Interactive Units
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Educating with Evidence
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Interactive Units
History is more than memorizing names and dates. It is also more than a story well told. Instead, it involves the analysis, comparison, and synthesis of multiple (and often conflicting) sources. With the use of H5P digital technology, these Interactive Units provide users with several options and supports to help them cite evidence from primary sources to construct their own understandings about the past. Educators can assign these units as essays their students complete with each topic’s essential questions, and the general public can use these units as interactive exhibits that reveal fascinating topics from the past.
Changing Attitudes Toward the Kickapoo Nation in Illinois, 1822-1833
When Illinois became a state in 1818, its founding came with a clear goal: remove all Native peoples from within its borders. Treaties, pressure, and forced relocations soon followed. Yet, the Kickapoo Nation was allowed to remain, at least for a time. Why? And why were they eventually forced to leave by the 1830s?
Debating the Indian Removal Act, c. 1830
In 1838, five Native American Nations were forced to leave their homes and resettle in Indian Territory or present-day Oklahoma. This module highlights the debates leading up to the decision to remove one of these nations, the Cherokee.
The Underground Railroad in Southern Illinois, c. 1850
Through historians’ debates, newspaper articles, GIS maps, and 3D-scanned artifacts, these modules focus on Miller Grove, an abandoned African American community in southern Illinois with suspected ties to the Underground Railroad.
The Bostick Experience: Joining the Union Army, c. 1860
This module explores the journey of the Bostick family members who escaped enslavement and joined the Union Navy during the Civil War before settling in southern Illinois. Through primary and secondary sources, examine the Bostick's choices to join the army through the broader context of African Americans’ military service during the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln and Leadership
These modules, based on books in SIU Press’ Concise Lincoln Library, explore several competing issues, ideals, and policies President Lincoln faced, many of which the United States and the world still face today.
Charlie Birger and Prohibition in Southern Illinois
Based on the book, A Knight of Another Sort: Charlie Birger and Prohibition Days in Southern Illinois, this unit explores an episode of bloody gang warfare in southern Illinois in the 1920s.
The Bostick Experience: New Beginnings in Southern Illinois, c. 1870
After the Civil War, there were many factors that contributed to African Americans’ decisions to flee the south. This module explores what prompted them to leave and—equally important—what helped so many of these formerly enslaved people settle in southern Illinois.
Rhetoric in Sources: Anti-Irish Immigration, c. 1870
This module examines sources from a Digital Inquiry Group (DIG) unit through the lens of rhetorical strategies used to dehumanize Irish Americans and Immigrants during the last half of the 19th Century.
Protesting The Clansman, c. 1905
In the years leading up to the Ku Klux Klan’s revival in the United States during the early 1900s, the public had been exposed to a steady stream of half-truths and distorted narratives about the original Klan, including the national tour of the play, The Clansman. This module includes several newspaper reports in protest and defense of this production’s opening across the country.
Responses to a Lynching in Cairo, IL, 1909
Rhetoric in Sources: Anti-Women’s Suffrage, c. 1820
This module examines sources from a Digital Inquiry Group (DIG) unit through the lens of rhetorical strategies used to argue against women gaining the right to vote in the early 20th Century.
The Fall of the Ku Klux Klan’s Second Wave, c. 1925
This module reveals the Ku Klux Klan’s power and weakness in southern Illinois during the first half of the 1900s. More specifically, it focuses on the crimes and scandals that even its members could not ignore and eventually led to its demise. Was it one event or a combination of several crimes that helped weaken the Klan’s power?
Rhetoric in Sources: Anti-Racism and the NAACP, 1941-1966
This module examines sources from a Digital Inquiry Group (DIG) unit through the lens of rhetorical strategies the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) used to combat racism during the middle of the 20th Century.
Rhetoric in Sources: Protesting the Vietnam War, 1941-1966
This module examines sources from a Digital Inquiry Group (DIG) unit through the lens of rhetorical strategies a Civil Rights leader and a war veteran used to protest U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.
Wicked Problems: The 1995 Chicago Heat Wave
This module explores one of the most devastating climate events in Chicago’s history, highlighting the perilous intersection of extreme temperatures and urban vulnerability to explore why over 700 people died during that tragic summer.
Wicked Problems: The Copi Challenge
Four species of fish, known as Asian Carp or Copi, have become a major concern for states along the Mississippi River. This module uses sources to explore how the Copi became an invasive species and what are potential solutions to this environmental challenge.