DeKalb History Center Launches Programs for School Students

From the DeKalb History Center:

The DeKalb History Center is offering new programs for schools.

“We want to expand our partnership with educators in our community by providing high quality curriculum-based programs that engage students in learning about history,” said Jenny Goldemund, the Center's programs and preservation coordinator.

“We started with the History Adventure in October where we served more than 2,000 DeKalb students and now we want to have school groups tour our historic structures and experience living history.”

School tours are currently being offered and can accommodate 60 students.

Students of Georgia or Early U.S. History tour Decatur’s oldest home, the Benjamin Swanton House (circa 1825), and two original pioneer log cabins. They learn about early businesses in the area and what life was like in the mid-nineteenth century from actors portraying people from DeKalb’s history.

Students conduct interviews with these historic figures, photograph them, and then return to school to write an article about them.

“Students are producing something out of their learning experience here,” Goldemund said. “We want to encourage students to participate in the process of understanding history.”

On this tour students meet an African American seamstress from the mid-nineteenth century.

“Zenith Twilley was a free woman of color in Decatur in 1851. She worked as a weaver, seamstress, washer and ironer. We want to portray her unique perspective on life in DeKalb County at that time,” Goldemund said.

LaDoris Davis, a professional educator and storyteller, portrays Twilley.

“History is an exploration of the lives of the celebrated and the unsung,” she said. “We are creating experiences that bring history into the present."

Students also will meet a member of the Benjamin Swanton family while on the tour. Swanton was an entrepreneur in Decatur in the 1850s. He came to Georgia initially to sell mining equipment after the Dahlonega Gold Rush of 1828, moved to Decatur and bought the Swanton House from Ammi Williams in 1852, and eventually owned a tannery, brickyard, grist mill and blacksmith shop.

“We know how important it is for teachers to have programs that match their curriculum needs and we want to do everything we can to help them and to give the students a great experience,” Goldemund said.

Tours are $8 per student. For information call 404-373.1088, ext. 20, or visit www.dekalbhistory.org