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Teaching about Natural Disasters with Materials from the North Carolina
State Archives
Overview
Natural disasters happen every day, and in North Carolina in 2011 we seemed to have had more
than other years. Natural disasters bring out many emotions in students, and adults, as well.
Fear predominates, but there are other feelings, such as anger, insecurity and anxiety. One
effective way to deal with natural disasters is to study them historically. It is often helpful for
students to talk about what led up to the disaster and what people did after it to cope and carry
on. This puts students on an intellectual footing when confronted with the uncontrollable. It
gives a non-emotional avenue to pursue and channels negative, albeit it, necessary emotions in
more productive ways. Many areas of the world are prone to certain types of natural disasters,
just because of their location. North Carolina’s geography lends itself to large numbers of
hurricanes and shipwrecks, so there are many examples of those types of disasters in our history.
Preparation
Discuss with students the definitions of the words disaster, natural disaster, accident, and
tragedy. Discuss how these words are used by the media when reporting terrible events.
Brainstorm disasters and then natural disasters, making a list of each session’s suggestions. Use
the list provided with this lesson plan to add some of the natural disasters that have happened in
North Carolina to the classroom lists.
Activities
Students, alone or in groups, should do online and traditional research on a particular
North Carolina natural disaster. They may choose a disaster from the attached list or
choose one of their own. Students may produce written papers or oral reports about the
disaster they have chosen.
Using the provided list of songs about disasters, listen to or read the lyrics of some of the
songs and discuss why people write songs about such sad, tragic events. Are students
surprised that some of the songs are about disasters?
Find newspaper articles about North Carolina natural disasters. Using the contemporary
information, create a spreadsheet that tallies some of the statistics provided about each
disaster in order to compare and contrast them.
Study the photographs of disasters in North Carolina. What problems were created by
the disasters and how could they have handled them when they occurred? How would
they handle them differently now?
109 E. Jones Street Raleigh, NC 27601 -- Email: [email protected] -- www.ncdcr.gov/archives -- Phone:
Enrichment and Extension
Study the types of occupations that are called upon to deal with natural disasters.
Examples are emergency relief workers, utilities workers, police officers, firefighters,
emergency preparedness workers, and medical personnel. What training do people who
are interested in these occupations need?
In North Carolina it is important to be as prepared as possible for disasters, such as
hurricanes. Investigate what is included in, and explain to the class the importance of
items in, a hurricane kit.
Study newspaper articles about various natural disasters from different time periods.
How was the coverage of the disaster different in the past than it is now?
Compare various media representations of a disaster. How do songs, photographs,
newspaper accounts and historical accounts differ in their representation? Does one
medium seem more reliable than another? Does one medium appeal more to the senses
than the intellect? Why?
109 E. Jones Street Raleigh, NC 27601 -- Email: [email protected] -- www.ncdcr.gov/archives -- Phone:
Music and Natural Disasters
“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” Gordon Lightfoot shipwreck
“Louisiana 1927” Randy Newman flood
“Dust Bowl Blues” Woody Guthrie drought
“The Cyclone of Rye Cove” Carter Family cyclone/tornado
“Backwater Blues” Bessie Smith flood
“Mighty Day” Chad Mitchell Trio hurricane
“Run Come See, Jerusalem” Blind Blake Higgs hurricane
“Ring Around the Rosy” nursery rhyme plague
“Bangladesh” George Harrison famine
Students can write their own songs about a natural disaster. They can also create a music video
for their own or another song using photographs and videos of the disaster that they find on
the internet and in other sources.
Study the lyrics to these songs and others about natural disasters. What do the lyrics have in
common?
Why would someone write a song about a natural disaster?
How is a song’s representation of the disaster different from a newspaper’s (or other media)?
Many of these songs were written and performed in the days before music videos. Is the song
more or less effective now that photographs or videos can be added to the song?
Interested students may perform a chosen disaster song.
109 E. Jones Street Raleigh, NC 27601 -- Email: [email protected] -- www.ncdcr.gov/archives -- Phone:
Natural Disasters in North Carolina
Earthquakes
1874
1886
Epidemics
Small Pox 1711
Cholera 1834
Yellow fever 1862
Spanish flu 1918
Polio 1948
Floods
Raleigh 1865
Asheville 1916,
1928
Raleigh 1939
Hurricane Floyd 1999
Hurricanes
San Ciriaco 1899
Hugo 1989
Hazel 1954
Lightning Strikes
Fort Bragg 1957
Nor’easters
Ash Wednesday 1962
Shipwrecks
Chrissie Wright 1886
Steamer Olive 1903
Tornadoes
Steamer Olive 1903
Western NC 1974
1984
Raleigh 1989
Winter Storms
1899
1915
1927
1960
109 E. Jones Street Raleigh, NC 27601 -- Email: [email protected] -- www.ncdcr.gov/archives -- Phone:
North Carolina Natural Disasters Bibliography
Barnes, Jay. North Carolina’s Hurricane History. 3
rd
edition. Chapel Hill: The University of North
Carolina Press, 2001.
Cohn, Scotti. Disasters and Heroic Rescues of North Carolina. The Globe Pequot Press, 2005.
Disaster Detective Activity Book. Ohio Department of Public Safety
Dunn, Gordon E. Atlantic Hurricanes. Louisiana State University Press, 1964.
Hairr, John. The Great Hurricanes of North Carolina. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2008.
Knauer, Kelly, ed. Nature’s Extremes: Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Other Natural Disasters that Shape
Life on Earth. Time Books, NY: 2011.
Larson, Erik. Isaac’s Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hurricanes…Unleashing Nature’s Fury.
North Carolina Humanities Council. Watching TV off the Back of a Fire Truck: Voices from the Floyd
Flood in Eastern North Carolina. Greensboro, NC: Crossroads Press, 2005.
Powell, William S., ed. The North Carolina Encyclopedia. Chapel Hill: The University of North
Carolina Press, 2006.
Tar Heel Junior Historian Magazine. Volume 38, Number 2, Spring 1999.
PC 44, Charles Pattison Bolles Papers, North Carolina State Archives
PC 1417, L. Polk Denmark Papers, North Carolina State Archives
www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu
www.geology.enr.state.nc.us
www.gendisasters.com
http://hurricanes.noaa.gov
www.1900storm.com
www.history.noaa.gov
www.eyewitnesstohistory.com
www.livescience.com
www.loc.gov
www.nara.gov
www.archives.ncdcr.gov
109 E. Jones Street Raleigh, NC 27601 -- Email: [email protected] -- www.ncdcr.gov/archives -- Phone:
