If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you will remember my occasional references to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s (LMM) masterpiece, Hamilton.  I’ve seen it more than a few times.  I’ve dragged a few of my friends to the performances, too.  Across the USA.  (Hamilton started out at the Public Theater, Joseph Papp’s wonderful venue- but quickly moved to the Richard Rogers Theater on  Broadway.  Then, Chicago.  Then, LA, Then, London.  And, now, it’s traveling around the world.)

The first time I saw it, I told my son (who took me to see it for my birthday) that New York City (that was the only venue at the time) should drag all its junior and senior high school students to see this play.  Because the play carefully follows Ron Chernow’s outstanding biography of Alexander Hamilton- and because it brings history to the fore- without lectures and in a means that will resonate in these students’ souls for a long time.

That actually happened.  The Rockefeller Foundation and the show’s producers made a deal to let 20,000 underprivileged New York City kids get to see the show for $ 10.  (Come on- you know that Alexander Hamilton adorns the $ 10 bill- hence, it’s nickname- a Hamilton.)  But, the show alsodelivered a special performance for 1300 kids on 18 April 2018.

Yet, even that only helped kids in New York City.  All of our kids- across this land-  need that kind of educational opportunity.  (Yeah.  Sure.  There will be a movie version coming out next October.)

It turns out that there is a way.  Again, in concert with the Rockefeller Foundation,  LMM, Jeffrey Seller (the show’s producer), and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, a new curriculum based upon the musical is now available.  It’s called EduHam, and has been catering to about a ¼ million students across the USA.   The team rushed it into existence once schools were being shuttered due to the pandemic.

(By the way, other groups are doing this as well.  Disney (Theatrical Productions) now has The Lion King Experience available.  Except I’m not convinced that has the same educational resonance.)

The original target for EduHam was Title 1 Schools- in the cities where Hamilton is currently being performed.  (Title I schools are those receiving federal aid in low-income neighborhoods. ) Obviously, with Broadway dark and most cities on lockdown, there aren’t places where one can catch Hamilton on stage, right now.

The app has an instructional video from LMM, along with 40  personalities from the Revolutionary War period (both within and not included in the Hamilton stage show) and 14 historical events (e.g., the Boston Massacre).

Since this is a digital app, students will choose from the references provided (that stimulated their spoken-word, rap, or song).  They will then submit their work online, where cast members will choose the 10 best each week, which will be shared via social media and on the web.

This is going to be a pretty great learning experience.

 

And, since we are ‘learning’ from history…

It was 50 years ago today that Tricky Dick elected to have the National Guard shoot to kill students demonstrating against the VietNam War and Tricky Dick himself at Kent State University.  Four dead in Ohio.

From that signal event, folks like me managed to close almost every single college in America in protest.  Amazingly, every single engineering program (the most conservative of all academic disciplines- at least at the time) was shuttered.  Faster- and more effectively- than the pandemic shut down K-12 schools in America.

Jeffrey Miller
Allison Krause
William Schroeder
Sandra Scheuer
The Four Murdered Students from Kent State