Roots and Wings: African-American Heritage in Dayton, Ohio

FAIN: EN-50043-03

Omega School of Excellence (Dayton, OH 45406)
Geraldine L. Brown (Project Director: October 2002 to November 2006)

A series of institutes, workshops, research projects, and technological training sessions aimed at enhancing the teaching of the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North.

"Roots and Wings: African-American Heritage in Dayton, Ohio" will provide our teachers and students with the opportunity to explore their roots in Dayton within a harger historical context. Teachers of the Omega School of Excellence will work with scholars from Wright State University, the University of Dayton, and Central State University to create new integrated curricula in African-American HIstory and Language Arts. The project's focus in on the cultural origins and impact of the Great Migration of African-Americans to Dayton in the twentieth century, a significant historical phenomon which radically affected both the rural South and the urbanized North. Teachers will attend a summer institute, workshops during the school year, and undertake primary research on a trip to Memphis and the Mississippi Delta region. The teachers will then be provided with the technology training and tools necessary to engage their students in study, field research, and presentations around the theme.