MPS 99d Immersive Field Trip

This trip was part of the 99d grant awarded by the Michigan Department of Education, for which Muskegon Public Schools applied. The funded project supports the integration of local history into the broader national narrative outlined in the MI Social Studies Content Standards—primarily for 8th Grade US History and High School US history courses—but can certainly live in other courses & disciplines as well. We are calling this approach "comparative history".

We chose the Great Migration as the launch point for this initiative because of its deep significance in both national history and the local history of Muskegon. Despite its importance and complexity, the Great Migration is often underexplored in classrooms.

Our 99d Project aim was twofold:

1. To deepen Muskegon Co. educators’ understanding of the Great Migration and its roots, through immersive, place-based, field experiences and...

2. To promote the use of local history to enhance student engagement, understanding, and connection to our own community.

Finally, we chose to introduce the comparative history approach using the Document-Based Question (DBQ) method, supplemented with localized sources that participants had a chance to harvest for lesson creation! **While DBQs are a strong entry point for this work, they were not the only strategy participants could use for integrating local history into their projects.

*Pre Trip PD Included:

> DBQ Project - October 2024

> DBQ Project & The Muskegon Lakeshore Museum Center in - May 2025

*Post Trip PD Included:

> July 24th, 2025

> August 7th, 2025

Before, during and after the trip, the group explored additional ways to develop units and lessons that connect local and national narratives—focused on themes such as, but not limited to: Migration "push-pull" factors, labor, geography, transportation, communication, housing, culture, etc.

Welcome aboard!

Day 1 - Muskegon, MI --> Chicago's Bronzeville, IL --> Blytheville, AR

Day 2 - Tyronza, AR --> Memphis TN --> Clarksdale, MS

Day 3 - Mound Bayou, MS --> Cleveland, MS --> Sumner/Money, MS --> Greenwood, MS --> Vicksburg, MS

Day 4 - Vicksburg, MS --> Jackson, MS --> Selma, AL

Day 5 - Montgomery AL --> Birmingham AL --> Nashville, TN

Day 6 - Muskegon, MI

1. Re-reading the DBQ "Mini-Q" Background Essay & this PBS article.

2. Watching some of the PBS Documentary: "Great Migrations: People on the Move" (Episodes 1 & 2)

3. Definitely watching the documentary "Up From the Bottoms" (see below)

Documentary made locally by Muskegon filmmakers, Jim Schaub and Rob Schaub.

4. Charting & Mapping the Great Migration

- America's Great Migrations Project (University of Washington) --> Interactive Maps & Tables

5. Learning about the Mississippi Delta's current context (various resources shared for this)

Bronzeville, (Chicago) IL

Tour Guide: Bernard Turner, Bronzeville Black Metropolis National Heritage Area

1. Chicago Defender Building

2. Quinn Chapel

3. Motor Row

4. Record Row

5. Black Metropolis

6. Mercy Hospital (Pope Leo Birthplace)

7. Grand Blvd.

8. Great Migration Statue (Central Station/12th St.)

9. Dunbar HS (1965 Atlantic article)

10. Griffin Funeral Home/Camp Douglas

11. Origins of Gospel Music --> Connections to Bronzeville, Thomas Dorsey & Pilgrim Baptist Church

12. Ida B. Wells Home

13. Overton Building

14. Robert Taylor Homes

15. Robert's Temple

16. Shelley v. Kraemer - Restrictive Covenants Supreme Court Case

17. Bronze Relief Map of Bronzeville History

Tyronza, AR

Museum Website: Southern Tenant Farmers Museum

Resources -

Southern Tenant Farmers' Union History:

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/southern-tenant-farmers-union-35/

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/southern-tenant-farmers-union/

https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/southern-tenant-farmers-union/

Additional Resource:

https://www.federation.coop/about-us

Memphis, TN

Museum Website: National Civil Rights Museum

Clarksdale, MS

Museum Website: Delta Blues Museum

Mound Bayou, MS

Museum Website Docent: Herman Johnson (662) 441-2233 moundbayoumuseum2@gmail.com

Mound Bayou Museum Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTebOWnfEiI

History Resources -

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/mound-bayou-1887/

https://wgvu.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/bf10.socst.us.indust.bayou/isaiah-montgomery-founds-mound-bayou/ (*Warning* - disturbing/offensive language at 4:22)

https://www.npr.org/2017/03/08/515814287/heres-whats-become-of-a-historic-all-black-town-in-the-mississippi-delta

Sumner, MS

Museum Website: Emmett Till Interpretive Center

Vicksburg, MS

National Park Website - Tour Guide: David Maggio

Resources -

Battle History/Significance: https://www.history.com/articles/vicksburg-campaign

State Memorials: https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/vnmp-state-memorials.htm

Vicksburg & Mississippi's relation to Reconstruction: https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/the-end-of-reconstruction.htm

Additional Resources -

Reconstruction:

- Failure Overview: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/civil-war-era/reconstruction/v/failure-of-reconstruction

- https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/make-good-promises?utm_source=siedu&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=banner

Selma to Montgomery, AL

National Park Service Website: https://www.nps.gov/semo/learn/historyculture/lowndes-interpretive-center.htm

Civil Rights Trail Website:

https://civilrightstrail.com/attraction/edmund-pettus-bridge/

https://civilrightstrail.com/attraction/lowndes-interpretive-center/

Additional Resources:

Edmund Pettus Bridge -

> HIstory of the Bridge: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Edmund-Pettus-Bridge

> Selma March & Bloody Sunday: https://www.history.com/articles/selma-bloody-sunday-attack-civil-rights-movement

Lowndes Interpretive Center (Tent City)

> https://www.nps.gov/semo/learn/historyculture/tent-city-story.htm

> https://www.nps.gov/semo/learn/historyculture/lowndes-interpretive-center.htm

> https://www.nps.gov/places/lowndes-tent-city.htm

Montgomery, AL

Museum Website: Legacy Sites

Birmingham, AL

Civil Rights Trail Website - 16th St. Baptist Church & Kelly Ingram Park

Additional Resources -

Segregationist History of Birmingham & The Birmingham Campaign:

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/bombingham-birmingham-alabama-1947-1965/

https://www.npca.org/articles/1438-reflections-on-birmingham-site-of-america-s-newest-national-monument

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/birmingham-campaign

16th St. Baptist Church:

https://www.nps.gov/articles/16thstreetbaptist.htm

Kelly Ingram Park (Children's March/Crusade):

https://www.history.com/articles/childrens-crusade-birmingham-civil-rights

Nashville, TN

Museum Website: https://www.nmaam.org/

Museum Overview Video: https://www.youtube.com/thenmaam

8:30am (EST) Departure from MAISD

--> Change your internal and external clocks to CENTRAL TIME! We will operate in CT for the duration of the trip until we leave Nashville on Day 6.

> 7:30 - 10:30am: TRAVEL TIME

- Who is on the Bus? & Our Collective Learning Journey (w/ Joe Lane)

- Preparing for our first stop: "Bronzeville" Chicago's Black Metropolis

**Learning: The Great Migration & Why Chicago? (Reading on own)

* Read:

- "Early Chicago: The Great Migration" (WTTW PBS: DuSable to Obama, Chicago's Black Metropolis)

- "Early Chicago: The Black Press" (WTTW PBS: DuSable to Obama, Chicago's Black Metropolis)

- "Bronzeville: The Black Metropolis" (WTTW PBS: DuSable to Obama, Chicago's Black Metropolis)

- STOP, JOT & DISCUSS --> What were a few of the major push/pull factors that lead people to Chicago? What topic, idea or 'artifacts' from the two articles could you use to engage your students around the ideas of "push/pull" and the Great Migration?

*Want more? Here you go! (1920's Bronzeville, Remembering the Chicago Defender, Interview linking People on the Move, The Defender and Chicago)

> 11:00am - 12:30pm: TOUR ON THE BUS (w/ Bernard Turner from Black Metropolis)

> (approx) 12:30 - 1:30pm: LUNCH @ Pearl's in Bronzeville!

> 1:30 - 5:30pm: TRAVEL TIME

*Learning: C3 & Inquiry Design Model (w/ Dave Johnson)

*Prepping for our visit to the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum (Monday morning)

- Defining terms & context for Mississippi (Farmers w/o Land Article)

- Tenant Farming and Sharecropping (Background info w/ Oklahoma lens)

- "Where are the Workers?" Book - pgs. 159 - 173

- STOP, JOT & DISCUSS --> What information was illuminating for you from this set of readings? What information/topic could be of importance, relevance or even a deeper dive for your students to understand about southern ag. labor following the Civil War?

> (approx) 5:30 - 7:00pm: DINNER (Location TBD - Mt. Vernon IL)

> 9:00pm - Arrival to Hotel in Blytheville, AR

8:00am (CST) Departure

8:00am - 8:50am - TRAVEL TIME

Learning: Preparing for our first stop: Southern Tenant Farmers Museum

**Failures of Reconstruction & the rise of sharecropping and farm tenancy**

Reading:

1. "Reconstruction Failed in the United States. What if it had succeeded?" (Opinion from FreedomCenter.org) --> - STOP, JOT & DISCUSS -->

How could the title and premise of this article reframe how you could approach Reconstruction as a topic in your classroom? (Even if "Reconstruction" isn't part of your standards, think about something that is and reframe it by centering student voice to answer a similar hypothetical question using an inquiry method)

2. Deeper Dive DBQ Curation!

- Sharecropping: Slavery Rerouted (Secondary source - American Experience)

- How Does Tenant Farming Work? (Primary source - American Historical Association)

- Take a look at Document A from the Great Migration Mini-Q. How might a teacher promote a deeper "inquiry" dive from the two readings above and Doc. A from the DBQ Project?

9:00am - 11:30am - Southern Tenant Farmers Museum (Tyronza, AR)

11:30 - 12:00 - TRAVEL TIME TO LUNCH

Learning: Preparing for our next location: National Civil Rights Museum

- The Lorraine Motel: Before becoming synonymous with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the hotel was a haven for Black travelers and Civil Rights leaders. It could be found in the famous Green Book, published annually from 1936 - 1967 in Harlem, New York by a post-office worker by the name of Victor H. Green (Access the Green Books HERE for years 1936 - 67, scroll down and select a book for any of those years).

STOP, JOT & DISCUSS -->

1. How might a teacher use this resource to promote more inquiry when teaching about the importance of locations like the Lorraine Hotel?

2. How could using the Greenbook to promote "comparative history" and possibly support a project idea for the grant work?

*Another lens...take a look at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a labor leader and civil rights leader. Are there comparative history connections that could be made btw. quotes/speeches MLK Jr. made regarding economic equality and labor struggles in Muskegon/W. Michigan?

>>Resources for comparison:

- MLK Jr. --> Mountain Top Speech, Collection of MLK's economic speeches book: "All Labor has Dignity", MLK/Malcolm X Mini-Q Docs. (DBQ Project), etc.

- Muskegon Labor/Civil Rights -->(See pgs. 18-20 & 26-29+) of the Muskegon Civil Rights Report)

12:00ish - LUNCH (Central BBQ in Memphis next to the Lorraine Motel)

1:00pm - ON BUS 1.5 hrs.

Learning: * Preparing for our next stop: Life on the Delta - Singing the Blues!

(Spotify Playlist: Visit Clarksdale Blues, Traveling the Delta Blues Highway podcast series)

3:00 - 4:15pm - Clarksdale Delta Blues Museum

4:30 - 6:20pm - Hotel Check-in & Rest Time!

6:45pm - Ground Zero for Dinner & Blues!

8:00am (CST) Departure - LOTS OF STOPS TODAY!

Clarksdale Area Mansions to see/drive by: https://www.coahomacc.edu/twilliams/historic-sites.html

Mound Bayou: 27 miles | ~30 minutes
Mound Bayou Museum
(Time in Mound Bayou ~9am - 10:30am)

Cleveland: 9 miles | ~15 minutes
CHOICE OF LOCATIONS TO VISIT:
Historic sites - related to the topic that we can do through Delta State University (MS Chinese Heritage Museum, Grammy Museum (800 w. Sunflower Rd.),
Other options: Sculpture Park, Railroad Museum, Flea Market
GRAB LUNCH (On Your Own - Get a Receipt)
(Time in Cleveland 11:00am - 1:00pm)

Sumner (Tallahatchie Courthouse): 41 miles | ~40 minutes
On the drive - Dockery Farms (birthplace of the blues/1895 plantation) on way to Sumner

***Preparing/Reflecting on Emmett Till's Story -

1. Do you know the story? --> This American Experience episode is a detailed, hard hitting look at the event and subsequent trial that would be a catalyst for a civil rights movement.

*Note: if using this with students, please be super intentional about how you use it. This could elicit strong emotions, so have a strategic plan for its use (ie Plan breaks for reflection, or to step away before returning to the story, or find portions of the documentary to analyze rather than watching the whole thing).

***Also, on the drive, as we approach the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, here are a few resources to help you think through approaches of teaching difficult, traumatic, and/or violent histories in the classroom:

> Teaching Hard History Podcast Series from Learning for Justice

Sumner: Tallahatchie Courthouse & Emmett Till Interpretive Center
(Tour: 2:00 - 3:00pm)

Money: 31 miles | ~ 34 minutes
Historical marker in Money, Mississippi and what's left of Bryant's Grocery in Money, MS
(3:40pm - 4:00pm)

Greenwood: 10 miles | 16mins
Here’s the town: https://www.visitgreenwood.com/history/

• Drive in via Money Rd and Grand Blvd.
• Locations to see (“Black Power” Speech corner of Broad St. & Ave. M, Whittington House from “The Help”)
• Dinner options: https://www.visitthedelta.com/food
• (4:30 - 6:30/7pm-ish)

Vicksburg: 95 miles | ~1 hours, 48mins

TRAVEL TIME

Learning: Reflecting on Days 1-3 & Preparing for our first stop for Day 4:

STOP, JOT & DISCUSS -->

Reflection Q's:

1. How did yesterday's morning tours better help you connect with push/pull factors related to labor, agency and economic freedom? Are there examples or topics you could connect your students with around these topics?

2. Did yesterday's use of music help you better get a sense of place and community in the Delta region? If yes, how so? If no, what else would have helped you better make those connections?

3. At this point, what topics or themes are you feeling connected with that might have a "comparative" history throughline? (Look back at earlier learning from this doc as needed)

4. Preparing for Vicksburg...

* National Park Website & Video primer for contextualization

* https://www.history.com/articles/vicksburg-campaign

5. Watch "Up From the Bottoms" if you haven't already!

8:30am (CST) Departure

Vicksburg Military Park -

• Vicksburg Military Park Step on Tour & Welcome Center w/ step on tour (9:00am - 11:15am)

• Lunch: Downtown Murals/Riverfront Vicksburg (11:30 - 12:45pm)

Visit Options:

> Mississippi Ag Museum (~1:45pm - 3:45pm) → Drop off participants who choose this site.
OR
“Two Mississippi” Museums (~2:00 - 4:00pm) → Drop off participants who choose this site
The Museum of Mississippi History/The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

Jackson → Meridian, MS: Dinner on the Road/Pitstop 90 miles / 90 mins.

TRAVEL TIME

Learning:

> STOP, JOT & DISCUSS --> Begin ideating a possible "comparative history" topic & identify which standards support your thinking (see standards links below).

> Find a "camp counselor" to begin thought partnering and discussing ideas with.

Meridian → Selma: 100 miles | 98 mins.

TRAVEL TIME

https://civilrightstrail.com/

Learning: Continue discussing possible comparative history ideas -OR- go back to earlier "learning activities" and look for lenses that might be a good framework for lesson or unit design supporting the idea of "comparative history".

🛏️ Overnight: Selma, AL St. James Hotel adjacent to the Edmund Pettus Bridge

Selma

Breakfast at hotel restaurant

(7am - 8:30am)

8:45am Departure for Lowndes Interpretive Center
Selma → Montgomery: 50 miles | ~1 hour

On the way...
Lowndes Interpretive Center (Free) (9am - 10am)
Viola Liuzzo Memorial - if time permits a stop (Free)

--> More background on Viola Liuzzo
Montgomery Legacy Museum (11am - 2:00pm)

Montgomery → Birmingham: 90 miles | ~1.5 hours
2:00pm Departure for Birmingham, AL
Lunch/snacks on the bus
Birmingham: The Nation's Most Segregated City & aka "Bombingham"

Civil Rights Locations: Kelly Ingram Park (Children’s March location) & 16th St. Baptist Church (same block)

TRAVEL TIME

Learning:

> Watch "Up From the Bottoms" if you haven't yet.

> Plan to meet with a "camp counselor" (Beckie, Dave, Kristen, Matthew or Chauncy for 20 mins.) to discuss ideas for your "comparative history"

Options for the morning!

> Join us at the National Museum of African American Music at 10am

OR

> Choose your own adventure!

1:00pm (CST) Nashville Departure (Must load luggage on the bus by 12:45pm)

Resources for Inquiry Based Teaching and Learning Methods...

> See the links below for ideas to create comparative history lessons, projects or units from...

*Note: the methods below center inquiry around student voice and/or visible learning to increase student engagement.

• Curating an Artifact, Exhibit or Collection
• Examples: Creating Classroom Exhibits (Institute for Arts Integration), Be the Curator (Smithsonian), Classroom Museum (Edutopia article), digital curation (Apple Learning Community)

• Curating a Digital Timeline - https://timeline.knightlab.com/

• DBQ (Scroll down to the bottom of this step!)

• Digital Map Creation
• Clickable maps (See Dave Johnson's clickable maps)
• Teaching w/ GIS through esri K-12 Education products

• Podcasting
• Teaching Podcasting (NPR Lesson)
• Help your students make their own podcast (NEAToday)

• Power Mapping & Freedom Mapping
• What it is and how to use it (General overview from Harvard Business School Website)
• Examples: Civic Power Mapping Project (UC Berkeley)
• The Freedom Mapping Project (UCLA) - https://www.freedommappingproject.org/

• Oral Presentations
• Socratic Seminar (What is and How to... article from Facing HIstory & Ourselves)
• Pecha Kucha (Overview & Tips article)

• Video/Documentary Creation
• How to write a documentary script (New York Film Academy)
• Lots of "how to's" on YouTube!
• Interesting lesson idea that could be adapted with comparative history from Pulitzer Center

• 3P (Problem, Place, or Project) Based Learning - Inquiry Projects
• "Gold Standard" PBL (from the PBL Network website)
• Using the "Creative Sequence" (from West Michigan PBL Network website)
• Place Based Learning (see book! --> Free Reproducibles)
• Importance of Public Products and an Authentic Audience (article by Avid Open Access)

Document Based Question (DBQ) Model Resources

DBQ Project Resources:

> Website, Method, DBQ Catalog, Misc. DBQ Resource Folder (Under Construction)

> DBQ/Local History Integration Step by Step Planning Guide

> Example "Comparative History" DBQ from the Repository What Caused the Dust Bowl?

> Great Migration DBQ Project Materials/Titles - (please do NOT share these documents digitally)

• The Great Migration: What Motivated People to Move?

>Other DBQ Project Titles w/ themes related to our trip (appropriate access to DBQ Project materials required to tackle these DBQ's for our comparative history project):

• A Case Study: How Did the Cotton Gin Shape Georgia’s Economy?
• How Did Abolitionists Make the Case Against Slavery?
• North or South: Who Was More Responsible for Killing Reconstruction?
• Harlem Renaissance Poetry: Does High Art or Folk Art Best Express Racial Pride?
• Martin Luther King and Malcolm X: Which Strategies Made the Most Sense for America in the 1960s?