Description
This assignment asks you to have a little creative-writing fun with a few of this week's sources. Read the linked primary sources to get into the atmosphere of this intense period of political change and activism. While things like the women's right to vote and the consumer's rights to know what is in their packaged meat don't seem like progressive ideas today, we must be careful not to project our 21st-century outlook onto this time period. I'll give you an example of this in California History. James D. Phelan, former mayor of San Francisco and Senator for California, was considered one of our state's leading "progressives" and friend of President Roosevelt. His "progressive" view of California involved an intense, racist campaign to "keep California white" by criminalizing Japanese immigration. Today, this would be considered reactionary, not progressive. Other ideas growing in popularity during this era, like American socialism, remain controversial today.
Assignment Instructions
Step 1: Skim the linked primary sources.
Read this excerpt from The Jungle, written by muckraking journalist Upton Sinclair and published in 1904 (Links to an external site.). This source is not for the faint of heart, but it did lead to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, both endorsed by 'progressive president' Teddy Roosevelt. Sinclair originally went undercover to a slaughterhouse/meat-processing factory in order to write an exposé about working conditions. While that aspect of his study appalled some Americans, far more were struck with Sinclair's descriptions of what was going into their packaged meat products...
Read this article by suffragette Alice Stone Blackwell called "Why Women Should Vote. (Links to an external site.)" Featured in an undated publication sponsored by the National American Woman Suffrage Association, it includes sixteen arguments for women's suffrage. If these are the arguments made FOR women's right to vote, consider which major points they are arguing AGAINST? Essentially, what can this document tell us about society's view of women's suffrage?
Skim these primary sources that tell the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 in New York City. Think back to the Gilded Age working conditions, immigration boom, and urbanization. While Sinclair's The Jungle (which was intended as an indictment of the working conditions in meatpacking factories) spurned Americans to enact consumer reforms, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy in 1911 brought national and worldwide attention to the dangerous working conditions and anti-union violence of the USA's urban factories.
Step 2: Create fake Facebook or Twitter PowerPoint.
First, choose a character from the list of early 19th-century characters below.
Invent an identity that fits the time period. I have included primary source readings above that may be helpful in getting into character.
Potential characters (please choose from the six options below):
- Muckrakers/investigative journalists (i.e. Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, etc.)
- Middle class women reformers (i.e. Jane Addams, Alice Stone Blackwell, etc.)
- Populists
- Socialists (in the style of Eugene V. Debs)
- Laborers/labor union members
- Progressive politicians (Teddy Roosevelt, Robert La Follette, William Jennings Bryan, etc.)
Second, decide whether you want to create a fake Facebook page or a fake Twitter page for your character or figure.
Click on the appropriate tab below to download the template and see the specific instructions.
If you prefer to create a Twitter page
First, download this PowerPoint template
Actions of a fake Twitter page.For full credit, follow the instructions below:
- Insert a profile picture. Be sure to include profile photos next to status updates and comments.
- Insert your character's name, along with their Twitter handle (e.g., @willyshakes in the example using William Shakespeare). Be sure that Tweets have been change to reflect the new name and handle.
- Insert a new byline under your profile picture, name, and handle.
- Replace the background image.
- Insert six relevant pictures on the left side of the page.
- Replace the two profiles under the "Who To Follow" section to the left. The people you choose to include can be friends, enemies, political opponents, etc.
- Change the trending hashtag on the bottom left of the page.
- Create four Tweets by your character. Replace the pre-existing William Shakespeare Tweets in the template. Make sure each Tweet has the correct profile name and Twitter handle.
- Create one Tweet by a relevant character of your design. Replace the pre-existing Tweet by Lord Chamberlain's Men. Make sure this Tweet has a new profile picture, name, and Twitter handle.
- On the last blank slide, write a short paragraph explaining your Twitter page. Explain why you created the status updates, comments, and information. Essentially, annotate your thinking behind the fake Twitter page.
- Save your fake Twitter PowerPoint document.
Explanation & Answer
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