Below are some extra-credit opportunities you can consider reviewing for extra-credit in Early American Literature. Remember, to qualify for extra-credit. You should review the opportunity in your blog, explaining what you learned, connecting what you learned to the time period and literature we are studying, and include pictures of you participating in the opportunity (where appropriate).
1. Over the remaining weeks of the semester, we will be studying the early colonial period and concentrating much of our reading on British Colonialism in Virginia. Now is a good time to plan a visit to Henrico, Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, one of the James River plantations, etc.
2. The Smithsonian's American History Museum has an exhibit open on the move west. In the lobby, there's one of the few surviving Conestoga Wagons--the preferred method of transportation moving west and moving cargo in the Early Republic during westward expansion.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2012/11/going-west-the-american-history-museums-conestoga-wagon-is-a-must-see/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+smithsonianmag%2FAroundTheMall+%28Around+The+Mall+%7C+Smithsonian.com%29
While at the American History Museum, you might go to the presidential exhibit and view the lap desk on which Jefferson composed the draft of the Declaration or go next door to the US Archives to view several of the founding documents in person. If you go up the hill, to the Jefferson building of the Library of Congress, then you can see what remains of Jefferson's library, that is, the library Jefferson sold to Congress after their library was burned in the War of 1812 and which was the seed of today's Library of Congress. While on the floor for this exhibit, you might walk across to see the first map (1507) which calls the New World "America."
3. If you would like to stay closer to Richmond, consider taking in the movie, Lincoln, which opens this weekend and taking a tour of Shocoe Bottom. While there, see where Madison argued the General Assembly to ratify Jefferson's Statue for Religious Freedom, see an early draft of the Declaration (in the Statehouse Jefferson designed), sit in a replica of Henry "Box" Brown's box (on the Canal Walk/Slave Trail under I-95), walk the Slave Trail, and visit the Poe Museum. All this is within a few blocks of one another, and each can earn you two points extra-credit, that is, with pictures and a review posted to your blog.
4. For those who want to stay in Richmond and don't mind a short drive, consider visit to a slave cemetery and Lumpkin's Jail, St. John's church on Church Hill, Tocahoe Plantation (where Jefferson went to school), the Confederate Whitehorse, etc.
The point is to connect what you are learning via the literature to your daily life and the landscape surrounding you. In the process, you'll pick up some good Thanksgiving conversation and stories about Richmond and Virginia to share. You might even be able to turn one of these visits into a family outing
Regardless, have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving Break.
Steve
PS Legal Stuff: As always, participating in an extra-credit opportunity is your choice and is not a requirement for successful completion of the course. The college, VCCS, me, etc. cannot and will not take responsibility for anything which happens to you as a result of taking an extra-credit trip. These trips are designed to help you supplement your learning in the Early American class and to provide connections which might help the learning stick. I hope they might also make early American literature more fun and demonstrate how the subject remains a part of our daily lives--especially in Richmond and Virginia.
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