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America at the Centennial
Step 2 - Images as History
Historians interpret any moment in the past by
examining as much evidence from as many different perspectives as they
can gather. Using evidence in this way enables them to appreciate the
diversity and complexity of life at any time.
Step 1 of this project asked you to study the
maps, buildings, and items used to celebrate the Centennial. These items
were evidence of how America chose to celebrate. Step 2 asks you to assess
how evidence of the political and social issues of 1876 compares or contrasts
with that of the Exhibition. As you turn your attention from the ideals
of the celebration to the issues of real life, consider these questions:
- What social issues were Americans concerned about in 1876?
- What were the
major issues being contested in the Presidential Election of that year?
- What was politics like in 1876?
- What were the civil rights challenges
of the era?
- How did issues involving women, African Americans, Native
Americans and immigrants reflect the challenges posed by the diversity
of American society?
- As a class, consider the image to the
right,
"Uncle Sam's Valentines" and complete the questions on the
Deciphering the Image worksheet.
(Requires: Adobe Acrobat Reader).
- Working in teams, choose one category
of images for close examination.
- Working alone or with your group, consider
each image in your category carefully.
- Complete the questions on the Deciphering
the Image worksheet for each image in the category. (Requires: Adobe Acrobat Reader).
- As a team, formulate hypotheses that
consider each image in terms of its historical context.
- What do the images tell us about the
significance of this topic in the history of the Centennial
Era?
- How do the images support what you
already knew about the era?
- How do the images differ from what
you already knew about the era?
- Describe the Americans whose lives
were shaped by this particular topic. To what extent was their
situation known or understood by the rest of the nation?
Issues of the Centennial Era
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"Uncle Sam's Valentines"
(Image used with permission from HarpWeek)
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Overview | Step
1 | Step 2 | Step
3 | Resources
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