1. Extra Credit Requirements (Current Events) (Can do any day, adds up to more points over time)
2. Analysis. This will get you more points at once if you do it right. Once a month you can pick an article/podcast below and follow the directions on this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TxP5Evq_F70CC6MGI9sXSUhcHVHMLcxi3Lk14UcwbSA/edit?usp=sharing
Gilded Age
“Robber Barons and Rebels” by Howard Zinn. This is an excerpt from A People’s History of the United States.
“Little War on the Prairie” by This American Life. This is a podcast about the US-Dakota War
“The Hayes-Tilden Electoral Commission” by James Monroe (No, not that James Monroe). Written in 1876, this is a first hand account of how Congress essentially decided the 1876 election.
“American Football” by Radiolab. This is a podcast about the invention of football and the Carlisle Boarding School for Native Americans.
The above YouTube video is about the Populist Party.
“How Does Populism Turn Authoritarian? Venezuela Is a Case in Point” by Max Fisher and Amanda Taub. This is a synthesis style article relating to modern day Venezuela and their extraordinary problems from Populist beliefs.
23 Disturbing Pictures From When Child Labor Was Legal In America by Gabriel H. Sanchez. This is a Buzzfeed article that shows real pictures of child labor.
“The Grisly Story of America’s Largest Lynching” by Erin Blackmore. This is a story about a huge lynching in New Orleans.
“Studies of Factory Life: The Village System” by Lillie B. Chace Wyman.Written in 1888 is a four part series about American cotton manufacturing from the perspective of people still living in it.
“How the Assassination of James A. Garfield Haunts VA Reform” by Norm Ornstein. How Congress is hard to fix because of Garfields’s assassination.
“The Awakening of the Negro” by Booker T. Washington. Written in 1896, is a firsthand account of Washington’s view of how African Americans can get by in America.
“Strivings of the Negro People” by W.E. Burghardt Du Bois. Written in 1897 by W.E.B. Du Bois, this outlines his account of how African Americans can get by in America.
“The Independence of the Executive” by Grover Cleveland.Written in 1900, this is about how he viewed the history and political deliberations surrounding his former office.
“The Freedman’s Bureau” by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois.Written in 1901, this is Du Bois’ take on the effectiveness of the Freedman’s Bureau.
“The Tragedy And Betrayal Of Booker T. Washington” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. A critical look at criticism of Washington.
“Where Are They Now? Robber-Baron Edition” by Ester Bloom. Interesting look at the financial situation of Gilded Age families-several generations later.
Progressive Era, WWI, Roaring 20’s, Great Depression/New Deal, WWII
“Absurd Propaganda Posters Warning Men About the Dangers of Women’s Rights”
“The Heart of the Race Problem” by Quincy Ewing. Written in 1909, this highlights a man’s look into why there is a race problem in America.
“Have You Ever Heard of the Ludlow Massacre?” by Brandon Weber. This is about one of the deadliest labor strikes in U.S. history and it happened in southern Colorado.
“New Yorkers join to remember tragic Triangle Shirtwaist fire” by Ginger Adams Otis. A remembrance of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy.
“Why was the Zimmerman Telegram so important?” by Gordon Corera. An analysis of the impact of the Zimmerman Telegram in WWI.
“World War I’s Native American Code Talkers” by Jesse Greenspan. How Native Americans helped the Allies win WWI.
“From Wristwatches To Radio, How World War I Ushered In The Modern World” by Greg Myre. This shows how WWI technology led to the modern world.
Why Teddy Roosevelt Tried to Bully His Way Onto the WWI Battlefield by Erick Trickey. This shows how Roosevelt supported America’s entry into WWI and how he tried to make it happen.
“The Great Migration: The First Moving-to-Opportunity Project” by Brentin Mock. A study that attempts to see if African Americans from the South did actually put their children in better economic conditions by moving to the North.
“During World War I, U.S. Government Propaganda Erased German Culture” by Art Silverman. A look at how propaganda specifically targeted German culture in America.
“A Key Lesson From The 1918 Flu Pandemic? ‘Tell The Truth,’ One Historian Says”.
“What Germans Said About American Troops Right After WWI” by Nick Greene. A really cool source about how Americans were viewed by the German soldiers.
‘They persisted’: Lessons for today’s activists on centennial of Michigan women’s suffrage’ by Justin A. Hinkley. A look into how women in Michigan fought for suffrage.
“The Supreme Court Ruling that Led to 70,000 Sterilizations” by NPR. This is part of a radio show about eugenics.
“The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics” by Edwin Black. This is about American eugenics.
“You’ll never drink again: The real story of Prohibition. Article about Prohibition.
“Woodrow Wilson was extremely racist– even by the standards of his time” by Dylan Matthews. This is a look into the controversy Wilson and college protesters.
“What People Get Wrong about Prohibition” by German Lopez
“In The 1920s, A Community Conspired To Kill Native Americans For Their Oil Money” by Steve Inskeep. Another example of Native American discrimination-to say the least.
“Scottsboro: An American Tragedy” Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ogGwbU43p8
“Scottsboro: An American Tragedy” Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amcT-kbisCs
The above two videos would both need to be watched.
“Nazi Summer Camp” by Radiolab. This is a podcast about prisoner of war camps in the U.S.
“Detroit in the 1940s” by Alan Taylor. The last great era of Detroit.
“How Tokyo Rose Became WWII’s Most Notorious Propagandist” by Evan Andrews. How a Japanese woman became great at WWII propaganda.
“The Daring Photographer Who Captured Life Inside a Nazi Ghetto” by Christopher Klein. Some amazing and crazy stuff about the Nazi ghettos.
Methamphetamine Was the Secret to Hitler’s Blitzkrieg Successes by Philip Perry. An interesting article about the role of meth in Hitler’s strategy to dominate the world.
“I Loved My Grandmother. But She Was a Nazi” by Jessica Shattuck. An interesting look at a family who’s grandparents were Nazis.
“Fu-Go” by Radiolab This is a podcast about Japanese attempts to bomb the U.S.
“Ceremony In San Francisco Marks the 75th Anniversity of the Bataan Death March” by Maggie Penman. A look at the Bataan Death March. A very brutal part of WWII.
“Interactive Map Shows Impact of WWII Firebombing of Japan, if It Had Happened on U.S. Soil” by Alex Wellerstein. This compares the United States firebombing on Japan to what it would be like if it happened to America instead.
“What Dr. Seuss Books Were Really About” by Chris Menning.
“During World War II, the U.S. Saw Italian-Americans as a Threat to Homeland Security” by David A. Taylor. We always hear about the Japanese internment camps, but now how Italian Americans were treated during WWII.
“Haunting Twitter Account Shares the Fates of the Refugees of the St. Louis” by Jason Daley. This documents how the United States turned away Jewish refugees in WWII and the fate of the passengers of the St. Louis.
“What’s the Deal with Waiters Grinding Pepper onto Your Food?” by L.V. Anderson. This details the rise of restaurants in a changing American society.
“Oh! You Kid! How a viral hit from the summer of 1909 changed American pop music forever” by Jody Rosen. This is a story about one of the first pop songs ever.
Cold War, Civil Rights, 1970s-present
“Truman’s Hard Line Prompted the Cold War” by Walter Laferber. An excerpt form Laferber’s book America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2000.
“Are Baby Boomers A ‘Generation of Sociopaths’?” by Carolyn Gregoire. This is about a controversial book that heavily criticizes the Baby Boomer generation.
“The Price the Hollywood Ten Paid for Refusing to Answer the ‘$64 question'” by Karina Longworth. This has a podcast about the McCarthy hearings.
“The Redacted Testimony That Fully Explains Why General MacArthur Was Fired” by H.W. Brands. New information that shows why Douglas MacArthur was fired during the Korean War.
“A Decade to Make One Proud” by John Patrick Diggins. An excerpt from Diggins’ book The Proud Decades, America in War and Peace, 1941-1960.
“Detroit’s I-375 was a mistake. Here’s what we can learn from it” by Carolyn G. Loh.An account of how highways have changed Detroit neighborhoods.
“Families in the Fifties: The Way We Never Were” by Stephanie Coontz. An excerpt form Coontz’s book The Way We Never Were: American Families in the Nostalgia Trap. Very interesting piece.
“The re segregation of America” by Christopher Petrella.A look into how America has re-segregated itself in a number of different ways.
“How America Built Its Highways to Serve the Wealthy and White” by Eric Avila. A very interesting take on how building interstate highways segregated communities.
“The Role of Highways in American Poverty” by Alana Semuels. An article about how interstate highways directly lead to poverty.
“How the Federal Government Built White Suburbia” by Kriston Capps. This shows how the Federal Government denied opportunities for blacks and protected white-only neighborhoods.
“Four Ways We’ve Distorted The History of the Civil Rights Movement” by Rebecca Onion. This is a debunking of common held myths of the rhetoric of Civil Rights.
What Segregation Looked Like in 1950s Alabama” by Jordan G. Teicher. Very interesting photographs and some analysis of segregation in Alabama.
“Teaching MLK’s Life — The Man, Not the Myth” by Melinda D. Anderson. This is about finding the truth about MLK’s life and looking at all the nuances of his life instead of painting him in a broad brush.
“The Gay Bar: Why the gay rights movement was born in one” by June Thomas. This is about the Stonewall Riots.
“Beyond Stonewall: How Gay History Looks Different From Chicago” by Timothy Stewart-Winter. This is about the growth of gay history as a field of study.
The above is a NY Times article called “The Racist Roots of a Way to Sell Homes” about the racist policies of segregation in terms of selling homes.
“The FBI issued a memo about ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, qualifying it as a communist propaganda” by Stefan A.. A look at 1950s Cold War paranoia with a classic movie.
“Civil Rights Activism, From Martin Luther King To Black Lives Matter”- hosted by Ari Shapiro. This shows the parallels of the Civil Rights Movement to the Black Lives Matter movement.
https://www.wired.com/2015/10/how-black-lives-matter-uses-social-media-to-fight-the-power/
This article is about how the 1960s civil rights activists used technology to pass information.
“It Was like All of Us Had Been Raped”: Sexual Violence, Community Mobilization, and the African American Freedom Struggle by Danielle L. McGuire. Warning: there is swearing, violence, and rape. Not for the faint of hearted.
“James Meredith, Determined to Enroll at Ole Miss, Declares His Purpose in a 1961 Letter” About a black person trying to enroll in a university in the deep South.
“The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit” by Thomas J. Sugrue. About the decline of urban communities starting with Detroit.
“The Truth About Tonkin” by Lieutenant Commander Pat Paterson, Navy. LBJ essentially stated that America was attacked by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin. Many believe it was a hoax to get America to start war in Vietnam. This is from a Lieutenant and his take on the matter.
“The Vietnam War: How they saw it from both sides of the divide” by MacKenzie Sigalos. This shows both sides account of the war from their own words.
Episode 1 of “OJ: Made in America”. This is about race in the 1960s and 1970s and how OJ Simpson navigated race in sports.
Episode 2 of “OJ: Made in America”. This is about race problems in Los Angeles in the 1980s and 1990s.
“Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl” by Radiolab. This is a podcast about the Indian Child Welfare Act.
“The Political Thicket” by Radiolab. This is a podcast that explores the Supreme Court’s entry into deciding political questions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEA0atGUVpY
The above video is about Watergate.
“‘Richard Nixon,’ Portrait of a Thin-Skinned, Media-Hating President” by Jennifer Senior. A look at Nixon and his actions towards the media.
“The Friends of Richard Nixon” by George V. Higgins. Written in 1974, this looks into how Nixon’s friends may have led to his downfall.
“Sixties Liberalism and the Revolution in Manners” by Kenneth Cmiel. This is part of his book, The Sixties: From Memory to History (How Society Stopped Being Polite).
You can watch any 2 episodes of The Sixties on Netflix
You can watch any 2 episodes of The Seventies on Netflix
Period 9: (1980-Present)
“I Don’t Have To Answer That” by Radiolab. This is a podcast about modern day scandals with politicians.
“America’s Role in El Salvador’s Deterioration” by Raymond Bonner. An effect of America’s role in the Cold War that is still an issue today for many.
“Imperfect Plaintiff” by Radiolab. Podcast about the people behind Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court case that overturned laws criminalizing certain gay activities. It also has some stuff about affirmative action. Warning: very strong content.
“U2 On ‘The Joshua Tree,’ A Lasting Ode To A Divided America” by Steve Inskeep. The band U2’s take on division in America in the 1980s.
Watch any 2 episodes of The Eighties on Netflix.
Venezuela Is Heading for a Soviet-Style Collapse
The above article relates modern day Venezuela to how the Soviet Union collapsed. Synthesis!
“60 Words” by Radiolab. This is a podcast about post-9/11 world of the Authorization of Military Force order that became the foundation for the War on Terror.
“Oklahoma City” Documentary. This is a fascinating documentary about the 1990s neo-conservative movement that led to the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing.
“Everyone Pays a Hefty Price For Segregation, Study Says” by Nick Chiles. This relates back to the Civil Rights Era and shows the price of centuries of segregation on our culture.
“Only in America: Four years into life, poor kids are already an entire year behind” by Roberto A. Ferdman. A look at a very large modern issue of the difference between rich schools and poor ones and their effect on education.
“The Society of Fugitives” by James Forman Jr.. A fascinating article about race and modern urban neighborhoods. You can relate this back to Civil Rights and see if this is what we wanted from the movement.
“The New Suburban Crisis” by Richard Florida. A look at how now there are problems in suburbs.
“3 Border Walls From History and What They Tell Us About Trump’s Proposal” by Philip Perry. A historical look at times there were border walls. This relates to President Trump’s Mexican border wall proposal.