Clash of Cultures

For this assignment, begin by logging on to www.google.com or some other Internet search engine (alternatively, you may use a print resource, like a saily newspaper or weekly news magazine). Using a search phrase such as "clash of cultures", "culture wars", "cultural misunderstanding", etc. find a story that interests you about cross-cultural problems or misunderstandings in the contemporary world.  Find at least two sources, preferably from more than one side of the issue. Read the source materials, then answer the questions on your worksheet. This assignment will be started in class.  If you don't finish, complete your answers for homework.

 Contemporary Native America

 For this assignment, check out one of the following Internet resources:

• Native American Public Communications This website attempts to "empower, educate, and entertain" through Native media. It features Native music, interviews, and news reports relevant to Indian Country. For starters, did you realize there are now 29 Native American radio stations in the U.S.? Try listening to AIROS- American Indian Radio on Satellite for at least 1/2 hour and summarize what you hear and what you have learned.
• Virtual Library of Native American History Resources Wonder what a Native American "version" of U.S. history might be like? This site is a hub for Native American history resources on the Internet, including their versions of many of the events covered in our text. You may or may not agree with their view, but I guarantee you will find it interesting.  Check out the site in general, then read in detail any one of the history-links the site contains.  Summarize this story and the Native American "version" on your report page and be ready to tell the class about it as well.
• Native American Nations - Most Americans of European descent can trace their ancestry back to one or more European nations. Americans of African ancestry likewise came here from different regions and tribes on that continent. Native Americans are often referred to as "Indians", a term which obscures the fact that they are a diverse people, originally comprised of hundreds of tribal groups and thousands of clans.  This web site is a hub, linking to Internet home sites for hundreds of tribes.  Select one of these links, go to the tribal home page, and summarize what you find there.  Be ready to make a brief summary report to the class.
• Native American Resources In addition to many historical tribal resources, this web site also list Native American educational and service organizations, and links to Native American art and cultural resources on the Internet. If you choose this site, choose one of the links, summarize it on your packet page, and then be reday to share what you have found with the class.

The Constitutional Convention

For this activity you will be asked to represent one of the original 13 states as we recreate the process and debate some of the main issues that confronted the original Constitutional Convention. You will need to spend time online gathering background information on your state, on its state constitution, and on its position on the following two issues:

1. How should the states be represented in the new government?  How can the rights of small states and the large states be reconciled?
2. What should be done with slavery?  Should it be abolished?  Maintained?  Should slaves count toward a state's population?

As you work through this exercise, fill in the information you gather on your worksheets.  Then be prepared to accurately represent your state at our class convention.

Check out the following web sites:

• http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_ccon.html The Constitution Online - a comprehansive site on the formation of the Constitution
• http://library.thinkquest.org/11572/creation/framing/va_nj_plans.html - The New Jersey and Virginia Plans
• http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/roosevelt/constitution/threefifths.htm - Site devoted to the 3/5 Compromise on the issue of slavery
• http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/roosevelt/constitution/greatcompromise.htm _ Site devoted to the Great Compromise on the issue of representation.

You will have one and one-half class periods to do your research.  In our third class, we will attempt to recreate the discussion of the great issues of the Constitutional Convention in class.  Be ready to represent your state well.

Divining America: Religion & American Culture

For this activity, we will examine the role that religion in all its forms has played throughout American history, and examine its impact on American culture. As a Jesuit, Catholic school McQuaid is blessed in its ability to examine these questions fully and to relate our tradition to this subject as well.

• As a first step in this exercise, examine our textbook to determine roughly what percentage of it covers religious topics. Record your estimate on your worksheet.
• Next, visit the following Internet site: Divining America: Religion and National Culture. Select any one (1) of the twenty-four listed essays.  Then do this:
• Read the essay.  Some of the essays may have sections called "Historians Debate" and "Guiding Student Discussion".  Read those sections too.  Summary the main points of the essay on your worksheet.
• Prepare a 5 minute summary presentation for the class. These will be due on Tuesday November 9th and Friday, November 12th.  You may bring in visuals (pictures, charts, etc.) if you think they will help your presentation. Your presentation should include 1) a summary of the main points of the essay, and  2) a summary of any historical debate the essay describes.
• Hand in your summary worksheet after you have made your class presentation.
• NOTE: We will be having an open book evaluation of Chapter 7 on Wednesday, November 10th.  The essay question for that test will be based on your work on this assignment. We will have a full period devoted to this assignment on Monday, November 8th.  You will have access to the Internet in the notebook lab on that day.
• Good luck!  If you are having any difficulties with this assignment, please see me ASAP.

 Civil War Battles

This activity asks you to research and report on one of the battles of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Since we don't have the time to do a detailed study of all the many engagements, you will be asked to prepare a short (4-5 minute) summary of the battle and present this to the class.

• You will be assigned to one of the following Civil War battles:

• Bull Run (Manassas) I (Va.)- 7/21/61	Wilson's Creek (Mo.) - 8/10/61
  Ft. Donelson - 2/13/62	Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) 5/31/62
  Shiloh (Tenn.) - 4/6/62	Bull Run (Manassas) II - 8/30/62
  Antietam (Md.) - 9/17/62	Fredericksburg (Va.) - 12/13/62
  Murfreesboro (Tenn.) - 12/31/62	Chancellorsville (Va.) - 5/1/63
  Gettysburg (Pa.) - 7/1/63	Vicksburg (Miss.) - 7/3/63
  Fort Wagner (S.C.) - 7/10/63	Chickamauga (Ga.) - 9/19/63
  Wilderness (Va.) - 5/5/64	Spotsylvania Courthouse - 5/7/64
  Cold Harbor (Va. ) - 6/1/64	Spring Hill (Tenn.) - 11/29/64
  Petersburg (Va.) - 4/2/65	Appomattox Courthouse 4/64

• Go to this web site, which summarizes all the major battles of the war.  It has them organized by state.
• For casualty figures and other data, check out this web site.
• For the battle you have been assigned, prepare a short report, listing the following:
  • the date and location of the battle
  • how many soldiers were involved
  • the commanding officers of each army (and which divisions of each army were involved)
  • the major strategies and events of the battle
  • casualty figures, if available
  • outcome of the battle
  • the importance of this battle in the overall history of the Civil War
  • do a map of the battlefield and troop movements on an overhead transparency (optional)
• Be ready to present your information to the class on the dates assigned (1/5 and 1/6)

Immigration & Family Histories

This activity parallels the material in Chapter 18 of our text.  For this exercise, you will have to go to an Internet site to gather information about immigration patterns in U.S. History.  Then you will be asked to fill out a worksheet with this information.  The second part of this activity will require you to do some research into your own family history and prepare a short 3-4 minute report for the class.  This part of the activity will be due on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 7th and 8th.

• Go to this web site
• Click on <Ellis Island>
• Click on <Immigrant Experience>
• Click on <The Peopling of America>
• Click on each of the time periods included in the graph and fill in the activity worksheet that you received in class as part of your Chapter 18 packet.

Part 2 of the activity:

Check out the immigration links on our course web site.  Talk to family members.  Check out any old family photo albums or written records. Over the winter break, find out as much as you can about one of the branches of your family and its story of coming to America. Prepare a short 3-4 minute presentation for our class.  These will be done in alphabetical order, beginning on Tuesday, February 7th and concluding the following day.  Please let me know if you need any audio-visual supports.

Muckraking

A muckraker is a journalist, author, photographer, or filmmaker who investigates and exposes societal issues such as political corruption, corporate crime, child labor, conditions in slums and prisons, unsanitary conditions in food processing plants, fraudulent claims by manufacturers of patent medicines and similar topics.

Generally, muckraking tends to be targeted at forces in power and the established institution of society, often in a sensationalist and tabloid manner.

In this exercise, you will be asked to go online and learn a little more about muckraking throughout American history. 

Complete the following steps as you do this exercise online:

1. Go to the wikipedia page on muckraking
2. Read all the text down to the section labelled: Early Muckrakers
3. Select one of the people listed there, click on his/her name to go to a portrait of who they were and what he/she did. Summarize this information on your packet worksheet.
4. Then proceed down to the section labelled: Contemporary Muckrakers.
5. Again, select one of the individuals, click on his/her name to go to a portrait of who they are and what they have done in America today that keeps alive the "spirit" of the Muckrakers from the Progressive Era.
6. Be ready to summarize your findings in our next class.