Primary Source News 2006 and Earlier

"Ambassadors of Peace:"

Event Celebrates Primary Source

Two hundred friends of Primary Source and family members of co-founder Anne Watt and her husband John celebrated the achievements of the organization on October 20th, 2006. The guests braved a tumultuous autumn storm to arrive at the Wellesley College Club, which was filled to capacity. During cocktails, scholars, school superintendents, current and former board members, and educator-alumni of Primary Source courses and study tours were entertained in global style by a Chinese Fan dancer and the Boston Community Choir, until the guests were escorted to the dining room by an African Djelli, a traditional African drummer.

Highlights from the Milton Schools' Africa Odyssey, April 10, 2006

In 2005 the Milton School District launched the African Odyssey program as one of many new initiatives to foster peace and harmony in diversity town by promoting a deeper understanding of one another and of peoples' histories and cultures. This year the Milton School District in cooperation with Primary Source continued its commitment to bring diverse people together from across the community through the African Odyssey 2006. Mary Gormley, assistant superintendent, reports "Community within each school and between schools was built and every student was impacted."

A Higher Standard: Burlington Teacher Makes a Difference

Katie Bercury

Katie Bercury, a Burlington High School social studies teacher,was no stranger to Primary Source when she enrolled in a seminar on the history of religion in America last fall. She had interacted with the organization several times, having taken seminars on China, the Industrial Revolution and participated in a biography discussion on Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. But God's Country, said Katie, "was by far the most challenging."

Sir Ketumile Masire

Former President of Botswana
Chair, Global Africa Energy and Resource Corps
Mediator Civil War in Democratic Republic of the Congo

President Ketumile Masire

On Tuesday, October 11, 2005, Primary Source was pleased to welcome Former President Ketumile Masire of Botswana for an evening discussion of sustainable leadership in Africa. As a leader from 1980 to 1998 of one of Africa's most stable democracies--a nation cited by the World Bank as first in Africa for economic growth--Masire elicited admiration from the crowd of 40-45 guests who attended the event.

Organization of American Historians' Newsletter acknowledges contributions of Primary Source co-founder Anna Roelofs

From the May 2005 issue:

This article highlights Anna Roelofs' years of service to education, and particularly, the publication of the Making Freedom sourcebooks, a vital contribution to the teaching of African American History.

Collaborating for Excellence

by Anna Roelofs

In July 1998, a small group of historians and classroom teachers met in Watertown, Massachusetts, to begin planning for a groundbreaking project--the creation of curriculum sourcebooks to bring recent scholarship in African American history to middle and high school teachers and students. The educators present were knowledgeable about this history and all were committed to identifying primary sources and to writing lessons placing African American history in its rightful place within "mainstream" U.S. history. Read the article...

Why Learn about China?

A special tour for superintendents, curriculum coordinators and other educational leaders, July 31-August 14, 2004

Tour Leaders: Huajing Maske, Shiping Zheng, and Kathy Ennis

This was a tour for educational leaders wishing to gain a first hand experience of China. Participants visited three major cities: Beijing, center of government, Xi'an, center of ancient arts and culture, and Shanghai, the leading commercial center. Huajing Maske and Shiping Zheng both are accomplished scholars and seasoned travelers. They provided lectures on history and politics and on Chinese arts, as well as on-the-spot commentary that helped visitors place major sites in context.

The Silk Road

The name conjures up ancient times and traders with gems, glass, spices and, of course, silk. The term 'Silk Road' was coined by German explorer Baron Ferdinand Von Richthofen in the nineteenth century. But theactual trade routes were in use from the 2nd-14th centuries BCE, and extended from Japan and China across central Asia, South to India and further West to the Mediterranean.