BRICKS, BUTTONS + BANKS
Tuesdays, 9:30am - 3:00pm | Ages 9 - 15 | January - June 2017
Investigations into local histories of labor, migration, and urban change through research, archeological explorations, interviews, writing and reading.
In Bricks, Buttons & Banks, students investigated Hudson’s history through the lens of labor.
We developed our research skills at the Hudson Area Library, putting on white gloves to read through historic censuses of Hudson.
We considered our own family stories of migration, learning about push/pull factors and the economic forces that have shaped this community over time.
We researched the ebbs and flows of industry in the region, tracing the histories of manufacturing, local prisons, and changing economies and technologies.
Throughout the class it was our goal to engage history as a tool to understand our current world, especially political dialogue happening in Hudson and around the country about work, labor, and industry, and to ask: What is the future of work?
Final projects included:
- The Boom + Bust Game of Capitalism (a board game to teach visitors about capitalism)
- The Gerrymandering game (a board game to teach people about prison gerrymandering)
- A wall exhibition to teach people about the school-to-prison pipeline and the prison industry in Hudson and beyond
- A compilation of historical and contemporary "work songs"
- A wall exhibition to teach people about the history of child labor
- An interactive exhibit about the history of ice harvesting in Hudson
- A diorama representing the history of the relationship between public schools and factories
- An essay about art movements and the industrial revolution
A course with Zebi Williams and David Eustace.