Course Syllabus Assignments Rules and Procedures Home Links
Links for Discussion
January 25: Images of Children and Families
Slide show of images of children and youth
John Locke, Some Thoughts on Education
A Different Mirror, 21-78.
Questions to consider as you browse these images and read an excerpt from John Locke's Some Thoughts on Education:
1) If a society's most important priorities are displayed in their attitudes about children and youth, what attitudes are reflected in the images and document that you read for today?
2) What can you determine about the actual lives lived by colonial children from these sources?
3) Although the reading assignments in A Different Mirror do not necessarily talk directly about children, how would conditions in colonial America as described in the text have affected children?
Write and bring to class a paragraph reflecting on the following question: What were the most important elements of raising children in colonial America? How do they differ from modern priorities?
February 1: Declaring Independence
Thomas Paine, Common Sense--Published in 1776 by a recent arrival in America, Common Sense inspired many Americans to consider independence for the first time. Read this excerpt. More information on the document and on Thomas Paine can be found at http://www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/.
The Declaration of Independence--This website contains images as well as the complete text of the declaration. Make sure you read the entire document.
Questions to consider:
1) What were the colonists' main complaints against the British government, as explained in the Declaration of Independence?
2) What aspects of the colonial system did Thomas Paine attack?
3) Why was it difficult for Americans to declare their independence from Britain?
Write and bring to discussion a paragraph reflecting on the following question: How did the issues laid out by Paine and by the Declaration of Independence reflect the concerns of average Americans?
February 15: The Immigrant Experience
Documents and Images:
A Different Mirror, 139-190
Irish Immigration primary documents.
Read the section of the textbook, explore some of the documents created by Irish immigrants on the website linked above, and examine the anti-immigrant cartoons in the attached powerpoint slideshow and consider the following questions:
1) What were the factors that led Europeans and Asians to immigrate to the United States?
2) "Native" Americans' responses to immigration were, at best, mixed. What were some of those responses?
3) List some of the adjectives that occur to you when you see the representations of immigrants in the cartoons. How were they made to appear?
Write and bring to discussion a paragraph reflecting on the following question: What about immigrants did Americans fear?
February 29: Write and bring to discussion a paragraph completing the following statement: Prior to 1861, the most important event, with the longest lasting impact on American history, was . . .
April 4: Construct a timeline of the 20-30 most important events, ideas, and issues affecting the United States between Reconstruction and the 1920s. Compose three essay questions that could be asked about this time period.
In class: examine the art of Jacob Lawrence (at http://www.whitney.org/jacoblawrence/art/index.html) and Archibald Motley (at http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/cjackson//motley/index.html). What do there paintings about African Americans during the Great Migration and he Harlem Renaissance say about the lives of black Americans during this era?
April 18: Construct a timeline of the 20-30 most important events, ideas, and issues affecting the United States from the 1930s through the Cold War. Compose three essay questions that could be asked about this time period.
Prior to class, listen to at least three of the speech excerpts by Sen. Joseph P. McCarthy on the MU libraries website (click here for a list of links to the speeches). John will lead a discussion on how those speeches reflects McCarthy's tactics and demeanor.
April 25: