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    • Home
    • About
      • Dr. Terrance Dean
      • William Payne
    • Helpful Links
    • Contact Us
    • Curriculum Guide
      • Lesson Goals & Objectives
      • Reading Materials
    • Social Media
    • History
    • Partnerships
  • Home
  • About
  • Helpful Links
  • Contact Us
  • Curriculum Guide
  • Social Media
  • History
  • Partnerships

Denison University

William Payne Innovation Lab

Denison University William Payne Innovation LabDenison University William Payne Innovation LabDenison University William Payne Innovation Lab

for Racial, Social, Political and Communal Sustainability

for Racial, Social, Political and Communal Sustainability for Racial, Social, Political and Communal Sustainability for Racial, Social, Political and Communal Sustainability

Lesson Goals/Objectives

On this page, we will provide goals/objectives to keep in mind when teaching your students about the rich history of Allensworth.


  • Understand key words or terms that support understanding of the historical video, Allensworth: A Piece of the World
  • Know the geography and climate of the Central Valley, and compare this with other places in California and the nation.
  • Understand the conditions that faced African Americans during slavery, following the Emancipation Proclamation, and during the early part of the 20th century, and how African Americans coped with these conditions.
  • Identify the push-pull factors that caused the migration to California, and some resulting issues and challenges.
  • Explain Allen Allensworth's "vision" for descendants of slavery, how this led to the community of Allensworth, and life in this "colony". 
  • Analyze and explain critical issues in California: water, agriculture, transportation, education, divesity.
  • Understand the purpose and value of California's State Park System.

Example of Teaching About the Allensworth Township to Grade

Elementary School:

  • Explain and use the coordinate grid system to determine locations of places in California
  • Use maps, charts, and pictures to describe how communities in California vay in vegetation, climate, wildlife, and transportation.
  • Discuss immigration and migration to California between 1850 and 1900.
  • Describe rapid American immigration, internal migration, and the growth of towns and cities
  • Discuss the effects of the Great Depression, and World War II on California.
  • Trace the evolution of California's water system into a network of dams, aqueducts, and reservoirs.
  • Describe the history and development of California's public education system, including universities and community colleges

Middle School:

  • Discuss the importance of the slavery issue as raised by the annexation of Texas and California's admission to the union as a free state under the Compromise of 1850.
  • Describe the lives of free blacks and the law that limited their freedom and opportunities.
  • Explain how the Civil War affected combatants, civilians, and the environment.
  • Identify the push-pull factors in the movement of former slaves to cities in the North and to the West and their difference experiences in those regions.
  • Understand the effects of the Freedmen's Beureau and the restrictions placed on the rights and opportunities of freedmen, including racial segregation and "Jim Crow" laws.
  • Trace patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, natural resources, markets, and trade and locate such development on a map.


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