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#411/#500 End of Reconstruction

1/18/2017

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Debrief on Reconstruction and simulation.
  • What did you gain from this exercise?
  • Were you surprised by anything that you learned, did, or observed during this exercise?
  • Do you have any advice for how this exercise might be further improved?

Discuss:
  • Why did Foner suggest that the two images to the right from Harper’s Weekly by the cartoonist Thomas Nash “mirrored the evolution of sentiment in the North”?
  • What national issues and attitudes combined to bring an end to Reconstruction in 1877?
  • How did the failure of Reconstruction policies impact black Americans?
​
Picture
Thomas Nash, "And Not This Man?" in Harper's Weekly, 5 August 1865.
Picture
Thomas Nash, "Colored Rule in a Reconstructed(?) State" in Harper's Weekly, 14 March 1874.
Birth of a Nation

Read the first four paragraphs from Steven Mintz, “Birth of a Nation” prepared for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History (external link):

In 1915, 50 years after the end of the Civil War, D.W. Griffith, released his epic film Birth of a Nation. The greatest blockbuster of the silent era, Birth of a Nation was seen by an estimated 200 million Americans by 1946.

Based on a novel by a Baptist preacher named Thomas Dixon, the film painted Reconstruction, the period following the Civil War, as a time when vengeful former slaves, opportunistic white scalawags, and corrupt Yankee carpetbaggers plundered and oppressed the former Confederacy until respectable white Southerner rose up and restored order. A "scalawag" was a southern white who supported the Republican party; a "carpetbagger" was a northern-born Republican who had migrated to the South.

The film depicted a vindictive northern Congressman, modeled on a Pennsylvania Republican member of Congress, Thaddeus Stevens, and a power-hungry mulatto eager to marry the Congressman's daughter. The film's hero is an aristocratic Confederate veteran who joins the Ku Klux Klan and at the film's climax rescues the woman from armed freedmen. President Woodrow Wilson reportedly described the film as "history written with lightning."

During the twentieth century, far more Americans probably learned about Reconstruction from Hollywood rather than from history books or lectures. Films like Birth of a Nation and Gone With the Wind depicted Reconstruction as a misguided attempt to overturn the South's "natural" order by giving political power to former slaves.


Next view, the following clip and consider the following questions, first with a partner, and then together as a class:
  • How are the different groups of people in these clips depicted? What adjectives do you think the author of this text (D.W. Griffith, as filmmaker) might use to describe the characters in the film?
  • To what extent do these scenes represent “real” events in the South? To what extent do they represent a heavily biased – or even demonstrably false – set of views?
  • Steven Mintz suggests, “During the twentieth century, far more Americans probably learned about Reconstruction from Hollywood rather than from history books or lectures.” What lessons do you think Americans might have learned from the scenes in this film? Why might that be significant?
​

Homework: #501
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  • Courses
    • Archived Courses >
      • Chinese History >
        • Ancient/Early Modern: Living China's History >
          • Living China's History (fall 2017) >
            • Course Information
            • Course Project
            • In-Class
            • Assignments
          • Living China's History (fall 2018) >
            • In-Class >
              • The Death of Woman Wang
            • Assignments
        • Modern: China's Fall and Rise >
          • China's Rise and Fall (spring 2019) >
            • Course Info
            • In Class
            • Assignments + Units
          • China's Fall and Rise (spring 2018) >
            • Course Information
            • In-Class
            • Assignments
        • Contemporary: Thinking about a Changing China >
          • Thinking about a Changing China (spring 2017) >
            • Course Information
            • In Class
            • Assignments
      • Global Thinking (grade 9 seminar) >
        • HS150 Course Information
        • HS150 In-Class
        • HS150 Assignments
      • Japanese History >
        • Japan's Empire and its Legacies (fall 2016) >
          • Course Information
          • Daily Review
          • Schedule >
            • JE Unit 1
            • JE Unit 2
            • JE Unit 3
            • JE Unit 4
            • JE Unit 5
            • JE Unit 6
          • Research >
            • Issues of History
            • Research Schedule >
              • Checkpoint #2: Annotated Bibliography
              • Checkpoint #3: Outline
              • Checkpoint #4: Supplemental Pages
      • U.S. History >
        • Humanities History (2017-18) >
          • Course Information
          • In-Class
          • Assignments
        • Humanities History (2016-17) >
          • Course Information
          • In Class
          • Assignments >
            • U1: The American Revolution & the Constitution
            • U2: Defining the Nation
            • U3: 19th Century Social & Cultural Transformations >
              • Cemetery Project
            • U4: A House Divided
            • U5: Industry & Empire
            • U6: Progressive Promise & Disillusion
            • U7: Global Conflicts
            • U8: Civil Rights & Human Rights
      • More Course Descriptions
  • Skills
    • Reading >
      • Active Reading
      • Advanced Reading Strategies (Upper Mids and Seniors)
      • Outlining for Reading
      • Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
      • Analyzing Primary Sources with SOAPSTone
      • Analyzing Visual Primary Sources
      • Selecting & Evaluating Secondary Sources
    • Thinking >
      • What is History?
      • Historical Thinking Chart (PDF)
      • Breaking Down History with the SPICE Factors
    • Discussing >
      • Engaging in Class Discussion
      • Evaluating Discussion
    • Researching >
      • Identifying Research Topics & Questions
      • Note Cards
    • Writing >
      • Zero Draft
      • Thesis Statements
      • Forming Counterarguments
      • Formatting Chicago-Style Papers
      • Ford Library Guide to Chicago-style Citations (PDF)
    • Tech Tips
  • Reference
    • Chinese History Tools
    • Further Reading in Asian Studies >
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      • News
      • Podcasts
    • Current Events around the World
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