US History II

Enjoy your spring break!

When we come back, we will have magically jumped over World War II and landed in the postwar period to talk about media and popular culture of the 1950s. The online quiz will cover EH Ch 27 on World War II, and that will be open from Monday 3/26 to Friday 3/30.

Here’s how the unit will look – it’s a relatively short one, and in class we’ll be working mainly from Chapters 26 and 28.

Mon 3/26 – From WW2 to the Cold War. Reading: EH Ch 26 p. 740-750 and Ch 27 p. 757-763

Wed 3/28 – McCarthyism. Reading: EH Ch 27 p. 769-772 and 776

Fri 3/30 – Workshop Day. We will be screening clips of 1950s TV shows. Reading: “Television in the Family Circle” (PDF). Due in class: SkillBuilder #4

Mon 4/2 – Suburbia and its Critics. Reading: EH Ch 28 p. 781-792

Wed 4/4 – Rebellion and Space Racing. Reading: EH Ch 28 p. 793-805

Fri 4/6 – Exam #4 in class

Lots of clips for today!

First, some pictures
A kid and his TV https://secure.flickr.com/photos/gbaku/2513320483/
Vintage TV sets on exhibit at San Francisco Airport http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/sfo_museum/exhibitions/terminal3_exhibitions/north_connect/tv/12.html

Commercials
Two Ford Freedom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gkxC5rnbi8
See the USA with Dinah Shore https://www.myspace.com/video/cybotron/dinah-shore-quot-see-the-usa-in-your-chevrolet-quot/5888049
Brylcreem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6F4GtyRfto
Lucky Strike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUYsAgcPtqU
Twinkies on Howdy Doody https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyfCxrKW3XY
Spic & Span https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrOeRAPJazY

Programs
Lone Ranger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xpQ84B30Q
Queen for a Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggV8Uwhnmq8
Bishop Sheen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVBXzf4eUJg
Elvis on Milton Berle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x0uKy5GfMw
I Led Three Lives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTaPCSG1-_I
Donna Reed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-uh3XbUMfY
Abbot and Costello do “Who’s on First” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nti08LWtxJI
CBS “See It Now” (this one from 23 Dec 1951) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8rSxsDwjoQ

We’ve talked about the economics and culture of the Depression era (1929-1932). Here’s how the rest of this unit on the 1930s will look.

Wed 3/7 – The New Deal. Reading EH Ch 25 697-706

Fri 3/9 – a peer review day for drafts of your primary source paper. Bring a printed draft of your paper to class, whatever you have, at whatever stage it’s in. For the full guidelines on this project, see the PS Paper tab above.

Mon 3/12 – Popular Culture in the 1930s. Reading EH Ch 25 706-714

Helpful Links:
1939 at the Smithsonian Museum of American History
The New Deal (Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute)
America in the 1930s (University of Virginia)
Popular Music of the 1930s (Songbook blog)
A 1936 episode of Li’l Orphan Annie (and memories of this from A Christmas Story)
WPA Posters from the Library of Congress
FSA-OWI Photograph collection, Library of Congress
Frances Perkins Center, honoring Worcester’s own, the first woman named to a Presidential cabinet (she was FDR’s Secretary of Labor for 12 years)
War of the Worlds on radio (30 October 1938)
Two versions of the 1936 popular song “Pennies from Heaven” – Bing Crosby and Billie Holliday

Wed 3/14 – Exam #3, in class. This one will be closed book/closed notebook. Use the unit’s pretest as a study guide.

Fri 3/16 – Primary Source Project is due in class. We will be screening scenes from an iconic film of the 1930s, The Grapes of Wrath.