"Organize among Yourselves": Mary Gale on Unemployed Organizing in the Great Depression
The Communist-led Unemployed Councils were the first and the most active of the radical movements that sought to mobilize the jobless during the Great Depression. In this interview, which is taken from the radio series "Grandma Was an Activist," relief worker Mary Gale, who was sympathetic to radicals and the jobless, described how she worked behind the scenes to encourage her clients to organize and demand better treatment. The jobless and the poor had few advocates for them, and radicals like
"I Started Filling Rifles": A Woman Strike Supporter Remembers the 1914 Ludlow Massacre
The brutal southern Colorado coal strike reached its nadir on Easter night, 1914, with the horrendous deaths by fire of three women and eleven children at the hands of the Colorado state militia. Mary Thomas, whose husband was on strike, was interviewed at age eighty eight by historian Sherna Gluck in 1974 for the Feminist History Research Project. Thomas vividly recalled the horror of the infamous Ludlow Massacre, described her efforts to save the lives of women and children by hiding them in a
"I Just Loved that School": Henrietta Chief Recalls an Indian Boarding School in the Early 20th cent
In this 1970 interview with University of South Dakota historian Herbert Hoover, Henrietta Chief, A Winnebago, talks of her religious conversion at the Tomah School in the first decade of the 20th century. The Tomah school was one of the federal government's off-reservation boarding schools, the linchpin of federal policy after 1887 to Americanize and assimilate Indian youth by removing them from their home environment and culture. Henrietta Chief's conversion made her a fervent apostle of Chris
Frustration versus Fantasy: How the Movies Made Some People Restless
Fears about the impact of movies on youth led to the Payne Fund research project, which brought together nineteen social scientists and resulted in eleven published reports. One of the most fascinating of the studies was carried out by Herbert Blumer, a young sociologist who would later go on to a distinguished career in the field. For a volume that he called Movies and Conduct (1933), Blumer asked more than fifteen hundred college and high school students to write "autobiographies"of their expe
Super Bowl parties and alcohol
For Americans, Super Bowl Sunday means laughter, cheering, camaraderie, plenty of food and for many -- alcohol. Watching sporting events and consuming alcohol go hand-in-hand, and this year is likely to be no different. But if you plan to imbibe, you could be contributing to a serious public health risk.
University of Minnesota School of Public Health expert Darin Erickson offers some tips on a successful Super Bowl Sunday that includes alcohol
"Everything Was Lively": David Hickman Describes the Prosperity Late Nineteenth-Century Railroads Br
The availability of rail connections often determined whether a western community would survive or die. The rails fostered prosperity by bringing both goods and people. This trade, and the local service industries that sprouted up to capitalize on the movement of people and goods, drove many local economies. Here, David Hickman talked about the boom years that followed the arrival of the railroad in the Latah County, Idaho town of Genesee in the 1880s.
"We Did Not Have Enough Money": George Miller's Testimony about the 1919 Steel Strike
In the dramatic 1919 steel strike, 350,000 workers walked off their jobs and crippled the industry. The U.S. Senate Committee on Education and Labor set out to investigate the strike while it was still in progress. In his testimony before the committee, Clairton worker George Miller called the 1919 strike a quest for "a standard American living"--a phrase that was particularly meaningful to the Serbian-born Miller.
"He'll Come Home in a Box": The Spanish Influenza of 1918 Comes to Montana
In 1918 and 1919, the Spanish influenza killed 550,000 people in the United States and 20 to 40 million worldwide. In a 1982 interview with Laurie Mercier, Loretta Jarussi of Bearcreek, Montana, described how people would pass through that tiny town seemingly healthy, only to be reported dead two days later. Her father went undiagnosed for many weeks and had plans to go to a nearby hot springs to rest. She believed that her father's death was averted only because the son of the local doctor was
"Get the Rope!" Anti-German Violence in World War I-era Wisconsin
In the early 20th century, German Americans were the nation's largest immigrant group. Although they were regarded as a model of successful assimilation, they faced vicious--and sometimes violent--attacks on their loyalty when the United States went to war against Germany in 1917. The most notorious incident was the lynching of German-born Robert Prager in Colinsville, Illinois, in April 1918. Other incidents stopped just short of murder. In a statement made on October 22, 1918, John Deml, a far
Transnational Pollution: Why Are You Dumping on Me?
This lesson familiarizes students with the different types of transnational pollution, and gives them an opportunity to role-play in a hypothetical case of transnational pollution involving the Danube River. The major goal of this activity is to show students that an incident in one nation may well have serious environmental consequences for other nations. Additionally, it will give students an opportunity to role-play complex roles that are meaningful and consequential to global concerns. The l
Post-Settlement Erosion and Deposition
In this example, a field laboratory in introductory geology becomes a test of a hypothesis: Does the model proposed by Stanley Trimble for Coon Creek, Wisconsin adequately describe the history of post-European-settlement erosion and deposition in a small drainage in southeast Minnesota? This field lab is detailed on the site, which describes leaning goals, a context for this lab's use, teaching notes and downloadable handouts, and assessment recommendations. There are additional references and l
Joan Jonas in 'Double Lunar Dogs'
'Double Lunar Dogs,' 1984, is an impressionistic, dramatic work by video artist Joan Jonas. It juxtaposes several scenes to create the picture of the life of the inhabitants of a traveling spaceship, whose destination has long since been forgotten, and who remember life on earth as it has been passed down to them from their ancestors on board the ship. The work addresses the question of what these travelers remember of Earth. In this short sequence, two women paint each other's portraits on tran
Teaching About the Ocean System Using New Research Techniques: Data, Models and Visualization
This web collection from the "On the Cutting Edge" workshop series will help undergraduate faculty and students use a new approach to teaching and learning oceanography. The site features the use of models, datasets and visualizations in teaching. The site features a collection of data-rich resources, example teaching activities and visualizations that illustrate oceanography topics. Materials from the 2005 workshop on teaching oceanography are also included.
Second National 4-H camp
Caption: "Second National 4-H Camp. (pictured l-r) T.A. Sims; Agnes Whetstone; Bonnie Keltz; Millard Yates;
Bess Fleming; L.M. Hollingsworth." 1928.,JPEG image from black-and-white photograph.
County agents and other extension leaders
Caption: "A group portrait of county agents and other Alabama Cooperative Extension Service leaders with Alabama Farm Bureau leaders. Place: Montgomery, Alabama. Date: April 15, 1922. Fred Stewart is the last man on the right on the front row." April 15, 1922.,JPEG image from black-and-white photograph.
The New Deal: North Carolina's Reconstruction?
This lesson invites students to interview imaginary North Carolina residents who lived during the Reconstruction and Depression eras. Each interview is historically accurate and supports a thesis that answers a question: Was the New Deal North Carolina's Reconstruction? This site includes more than two dozen examples of student interviews.
The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship
This site showcases the African American collections of the Library of Congress. Displaying more than 240 items, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings, this is the largest black history exhibit ever held at the Library of Congress.
Omaha Indian Arts
This site offers a sampling of traditional Omaha Indian music. The sound recordings include wax cylinder recordings made in the 1890s, as well as songs and spoken-word segments from the 1983 Omaha harvest celebration pow-wow, segments from an interview with an Omaha elder in 1983, songs and speeches from a performance by members of the Hethu'shka Society in 1985, and portions of an interview with an Omaha musician in 1999. Photos, fieldnotes, and more from the 1983 pow-wow are included.
East Gadsden Redevelopment Plan, Gadsden, Alabama
This document is a city plan for Gadsden, Ala. created in January 14. 2003. Title on PDF: East Broad and Hoke Street Corridors Redevelopment Plan. Contents: Opportunities and restraints -- Urban design concept -- Implementation system.
Florence Comprehensive Plan, Florence, Alabama
This document is a city plan for Florence, Ala. recommended on February 22, 2007. Contents: Introduction to the plan -- Citywide development concept -- Major development components -- Land use and transportation -- Public investment and improvement -- Implementing the plan -- Conclusion.
