Bringing history to life. The Cook County scholars who will be presenting their historical projects at the state History Day event on May 4 are (L-R, front) Marin Hay with a website presentation on the eradication of smallpox and Hannah Toftey with a performance of the Moving Assembly Line. Her project partner Julia Larsen is not pictured. (L-R, back) Bailey Cox, Emily Jacobsen and Sarah Toftey will be performing a reenactment of the events surrounding the voyage of the Amistad.
Cook County Middle School was represented well at the 2013 History Day competition at the University of Minnesota – Minneapolis on March 23. At the end of the day filled with interesting presentations on Turning Points in History, Cook County’s two performance groups advanced to the state competition on May 4.
One performance, presented by Emily Jacobsen, Sarah Toftey and Bailey Cox, tells the story of Amistad and the 53 imprisoned Africans who rebelled on the voyage from Cuba to America—and the ensuing legal battle over whether the Africans should be punished for a crime or whether they should be freed because they were defending themselves from illegal enslavement. The girls presented the story at a rapid pace using snippets of historical conversation—aboard ship, in the court and on the street. The girls cleverly used old newspapers as props between vignettes, filling in the storyline.
Why did they choose Amistad as their historical topic? Emily Jacobsen said they agreed they wanted to research slavery and they thought Amistad was a story less well-known than the Underground Railroad.
The other performance heading to state is The Moving Assembly Line, which tells the tale of Henry Ford’s development of the assembly line to build autos. Julia Larsen and Hannah Toftey make this presentation with costume changes and a dream sequence, answering the question, “What would the world be like if the moving assembly line had never been invented?”
The historical performers had practiced extensively with social studies teacher David Leichty before the regional competition in front of the judges. “It wasn’t too intimidating,” said Hannah Toftey. “The audience was mostly our families and the judges.”
Also presenting at the regional competition was Hannah VanderHeiden who developed a thorough presentation on the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
Marin Hay did not travel to the regional competition, but her Internet presentation advanced to state competition. Her website presentation is titled Edward Jenner: Smallpox Vaccination. Hay selected her topic because it was a turning point in history, as the smallpox vaccination eradicated the disease.
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