posted by Amy Hillier

on November 2, 2007

Thanks to some great folks at Stanford University, I participated in a video teleconference on Tuesday. Their Anthropology class read parts of The Philadephia Negro and did some GIS work with our Seventh Ward map layers. Then on Tuesday, I talked with them about the project and they asked questions. This was the first time students have looked closely at the data, and I was very excited about the questions they asked. Why are there 54 children living in one house on Lombard Street? We looked at the manuscript census data to confirm that there were that many children (and the census data reports there were). No reference to an orphanage, just several different families with many children. What kinds of relationships did Du Bois make with Seventh Ward residents? Great question, and one I couldn't answer thoroughly. We know that he received a little bit of help with his research from the College Settlement Association and the University of Pennsylvania, and that he consulted with some leading African Americans in Philadelphia. But as for his day-to-day encounters, we know very little.

This experience was very encouraging for me for two reasons: (1) this project has teaching potential for college and graduate students, not just high school students; (2) video teleconferencing can allow us to engage with people all over the world without the timely and costly travel.