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CREATE YOUR OWN MEMORIAL
After you have finished this exercise, come up with your own idea for a memorial. What memory would it help to preserve? Where would it be? What would it look like? Why? Once you have answered these questions, draw a picture or create a model of your memorial to display in a classroom exhibit.
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A memorial helps preserve the memory of a person, thing, or event. Special customs, observances and buildings are all types of memorials. Sometimes, people hold special memorial services in honor of someone who has died. National Monuments can also be memorials, like the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials in Washington, D.C. or Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Of course, everyone knows about the celebration of Memorial Day, when we honor all those who have died in the nation's service.
The USS Arizona Memorial is different from many memorials, since it is a structure built over a sunken battleship in the waters of Pearl Harbor. The idea for the memorial grew out of a desire to commemorate all those who had died aboard the battleship and elsewhere at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack. The simple white memorial, dedicated in 1962, has become one of the nation's most visited historic sites.
Activity
Go online to compile a list of memorials in the United States. Your list probably should be varied, containing the names of buildings, museums, celebrations, and foundations, which may or may not be well known. Once you have compiled your list, try to group them into categories: those dedicated to presidents, to wars, or to other famous events or people. Do all of the memorials in the same category share certain characteristics? How do they differ? Which of the memorials do you find most effective? Why? What makes them all memorials?
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