World War I

World War I

After looking at the website (http://www.firstworldwar.com/index.htm) I have came to the conclusion that this is more than likely a legitimate resource for World War I. I used several reasons to come to the conclusion that it was a legitimate source. First, the site lists numerous references to the material that is used on the website. This gives the reader a chance to double check the information if there are questions or doubt on the information that is being presented. Not only is there Government sources but outside sources the reader can look at. Also, the site creator put other suggested readings from other sources if the reader wanted to know or learn more about the World War I. Second, I believe that it is a positive addition that the site shows who the author or creator of this site actually was and gives you an e-mail to contact them regarding any questions or problems you may have. Finally, I think it shows a lot about this site because it is shown that a lot of time and effort was put into creating this site. Not only does it just have information regarding the World War I, it also has multimedia messages or videos, photos, memoires and diaries.
After looking through the site I would seen a couple different things that I liked on this site. First, I liked how the site contained the “Who’s who” section and how it broke it down where you could understand who the people actually were. Second, I enjoyed the section that was on the diaries and memories of different people. This section let you look into what people was experiencing and how they explained things that were going on. Third, I enjoyed the vintage photos of everything for the poison gas, to the war of the seas, to politicians and even some church and cathedral photographs. All though this is not all of the things that could be enjoyed on this site these are just a few of the things that caught my eye.
There were a couple of things on this site that I did not like. First, I did not like the fact that they were trying to sell a DVD. I think that they should not be trying to sell something on a site that they are providing information on. I also believe if they were going to sell a DVD on this site that there should have been more than one. This is not the only DVD that is out that covers World War I. I think they are backing this DVD and should have been unbiased about things being sold about World War I. Second, I felt like the information could be a little time consuming although they had it broken down some. I think the site would have been more effective if there were also sub-categories on the topics. This would keep the reader from having to search through as much information to find what they were interested in. Finally, I feel like the site has researched and obtained a lot accurate data but they put that this is not an academic website. Which, I am sure this is just to cover their work because it says that they see this as accurate information but that it has not underwent a peer review. I think if a person was going to use this as a source for an education related assignment that they would need to also verify the sources.
In conclusion, overall this is a pretty good site. When critiquing someone’s work a person must acknowledge that nothing will ever be perfect!

The Progressive Movement

The Progressive Movement occurred between the years of 1890 to 1920 in a time where there was economic instability, war, and political upheaval. Yet, during this time the United States is becoming a mature nation. The Progressive Movement was an effort to fix some of the problems that the American people had come into during the growth of the industrial period. All throughout this we were making advancements, such as, technology. Some of the advancements were the emergence of cities and cars. This change brought two things with it. The first was new things and the second was the concern and nervousness of the people. People believed that the industrialists were being unfair and greedy. They also felt like the government was corrupt. The Progressive Movement was an effort to fix some of the problems that the American people had come into during the growth of the industrial period. One of the main problems was the high rate of growth in the cities. The cities grew from from 35% to 51%. With the growth of the cities the people experienced more problems. When you have more people together you get more poverty, disease, and crime.
During this time there was a merging of social policy and religion known as the Social Gospel. They believed that saving souls was as important as helping them. Churches then began to move into the cities with most of these being Protestant Churches.
The Progressive’s believed they could solve the people’s problems by joining together. Most Progressive’s were middle class professionals and were heavily gendered which meant that each gender took on different issues. The women dealt with things such as water issues while men dealt with more of the government related issues.
During this time, Teddy Roosevelt named journalists Muckrakers which were actually more of investigative reporters. Muckrakers addressed everything from economic problems, political problems, to social problems. The stories would then be written for magazines like McClure’s and Collins. These magazines were very popular during this time because they were cheap (only $ 0.10 a copy) and were a form of gossip that people enjoyed reading. A few of the things that were wrote about was child labor, industrial accidents, and political corruption. The Muckrakers were not afraid to go against the powerful people. The Muckrakers did not have anything to do with the people in the Social Gospel. One famous Muckraker was Upton Sinclair who wrote “The Jungle” in 1906. Sinclair wanted people to read this and turn towards Socialism but instead people read it to see the details about the nasty meat packing plants.
Another reform involved in the Progressive Movement is the Political Machines which were mostly in Chicago. Political Machines were boards hired to help make things better. They believed that because so many people were coming in that we needed people to help because the people needed more sewers, roads, trash removal, and schools. Instead of doing this with good intentions, the boards were assembled fast which meant no bids were collected and lead to the boards operating on patronage.
I believe that the Progressive Movement could be viewed as a positive influence or a negative influence because there were things that benefited the American people but there were also negative issues that arose from it. Without the Progressive Movement we may not have had some of the advances we have had like technology. Yet, without it we may not have faced some of the problems it has caused like disease.

The American Colonial Experience in the Philippines

America became involved with the Philippines because they seen it as the gateway to the Asian markets. Prior to the American Colonial experience with the Philippines, Spain had colonized the Philippines using Manila Bay as their great seaport, trading silver and rich spices with other countries for over 300 years. The American connection with the Spanish ended in 1898 after the Spanish-American when America wanted to control the Philippines through the Treaty of Paris because they wanted to “Christianize” the Filipinos although most were already Christians. Americans did not feel guilty about taking over the Philippines because they believed if they had not taken over, some other country would. This was not known by the Filipinos and Spain sold the Philippines to the United States for 20 million dollars which ended the long span of Spanish Colonization of the Philippines. America had made the Filipinos believe they were free therefore the Philippines celebrated their independence from Spain on June 12, 1898 and declared their Emilio Aguinaldo their president. However, the Filipinos realized that they were not free and that America was its new ruler so that was the beginning of the Filipino American War which began right after the U.S colonization which is known as “Philippine Insurrection.” This lead to what was known as a bloody precursor to Vietnam. The war lasted from 1899 to 1902. In these three years, many lives were lost, which included 70,000 Americans and close to 2 million Filipinos being killed. American soldiers were ordered to shoot anyone over 10 years of age and kill them. Anyone age 10 or older was seen as Criminals because they were born before America took over the Philippines. The Colt 45 which was known as the “Philippine Model” was designed specifically to kill the Filipinos. Over time all of the Filipinos were seen as the enemy. After the war had ended William Howard Taft became governor of the Philippines. American school teachers were also sent and known as “Thomasites” to establish a school similar to American Schools.
The definition of an empire mean political control is exercised by one organized political unit over another unit in order to separate it. I believe by hiding everything from the Filipinos it makes the United States an Empire. The United States could have been honest with the Filipinos instead of viewing them as enemies. All the United States were trying to do was benefit themselves and assimilate the Filipinos to our ways of life. I believe the U.S is still an empire because they continue to hide important information from the citizens. The United States has also continued to grow greedier over time; always seeking the lowest price to produce something where they can make a larger profit.

A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life

A Hairdresser’s Experience in High Life

After reading A Hairdresser’s Experience in High Life which is a book on an African American lady that works in numerous jobs allowing her to travel but ultimately she ends up being a hairdresser allowing her access to some interesting gossip. This book shows the reader how race, class, and gender can shape your day to day experiences.
From the beginning of the book the reader gets a feeling that the author does not see herself as the African American woman, working for upper class families; which is actually the situation she is in. For the most part the author gives you the impression that she belongs with these people and that she mingles with higher class people even when she is not working and is on a break to travel. There are a couple areas in the book that gives you a look that occasionally she does have an inner struggle. For example, when she was about to sit and eat with the higher cartel of people she worried about her use of language compared to theirs. There were only a couple of instances where you got a slight glimpse of these inner struggles while the most observed behavior she possessed was that she believed she was as good as they were or better.

The author being an African American affects her life and the events that took place. During this time period African Americans were hired helped for the wealthy to help them in their daily tasks. The author goes on to tell about her many experiences as a hairdresser and about the many things she hears over the years. The author probably would not have heard all these stories if she would have not been a female and a African American because she would not have had access to all these women’s stories. Also, there is a matter of trust because the higher class women more than likely viewed the “hairdresser” as an inferior woman who had the obligation to be loyal to them. A person could also question did the classy women even go as far as to pretend that she was not even actually there. I believe the author was also trying to show that she was better than the wealthy people because of the gossip she knew and that their lives were not perfect.

In conclusion, this shows that there are conflicts in society about race, class, and gender. Each one of these could affect people differently depending on which group you were or are associated with. The author’s story may not have been the same if her race, gender, or class had been different. Although, these are totally different areas most of the time they are linked together to form opinions about whom you are. Gender, class, and race are a major part of a person’s life and the experiences they have.

The Gilded Age

“The Gilded Age”
During the late 19th Century America started transforming into Modern America. The growth of industry and a wave of immigrants marked the period in American history known as the Gilded Age. The Gilded Age gets its name from the many great fortunes created during this period and the way of life this wealth supported. Mark Twain actually termed this period because he believed that the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. This period was viewed as a time of greed. A couple of the businessmen that benefited from this wealth were John D. Rockefeller who benefited from oil and Andrew Carnegie who benefited from Steel. These businessmen were known as robber barons which were considered people who got rich through ruthless business deals.
In my opinion, we are living in a “Gilded Age” today. The American people are still consumed with greed and the material things they have. In society, it is still about defeating and taking over the market you are in. These people want to put their competitors out of business where they can have the power over their market. Andrew Carnegie figured out a way to produce his product at a cheaper rate which would give him a lead on his competition. He did this with a technique called vertical integration. Vertical Integration is a technique which the company owns all means of production. This gave them the upper hand because other companies had to pay higher prices to get the things they needed from other companies. While Carnegie owned the companies of everything he would need which allowed him to get these items at a lower price which was actually the cost to produce the items.
We still live in an industrialized nation today. Factories continue try to do things bigger, better, quicker and at a cheaper price. This has cut out the need for all of the skilled workers in trades because now it is done by the machines so the person is there just to make sure the machine stays on track. This has caused the people to get paid less while the companies are able to produce more goods at a cheaper rate. While are society has chosen to stay with this because of the greater quantity they can produce we have had to adjust to a lower quality item. The positive is we are able to go replace the item at the cheaper price. In conclusion, although we have adopted industrialism in our society which started during the Gilded Age we have realized you will still be faced with the positive and negative effects.

Resisters vs. Reformers (Reconstruction)

When looking back at the period of 1865-1877 which was the Reconstruction Era it is explained as a battle between the Resisters and Reformers. People have different theories about which group ultimately won. In my opinion, I could see both sides, with each one having positive and negative situations. When choosing which one I think actually got more of what they wanted though I would have to say the Resisters. Each time the Reformers tried to change anything the Resisters would fight against it. In the end, the Reformers interest began to decline until it ended which meant the Resisters got what they wanted all along.
There were numerous things that showed the Resisters came out ahead. The first way would be when the Reformers fought for Freedmen’s Bureau which promised to give African Americans land, an education and a job. The Freedmen’s Bureau never got the African Americans any land and was not a lot of help for them so they often returned to their masters. Some of the problems with the Freedmen’s Bureau was there were too many jobs, they were undermanned and it was corrupt. Although, the Reformers freed the slaves the resisters made sure the African Americans struggled being free because they felt the Reformers wanted to destroy the South.
Then even after slavery was abolished, the Democrats tried to come up with a way to exploit slaves. They then came up with The Black Codes which was supposed to “restore order.” This made it illegal for African Americans to own guns, own dogs, gather , be out late at night, use insulting language and drink alcohol. If an African American was seen doing this he was fined or done jail time. They also had Labor Contracts which stated they needed permission to leave with some stating that they must call their boss “Master” and also allowed harsh punishments. The labor contract was supposedly for “employee’s” not slaves. This was the Resisters way of reacting to the Reformers and they were bringing slavery back in subtle ways.
Then the Klu Klux Klan known as the KKK would rise and fall during this period. This was known as a “Social Club” and was organized because they did not want African Americans to vote. There were three main goals of the KKK. The first was to prevent African Americans from voting where they could maintain control. The second was to maintain white supremacy where the African Americans would stay in “their place” which included them not dating whites, owning businesses and gathering among other things. The third goal was to destroy Reconstruction.
The planters did not want to tell the slaves that slavery was over and they were free. This usually resulted in the Northern Army (The Union Soldiers) having to come through to tell the slaves and the free slaves then would follow the soldiers who ended up putting them to work. This is when the slaves began to define freedom. One of the most important things was to try and get a job which would usually be crop sharing or cotton picking. The free slaves then tried to find their families through the newspapers. They then would give their self a new name because the Masters had named them names which were meant to be degrading. They also migrated with 25,000 ending up in Kansas.
Finally, it shows with the failure of share cropping. Although, share cropping persisted for many decades in the United States it ended around 1960. It ended because there were numerous failures such as, no land for former slaves making them dependent on many slave owners. So they would farm the owners land and pay a percentage to the land owner. The land owners made sure the former slaves went into a “debt spiral” and charged them interest for all the necessities they needed since they didn’t have any resources.
During the 1870’s, the resisters persistent effort began to pay off when interest began to decline. The North started to lose interest because of all the economic distress, they began to believe it was hopeless, they had weak presidential commitment because the president wanted to avoid the issue and because of increasing white supremacy. In the end, the reformers had not won this battle and neither had the resisters so it came down to the Compromise of 1877.