As part of the Carmine Guica Young Historians (CGYH) program, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) provides teachers, students, families and the community with information on town, state and national history for the month ahead.
GENERAL INFORMATION
• If you have questions, want to arrange for a program or need more information, call 802-226-7807 or e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com
• To learn more about the various programs that CHS offers for students and community, as well as opportunities close to Cavendish, go to the Resource Page.
• The CHS Cares Closet, located next to the steps of the Museum is free, open 24/7, and offers a wide array of things to do, read etc. for both children and adults.
TRACKING THE SUN: We were fortunate to have our series of December workshops on the 21st this year. As part of the workshops, we discussed how many of the traditions that are attributed to Christmas and other holidays actually grew out of solstice customs.
After Dec. 21, daylight hours start to increase, and the sun is higher up, which ends with the summer solstice in June. Solar intensity depends on the sun’s height. But since the ground and the air take a while to catch up we won’t reach our coldest average temperature until the third week of January. Our daily gains in sunlight will be minuscule at first, just a matter of seconds a day, but will steadily grow until daily daylight expands by three daily minutes per day in March.
The amount of increasing sunlight is different depending on location. For example, in Alaska in March, they receive an extra 7 minutes of daylight per day, adding up to an extra hour of sunlight each week, while in our area it’s much slower. By the end of January we will be gaining sunlight by 2.23 minutes per day and reach our peak of sunlight per day at the time of the spring equinox March 20.
It can be both and interesting for students to track the changes over the next month or so. Use this link for Cavendish Sunrise, Sunset and Daylength.
TRIPS: Now is the time to be thinking about history related class trips for spring. Please let us know what you’d like to consider.
HISTORICAL DATES FOR JANUARY
January 1: Happy New Year! The most celebrated holiday around the world
• 1863: Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves
PBS Emancipation Proclamation Lesson Kids video
Note : The Emancipation proclamation was not enforceable but as Union troops moved through the South, they brought the news of emancipation with them and the ability to enforce the order through military might. Further encouraged by the proclamation, large numbers of slaves freed themselves.
On June 19, 1865, US Brigadier General Gordon Granger and his troops landed at Galveston, Texas confirming the news that the Civil War had ended and that enslaved African Americans were now free. Prior to Granger’s arrival, the US military presence in Texas was too weak to enforce President Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Two months after General Lee’s surrender in Virginia, Union forces were strong enough to act as a liberating force for enslaved African Americans throughout the state. This became known as Juneteenth, which is now a federal holiday.
The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery was ratified on Dec. 6, 1865. Unfortunately, slavery was not abolished until the summer of 1866, as the five tribes that were driven in the Trail of Tears, continued the practice of slavery.
Other events on this date include: The establishment of the United Nations in 1942
January 6: Feast of the three Kings, which officially ends the 12 Days of Christmas
January 11: Alexander Hamilton is born in the British West Indies. While the film version of the Broadway play is available from Disney+, a special website has been set up for teachers and students-Teaching History with Hamilton
January 15: Martin Luther King was born in 1929
• The King Center: The King Library and Archives in Atlanta is the largest repository of primary source materials on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American Civil Rights Movement in the world.
• Smithsonian Resources for MLK
January 17: Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706
January 19: Edgar Allen Poe was born 1809.
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