Haunting History

 

There were many failures on part of the factory owners and management that led up to the deadliest workplace disaster of the 20th century. Join Dominique Dibbell as she uncovers the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the events leading up to the tragedy, the aftermath and the fight for better conditions that followed.

OK Land Rush

Are the best things in life for free? What's the best thing you've ever got for free?

At precisely twelve noon on September 16, 1893 a cannon's boom unleashed the largest land rush America ever saw. Carried by all kinds of transportation - horses, wagons, trains, bicycles or on foot - an estimated 100,000 raced to claim plots of free land in an area of northern Oklahoma Territory known as the Cherokee Strip. There had been a number of previous land rushes in the Territory - but this was the big one.

'As the expectant home-seekers waited with restless patience, the clear, sweet notes of a cavalry bugle rose and hung a moment upon the startled air. It was noon. The last barrier of savagery in the United States was broken down. Moved by the same impulse, each driver lashed his horses furiously; each rider dug his spurs into his willing steed, and each man on foot caught his breath hard and darted forward. A cloud of dust rose where the home-seekers had stood in line, and when it had drifted away before the gentle breeze, the horses and wagons and men were tearing across the open country like fiends. The horsemen had the best of it from the start. It was a fine race for a few minutes, but soon the riders began to spread out like a fan, and by the time they had reached the horizon they were scattered about as far as eye could see. Even the fleetest of the horsemen found upon reaching their chosen localities that men in wagons and men on foot were there before them. As it was clearly impossible for a man on foot to outrun a horseman, the inference is plain that Oklahoma had been entered hours before the appointed time.'    -Harper's Weekly 33 (May 18, 1889): 391-94.

How did the Homestead Act encourage settlement of the new Western frontier?

Who were the real Sooners and why should the Oklahoma football team change their name?

What was appealing about Oklahoma?  Would you want to live there?  Why?

In 1890 the national census concluded there was no longer a square mile of the US that wasn't settled.  According to Historian Frederick Jackson Turner's  'Frontier Thesis' the closing of the American Frontier means the gradual decline of our Democracy.  Do you think the United States needs to continue to expand?  If not why? If so where?

Black Wall Street

 

In 1921, at the height of ‘Jim Crow’ America, rioters destroyed a beacon of Black prosperity and security: The Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma also known as ‘Black Wall Street.’

They killed hundreds of black Tulsans, left thousands homeless, and ransacked an entire neighborhood.

At the time, there were no prosecutions of the instigators. Almost a century later, there have been no reparations.

In fact, I had never even heard of it until I saw it on HBO’s ‘The Watchmen’

100 - 300 Greenwood residents were killed. 9,000 Greenwood residents were left homeless. 1,200 Greenwood buildings destroyed $50-100 million in property damage.

NOT ONE sentence in our US history book! Why?

Read the story for yourself and then answer these questions:

1) Was Reconstruction a success or a failure? Give examples.
2) What happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921? Why?
3) How did this incident test our nation's commitment to its founding ideals?
4) Why do you suppose this event is not in our History Textbook?
5) How is our nation still healing more than 150 years after the Civil War?

Star Wars

If anything defined the 20th century as the age of anxiety, it's the cold war with its ultimate no-win nuclear endgame.  Reagan's 1983 Evil Empire speech sets the tone for a more aggressive US posture against the Soviet Union, and the costly arms race it renewed.  

1) How did the 'Death Star' reflect the very real fear of the atomic bomb during the Cold War 70's & 80's?

2) Why is the post-Soviet world so obsessed with Star Wars?

3) Who would Darth Vadar & the Empire represent in Cold War history? The Rebel Alliance? Explain?

4) What was Reagan's ' Star Wars' program and how did it bring about an end of the Cold War?

5) How will you be celebrating Star Wars Day?

Red Scare

1) Who were the Body Snatchers?!

In the 1950's the fear that communists both outside and inside America were working to destroy our way of life created a reaction known as the Red Scare. Pop culture reflected this fear of communists invading and taking over Americans minds.

Then a little known senator from Wisconsin, Joseph R. McCarthy charged that more than 200 communist agents had infiltrated the highest levels of our government. The charge provoked a furor and a witch hunt that quickly spread to all levels of American life.

2) How can you tell if someone is a 'witch?'

"The Crucible", a play written by Arthur Miller centers on the similar events in colonial Salem and the subsequent trials. Those who demanded their innocence were executed, those who would not name names were incarcerated and tortured, and those who admitted their guilt were immediately set free.

3) Compare and Contrast the Salem Witch Hunts to the McCarthy Era.

4)  Who was persecuted and what was the evidence? What recourse did the accused have?

5)Which was more dangerous: the accusation or the actual witches?

6) Who was Edward R. Murrow and how did he respond to McCarthy's allegations?

7) What predictions did Mr. Murrow make about the future of Media in America?


 Play the game.  Listen: Must be the season of the Witch

Tear Down This Wall....

President Reagan's remarks on East-West relations at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany on June 12, 1987.

How does Reagan support his statement "Freedom is the victor?"

How does Reagan challenge Gorbachev to prove that his reforms are not just 'token gestures?'

What is the tone of this speech?

How persuasive was this speech? Why? Give reasons.

Everything I learned about Cold War History I learned from watching 'Family Guy.'

The Wall

WHAT IN THE WORLD?

Within a short period of time after the war, living conditions in West Germany and East Germany became distinctly different. With the help and support of its occupying powers, West Germany set up a capitalist society and experienced such a rapid growth of their economy that it became known as the "economic miracle." With hard work, individuals living in West Germany were able to live well, buy gadgets and appliances, and to travel as they wished. Nearly the opposite was true in East Germany. Since the Soviet Union had viewed their zone as a spoil of war, the Soviets pilfered factory equipment and other valuable assets from their zone and shipped them back to the Soviet Union.

When East Germany became its own country, it was under the direct influence of the Soviet Union and thus a Communist society was established. In East Germany, the economy dragged and individual freedoms were severely restricted. By the late 1950s, many people living in East Germany wanted out. No longer able to stand the repressive living conditions of East Germany, they would pack up their bags and head to West Berlin. Although some of them would be stopped on their way, hundreds of thousands of others made it across the border. Once across, these refugees were housed in warehouses and then flown to West Germany. Many of those who escaped were young, trained professionals. By the early 1960s, East Germany was rapidly losing both its labor force and its population. Having already lost 2.5 million people by 1961, East Germany desperately needed to stop this mass exodus.

The obvious leak was the easy access East Germans had to West Berlin. With the support of the Soviet Union, there had been several attempts to simply take over West Berlin in order to eliminate this exit point. Although the Soviet Union even threatened the United States with the use of nuclear weapons over this issue, the United States and other Western countries were committed to defending West Berlin. Desperate to keep its citizens, East Germany decided to build a wall to prevent them from crossing the border.

WATCH THE MOVIE HERE

 How was the Wall both a physical and ideological barrier?

Battle of the Superpowers

If Superman is a metaphor for the United States post World War II then who is Lex Luther?  The Warsaw Pact?  NATO?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. NATO was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside of the Western Hemisphere. After the destruction of the Second World War, the nations of Europe struggled to rebuild their economies and ensure their security. The former required a massive influx of aid to help the war-torn landscapes re-establish industries and produce food, and the latter required assurances against a resurgent Germany or incursions from the Soviet Union. The United States viewed an economically strong, rearmed, and integrated Europe as vital to the prevention of communist expansion across the continent. As a result, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed a program of large-scale economic aid to Europe. The resulting European Recovery Program, or Marshall Plan, not only facilitated European economic integration but promoted the idea of shared interests and cooperation between the United States and Europe. Soviet refusal either to participate in the Marshall Plan or to allow its satellite states in Eastern Europe to accept the economic assistance helped to reinforce the growing division between east and west in Europe.

1) What are the similarities/ differences between NATO & Wilson's failed League of Nations?
2) What are the benefits of being part of NATO?  Risks?
3) Has NATO been effective?  Give examples?
4) How has NATO evolved & changed over the decades?
5) In your opinion should the United States continue to lead NATO? Why/ Not?

Read More

Is This Tomorrow?  America Under Communism!

Its a Bird... Its a Plane.... Its....

SUPERMAN!

Over the years Superman has come to represent truth, justice, and the 'American Way!' Perhaps the most famous of the War Year's comics is Superman #17 (July-Aug 1942). On that cover, Superman is shown standing on the Earth, holding both Hitler and the Japanese Emperor by the scruff of their necks and giving them a good shake as if that would put sense back into their heads. While Superman's storyline intentionally avoided much of WWII (Clark Kent was declared unfit for the draft after failing his eye exam; He was reading the chart in the next room with his x-ray vision) the Man of Steel did face the Japanese on the big screen.

How did Superman reflect the mood of the country during and after WWII?

What super powers does Superman have and how did the United States become a Superpower?

 If Lex Luther was Superman's nemesis, who was the United States?

If you could have super powers what would the be (flying, strength, shooting webs)? Would you use them for good or evil?

What if Superman had landed in the Ukrraine, USSR and not Kansas?

Will Superman end his US citizenship?!

Who is your favorite Superman?  (View Complete List)

How has the image of Superman changed with history? On film?

Will the story ever get old?

WWII: Origins

In 1936, German troops occupied the Rhineland, a German region bordering France. Although the Versailles Treaty had banned military activity in this region, the League of Nations did nothing in response to Germany’s occupation. Two years later, Hitler demanded that the Sudetenland, a German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia, be surrendered to Germany. Many Europeans feared that Hitler was provoking Europe into war.

France and Britain distrusted Hitler, but they had already agreed on a policy of appeasement—yielding to an enemy’s demands in order to maintain peace. Germany would obtain the Sudetenland, despite Czechoslovakia’s objections. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain explained to the British people that it was illogical to declare war over such a small territory, saying, “If we have to fight, it must be on larger issues than that.”

Could WWII have been prevented?  What do you think?

If you could go back in time and stop Hitler before he started the war, would you do it?  Why/ not?

Back In My Day...

Why is it that our parents & grandparents are always reminding us of how hard they had it way back when?

What is your reaction when you hear these stories? Do they make you grateful for how good you have it today? Why/ not? What will you be telling your kids about how hard you had it 40 years from now?

What was FDR's plan for getting America working again?

What were the 3 'R's ?

How did FDR's programs benefit both the economy and the environment?

You Don't Know Schenck

Do you have an absolute right to free speech? The Supreme Court gives its 1919 answer.  Learn the basics about the must-know US History Supreme Court Case challenging the constitutionality of the Espionage Act. If you are in a US History course you best be knowing this case. Trust me.

The First Amendment of the constitution guarantees that each person has the right to free speech. But the Supreme Court has restricted free speech that includes obscenities, libel, slander, words that incite violence or words that pose a threat to the rights of individuals or national security. You do not have the right to yell 'fire' in a crowded theater, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes pointed out in Schenck v. United States (1919), when the "circumstances are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger."

How does the Schenck decison still affect free speech today?

Treaty of Versailles & Wilson's 14 Points

At the Treaty of Versailles in France President Wilson outlined his '14 points' promoting openness, encouraging independence, and supporting freedom. At its heart was his idea of 'peace without victory;' a peace inspired by noble ideals, not greed and vengeance.

Should the United States have ratified or rejected the Treaty of Versailles?

In this activity, you will act as senators debating the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. Students sitting on the left will be internationalists—senators who support ratification of the Treaty of Versailles.
Students on the right will be irreconcilables—senators who want to reject the Treaty of Versailles.

Below are the six debate prompts. Starting with prompt one, begin the debate! 

 Internationalists answer the odds. Irreconcilable's answer the evens.

1)  Honorable Senator, the Treaty of Versailles is clearly full of flaws. How can you support it? (Discuss for one minute.)

2) My esteemed colleague, you say the treaty is “full of flaws,” but I wonder, can you even describe two of them? (Discuss for one minute.)

3)  Senator, it looks to me like that League of Nations could drag the United States into a lot of trouble. Why do you admire it so much? (Discuss for one minute.)

4) My fellow Senator, you talk about the League causing trouble. Just what kind of trouble are you talking about? (Discuss for one minute.)

5) Why can’t you internationalists understand that our national sovereignty is more important than foolish dreams of collective security? (Discuss for one minute.)

6) Are you kidding? Do you irreconcilables ever consider that collective security might have prevented this tragic war from ever occurring in the first place? (Discuss for one minute.)

The League of Nations was US President Woodrow Wilson's tool for a new and peaceful world after the war of 1914-1918 - and the US should have been their most important member. But the United States never joined and today the League of Nations is often seen as a failure. Was it doomed from the start?