American History through Feature Films: A Middle School Unit

Beginning of article

Introduction

Twentieth Century history is saturated with media, not the least of which is film. As a middle school history teacher, I take my students through a study of the last century, using feature films to guide them through the tangled stories and characters they encounter. US history through film is most often offered as an upper-level high school or college elective, but is readily accessible to, and adaptable for, middle school students as well. It requires a shift in common curricular thinking, but can be a powerful way to draw in students not engaged by traditional history classes. The purpose of this article is to display an example of how film history and "textbook" …