1870 Special Message Regarding the Annexation of Santo Domingo
Many teachers place the beginning of imperialism in the 1890s - this shows it was alive and well (and maybe connected with Manifest Destiny) in the 1870s
AN EXAMINATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION DURING WORLD WAR I AND APPLICATION TO THE CURRENT STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN OF THE US GOV.pdf
A Notorious Photograph From a US Massacre in the Philippines Reveals an Ugly Truth
“No one can read of that valorous fight,” the editorial of one newspaper proclaimed, “without a thrill of pride in the boys of the United States Army, who scaled the almost perpendicular crags and wiped out the incensed heathen from the face of Christendom.” President Theodore Roosevelt personally sent a message to Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, military governor of Mindanao, who had ordered the assault, writing, “I congratulate you and the officers and men of your command upon the brilliant feat of arms wherein you and they so well upheld the honor of the American flag.”
Despite their efforts, the campaign failed to elicit any public outcry. Instead, the photograph was turned into a postcard, much like the ones from Wounded Knee or the Philippine-American War, and the spectacle of the massacre reduced to a colonial commodity.
The distance between the past and the present seems indeed to fade in the staged triumphalism of trophy photos. The fact is that we have seen it all before — at Bud Dajo, in Iraq and Afghanistan or, at this very moment, in Gaza.
At a time when we are inundated with images of suffering, the problem is not that we have looked at too many photos but that we haven’t looked closely enough. If the act of bearing witness is to be more than a cliche, we cannot afford to look away. More importantly, we must also have the courage to recognize what it is that we see.
Babel Proclamation, May 1918 | State Historical Society of Iowa
Teachers who think it is funny to tell students about Frankfurters being replaced by "Hot Dogs" and Sauerkraut being replaced by "Liberty Cabbage" should look at this law from Iowa to see the reality of xenophobia in the United States in 1918. The Governor of Iowa proclaimed the only English should be spoken in public
Letter from Ida B. Wells to President Wilson
Would your students believe that the President of the United States wrote an order to black officers and soldiers to stay away from public places where their presence was resented? If you believe that - do you teach it? This letter from Ida B Wells might be the vehicle to do that
The White Man’s Burden – The Kipling Society
The Kipliing Society should be considered an authority on the writer's work - and even they refer to his poem as "one of the most often quoted and most regularly misunderstood poems in the canon" - Yet teachers keep using it and students keep getting confused - it is taught because it has been taught - no other reason
Free speech wasn't so free 103 years ago, when 'seditious' and 'unpatriotic' speech was criminalized in the US
It would be tough to find a more concise description of the Espionage and Sedition passed and enforced during World War I with connections across time. This teachers can use this to set context for a World War lesson on repression and dissent during the War
Hand book of the American Defense Society 1918
This 36 page handbook exposes an important element of the US homefront in World War I ignored by the taught narrative canon. Adding this to the homefront documents is vital for a valid understanding of the past. Put this along the tired old propaganda posters
U.S. Senate: "Free Speech in Wartime"
This description of Senator Robert La Follett's famous October 1917 speech defending the right of free speech in wartime includes a description of a fight in the Senate chamber in the spring of 1917. The fight involved a revolver, a spitoon and a steel file. Its impossible that a teacher can read this and tech through World War I the same again
While Democrats swarmed around the furious senator to prevent him from hurling a brass spittoon at the presiding officer, Oregon senator Harry Lane spotted a pistol under the coat of Kentucky senator Ollie James. Lane quickly decided that if James reached for the weapon, he would remove from his pocket a heavy steel file and plunge its sharp point into James' neck. While La Follette dared anyone to carry him off the floor, the Senate ordered him to take his seat.
Neighborhood Narcs: The Story of the American Protective League | The Saturday Evening Post
No textbook would have a section on World War I like like this - which is precisely why teachers should use it. This is an easy way to set students up for a lesson on the intolerance that swept the American public during World War I. First students read the essay, identify a thesis and itemize the evidence. Then, they go off and fact check the evidence.
Report of Minnesota Commission of Public Safety : Minnesota Commission of Public Safety : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Puerto Rico: A U.S. Territory in Crisis | Council on Foreign Relations
Student reading to end the Imperialsm unit - what do American have to know about the past to make sense of their present?
Spain lost the war and ceded Puerto Rico to the United States, along with other territories, including Guam and the Philippines.
1900 Foraker Act reestablished a civilian government and specified Puerto Rico’s territory status.
By 1917, Congress had granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, as the newly created Panama Canal increased the island’s strategic value. That spurred a wave of migration, with more than one million Puerto Ricans moving to the mainland by the mid-1960s.
1946, President Harry S. Truman installed the territory’s first native-born governor.
1952, it approved a constitution that recast the island as a U.S. commonwealth capable of independently conducting its own affairs, including choosing its own leaders.
Article 4, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution, known as the territorial clause, <a href="https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/article-iv-section-3/" title="gives Congress broad authority" target="_blank">gives Congress broad authority</a> to govern U.S. territories. Puerto Rico is the most populous U.S. territory
Peurto Rico has more people than 17 US states
Like <a href="https://rockinst.org/issue-areas/fiscal-analysis/balance-of-payments-portal/" title="most U.S. states" target="_blank">most U.S. states</a>, the island receives billions of dollars more in federal spending, including on Medicare and Social Security, than its residents pay in taxes. In addition, the U.S. government has earmarked nearly <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-264" title="$24 billion in disaster-recovery funding" target="_blank">$24 billion in disaster-recovery funding</a> for the island since 2017.
The First 9 Minutes of 1917 (in One Unbroken Shot) | Own now on Digital, 3/24 on Blu-ray & DVD - YouTube
Text 7 Reading, Topic: Empire, The Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870-1912, Primary Resources in U.S. History and Literature, Toolbox Library, National Humanities Center
Teachers who insist on using the White Man's Burden should place it in the context of other voices at the time - this is a curated collection, each reduced to a readable 1 page a piece
1918 Pandemic (H1N1 virus) | Pandemic Influenza (Flu) | CDC
675,000 Americans died, in today's US, that's 1.75 million. Every student of US history should know this happened.
World War I and Disability | Emerging America
The lesson invites students to think about what life was like as a disabled veteran of WWI and to connect to background knowledge as well as personal experiences. The teacher will provide historical information and guide the class in a read-aloud from the perspective of a soldier wounded and recuperating in Italy from Ernest Hemingway’s “In Another Country.”
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN – TEACH WITH MOVIES
This provides teachers with some background information and tips specific to using the first 29 minutes of the film to show the landing on Omaha beach. Be sure to follow the links at the bottom of the page for more support and perspectives on the film
Awake! America. Object lessons and warnings : Hornaday, William T. (William Temple),1918
This book is an example of racism and anti-German sentiment in the United States in 1918. Could be used by teachers for DBQs, quotes or just a "Do Now" where students try to find good quotes themselves. Give students five minutes and this book, just to skim around and share quotes with the rest of the class as an introduction to a lesson
The Influenza Epidemic of 1918
Primary document collection from the National Archives
Yellow Journalism: The "Fake News" of the 19th Century – The Public Domain Review
The Genesis of the 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic
Why German spies blew up this US island - VOX History Videos
The Black Tom explosion is explained in this 8 minute video which also places the event in context and provides background on the war itself. It would be interesting to see if students should fact check the video - maybe the authors took a little too much information from only USA sources, which could have been shaped to develop more anti-German spirit - maybe not. What do they think? What could they find?
Official bulletin / Committee on Public Information. :
All 1,300+ pages of the official publication of the Committee on Public Information can be found here. Students can search for relatives names, which may appear here. Searching terms can bring other interesting and unexpected findings about the war. Search "Mitchell Palmer" or "Alien Property" to find records of the seizure of businesses, inventory and assets of people deemed to be alien.
US Entry Into WW1 - YouTube
12 minute video that gives context to a lesson a primary document lesson about America's entry into the way
German WWI veteran describes killing a French corporal during a bayonet charge and articulates his view on war as a whole : CombatFootage
This 5 minute video a German veteran recounting his bayoneting of a French Corporal in World War I is riveting. It would fit well with Wilfred Own poetry or "All Quiet" excerpts, exploring what it was like for soldiers to kill each other up close. This should also be included with explanations of the new technology of warfare. It's an effective tool to communicate the personal impact of the war without being graphic
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Why Teddy Roosevelt Tried to Bully His Way Onto the WWI Battlefield
Most students encounter Teddy Roosevelt's military bravado in the Spanish American War because the taught narrative canon stresses it. "Rough Riders" and "This country needs a war" can be found on many worksheets and standardized tests. This article describes his efforts to raise, organize and lead a force into battle at the start of American involvement in World War I. For teachers, this is a lite read that broadens understanding of TR, for students, it can show how many political leaders beyond the president are involved in foreign policy. They'll notice the way in which TR communicates with and uses Congress to pass legislation for him.
Tribal Headhunters on Coney Island? Author Revisits Disturbing American Tale
In 1904, the American government spent $1.5 million taking 1,300 Filipinos from a dozen different tribes to the St. Louis Exposition as part of a scheme intended to drum up widespread popular support for America's policies in the Philippines by demonstrating that the people of the islands were far from ready for self-government
<div class="parbase smartbody section has-p text"><p>It seems abominable to us now that people were looking at these human zoos. But back then people went to ‘attractions’ like the Igorrote Village in the same way that they go to the movies today. They took their families. At the time it was mainstream entertainment.</p></div>
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Oxplore | Should you believe the history books?
Great way to start the school year and getting students to think about how history is made.
Improving Speech Openings | HistoryRewriter
Progressive/Imperialist "Ignite Talk" presentation lesson idea - a good one too
WWI Home Front: Manipulating Minds: The War Propaganda Machine