class discusses the document analysis worksheets. If possible, also include information about the immediate consequences of the riot in the effects column. You will complete the effects column after the Mock Trial.


 * __Activity 3: Performing a Mock Trial__**
 * 1) Following the tumult on Broad Street, several people were arrested and a trial was held to determine whether they were guilty of inciting and/or participating in the riot. You will reenact this trial using primary and secondary source documents and images. The teacher will assign to you either the side of the Prosecution or the Defense.
 * 2) As a class, read aloud the Massachusetts law regarding riots (**Appendix H**).
 * 3) Recall the number you were assigned for the Boston City Directory analysis. Even numbers will represent the Prosecution and odd numbers will represent the Defense. Before you meet with your group, review all the information you have learned so far. If you represent the defense, make a list of five reasons you think the arrested figures should be found innocent of inciting or participating in a riot. If you represent the Prosecution, make a list of five reasons you think the arrested figures should be found guilty of inciting or participating in a riot.
 * 4) As a class, review the steps of a Mock Trial (**Appendix I**).
 * 5) Next, assemble into your designated group and begin to read the provided trial materials for your side which include newspaper accounts of the trial as well as other contemporary news articles or essays related to the Protestant or native viewpoints and Irish or Catholic perspectives (**Appendix J**).
 * Assign specific character roles within your group and prepare trial questions and responses using the evidence represented within the primary and secondary documents.Refer to the steps of a Mock Trial (**Appendix I)** for further preparation instructions.

Examine the role of rioting as an expression of political, economic and/or social discontent. Read the Boston Globe article about the Medford High School race riot of December 11, 1992.. Compare and contrast its causes with those of the Broad Street Riot and write an essay revealing your findings as well as an assessment of the role of riots in shaping people’s notions of “We the People”.
 * __Extended Activity:__**

Boston Globe (pre-1997 Fulltext), p. 1. Retrieved January 29, 2010, from Boston Globe.
 * Extended Activity Resource:** Bob Hohler and Brian McGrory, Globe Staff. (1992, December 11). Racial fights erupt at Medford High School :[City Edition].

Copyright Boston Globe Newspaper Dec 11, 1992 MEDFORD -- Black and white students, capping a year filled with racial tensions, squared off in a bare-fisted, chair-flinging brawl at Medford High School yesterday afternoon that spilled from the cafeteria into the hallways and eventually the parking lot, witnesses and police said. One student was hit in the head with a baseball bat and injured, 15 others were arrested, and dozens of local police and state troopers with dogs and a helicopter were summoned to the school to quell the riot, officials said. "The cops were there, the dogs were there, it was a bloody mess," said Ray DeLorey, a junior who witnessed the brawl. In all, witnesses said, at least 60 students, and possibly as many as 100, were involved in the noontime riot. At least three youths said the fighting began when a black male student pushed a white female student in the cafeteria. From there, the room became awash in violence and anger as whites were pitted against blacks and blacks against whites in a fight split along racial lines. Said sophomore Scott Cali, "It was like a racial war." Amid the violence, classrooms were sealed and some students were later driven away in buses, as racial jeers and threats were flung with abandon. School officials, who huddled in a series of closed-door meetings last night in search of a solution, canceled classes for today to ease the tension. After the riot, black students, whose numbers have climbed at the school in the past several years -- they now make up 20 percent of the school's 1,250 students -- said they are routinely called "nigger" and mocked by their white classmates. Many said the brawl had become an inevitable expectation. "Everything is racial here," said Desiree Williams, a black senior. "I said yesterday there is going to be a racial riot, and it happened." Said Miskula Musukulla, "People make fun of the way we talk." Cara Pace, a white senior, said the number of black students at the school was increasing rapidly. "I feel like a minority at the school," she said. "It is all about intimidation. People are trying to intimidate each other." Carol Sharpton, a School Committee member and former guidance counselor, blamed school superintendent Philip Devaux, headmaster Salvatore Todaro and members of the faculty for being insensitive to what was becoming an obvious racial problem. Sharpton said Devaux met with the local human rights commission three weeks ago and vowed to develop a student group to battle racism. That was not done, she said. "There is racism at the high school," she said. "There are faculty members who have attitudes that are not befitting the classroom." After a closed meeting last night that included school administrators, parents and the students who were arrested, Todaro said: "These are attitudes on both sides that are inflammatory, that kids bring into this building. You aren't going to change attitudes overnight." Devaux said the high school is closed today and may be closed on Monday. He said teachers will be in school today, however, to discuss the melee. Last night, black parents complained that police were brutal toward the students. They said that a meeting may be held tomorrow at Shiloh Baptist Church in West Medford with a representative of the Civil Liberties Union to discuss a possible lawsuit against the city. Local black leaders said students' requests for more emphasis on black studies were ignored or rejected by school officials, further fanning the flames of discontent. "From what I understand, they had a lot of name-calling in the student body, and a feeling that minorities were being left out of the academic program, and not able to discuss Martin Luther King and Malcolm X," said Lena Phillips, president of the Medford chapter of the NAACP. City and school officials, apparently seeking to downplay the riot, said the fighting involved only a fraction of the students. They offered no explanation for the brawl, but conceded that it appeared racially motivated. "We are not talking about the majority of the students at Medford High School," headmaster Todaro told reporters. "We are talking about a minority of youngsters." One Medford police officer said, "There is nothing to it." All 15 students arrested were released on $25 bail each yesterday. Most of the arrested students were black, police said, booked on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to assault and battery on a police officer. They ranged in age from 13 to 19, with the bulk expected to be tried as adults, authorities said. Police arrived in droves, with some using chemical sprays and carrying nightsticks, according to several students. At least 20 state troopers, some with trained dogs, also separated fighting students. They were aided by transit authority police and officers from neighboring Somerville. No stranger to such incidents, the high school experienced a similar brawl in 1977, when blacks and whites clashed shortly after classes opened for the school year. The school was closed and when it reopened, the few blacks who initially returned were each escorted to classes by two faculty members. In 1984, a black basketball coach who was fired by the School Committee in favor of his white assistant, charged racism and was eventually rehired. Last night, religious and black leaders huddled with some students and parents around the city, including clergy at the Shiloh Baptist Church. At the West Medford Community Center, executive director Donald Crowe said he had already warned school officials of impending problems. He said they largely ignored his warnings, but yesterday asked him to help solve the racial conflict. "They knew there was smoke," Crowe said. "I told them this had been brewing for quite some time. Correcting the problem can't begin with just one group. It has to happen with the whole community." Crowe attributed part of the problem at the school to tensions arising from interracial dating. "They have to better educate the faculty and staff on that," Crowe said. Peter Iodice, a white senior, transferred from Madison Park High School in Roxbury, where he said he saw a boy shot and a girl stabbed last year, and where he was stabbed, too. "I thought it would be peaceful here," Iodice said. "I thought it would be cool. But now the same thing is happening here."

 A. RUBRIC:
 * ASSESSMENT:**
 * Students will be able to… || Inadequate || Adequate || Good || Strong || Weighting ||
 * Understand the basic beliefs and practices of Protestants and Catholics || Students are not able to describe the basic beliefs and practices of Protestants and Catholics. Errors exist in student reports of the concepts. || Students can provide brief descriptions of the basic beliefs and practices of Protestants and Catholics, but do not provide details that demonstrate in depth understanding. While no errors exist, students do not present details that demonstrate thorough understanding of the concepts. || Students can provide descriptions of the beliefs and practices of Protestants and Catholics. Students are able to demonstrate understanding of the concepts. || Students can provide detailed descriptions of the beliefs and practices of Protestants and Catholics. Students are able to demonstrate thorough understanding of the concepts. ||  ||
 * Understand the facts of the 1837 Broad Street Riot in Boston || Students are not able to describe the facts of the 1837 Broad Street Riot in Boston. Errors exist in student reports of the event. || Students can provide brief descriptions of the facts of the 1837 Broad Street Riot in Boston, but do not provide details that demonstrate in depth understanding. While no errors exist, students do not present details that demonstrate thorough understanding of the event. || Students can provide descriptions of the facts of the 1837 Broad Street Riot in Boston. Students are able to discuss the meaning and impact of the event. || Students can provide the the facts of the 1837 Broad Street Riot in Boston. Students are able to discuss the meaning and impact of the event. ||  ||
 * Understand the causes and effects of conflict between the Boston Protestants and Boston Irish Catholics || Students are not able to describe the motivations and impact of conflict between the Boston Protestants and Boston Irish Catholics. Errors exist in student reports. || Students can provide brief descriptions of the motivations and impact of conflict between the Boston Protestants and Boston Irish Catholics, but do not provide details that demonstrate in depth understanding. While no errors exist, students do not present details that demonstrate thorough understanding of the concepts. || Students can provide descriptions of the motivations and impact of conflict between the Boston Protestants and Boston Irish Catholics. Students are able to compare and contrast the different effects. || Students can provide detailed descriptions of the motivations and impact of conflict between the Boston Protestants and Boston Irish Catholics. Students are able to compare and contrast the different causes and effects. ||  ||
 * Use historical maps, photographs, drawings or cartoons to interpret history || Students are not able to describe the subject matter and/or elements seen in the visual historical artifact. Errors exist in student reports of the artifact. || Students demonstrate interpretive skills by making a description of the subject matter and/or elements seen in the visual historical artifact but do not provide details that demonstrate in depth understanding. Students need guidance to determine the meaning of the work. || Students demonstrate interpretive skills by making a description of the subject matter and/or elements seen in the visual historical artifact. Students can determine the meaning of the work with minimal guidance. They support their interpretation with minimal evidence from the work. || Students demonstrate interpretive skills by making a complete and detailed description of the subject matter and/or elements seen in the visual historical artifact. Students can fully determine the meaning of the work and support their interpretation with evidence from the work. ||  ||
 * Use historical documents and records to interpret history || Students are not able to answer the document based questions. Errors exist in student reports of the artifact. || Students demonstrate interpretive skills by generally answering document based questions about the topic, author, occasion, audience and purpose of the written work, but do not provide details that demonstrate in depth understanding. Students need guidance to determine the meaning of the work. || Students demonstrate interpretive skills by answering document based questions about the topic, author, occasion, audience and purpose of the written work. Students can determine the meaning of the work with minimal guidance. They support their interpretation with minimal evidence from the work. || Students demonstrate interpretive skills by completely answering document based questions about the topic, author, occasion, audience and purpose of the written work. Students can fully determine the meaning of the work and support their interpretation with evidence from the work. ||  ||
 * Use historical documents and records to verbally present a historical viewpoint. || Information had several inaccuracies OR was usually not clear. || Most information presented was clear and accurate, but was not usually thorough. || Most information presented was clear, accurate and thorough. || All information presented was clear, accurate and thorough. ||  ||

To this day, Boston’s Broad Street Riot of 1837 is considered one of the worst conflict’s in the city’s history. Directly the riot reveals the differences in beliefs and practices between Boston’s Protestants and Catholics. However, the Broad Street Riot also serves to highlight the tensions that existed between people of varying classes, religions, and ethnicities throughout the United States. It demonstrates how throughout the nation’s history citizens and non citizens alike have chosen communal social violence as a means to express their values and beliefs and more specifically their discontent or frustration with social, economic or political conditions. Whether or not people have access to political or legal means of resolution and are considered members of “We the People”, Americans have rioted to communicate and affect change. Why does rioting continue to be a selected means of expression? Additionally, why do such great conflicts develop between different groups especially religious groups? These are important factors to consider as immigration to the United States continues to occur and the notion of who belongs and who has rights continues to evolve.
 * CONCLUSION:**

Resources

 * __Appendix A__**
 * Mighty Mighty Bosstone's //Riot On Broad Street//:**

My father once told this to me Boston's gritty history Another ruthless battle In a useless holy war Handed down discrepancies And tensions that'll never ease One early afternoon on broad street It blew up down there for sure

Broad street's just not broad enough And you just don't love God enough And if that isn't odd enough We've taken too much crap You've pushed us round the sod enough We'e scrapped and rapped and jawed enough Poked, provoked and prod enough Something's gonna snap

The boston fire fighting volunteers On their way to fight a fire somewhere Met with a funeral procession Proceeding way too slow A brownstone burns out of control We need to lay to rest this soul Loggerheads on broadstreet Eye to eye and toe to toe

Broad street's just not broad enough And you just don't love God enough And if that isn't odd enough We've taken too much crap You've pushed us round the sod enough We'e scrapped and rapped and jawed enough Poked, provoked and prod enough Something's gonna snap

Riot down on broad street Hand me a brick, a stick, a picket Bottle, axe or cobblestone Riot down on broad street And if I'm going down Hell, I'm not going down alone I won't go down alone

And when the fight was over They retired to the clover, Silver dollar, thirsty scollar Whatever pubs they had back then The brownstone was in ashes Broken bones and bloody gashes And a casket sat on broad street 'til the sun came up again

Broad street's just not broad enough And you just don't love God enough And if that isn't odd enough We've taken too much crap You've pushed us round the sod enough We'e scrapped and rapped and jawed enough Poked, provoked and prod enough Something's gonna snap

Riot down on broad street Hand me a brick, a stick, a picket Bottle, axe or cobblestone Riot down on broad street And if I'm going down Hell, I'm not going down alone And if I'm going down Hell, I'm not going down alone And if I'm going down Hell, I'm not going down alone

There's a riot down on broad street (x 4)

[|1838 Plan of the city of Boston Map]
 * __Appendix B__**
 * Boston City Map**

Map Analysis Worksheet from NARA
 * __Appendix C__**


 * __Appendix D__**

Boston Daily Atlas 6/13/1837
 * __Appendix E__**

Accounts of the Broad Street Riot on June 12, 1837 - Boston Daily Advertiser and Boston Atlas


 * __Appendix F__**


 * __Appendix G__**

Mock Trial Worksheet The Trial of the Broad Street Rioters
 * __Appendix H__**
 * NAME:**


 * //Objective://** The purpose of this trial is to judge the actions of the men arrested for their roles in the events of the Broad Street Riot on June 11, 1837. Were they rowdy, violent trouble-makers or passionate self-defenders? It’s a time-period in which Boston’s native-born Protestants and immigrant Irish-Catholics have already demonstrated their differences with each other through various forms of violent and non-violent conflict. They are no strangers to tension, frustration and disagreement but where is the line between lawful peaceful assemblies and unlawful tumultuous communal social expression?
 * //Directions://** Our task is to examine the background of the Protestants and Catholics in Boston and the events of June 11, 1837, on Broad Street. After being assigned a character role and examining various primary and secondary sources, you will participate in producing a verdict on the charge of “rioting”. Be careful, because the members of the court may not be completely innocent.
 * //General Role Descriptions://**


 * 1) Plaintiffs: Present testimony.
 * 2) Plaintiff Attorney(s): handle witness’ testimony, research, preparation, and document-drafting.
 * 3) Defendants: Present testimony.
 * 4) Defendant Attorney(s): handle witness’ testimony, research, preparation, and document-drafting.
 * 5) Witnesses: Present testimony.
 * 6) Bailiff: The role of the Bailiff is optional and requires a student to announce the beginning and ending of the proceeding, call witnesses, administer oaths and take the jury's verdict to the judge.
 * 7) Jury: Between six and twelve students should be assigned to play the roles of jurors. Their deliberations can be public so students can see the interaction of jurors or private as in a real trial.
 * 8) Judge: We recommend the teacher play the role of the judge. He or she should keep track of time, rule on admissibility of evidence and on any motions made.




 * __Appendix I__**

Emerald Isle - February 25, 1837 - "The Grand Debate" in //The Emerald Isle, "//The Protestant Vindicator" and "Destruction of the Charlestown Convent" in the //Jesuit//

Boston Daily Advertiser - sorted by date








Salem Gazette Newspaper articles (3 articles) from June 13, 1837 (located on America's Historical Newspaper) []

Salem Gazette Newspaper articles (2 separate) from June 16, 1837 (located on America's Historical Newspaper)

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__Appendix__ **

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