Shaw High School Organizations Young Historians

The Shaw Young Historians' Club, formed in the spring of 2005, is supported by a grant from the Historic Columbus Foundation. Faculty sponsors for the club are Mrs. Lynda Kannady and Ms. Megan Ritchie, both social studies teachers at Shaw.

In searching for an appropriate topic to research, club members considered other projects completed in the past by Young Historians' Clubs in Columbus. Shaw High School itself had conducted "Learn and Serve" projects over the past three years, first interviewing WWII veterans, followed by Korean War veterans, and then Vietnam veterans. In consultation with Mike Bunn, Assistant Curator of History for the Columbus Museum, club members decided to focus its research efforts on the role of local civilian residents in supporting the war effort during WWII. Not only was this a relatively untapped area in local history, it also fit well into the Columbus Museum's plans for their July through December 2007 exhibit, "The Chattahoochee Valley Homefront during World War II." The club would serve as "scouts," collecting interviews and perhaps unearthing useful memorabilia and artifacts for the exhibit.

During the first half of the 2005-2006 school year, club members researched newspapers, magazines, and other sources for background information on the civilian activities of Columbus during WWII. In December 2005, the History Committee of the Columbus Museum conducted a roundtable discussion for club members, bringing in such experts and eye-witness accounts from Mr. Clason Kyles, Mrs. Elizabeth Corn, Mr. William Buck, Mr. Billy Winn, and several others.

With background research complete, the club was ready to start interviewing residents who lived and worked in the local area during the WWII time period. Some topics of interest were the following: what the local industries produced for the war effort; what the local citizens did to support the effort outside of their employment (USO, Red Cross, Bond Drives); how Columbus grew during the war (Baker High School, Baker Village, the Municipal Airport, etc.); what favorite recreational activities were available; how rationing did or did not have an impact on residents' activities; how are residents handled the large number of temporary visitors to Columbus and the Fort Benning area; how the city coped with the large number of soldiers; and how the local schools and churches supported the war effort.

Students conducted interviews and obtained information from Columbus residents' experiences during WWII; these interviews were put into a historical collection booklet, Columbus and the Homefront: Memories of Columbus, Georgia, during World War II, which was made available to libraries in the area and to the participants.