Question 1 "Anthony J. Drexel's Institute" (800 words)
Based on the assigned readings, choose one element of the architecture of the Drexel Main Building, and discuss what this tells us about the unique vision of Drexel for his Institute.
You may broaden this to address the following: why did he and others think such a school would succeed at that time, why in Philadelphia, and what does it say more broadly about the American economy of the time?
Also, choose one of the buildings, colleges, programs, or majors added to Drexel in the last ten years--what do these say to the same questions above? Use the Drexel website and/or recent news reports from the Triangle or the Philadelphia Inquirer to assist you.
Question 2 imaging Philadelphia (800 words)
What was Edmund Bacon's vision for the renewal of Philadelphia after WWII? Why did he have the power to undertake the urban renewal plans that he did; which succeeded and which did not? Specifically, how did Bacon address the challenges of urban renewal? Ultimately why did the 1976 World's fair fail to materialize? What are the 3 MAIN lessons from history that should inform the planning for 2026?
Question3 renewal and riot (800 words)
Historians, help me out!
On this topic there are so many ways to go--you've done the reading, you know what's at stake.
Based on what you've read, what do we need to know, what are THE key questions we need to answer in understanding Philadelphia's urban form, planning trajectories, race and class divides, its futures, from the '50s on?
Using Imagining Philadelphia and the Weigley book choose one of the following individuals/groups and explain the conflicts and challenges he/she faced, from their perspective, as the city changed after WWII:
Edmund Bacon
Richardson Dilworth
John Gallery
Catherine Sue Leslie Craig
MOVE
Frank Rizzo
Dick Allen
Cecil B. Moore
Catherine Drinker Bowen
question4. Research Paper Assignment
The Future of the City
Lesson Plan
The history of Philadelphia is ready and waiting to be examined, and to be taught! This assignment asks you to take one of the major themes covered in this course and develop a lesson plan that delivers the material to an interested but uneducated student.
The student might be at any grade or age level--from 1st grade to 100 years old--and part of the challenge in the assignment will be to effectively tailor your lesson to your audience.
Steps:
1. Choose a theme that has captured your interest in the course. The best themes involve multiple historical figures, a period of historical change, and one or more conflicts.
For example, you might choose "Industrialization" or "Public Health in the City" or "Race and Ethnicity"--in each of these you can trace the theme over time, bring in multiple perspectives, and show how the history of the city involves conflicts, change, and the resolution of conflicts into the urban realities that have shaped the city over time.
2. Determine your target audience, and consider teaching strategies. What do they know, and what do they not know? What sorts of contextual information do you need to provide? What materials will work best in delivering your lesson?
3. Prepare to build the lesson. Collect the materials you will need. You will want to collect images, text, web links, and your own writings on the subject.
4. Build the lesson. Start by writing an introduction to the lesson that explains the theme, sets forward specific questions to be answered (objectives), sets forward the methods to be used, and explains the skills to be developed in the learner (reading, analysis, writing, etc). Give an overview of the steps to be followed and the materials to be presented. Present and explain the materials and how they develop the lesson. Set "plateaus" where the learner can see what he is learning as he/she goes along. Provide a conclusion and detail the critical lessons and skills learned.
5. Create an assessment tool. How will you assess the learner's progress? A discussion? An essay? A creative writing exercise or role play?
The entire assignment will run 1000-1500 words in length, of your own writing (not including text you use from outside sources). Any quotes, links, and other materials you use MUST be clearly identified, with full bibliographic information.
Question 5 (300 words)
Using the Franklin materials provided, especially Part 2 of his Autobiography, please answer one or more of the following questions:
1. What does Franklin's account of his arrival and early days in Philadelphia tell us about the city in its colonial form?
2. How did Philadelphia offer opportunities to Franklin as a young thinker, writer, and printer?
3. How did Franklin shape the city?
4. Why and how did Franklin become the most famous American by the time of his death, and what role had Philadelphia played in forging this identity?
Question 6 ( 300 words)
Choose one or more of the questions below . . .
Was Benjamin West right about William Penn--what is the "argument," what is he trying to convince you of, in his painting?
What made William Penn's approach to government unique in the colonies?
What were the key elements in the physical plan of Penn's "Green Country Towne"? In which ways did the plan work out the way Penn expected, and in what ways not?
Question 7 (300 words)
Once you have listened to the lecture, finished the reading, and viewed the slides for "Before Philadelphia," please answer the following question(s):
Why was the Delaware Valley region a favorable one for both the Lenni Lenape and the European colonists who arrived in the 1600s? How would you describe the interactions between these two groups in the period characterized as the "Middle Ground" era? Lastly, how did William Penn describe the Lenni Lenape, was he right, and why did he choose the descriptions he did?