Thursday, June 3, 2010

TAH2 - Fresno Historical Society

Back on May 22, I participated in my first field study for my Teaching American History 2 (TAH2) Grant. It was very fun and quite enlightening.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to tour places throughout the Eastern portion of Fresno County. My group and I got to explore Akers Cemetery (just outside Centerville), where several Native Americans are buried. We had lunch along the Kings River and wandered around the sedge beds (Indian women still use sedge roots from this area to make baskets for cooking). We were then taken out to Hacker Ranch (outside of Minkler) and got to see Native American hieroglyphics that dated back more than 6,000 years.

The entire trip was so neat. I always knew that much of the Central Valley was once Native American land, but it blew my mind to actually hear stories about the land I was standing on and see evidence that had lasted several millennia. It almost made me wish I taught elementary school so that I could share this with my students and have it fit into the standards... almost!

I love being a history nerd :)

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