Phoenix Indian School Legacy Project: Service Learning

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During the spring of 2015, Farina King’s History 110 class (U.S. History Since 1865) at Arizona State University included a service-learning component, which allowed students to apply their learning in historical interpretation and design to serve the Phoenix community through the Phoenix Indian School Legacy Project. The class had one required excursion to downtown Phoenix to visit the Heard Museum exhibit of “Remembering Our Indian School Days: The Boarding School Experience” and the proposed site of a community center in the Steele Indian School Park. Students went to the Phoenix Indian School Music Building and met with Patty Talahongva (Native Connections Community Development Manager). The service-learning opportunity of this course could not be possible without the collaboration with community leaders such as Patty Talahongva.

Learning Outcomes for this History 110 course included:

We will come to understand the differences between sources, how to use primary sources, make historical arguments and express historical interpretations focused on race, class, and gender concerning the major trends and episodes of U.S history since 1865.
We will use historical analysis and contextualization, recognizing perspectives and interpretations, to serve the Phoenix community by contributing to the historical component of the Phoenix Indian School Legacy Project.
We will produce designs and content for the historical part of the Phoenix Indian School Legacy Project, which is creating a space for American Indians and Phoenix community members in the renovated Phoenix Indian School Music Building in downtown Phoenix.

This class also hosted a symposium, consisting of student presentations on April 22, 27, and April 29 that invited American Indian Studies scholars and community members as part of the audience to provide feedback and comments to the students.