For
the past few days we have listened to other groups present on their topics that
relate to the theme “People, Places, and Power”. They have shared key terms, enduring
understandings, and facts during a PowerPoint presentation. They have also each shared one or two video
journals composed of primary source images narrated and explained by them. At the end of each group’s project everyone
took a survey that the group created using SurveyMonkey. After the survey, the group went over the results
of the survey. They shared what answers
people chose, what were the correct answers, and our thoughts for the opinion
questions. After each presentation, we
learned how their theme related to the overarching theme of “People, Places,
and Power”.
American Imperialism in the late 19th
to early 20th century was a time when America asserted its power to
annex Hawaii as well as invade Cuba for land, for naval bases, to revive
patriotism, and to protect American citizens.
During this time, people who were pro-war and jingoists, that is people
with aggressive national pride, needed a reason to get a war started so they
used the power of yellow journalism and other propaganda to claim Spain had
attacked America. This gave America an excuse
to invade and defeat parts of the Spanish empire including Cuba, allowing the
United States to show that it was more powerful.
European Imperialism in Africa
during the late 19th to early 20th century was a time when
Europe asserted its power over Africa and the African people. According to social Darwinism, Europeans
believed they were superior to Africans because of evolution which gave them an
excuse to assert power over the Africans and control them. King Leopold II of Belgium was a powerful
European King who asserted power over the people living in the Congo, by
keeping the Congo under his control and exploiting and killing millions of
Congo people who had no power against the king and his soldiers.
Native Americans were forced by the
powerful American government and the military to go on “The Long Walk” and walk
300 miles to move from their homelands in the Great Plains to different places
(reservations and camps) because Eastern settlers wanted to claim the land in
the west. The Navajo Native Americans
who were forced to move to Borsque Redondo also experienced forced assimilation. They were forced by white Americans (often
military people who oversaw and forced the movement of Natives) who asserted
power over the natives, to change their culture to “white culture”.
In the 19th century many
immigrants came from Asia including Japan and China to California. Americans used their power to oppress the
immigrants and limit their opportunities.
White laborers felt threatened since the Chinese would take their jobs
by accepting lower wages, so they used their power to get the Chinese Exclusion
Act of 1882 created which prohibited further immigration from China. The government had power over the Asian
immigrants because if they decided there was anything wrong with the immigrants
they had the power to send Asian immigrants back to their homelands.
Many immigrants came from Europe to
Ellis Island in New York in America often to escape religious persecution in
their home countries. They had to go
through medical exams, written tests, and other exams, and the immigrants could
be sent home or quarantined if they were found to not be healthy. Other white Americans besides workers at
Ellis Island also had power over the immigrants. White Americans also had economical power
over the immigrants and many of the immigrants were forced to work in
sweatshops because they did not speak English even though many were well
educated and had been doctors, engineers, etc in their home countries. Immigrants lived in ghettos which were
segregated communities in order to protect themselves from persecution.
An Immigrant Receiving an Eye Exam to Check for an Eye Disease |
Image: THE STATUE OF LIBERTY-ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION, INC./NATIONAL PARK. http://teacher.scholastic.com/ACTIVITIES/immigration/tour/stop4.htm
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