This post is by Tyron Bey, the 2023-2024 Library of Congress Teacher in Residence. “In the November/December issue of Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, our “Sources and Strategies” article features a map titled “Important farmlands map, Clarendon County, South Carolina.” Created by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service in 1981, it shows what land could be used as farmland with additional agricultural treatment and reveals very limited urban areas. The article suggests that exploring the physical geography of places where historical events occur through maps like this one may help students begin to understand the stories behind local communities’ contributions to key moments in U.S. history. For example, becoming familiar with the geography of Clarendon County, SC, may help students better understand the 1952 court case Harry Briggs Jr. et al. v. R.W. Elliott, chairman, et al. that challenged segregation and was one of the cases included in the Supreme Court case, Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, KS (1954). In this case, after a student drowned in the Lake Marion Reservoir, Black parents in Clarendon County organized to sue the school system for unequal access to transportation and quality school facilities. We suggest that before using a map such as this to connect to or teach about desegregation, you might first ask students to explain the route and the method they use to come to school daily. Some examples will be walking, being dropped off by parents, using public transit, or riding the school bus. Next, team students in groups of three or four. Share the featured map and ask students to analyze it, prompted by questions selected from the Library of Congress Teachers Guide: Analyzing Maps. Ask them to think about which locations might be the best places to live or the best sites to locate community services such as schools. Encourage students to make observations, describe what they see on the map, and identify what looks strange or familiar. Then, invite students to reflect on why this map was made.”