Photo credit: Emily Hall, former 9:57 Project participant (Class of 2015). Emily now works as a Post Production Coordinator and Video Editor in Los Angeles, CA. You can view more of her work at emilyeldridgehall.com
The “UNITED AGAIN” Initiative is a collaboration between
Andrew Carroll, director of the Center for American War Letters, and Peter
Finder, CEO of the 9:57 Project, to preserve and revive the spirit of unity and
togetherness that took place in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist
attacks. Our mission is to encourage Americans to remember how, in the midst of
the worst attack on American soil,
we came together, and we hope to encourage our fellow citizens to work and strive to be united again.
To honor and remember U.S. troops, veterans, and their
families, Andrew Carroll began seeking out and preserving war letters from every American conflict, from the Revolution to the present day, more than two decades again, and this effort inspired Carroll to create the Center for American War Letters at Chapman University. Peter Findler co-founded the 9:57 Project with U.S. Army aviator
John Hamilton, who served in Afghanistan, and their project primarily works with educators
across the country who are teaching their students about the events of 9/11. (The
name comes from the time, 9:57 a.m., when passengers aboard United Flight 93
began their revolt against the terrorists who had hijacked the plane.
The 40 passengers and crew members sacrificed their lives to crash the plane into an open field in western Pennsylvania, before it could fly to Washington, D.C., and, by all accounts, target either the Capitol Building or the White House. For more information about the memorial to the lives lost in Shanksville, PA, please visit here.)
As it relates to Carroll’s project, you can contribute to
this effort by donating letters and/or emails written on or after 9/11, whether
by civilians who were somehow affected (including survivors at the Pentagon or
at Ground Zero in New York) or those who joined the military because of the
attacks. The Center archives correspondences from all U.S. wars, so if
you or someone you know have letters or emails to share from any conflict,
those will be appreciated as well; this particular “UNITED AGAIN” initiative,
with the 9:57 Project, focuses on 9/11-related correspondences, and the Center
has very few—and is in need—of those. Please feel free to email Andrew directly
at: WarLetterProject@aol.com.
And for teachers of grades 9-12 (and parents homeschooling
their children), the 9:57 Project offers several lesson plans that engage
students on the spirit of unity after 9/11, and these are freely available on
the 9:57 Project’s website. The lesson featured here is inspired by a graphic,
firsthand account of 9/11, a letter written by Anna Miller, who chronicled not
just of the terror she witnessed in Manhattan that day, but the spirit of
selflessness that she saw and took part in as she made her way to safety. (This
letter is one of the few 9/11 correspondences that Andrew Carroll has
collected.) The events that Miller recounts in her letter would become known as the 9/11 "boatlift," still the largest water evacuation in world history. The lesson asks students to respond to what they learn by composing
“adopted” poetry, which is a poem based solely on the words and phrases of
someone else, in this case, Anna Miller. Teachers are encouraged to share student-created poetry with us at the 9:57 Project. View the lesson plan here.
Stephen Jay Gould, the bestselling scientist and
historian, wrote, in an op-ed for the New York Times that was published
on September 26th 2001, that the unity he witnessed on 9/11 was
enough to surmount the horrific acts of terror that took place that day. His call to action is one that continues to
inspire many Americans: “We have a duty, almost a holy responsibility, to
record and honor the victorious weight of these innumerable little kindnesses,
when an unprecedented act of evil so threatens to distort our perception of
ordinary human behavior.”
Ultimately, although their organizations are separate
nonprofits with distinct missions, Andrew Carroll and Peter Findler share a
desire to remind this generation and those to come of the sacrifices made by so
many individuals to protect and defend this nation and that we are never
stronger as a country—and a beacon to the world—than when we find common ground
and work together as the United States of America.
