Combining the genres of documentary, musical theater, and western film, Robert Greene’s experimental film Bisbee ’17 follows members of an Arizona community as they reckon with a dark episode in their town’s history.

In 1917, over one thousand Arizona miners—on strike for better wages and safer working conditions—were violently rounded up by their armed neighbors, herded onto cattle cars, and deposited 180 miles away in the New Mexican desert. Most of the workers expelled from Bisbee were immigrants. This event came to be known as the Bisbee deportation, and was discussed only in hushed tones during the following century. Bisbee ’17 documents Bisbee locals as they plan a centennial commemoration. They stage dramatic scenes from 1917, culminating in a large-scale recreation of the deportation itself on its 100th anniversary. These scenes are based on historical research but also convey the actors’ interpretations of their characters’ motivations, underscoring the complexity of collective historical memory. The reenactment raises difficult questions about contemporary issues of immigration, labor rights, corporate power and state-backed violence with haunting scenes created by people who are reckoning with history in real time.

In this lesson for Bisbee ‘17, students will explore the concept of historical memory and consider the social and cultural factors that influence how the Bisbee deportation has been remembered by the town’s residents. Students will then research and reenact an event from their own community’s past and analyze cultural factors that shape modern interpretations of the event.

Important Note to Educators

Viewing and discussing sensitive material: This lesson and the accompanying film address sensitive social issues and teachers should screen the film clips and review all of the related materials prior to the lesson. It would also be helpful to connect with a school social worker for resources specific to your school community’s needs and guidelines.

Remind the class that this is a supportive environment and review your classroom’s tools for creating a safe space, including class agreements. These might include guidelines like “no name-calling,” “no interrupting,” “listen without judgment,” “use respectful language,” “share to your level of comfort,” “you have the right to pass,” etc. And remind students that when they talk about groups of people, they should be careful to use the word “some,” not “all.”

Visit Teaching Tolerance for additional resources and strategies for tackling challenging topics in the classroom:

• Classroom Simulations: Proceed with Caution
• Teaching Tolerance: Let's Talk! Discussing Race, Racism and Other Difficult Topics With Students
• Social Justice Standards | The Teaching Tolerance Anti-bias Framework
• Teaching at the Intersections: Honor and teach about your students’ multiple identities

Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Explain the concept of historical memory
• Describe cultural factors that influence how the past is interpreted
• Research and reenact a historical event from their own community’s past
• Examine the evolution of the event’s historical narrative and analyze the factors that shape modern perceptions of the event

Grade Levels: 9-12th grade

Subject Areas

• U.S. History
• Social Studies
• Civics
• Creative Arts

Materials

• Bisbee ’17 clips and equipment on which to show them
• Student Handouts:
  • ⁠— Student Handout A: Clips 1 & 2 Film Notes
  • ⁠— Student Handout B: Discussion Deportation Then and Now
  • ⁠— Student Handout C: Clips 3 & 4 Film Notes
  • ⁠— Student Handout D: Reckoning With History
• Teacher Handouts:
  • ⁠— Teacher Handout A: Film Summary
  • ⁠— Teacher Handout B: The Bisbee Deportation Timeline
• White board
• Pens, markers and writing paper

Estimated Time Needed
One 50-minute class period, with homework

Film clips provided in this lesson are from Bisbee ‘17. Access the streaming clips for free on POV's website by visiting www.pbs.org/pov/educators. Borrow the full film from our DVD Lending Library by joining the POV Community Network.

Introduction: History and Memory

Do Now: “Who writes history?”

Ask students to free-write in response to the question: “Who writes history?” Using the “Popcorn” Sharing Method, have students share their responses with the full class. (Instructions for the “Popcorn” technique.)

Divide the class into cooperative learning groups of 2–3 students to discuss the following question: “What might influence how a historian, biographer, documentarian, government or community interprets or reports about the past?”

Using the “Whiparound” Sharing Method, have a volunteer from each group summarize their thoughts for the class. (Instructions for Whiparound sharing.)

Can "History" change?

Discuss as a class:
—Can a historical narrative change?
⁠—What might cause us to alter the way we understand and/or interpret an event from the past?

Introduce either of the following quotations and have students rewrite it in their own words then share their interpretations with the class:

“We are what we remember, and as memories are reconfigured, identities are redefined.”
–Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Historian

“History is a people's memory, and without a memory, man is demoted to the lower animals.”
–Malcolm X

Discuss: “What is historical memory?” Ask students if they are familiar with the term “historical memory” and/or if a volunteer could share what they think it means.

Explain: Historical memory refers to the way by which groups of people create and then identify with specific narratives about historical periods or events. Historical memory is sometimes also called collective memory or social memory and is a dependent upon things like familial memory, cultural/religious memory, and national memory. Historical memories help form the social and political identities of groups of people and can be revisited and revised as social priorities and cultural values evolve.
Adapted/excerpted from Study.com: What is Historical Memory? - Biases & Examples

For more information and activities on Historical Memory see POV’s lesson plan for Graven Image: Stone Mountain and Historical Memory—Who Defines the Past?

The Bisbee Deportation Then and Now

Explain to students that we will watch clips from the documentary Bisbee ’17 and share the film summary from Teacher Handout A. Share the background information in Teacher Handout B and information from the following resources as needed:
⁠— Benton-Cohen, Katherine. “Two Ways of Looking at the Bisbee Deportation.” Lapham’s Quarterly, 30 August 2018.
⁠— “Background Information” from POV Discussion Guide for Bisbee ‘17
⁠— Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum
⁠— Western Mining History: Bisbee

Explain to students that the film was produced in collaboration with an academic historian as well as local Bisbee scholars and residents who organized the commemoration. Georgetown University historian Katherine Benton-Cohen drafted 10-12 scenes and character sketches based on her historical research. The director, Robert Greene, then worked with local residents to stage these scenes but allowed the actors to improvise and develop their characters based on their own interpretation of the events. The reenactment did not purport to be objectively true: it was a series of narratives crafted on the basis of multiple sources, each of which provided an incomplete, individual, and sometimes contradictory account of the 1917 events.

While watching the film, students should complete Student Handout A by noting scenes and quotes that demonstrate the conflicting narratives surrounding the Bisbee deportation. Play Clips 1 and 2:
— Clip 1: The Ray Family | 11:48–14:55 (3:07 minutes)
— Clip 2: Historical Narratives in Conflict | 27:55–35:00 (6:27 minutes)

Have students organize into small groups to discuss the clips using Student Handout B discussion prompts:
— What are the conflicting narratives of the Bisbee deportation shown in the film?
— How was the story of the Bisbee deportation passed down to the contemporary Bisbee community? How did this process contribute to the conflicting historical narratives? What factors have influenced the historical narratives that individual Bisbee residents have adopted?
— How does the process of collaborative reenactment reflect the challenges inherent to historical research and writing?
— The film’s historical advisor, Georgetown University Professor Katherine Benton-Cohen, asked, “As professional historians…what do we owe the people and places we study?” Consider how power imbalances shape the relationship between scholars and the communities they study. How do you think historians should enlist a community’s current residents as collaborators in the researching and telling of history? Are there limits to how much local stakeholders should have a say in how their history should be told? Are historians unbiased? Does the answer change if we know that Benton-Cohen’s grandfather was born in Cochise County shortly before the Deportation? Why or why not?

Reconvene the class and discuss:
— Annie Graeme-Larkin states: “I have to remember, first off, that my father is a company man, and also remember those people telling the story are in Bisbee. In other words, they weren't deported.” What is the significance of this perspective on the Bisbee deportation narrative?
— What did committee member Dan Frey mean when he referred to the Bisbee deportation as an “ethnic cleansing”? Based on what you saw in the film, what role did race appear to play in Sheriff Wheeler’s and Bisbee residents’ responses to the strike? How do you think contemporary residents’ understandings of race and citizenship shape their interpretations of the event?
— What is the Bisbee community risking by confronting the town's painful past? What do they hope to gain

Play Clip 3: Living the History. While watching the film, students should list scenes and quotations that demonstrate the impact of the reenactment on Bisbee community members using Student Handout C.

Have students rejoin their small groups and discuss the clip using Student Handout D: Reckoning with History. What factors influenced the Bisbee community’s historical memory before and after the reenactment of the deportation?

Reconvene the class, review their group discussion notes, and use the following prompts to reflect on the film:
— How did you feel when you were watching the re-enactment of the Bisbee deportation?
— Why did the community choose to revisit the town's history as a community event in addition to other historical accounts, like the books and articles that have been written?
— Why was it important that the story was primarily told and performed by the current residents of Bisbee?

Collaborating with History

Have students select an individual or event from history and examine how and why the historical narrative associated with this subject has changed over time. Students should also analyze current perspectives on their subject to reveal contemporary factors that are influencing our collective historical memories. They can also attempt to project how the historical narrative may evolve as future generations reflect on the event. Students should present their findings as an essay, report, or multimedia presentation.

The Red Summer of 1919

Bisbee’s history of racial stratification and social unrest did not end with the 1917 Deportation. It was known as a “sundown town” where white residents discriminated against Arizona’s Mexican, Chinese, and African American communities—often violently. On July 3, 1919, members of the U.S. Army’s segregated 10th Cavalry Regiment—whose African American troops were referred to as “Buffalo Soldiers”—were in Bisbee to participate in the town’s July 4th parade. A fight broke out between a white policeman and members of the regiment. According to a New York Times report on the 1919 event, local white law enforcement “planned deliberately to aggravate the Negro troops so that they would furnish an excuse for police and deputy sheriffs to shoot them down.” The “riot” and shootout that ensued left two African-American soldiers wounded and more than 40 soldiers disarmed and arrested.

Throughout 1919, a wave violence against African Americans, later known as the Red Summer, occurred in more than 25 towns and cities across the United States. More than 100 African Americans were shot, burned, clubbed to death in East St. Louis, an estimated 100–240 African Americans, and five whites, were killed in Elaine, Arkansas, and from 1918-19 more than 140 African Americans were lynched across the South.

Have students examine the history and social context of the Red Summer anti-black riots across the country and the connection between the attack on the 10th Cavalry Regiment and the Bisbee deportation two years earlier.

Bisbee’s Red Summer Resources:
— Five Wounded in Streets of Bisbee as Police and Negroes Exchange Shots,” Bisbee Daily Review, July 4, 1919
— Red Summer Archive: A collection of primary sources related to the Red Summer of 1919
— Red Summer of 1919, Equal Justice Initiative
— The Nation Classroom: History as It Happened - Race Relations and Civil Rights 1919-1929. Lesson Plan, Module 4
— Lynching in America: Targeting Black Veterans, Equal Justice Initiative
— "Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America,” by Cameron McWhirter and Eric Arnesen, Chicago Tribune, 18 November 2011.

Songs of Work and Social Change

As illustrated in Bisbee ’17, music was embedded in the labor movement as a powerful way to document the struggles, determination and unity of workers. Miners, factory laborers, and their supporters in the early 20th century often wrote songs that conveyed their harsh working conditions and low wages and inspired workers to stand up against exploitative employers.

Have students explore the significance of songs used in Bisbee ’17 as well as other songs from the era, including the rich history of corridos: Mexican narrative folk songs that often dealt with the relationship between Mexico and the United States. Explain to students that the main song used in the film is not from the time period, but was used for effect during the reenactment. Then have students closely analyze and compare/contrast a song from the early 20th century with a contemporary song that addresses similar issues. Complete the activity by having students write their own songs in the style of their choosing.

Al Otro Lado (POV 2006) explores the Mexican tradition of corrido music — captured in the performances of Mexican band Los Tigres del Norte and the late Chalino Sanchez. The film follows Magdiel, an aspiring corrido composer from the drug capital of Mexico, as he faces two difficult choices to better his life: to traffic drugs or to cross the border illegally into the United States. In the accompanying lesson plan, for grades 6-12, students watch clips from the film and explore the factors that influence migration, particularly along the U.S.-Mexican border. The film is also available to screen in full through the POV Community Network.

Resources:
— Songs of Unionization, Labor Strikes, and Child Labor, Library of Congress ⁠
— Songs of Social Change, Library of Congress ⁠
— Songs of Work and Industry, Library of Congress
— Traditional Work Songs, Library of Congress
— Union Songs (More than 843 songs and poems)
— Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways
— Lesson Plan | Teaching with Protest Music,” by Michael Gonchar and Katherine Schulten, The Learning Network - Teaching and Learning with The New York Times, February 4, 2016
— "Rap and Hip-Hop Bring Folk Music to a New Audience,” by Alan Singer Smithsonian Folkways Magazine, Summer/Fall 2016
—Understanding Past and Present Labor Injustice through Music, Teaching Tolerance

Resources on corridos:
— Migrant Labor Corridos, University of Texas at Austin
— The Mexican Labor Experience Depicted in Corridos, Historical Society of Pennsylvania
— Nos creemos americanos: Braceros in History and Song, American Social History Project
— The Corrido and Immigration: “Goodbye, United States”, The Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings

Resources

POV: Media Literacy Questions for Analyzing POV Films

This list of questions provides a useful starting point for leading rich discussions that challenge students to think critically about documentaries.

Bisbee ‘17

Official website for the film which includes additional six short films to accompany the feature film.

University of Arizona Library, The Bisbee Deportation of 1917: A University of Arizona Web Exhibit

Includes many digitized primary sources about the Bisbee deportation.

Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum, Shattuck Memorial Research Library

Includes a collection of resources on Bisbee’s industrial and cultural history.

PBS Colonial House: A Character's Perspective Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students watch clips and analyze characters from PBS Colonial House, about 17 people in 2004 who volunteered to participate in a reenactment of colonists who landed in North America in 1628 to establish a settlement colony.

Triangle Fire: PBS American Experience

The official website for the PBS documentary, Triangle Fire, with a comprehensive collection of primary sources, photographs, film clips, and insight into the cause and aftermath of the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history.

The Triangle Factory Fire Online Exhibit

This web exhibit presents original documents and secondary sources on the Triangle Fire, held by the Cornell University Library.

POV: Al Otro Lado

In this lesson plan, students watch clips from the POV documentary Al Otro Lado, about border crossing and the Mexican tradition of corrido music, and explore the factors that influence migration.

POV: The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández

The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández is a POV documentary about a Mexican man who was killed by U.S. Border Patrol at the Texas border. The accompanying resources include clips and examine the militarization of policing at the border.

The Library of Congress: Labor for Students

Online activities and background information from the Library of Congress to help students learn more about labor.

American Labor Museum

Offers a range of lesson plans and educational resources on U.S. labor history.

American Historical Association

The AHA collection includes a range of resources including digitized documents, educator guides, articles and publications.

National History Center of the American Historical Association

The NHC offers historical perspectives on current issues, promotes historical thinking, and provides a range of resources for teachers and students.

Standards

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects (http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf)

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.9
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.

- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9
Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

Production and Distribution of Writing:

- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.6
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology's capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.6
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge:

- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.8
Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.8
Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the specific task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.

MCREL Content Knowledge: (http://www2.mcrel.org/compendium/) a compilation of content standards and benchmarks for K-12 curriculum by McREL (Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning).

Historical Understanding - Level IV (Grade 9-12)

- Benchmark 1. Analyzes the values held by specific people who influenced history and the role their values played in influencing history

- Benchmark 2. Analyzes the influences specific ideas and beliefs had on a period of history and specifies how events might have been different in the absence of those ideas and beliefs.

- Benchmark 9. Analyzes how specific historical events would be interpreted differently based on newly uncovered records and/or information Knowledge/skill statements 1. Knows how the meaning of past events can change in the light of new evidence.

Thinking and Reasoning - Level IV (Grade 9-12)

- Benchmark 6. Understands that people sometimes reach false conclusions either by applying faulty logic to true statements or by applying valid logic to false statements.

United States History - Level IV (Grade 9-12)

Standard 21. Understands the changing role of the United States in world affairs through World War I

- Benchmark 3. Understands how the home front influenced and was influenced by U.S. involvement in World War I (e.g., the impact of public opinion and government policies on constitutional interpretation and civil liberties, the events of Wilson’s second term; the role of various organizations in the mobilization effort; the "Great Migration" of African Americans to northern cities).

National Center for History in the Schools

Historical Thinking Standard 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation

The student engages in historical analysis and interpretation; therefore, the student is able to:

- Consider multiple perspectives of various peoples in the past by demonstrating their differing motives, beliefs, interests, hopes, and fears.

- Compare competing historical narratives.

Historical Thinking Standard 5: Historical Issues-Analysis and Decision-Making

The student engages in historical issues-analysis and decision-making, therefore; the student is able to:

- Identify issues and problems in the past and analyze the interests, values, perspectives, and points of view of those involved in the situation.

United States History Content Standards

The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

Standard 1: How Progressives and others addressed problems of industrial capitalism, urbanization, and political corruption.