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I'm sorry this is getting out later than normal, but hopefully, you all wrote down your assignment before you left class. This last week, we reviewed the Reactionary Twenties. This is the time period where immigration is the largest of anywhere in the world, but most folks aren't too happy about it. In response, the KKK grows to 4 million members, including senators, policemen, teachers, doctors, and farmers. 500,000 are women. It wasn't until a scandal involving the "Grand Dragon" in 1925, that caused many members to leave. By 1930, numbers dropped to 100,000 and laws were implemented to ban some of the terror tactics used by the KKK. Fundamentalism continued to grow in response to Darwinism and one of the most infamous court cases arrives: The Scopes Trial. John T. Scopes was a substitute science teacher who taught the theory of evolution in a Dayton, Tennessee classroom, leading to his arrest. The trial ensued, causing a great uproar over states rights and wh...
Again, Social Darwinism, Manifest Destiny, and Racism headlined our events in history (and the literature of the era) this week. I did not give out a pop quiz this last week and I'm not sure if I will give one out this next week, but if I did, I'd really want to make sure you are fully comprehending the definitions of social Darwinism, imperialism, and isolationism. These three ideologies find their way woven throughout much of our modern history. We touched on the annexation of the Philippines, how McKinley thought we should keep the Philippines for our national glory, commerce, racial superiority, and evangelism. That didn't go as well as planned and we found ourselves entangled in another war. We also see a rise in the Anti-Imperialist League, with forerunners like William Jennings Bryan, Carnegie, and former Presidents Cleveland and Harrison calling for the U.S. to withdraw from the Philippines. Overall, the Philippine-American war killed 126,000 U.S. troops, 200,000 ...
We are still in the Gilded Age, but politics and culture are already responding to major shifts in ideology. If you are still confused with the differences between Social Darwinism and Reform Darwinism, go back and review last week's lesson. We aren't done with this. Also, Nativism isn't limited to history. Here's an article from The New Yorker in 2007 referencing nativism in McCain's campaign, although I'd argue nativism never left. We'll get to the Japanese Internment shortly. Here's a more recent article, appearing in Slate in 2017, discussing President Trump and the "Muslim Ban." I realize both of those articles are coming from a liberal-leaning source, but nativism isn't only a liberal term. Here's another, for balance, from Fox News . This article discusses two terms we talked about yesterday, nativism and isolationism. Many issues we face today carry similar themes as the ones we are reading about in history. Let...
Hi Class, I will be traveling to Albuquerque for an academic conference this week and may not be able to respond quickly. It will be best to reach me through email through Sunday. Your assignment this week is to finish reading The Great Gatsby and write the Great Gatsby paper. You can use the prompts I handed out in class or you can come up with your own. What I do not want is a summary. Make it an argument. Tell me about the symbolism or the theme or how you think Daisy and Gatsby are portrayed. Tell me how this novel reinforces or rejects Marxism. Connect this novel to another idea. The Gilded Age: •The period from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the twentieth century was an era noted for the widening social and economic gap between the powerful and the powerless, the “haves and the have-nots.” •Name given by Mark Twain for its greed and vulgarity, marked by conspicuous consumption by the newly rich as they flaunted their enormous personal wealth…the same ...