Scottish American History

This lesson falls under our homeschool curriculum on European American History. We recommend that this lesson be taught after the lesson on French Americans.

1. Internet Access – Pull up the following:

1. Europe Map

2. United States Map

3. Picture of line dancing

4. Picture of square dancing

5. Sample of country music ballads

6. Picture of Hatfields and here

1. Teacher: Last week, we learned about the French Americans, who moved to the United States because to find better opportunities for their families. Today, we will learn about the Scottish Americans. The Scottish Americans come from the country of Scotland [point to Scotland on the Europe Map, which is roughly the upper half of the United Kingdom].

2. Teacher: You’re going to learn that the Scottish had some of the same reasons for moving to the United States as the other Europeans. But you’re also going to learn some things that made the Scottish different from the others.

3. Teacher: So are you ready to learn about the Scottish? [Get positive response from Student and begin lesson].

1. Teacher: Great. Now, the Scottish came to the United States for religious freedom and to find a better opportunity to make money and provide for their families, which are about the same reasons that other Europeans had for moving to the United States.

2. Teacher: But the Scottish people were known to live in groups within their own families, called clans. A clan is a group of people that belong in your family or are close friends of your family. So mothers, fathers, cousins, sisters, brother, uncles, grandmothers, grandfathers, and friends of all of these people – all these people as a group belong to a clan, and Scottish were known to live in clans.

3. Teacher: In fact, one thing about the Scottish was that when they moved to the United States, they usually moved in groups, not by themselves. Also, they continued to live in groups in the United States.

4. Teacher: So the Scottish landed in New Jersey and South Carolina [point to these two states on the United States Map], but once they got here, they moved into further west and down south.

5. Teacher: In fact, a lot of the ways that the people in the Southern United States live today is because of the Scottish. For example, square dancing and line dancing came from the Scottish. Here’s a picture of southerners line dancing. Why do you think they call it “line dancing”? Can you see the Scottish ways of living in this dance? [Show Student picture of line dancing and engage the Student in conversation but come to the point that dancing in groups is a part of Scottish culture since they emphasized living and staying in groups].

6. Teacher: And here’s some people square dancing. This is a dance among four couples (that’s eight boys and girls altogether), each forming the sides of a square. Can you see the Scottish ways of living in this dance? [Show Student picture of square dancing but like line dancing, come to the point that dancing in groups is a part of Scottish culture since they emphasized living and staying in groups].

7. Teacher: Also, some country music songs tend to be very sad and are about sad things. Well, this type of country music was made from a type of song brought over to the United States by the Scottish, called a “ballad” – a ballad started out as a sad story that was made into a song and you hear this in the song because some of the song is just told and not really sung at all. Here is an example of a country ballad, let’s see if you can tell if it’s sad and storylike. [Go to the link and select a sample of country music ballads for Student].

8. Teacher: And finally, have you heard of something called country “bluegrass” music? Well, that’s a very popular kind of country music and again, it was made by the Scottish Americans.

9. Teacher: The Scottish didn’t only create new kinds of dances and music, so many of their ways of living are a part of how Americans live their lives today. Other than U.S. Presidents, famous scientists, artists, and authors, some famous Scottish actors include Jack Black, who played the voice of Po the Panda in Kung Fu Panda and Ben Affleck, who played the role of Daredevil in the Daredevil movie.

10. Teacher: There’s one more thing I want to say about the way the Scottish Americans living in large groups. The Scottish Americans also lived in groups and these groups were very loyal to each other. “Loyal” means feeling so close to your group that you would even fight and die to protect your group. Well, the Scottish Americans were very loyal to each other.

11. Teacher: Long ago, there was this family with the last name Hatfield and another family with the last name McCoy, both families were Scottish American and both were very loyal to their families. These families lived near each other and one day, one of the McCoy’s got angry at one of the Hatfield’s because the McCoy man thought that the Hatfield man stole one of his pigs. Well, a big giant fight started over this one little pig, with each side so sure that they were right and the other family was wrong. In the end, 13 Hatfields and McCoys died because of the fight between these two families.

12. Teacher: This fight lasted more than ten years and now, everyone knows this famous family quarrel as the Hatfields versus the McCoys – this story shows how fiercely loyal Scottish American families are to each other because there was no other story like it that came from other European American families. Hey, do you want to see what the Hatfields looked like? [Get positive response from Student and show pictures of Hatfields].

13. Teacher: I’ll tell you one thing, I wouldn’t want to get into a fight with any of them! By the way, the McCoys were just as tough looking as the Hatfields, both families had nine sons!

14. Teacher: OK – time for review. Get in front of the class. [Have the Student stand in front of you (consider inviting other members of the family also to set the stage) and ask her the following:

1. Why did Scottish Americans move to the United States? To find better opportunities for their families.

2. What was different about the way that the Scottish Americans moved to the United States? They tended to move in groups due to their tendency to live in large groups called clans.

3. What kinds of dances were invented by the Scottish and what things can you see in them that are Scottish? Line dancing and square dancing were invented by the Scottish and you can tell by the group dancing that the Scottish Americans invented these.

4. Who were the famous Scottish American families that fought each other for ten years, which started by an argument over a pig? The Hatfields and McCoys..

Next Week's Lesson: Dutch Americans >>