Reacting to the past: Maud Malone takes over Greenwich Village 1913

I've had fun this fall channeling Maud Malone: Suffragette, labour organizer and library worker. I first met Maud (1872-1951) while doing my research on women, unions and work. She not only took on President Woodrow Wilson over the suffrage issue in 1912 but led the charge in unionizing library workers at the New York City Public Library in the 1920s and 30s. Getting arrested? Not a problem for Maud. Getting fired? That was easy too.

I have become reacquainted with Maud as part of Prof. Pamela Walker's first-year seminar, The long civil rights movement. Pamela has adopted the "reacting to the past pedagogy," which engages students in historical problems through immersive game play. Based on games such as Assassin (of which I have only heard about), students take on the roles of historical (or composite) characters to argue for and against "big ideas" such as democracy, Burke's social contract and the right to vote.

Maud is a new character who fits historically with Greenwich Village 1913, the game that Pamela's students are currently playing. The action takes place in New York City and pits those in the suffrage movement against members of the Industrial Workers of the World (the IWW) in a bid for support from famous bohemians such as playwright Susan Glaspell as well as social crusaders such as Margaret Sanger (birth control) and Emma Goldman (anarchy).

Librarians are not typically embedded in reacting games but according to Barnard College students, maybe they should be. After all, everyone needs helping finding sources and students who do best are those who do extra work ... go figure.

So Maud is busy meeting with students one-to-one (which earns students 5 personal influence points (PIPS), jumping over chairs, attending rallies and creating a costume lending library.

A great way to spend the fall term.

Check out the presentation that Pamela and I made at the EDC Experiential Learning Symposium in October for more information.