Hey, everyone. Welcome to then again, podcast. I'm Libba Beauchamp, the interim executive director at the Northeast Georgia History center. And today we've got a podcast extra to let you know a little more detail about an exciting program we have coming up, our homeschool day, all about World War Two. Now, that's on Thursday, April 25, from 10:00 a.m. To 01:00 p.m. And we are going to have some very, very special guests. And one of those special guests is from Kennesaw University, Kennesaw State University, and from the Museum of History and Holocaust Education. Today we have the k through twelve education coordinator, Maddie Davis with us. Hey, Maddie, thanks so much for joining us today.

Thanks for having me.

So, Maddie, I was really excited because when I was thinking about folks that we wanted to collaborate with, especially given that World War Two is not only a national subject, but it goes all the way down to local history. And when I saw that the Museum of History and Holocaust Education had these awesome, not only virtual programs, which I thought was really neat, but on site programs, travel trunks, I mean, all sorts of excellent educational materials, I really wanted to reach out and see if we could collaborate, and I'm so glad that we can. On April 25, for our homeschool day, Maddie is going to be presenting a special program about the Tuskegee airmen, and we'll get into a little bit of the details about that. But first of all, Maddie, could you tell us a little bit about how you got into museum education and what your role is like at the Museum of History and Holocaust Education?

Yeah, absolutely. So I started as a classroom teacher. My degree is in early childhood education, and I just didn't want to be in the classroom for the rest of my career. I found it a little bit limiting. So I went overseas and got my master's from the University college London in museums and galleries. In education, we often say that as museum educators, we are the grandparents of education. We get the students for two and a half hours, get them all jacked up and excited about history, and then we send them back onto their teachers. We don't have any report cards or state testing, parent teacher conferences. We just get to do the fun parts of education. We get to be creative, and we get to still see those light bulb moments, which is the best part about being in education. So I finished my master's on a Friday and started work here on a Tuesday.

I love that.

So it has been a world.

Yeah. And it's really neat that you have that experience of being a public school educator and knowing the challenges and what you're up against. But to be a museum educator, I mean, I've also found that it's such a creative experience, especially because there's so many fun and engaging and interactive ways to present history and to connect students with history. So at the Museum of History and Holocaust Education, give us sort of a bird's eye view of the kind of programs that y'all offer, both on site and virtually.

Absolutely. So we really focus on World War two and the Holocaust, but also the generational shifts that come from those events. So we go as far back, really, as World War one and go up to the cold War and even a little bit of current events and civil rights. And what we really try to focus on is the individual's role in history. We kind of use the tagline humanize history. And so we focus on our oral history collection and try to make those connections from home front workers, Holocaust survivors, and World War two veterans to make those connections for students. When they see they share a name with someone or a birthday or a similar upbringing, they automatically make that history a little bit more real for them because they have that connection. They start thinking about, what if that was me? So it takes history from dates and timelines and major events to the way that people were impacted from history, which makes it a lot more fun and exciting for students. They realized that these names in a history book is not just kind of a mythological person, but a real human being that had emotions and had to get up every morning and put on their pants and brush their teeth and get to it. Absolutely.

I mean, we certainly resonate with that kind of mission and view as well. I really like that phrase that you said to humanize history. I think that's what we, as our role in museums, especially history museums, can do. And I'm so glad you mentioned those specific personalities stories that y'all archive and share and connect folks to the past, because like you said, we can have this really big idea of historical events, especially something as huge and complicated as World War two, to really find those stories that are local, to have programs that are going to connect the dots for students about those human experiences. That's what really makes an impression. And it's really exciting that y'all are going to bring that kind of experience to our homeschool day through the Tuskegee Airmen program. And I want to know what excites you about this program. Tell me about the development of this program and what visitors can expect.

So this program has gone through a couple different iterations. The one that we have now is called flying for a double victory. So it focuses on the Tuskegee airmen in that double V campaign, looking at the victory from within, talking about defeating Jim Crow laws and racial segregation and discrimination in the United States and the victory from without, talking about the Nazis and the greater Axis powers. So it kind of goes chronologically, looking at what Jim Crow laws are and what people were facing in the United States, their fight to join the armed forces during World War one and even World War two, and then going on to looking at their service in World War two, and then really doing that deep dive in the Tuskegee airmen, the training to become a Tuskegee airmen on their battles that they were fighting in, and then the legacy of the Tuskegee airmen. And we have two oral histories that we focus on here. Theodore Britton. He was actually a Marine in the World War two, but he served as one of the first black marines in the United States. And then we also have Hillard Pouncy, who was a bombardier with the Tuskegee airmen, grew up in Alabama, really has a well rounded story of starting in their south during segregation and going to the Tuskegee airmen, went on to become a. Get his PhD from Syracuse, and having a really exciting career traveling all around the world and focusing in on those two and their experiences throughout world War two and in the military.

Nice. And for folks who may not be familiar, the Tuskegee Airmen, they were the first african american military aviators in the army forming during World War Two, and they're called the Tuskegee Airmen, given that they were trained at the Tuskegee army airfield in Alabama. And so this was a really significant breaking of racial barriers in the United States military. So could you give us a little, maybe a few little details of what we might learn about those individuals that you just mentioned? Because I'm really excited to learn about folks that are more local to the area, that have stories that can really speak to that personal side of things. What were you able to learn from those oral history interviews?

Yeah. So Theodore Britton will talk a lot about how the military treated African Americans as they were joining, what the expectations were of them and some of the challenges that they faced, the limiting kind of stereotypes that were placed on them. Hillard Pouncy will talk about the specific training of Tuskegee Airmen, the level of education that was required, as well as some of the other major players within the Tuskegee Airmen, like Benjamin O. Davis, junior, and the role that they played, really focusing on the broader kind of team effort that the Tuskegee Airmen had. Hillard Pouncy is also still alive today.

Oh, wow.

And he lives just outside of Atlanta, which is really exciting to have someone who was such a major player in history who's still alive and still connected to our state.

Oh, that's fantastic to know. I know a lot of your programs are highly interactive, and I believe this one will also have a bit of an interactive element to it. Is that right?

Yes. We like to try to get students involved so they're not just listening to us and then tune us out, but answering questions and thinking critically about different photographs or oral history clips, newspaper clippings, artifacts to really think critically about these primary sources and just really diving into their own connections to the history.

And will there be any kind of resources for parents to take or for students to continue their learning as part of this program or even things that they can see on site as part of this program? Any artifacts or anything that you'll be bringing with you?

So I will be bringing with me some information about other events and programs that we have. So we offer field trips, on site, virtual programs, as well as going into schools. We offer our own homeschool days during the school year, as well as we are hosting some summer camps this year for really K. Well, rising first grade through 8th grade. And we also have a virtual summer workshop for high school students who want to do a deeper dive into the holiday beyond what the standards really kind of allow for their teachers to dive into. We do have a Tuskegee Airmen traveling trunk that you can book, which is unfortunately all booked up right now. So otherwise, I would love to bring all of the artifacts that we have, but they are already being used by different schools. But you can go onto our website and book those and have those artifacts sent to your school and to. For your students to really, like, manipulate and handle and touch. That's one thing that we really are excited to continue to develop within our programming, is artifacts that students can handle. I always get students that are like, you're going to let me touch that? Of course, your education, your connection to this history is so much more important than something we got off of eBay. We can get another one if it breaks, be gentle with it. But we want them to really, like, feel the history in their hands.

Oh, I love that. Yeah. So, folks who are seeing this program during our homeschool day, you can continue the learning through the travel trunks, but I would also highly recommend visiting the museum itself. So, Maddie, can you tell us, what can folks expect when they actually go to the Museum of History and Holocaust Education?

So on site we have a theater that has a rotating film about Anne Frank. We have a Holocaust exhibit inside, kind of our cinder block structure, as well as an exhibit right now about people in Georgia during World War two and the state's connection to the war where Hillard Pouncy is featured. That exhibit is going under construction soon to make way for a new Holocaust exhibit about resistance and the Holocaust that we're super excited about. It's going to have a lot of artifacts and interactive features, which is something a little bit new for us to incorporate on the outside of our museum structures. So within the KSU center, we have more exhibits about women pilots in World War Two, as well as more connections to Georgia and different areas of Georgia and their role in World War two, as well as an exhibit on World War one and seeing how that really is the catalyst for World War two and all of the other events that we focus on.

Oh, that's amazing. So there's tons of resources there, a really great way to engage with this topic, and it is a big topic. So I know that even teachers as well as homeschool educators, they're seeking these kinds of resources and these experiences for their students. And so I really encourage folks to check out Museum of History and Holocaust education at Kennesaw State University. Very excited to have Maddie join us on Thursday, April 2020 from 10:00 a.m. To 01:00 p.m. With the Tuskegee Airmen program. It's going to be really exciting. Maddie, is there any, are there any other events that you would like to share with our audience today?

Just again, the summer camps. We have space for 15 campers per week, so we are hoping that it fills up quickly. They're running every week. In June. We have a spy camp, an around the world camp, a stem camp, and a time travelers camp for different ages. We're super excited. Our educators have been working super hard to make it really fun and exciting and engaging, but also historically accurate as much as we can while not making it super boring. With a bunch of primary source analysis, as well as our virtual summer workshop for high school students, which is running from July 8 to July 11. It's online. We have students come from all over the world. We had a student from India last year join us, staying up very, very late, way past my bedtime. We've had students from China participate. We're doing a program with a school in the Philippines, so we are truly an international community here. So you can go onto our website and find the applications to apply for the summer workshop or to register for our summer camps. And you can also follow us on social media, KSU History Museum on Instagram and we post a lot of those events and the links to join them. And if we have any teachers that are tuning in, we do a summer institute for teachers on in June 1 about teaching the Holocaust and then this year we are partnering with the Civil Rights Museum and doing a civil rights institute for teachers. In the last week of June, those application periods have already closed, but we do them annually, so to be on the lookout for the next year's registration.

Wow, there's so many exciting projects and initiatives going on. So folks, please support your local history museums and organizations. I say local, but this is international. So such a great resource to reach out to. And we're so glad that you're going to join us for our homeschool day. And folks will have links in the description to both the details of the museum, the upcoming homeschool day, and social media links like Maddie mentioned. But Maddie, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us and for offering this program. It's going to be a really special day and I just can't wait for April 25 from 10:00 a.m. To 01:00 p.m.

Then again, is a production of the Northeast Georgia History center in Gainesville, Georgia. Our podcast is edited by Andrews Gilles. Our digital and on site programs are made possible by the Ada Mae Ioster Education center. Please join us next week for another episode of then again.