Frisco ISD Focus Magazine February 2018 | Page 31

Experienced museum tour guides were placed throughout the museum’s outdoor learning area to explain the role of railroads and train travel throughout various periods of Texas history. Transportation – by horse, car, train, plane or space rocket – is a major part of Texas history and every seventh-grade student in Texas public schools must study the state’s past, from before the Alamo to today. “This is a great fit for seventh-grade history,” said Meredith Manis, secondary social studies coordinator. “It was a really good field trip and it showcases Texas history in a very visual and tactile way for students.” The cattle drives that made Texas long- horns famous were basically ended by the railroad, docents explained to students. But ranchers and farmers benefited from being able to quickly get their goods to major markets. This is why many Texas towns were built along railroads, includ- ing Frisco. As the students of Frisco ISD live in an area that was literally established on a rail line, the topics the students learned about on the field trip included the founding of Texas towns and cities along rail lines, the role that railroads played in the ear- ly days of Texas, problems experienced before Texas became a state, the issues railroads faced after the Civil War and the role that the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters played in African-American history. “If you were a freed slave after the Civil War, you didn’t have many job options,” the tour guide at the Santa Fe Caboose expla