3. Living history civil war program serves students who are blind or visually impaired

Blind and visually impaired students in middle school and high school from all parts of the state will participate in a "Living History: Civil War Era Program," July 11-15, 2007, in Janesville.

Organized by the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (WCBVI), the program will help students learn how people lived during the Civil War period of 1861-1865. Students will participate in marching drills, be recruited into the Union or Confederate armies, and create appropriate flags. Students also will make and fly a model hot air balloon, similar to those used in reconnaissance during the war. They will learn songs of the era sung by soldiers and slaves and tour the historic Milton House, which served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.

While sighted learners can watch a TV program or video about the Civil War to gain an understanding of the period, students who are blind or visually impaired benefit from participation and experience with the actual objects and hands-on activities.

On Friday, July 13, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., the 1st U.S. Sharpshooters Company C will help students experience mock battles and the sounds of artillery, through a special (blank) firing of muskets and cannon in Lustig Park, adjacent to the WCBVI campus. On Saturday, July 14, students will join the "Haversacks and Hoopskirts" festivities at the Lincoln-Tallman House. Re-enactors portraying President Abraham Lincoln, General Ulysses S. and Julia Grant will be on site. That evening, the First Brigade Band will give a concert on the Lincoln-Tallman House grounds. (Rain location: WCBVI Auditorium)

The school, which is part of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, has a unique connection to the Civil War. In 1861, a student who was blind was required to draw the names of the Rock County residents to be drafted into the Union Army. The school's band also led the parade celebrating the war's end in 1865.

WCBVI partnered with Janesville's Lincoln-Tallman House and the Rock County Historical Society on the Civil War program.

More information: http://www.dpi.wi.gov/eis/pdf/dpi2007_65.pdf

For more information about SEAchange, contact: Benson Gardner at (608) 266-3374.

Last updated on 7/9/2007