Gore_The+Ghost+on+Capitol+Hill

“Hey, Mister? What are you doing sitting here in front of the Governor’s Mansion? What are you looking at?” John looked up to see a young boy who looked like he was 16 standing there anticipating his answer. John could not pull his eyes away from those three letters and it took him a while to respond to the boy. “What’s your name, son?” John finally managed to get out. “I’m Billy! Why are you here, sir? You’ve been sitting here for a few hours. I saw you from up in my tree! What’s that written in the bricks?” “Billy, you sure have a lot of questions. Do you want to hear a story about this brick here?” “I sure do!” Billy eagerly said. “Do you know what those letters mean!?” “Yes, Billy. I sure do.” “So it all began in 1868,” John began. “My grandfather was a young boy. He was about 16; maybe your age. He lived in Raleigh with his folks. He wasn’t treated well, seeing as he was black. He watched his brother get beat to death when he was only nine. Can you believe that, Billy? His brother was only a teenager! “He had been talking to some white girl over in Burke Square. My granddaddy swears they were something of an item. Apparently, they had kissed once. But no one was around then. So, he was at Burke Square with his girl and all these men were around. The girl had given my granddaddy her locket as a symbol of her love for him earlier in the afternoon and they were just talking, but the problem was her daddy saw. Her daddy obviously did not approve of him, seeing as he was colored. He especially didn’t like him talking to his little girl, with him being a politician. That’s right, Billy, he fell for Daniel Fowle’s daughter. ‘What in the hell are you doing to my daughter?’ Mr. Fowle screamed at my granddaddy. ‘Nothing sir! Honest. We was just talkin’!’ ‘You were talking to my daughter? That sounds like something to me! You can’t go around talking to respected white women in this to—.” “Mr. Fowle stopped abruptly when he saw the gold locket he had given his daughter when she was born dangling from my granddaddy’s hands. ‘Is that my daughter’s locket? Did you just steal that from her?’ “My granddaddy was cowering when he replied, ‘But sir, she is my girlfriend. She gave it to me!’ “That was obviously not the best thing for a black man to say. A black boy admitting he had a white girl is never a smart thing. Especially when she had given him an expensive locket. ‘I don’t believe that for one second!’ Mr. Fowle bellowed. ‘My daughter would never date one of you. Mary Ellen, did you give this boy your locket?’ ‘Of course not,’ Mary Ellen replied. She did not even skip a breath, ‘I have never seen this disgraceful boy in my life! He just grabbed me and snatched it from around my neck!’ “So Mary Ellen sold my granddaddy out. She obviously did not want to look bad in front of her daddy and all his white friends. My granddaddy hated her so much and couldn’t believe she would have done that to him. “Granddaddy was sent to State prison. State prison! Because that girl lied to her daddy! You may not know this, Billy, but during this time, a lot of black people were lynched if they did something the whites didn’t approve of, especially stealing. My granddaddy was lucky that he wasn’t lynched, so he was fortunate just to go to prison. Apparently, Mary Ellen convinced her daddy just to send him to jail instead. Granddaddy thinks Mr. Fowle secretly knew that Mary Ellen had lied. Whatever; nothing could change what happened. “When granddaddy was in prison, there was this guy, W. G. Hicks. No one knew what the W or the G stood for, so the prisoners just called him Colonel. He was in charge of the prison and he rode those boys hard. They were up at dawn almost every morning doing some kind of work. It was 1890, 22 years since granddaddy went to prison when the Colonel told the boys to start making bricks. One day this one guy asked the Colonel why they were making so many bricks. ‘What the hell is it to you boy?’ the Colonel snapped. ‘You ain’t goin’ leave this prison any time soon!’ ‘I was just wonderin’ sir. It seems like we are wasting a lot of time.’ ‘Hush up, boy,’ the Colonel said. ‘This is for the governor! You know, Mr. Fowle. You are making bricks so we can build him a governor’s mansion.’ “My granddaddy was shocked. Of all people he was making bricks for, Mr. Fowle was the man. He had heard that Mr. Fowle had become governor a year earlier, but he had no idea he was getting himself a mansion. He was so angry. First off, Mr. Fowle had sent him to jail. He had been there for 22 years and was still not out. Mary Ellen didn’t speak to him anymore either. Granddaddy always said that he assumed she was married to some rich white man. And so, Mr. Fowle, the man that sent granddaddy to prison, was now benefiting even more from him because granddaddy was making him those damn bricks. Well that was not going to fly with granddaddy. “So you know what he did, Billy? He came up with a plan to get his revenge. You see, the Colonel told the prisoners that some of the good prisoners would get to go help build the mansion. The governor wanted to save money so he told the Colonel to bring his prisoners over. Mr. Fowle had obviously forgotten about my granddaddy. My granddaddy wanted to get some retribution on that man, so he volunteered quickly for the job. Killing him would do my granddaddy no good. He obviously wanted a chance to get out of jail, so he needed something better. “The plan was taking shape when the Colonel told my granddaddy and five of his buddies that they were going to go to the mansion site to help lay the bricks around the sidewalk outside of the house. It wasn’t as close to the house as granddaddy wanted, but it would have to do. The governor needed more bricks, so my granddaddy told all the prisoners that they should write out their initials in as many of the bricks as they could and lay them out front at the mansion to represent the hard work they had done. Those other guys didn’t know about my granddaddy’s history with the governor, but that didn’t matter. “So the day before they were set to go to the mansion, they made a whole other batch of bricks and put their initials on every one of them. Granddaddy made sure that when they unloaded the truck at the mansion, they would have the right bricks with them. “They got to the mansion site and it looked awfully familiar to granddaddy. He looked all around to figure out why he knew this place. It turned out that this was Burke Square! Granddaddy could tell because of the shape of those two trees on the other side of the street. Him—” “That’s the tree I was in!” Billy interjected. “Well, I’ll be damned, Billy. Granddaddy was always saying that he and Mary Ellen would always talk about those two trees, seeing as both trunks curved out at the same spot to look like a heart. “He was shocked that he was back at the place that he had been arrested. He always thought that the mansion was pretty beautiful and he couldn’t help but admire the work that had already been done. However, he had some important work to do. Granddaddy laid bricks for what felt like hours. He had to make sure they were straight, and he wanted to make sure to lay those initialed ones in the right spots. The Colonel didn’t really supervise them, so he definitely got away with it.” “Wait!” Billy exclaimed. “Is that your granddaddy’s brick? Are those his initials?” “They sure are, Billy. My granddaddy, J.S.M—John Spears Mayfield. My granddaddy died 40 years ago today on June 14, 1946. I’ve been coming here every year since he died hoping to share his story with young people like yourself.” “Wow, Mister. That is amazing. Do you think the governor ever noticed that brick and made the connection?” “You know what? I think so. There is this legend that Daniel Fowle’s ghost still haunts the Governor’s Mansion. He was the first man to live there and he died on April 7, 1981, only four months after he moved into the house. It just so happens, my granddaddy was released from prison the month before. They never did figure out how the governor died…” [] //From Dr. Lee// - very interesting story, I like the way you have built off the history of W. G. Hicks and the known history of the brick masons. The events surronding your main character's arrest are interesting, but I think you need something more than your main character being sent to jail for associating with a white women. Maybe you could put a trumped up charge in the story, where he is accused of breaking a law, maybe stealing something. ** Instructional Ideas: ** __ Introduction to the American Civil War: __ //Rationale:// While the information I introduced in my story focuses on the history of the bricks around downtown Raleigh and especially in front of the Governor’s Mansion, I will pair this with a unit on the Civil War because of the discrimination African Americans received during this period of history. Since the story begins in 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War, we will learn about the fall out of the war in the South. We will also learn about the creation of the Governor’s Mansion, as well as the first governor to live in it. My story can be used to “hook” the students into the unit. Seeing as this is a historical fiction piece, a minilesson will be taught in my language arts sections about the difference between historical fiction and historical nonfiction, as well as differences between fiction and nonfiction. //Associating Objectives:// Competency Goal 4 · 4.01: Identify and analyze the significance of the causes of secession from the Union, and compare reactions in North Carolina to reactions in other regions of the nation  · 4.02: Describe the political and military developments of the Civil War and analyze their effect on the outcome of the war   · 4.03: Assess North Carolina’s role in the Civil War and analyze the social and economic impact of the war on the state   · 4.04: Evaluate the importance of the roles play by individuals at the state and national levels during the Civil War and Reconstruction Period   · 4.05: Analyze the political, economic, and social impact of Reconstruction on the state and identify the reasons why Reconstruction came to an end //What I Want Students to Know//: I want students to know about the Civil War and the associating NC objectives that accompany the unit on the Civil War. However, on a more narrow focus, I want students to know about what happened to African Americans in the South even after the Civil War ended. There was a lot of backlash in the South after restrictions were put on the Southern states. We will take a closer look at the experiences and restrictions African Americans had during and after the war. Seeing as my story focuses on the bricks that were built by prisoners, I will describe how some African Americans were sent to prison either by being falsely accused or for menial disturbances. I will discuss the idea of lynchings and I will briefly introduce the story of Emmitt Till. We will take a close look at the Governor’s Mansion and even make inferences as to how and why the bricks had initials inscribed in them. Students will learn a history of the Governor’s Mansion and how even though it has gone through many renovations, the outside looks very similar to how it did when it was originally created. We will also discuss Daniel Fowle as the first Governor. //How To Facilitate Student Learning//: One of the best ways for the students to learn about the history of the Governor’s Mansion and about the bricks surrounding downtown Raleigh and the walkway around the Mansion is to go on a field trip! We will follow this rough template during our unit: **Days 1-2**: Reading and discussion of “The Ghost on Capitol Hill;” Students will make inferences about why African Americans were treated like this during the time period and we will discuss the possibility of African Americans being the men that made the bricks surrounding the Capitol. An introduction to the Civil War will be given, familiarizing students with the significance of the causes of secession from the Union and the causes for the Civil War. **Days 3-4**: Students will be given a brief history of the Governor’s Mansion through a PowerPoint presentation. Students will seen how many renovations have taken place, but the building looks the same. Students will also be introduced to Daniel Fowle during this lecture. We will discuss the roles that individuals played before, during, and after the Civil War. **Day 5**: Field Trip! **Days 6-9**: We will discuss political and military developments of the Civil War and effect on the outcome of the War. **Days 10-11**: Students will be introduced to North Carolina’s role in the Civil War and the impact the war had on the state and the other Southern states. This will include treatment of African Americans after the Civil War, thus leading to the connection to “The Ghost on Capitol Hill.”  **Days 12-13**: We will wrap up the unit discuss Reconstruction and the political, economic, and social impact of Reconstruction on the state and nation. **Day 14**: Review  **Day 15**: Test and Final Project due //Determining What Students Learned:// The students will be given one unit grade for this entire unit. The grades will be broken down as followed: · 20%: Group discussions and participation—we will have daily group discussions about what we have read for homework or ideas presented to the class  · 10%: Homework assignments/Reading—students will be read primary and/or secondary resources nightly about experiences African Americans had during the Civil War; at times, students will have to answer questions about certain readings   · 30%: Unit Project—See below   · 40%: Unit Exam—Students will be tested on all lecture notes and readings, as well as information from our field trip to the Governor’s Mansion **Unit Project**: Students will have the option to do one of the following: · Research an important Civil War character in North Carolina or American history and write a paper on how he or she influenced the outcome of the war. · Read a book about slavery or mistreatment of African Americans and write a book report about the experiences African Americans had. Examples include //Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry// and //The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass//. · Research an influential African American character in North Carolina or American history during the Civil War era and write a paper on how he or she experienced the war. · Research a former North Carolina Governor and write how he or she helped influence the remodeling of the time. · Have another idea? Let me know! **Accompanying Language Arts Assignment**: Students will write about the history of a brick that we see while on our field trip. Each student will select a brick and take a picture of the brick during the field trip. Then, the student will write his or her own original story about the brick. It could be similar in nature to my story, but they should include different connections.
 * The Ghost on Capitol Hill **