Modern Era - Gibbs Smith Education

PRIMARY SOURCE LITERACY PACK

Modern Era

LEARNING TARGET: I can use primary sources to gain a deeper understanding of the multitude of perspectives during the Modern Era in American history.

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John D. Rockefeller | from Random Reminiscences of Men and Events (1909)CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

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Leonidas Polk | from “Agricultural Depression: Its Causes—The Remedy” (April 22, 1890)CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

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Willie “the Lion” Smith | Jazz at Harlem Rent Parties (1920s)CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

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Three Voices | Remembering Jim Crow (Early to Mid 1900s)CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

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Harvey H. Jackson | from Inside Alabama: A Personal History of My State (2004)CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

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Attorney General J. Howard McGrath | (April 19, 1950)CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

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Philip Caputo | Vietnam War Memories (1977)CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

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Two Presidents Speak: Roosevelt and ReaganCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

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Use the sources within the packet to support or enhance your Modern Era curriculum. Each document includes additional questions for analysis and a suggested writing activity.

1 © 2021 Gibbs Smith Education | Modern Era Lesson Plans

The Gilded Age

On a separate sheet of paper, write 2–3 paragraphs about the primary source quotation. The questions below to get started, but add your own ideas about the quotation’s meaning and relevance as well. This excerpt is from the autobiography by John D. Rockefeller.

If I were to give advice to a young man starting out in life, I should say to him: If you aim for a large, broad-gauged success, do not begin your business career, whether you sell your labour or are an independent producer, with the idea of getting from the world by hook and crook all you can. In the choice of your profession or your business employment, let your first thought be: Where can I fit in so that I may be most effective in the work of the world? Where can I lend a hand in a way most effectively to advance the general interests? Enter life in such a spirit, choose your vocation in that way, and you have taken the first step on the highest road to a large success. Investigation will show that the great fortunes which have been made in this country, and the same is probably true of other lands, have come to men who have performed great and far-reaching economic services—men who, with great faith in the future of their country, have done most for the development of its resources. The man will be most successful who confers the greatest service on the world. Commercial enterprises that are needed by the public will pay. Commercial enterprises that are not needed fail, and ought to fail.

1. According to Rockefeller, what should young men do if they want to achieve financial success?

2. Why should a young man’s first thought be: “Where can I fit in so that I may be most effective in the work of the world?”

3. What mistakes should young men avoid making on their road to “success”?

4. Why do some commercial enterprises succeed, while others fail?

5. How do you think Rockefeller’s advice ties into the “from rags to riches” American ideal that became so popular during this time period?

Questions

John D. Rockefellerfrom Random Reminiscences of Men and Events (1909)

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Industrial Revolution

On a separate sheet of paper, write 2–3 paragraphs about the primary source quotation. Use the questions below to get started, but add your own ideas about the quotation’s meaning and relevance as well. Polk was president of the National Farmers’ Alliance and Industrial Union. This excerpt is from his address to the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry.

In 1850 the farmers of the United States owned 70 percent of the total wealth of the country and paid 85 percent of its taxes. In 1860 they owned half the wealth of the country and paid 87 percent of its taxes. In 1880 they owned only one-fourth of the wealth of the country. The increase in their farm values during the 20 years, from 1860 to 1880, had dropped from 101 percent to only 9 percent, and yet in this desperately reduced and weakened condition they paid 80 percent of the taxes of the country. Mr. Chairman, retrogression in American agriculture means national decline, national decay, and ultimate and inevitable ruin. The glory of our civilization cannot survive the neglect of our agriculture; the power and grandeur of this great country cannot survive the degradation of the American farmer. Struggle, toil and suffer as he may, each recurring year has brought to him smaller reward for his labor, until to-day, surrounded by the most wonderful progress and development the world has ever witnessed, he is confronted and appalled with impending bankruptcy and ruin. Crops may fail, disaster may come and sweep away his earnings as by a breath, prices may go below the cost of production, but the inevitable tax-collector never fails to call upon him with increased demands. Is it any wonder that these struggling and oppressed millions are organizing for relief and protection?

1. According to Polk, what is the biggest challenge that farmers face?

2. Why is agriculture still important?

3. What does Polk want the Senate to do?

4. How do Polk’s views tie into the views of the Populist Party?

Questions

Leonidas Polkfrom “Agricultural Depression: Its Causes—The Remedy” (April 22, 1890)

Vizcon / wikipedia.org

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The Harlem Renaissance

On a separate sheet of paper, write 2–3 paragraphs about the primary source quotation from Willie “the Lion” Smith, a jazz pianist who performed at rent parties during the Harlem Renaissance. (These were also called “jumps” or “shouts.”) Use the questions below to get started, but add your own ideas about the quotation’s meaning and relevance as well. Smith is quoted in the book Ordinary Americans, edited by Linda R. Monk.

It got so we never stopped, and we were up and down Fifth, Seventh, and Lenox all night long hitting the keys. We even had a booking agent—old Lippy. He’s say, “You boys wanna jump for ten or twenty?” That meant he had a couple of parties paying from ten to a double sawbuck each. On a single Saturday he’d book as many as three parties for us, and we’d alternate between them…. There were, of course, some of the chitterling struts where a bunch of pianists would be in competition. Lippy was a great promoter and was always trying to steam up the guests to argue about who was the best. It sometimes got annoying, especially when you had your eyes on a good-looking chick or wanted to take time out to get in the games [gambling] they always had going in one or two of the back bedrooms. But you had to stay by the keyboard to hold your own reputation for being a fast pianist. Sometimes we got carving battles [competitions] going that would last for four or five hours. Here’s how these bashes worked: the Lion would pound the keys for a mess of choruses and then shout to the next in line, “Well, all right, take it from there,” and each tickler would take his turn, trying to improve on a melody…. We would embroider the melodies with our own original ideas and try to develop patterns that had more originality than those played before us. Sometimes it was just a question as to who could think up the most patterns within a given tune. It was pure improvisation…. The best time of all at these parties came early in the morning. Then we’d play in a slow-drag style with the drummer muffling his hides and stroking the snare lightly and politely with the brushes. Sometimes we would doctor the piano by placing newspapers behind the hammers and put tin on the felts in order to get an old-fashioned player-piano effect. This also gave us a guitar sound.

1. Why did the pianists go to different parties? What were the parties like?

2. Why did the pianists get into competitions? How did the nature of jazz music make the competitions possible?

3. Why did the music get slower and softer early in the morning?

Questions

Willie “the Lion” SmithJazz at Harlem Rent Parties (1920s)

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White Only The children laugh, almost disbelieving my memories of growing up in Natchez, Mississippi during the 1950s and 60s. Maybe one day I will write a book, just for them. Pictures in a book of “white only” signs above entrances and water fountains are like “whatnots” [knickknacks] on a table, harmless and quiet, unable to reveal the real crime against humanity. And I’ve got a book in me. A “white only” sign above the only bus or train depot entrance in a thunderstorm, with your mama getting soaked, holding a shoebox full of food because restaurants serve “white only” is another matter altogether. Approaching the dentist’s office, we would swing to the rear to the “colored” waiting room, the back porch and wooden benches. We couldn’t show enough gratitude and we waited in winter coats, raincoats, and in sweltering summer heat. The “white only” public school threw their outdated books to the “colored” schools, instead of in the trash. But our diligent teachers taught us to sand the outer edges so the books would at least appear clean and we made book covers from brown grocery bags. We could buy everything in the dime store but a soda or a burger from the same dime store’s lunch counter. All hotel rooms were “white only.” We watched movies from the segregated “colored” balcony of the theaters. People were beaten and killed or just disappeared because voting was for “white only.” A “white only” ambulance couldn’t respond to a “colored” emergency, so local “colored” funeral homes provided this service to our community, though they had no medical training. Most horrendous of all is the still unsolved murder of Wharlest Jackson, whose truck was bombed as he drove home from work, having been recently moved from custodial duties to “a white man’s job” of painting tires at the plant. Oh, the murders, all over Mississippi. Like I said, I gotta book in me. Anonymous — Avondale Estates, MS

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Jim Crow Era

Three VoicesRemembering Jim Crow (Early to Mid 1900s)

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On a separate sheet of paper, write 2–3 paragraphs about the primary source quotations. Use the questions below to get started, but add your own ideas about the meaning and relevance of the quotations as well. Note that while these quotations are from later decades, they show what it was like to live with Jim Crow laws and customs. They are all from “Remembering Jim Crow,” an American RadioWorks documentary program based on interviews.


Three Voices | Remembering Jim Crow (Early to Mid 1900s) continued

Packing the Pee Can for the Road Trip It seems funny to me now, some 40 years later. But that’s what we did. Pack the Pee Can in the backseat of the car as we prepared for our trip from Terre Haute, IN, to Nashville, TN—home of Ma Dear (my mother’s mom). Packing that ole coffee can was as important as any of the other items normally carried on a road trip in those days. My parents never addressed why we had to carry it. They didn’t need to, because even as a child I already knew the answer to the unasked question. Ole Jim Crow didn’t allow for us to use the restroom whenever we stopped for gas. That stop for fuel would be the only stop made. It just wasn’t thought safe to do otherwise. Peeing in that can seemed as normal as taking U.S. 41 South to the Penny Rail into Nashville where Big Jim [Crow] really stood tall. Jerry Hutchinson — Indianapolis, IN

Streetcars The streetcars that traveled on St. Charles Avenue had a two-sided removable placard affixed to the top of one of the seats on each side. One side of the sign read “colored” and the other side read

“white.” When the streetcar got too full in the back, a “colored” person would push the sign up a couple of seats to create more “colored” seating. Similarly, when it was too crowded in the front

“white” section someone would move the sign back. The ironic thing about this is that the streetcars had no back or front—they would travel forward or backward: when they got to the end of the line they didn’t turn around on a U-turn in the track—they just stopped, shifted the backs on the seats, turned the colored/white sign around and the back of the streetcar became the front. This confused me as a child; later I perceived it as deeply metaphorical. Ann Jacobs Pasadena, CA —“Remembering Jim Crow,” American RadioWorks

1. Why does the first person quoted say, “I gotta book in me”? What would the book be like?

2. Why didn’t the black family traveling with the Pee Can think it was safe to make any unnecessary stops? What does the speaker mean by “where Big Jim really stood tall”?

3.The third speaker is white. Why did the signs on the streetcar confuse her when she was a child? How did they become metaphorical as she got older?

Questions

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Great Depression

On a separate sheet of paper, write 2–3 paragraphs about the primary source quotation. Use the questions below to get started, but add your own ideas about the quotation’s meaning and relevance as well. The following is a description of American life during the Great Depression in the early 1930s.

There were, of course, other heroes, little ones who did little things to help people get through: merchants who let profit disappear rather than lay off clerks, store owners who accepted teachers’ scrip [promises that the government would pay later] at face value, churches that set up soup kitchens, landlords who let tenants stay on the place while other owners turned to cattle, housewives who set out plates of cold food (biscuits and sweet potatoes seemed the fare of choice) so transients [homeless people] could eat without begging, railroad “bulls” who turned the other way when hoboes slipped on and off the trains, affluent [rich] families that carefully wrapped leftover food because they knew that residents of “Hooverville” down by the dump would be scavenging their garbage for their next meal, and more, and more. But they were not enough, could not have been enough, so when the government stepped in to help, those needing help were thankful.

1. Who does Jackson identify as “heroes”? Why were their actions heroic?

2. What does Jackson’s quote tell you about life during the Great Depression?

3. Why does Jackson claim that the actions of these “heroes” are not enough?

4. How do you think Jackson felt about the New Deal? Why?

Questions

Harvey H. Jacksonfrom Inside Alabama: A Personal History of My State (2004)

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Cold War

On a separate sheet of paper, write 2–3 paragraphs about the primary source quotation. Use the questions below to get started, but add your own ideas about the quotation’s meaning and relevance as well. The quote is from a speech McGrath gave on April 19, 1950, to the Advertising Club of New York.

There are Communists in America. They are everywhere—in factories, offices, butcher stores, on street corners in private businesses. And each carries, in himself the gem of death for our society. . . . At this very moment [they are] busy at work—undermining your government, plotting to destroy the liberties of every citizen, and feverishly trying in whatever way they can, to aid the Soviet Union . . . America, in Communist eyes, must be weakened, divided, and eventually destroyed . . . The Communist must be unmasked , his veil of hypocrisy, deceit and untruths, ripped away—and he must stand, under the glare of free scrutiny and vision, for what is—a false prophet, a quack savior, a deadly poison.

1. What is the purpose of McGrath’s remarks?

2. What emotions do you think McGrath wants Americans to feel?

3. Why should Americans be afraid of communists?

4. Do you think there were as many Communists around as McGrath said? Why or why not?

5. What do McGrath’s remarks tell you about the Red Scare?

Questions

Attorney General J. Howard McGrath(April 19, 1950)

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Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ds-01489


Vietnam War

On a separate sheet of paper, write 2–3 paragraphs about the primary source quotation. Use the questions below to get started, but add your own ideas about the quotation’s meaning and relevance as well. The excerpt is from Caputo’s book A Rumor of War, as quoted in Ordinary Americans, a book edited by Linda R. Monk

War is always attractive to young men who know nothing about it…. America seemed omnipotent then: The country could still claim it had never lost a war, and we believed we were ordained to play cop to the communists’ robber and spread our own political faith around the world….

So, when we marched into the rice paddies on that damp March afternoon, we carried, along with our packs and rifles, the implicit convictions that the Viet Cong would be quickly beaten and that we were doing something altogether noble and good. We kept the packs and rifles; the convictions, we lost.

The discovery that the men we had scorned as peasant guerrillas were, in fact, a lethal, determined enemy and the casualty lists that lengthened each week with nothing to show for the blood being spilled broke our early confidence. By autumn, what had begun as an adventurous expedition had turned into an exhausting, indecisive war of attrition in which we fought for no cause other than our own survival….

The war was mostly a matter of enduring weeks of expectant waiting and, at random intervals, of conducting vicious manhunts through jungles and swamps where snipers harassed us constantly and booby traps cut us down one by one.

1. According to Sintoni, what three things did the young soldiers carry into Vietnam?Which one did they lose, and why?

2. What made the soldiers change their attitudes about the Viet Cong?

3. What was the Vietnam War like for American soldiers? Why does Sintoni callit “an indecisive war of attrition”? Do historic accounts of the war agree with hisdescription? Why or why not?

Questions

Philip CaputoVietnam War Memories (1977)

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Great Depression and the 1980s

President Franklin D. Roosevelt—New Deal Speech (July 2, 1932)

Let us now and here highly resolve to resume the country’s interrupted march along the path of real progress, of real justice, of real equality for all of our citizens, great and small . . . There are two ways of viewing the Government’s duty in matters affecting economic and social life. The first sees to it that a favored few are helped and hopes that some of their prosperity will leak through, sift through to labor, to the farmer, to the small business man. That theory belongs to the party of Toryism, and I had hoped that most of the Tories left this country in 1776. But it is not and never will be the theory of the Democratic Party. This is no time for fear, for reaction or for timidity . . . Now it is inevitable—and the choice is that of the times—it is inevitable that the main issue of this campaign should revolve about the clear fact of our economic condition, a depression so deep that it is without precedent in modern history . . . You know the story. Surpluses invested in unnecessary plants became idle. Men lost their jobs; purchasing power dried up; banks became frightened and started calling loans. Those who had money were afraid to part with it. Credit contrasted, industry stopped. Commerce declined, and unemployment mounted. And there we are today . . . My program, of which I can only touch on these points, is based upon this simple moral principle: the welfare and the soundness of a Nation depend first upon what the great mass of the people wish and need; and second, whether or not they are getting it. What do the people of America want more than anything else? To my mind, they want two things: work, with all the moral and spiritual values that go with it; and with work, a reasonable measure of security—security for themselves and for their wives and children. Work and security—these are more than words. They are more than facts. They are the spiritual values, the true goal toward which our efforts of reconstruction should lead. These are the values that this program is intended to gain; these are the values we have failed to achieve by the leadership we now have . . . Yes, when—not if—when we get the chance, the Federal Government will assume bold leadership in distress relief. For years Washington has alternated between putting its head in the sand and saying there is no large number of destitute people in our midst who need food and clothing, and then saying the States should take care of them, if there are . . . I say that while primary responsibility for relief rests with localities now, as ever, yet the Federal Government has always had and still has a continuing responsibility for the broader public welfare. It will soon fulfill that responsibility . . .

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Two Presidents Speak: Roosevelt and Reagan

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Below are speeches given by two different US presidents, each of whom came into office during a time of economic turmoil. The first is a speech given by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected during the Great Depression. This speech focuses on the New Deal as a solution to the poverty and unemployment that was plaguing the nation. The second is an inaugural address given by Ronald Reagan, who was elected during the recession of the early 1980s.

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One word more: Out of every crisis, every tribulation, every disaster, mankind rises with some share of greater knowledge, of higher decency, of purer purpose. Today we shall have come through a period of loose thinking, descending morals, an era of selfishness, among individual men and women and among Nations. Blame not Governments alone for this. Blame ourselves in equal share . . . Throughout the Nation, men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government of the last years look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth. On the farm, in the large metropolitan areas, in the smaller cities and in the villages, millions of our citizens cherish the hope that their old standards of living and of thought have not gone forever. Those millions cannot and shall not hope in vain. I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. Let us al here assembled constitute ourselves prophets of a new order of competence and of courage. This is more than a political campaign; it is a call to arms. Give me your help, not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people.

President Ronald Reagan—Inaugural Address (January 20, 1981)

These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling you and the fixed-income elderly alike . . . Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery, and personal indignity . . . We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding: We are going to begin to act, beginning today . . . In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price . . . Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of this “new beginning,” and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America, at peace with itself and the world . . .

Two Presidents Speak: Roosevelt and Reagan continued

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1. What are the similarities and differences between the speeches?

2. What national problems does each president address?

3. What, according to each president, are the causes of these problems?

4. What role does each president want the government to play in America’s society and economy?

5. What qualities does each president value within individual Americans? Within the nation?

6. What does Reagan mean by “the government is the problem, not the solution”?

Questions

Two Presidents Speak: Roosevelt and Reagan continued

We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed . . . It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government. Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it’s not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work—work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it. If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price . . . It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportion to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we’re too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We’re not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.

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Modern Era - Gibbs Smith Education

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Transcript of Modern Era - Gibbs Smith Education