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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Educators,
please take a moment to browse the following ideas on how you can integrate
lessons about Reece, his literature, and his culture into your classroom or
school. Those of you how are already presenting this information,
please share your successes with other educators.
Suggested
Activities
Books by Reece
Poetry:
Ballad
of the Bones, and other Poems
New
York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1945; Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing
Company, 1985
Bow Down
in Jericho
New
York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1950; Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing
Company, 1985
A Song
of Joy
New
York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1952; Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing
Company, 1985
The
Season of Flesh
New
York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1955; Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing
Company, 1985
Novels:
Better a
Dinner of Herbs
New
York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1950; Athens: The University of
Georgia Press, 1992
The Hawk
and the Sun
New
York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1955; Athens: The University of
Georgia Press, 1994
Books
About Reece
Byron
Herbert Reece: 1917-1958 and the Southern Poetry Tradition
by Alan
Jackson; Edwin Mellen Press, 2001
Fable in
the Blood. The Selected Poems on Byron Herbert Reece
Edited
by Jim Clark: Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2002
Faithfully
Yours: The Letters of Byron Herbert Reece
Edited
by Raymond A. Cook and Alan Jackson; Mercer University Press
Mountain
Singer: The Life and the Legacy of Byron Herbert Reece
by
Raymond A. Cook; Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing Company, 1980
The
Bitter Berry: The Life of Byron Herbert Reece
by
Bettie M. Sellers; Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1993
Books
About Southern Appalachian Culture
K-5
The
Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree. Gloria Houston; Pictures by Barbara Cooney. New York,
New York: A Division of Penguin USA.
When
I Was Young in the Mountains. Cynthia Rylant; Illustrator Diane Goode, New
York: E.P.Dutton
Silver
Packages: an Appalachian Christmas Story. Cynthia Rylant; Illustrator Chris K.
Soentpiet, New York: Orchard Books, 1997.
The Relatives
Came. Cynthia Rylant; Illustrator Stephen Gammell, First Aladdin
Paperbacks edition, 1993.
6-8
Littlejim’s
Dreams. Gloria
Houston; Pictures by Thomas B. Allen. Harcourt. 1997.
Littlejim’s
Gift: An Appalachian Christmas Story. Gloria Houston; Pictures by
Thomas B. Allen. Penguin Young Readers Group. 1998.
Ghost
Girl: A Blue Ridge Mountain Story. Delia Ray. Houghton Mifflin.
2003.
It’s
Nothing to a Mountain. Sid Hite. Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for
Young Readers. 1995
Websites
of Interest
Appalachian
Studies Association
www.appalachianstudies.org/
Appalshop
www.appalshop.org/
Young
Harris Digital Library:
www.yhc.edu/external/dwlib/Web/Reece/index.html
New
Georgia Encyclopedia:
www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2464
Georgia
Writers’ Hall of Fame:
www.libs.uga.edu/gawriters/reece.html
Visit
Northeast Georgia:
www.visitnortheastgeorgia.com/byronherbertreece.htm
House
Resolution 297:
www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/fulltext/hr297.htm
Fox Fire
www.foxfire.org/
University of Georgia Encylopedia Hargrett Rare Book
www.libs.uga.edu/hargreet/archives
Southern Scribe:
www.southernscribe.com/zine/poetry/Reece.htm
Videos
PBS “The Appalachians” and
“Appalachian Journey” are recommended:
www.shoppbs.org/home/index.jsp
The
Bitter Berry and Friends: The Life of Byron Herbert Reece
by
Bettie M. Sellers; Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1993
Guest
Speakers
The
following individuals have offered to be available to be classroom guest
speakers concerning Reece. Use the given contact information to reach a
potential speaker to make arrangements.
Dr. John
Kay - Chairman of the Byron Herbert Reece Society and retired Professor of
Religion at Young Harris College
E-mail:
jkay@yhc.edu
Mr.
Keith Jones - Vice Chairman of Reece Society
Telephone:
706-492-3309 or 404-314-6992
E-mail:
kjonz@etcmail.com
Mr.
Matthew Jones - Student at North GA Technical College, History Major from
State University of West GA.
Telephone:
706-492-3309 or 404-630-9173
E-mail:
mattdawguwg@yahoo.com
Mrs.
Ethelene Dyer Jones - Byron Herbert Reece Society Steering Committee member
Telephone:
478-453-8751
E-mail:
edj0513@alltel.net
Places
to Go
Atlanta
History Center
The
Atlanta History Center on West Paces Ferry Road includes exhibits, gardens, a
model farm, and the Swan House. Of particular interest is the farm,
which is very similar to what the Reece family farm would have been like in
his childhood and the exhibit of folk art. In it you will find a
display of homemade coverlets and a suit made by the Collins sisters of Union
County, a family that Reece would have known and occasionally attended church
with. School groups are welcome but reservations must be made one month
in advance. Contact the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4062 or on
the web at www.atlantahistorycenter.com/
Union
County Local History Museum
The
Union County Local History Museum is located in the historic 1899 “Old
Courthouse” in Blairsville, Georgia. Included among the exhibits is a
display on Reece. Also included are the Margarita Morgan Miniature
Collection, the original clock and bell mechanism, Native American artifacts,
and exhibits honoring local education, religion, military service, and
occupations. A short walk away is the Union County Heritage Center in
the historic and recently restored Grapelle Butt Mock House. Both are
administered by the Union County Historical Society, which can be reached at
706-745-5493 or www.unioncountyhistory.org
Byron
Herbert Reece Farm & Heritage Center
Scheduled
to open in September of 2007, the Byron Herbert Reece Interpretive Center
will be located at the Reece family farm site. The Center will be
available for school groups and will help students to better understand both
Reece and the agriculture economy of the Southern Appalachians of the early
1900s.
Short
Local Histories
Union
County:
Occupied
mainly be Cherokees until gold was discovered in the mountains in 1828, Union
County was created in 1832 and divided up in the final Georgia Land
Lottery. Rugged and inaccessible even by the standards of the day, the
area was settled primarily by the Scots-Irish mountain people of the
Appalachians, many of whom were poor.
Pioneer
life was difficult so early settlers had to be hardy and
self-sufficient. Most were farmers or the tradesmen necessary to
support agriculture; some were millers, gold miners, and moonshiners.
Indian conflicts and personal hardships were not uncommon.
Few
mountain people held slaves and most were opposed to slavery. At the
state legislative convention in 1861, both Union County delegates voted
against secession. The county eventually followed the state in
supporting the Confederacy, though residents of the county fought and died on
both sides. The impressive Veterans War Memorial in Union County honors
both the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the conflict.
Union
County was not named in sympathy for the North, however, as the county was
named nearly 30 years prior to the Civil War. One explanation is that
“Union” came from the Union Party, a political group that had urged opening
Indian land to white settlement after the discovery of gold.
A
Brief History of Union County -- Union County Historical Society
Towns
County:
Created
on March 6, 1856 from portions of Rabun and Union Counties, it was named for
George W. Towns, an early governor of the State. The two incorporated
towns, Hiawassee (the county seat) and Young Harris, (home of Young Harris
College), are located where ancient Cherokee trails cross. Sturdy
immigrants who could endure both the isolation and extreme hardships of
mountain life and weather settled the county.
Many
natives of Towns County today are descendants of those early settlers.
The isolation preserved both a culture and language that disappeared far more
slowly than in lowland settlements. Remnants of Old English remain
today in the colorful phrases and pronunciation of mountain folk.
The
influence of the Cherokee Indians is reflected in the names in the
county: Enotah, Hiawassee, Chatuge. Other colorful names abound
on road signs like Tater Ridge, Bugscuffle, Frog Pond, Bear Meat, Shake Rag,
Scataway, Fodder Creek, Soapstone, and Owl Creek
Of the
106,240 acres of land in Towns County, the Chattahoochee National Forest
Covers over 57,000 and another 7,000 is owned by the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA), which built Lake Chatuge in 1941. The natural beauty
of the County is enhanced and preserved by both these attractions, which
afford the recreational opportunities and economic benefit.
Writer’s
Club ~ Union County High School
The UCHS
Writer’s Club is composed of students who are interested in writing or art
and in participating in the publication of the Pathways Literary
Magazine. The club usually meets on Wednesdays at 7:30 a.m., but meets
after school as necessary when it is time to put together the magazine.
For the
first semester, club meetings serveas times for the members to get to know
each other and to discuss issues related to writing. Sometimes students
talk about things they are writing and ask other students to comment.
Other times they engage in brief writing exercises.
A
favorite one is this: Everyone writes something that could be the first
line of a poem, and then they exchange first lines. This can be done
randomly, with a draw, or students can “bid” on a line, argue their case and
let members vote. The next week, everyone is supposed to come back with
a poem that they wrote, using the first line they were given. The before-school
meetings are short, interrupted by bells and announcements, and frequently
chaotic, because students come early and late, depend on buses, and often
carry breakfast with them; but this is a club, not an English class, and some
chaos is acceptable.
During
the first semester the Writer’s Club also sponsors a contest for the whole
student body, offering first, second and third prizes in three
categories: poetry, prose and art work. This is a way of
encouraging student writing and art, and of generating materials for
publication in the magazine. The club sponsor enlists support from
teachers and local arts groups to judge the submissions so that club members
may participate in the contest.
During
the second semester, the Writer’s Club students read submissions and examine
artwork to decide which ones will be accepted for publication, and proceed to
assemble the magazine. This is a teaching opportunity in many
ways. Not only are the students expected to choose wisely and ignore
their prejudices, they are also supposed to argue their viewpoints without
ridiculing anyone’s work, while remaining sensitive to the feelings of
others. It gets very complicated! We rely on sticky-notes and
allow students to vote “yes, no, or maybe” on each submission, sometimes as a
group, and sometimes anonymously.
The
sponsor sets clear limits from the beginning: Pathways Literary
Magazine is a family publication, and, although the students are given a
great deal of freedom, the sponsor maintains the right to veto any submission
she finds unacceptable. “No suicide notes allowed!” Students
type, edit, lay out and proof-read the pages, design covers, indexes and
tables of contents, and are involved in all aspects of the publication until
it is sent to the printer. This involves the use of several computer
programs, including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Pagemaker, and MS Word.
The club
membership varies greatly from one year to the next. There are currently
twenty-three members of the Writer’s Club, mostly ninth and tenth-graders. At
other times as few as five or six members attend. The current group is
so chatty and hyperactive that it is sometimes hard to have a meeting.
Others have been so quiet that it was hard to have a meeting. It helps
greatly to have enthusiastic support from teachers in the classroom who spot
good writers and encourage them to join. One of our most successful
years was due, in large part, to a long-term substitute English teacher,
whose enthusiasm made a world of difference in student response.
In
addition to producing the magazine and sponsoring the writing and art contest
in the fall, the Writer’s Club sometimes invites authors as guest speakers
for school events. In addition, five club members attended the Blue
Ridge Writer’s Conference this spring.
The Writer’s
Club is sponsored by Mrs. Doris Durbin, media specialist, UCHS, and is
backed, financially, by the United Community Bank of Blairsville, which pays
for printing the magazine and provides a reception for the participants upon
the first day of publication. This happy partnership has been in effect
now for seven years, and seven volumes of Pathways.
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