“Living on the Edge of Empire: Alliance, Conflict and Captivity in Colonial New England” was a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks Workshop held in Deerfield, Massachusetts in the summers of 2013, 2016, and 2022. Presented by the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, the workshop placed the 1704 Raid on Deerfield in the broader context of the history of colonial New England. The educators from a range of K-12 grade levels who participated in the workshop produced the lessons presented here.
Lessons from “Living on the Edge of Empire” Workshop
Lessons in this group
The Search for Meaning Through Artifacts
Middle School (6–8)Students will evaluate the artifact of the front door of John Sheldon’s house in Deerfield, Massachusetts, and examine how its meaning has changed over time and often depends on the perspective and experience of the viewer.Maps in the 17th and 18th Centuries: What Can We Learn about the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts?
Elementary (K–5)Students will observe and interpret primary source maps of the 17th and 18th centuries, modern maps, and images.Shine a Lens
Middle School (6–8)Students will increase their understanding of resilience as it applies to children in the historical context of events that occurred because of the raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1704, to Eunice and Stephen Williams.Literacy for All-Teaching Colonial New England in the Content Areas
Middle School (6–8); High School (9–12)This collection seeks to provide support for teachers who wish to approach their content through a social studies lens with a spirit of embracing cross-curricula opportunities for engagement. This work is meant to be the first step in bringing colonial New England to a school, but the hope is that the resources provided here will create a culture for all teachers in a school to create their own lessons.Why Settle Here?
Elementary (K–5)Students will be able to identify that European colonists and Native tribes had different views about how to use the resources of New England. The way in which the landscape was changed by the colonists was different from those brought about by the different tribes living in New England.Not a Fate Worse than Death: Examining Captivity Stories
High School (9–12)Students will use the stories of Eunice K. Williams and Mary Jemison to assess the validity of Professor Calloway’s claim “that Indian captivity was not always the fate worse than death.”Slavery in the American Colonies in the First Half of the 1700s
High School (9–12)Students will be able to identify both the similarities and differences in the slavery systems between the northern and the southern colonies.Reaching a Place of Understanding, Or Not…
Middle School (6–8); High School (9–12)Students will investigate the 17th-18th century frontier in the Northeast as a shared space, containing a multitude of cultures including the French, English, Abenaki, Huron, and Iroquois, each having unique objectives and traditions. Students will accurately construct and defend a political course of action consistent with imperial or tribal interests with regard to intercolonial conflicts.Exploring The History of Southampton, Massachusetts
Middle School (6–8)Students will demonstrate through a timeline activity an understanding of the establishment of Southampton, including the role of Native Americans on the land and region before the establishment of English colonies. Students will explore maps, primary source documents, and other historical resources.Captive Voices: A Comparison of Captivity Narratives
High School (9–12)Students will identify and comprehend the events and activities of the captivity of Mary Rowlandson and John Williams. They will become informed of the conflict between the Native Americans and the colonists and the capture of such colonists by the Native Americans.What’s in a Deed? How Differing Views of Land Use Impacted Native American and English Colonists’ Relationships
High School (9–12)Students will learn about property deed transfers with emphasis on deeds between Native Americans and the English colonists. They will also learn that relationships between Native Americans and English colonists were affected by the underlying assumptions conveyed in the property transfers.Edge of Empire Breakout
Elementary (K–5); Middle School (6–8)This lesson features primary sources related to Anglo/Indigenous relationships and conflict in colonial Massachusetts.How Does a Culture Change as a Result of Dealing and Coping with Conflict?
Middle School (6–8)Students will explore the types of conflict that took place as a result of the Pocumtucks being forced off their land, and apply this to other situations in history in which people were forced off their lands.Native American Novel Unit
Middle School (6–8)Students will study the histories of Indigenous people in Western Massachusetts, the modern impact of Native people in the area, and compare local connections to the far-away setting of a whole-class story.Origin Stories of Tribes Across North America
Middle School (6–8)Students will be able to identify five Native tribes that lived in North America for thousands of years and are still living on the land today. They will be able to recognize origin stories from each tribe and explain how the stories relate to the land. Then they will one that could go with the Housatonic River Valley in Massachusetts or their own region.Native American Creation Stories
Elementary (K–5)Students will begin to understand that Native American stories served different purposes; one of which was to explain how animals and the world around them came to be.Families of the 18th Century English Settlers and Native Peoples in New England
Elementary (K–5)Students will understand that 18th century people in New England had needs and wants that were the same and different from ours today.Anachronism Social Media for the Deerfield Raid 1704
Elementary (K–5)Students will research a historical figure from the Deerfield, Massachusetts, Raid of 1704. They will theorize with classmates on Twitter or Instagram conversations between historical figures involved in that raid.“Historical Evidence in the Material World: The 1704 Raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts”
Middle School (6–8)Students will investigate how an artifact can be examined to learn about people, places, and events from colonial New England.Ethical Dilemma of the Deerfield Raid
High School (9–12)Students will look at primary and secondary documents in the hopes of coming to a conclusion about whether or not the Native peoples could be justified for assisting the French in the Deerfield Raid of 1704.Importance of Trade in NH – Triangular Trade
Elementary (K–5)Students will be able to understand the significance of the Triangular Trade in relation to Portsmouth, NH. What items were traded in and out of Portsmouth and how did they impact the area?The Williams Family
Elementary (K–5); Middle School (6–8)Students will understand that the Williams’ were a key family involved in the 1704 Raid on Deerfield and that the fate of each member differed greatly.How the Fur Trade Affected Native American and European Alliances
Middle School (6–8)Students will understand that alliances between English settlers and Native Americans in colonial New England were influenced by the fur trade, French settlers, and other Native American tribes.The Role Deerfield Played in the French and Indian War
Middle School (6–8)Students will understand that who owns history is of huge importance when looking at historical events. It is important that they take different perspectives into consideration when looking at these events.Pocumtuck and English Perspectives on Life in Early Colonial Deerfield, Massachusetts
Elementary (K–5)Students will be able to compare the perspectives of English colonists and the Pocumtuck people living in Deerfield in the late17th and early 18th centuries. They will draw conclusions based on their observations of pictures and artifacts.Multiple Perspectives on Colonial History
High School (9–12)Students will ask their own questions about Colonial American history, research valid sources of evidence and examine the answers from multiple perspectives to learn about Colonial America.Tracing a Captive’s Journey
Middle School (6–8)Students will use primary resources to find the complex connections between a local historical experience and the national and global events involving the French, English, and Native communities during the 18th century.Women’s Rights through the Centuries
Middle School (6–8)Students will understand that women’s rights were strongly influenced by the attitudes of specific eras in history. They will use primary sources, including some 18th century captivity narratives.Idioms from Colonial Days: How Language Carries History
Elementary (K–5)Students will be able to define an idiom, explain what the idioms mean, and predict their meaning based on historical information.Connections: Deerfield, MA and the Fort at No. 4 in Charlestown, NH
High School (9–12)By studying Deerfield, Massachusetts, a fortified town, and the Fort at No.4 in Charlestown, New Hampshire, students will be able to examine what motivated people to move to the edge of the frontier in the 17th and 18th centuries and what they experienced when they settled there.Should We Give Peace a Chance?
High School (9–12)Students will understand how cultural frontiers create both competition and opportunities for cooperation that affect the development and identity of the societies that are meeting.Building Historical Perspective and Empathy Using Visuals as Primary Sources
Middle School (6–8)This lesson introduces the students to utilizing inquiry-based and reflective skills to gain understanding into embedded historical, emotional, and psychological meaning that are depicted in images and photographs.Creation Stories Across Cultures
Elementary (K–5)Students will understand that cultures around the world use creation stories to explain natural phenomena. They will create an origin story for a local event/place in the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts.Conceptions of Land
Middle School (6–8)Students will be able to read, analyze and discuss primary sources including quotes, maps, and treaties concerning Native American and European ideas about land.Analyzing a Data Chart
Elementary (K–5)Students will understand how to read and use a chart to record essential facts about what happened to the captives of the Deerfield raid and how to make inferences about, or question the captives’ fortunes as well.Grey Lock and Theyanoguin: Case Studies in Native Diaspora, Cultural Adaptation and Persistence after King Philip’s War
High School (9–12)In what ways did Woronoco and other Native peoples of the Connecticut River Valley survive, adapt, and persist in the years after King Philip’s War?It’s All about Perspective
Elementary (K–5)Students will read different people’s backgrounds and their involvement in the Deerfield raid of 1704. Students will use graphic organizers and these excerpts to understand the events that happened and then write a two-voice poem to convey the events from two different perspectives.Colonial America’s Test Kitchen
Middle School (6–8)In this lesson, designed to be part of a unit of everyday life in colonial America, students will experiment with combining ingredients to recreate a beverage called “switchel”.An Introduction to the 1704 Raid on Deerfield through Two Lenses: The English and the Pocumtucks
Elementary (K–5)Students will understand that the Pocumtucks and the English settlers had some characteristics and needs in common, and that they also saw their worlds and needs in different ways.Examining the 1704 Raid on Deerfield from Multiple Perspectives
High School (9–12)Students will answer the following questions: This person is part of a larger group. How did this group find its way to North America? What is this person’s role in the community? How was this person involved in the raid on Deerfield? What happened to this person after the raid?Pocumtuck and Deerfield: Crossroads
Middle School (6–8)By looking at the Indigenous people’s homelands and English settlements at Pocumtuck/Deerfield in Western Massachusetts and connecting that to the communities they currently live in, students will analyze the advantages and disadvantages of a location.