Living Timelines
Essential Questions
- How is my story a part of American history?
- In creating the Declaration of Independence, what mattered?
- How can we hold this history as a predicament versus an affirming myth?
- How does an honest reckoning with our past help us move forward together?
Builds On
Directions
- Divide participants into small groups of 3–5.
- Provide each group or have them research a list of key names, dates, and events from the leadup to the Second Continental Congress.
- Groups will make a visual timeline, or Continuum, of each name/
date/ event using Sculptures and Tableaux. Considerations: - Which experiences may have informed the delegates’ thinking during the writing of the Declaration of Independence? Which events may the delegates have been thinking about as they debated and crafted the document?
- How can the connections between those events be embodied and portrayed visually?
- Share individual groups’ timelines and/or work together to create a whole class timeline.
Variations
Variation: To explore the cause and effect nature of historical events, provide groups with a list of “cause” events from the years building up to and during the Second Continental Congress. What is an effect from our current time that can be traced back to its roots in the founding of our country? Groups should create a living timeline of the causal events and their current-day effects.
Variation: Assign each participant to research a member of the Second Continental Congress. How strongly did they feel about declaring independence at the beginning of the Congress? At the end? Designate one side of the room as the most strongly believing in independence and the other side of the room as the most determined not to declare independence. Participants place themselves, in character, along the continuum according to their character’s point-of-view.
Variation: Extend timelines by imagining the future state of our society and the role that each participant will play in shaping it. What events do participants want to see occur in the future? How can they each actively contribute to the long sweep of history?
- In any variation, add a moment of Dynamizing. In each Sculpture or Tableau, ask the participants to think of what their character’s next movement might be and what they might say.
- Count participants in with a “1-2-3 Dynamize!” to cue them to shift into their character’s next position, creating a new Sculpture or Tableau. Cue “Restore” to return to the original position.