Who Was First? Discovering the Americas

Freedman, Russell. Who Was First? Discovering the Americas. Clarion Books, 2007. 88pp. Lexile 1310.

This is an excellent model for inquiry in terms of research and writing.  Freedman takes the title question, "Who Was First?" and starts with Columbus.  But then he moves back chronologically to consider the various claims about others who may have reached North or South America earlier than Columbus.  Some claims are from amateur historians, and Freedman lays out reasons to dismiss them.  But he also highlights an amateur who is believed to be right about an early Viking settlement in Newfoundland.  Freedman demonstrates how views of history change over time.  He shows how archaeology and newer research tools like DNA analysis and linguistic findings change historians' perspectives.  Artwork and maps add interest and information.  The author provides chapter-by-chapter bibliographic essays about his sources, followed by an index.

Reading Std #8: Delineate and evaluate argument and specific claims in a text, assessing reasoning & evidence.  This text repays careful study.  It uses reasoning and evidence to evaluate the topic. Have students lay out the argument and then,  just as Freedman applies analysis to his subject, have students apply it to Freedman's own writing to see if his conclusions are justified.

Onward: A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson

 

Johnson, Dolores. Onward: A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson. 2006. 64pp. Lexile 1070.

Although African-Americans had no chance to lead major explorations in the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century, Matthew Henson was one of the first, and possibly the very first, Americans to reach the North Pole.  The son of sharecroppers, Henson went to see at age thirteen, where the ship's captain schooled him in reading, writing, geography, history, and navigation.  When he was 21, Henson was hired by naval officer Robert Peary to accompany him, at first as a manservant, on a government mission to Nicaragua and then to Greenland, where Peary first began to reach the North Pole.  Smooth writing and fascinating historical photographs tell of their multiple attempts to reach the Pole, often living with Inuits during the expeditions.  Henson, who learned the Inuit language and survival techniques, became instrumental in the expeditions including the final successful one.  But as a black man, he was given very little pay and only honored late in his life.  This photobiography fits into studies of explorers and of black history but also lends itself to independent reading.  Timeline, bibliography, index.

Reading Std #2: Determine central ideas or themes and analyze their development; summarize key supporting details and ideas.  One of the central themes in this book is that of racial prejudice.  Have students compare the contributions of Matthew Henson and Robert Peary to the expeditions, and their much different rewards for their work, in exploring this theme.