Outside the Perimeter: Youth Engagement in Historical Empathy in Suburban Atlanta

• In Event: Georgia Places: Language, Race, and History in Place-Based Georgia Education

Abstract

The Atlanta metropolitan area can be generally mapped in two areas—inside the I-285 perimeter (ITP) and outside the perimeter (OTP). In 2006, several cities in metropolitan OTP northern Fulton County were established. One, Johns Creek, has grown from a being a predominately White bedroom community to a racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse city that, despite its “newness”, has a long history. It is part of an urban sprawl on unceded Creek and Cherokee land and has been inhabited by enslaved African Americans, White settlers, and immigrants. Lack of localized historical knowledge endangers the preservation of this past and documentation of its future.
In partnership with a community organization and local schools, this presentation describes a series of local history research projects involving archival research, oral history interviews, and production of documentary films, public exhibits, and a book. One project featured the history, preservation, and legacy of the Macedonia African Methodist Church cemetery where former enslaved African Americans and their descendants were buried from the Reconstruction through the 1980s. Another recorded the diverse experiences of community members during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the theoretical framework of historical empathy, students engaged in historical inquiry of primary sources to 1) determine the socio-economic and political contexts of the past, 2) analyze how historical contexts shape people’s perspectives in the past, and 3) make reasoned affective connections to their research while discerning how the past and present differ (Endacott & Brooks, 2018). Case study methodology was implemented by collecting student work samples, survey responses, open-ended questionnaire responses, and follow-up interviews to discern whether students’ participation in local history research of the Macedonia Cemetery and the community members’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted their demonstration of historical empathy (Yin, 2012). Data was coded into three main themes as aligned with the theoretical framework—historical contexts, perspectives, and affective connections—to highlight areas students displayed historical empathy and whether limitations existed that can inform future community-based projects.
Preliminary findings show that students could demonstrate moderate levels of historical empathy through their participation in both projects. Students highlighted in their documentary films how failed Reconstruction policies led to Jim Crow segregation and racial violence that many who are buried in the cemetery suffered. Moreover, students researched how the convergent events such as the lockdowns, George Floyd murder, and the 2020 election impacted how people experienced the pandemic differently. Students made reasoned affective connections to their research, particularly the importance of civic engagement when preserving and documenting history. However, students of Color expressed heightened empathetic connections to racial injustice and matters of inequality as compared to White students. As a result, a “historical empathy gap” (Perrotta, 2018) exists regarding the extent to which White students can understand and make connections to the perspectives and experiences of Black, Indigenous, and people of Color in the past and present. These findings contribute to the growing body of scholarship about best practices in historical empathy pedagogy in K-12 spaces, as well as engaging youth in place-based historical research.

Authors

• Katherine A. Perrotta, Mercer University

• Katlynn T. Cross, Mercer University