December 5, 2006
"Buying Respectability" to broadcast December 14
Colonial Williamsburg’s 2006 – 2007 season of Electronic Field Trips continues with “Buying Respectability” Dec. 14. The third broadcast in the series explores how the demand for goods and services in the early part of the 18th century changed Williamsburg’s economy, examines how important status symbols were in a class-conscious society, and reveals the impact of taxation and British mercantilism in the colonies.
Produced by Colonial Williamsburg’s Division of Productions, Publications and Learning Ventures, Electronic Field Trips are broadcast one Thursday each month from October through April at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Eastern time on participating PBS stations and cable channels. Registered users may also view the program via the Internet. The programs consist of a one-hour live broadcast which includes a story on subjects from the colonial period through the early life of the United States. Students in participating schools may call the program from their classrooms during the broadcast to ask questions of historians on the air. The productions are supported with comprehensive lesson plans, glossaries, timelines, Internet activities and online connectivity to Colonial Williamsburg historians.
Jan. 18, 2007: “Influenced by None” examines one of the principles contemporary Americans take for granted – freedom of the press – and introduces Clementina Rind, a woman newspaper publisher who lived in Williamsburg in the 18th century.
“The Slave Trade” premieres Feb. 15, 2007, and examines a law passed in 1807 which abolished transatlantic slave trade and changed the lives of slaves, plantation owners, naval officers, government officials and abolitionists.
March 22, 2007, “Made In America,” examines how technology has revolutionized the nature of work over three centuries.
The series concludes April 26, 2007, in time for the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Jamestown with the premiere of “Jamestown Unearthed,” which looks at how history is written and re-evaluated as new methods of study are introduced and archaeological discoveries offer new clues to interpreting history.
As the nation’s leading educational resource for early American history, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation uses the Internet and interactive television technology to bring the 18th century to life for more than one million students throughout the United States each year.
For more information or to register for the
Electronic Field Trip Series visit http://www.history.org/history/teaching/eft.cfm
or contact the Electronic Field Trip registrar at 1-800-761-8331 or by e-mail at EFTSupport@cwf.org.