Historical imagination from the perspective of the individual whose name you discovered in the cemetery.
Re-thinking American History
First, visit a cemetery in the neighborhood, borough, or town where you currently live. Take a walk through the cemetery and try to find a marker memorializing someone who lived between the years 1865 and the present day. Gather information from the memorial about the individual’s name, date of birth and death, and any other details that might be recorded on the stone. Be sure to choose someone who is not famous/well known and who you do not personally know.
Using your local newspaper, public library and historical society archives, see if you can learn a little about the individual. You might turn up nothing, but see if you can find the individual’s obituary, at least.
(Chosen Obituary)
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/paula-aponte-obituary?id=34576056
Re-imagining the Past
For the written assignment, please review the Study Guide: Historical Imagination. Your assignment will be to use historical imagination to write an essay of approximately 1,000 words, from the perspective of the individual whose name you discovered in the cemetery. The essay will cover the history of the United States that unfolded during their life. You might imagine this history as being a story that the individual is sharing with a child, grandchild, or great-grandchild who has outlived that person.
To write the history:
Synthesize details from the timeline into narratives that the individual constructs for descendants.
Include in-text citations referencing quoted and paraphrased material.
Catalogue all sources you used into cited works, including the references included with the Wiki entries you use.
Examine all of the Re-Thinking Historic Timeline posts and other events that occurred in the 20 years preceding the individual’s birth as well as the entries that occurred during the individual’s lifespan.
Review any of the learning materials from our previous course modules that you feel might be helpful in preparing this story.