Introduction

Monument to the Underground Railroad is a multi-disciplinary FreedomQuest that encourages students to analyze and synthesize information about the Underground Railroad in order to complete the task. On the surface, the task of designing a monument seems simple. But working through the steps of the FreedomQuest forces students to think deeply about what they know and decide what and how they want to interpret and communicate about the subject.

Today we live in a burgeoning era of monument-building activity, with some new monuments becoming hotly debated subjects. Articles about old and new monuments appear frequently in magazines and newspapers; proposals for future monuments abound. How a government and people decide which myths, symbols, and memories to commemorate and how those symbols are represented in the piece of art commissioned for the monument reflect their values. What is chosen to be honored and how that is depicted depends upon the culture of the time and who gets to do the choosing. Once built, monuments can become focal points of commemoration and protest. Groups compete for ownership of these individual stories and how they become part of the national story. Monuments embody chosen myths, memories, and ideals. As such, they provide fertile ground for stimulating students to think about the meaning of monuments.

Bernie Dodge and others who have pioneered the development of WebQuests consider the task the single most important element. The task provides a goal and focus for the student, and more than 20 common learning tasks have been identified. Monument to the Underground Railroad utilizes a creative product task, specifically a commemorative task. Students decide an appropriate way to commemorate an event or person, after studying and realizing the complexity of the subject. They use their judgment to determine which aspects of the subject are laudable or important and learn how to represent abstract ideas in concrete form. The task is open-ended, with an emphasis on creativity and self-expression, allowing students to leave their unique stamp on what they are being asked to do. Various constraints, such as limitations on the size or scope of the creative product, help avoid an "anything goes" solution and make students face the same constraints as real artisans.

Though this is a simulated task, the commemorative task students are asked to complete is very much a real-world situation. The National Park Service is currently considering the feasibility of an Underground Railroad monument, as is an organization in southern New York. While the Freedom Center is not really seeking proposals for a monument to the Underground Railroad, it is requesting proposals for public art related to slavery and the Underground Railroad to place in our facility when it opens in the summer of 2004.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, in Cincinnati, Ohio, created Monument to the Underground Railroad, with generous support from the KnowledgeWorks Foundation. It is the second in a series of what we call FreedomQuests that we plan to develop over the next several years with funding from KnowledgeWorks. The Freedom Center is committed to developing quality educational materials for teachers and students at all grade levels across the nation. Our mission is to teach the positive lessons of courage, cooperation, and perseverance that evolved out of the historic pursuit for freedom during the period of the Underground Railroad. Monument to the Underground Railroad was launched in December 2002.