Sunday, March 19, 2023

977.3 Illinois

Today my oldest student and I went to the Carbondale Public Library to learn more about his current U.S. History topic, the 1920's and Prohibition.

He was most interested in learning more about Al Capone (having just read Karen Blumenthal's excellent book Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition) but I also mentioned that there's a famous Southern Illinois gangster named Charlie Birger. Birger was the last person publically hanged in Illinois! We read this article from the Southern Illinoisan (On April 19, 1928 in Benton, Charlie Birger was the last man publicly hanged in Illinois) and checked out a lot of books about Southern Illinois (the library had a great local history section), the 1920's, and the 1930's as well.


I like to keep lists of things, so I'm going to make a quick list of the books we got today. Here's one that was an instant favorite:


A Southern Illinois Album: Farm Security Administration Photographs
1936-1943
by Herbert K. Russell


And more!

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS & CHARLIE BIRGER


AL CAPONE


THE GREAT DEPRESSION


THE DUST BOWL


It's been on my wishlist for this year of U.S. History (which Waldorf does in 8th grade) to do a local history research project. I think Charlie Birger would be a great topic. Some options for field trip destinations for further research:

Williamson County Historical Society Museum

    105 S. Van Buren St.
    Marion IL 62959
    618-997-5863

    Wed - Sat 9:30 am through 3:00 pm

Franklin County Historic Jail Museum

    209 W. Main St.
    Benton IL 62812
    618-435-5777

    Mon – Sat 10:00 am through 3:00 pm

    E-mail: historicjail@frontier.com


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