Jacob Riis Assignment

Jacob Riis Keynote Assignment

Your task is to create a keynote presentation by following the requirements below.

Refer to pg 538 of your text and this link  for basic information about Jacob Riis to get you started. Other credible websites may also be used.

-       All information must be in YOUR OWN WORDS

Slide 1:

-       Summary of Jacob Riis’ childhood/background and Jacob Riis’ occupations?

Slide 2:

-       Explain the purpose of Riis’ work How the Other Half Lives (be sure to include the location of where the photos were taken). In what year was it it published?

Slides 3-7

-       Find 5 pictures that were a part of How the Other Half Lives

Slide 8:

-       Explain the impact of Riis’ work- what reforms or changes took place?

Slide 9:

-       Compare Riis’ pictures to a picture of William Vanderbilt’s Marble House.  On your slide, put a side-by-side picture set-up of a picture of the Marble House and one of your Jacob Riis photographs.

Slide 10:

-       Provide background information about the Marble House. Location, year built, reason for being built, size of house, and how William Vanderbilt made his fortune.

-    Refer to this link for information.

Slide 11:

-       How does the information on the previous slide relate to the distribution of wealth in the late 1800s?

Total value: 20 points
Due: Fri, Dec 19

Unit 5 Quiz- Post Civil War America (1877-1900)

Quiz topics:

Ch. 13 The Expansion of American Industry

Section 1- A Technological Revolution pgs. 456-465

- How did the number of patents change from before the Civil War to the period after the Civil War?
- Explain the impact of the transcontinental railroad
- Explain the impact of the bessemer process

Section 2- The Growth of Big Business pgs. 467-472
- Provide arguments for why the big businessmen of the Gilded Age should be called "robber barons."
- Provide arguments for why the big businessmen of the Gilded Age should be called "captains of industry"
- How did John Rockefeller acquire his wealth? define horizontal consolidation
- What are Carnegie and Rockefeller philanthropists?
- Explain the ideas of the Gospel of Wealth and Social Darwinism
- Why was America ready for big business in the late 1800s?
- How did Andrew Carnegie make his fortunes? define vertical consolidation.
- How did the government respond to trusts and monopolies? (specific act)

Section 3- Industrialization and workers pgs. 473-476
- Identify 2 reasons why the American work force grew between 1860-1900
- How did the relationships between workers and owners change?
- Why did children work?

Section 4- The Great Strikes pgs. 477-483
- Provide an example of how there was a widening gap between the rich and the poor
- What is socialism? Why did most Americans disagree with socialism?
- Why did American workers form unions in the late 1800s?
- What was the reaction of employers to labor unions?


Ch. 14 Looking to the West

- Identify push factors that forced people to move west after the Civil War
- Identify pull factors that attracted people to the west after the Civil War
- Why did stereotypes about the West develop?
- Identify the Frontier Thesis (Frederick Jackson Turner)
- How did landownership differ between Americans and Native Americans?
- Define assimilation- What was one attempt to assimilate Native Americans?

Unit 5 Invention Assignment

Ch. 13, Section 1: A Technological Revolution

Read page 456 through the top of page 460.  You will read in detail about the period following the Civil War, which was characterized by the significant growth of technology and inventions. According to our text, between 1790 and 1860, the government issued only 36,000 patents.  A patent is a license that gives an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention for a set period of time.  In contrast, between 1860 and 1890, the government issued 500,000 patents. Inventions such as the typewriter, telephone, and phonograph influenced changes in the economy, business practices, and the daily lives of Americans.  Thus, America experienced the “Gilded Age,” as termed by Mark Twain.  Gilded means “covered with a thin layer of gold,” and the term implied that the thin layer covered the poverty and corruption in the country.  However, the Gilded Age was a golden period for industrialists, and many Americans became rich as a result of booming industries.

Your task is to research one invention from the post-Civil War era (1860-1890).  Each student in the class will have a different invention as chosen at random.  Answer the following questions from your research and create a keynote/powerpoint presentation. 

-       Use bullet points and PARAPHRASE

-       Include pictures

-       6-8 total slides

Refer to your textbook and credible sources from the internet to find the information. DO NOT plagiarize, as this will result in the grade of a zero.

1.     What is the invention? Identify who invented the product, the time frame (year) of the invention, and the progression of the idea/finished product. (at least 4  bullet points)-  5 points

2.     Explain and analyze the IMPACT of the invention on the American economy as well as on the daily lives of Americans. Be as specific as specific as possible in your answer. (at least 6 bullet points)- 7 points

3.     Compare the invention to a modern day product, or how it has transformed to a product at the present time (at least 3 bullet points) 3 points.
4. Last slide- list your sources utilized- URL link only; at least 3 sources are required- 3 points

Neatness and organization= 2 points
work ethic, turned in on time= 3 points

Total point value= 23 points

Due: Friday, December 5^th at the beginning of class.

Unit 5- Post Civil War: The Gilded Age

Click on this link and make a list of the wealthiest Americans who were born between the years of 1830 and 1850.  Next to each name, cite the industry in which the individual's fortunes were made.