Spring 2022 Group ELO
With the support of a grant from YEF, Ms. Harrington and Ms. Carlisle will be offering a Group ELO opportunity entitled “Exploring Race in Local History from the 1600s to the Early 1900s.” This spring semester project is a collaboration with a number of local organizations and will allow students to explore the historical experiences of BIPOC groups in New England.
To sign-up for the course, complete the ELO proposal form. An informational meeting will be held on Thursday, January 6 at 9:45AM.
The ELO group will attend a live performance of the “Malaga Ship Saga” at Yarmouth High School. Antonio Rocha of Story in Motion is an award winning international storyteller. This unique performance tells the story of the Malaga ship produced in Maine and sold into the slave trade. Students not participating in the ELO may request to attend the performance on Friday February, 4 as well.
Students will participate in two historical walking tours of Portland hosted by local historian Seth Goldstein focused on Portland’s connection to the economy of enslavement, important abolitionists and the underground railroad.
The Atlantic Black Box Project is a historical recovery project helping to empower communities to research, reveal and begin reckoning with the region’s complicity in the slave trade.
Guest speakers from the organizations may include:
Meadow Dribble, founder and executive director and visiting Scholar at Brown University’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice
Kate McMahon, Museum Specialist at the National Museum of African American History & Culture
Vana Carmona, founder of The Prince Project, a database of over 1,700 people of color who lived in Maine prior to 1800.
We will collaborate with the Yarmouth Historical Society including a visit and tour of the collection. Executive Director Katherine Worthing will explain how historical investigative work is approached including methods, challenges, necessary skills and examining bias.
Students will have an opportunity to visit Malaga Island off the coast of Phippsburg. In collaboration with the Health Science learning area, the students would have the option to canoe from the public boat launch to the island and complete a 1.2 mile walking tour of the area. Equipment and canoes from YHS would be provided and Health Science teachers would help to guide the group across the water.
Additional components of the program include:
Scheduled meeting times for the ELO group will be during Flex time or after school. Meetings will include field trips, guest speakers and group discussions.
Students will work independently or in pairs to complete a project of their choice.
Students will present their final projects to staff members at the end of the semester and will receive .5 elective credits for the course.
Given the the unique collaboration and support of this Group ELO, 9th and 10th graders will be able to participate with permission from guidance and their advisor. Priority enrollment will be given to 11th and 12th grade students.