Introduction
In this activity, you will look at old black and white photos that show different kinds of transportation across time. These photos will help us learn how transportation changed over time.
Activity Questions
Group of women in a 1907 or 1908 two-cylinder Maxwell automobile
Examine each photo and answer the following questions:
- When was this photo taken?
- What means of transportation is in the photo?
- For what is the means of transportation in the photo used?
- Do we still use the means of transportation that you see in the photo?
- Does the means of transportation that you see in the photo look the same today? Are cars, bicycles, motorcycles, etc. today like those in the photo?
- Describe people in the photo. How old are they? What are they doing? What are they wearing? Do we wear similar clothes today?
Primary Sources
To learn more about the primary sources featured in the activities above, click the following links:
- 200 block of Capitol Avenue in Little Rock
- Steamboat U.S.S. Eastport
- Steamboat Pocahontas
- Ceylon Tea Company delivery wagon in Fort Smith
- Women bicyclists in Forrest City, Arkansas, ca. 1890s
- Jim Guy Tucker riding bicycle on Stonewall Road, Little Rock
- Seven people in automobile
- Group of women in a 1907 or 1908 two-cylinder Maxwell automobile
- Man in driving clothes next to 1912 Ford Model T automobile at Quail’s Motel in Van Buren
- E. M. Shipley of Fort Smith on an early model Indian motorcycle
- Ben Walker and unidentified man on motorcycle in Fort Smith
- Fort Smith and Western locomotive no. 17, Ed Krause as conductor, Fort Smith, before 1920
- Two men and biplane
Arkansas Social Studies Standards
Social Studies (History)
- Strand: History
- Content Standard 12: Chronology, Change Over Time, and Contextualization – Students will analyze chronology, patterns of continuity and change over time, and contextualization on historical events.
- Kindergarten
- H.12.K.3: Compare a child’s life of the present to that of the past using visual representations (e.g., growing food, rules and laws, making clothing, transportation, communication)
- Grade 1
- H.12.1.3 Compare present day families, objects, and events with those in the past using visual representations, news stories, and artifacts (e.g. daily life tasks, food, clothing, transportation, communication, recreation)
- Grade 2
- H.12.2.3 Compare life in your community past and present using maps, photographs, news stories, artifacts, or interviews (e.g. transportation, communication, recreation, jobs, housing)
- Grade 3
- Compare specific regions of Arkansas in the past with those regions today noting changes over time (e.g., transportation, jobs, urban growth, population density, natural resources, communication)
Key Terms
More Information
N/A
Downloadable Guides and Handouts
We encourage K-12 educators to use History Alive: Virtually! in a way that will best match their classroom needs. The “Exercise” handout includes a complete exercise as featured on this website, the “Primary Sources” handout includes only primary sources used in the exercise, and the “Questions” handout includes analytical questions from the exercise but is editable and can be easily changed to best match students’ needs.
Change Over Time (Transportation) – Exercises