The 54th Massachusetts

I watched the program, Civil War Journal: The 54th Massachusetts on the History Channel. The program told the story of the 54th Massachusetts voluntary infantry regiment. The 54th Massachusetts was the first black regiment to enlist in the north during the Civil War.

The show begins with the treatment of African Americans in the north and south before and during the Civil War. The north did not want African Americans to fight in the Civil War even though Frederick Douglass was a huge advocate for African Americans becoming soldiers and fighting for their citizenship. Because casualties were so high in the war, white Americans realized that they wouldn't be able to win the war without the help of African Americans, and so the 54th Massachusetts was organized. Colonel Robert Shaw was reluctant at first to lead the 54th because he didn't agree with the abolition of slavery.

The show talks about the bravery of the 54th during a battle of the coast of Charleston and the attack on Fort Wagner. Even though the 54th had to retreat at Fort Wagner, the History Channel tells the story of Sergeant William Carney who became the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor for his bravery during battle, including saving the American flag. The 54th is remembered for their heroism and paving the way for other African American soldiers involved in the Civil War.

The show told the story of the 54th Massachusetts through historians, professors, re-enactments, and narratives. I couldn't recognize any of the narrator's voices but the use of historians and professors makes the show more academic and scholarly. They tell the story of a few specific soldiers in the regiment to make the story more personal. Overall, the show was informative and appealing to watch because I found the subject to be interesting.

The War

Today in class we watched a segment of Episode 5, "FUBAR" from the series The War. This episode focuses on some of the disasters of World War II that most people don't often hear about, such as the Battle of Peleliu or Operation Market Garden. Before this class, I had never seen any of this series by Ken Burns. From what we watched in class, I am very interested in watching more of the episodes in the series.

The film is geared towards the American public as it focuses on 4 towns in the United States and the people that lived there. The towns could represent any place in America that was affected by the war. Burns uses photos, video clips, interviews, documents, narrators etc. to portray what the war was like for everyday people. People are pulled into the film because they can make a connection to the people that are being presented. I found that I wanted to know what happened to these various people because I was given so much information about their experiences, something that isn't always portrayed in a war movie. This film leaves out the leaders that most people hear about during this time period. FDR and Churchill were never mentioned in the segment we watched. The use of big time actors, such as Tom Hanks and Josh Lucas, as narrators also draw people into this film. Recognizing their voices allows you to make a connection with what is being presented to you.

The one thing that stuck out the most to me while watching this film was the use of photos and clips when talking about a specific event during the war. I didn't know if the photos and clips were from the actual events being described in the film. The question was raised whether this was history or not? I'm not sure about this because the footage used was authentic, but it might have been used for something it doesn't represent. This is definitely something to think about and raise with my future students in History.

Cavalcade of America - The Louisiana Purchase

Cavalcade of America was a show broadcasted on the radio from 1935 to 1953. The show was sponsored by the DuPont Company. The episode that I listened to was "The Louisiana Purchase" which aired on February 16, 1938. The show discusses the years leading up to the United States' purchase of the Louisiana territory in 1803.

The show began with a man talking about the Louisiana Purchase, including an announcement of the DuPont sponsorship of the show. The DuPont pledge of "better things for better living through chemistry" was used when discussing how research chemists contributed to the development of this country's natural resources, thus creating comforts and conveniences in people's everyday lives.

The show was comprised of an announcer talking to the audience about the history of the Louisiana Purchase. The announcer would set up the re-enactment by giving the audience some history information about what was going to be presented. The re-enactments were used to convey this information by using entertainment. It would have been boring to listen to just the announcer talking about the Louisiana Purchase. The re-enactments provided a little more interest into what was being discussed. The re-enactments consisted of a French envoy talking to the King of Spain, two Americans talking on the Mississippi River, President Thomas Jefferson talking to his Secretary of State James Madison, a diplomat talking to his son, and Napoleon talking to his advisors.

The show's combination of history and entertainment made it very informative and easy to listen to. The audience that would have been listening to this show in the 1930s would have walked away with a general knowledge of the Louisiana Purchase and its significance to the United States. The show was definitely pro-American and really emphasized the importance of this purchase to American history. It was said that this expansion transformed the United States "from a small seaboard country to one of the great nations of the world." Hearing the United States being called "one of the great nations of the world" sparks a patriotic feeling in its listeners, something that would have been advantageous during the 1930s.

DuPont really stressed their sponsorship with advertisements at the beginning and the end of the show. The show ended with a small segment about oil and how DuPont helps in this industry. The slogan "better things for better living through chemistry" is stressed again. It makes listeners believe that DuPont is responsible for their living style.

If I used this episode in my classroom, I would begin with it to give an overview to my students about the Louisiana Purchase. We can then discuss how accurate the show is, whether it is biased, leaves important things out etc.

Is there something “wrong” with history?

When considering this question, I first thought about my friends and family and their feelings toward the subject. Most people that I know don’t really care about studying history. It was usually their least favorite subject in school because it is really “boring” and full of too many facts, dates, and people. I, on the other hand, have always loved history – it is my favorite subject in school (hence why I’m a history major). However, I can understand why people have a hard time studying or liking history. There is a ton of material that is often presented in large, wordy scholarly history books that people have a hard time getting through.

Next, I considered this question while reading Alan Brinkley’s article, “Historians and Their Publics” (The Journal of American History) and part 1 of Ian Tyrrell’s book, Historians in Public (2005). Both authors discuss specialization as one of the problems of history. I agree with this idea because I think that specialization only focuses on one aspect of history, when it should make connections and look at history as a whole. History is made up of many different viewpoints and studies and all of them should be considered when studying the past.

However, I can see the need for specialization. It is almost impossible to study every aspect of history (this is why my friends don’t care for it - there is so much material out there) so many people choose to focus on one part that they are interested in. I think the problem occurs when historians only focus on their interest and fail to relate their subject to the study of history as a whole. Historians should communicate across specializations to make the study of history more complete.

Another problem with history, also discussed in the readings, is the lack of connection to the public. History should not just be written for academic scholars, it is important that history be written for everyone. As a history major, I have read many books that I have found long, wordy, and hard to understand which makes studying history more difficult. Because of this, I usually try and use a different source that is fast, concise, and easy to understand when trying to find information about history. As a soon-to-be history teacher, I don’t expect that all my students are going to love history. Instead, I think that it is my job to make history accessible to all my students in a way that everyone can understand.

Cherry Hill School

For our first assignment we had to find a local historic site and take a picture of it. I chose the Cherry Hill School in Canton, MI. I didn't know much information about this place which worked out because the other part of the assignment was to come up with some questions that visitors and historians might have about the place.

Some questions that I thought a visitor would ask were:
-When was it built?
-Who built it?
-How many students attended the school and what grades were they in?

Some questions that I thought a historian might ask were:
-Where were the student's families from that attended the school?
-Why did they settle in this area?
-Are there any primary sources available about the people who attended this school?
-Why was this school house preserved?
-Was education as important to the families who lived in the community back then as it is now?
-Did families contribute anything to the school house?

From the sign outside of the school (shown above) I was able to get some basic information about the school house which answered some of my general questions about the place. I thought it was interesting that Henry Ford was involved with this school and paid for improvements. To try and answer some of the questions that I came up with I looked for more information about this school and the area. I found the following website that was very helpful and interesting to read: http://www.cantonhistoricalsociety.org/