The Zinn Education Project reminds us of two historic events that occurred on December 24 (the Calumet massacre of 1913), the very darkest side of humanity where company thugs caused the death of 73 children) and 25-26 (the Christmas Truce of 1914), a glimmer of hope where soldiers fighting for God and King and Kaiser for a moment questioned their place. Both have been added to to topical folk songbook by Woody Guthrie and John McCutcheon, respectively. Dec 24, 1913. To offer some relief to the families of copper miners of Calumet who had been on strike, a holiday party was held at the Italian Hall. After the festivities had begun, someone — to this day, no one knows who — yelled Fire! Inthe rush for the stairs, 73 people (59 of them children) were crushed and suffocated to death on the stairway. There was no fire. In the version of events in Woody Guthrie’s song, the “copper-boss thug-men” had plotted to yell Fire! and were holding the door of Italian Hall shut, so that the miners and their families could not escape. The town itself is still divided over exactly what happened.This description is from the 1913 Massacre film website where you can learn more: http://1913massacre.com/ Here are photos of the morgue and funeral: http://www.pasty.com/reflections/id254.htmListen to the 1913 Massacre by Woody Guthrie, sung by John McCutcheon: http://bit.ly/10eMt9x Lyrics by Woody Guthrie:http://bit.ly/vkh7Gw Photo: Copper miners strike outside of Dunn's bar on 6th Street in Calumet, Michigan - 1913.
"My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell; Each Christmas come since World War I, I've learned its lessons well; That the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame; And on each end of the rifle we're the same." – from "Christmas in the Trenches" by John McCutcheon (full lyrics: http://bit.ly/TV9rx5) "Starting in some places on Christmas Eve and in others on Christmas Day, the Christmas truce of 1914 covered as much as two-thirds of the British-German front, with French and Belgians involved as well. Thousands of soldiers took part. In most places it lasted at least through Boxing Day (Dec. 26), and in some through mid-January." Description from Aaron Shepard, here is a reader's theater Shepard wrote for ages 11+:http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE34.html The Christmas truce was a series of widespread, unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas 1914, during World War I. Through the week leading up to Christmas, parties of German and British soldiers began to exchange seasonal greetings and songs between their trenches; on occasion, the tension was reduced to the point that individuals would walk across to talk to their opposite numbers bearing gifts. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, many soldiers from both sides – as well as, to a lesser degree, from French units – independently ventured into "no man's land", where they mingled, exchanging food and souvenirs. As well as joint burial ceremonies, several meetings ended in carol-singing. Troops from both sides were also friendly enough to play games of football with one another.[1] The truce is seen as a symbolic moment of peace and humanity amidst one of the most violent events of modern history. It was not ubiquitous; in some regions of the front, fighting continued throughout the day, while in others, little more than an arrangement to recover bodies was made. The following year, a few units again arranged ceasefires with their opponents over Christmas, but the truces were not nearly as widespread as in 1914; this was, in part, due to strongly worded orders from the high commands of both sides prohibiting such fraternisation. In 1916, after the unprecedentedly bloody battles of the Somme and Verdun, and the beginning of widespread poison gas use, soldiers on both sides increasingly viewed the other side as less than human, and no more Christmas truces were sought. In the early months of immobile trench warfare, the truces were not unique to the Christmas period, and reflected a growing mood of "live and let live", where infantry units in close proximity to each other would stop overtly aggressive behaviour, and often engage in small-scale fraternisation, engaging in conversation or bartering for cigarettes. In some sectors, there would be occasional ceasefires to allow soldiers to go between the lines and recover wounded or dead comrades, while in others, there would be a tacit agreement not to shoot while men rested, exercised, or worked in full view of the enemy. The Christmas truces were particularly significant due to the number of men involved and the level of their participation – even in very peaceful sectors, dozens of men openly congregating in daylight was remarkable. continue at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Truce "Christmas in the Trenches" is a ballad from John McCutcheon's 1984 Album Winter Solstice. It tells the story of the 1914 Christmas Truce between the British and German lines on the Western Front during the Great War from the perspective of a fictional British soldier. Although Francis Tolliver is a fictional character, the event depicted in the ballad is true. John McCutcheon met some of the German soldiers involved in this Christmas story when he toured in Belgium. read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_in_the_Trenches The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports teaching a people’s history. Access free teaching activities: http://www.zinnedproject.org/ Coordinated by Rethinking Schools (rethinkingschools.org) and Teaching for Change (teachingforchange.org).OverviewThe Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the use of Howard Zinn’s best-selling book A People’s History of the United States and other materials for teaching a people’s history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. The Zinn Education Project is coordinated by two non-profit organizations, Rethinking Schools (www.rethinkingschools.org) and Teaching for Change (www.teachingforchange.org). The goal is to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. The empowering potential of studying U.S. history is often lost in a textbook-driven trivial pursuit of names and dates. Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States emphasizes the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history. Students learn that history is made not by a few heroic individuals, but instead by people’s choices and actions and therefore students’ own choices and actions also matter. We believe that through taking a more engaging and more honest look at the past, we can help equip students with the analytical tools to make sense of — and improve — the world today.General InformationSupport the Zinn Education Project: http://zinnedproject.org/support Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/ZinnEdProject
