3rd Quarter Reflection

So far, this quarter in US History, I have learned many new skills. I am getting better at multiple choice questions, finding primary sources and using them properly, and being able to analyze the research that I find online. I really liked when we analyzed the political cartoon because we were able to use our own and the authors perspective to describe what we thought the cartoon "meant." My favorite thing we did this quarter was watch the High Line documentary. I was so astonished by how innovated people are! I really would like to visit the High Line sometime. I also really like how we learn about the broad ideas first and then go into specific details about each topic. For example, we talked about innovation and progressivism and then got into specific details about the progressive era. Doing this helps me better understand what we are learning. Next quarter, I would like to be able to really understand all of the material from the reading ahead of time. Usually I read the section and answer the homework questions but I never truly understand what I am reading until the night before the test. This is a weakness of mine that I would like to change.

High Line

Thinking about Progress

Question 1-

Progress, according to Merriam Webster, is defined as "movement forward or toward a place." The website also defines it as "the process of improving or developing something over a period of time." To me, progress has to do with making changes to move forward and develop further.

Question 2-

The Progressive Era, according to George Washington University, is from 1890-1920. This era is known as the Progressive Era because of all of the economic and social problems that were going on and how people were handling them.

Question 3-

Issues, actions, and achievements associated with the Progressive Era include the "purification" of the government, giving women the right to vote, more focus on family, more focus on education, and prohibition. (Boundless)

Question 4-

Majority of the progressives seem to want to make the society as a whole more modernized and more advanced. They did not really focus on specific details.

Question 5-

1. Essential goals worth striving for (giving the women the right to vote and the "purification of the government)

2. Good goals (focus on family and education and prohibition)

3. Strange goal

4. Not a good idea

Predictions About The Future

Work with a partner to do Research and write about what you learn on your blog, with links and pictures.  The topic is both “academic” and “popular culture” – so a variety of sites will be useful and appropriate for you: 

1. What predictions about the future were people making 100 years ago? 50 years ago?  (Find 3-4 articles or discussions to look over.)
2. Determine if the list is a “wish list” – as in, these are the things one might hope for in the future, or more a warning.
3. Which predictions seem to have come true? Which turned out to be bizarre, off-track, or still out of reach?
4. Can you identify any trends or patterns in these predictions? What concerns or achievements do they seem focused on? For example, do people in general seem to be anticipating a better world?
5. It is your turn to predict a future world. What do you see? 

BBC News Article (Ten 100-year Predictions that Came True)

TIME (7 of the Craziest Predictions for the Future)

Wired Website (Here's How People 100 Years Ago Thought We'd Be Living Today)

Open Culture Website (Sci-Fi Writer Robert Heinlein Imagines the Year 2000 in 1949, and Gets it Mostly Wrong)

1. We found an article titled, "Ten 100-year Predictions that Came True" on the BBC news page. It has a list of ten predictions from 100 years ago that came true. Some of the topics in this article include the use of mobile phones, digital color photos, the use of the television, the invention of pre-made meals, and the rising height of people in the United States. Another article is from TIME, it is called "7 of the Craziest Predictions for the Future, From the Past." In this article people were predicting that tomatoes would become square shaped, televisions would become holographic, and that kids of the television age would not be able to read. One other interesting article is on the Wired website, it is called "Here's How People 100 Years Ago Thought We'd Be Living Today." In this article, people thought there would be flying taxis and people would travel to the moon regularly. The last article we found was on the Open Culture Website called "Sci-Fi Writer Robert Heinlein Imagines the Year 2000 in 1949, and Gets it Mostly Wrong." In this article people were making predictions from 50 years ago (not 100 like the others). People thought that life would have been discovered on Mars, physics would be used to control gravity, and that fish and yeast would become our main source of protein. 

2. I think that these lists are glorified wish lists. People wrote them as what they would have liked to have. Some of them are a little crazy but most of the predictions have become true today. I do not think people made these predictions as warnings.

3. Predictions that have become true include, the use of mobile phones, the use of the television, digital color photos, and that fruit has become larger. Some of the predictions are a little off though. Flying taxis and using physics to control gravity has not become true yet. We still do not have the technology for that. Also, square shaped tomatoes was a weird prediction that has not come true yet.

4. Majority of these predictions have to do with technology or food. I think that people wished that they had this technology to make communication easier. Most of the food predictions are reasonable so they have become true. Overall, I think that people are anticipating a better world.

5. I think in the future world flying cars and cars that can drive themselves will become the "norm." I also think that there will be another war. Traveling prices will also raise and there will not be a need for in person communication. Everyone will be able to do everything with technology. Lastly, I think that receipts will all become on your cell phone to not use as much paper. 

6. We have all control over the future. We determine what technology is available based on how much research we do. Majority of everything that is invented is by humans. Humans have all control over the future. If they chose to slack and not do any research then we are not going to have cooler technology. The government, non profit organizations, and corporations are all made of people. Therefore, humans are in control. In conclusion, the more research we do, the more advanced our society will become. 

How do you analyze a political cartoon?

1. Make a Blog Post

2. After reading a guide for analyzing political cartoons, I learned that a cartoons central message can be either very deep or it can be extremely superficial. There are about six main steps in this guide. I did not realize that it would take so long just to analyze one political cartoon. But, I now know that you first start by just looking at the picture, then looking at the words, and then looking at all the "unusual" stuff in the picture. After completing these steps and some other specific steps, you are then able to depict the central message of the cartoon.

3. After reading a political cartoon analysis guide on WikiHow, I have decided to use that as the basis from now on for deciphering various cartoons. This guide has many steps but they a clear and concise. I think this will be the best guide for me to use because I can clearly follow the steps.

4. Find Three Cartoons

5. Find the Cartoon on Accurate and Reliable Sources

6.

This Cartoon is about the Philippine Conflict

In this cartoon, a big boot is stepping on the Philippines. The big boot is the emphasis of the picture and everything else is smaller. Therefore the big boot clearly wants to "take over" the Philippines because it is standing over the region. The big boot is a symbol of America. So, this political cartoon shows how America wants to take control over the Philippines.

This Cartoon is about the Philippine Conflict

In this cartoon, an older gentleman is holding a little kid by their neck and holding them next to a cliff. On the cliff there is a sign that says "To Spain." Therefore, this man wants to show how he wants the kid to go to Spain. 

This Cartoon is about Cuba

In this cartoon, Uncle Sam is standing on the United States reaching to Cuba. He wants to "grab" Cuba and be in control of it. Therefore, this political cartoon represents the United States wanting to be in charge of Cuba.

The Legend of Eddie Aikau and Other Documentary Description

Eddie Aikau Documentary:

1. The filmmakers called this film The Legend of Eddie Aikau because he is considered a hero. He saved the Hawaiian culture from getting overrun by the Americans and the Australians. He also risked his life for other people because he did not want to have the burden of "ruining" the Hokulelu tradition.

2.
   a) Topic: Eddie Aikau
   b) Focus: The Hawaiian identity and surfing career of Eddie Aikau.
   c) Angle: Eddie Aikau is the embodiment of the Hawaiian identity because of his dedication to the Hawaiian culture and his compassion for helping others.

3. The film's content was shaped around surfing because it was made as part of ESPN's programming. The filmmakers might have had the assumption that the audience of the film would expect to see more action in the film rather than historical facts.

4. If this film had been made by PBS or the History channel it would have been more focused on the other traditions of the Hawaiian culture. It would also have had less "actions shots" of the various surfing scenes. Additionally the film would have had more historical evidence to show the importance of water to the Hawaiians.

Surfing Big Waves

Another Documentary:

a) Topic: Josiah Strong's Views on Christian Culture
b) Focus: The spread of Christian culture and the various arguments put forth by Josiah Strong.
c) Angle: Josiah Strong is considered the embodiment of the Christian culture because of his need to spread Christian beliefs throughout the face of Earth and for his great arguments shown in his book called, Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis (1885).
In this documentary I would talk about how Josiah Strong wanted to spread Christian beliefs throughout the world and create unity through this idea. I would focus on his book written in 1885 and use that as a basis to talk about Josiah Strong as a person in general. Additionally, I would use great photos and interesting music to further portray how I thought Josiah was influential in the world. Lastly, I would talk about how many people disagreed with Josiah to create a conflict to keep my audience's attention and then use historical evidence to back up the both sides.

Josiah Strong

Phrenology

I was the observer in our group. All of the members in my group opened up google and typed in "phrenology." Then they found the definition and looked at some pictures. One person in our group did a more specific search, they typed in "edu: phrenologists." I learned that in research searching you should use your prior knowledge and use multiple combined search terms. This will provide more specific and detailed information about what you are looking for. Provenance is where something comes from. It can be its origin or the last owners of the object. Once you know the provenance you can find out more about the object's authenticity.

This was the Fowler Phrenology Bust that we analyzed and researched about. 

Marketing and Advertising (1880s-1920s)

            The topic I focused on was marketing and advertising in the late 19^th to the early 20^th century. Marketing and advertising was connected to industrialization because of the rise of the mass production of goods. Since so many goods were in demand companies needed to show why their goods were better than another company’s goods. During this time period, advertisements went from being on handbills to being in newspapers and magazines.

This is a black and white Baking 
Powder ad from the 1880s.

            In the 1880s, advertising was just starting to develop. People were interested in how to market to specific groups of people and how to do their advertisements. Should they use business cards, handbills, or posters? In an article on the Harvard Business School website, a man named Nathaniel C. Fowler said, “advertising is a distinct art, as much so as the art of coal mining or of engine building.” In other words, he is arguing that advertising is just as important as any other job. The main point of advertising is to persuade people to buy a product they don’t need. In this article, another man states, “Within this emerging national market, it fell to the advertiser to encourage consumers to buy goods not necessarily produced locally and to convince them of the superiority of one product over another.” This statement means that another goal of advertisements in this time period was to show how one brand is better than another even though it is the same product. Once people started to figure out what marketing really was, they could develop advertisements based on what they thought would sell more of their product.

            With the rise of the industry of marketing there came many jobs to go along with it. In the late 19^th century advertising became a true profession. Volney B. Palmer was one of the earliest advertising agent. He set up a shop in Philadelphia for salesman to come to. He would do everything to market a product from a-z. He would find the “crowd” that the product was advertised to, he would find the best medium for the product, and then he would come up with a creative design/slogan for the product. This helped businesses become slightly less stressed because they did not have to worry about advertising and selling the product. They placed that responsibility in the agents hands.

This is a Gold Medal Flour Advertisement with 
some color on it from the 1900s.

            The “modern ad industry” started in the early 20^th century. Businesses were starting to advertise cars, cigarettes, and other products directed to “homemakers.” These businesses published their ads in sections of the local newspapers, on flyers, and in various local magazines. Paul Nathan in 1900 wrote a book called “How to Make Money in the Printing Business.” In this book he said, “the intelligent job printer will never permit himself to forget that printing is allied to advertising, and that almost all of the printing he does depends in some way upon its success as an advertisement or as an advertising medium.” In other words, Paul is saying that in this time period whatever a printer was printing was for advertisement purposes. Advertising promoted the production of mass-produced goods and the only way to advertise was through the printer.

            Towards the end of the early 20^th century, radio and television ads became more popular. All the other “printed” ads had less words and more pictures to appeal to a larger group of people. Advertisements also used more color and less black and white. Food advertisements especially used color as the main focus of an ad. For example, a company out of California that sold oranges used a hand tinted orange to persuade people about how juicy and ripe the fruit looked. This specific ad was published in 1908 as a section in a newspaper.

            Many ads during the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century have made history. A Rolls-Royce ad said “To a man who is afraid to let his dream come true.” This specific advertisement had many paragraphs describing the car and all of its features. Whereas, in 1910 an ad for the new Cadillac came out with the slogan, “A car literally without competition.” This ad had one picture and this slogan across the top of it. Listerine came out with a spectacular ad in 1913. Their catch phrase was, “Often a Bridesmaid, but never a Bride.” In 1915, Tiffany finally put their name on their building. For the longest time, they had gone without the name on their building. They were relying on the local customers for all of their revenue. Now, people who hear the name will want to go to the store and see what they have. Therefore, their company’s profit raises. (other various ads that were considered "the best" of this time period are pictured at the end)

             In conclusion, if the world in the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century was not mass producing goods, there would not have been a need for marketing and advertising. 

This is a food chopper ad from the 1890s.

This is a Cream O' Wheat ad from the 1910s.

This is a Campbell's Soup ad from the 1920s.

This is a Whitman's Chocolate Sampler ad from the 1930s.

Hyperlinked Sources:

Britannica High School
I used this source to find out general information about the advertisements during this time period.

Ad Age
I used this source to find out that advertising was considered a profession. 

Gale Power Search
I used this source to find out the biggest car ad in the 1900s which was a Cadillac advertisement.

Calisphere (University of California)
I used this source to find out that color was important in early 20th century advertisements.

Duke University Libraries
I used this source to find out that people wrote books about the various techniques of marketing and how to advertise effectively.

Boundless
I used this source to find out that people "rented" spaces in newspapers. 

Vintage Ad Browser
I used this source to find all of my pictures. All of the picture I used were primary sources from this website. 

Business Insider
I used this source to find out information about advertising in the late 20th century, just to see how it changed.

Harvard Business School
I used this source to find quotes from books that people wrote in this time period to use as primary sources. 

The 100 Greatest Advertisements 1852-1958
I used this book to find lots of advertisements during this time period that I used as primary sources. I found ads from Coca-Cola, Tiffany, Pillsbury, etc.