What were the failures of Reconstruction and what were its successes?
Discussing the legacies of reconstruction
After completing the reading for this Module and reviewing Dr. Becker’s lecture notes, please consider the impact of Reconstruction on America, and answer the following questions in your initial post:
What were the failures of Reconstruction and what were its successes?
Why did the Reconstruction collapse, and how did African Americans feel about the possibilities and the terrors of Reconstruction?
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 2 Discussion 2
Narrating the frontier
Image of a cowboy and horse near the Lower Brule reservation in central South Dakota
Once you have completed the reading for this week:
Consider whether frontier settlement can best be understood as the story of competing ethnic, religious, and racial groups—or is it best understood as the place where capitalism made its mark?
Was the West truly the place where Americans were most individualistic, democratic, and “free,” as Frederick Jackson Turner argued, or was it actually riddled with inequalities?
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 2 Discussion 3
Discussing immigration in American cities
Chinese Emigration to America.jpg
“Chinese Emigration to Americaopens in a new window” by Chinese emigration to Americaopens in a new window Licensed under Public Domain via Commonsopens in a new window.
As you complete the reading assignment for this Module discuss the ways that various immigrant groups had to cope with the conditions they found in America’s brimming cities.
Were the conditions encountered anticipated?
Did industry crush immigrants or provide them with new opportunities?
Lastly, how did men and women experience immigration differently, and how did the realities of life in America reshape family life for immigrants?
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 2 Discussion 4
After reading the textbook and supplementary assignments for this Discussion Module, consider the following questions.
Enraged by a guerrilla massacre of U.S. troops on the Island of Samar, General Jacob H. Smith retaliated by carrying out an indiscriminate attack upon its inhabitants. His order “KILL EVERY ONE OVER TEN” became a caption in the New York Journal cartoon on May 5, 1902. The Old Glory draped an American shield on which a vulture replaced the bald eagle. The bottom caption exclaimed, “Criminals Because They Were Born Ten Years Before We Took the Philippines”. Published in the New York Journal-American, May 5, 1902.
“Editorial cartoon about Jacob Smith’s retaliation for Balangigaopens in a new window”. Licensed under Public Domain via Commonsopens in a new window. Enraged by a guerrilla massacre of U.S. troops on the Island of Samar, General Jacob H. Smith retaliated by carrying out an indiscriminate attack upon its inhabitants. His order “KILL EVERY ONE OVER TEN” became a caption in the New York Journal cartoon on May 5, 1902. The Old Glory draped an American shield on which a vulture replaced the bald eagle. The bottom caption exclaimed, “Criminals Because They Were Born Ten Years Before We Took the Philippines”. Published in the New York Journal-American, May 5, 1902.
How could a nation with democratic values fight a colonial war?
In what ways did the pursuit of imperialism negate American values?
What rhetoric made this undertaking palatable—and what insecurities fueled it?
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 3 Discussion 1
Evaluating the Progressives
Noordam-delegates-1915.jpg
“Noordam-delegates-1915opens in a new window” by Bain News Service, publisher – This imageopens in a new window is available from the United States Library of Congressopens in a new window Prints and Photographs division. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commonsopens in a new window.
The documents in chapter 5 of the Major Problems text ask you to discuss the meaning and value of Progressivism.
Was Progressivism an inspirational movement to further the nation’s democratic ideals, or was it an attempt at social control ?
To what extent did Progressivism express utopian tendencies?
To what extent did it address the real challenges of the Industrial Age?
How was the brand of progressivism that the U.S. experienced reflective of reactions of other industrializing nations?
How was the movement a success?
How was it a failure?
To answer these questions, please draw on at least two of the documents in Chapter 5, in order to prepare a compare and contrast argument.
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 3 Discussion 2
Debating World War I
“President Woodrow Wilsonopens in a new window” by Harris & Ewing – National Star-Spangled Banner Centennial, Baltimore, Maryland, September 6 to 13, 1914opens in a new window (1914).. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commonsopens in a new window.
The documents in chapter 6 offer a sense of how Americans were reacting to the breakout of war in Europe. For this forum, choose two of the documents in chapter 6 to discuss. Examine the arguments in the documents carefully and create a post that highlights your discoveries.
Please try and select documents that have not been discussed by your classmates in previous threads. Do comment, however, on the points that those other documents reveal.
In creating your post and/or commenting on others, please devote some time to:
Discussing the role of President Woodrow Wilson in terms of formulating US foreign policy on World War I.
Was the president a “hopeless dreamer”?
Or was he a “prescient advocate” for a new world order?
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 3 Discussion 3
The Twenties and the Cultural Divide
5 Prohibition Disposal(9).jpg
“5 Prohibition Disposal(9)opens in a new window” by Unknown – Vintage periods. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commonsopens in a new window.
After you have read the documents and essays in chapter 7:
Discuss whether the 1920s were a decade of unleashed social freedom or one of new restrictiveness. Imagine yourself to be first a modernist and then a fundamentalist.
Using the documents, create two posts:
One that addresses the cultural changes of the 1920s from the perspective of a modernist celebrating the age of jazz
Another that looks at the decade from the perspective of a fundamentalist calling for prohibition and a curbing of such things as women’s sexual freedoms.
Have fun with this forum, but please stick to the arguments presented in the documents and make your arguments in the context of the real debates going on during this time period.
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 3 Discussion 4
Experiencing the Great Depression
“Scott’s Run, West Virginia. (Unemployed miners.) – NARA – 518401opens in a new window” by Lewis Hineopens in a new window – U.S. National Archives and Records Administrationopens in a new window. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commonsopens in a new window.
Chapter 8’s collection of readings documents a range of ways that differing players in American history experienced the Great Depression. The task of this discussion forum is to:
Identify that range of experiences
Also, ponder how hardships and opportunities that emerged in this era of the past might be mirrored in our economy today.
For this forum, choose one document in chapter 8 and:
Examine both the arguments that the document presents as well as the socio-political position of the author.
Then, find a viewpoint from a person of a comparable socio-political status in the early 21st century, (i.e. President Barack Obama if you chose to analyze a document by either President Wilson or President Roosevelt).
Create a post that examines the similarities and differences across historic time.
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 4 Discussion 1
Global impacts of World War II
A chart depicting the number of military deaths by country during World War II.
“WwIIDeathsByCountryopens in a new window” by Jroehlopens in a new window – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0opens in a new window via Commonsopens in a new window. A chart depicting the number of military deaths by country during World War II. To access a table with exact statistical information visit The National World War II Museum webpageopens in a new window.
The documents in chapter 9 revolve around certain themes associated with World War II:
The global character of the war
The changes in American perceptions of the nation’s role in the world
Different understandings of what American-style freedom meant.
For this forum, please review all the documents and additional essays in the chapter, and create a discussion post that discusses the three themes above.
You might find it useful to tie the discussion of these documents to some aspect of your research essay in process; if you do so, please make sure to explain your topic in a way that helps your classmates understand its focus.
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 4 Discussion 2
Making sense of the Cold War
“Bundesarchiv Bild 183-48579-0009, Stralsund, Ho Chi Minh mit Matrosen der NVAopens in a new window” by Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-48579-0009 Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 deopens in a new window via Commonsopens in a new window.
The readings in chapter 10 focus on different perspectives on the Cold War. For this forum:
Read the documents and essays
Create a post that identifies and assesses the long-term legacies of the Cold War.
In doing so, discuss how the Cold War affected the way Americans thought about the rest of the world and question how those thoughts might still be in force today.
You might find it useful to tie the discussion of these documents to some aspect of your research essay in process; if you do so, please make sure to explain your topic in a way that helps your classmates understand its focus. Feel free to share insights that you might be developing from your research projects with each other.
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 4 Discussion 3
Unraveling the myth of the 50s
Nine of the Hollywood 10 charged with contempt of Congress 1947
“Nine of the Hollywood 10 charged with contempt of Congressopens in a new window” by Los Angeles Times photographic archive – Digital collections — UCLA Libraryopens in a new window Published caption SURRENDER — Charged with contempt of Congress, nine Hollywood men give themselves up to U.S. Marshal yesterday. From left, Robert Adrian Scott, Edward Dmytryk, Samuel Ornitz, Lester Cole, Herbert Biberman, Albert Maltz, Alvah Bessie, John Howard Lawson and Ring Lardner Jr. Topic Hollywood blacklistopens in a new window Publication Los Angeles Times. Licensed under Public Domain via Commonsopens in a new window.
The 1950s have been memorialized as a period of good times and widespread prosperity in the United States. However, as the readings in chapter 11 show, this iconic understanding of the 50s has been more myth than reality. For this discussion forum:
Create a post that looks at the “other side” of the 50s.
Document the grim realities that faced Americans during this decade.
Choose 1-3 readings from chapter 11 to support your posts.
As with the earlier discussions in this module, you might want to draw on your research-in-progress — both in putting together your initial posts and in commenting on your peers’ contributions. Feel free to share insights that you might be developing from your research projects with each other.
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 4 Discussion 4
Civil Rights and Third World Solidarities
“Wattsriots-policearrest-locopens in a new window” by New York World-Telegram – LOC. Licensed under Public Domain via Commonsopens in a new window.
Students of American history often think of the Civil Rights movement as a purely “American experience” that helped to usher in the end of racist Jim Crow policies, segregated schools, and the building of a more egalitarian society. Yet, as the documents in Chapter 12 illuminate, civil rights activists often found inspiration and support from other movements for justice throughout the world. For this forum:
Discuss the term “civil rights” in terms of what it meant in the U.S. as well as in a global context.
Ask yourselves how the Civil Rights Movement affected the place of the American people within the world.
Discuss how the movements in the U.S. contained an international dimension.
Choose two or more of the readings in Chapter 12 to support your posts.
After reading and interacting in this discussion:
Create a culminating post that identifies what you learned about civil rights that you did not know before.
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 5 Discussion 1
Assessing the ‘Sixties’
“Robert Kennedy CORE rally speech2opens in a new window” by Leffler, Warren K. – This image is available from the United States Library of Congressopens in a new window Prints and Photographs division Licensed under Public Domain via Commonsopens in a new window.
“Woodstock-kidsopens in a new window” by Ric Manning – Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0opens in a new window via Commonsopens in a new window.
Our course text asks us to consider whether the sixties were a decade of hedonism or one of heightened social responsibility. For this forum:
Discuss whether it was decade of hedonism or one of heightened social responsibility using our privilege of having what is now a half-century of hindsight.
Choose one of the documents in Chapter 13, and read it carefully, putting yourself in the shoes of the person who wrote it.
Read the essays at the end of the chapter.
Create a post in which you re-write the document from the perspective of the initial author, fifty years later.
Discuss what that person might have stated had s/he known then what is known of the world and America today.
After reading an interacting in this discussion:
Create a culminating post assessing the era based on what the class has interpreted.
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 5 Discussion 2
The Conservative Turn in America
“Ronald Reagan televised address from the Oval Office, outlining plan for Tax Reduction Legislation July 1981opens in a new window” by White House Photo Office; Originally uploaded to Wikipediaopens in a new window by Happyme22opens in a new window Licensed under Public Domain via Commonsopens in a new window.
It’s been nearly four decades since Americans overwhelmingly elected President Reagan as president. In hindsight, the conservative turn that Reagan helped to initiate seems almost incredulous in its ability to undo the numerous social welfare and civil rights oriented policies that Americans fought so hard to achieve in the 1960s and 1970s.
Yet, as the documents in Chapter 14 show, perhaps the change wasn’t so surprising. As our textbook notes, criticism, cynicism, and mistrust in the ‘American way’ were rife through the 1970s and well into the early 21st century. After reading the documents and essays in Chapter 14 address the following in this forum:
Create a post that identifies and discusses the ways in which the rise of a new right captured the imagination of the American public.
Assess the changes that emerged in the 1980s against America’s social fabric today, reflecting on what the United States gained during the 1980s.
As with the earlier discussions, you might want to draw on your research-in-progress — both in putting together your initial posts and in commenting on your peers’ contributions. Feel free to share insights that you might be developing from your research projects with each other.
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 5 Discussion 3
Putting the Early 21st Century into Perspective
“2015-04-15_195opens in a new window” (CC BY 2.0opens in a new window) by OFL Communicationsopens in a new window
The essays and documents in Chapters 15 and 16 of our course text offer a look at foreign and domestic policies that have dominated the United States since the end of the Cold War from a global perspective. Local and national political movements within the United States, such as the renewed calls in the second decade of the 21st century for a $15 hourly minimum wage, often intersect with that global perspective while also addressing issues that might be unique to the American experience. As you go through the readings in these final two chapters consider the idea of “America” as it exists today. In considering such broad concerns as terrorism, economic stability, racial and social justice, and equitable health care for all peoples, what is one issue of particular importance from your perspective?
Create a post based on one the readings in Chapters 15 and 16 in addition to a newspaper article about the topic that addresses the issue. Be sure to address:
How do the issues that the country faces differ from those of other nations?
In what ways is America a part of the world, and in what ways does it stand apart from the world.
As with the earlier discussions, you might want to draw on your research-in-progress — both in putting together your initial posts and in commenting on your peers’ contributions. Feel free to share insights that you might be developing from your research projects with each other.
HIST3345 Modern American History
Module 6 Discussion
Peer Review
This discussion forum offers you the opportunity to share the project on which you’ve been working all semester with your classmates, and to receive from them comments that you might want to consider before you submit your final research essay to your instructor. Here’s what I’d like you to do:
Prepare the rough draft of your research essay and post it to the forum as a Microsoft Word document no later than the end of Week 14.
Select an essay that one of your peers has posted to review.
Read the essay carefully, and comment on it in accordance with the following prompts:
What is the main thesis and argument of the essay?
What are the essay’s key strengths?
In what ways might the writer improve the essay?
How is the evidence that the writer brings into the essay supportive of its key points?
Please complete your assessment of your classmate’s work no later than Wednesday of Week 15. You want to make sure that your classmates have plenty of time to take advantage of your helpful comments before submitting their final essays.
You might find Lynn Shackelford’s guide for offering and receiving peer review commentaryopens in a new window helpful in this exercise.
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