Born on May 29, 1736, Patrick Henry grew to be a radical during the Revolutionary War and is probably most famous for his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech on March 23, 1775. On Tuesday evening, Henry made a reappearance through 10-year-old Raymond Hutchens at Lakeside Elementary School in Pittsburg.

Raymond and other students in Debby Baima's fifth-grade class presented a living history of famous Americans involved in the fight for freedom during the Revolutionary period from 6-7 p.m. Tuesday in the gym at Lakeside, at 709 S. College. The students worked for about three weeks gathering information on historical figures, such as Mary Ludwig Hays (a.k.a. Molly Pitcher), who carried pitchers of water back and forth to soldiers; Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States; and John Jay, who became the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The students wrote a report, completed a visual aid and acted out their figure.

"My name is Benjamin Franklin, but my friends call me 'Ben,'" 10-year-old Braydon Eller told a crowd Tuesday evening. Franklin was a writer, scientist, economist and musician. He also started the first school, hospital and fire station in Philadelphia, Pa.

Braydon said doing the research was fun because he got to use the computer and visit different Web sites. Tuesday night was important, he said, because people needed to know who fought for freedom.

"Because they helped our nation," Braydon said.

The district's social studies curriculum requires that Revolutionary figures are presented to students, Baima said, and the project helped them to dig deeper.

"It made history truly come alive for them," Baima said. "It's not just a dry subject out of a book now."

The students used a variety of tools, including library books, encyclopedias and the Web. The project also gave them a chance to showcase their talents to their families and peers and test their communication skills, Baima said.

Learning about the time period gets rid of the mentality that "it [freedom] just 'poof' happened," Baima said. People fought and died for the freedoms Americans enjoy today and it wasn't just the elite, she said, but slaves and lower-class citizens also fought. Baima said she was pleased that 18 of the 20-student class participated in the performance.

When Charity Owens, 10, put on her costume as Betsy Ross, it was completely natural to her. Ross sewed the first American flag, and Charity has seen that flag and Ross' home. "It was like, 'I know this,'" she said.

And without the freedom Ross and others fought for, Charity said, "we wouldn't get to do the things we do now."

Susan Hendricks came out Tuesday night to see her son, 11-year-old Zachary Shelton, play Samuel Adams, who signed the Declaration of Independence. "It's part of our history, and it's important to know where we came from," she said.

Hendricks said she was surprised to see how open Zachary was in his role. "He's usually so shy that I was shocked."

The Morning Sun, (www.morningsun.net) January 25, 2006

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