| Buck
Weaver News > DePaul University
Focal Point Seminar
The
Black Sox Scandal: The 1919 World Series in History
and Myth
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Dr.
Fletcher had the opportunity to share his knowledge of
the Black Sox scandal to a class of DePaul University
freshman this month. The Black Sox Scandal:
The 1919 World Series in History and Myth
is a “focal point seminar” for university freshman. These
seminars concentrate on a particular person, place, text,
object, event, or idea with the goal of preparing students
for university-level intellectual inquiry. |
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Nancy
Grossman (assistant director of the LA & S honors
program) offered students a chance to explore the 1919
World Series by gaining insight into historical inquiry
and evaluating and synthesizing from multiple sources;
the roles of author bias and point of view in interpreting
historic events; the strategies for supporting arguments
and analyzing audience; the function of sports and media
in our collective consciousness; and the issues of moral
conduct and human frailty in evaluating historic events.
Upon
reading Eliot Asinof's Eight Men Out and WP
Kinsell's Shoeless Joe , students came to Dr.
Fletcher's presentation knowledgeable and prepared with
insightful questions about the 1919 World Series scandal.
From the history of Major League Baseball to revelations
about a relatively unknown 1924 trial between Joe Jackson
and Charles Comiskey, Dr. Fletcher walked the students
through an updated and detailed account of the Black
Sox scandal. |
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Students
were instructed to write an essay as if they were the
designer or curator of a Black Sox exhibit at the Baseball
Museum and Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Click here
to view the assignment.
They
also prepared for a debate with fellow classmates where
Buck Weaver and Joe Jackson's fates were in the students'
hands. Click to view
the debate format and photos of the freshman during
preparation and presentation of their arguments. |
Our
special thank you to Nancy Grossman for introducing
DePaul University students to this intriguing story,
and for encouraging the exploration of the history and
mythology of the 1919 World Series scandal. We would
also like to thank the freshman of ISP 101 for allowing
us into their classroom during the Black Sox debates
and offering their essays for publication on this website.
Members
of ClearBuck.com look forward to future interaction
with new students of Nancy Grossman's focal point seminar:
The Black Sox Scandal. |
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