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Professor Michael Thompson’s summer course on the American South to 1865 (HIST 3460) included a number of experiential learning opportunities outside of the traditional classroom setting.
After reading Tony Horwitz’s Confederates in the Attic, students explored Chattanooga’s Confederate Cemetery adjacent to the UTC campus and discussed the significance and divisiveness of Civil War memory and memorialization.
A few weeks later the class completed a service learning project in partnership with the National Park Service. While learning about the rich Native American and Civil War history of Moccasin Bend located just minutes from campus, the students and instructor spread mulch to help preserve a segment of the federal road that comprises part of the 1838 Trail of Tears.
Class participants learned more about regional Native history at Red Clay State Historic Park, where they toured the Cherokees’ last council grounds and discussed a text about Cherokee removal. The course wrapped up with a session at the Hunter Museum of American Art, where the curator of education guided students through the analysis and interpretation of artwork that elucidated several class themes.
Check out the photo galleries of the trips to Chattanooga’s Confederate Cemetery and to Moccasin Bend.
Chattanooga’s Confederate Cemetery
Moccasin Bend
