Wednesday, April 30, 2008

What was life like in the Great Depression?

Using a variety of resources, your group will create a poster reflecting life in the Great Depression. Your poster must include:

A) - quotes from oral histories and a reflection on what they tell you about individual's experiences in this period
http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17451_18670_18793-53511--,00.html

B) - economic statistics on prices, wages, employment, etc. Explain how these figures compare to tghe standard of living in the U.S. today
http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-15481_19268_20778-52530--,00.html

C) - a summary of how the depression affected different social and economic groups (consider farmers, teenagers, women, immigrants and migrant workers, business owners, labor unions, politicians, etc.)

Please base your summary on photographs http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blyindexdepression.htm
http://www.oconee.k12.sc.us/whs2/MJENSEN/www.jensen/webquest.htm

and anecdotal evidence (you may run your own searches on specific social groups)

D) a detailed one-paragraph summary of at least one primary source that is NOT a photograph that helps you respond to the framing question
(you can find your own or use the hyperlinks at the following sites: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/great_depression/links.cfm
http://www.oconee.k12.sc.us/whs2/MJENSEN/www.jensen/webquest.htm)

Include images, symbols and other embelishments to make your poster visually interesting. Remember that the symbols you include should reflect the spirit and context of the era.

We will be presenting these posters in the second half of class tomorrow. Be sure each member of the group takes part in this assessment.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Exploring the Harlem Renaissance: Understaning history though literature, art and music


The Harlem Renaissance refers to an era of written and artistic creativity among African-Americans that occurred after World War I and lasted until the middle of the 1930s Depression.
A major factor leading to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the migration of African-Americans to the northern cities. Between 1919 and 1926, large numbers of black Americans left their rural southern states homes to move to urban centers such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, DC.

This black urban migration combined with the experimental trends occurring throughout 1920s American society and the rise of a group of radical black intellectuals all contributed to the particular styles and unprecedented success of black artists. What began as a series of literary discussions in lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village) and upper Manhattan (Harlem) was first known as the 'New Negro Movement.' Later termed the Harlem Renaissance, this movement brought unprecedented creative activity in writing, art, and music and redefined expressions of African-Americans and their heritage.


This week's blog requires that you explore the major works of several figures of the Harlem Reniassance ans consider their achievements in a historical context:



Identify two key figures of the Harlem Renaissance and use the research links provided by the libary of congress' website at:



For each artist/ musician/ writer whose work you explore, identify:

a) his/her major contributions to the period

b) why his/ her work is celebrated and considered signifigant in American history.

Image: Drawing in two colors, Winold Reiss, 1920.
Then discuss the similarites and differences of each figures' work. In what ways do their written/musical/ artistic expressions reflect the political, economic and cultural aspects of life in Harlem in the 1920's and 30s? Use historical evidence to support your answer.


Additional sources may be found at: http://www.42explore2.com/harlem.htm


Your blog must be at least 200 words. You may incorporate images, links to music, etc. in your post. Be sure to respond to the work of one of your peers.


Due Sunday 4/27.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

From Prohibition to border walls: Has US immigration policy reflected or disregarded the needs of society and immigrants throughout history?


1) Actively read the Prohibition source located at the link below. Summarize the article and explain how Prohibition (the 18th Amendment) was a related to immigration and nativism in the 1920s.


Prohibition Period: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=441

2A. Read the two or more of the Reader’s Immigration Stories collected by New York Times reporter Julia Preston at : http://news.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/share-your-immigration-story/index.html

OR

2B. Read a recent summary of immigration policy published by the New York Times.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/immigration_and_refugees/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier

3. Consider these stories/ articles and what you know about immigration policy in the U.S. throughout history and today. Answer the framing question:

How has US immigration policy changed over time? Does immigration policy reflect or disregard the needs of society and/or immigrant groups in modern day society?

Use specific examples from the articles to support your answer.

Your blog must be at least 200 words.

Respond to at least one other post.

Due Saturday 4/19.
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FYI- There will also be a blog to complete over break that will be due Sunday 4/25!

Any student interested in blog extra credit may complete steps 2 A and B.

Extra credit project over break: complete a 2-3 page research paper on an artist, poet, entertainer, sports figure, politician, or organized crime leader of the Roaring Twenties and/or Harlem Renaissance. Must include 2 research sources in MLA format.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Review topics for Tuesday's exam on Suffrage, WWI, the Red Scare and Great Migration



Legislation

13, 14, 15, 18, 19th Amendments
Espionage Act
Conscripton Act
Sedition Act
Shenck v. United States
Plessy v. Ferguson
Klan Act
Jim Crow Laws
Selective Service Act
Poll taxes and literacy tests

Foreign Policy
14 Points
Treaty of Versailles
Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine

Key Figures
Susan B. Anthony
Margaret Sanger
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Cary Chapman Catt
Alice Paul
Lucy Stone
Archdude Franz Ferdinand
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Otto Von Bismark
British Prime Minister
A. Mitchell Palmer
Henry Cabot Lodge
Emma Goldman
Langston Hughes
Ida B Wells
Leon Trotsky
Woodrow Wilson
Niccolo Sacco
Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Eugene V. Debbs
Theodore Roosevelt
Booker T Washington
WEB DuBois
Vladimir Lenin
Waren G. Harding
Justice Holmes
Charles Schenck
Triple Entente
Triple Alliance


Key Events
World War I
zimmerman telegram
Sinking of Lusitania
US joins the war
Red Scare
Red Raids/ Palmer Raids
Suffrage Movement
National Women's Party Sentinel Strike
Great Migration
Paris Peace Conference

Terms
consientous objector
civil disobedience

trench warfare

U- boat

Western Front
influenza
neutrality
suffrage
communism
anarchy
self determination
non-intervention
blockade
reparations
irreconcilables
munitions
doughboy
Alscase Lorraine
Dardanelles
soverignty
sanctions
inflation
deflation

lynching

bool weevil

share cropping

white supremacy
conscription

Monday, April 7, 2008

Clash of Cultures: 1910's vs. 1920's!


The twenties are generally regarded as a “roaring” decade in US History. Gender, race and nationality were all redefined as was the concept of what it meant to be "American." Arts , sports and entertainment transformed society and shaped an American identity of consumerism and leisure. This weeks’ blog asks that you consider how the US in the 1910’s differed from the US a decade later by responding to the question “Did the roaring twenties mark the emergence of a radically different American culture or were they simply a result of political, economic and social progress?”


Read the introductory passage from the “Clash of Cultures, the 1910’s and 1920’s” homepage.
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Introduction/Intro.htm

Then, chose two of the following topics to investigate further:
a) Prohibition (18th Amendment banning the sale and consumption of alcohol)
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Prohibition/prohibition-page1.htm



d) The Scopes Trial – evolution debate/ religious reform and revival
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Scopes/scopes-page1.htm

Summarize the key ideas of the articles and respond to the framing question. Your post should be at least 200 words and include comments on at least one peer’s response.