The HNN last week posted an article by Gary J. Kornblith, professor of History at Oberlin College, who unexpectedly found a teaching moment while discussing the Civil War and Reconstruction. But what I love about Mr. Kornblith’s article was his willingness to question his own beliefs and opinions, which is not an easy thing to do. He clearly is an instructor who allows for free thinking from his students and in doing so challenges, invigorates and inspires them. His experience with his class is something I think worth reading:
Every so often one hits upon a way to make past events “relevant†in the classroom only to discover that in doing so, one begins to reevaluate one’s own views about both historical and current events. I had such a moment on April 12, 2006, in my course on the American Civil War and Reconstruction. The class was discussing a group of readings on the “dynamics of Confederate defeat.†I asked if Confederate defeat was inevitable, a pretty standard question. A student responded that the question was hard to answer because we already knew the South lost the Civil War, and we could only speculate about other scenarios. Opening the way for the study of Reconstruction that we were scheduled to begin the next week, I asked the student if she was sure the South lost the Civil War. She and her peers looked at me quizzically. Was I just playing games with them? After admitting that I was trying to be provocative, I went to the blackboard (the old-fashioned kind in the front of the room, not the electronic software kind), and I said, “Imagine it is April 12, 1865. Richmond has fallen, and the Robert E. Lee has surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. All major military operations have been completed.†Then I wrote on the board in big letters: “Mission Accomplished.†I proceeded to ask if the Civil War was really over by April 12, 1865, or whether it was just entering a new phase—one that would turn out differently than the phase of conventional warfare.
