American Frontiers

Modern Pioneers

• In the concluding segment of Rediscovering America: The Frontier, the narrator ties the concept of the frontier to the concept of land, reinforcing the point made at the beginning of the program. However, there are other frontiers as well—a state of mind, a yearning for something that goes beyond the mere issue of land. Many people would consider new worlds of any kind as frontiers and would equate those conquering them with 19th-century frontiersmen and frontierswomen. Ask students to suggest women and men who have assumed those roles in more modern times—space scientists, entrepreneurs of the computer revolution, genetic researchers, and so on. Have students identify a particular person who has been or is on the cutting edge, research that person, and give a brief oral presentation on why the person qualifies as a frontiersman or frontierswoman.

Women on the American Frontier

• Ask students to investigate the roles that women played on the 19th-century frontier. Suggest that students focus on women of one ethnic group—say, immigrants from China, immigrants from various eastern European countries, Irish Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Specify that students should determine by means of research whether women in these groups were victims of prejudice and discrimination. Then, with that answer in mind, have students write first-person narratives of the frontier experience as a woman.