Today in class we read a few pages from an old history textbook. In the few pages we read, I learned about traditions, lifestyles, and appearance of Indians. We were also told to look up the definition of the words savage and savages, and according to Google save means "(of an animal or force of nature) fierce, violent, and
uncontrolled". The word savagery means "the
quality of being fierce or cruel" (Google). We then searched the word 'savages' and 'savagery' in the archived textbook and read some excerpts from other parts of the textbook that used those words. These words are mostly used when describing/ talking about Indians. For example "the whites were against the savages" (p.192). If I was an american student reading this text as part of my schoolwork, I would think that Native Americans were vicious people, and that were barely human.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Monday, October 19, 2015
Battle with the Reds Rumors
Today, July 29, the papers say that in Utah there was a battle between the Indians and the settlers. I can't imagine what the women and children are going through right now, I hope that they are safe. It says that the settlers are starting to organize companies, that I think will prevent the Indians from passing the boarder. It's becoming difficult for anyone to leave Jacksons Hole. Governor Richards says he's going to try to control the settlers and try to prevent them from attacking the Indians. I hope this all ends very soon. There are Bannocks in the area, and they steal and won't think twice before killing a white man. I am very scared for both The Whites and Indians down by Jacksons Hole.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Newspapers
What is a newspaper?
What does is "newspaper of record" mean?
"[A] set of large sheets of paper that have news
stories, information about local events, advertisements, etc., and that are
folded together and sold every day or every week" Merriam Webster
When and where did newspapers come into existence?
According to LocalHistories the newspaper first came into existence in 1641 in England
What were some old newspapers in the US?
Library of Congress says some old news papers include: Golden Valley Chronicle, Evening Star, South Bend News-Times, The Omaha Daily Bee and many more.
Newspapers today:
The Los Angeles Times has stories about education, sports, entertainment, politics, etc. The leading stories now are of a teacher being fired for being inappropriate with minors, El Nino, and Lamar Odom's story about his unexpected drug abuse that left him fighting for his life.
What does is "newspaper of record" mean?
According to Wiki being a newspaper record means the newspaper "is a major newspaper that has a large
circulation and whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered
professional and typically authoritative". The New York Times was the first newspaper of record in 1913. The Los Angeles Times is another example of a newspaper of record.
How is looking at a newspaper different from our use of social media to stay connected?
Staying connected with what is going on in the world is much easier through social media than it is through newspapers. This is because with social media, everything is quicker, as soon as something happens it is on Twitter, or CNN. Newspapers take much longer. There's an entire process of getting the newspaper edited, published, and printed.
Friday, October 2, 2015
Cultural Appropriation
Many music festivals are banning Native American headdresses due to cultural appropriation. Including the Glastonbury Festival in England, and one in Canada. The reason Glastonbury is banning the headdresses is because of a petition created by David Round on change.org. Round states that wearing the headdresses is "an offensive and disrespectful form of cultural appropriation", and that it makes a diverse culture similar. He also says that by wearing the headdresses, people are creating "damaging and racist stereotypes".The Canadian music festival, Bass Coast, banned the headdresses to "respect the dignity of aboriginal people". Organizers of the festival tell The Guardian that since their festival 'takes place on indigenous land' they feel that they should listen to the aborigines and not allow the headdresses, they also say that they do not want to separate culture and aesthetics.
Music festivals are not the only place were headdresses are controversial. In the 2012 Victoria's Secret fashion show, model Karlie Kloss wore a magnificent headdress tribal jewelry and fringed details on her heels. After the fashion show Victoria's Secret apologized by saying "We are sorry that the Native American headdress replica used in our recent fashion show has upset individuals. We sincerely apologize as we absolutely had no intention to offend anyone. Out of respect, we will not be including the outfit in any broadcast, marketing materials nor in any other way." The band No Doubt shot a music video for one of their singles, and in the music video Gwen Stefani dressed as a Native American which caused many people to be angry. They too had too apologize. In their apology they said that since they are a "multi-racial" band they're built on diversity, and that they had no intention in offending anyone. They took the video down immediately because "being hurtful to people is simply not who they are".
The reason I chose to research about cultural appropriation, is because I come from a culture where many things are copied as well. My friends and I often have discussions about how it annoys us when other people try to copy us and say that they're being "chic" or "trendy". I remember coming to school with henna on my hands as a kid and people always giving me weird looks and saying offensive things. Now of you go on twitter, you can see all these twitter accounts with pictures of henna with captions like "henna goals" or heat-eyed emojis. I chose to research this because I wanted to know what other cultures have traditions that they don't like being copied.
Links:
Music festivals are not the only place were headdresses are controversial. In the 2012 Victoria's Secret fashion show, model Karlie Kloss wore a magnificent headdress tribal jewelry and fringed details on her heels. After the fashion show Victoria's Secret apologized by saying "We are sorry that the Native American headdress replica used in our recent fashion show has upset individuals. We sincerely apologize as we absolutely had no intention to offend anyone. Out of respect, we will not be including the outfit in any broadcast, marketing materials nor in any other way." The band No Doubt shot a music video for one of their singles, and in the music video Gwen Stefani dressed as a Native American which caused many people to be angry. They too had too apologize. In their apology they said that since they are a "multi-racial" band they're built on diversity, and that they had no intention in offending anyone. They took the video down immediately because "being hurtful to people is simply not who they are".
The reason I chose to research about cultural appropriation, is because I come from a culture where many things are copied as well. My friends and I often have discussions about how it annoys us when other people try to copy us and say that they're being "chic" or "trendy". I remember coming to school with henna on my hands as a kid and people always giving me weird looks and saying offensive things. Now of you go on twitter, you can see all these twitter accounts with pictures of henna with captions like "henna goals" or heat-eyed emojis. I chose to research this because I wanted to know what other cultures have traditions that they don't like being copied.
Links:
Thursday, October 1, 2015
First Quarter Reflection
In this past quarter, we have learned many things. We started off by discussing the differences between empathy and sympathy. Then we used what we learned about the two, and applied it to historical events. We watched Glory and 12 Years a Slave and after we were asked if we could sympathize/empathize with the slaves and soldiers in the movies. We then went on to learn about the Civil War and constitutional changes afterwards. Which included how slaves were no longer considered 3/5 of a person, and since that was abolished, southern states had more representation in Congress. Then I remember learning that a state could not secede from the union because the 13th amendment states that anyone born in the United States is a citizen of the union,. So by seceding, that state would be taking away American citizens and that is not allowed. Then we learned about the black codes in the south after slavery was abolished The Black codes were laws for the Negros, they basically left Negros with little freedom without calling it slavery. Then came the Reconstruction period, which was the period of time after the Civil War where the US was 'rebuilding' the constitution and creating equal rights. The Reconstruction time period would have been less violent if President Lincoln was not assassinated, this is because Lincoln was a moderate and most other people were radicals. So after his assassination, the radicals took over. After learning about the end of the Civil War, we moved on to learn about "The Wild West". We learned why and how westward expansion happened. We learned about all the people that lived/ migrated to the west, and what they did. Also how they were treated, and for some (like the Chinese) it was not very well.
This history course is the first course that I have actually enjoyed, and I think it's because of my change in work ethic and also the material we've learned about. I feel very on top of things in this class. Paying attention in this class is much easier than in my other classes. That's because everything we've learned so far is interesting and relevant. I never would have thought that we could write essays on movies that we watched in class. However, I did struggle with the in-class essay. I didn't finish, but I had all my notes and research done. I need to work on being able to put my thoughts into actual words, and not have them be so jumbled up. I need to work on my comprehension skills as well. I remember when we read the article about peer pressure and I thought I had read it very thoroughly, but when it came to answering the questions in class I found myself struggling. By improving these skills I am sure that I will grow as a history student, and do well in this class.
This history course is the first course that I have actually enjoyed, and I think it's because of my change in work ethic and also the material we've learned about. I feel very on top of things in this class. Paying attention in this class is much easier than in my other classes. That's because everything we've learned so far is interesting and relevant. I never would have thought that we could write essays on movies that we watched in class. However, I did struggle with the in-class essay. I didn't finish, but I had all my notes and research done. I need to work on being able to put my thoughts into actual words, and not have them be so jumbled up. I need to work on my comprehension skills as well. I remember when we read the article about peer pressure and I thought I had read it very thoroughly, but when it came to answering the questions in class I found myself struggling. By improving these skills I am sure that I will grow as a history student, and do well in this class.
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