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In this lesson, explore the ways natural disasters have affected American lives. Examine records people made of their experiences. Try to find out how people felt who lived through each event. How did they recover? What changed because of their experience? What lessons did they learn? When you finish, put yourself into the shoes of an eyewitness to one of American history's most remarkable events and tell the story of the disaster in your own words.

Begin by reading a historical fiction novel based on a natural disaster. Next, research the facts about the event described in the book. Learn how the event affected the real people involved by studying photographs, personal accounts, and music written about it. Finally, apply your knowledge by creating a fictional account as a witness to the event.

1. Select a book from the Bibliography.
2. As you read the book, complete the Book Guide.
3. Research the facts surrounding the natural disaster described in the book by using various Resources.
4. Fill in the Research Note Sheet as you find facts about the event.
5. Use the Gallery of Artifacts to locate items from the American Memory collections at the Library of Congress and other sources related to the event.
6. Examine the photographs and answer the questions on the Image Analysis Guide to help develop your understanding of what the disaster looked like.
7. Study the personal account and complete the items on the Personal Account Analysis Guide to understand the feelings of the people who witnessed the event.
8. Read through the lyrics of a song and try to determine how people reacted to the event and what they learned from their experiences by completing the Song Analysis Guide.
9. Search for more information about the disaster using the American Memory collections or Other Resources to expand your understanding.
10. Summarize the information you have learned from the book and the research.
11. After collecting your data, write your own fictional account describing both the facts surrounding the event and the feelings of a person who witnessed the natural disaster. In your account, include how the event affected the life of the person as well as how s/he was able to recover.
12. Finally, dress up in clothes similar to those the people of the time wore and, acting as a witness to the event, give a presentation of your account to others.

Expanding your knowledge...

In the first part of this lesson, you examined how Americans dealt with important historic natural disasters. Many things have changed in the century that passed since they occurred. How do people in more recent times cope with such events? Use your research skills to compare the reactions and recovery of people in more modern times to similar events. Determine if they were better prepared to deal with the destruction and despair which accompanied a memorable encounter with nature.

Based on the disasters you examined, evaluate what personal and community characteristics people had that gave them their ability to recover. What changes resulted from this event? What precautions or preventive measures were taken to lessen a future event? What lessons does this event have for your own community? Write an essay to discuss your conclusions.

Examine a children's book about the event from the bibliography. Arrange with your teacher to read it to an elementary class and then tell them what you learned about the event.