At the Crossroads of Revolution: Lexington and Concord in 1775

FAIN: BH-50417-11

Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston, MA 02215-3631)
Jayne K. Gordon (Project Director: March 2011 to April 2014)
Kathleen Barker (Co Project Director: July 2011 to April 2014)

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for eighty school teachers on Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, and the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775.

"At the Crossroads of Revolution: Lexington and Concord in 1775" consists of two one-week NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops held during summer 2012 for eighty school teachers on Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, and the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775. Utilizing Minute Man National Historical Park (including the North Bridge and the preserved "Battle Road"), Freedom Trail in Boston, and sites in Concord itself, the project focuses on the battles of Lexington and Concord to illuminate the following topics: New England life and society on the eve of the Revolution; the developing conflict between Britain and its colonies; the battles themselves; the impact of the events on ordinary farmers, women, and African Americans; the local environment and landscape in relation to the history of the time; and the legacies of the Revolution, particularly in the writings of nineteenth-century Concord authors such as Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. The project faculty includes co-directors Jayne Gordon and Kathleen Barker (Massachusetts Historical Society [MHS]), Robert Gross (history, University of Connecticut), William Fowler (history, Northeastern University), Brian Donahue (environmental studies, Brandeis University), and Mary Fuhrer and Joanne Meyers (independent historians).

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