US History - Standards of Learning - USII.6
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wilson/gallery/p_war_09.html
This site was produced by KCET under the auspices of PBS.org and is entitled the American Experience. It was produced in 2001. This particular section of the site is dedicated to support a film version of the life of Woodrow Wilson. It comes with transcripts and teachers’ guides and can easily be used in the classroom. The link that I have chosen to follow here gives the students exposure to original WWI orientated posters. It can be used to illustrate patriotism, propaganda and the appeal to emotion. While I would use this mainly in class via an overhead projector and tie a written evaluation of posters to it, this could also be worked around a lab or an art based assignment dealing with persuasive posters.
2. Poster art of WW I. Recruiting posters; War Bonds
http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/amposter.htm
This site is produced by the Georgetown University’s Library and particularly focuses on prints from the Roger N. Mohovich collection. This particular exhibit was chronicalized between November 1999 and February 2000. This particular link can be used very much as the link above. It also may be used to give students exposure to original WWI orientated posters. Like the last, it can be used to illustrate patriotism, propaganda and the appeal to emotion. Likewise, I would use this mainly in class via an overhead projector and tie a written evaluation of posters to it, this could also be worked around a lab or an art based assignment dealing with persuasive posters.
3. Postmortem of Nurse Helen Fairchild; Nurse WW I
http://www.ku.edu/carrie/specoll/medical//MaMh/MyAunt.htm#PHOTOSTAT%20
This site is part of a website detailing the Medical History of World War I which is again a subset of site on World War I Documents. It is associated with Brigham Young University and was originally produced in 1996. It is basically and ongoing chronicle of the documents of World War One and has been updated many times since its inception. I chose the particular link in that it can be used to achieve different purposes. Primarily it can illustrate a primary source document that has been scanned from the original. It can show the difficulty involved in scanning and reading the original. The site also can be used to illustrate the role of women in WWI. This could be part of a lab assignment or could be presented via an in-focus projector.
4. The African American Odyssey
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aointro.html
This site is part of the Library of Congress collection entitled the African American Odyssey. It was produced in March of 2002. I place it under this standard, because one of the links specifically addresses the role of African Americans during and immediately following WWI. Students may access photographs here and also memoirs of prominent African Americans. Specifically, the Memoirs of Jim Reese Europe shows a correlation between Jazz music and the war effort. Students can be assigned various sections of the 217-page document to read and analyze or they may be directed to any of a number of exhibits. I used this link as part of a general Trackstar assignment on WWI.
5. Roosevelt Corollary
http://www.pinzler.com/ushistory/corollarysupp.html
This site was produced in 1999, by a student at the Ethical Culture Fieldstone School in New York, New York. While the site is on a school web page and is one section of a course of studies, it has a reprint of the text of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. It is also useful to high school students as they can compare to student generated work at other institutions.
6. Panama Canal
This primary sources is a copy of the 1905 liquidation notice of the French Copy with rights of the building of the Panama Canal. It is one of the many documents having to do with the building of the US version of the Panama Canal, and can be found on the website called Canal Museum.com copy write 2006. It is a site dedicated to the Panama Canal, not only historically, but to the present day as well. Any of the host of documents and photos on the site can be used as part of an on-line tour of the canal presented to students utilizing an in-focus projector. Students can also be encouraged in the use of the information as part of an on-line project.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tr/panama.html
This site entitled The American Experience is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and depicts the major events in the life of Teddy Roosevelt. Since a major part of his legacy is the Panama Canal, students can read about its history on this section of the site. This link provides a time lapsed film segment on the workings of the locks.
http://www.sil.si.edu/Exhibitions/Make-the-Dirt-Fly/whybuild.html
The site has a start to finish exposition of the canal, answering critical questions. There are several primary sources readily available on the site for students to peruse. This example is a copy of a stock certificate used to help finance the canal:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Human%20Rights%20Documents/WWilson_LAmerMexico.html
This site is called Third World Traveler, and is dedicated to publications that offer a different view than the mainstream media of current and historical events. This site is obviously valuable as one shows students the different sides of an issue and encourages them to not always accept what they read as the only interpretation. While there are many primary and secondary sources referred to throughout the site, this particular one is the text of:
Wilson’s 1913 Speech on Mexico.
On Mexico (1913)
. . There is but one cloud upon our horizon. That has shown itself to the south of us, and hangs over Mexico. There can be no certain prospect of peace in America until Gen. Huerta has surrendered his usurped authority in Mexico; until it is understood on all hands, indeed, that such pretended governments will not be countenanced or dealt with by the Government of the United States. We are the friends of constitutional government in America; we are more than its friends, we are its champions; because in no other way can our neighbors, to whom we would wish in every way to make proof of our friendship, work out their own development in peace and liberty. Mexico has no Government. The attempt to maintain one at the City of Mexico has broken down, and a mere military despotism has been set up which has hardly more than the semblance of national authority. It originated in the usurpation of Victoriano Huerta, who, after a brief attempt to play the part of constitutional President, has at last cast aside even the pretense of legal right and declared himself dictator. As a consequence, a condition of affairs now exists in Mexico which has made it doubtful whether even the most elementary and fundamental rights either of her own people or of the citizens of other countries resident within her territory can long be successfully safeguarded, and which threatens, if long continued, to imperil the interests of peace, order, and tolerable life in the lands immediately to the south of us.... But he has not succeeded. He has forfeited the respect and the moral support even of those who were at one time willing to see him succeed. Little by little he has been completely isolated. By a little every day his power and prestige are crumbling and the collapse is not far away. We shall not, I believe, be obliged to alter our policy of watchful waiting. And then, when the end comes, we shall hope to see constitutional order restored in distressed Mexico by the concert and energy of such of her leaders as prefer the liberty of their people to their own ambitions....
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wilson/gallery/g_wilson_03.html
This site is part of PBS’ American Experience Collection and houses both a gallery of photographs of Woodrow Wilson and a collection of World War One posters. A sample photo of the collection could be the attached of a young Wilson at Princeton. Often students are exposed to world leaders as the appear as older men and women. It is valuable for students to see people as humans and not just as figureheads. I would use this site while introducing the conflict between neutrality as is exemplified by Wilson on the one hand and recruiting posters on the other.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/tampico.htm
This particular site gives the text of Woodrow Wilson’s statement on the Tampico Affair. The site is authored by Vincent Ferraro, a Professor of International Politics at Mount Holoyoke College. The site is a repository of a host of political documents and is updated periodically, last update 4/9/06. Most high school textbooks deal with subjects like the Tampico Affair in one or two sentences. Students can be encouraged to read and form opinions of presidential papers. I would have them relate this particular document to Wilson’s neutral leanings.
7. Taft Dollar Diplomacy
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=676
TeachingAmericanHistory.org is a project of the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University. This site has been chosen because it gives the text of William Howard Taft’s position on Dollar Diplomacy. This link will take the student directly to the text so that students can look at Taft’s opinion. Taft doesn’t get a lot of press in the modern US History textbook, so this site is good to get students familiar with one of the lesser known Presidents.
http://www.projo.com/specials/century/month12/timeline/masstime.htm
The mention of William Howard Taft reminded me that my father once told me that in 1911 when he was in grammar school, all the students in Fall River were let out of school because the President of the United States was visiting Fall River as part of the Cotton Centennial Celebration. This led me to the Providence Journal Site produced in 1999 that chronicled the history of local towns. Sites like this to bring students’ attention to the fact that their local area was not left out of the news of the day. While this particular site mentions Taft’s visit, it doesn’t show pictures. Included on the site; however, are other primary source local pictures, such as the destruction of the 1938 Hurricane.
8. World War I
This scene of a captured World War I German dugout demonstrates the condition soldiers faced during World War I. The web site is B.B.C U.K. and has many document and photos of World War I.
9. World War I
This photograph demonstrates the conditions soldiers faced during World War I. It also shows the uniform styles and weapons used by the typical infantry unit. The website is the B.B.C site and is helpful in finding information on World War I.
10. The Haymarket Affair
http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/haymarket.htm
This site is about the Haymarket Tragedy. It contains the pardon message
from the governor, as well as, the eulogy given at the cemetery.
-Carl Robidoux
11. Spanish American War
http://www.spanamwar.com/
This site is constantly updated and contained many links about the Spanish
American War. It has everything from battle reports to weapons used. Every
aspect of the war is covered at this site. Many group projects can be
assigned using this site. It would work well with a carousel type
assignment.
-Carl Robidoux
12. Age of Imperialism
http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/toc.html
The Boxer Rebellion and Panama Canal are covered well at this site. The
Japanese perspective of the American fleet is well documented in the Letters
to the Emperor section. Also, there are excellent resources on Matthew
Perry. The expansion to Hawaii and Spanish American War are also documented
here.
-Carl Robidoux
13. Uncle Sam Looks Abroad
http://projects.vassar.edu/1896/12overland.jpg
After spending decades focusing on domestic strength of the United States, people’s opinions began to shift towards the United States becoming a world power. Due to economic and military competition from competing nations, the United States turned its focus outward and looked to expand into other areas of the globe in order to secure raw materials, strengthen the military and secure political influence. During this time period, Theodore Roosevelt and his “big stick” diplomacy would secure the United States role as one of the most powerful countries in the world and would assume responsibility for maintaining stability in the Western Hemisphere.
This particular political cartoon shows Uncle Sam standing tall and looking out over a number of possible imperialist opportunities. The options are the situation of annexation of Hawaii, the genocide in Armenia, the war taking place in Cuba which would ultimately become the Spanish-American war and political turmoil in Venezuela. Because it is a political cartoon, there is going to be bias by the artist and in this case it appears that the author is biased against imperialism as Uncle Sam is much bigger than the other countries and seems to be arbitrarily looking out to decide which one to go after next.
In the classroom this addresses standard USII.6 Analyze the causes and course of America’s growing role in world affairs from the Civil War to World War I. The students can use a political cartoon breakdown sheet where they try to identify the particular elements of political cartoons used by artists. In addition, the students could create their own political cartoon based on any of the situations they learned about during the Imperialism unit.
- Alexandra Friedman
