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Using Biography to Teach AP History
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by Michael P. Fronda
Denison University
Granville, Ohio
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| | Keeping the Big Picture in Mind
"Why do we have to memorize all these facts? Shouldn't we pay more attention to the 'big picture'?" All history teachers have at some time heard this common refrain from their students. Many teachers, myself included, are at least partially sympathetic to our students' plea -- history should be more than a list of names, dates, battles, and places. Unfortunately, students of history often find that the "big picture" is difficult to grasp. In my experience, students frequently struggle with broad historical trends such as intellectual developments, cultural changes, economic forces, and the evolution of political, religious, or administrative institutions. Some students have trouble contextualizing historical change, especially when important movements overlap chronologically and influence each other. Finally, repeated thematic lessons that emphasize generalities will bore students as much as memorizing facts does.
One method I use to strike a balance between the "big picture" and the specific evidence that makes up history is to use biography as a teaching tool. Now I should make it clear that my classes do not emphasize "great individuals." Rather, I tend to employ biography lessons periodically, perhaps once every few weeks, usually as the culmination of a series of more thematic lessons. Also, I do not necessarily focus on the biographies of the most "important" historical figures, but instead choose individuals whose lives illustrate the broader historical trends and themes discussed in previous lessons. I have found that students enjoy biographies because they put a human face on history. Students can relate to the men and women who make up history, making the material more interesting and approachable.
I plan historical biography lessons with five goals in mind: (1) to help students understand a difficult concept or theme, (2) to review previous material and "tie together" course themes, (3) to provide the students with specific examples to link to the themes, (4) as a point of departure for future lessons, and (5) as the basis for potential discussion, examination, and paper topics.
Perhaps it would be best to give an example of how I would use a biography to achieve the results I have just mentioned. The Catholic Reformation usually proves to be a problematic topic. Students tend to see it only as a reaction against Protestantism and not as a legitimate movement of institutional reform and spiritual renewal. This is exacerbated by the fact that the Protestant and Catholic Reformations are usually taught in sequence, even though they overlapped chronologically. It is also difficult to see the sometimes-subtle differences between Catholic and Protestant reformers. Finally, the entire Reformation era is bound up in the complicated relationship between sixteenth-century religion and such contemporary historical developments as the spread of Renaissance Humanism, the impact of technological advances, and the rivalry between the Valoise and Hapsburg dynasties. To clarify these concepts, I schedule a lesson on Ignatius of Loyola.
Example: Ignatius of Loyola
As a young Spanish aristocrat, Ignatius read romance novels and trained to be a knight so he could win glory and fame. This is the sort of person who intrigues students. Ignatius also exhibits medieval values of aristocratic chivalry, which was dying out in early modern Europe. It is certainly worth pointing out that he was born in 1491, about contemporaneous with Christopher Columbus's voyage from Spain to the New World. This lays the groundwork for a future lesson on exploration.
In 1512 the French besieged the small town of Pamplona, defended by a garrison of 1,000 Spaniards, including Ignatius. The French took the fortified town in a matter of hours by using cannons, and Ignatius was badly wounded by a cannonball. This incident demonstrates the Franco-Spanish rivalry as well as the new warfare ushered in by the advent of gunpowder and cannons. Ignatius spent the next year recovering from injuries and reading books of saints' lives, during which he decided to reject his aristocratic ideals and to live with Jesus as his model. His story points out the spread of books and the impact of the printing press and the pervasive spiritualism of the day.
Ignatius then decided to form a society (the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits) to go to the Holy Land and convert Muslims, but the Papacy recognized that the Jesuits could be used to combat Protestantism. Ignatius believed that many Catholics became Protestant because they did not understand the teachings of the Catholic Church, so the Jesuits emphasized education and preaching. Jesuit churches were built in town centers, and their architecture included long pews and prominent speaking platforms to facilitate preaching. (Jesuit churches also contained ornate Baroque elements -- a good point to review differences in Catholic and Protestant church architecture.) Jesuits were highly trained scholars and teachers, and they began to establish universities around Europe. This illustrates the relationship between the humanistic ideal of education and Reformation-era religion. Indeed, the Jesuit emphasis on preaching is similar to Protestant practice -- a convenient point to review important themes of the Protestant Reformation. The Papacy's use of the Jesuits not only to preach to Catholics but also as theologians in church councils and debates with Protestants underscores the Catholic Church's flexibility in responding to the spread of Protestantism.
Fostering Ongoing Discussion
The lesson might conclude with the legacy of the Jesuits. Not only were the Jesuits instrumental in checking the spread of Protestantism in Europe, they were sent as missionaries to other continents. There they set up schools and worked to convert native populations to Christianity. This again sets up a future lesson on the causes and consequences of European exploration.
Overall, therefore, the life of Ignatius of Loyola touches on a number of important topics and overlapping themes in European history, and students find such figures interesting. Moreover, biographies are convenient for creating assignments. For example, you could divide the class and hold a debate: "Do great individuals shape history or does history shape the individual?" You could ask the students to write a short paper comparing and contrasting two biographies: "Who was more revolutionary? Who had more impact? What would they say to each other?" Biographies could provide the evidence for an essay on a test: "How did the Catholic Church respond to the spread of Protestantism? Consider the life of Ignatius of Loyola."
Michael P. Fronda is an assistant professor at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. His article appears exclusively on AP Central through a collaboration agreement between the Teaching Institute of Ohio State University's Department of History and the College Board.
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