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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend April 27, 2006 History's human face By Paris Achen Mail Tribune As the maidservant to First Lady Martha Washington, Oney Judge had all the comforts for which a slave could wish — from a luxurious bedroom to beautiful gowns. Despite her privileges, Judge ran away from the Washingtons' home in Philadelphia in 1796 at age 22 to claim her freedom in Portsmouth, N.H. "She might treat me as a daughter and give me the finest things, but she never let me be free, so I decided things were going to change," said history interpreter Sheila Arnold, portraying a 60-something-year-old Judge Wednesday in an eighth-grade class at Talent Middle School. Arnold, who performs and trains teachers at Colonial Williamsburg, a living history village in Williamsburg, Va., came to the Southern Oregon Education Service District in downtown Medford Saturday to teach a workshop for history teachers on impersonating historic figures, a technique known as history interpretation. Talent Middle School seized the opportunity to bring the 31-year-old performer into the classroom to take students back in time, said Penny Schweiger, an English and history teacher. Advertisement Schweiger obtained a $200 literacy administered by Southern Oregon University to help pay for Arnold's portrayal Wednesday of Judge and Daisy Bates, a civil rights activist who guided the nine African-American students selected to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in September 1957. Dressed in a white cotton cap, a plain lime-colored dress and a long white apron, Arnold shuffled around the eighth-grade classroom at Talent Middle School, speaking in 18th Century slave dialect and reliving Judge's extraordinary life. After Judge fled Philadelphia when Martha Washington announced her intention to present her as a wedding gift to her granddaughter, the president sent letters to a customs official in Portsmouth seeking the recovery of his wife's favored slave, whom, he suspected, had been seduced away. The customs officials met with Judge who said she had ran away out of "a thirst for compleat freedom" and agreed to return to her mistress on the condition that the Washington free her upon his death. No deal was struck, and Judge remained in New Hampshire for the remainder of her life. Christopher Kammeo, an eighth-grader at Talent Middle School, said Arnold's performance taught him that some slaves were treated better than others. "I thought it was kind of interesting that Oney was treated very well but still wanted to see what freedom was like," Christopher said. "It makes me feel you really have to appreciate your freedom." The ESD workshop Saturday was meant to encourage teachers to try history interpretation as a way to capture students' interest. A three-year $939,000 grant meant to promote American history instruction paid for the workshop, one of four the ESD holds each year. The grant has also paid for 40 history teachers from Southern Oregon to visit Colonial Williamsburg, where they learn history content and techniques intended to enthrall pupils in the nation's past. "History interpretation gives a face to history, and it's important for students to see more than names and dates," Arnold said. "Seeing a character makes students more excited about learning about history and investigating it more." The ESD's federal Teaching American History Grant comes at a time when social studies instruction is in decline as schools focus more on reading and math as a result of President Bush's signature law, No Child Left Behind. The law sets deadlines for schools to meet certain standards in reading and math at elementary, middle and high-school levels. With intense competition for teacher time, one technique for fitting in more history is to incorporate it in reading activities, said Joe Peterson, project director of the history grant. "History is really a story well told, and it seems to all of us that it makes sense to use history as a vehicle for literacy," Peterson said. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Discount Hotel Reservations online casinos news Ashley Furniture HomeStore Send Flowers Southern Oregon Loans California Casinos GMAT Prep Windermere Van Vleet Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Sudoku Online Casinos Canada Online Pharmacy Advertisement s