February
2
Blog #109 – Antebellum Speed Dating
Maybe you’ve met your soul mate, maybe not. Either way, I hope you had fun learning about the people of this time period.
Please answer the following:
- What did you learn about your person? What motivated them to do what they did?
- Which other reformer / religious leader was your favorite person to meet and why?
- How does this lesson act as a different way to learn about a topic than what we have traditionally done throughout the year so far? Explain.
Due Tuesday, Feb. 6 by class. 350 words minimum for your total answer.
1) I learned a good deal about my chosen reformer, George Ripley. I learned that he was born in Massachusetts in 1803, and was distantly related to both Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He went to Harvard as his father’s order, despite wanting to go to Yale, as Harvard was a more unitarian school. Ripley eventually became a semi-prominent unitarian minister and later split from the church to become a transcendentalist. He eventually made the decision to create a haven for transcendentalists- Brook Farm. Brook Farm was a small, socialistically-governed town outside of West Roxbury, Massachusetts. It had its fair share of problems, namely that the people who worked there had little to no interest in farming, rather they wanted to write. Thus, Brook Farm began losing money as the farmers would not farm as much as they were required to, and the town eventually racked up over $7,000 in debt. This number was eventually doubled when the phalanstery, the town-hall of Brook Farm, burned down in 1846. This eventually led to the end of Brook Farm, year later, which is just before where I was to portray Ripley at in his life. Ripley eventually became a critic and writer, reviewing such works as Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Ripley was found dead in 1880, slumped over his work. Ripley’s motivations were somewhat clear. It was obvious that he wished to create Brook Farm to be a haven for the transcendentalism which he had held so dear. He was also deeply inspired by Charles Fourier’s socialist Associationism philosophy, which became the basis for the economics of Brook Farm.
2) I think my favorite reformer that I had interviewed was Ralph Waldo Emerson. I like Emerson because he, like Ripley, was a transcendentalist. Emerson had actually met Ripley before, when them and a few other transcendentalists had communed and started the transcendentalist club, a group of intellectuals who has united to popularize the philosophy of transcendentalism. Another similarity between Emerson and Ripley is that they both worked on The Dial, a transcendentalist newspaper. Personally, I am slightly biased towards transcendentalism, because there are sprinkles of cosmic grandeur/spacey stuff in many transcendentalist writings, including Emerson’s. He did once write, “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”
3) This lesson was drastically different than the normal way we do an assignment. By making students assume the identity of the individual, they have a much better understanding of said individual than doing a google doc or a portrait. Also, by learning subjects from classmates who they’re friends with, instead of a wall of text in a book, you learn better. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson himself who said, “It is much better to learn… by word of mouth from a companion than dully from a book.” It was also not very much easier because of the fact that I’m an actor. I basically did a vaguely different voice and that was about it. I enjoyed learning about a relatively obscure person in history in great detail, and enjoyed the relaxed day we had while presenting.
1) I learned so much about Dorothea Dix. When doing my research project on her, I found many interesting facts that i’d always be fascinated to have learned. She was born on April 4, 1802 and had passed away on July 17, 1887. She lived a very long life and never stopped working for what she believed in. Growing up, she did not live in a good household. Her dad was an abusive alcoholic and her mother was mentally ill. She then moved to Boston after ten years with her grandma in a very big house also known as the Dix Mansion. Over there, she started to teach and eventually taught two classes within her home with younger kids. her grandma love that she was doing this and fully supported her teaching career. In 1830, Dix came down with an unknown disease which would carry on and effect her for ten years. At the time it was unknown but now we know it as Tuberculosis. After starting to become super sick, a good friend of hers got her a ticket to London to seek help from one of the best doctors. After staying in London for some time she returned back in 1841 to come and pursue her teaching career. In march of 1841 she had volunteered to work in East Cambridge Jail to teach women but once she walked into the jain she was horrified by the conditions. This was what started her Movement towards better living conditions for the mentally ill. She was motivated by the fact that the ill were not meant to be thrown in jail for their sickness, they needed to be treated for their illness and in safe living condition where they can get better, not get worse. For the rest of her life she did this until she died. She found 32 Mental hospitals, 15 schools for the feeble minded, and a school for the blind. She made a huge impact on America. That wasn’t just it though, she went to Europe and did the same thing she did in America to thirteen other countries. This was her passion and she never stopped fighting for it.
2) One other reformer that was my favorite person to meet with was Sojourner Truth. She fought for so many things that Dorothea would have agreed with. Truth fought for the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and she also supported what Dix did for the Mentally ill. Fighting not just for slavery but for women’s rights showed how inspirational she was and still is today. Hearing about her famous speech “ain’t I a women” was so impactful and inspiring and made me so interested in hearing her history and what she did to shape America into a better place for all genders, races, and classes.
3) I think this activity was very different than anything we’ve ever done in class and i enjoyed it a lot. I think it was very informational and helpful to understand other reformers stories and what the did for America. I think it was helpful for mew the most because instead of sitting in a chair looking at the white board all hour can make me doze off and get bored. But for this activity you were constantly being engaged because you didn’t want to miss once second of someones story because it was so important to listen. Also getting the opportunity to research someone who changed our country and made a tremendous impact here is so important and also cool. I feel that it let us branch out and find cool facts to add into their story to show everyone how important they really were.
1. I learned a lot about Elizabeth Cady Stanton throughout this project. What interested me most about her is her upbring, she had quite an unusual upbring. She was born into a wealthy family in New York which had slaves. Her opinion changed on slavery because of her cousins who didn’t own any slaves creating her belief in abolishing slavery. Another thing that was interesting that I learned about Elizabeth was her father, a wealthy congressman who had her educated well like most boys which was unusual for this time period but she was frustrated when she wasn’t aloud to advance her education anymore and move on to college because she was a women. This was one of the things that motivated her to get involved with women’s rights. But I think the absolute turning point for Elizabeth was when when she wasnt aloud into an anti-slavery convention because she was a women.
2. Most people I meet had something to do with abolishing slavery or women’s rights. So I could see Elizabeth getting along with most people but I think I am probably most compatible with Lucretia Mott who was actually friends with Elizabeth in real life. They were the two women who lead the American women’s rights movement after they were both turned away from the anti slavery convention because they were women. The only person who I think elizabeth wouldn’t have liked that i talked to was Brigham Young mostly because he believed that women should be obedient to their husband and also was pro slavery.
3. Well I think it’s different to the way we usually learn because I sted of mr wickersham talking about these people with a slideshow, this was an interactive experience that I won’t forget. The only things that I didn’t really like about this project was the fact that we learned some much about one person and then just kind of got an overview of everyone else’s character. Also even though some people talked slowly and just highlighted the important aspects of their character, others would talking really fast basically just reading off their biography.
1. What I learned about Lucretia Mott was that she was a women’s rights activist, abolitionist, religious reformer, and advocate for rights of freedmen after the Civil War. She was so many positive things, and was so influential throughout her life. Her motivation to be abolitionist started as anti-slavery because of her Quaker parents’ influence, and then William Lloyd Harrison’s influence caused her to become radically abolitionist. When she attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London and was not allowed to partake due to her gender, she then helped to call the Seneca Falls Convention, turning her into an active women’s rights activist.
2. I really enjoyed meeting Angelina Grimke and Frederick Douglass. They both had similar views to mine, Angelina being more women’s rights and Frederick being more abolitionist, but they both supported both things. It was kind of interesting to look for the connections in religion as well, because most people were either women’s rights or abolition, but Mott had a touch of religious reform in her as well. I also thought it was fun to meet Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who helped Lucretia Mott to call the Seneca Falls Convention, because it was interesting to hear her historical version and background that led to a similar outcome as Mott, but from a different path than her.
3. This lesson was a different way to learn about the antebellum reformers than what we have traditionally done with other lessons throughout the year so far because it was more interactive, with the speed dating and such. Also, learning about the different reformers relied on quality research from our classmates, rather than learning things we know are correct from a powerpoint or other notes. The amount of effort put into the project / paper seemed to be universal when we were interviewing each other, and everyone seemed to know a ton about their person which was really impressive. My only complaint was that it was difficult to write everything we needed to know in such little time, and also I got extremely light headed from talking so fast. Eventually I learned to cut one inconsequential part out and give a small summary of what I told the other person so they could walk away knowing that basis of Lucretia Mott.
1. Through researching Angelina Grimke, I learned a lot about the actions she took and the impacts she had in the abolitionist and women’s rights movement. I chose the research Angelina Grimke because I’d read the book “The Invention of Wings”, which focused primarily on the life of Sarah Grimke, though the book mention Angelina it did not go into great detail with regards to her life, so I was interested to learn about the other half of the pair of sisters. Angelina was especially interesting to me because of her background and her childhood. She grew up surrounded by slavery and was raised in a society that thought the institution of slavery was morally just. But, unlike her peers and even her own family, Angelina found the practice disgusting and inhumane, this view was shaped, in part, by her older sister, and godmother, Sarah’s own views. I was a little bit surprised by my research to find that Angelina was so involved in the abolition movement because the book had mainly focused on Sarah and made it seem as though she was more heavily invested. In fact, Angelina had been the one to launch them fully into the abolition movement with her letter that was published in the Liberator. I also was not aware that the pamphlet in particular was what had gotten Angelina banned from South Carolina. Through researching Angelina, I now understand a more complete knowledge of the abolitionist movement and the tactics (pamphlets, speeches, conventions, etc.) that were used to compel more people to get behind their ideas and goals.
2. The people who would’ve been Angelina’s favorite to meet were Fredrick Douglass, Sojourner Truth. I think that Angelina would’ve enjoyed speaking with Fredrick Douglass and Sojourner Truth on the topics of abolition and women’s rights. All three of them had the similar mindset that the rights of black slaves and women went hand in hand. Also, I think that I read somewhere in my research that Angelina admired Fredrick Douglass and his efforts in both abolition and women’s rights. I think that compared to other white abolitionists, Angelina would’ve been interested in the firsthand experience of the two, and she would’ve been able to discuss with them the aspects of society and the institution of slavery in the south, this was something that she was unable to do with many other abolitionists, because most abolitionists had not come from the south, as she had. I also know that William Lloyd Garrison was of Angelina’s close friends, he launched her career as an abolitionist by publishing her letter in his newspaper The Liberator and he gave her a job touring with the American Antislavery Society, however I was not able to meet him during the activity on Friday.
3. This way of learning is different from the way that we generally learn about a topic. Usually we go over a topic in a power point and take notes/ discuss it, or we read and analyze documents that pertain to a topic to gain a deeper understanding of a concept. This method of learning was a little more interactive because it forced every person to be talking or interacting at some point. I thought that it was nice that we got to pick one person/ area of reform and really research in depth something/ someone that was interesting to us, but then also be able to hear a little bit about all of the influential reformers, who we might not have had time to research. I overall enjoyed this style of learning, but it was a little bit stressful because of all the writing and the short amount of time you had to do it. I think that it would be helpful if we made a google doc where each person shared the most important facts about their reformers (not their entire biography) and anyone could access it, that way we would not have to be so worried about writing everything down.
1) I feel strongly that Dorothea Dix is entitled to being acknowledged as the most unique reformers of her time. She indulged into a topic that was essentially ignore in the nineteenth century and drastically differed from other reform movements. Furthermore, she was a crusading women lecturing coed audiences about the importance of handling mental illnesses in a way that will benefit their health, which was a rare female feature in the 1800s. Despite the obvious, treacherous conditions Dix witnessed in East Cambridge, Massachusetts that inspired her to take action, I found it interesting that she had childhood influence. Her mother was depressed and she was passively forced to morph into the role of caregiver for her three younger siblings. Her dad was also depressed and frequently flocked to alcoholism. It was stated in a biography I read regarding her achievements that she grew nostalgic of the state of the mentally ill for two reasons. The first was that it reminded her of her family, specifically targeting her parents. The second was that these people were forgotten to society and shoved underground into darkness, which she related to her isolated childhood. No one gave her family much attention and didn’t strive to associate with them, so Dix was in social solitude with a depressed mom and drunk dad. Due to all this serving as motivation, it paints a more transparent picture of why she was so disgusted when seeing the prisoners of Massachusetts beaten, whipped, naked, and starving. Instead of conforming and acting like everyone else had by ignoring them, she immediately leaped to action. I was enlightened to learn that Dix was a strong independent female, and when Horace Mann disregarded her urge to assist the outcast society of the mentally ill, she wasted no time and engaged in an eighteen month tour of the midwest. They did not call her “Dragon Dix” for nothing! She was also very anti-slavery and closely associated herself with the American Colonization Society. In her perspective, less slaves would result in a decrease of land reserved for agriculture, and she could utilize the absent land by building mental hospitals upon it.
2) In terms of who proved to be the best match for Dorothea, I believe Reverend Robert Finley/Kyla would have her heart. Like Dorothea, he embodied an intellect through his devotion to education. Finely went to Princeton at the age of eleven, and Dorothea would find that really hot. He indulged into years of education, spending twenty under the study of theology. His dedication to schooling matched her dedication to mental illnesses. The most glaring thread that would link Dorothea to Finely was his creation of the American Colonization Society. When he revealed that he advocated for sending African Americans back to Africa, Dorothea was basically making wedding plans. His theories complimented her own, as he believed severing their connection to America was the only way to end racial tension. His political views also aligned with her own, as Dorothea staunchly detested Southern Democrats. After careful consideration of all the candidates, I/Dorothea decided that Reverend Robert Finley was the obvious match to fill the void in her marriage-less life. In terms of who I personally liked the best, I enjoyed hearing about John Humphrey Noyes/Nick and his abstract theories about religion and male orgasming. He talked about how we were living in a post apocalyptic world and heavily indulged onto the second coming of Jesus. Through his creation of the utopian society of Oneida, Noyes advocated that premarital sex was fine as long as the male didn’t ejaculate, and encouraged leisure sex through having differing scheduled sexual partners. Noyes was by far the most interesting candidate but I’m not sure Dorothea would be into him, as she taught Sunday school and was moderately religious. Other noticeable potential spouses for Dorothea included Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Angelina Grimke, but in the end only Finely matched almost flawlessly to her morals.
3) This lesson proved to be an outlier amongst others that we did, as we learned about other historical reformers through classmates rather than the conventional lecture. Furthermore, along with being introduced from classmates, the character was illustrated as if the classmate was them in 1848. It added a humoristic spin that the affair was structured as a speed dating format, and I prided myself on getting the chance to engage with almost everyone in the class. I loved the research person of it and I was glad I got to focus more on interpreted reasoning rather than just state blatant facts about her life. I also enjoyed portraying Dorothea in 1848 to others to enhance her perspectives and opinions. However, I wish I was able to interact more with others when we were listening to their mini biography for the two minutes we had. I was so focused on writing information down to referencing later with a cramping hand, and I wish I could have taken the time to converse more with the person and show a liking or disgust towards what they said to emphasize my character. I think we should have had a large google doc that the class shared, and we could all put information on it in a bullet point format. Then, we could be more focused on listening and interacting without having to worry about catching small details. Overall, I did enjoy this project as a new way of learning an important piece of history.
Isabelle Borr
Mr. Wickersham
AP US History
4 February 2018
Blog #9
1. I learned a lot from Sarah Grimke, but especially about her impact on the abolitionist movement and women’s rights. She really was the person to connect the two movements. As an influential woman speaker, she drew a lot of criticism about the place of women to speak in front of a mixed crowd of men and women. Sarah then drew parallels between the state of women and African Americans as second-class citizens. Soon she began speaking and writing about women’s rights and the abolitionist movements. This caused a storm within the abolitionist’s movement whether to include women’s rights into the movement. Later in life, she did a lot that many people don’t know. She opened a boarding school. Then wrote an influential letter during the civil war to urge women to support the union and the war effort. At the very end of her life, she illegally cast a vote with her sister Angelina.
Sarah’s motivation to speak for the abolitionist movement stems from her childhood. She saw the injustices suffered by slaves on her family’s property. She knew it wasn’t written and try to do what she could, even back then, to make it right. She attempted to teach her slave to read and help her escape. In the women’s rights department, she wanted to be a lawyer, but when she found out that she could not attend college to be a lawyer like her brother, it greatly disappointed her. She was frustrated so she taught herself many classic subjects. Her motivations for her worked began in her childhood and that same passion drove Sarah her whole life.
2. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the most interesting person to meet. She was a women’s rights activist who was denied to enter the world anti-slavery convention in London because she was a woman. When Elizabeth and the other women returned to the United States, they began to plan the Seneca Falls Convention. In 1848, when the convention finally took place, they wrote the declaration of sentiments. This was one of the first documents detailing the hopes of the future for women. She was also an early pioneer in the early idea of sexual freedom and reproductive health. Elizabeth was probably the first woman to demand the rights we expect today for women. I admire how she took charge and planned a convention with other women to demand her rights.
3. This lesson was very unique. We learned from each other by speaking 1 on 1 with each other. It was interesting to see the characters each student took on, they created their own personalities for each one of them. It was very different with very little teacher supervision we had to rely on the students to give us accurate information. It let you picture how the people could be as if you were actually talking to them. The lesson was beneficial, but when on too long. After 5 or 6 rounds, many participants became tired and were less likely to listen. The lesson allowed me to get into character and really delve deep into Sarah Grimke’s life.
My person, Robert Owen, is commonly known as the father of Socialism. He did not like the way that the distribution of goods was happening with only one private owner. To change this, he created socialism- the theory that distribution, exchange, and production are all regulated by the community equally. I also learned that the father of Socialism was also big on better working conditions for his factory workers in New Lanark. He implemented many laws that improved these conditions. Owen also wanted more equality between young and old, men and women etc. He wanted more equality in the workplace. He strongly opposed the treatment of his workers before he took charge of the horton Twist Company, which motivated him to make sure they had better working conditions and that they were treated with respect instead of like trash. Robert Owen is also known as a great reformer due to these two changes he made to society.
My other reformer or person that was my favorite to talk to was Thomas Skidmore. Not only could I relate what he was saying to my reformer, Robert Owen, but he also had an interesting life (also Kevin did an excellent job of pretending to be THomas Skidmore which is partly why I liked talking to him). I also enjoyed talking to Lyman Beecher, as he had interesting points toward the Temperance Movement that I had not thought of before. These two were my favorites not only due to their lives and what they reformed, but also due to how close I could relate Robert Owen to them.
This lesson acts as a different way to learn about a topic than what we have traditionally done this year because we get more detail about each person. Also we get to meet different people and see how they all tie in to each other and really kind of experience why they reformed things and what motivated them to. It also was a fun experience as we did not just sit and take notes for an hour but instead got to talk to mostly everyone in the room and give everyone what you knew about the person you studied.
1. Through research and just talking through his history with other people, I learned a lot about my character, George Ripley. He began as a preacher in Boston after graduating from Harvard Divinity School, and soon learned that at the time, the church was too focused on scripture and a strict interpretation of the text, versus focusing more on practical ideas and human thought. Naturally, these ideas led him to follow transcendentalism, the idea that every man can establish a connection with nature and god. In 1841, he broke with the church and created a commune called Brook Farm in Roxbury, Massachusetts, created with the goal of eliminating social classes and division within society. He did this by making sure that each individual performed their own share of the labor, and was rewarded accordingly. The venture was sold as a public stock, and profit from the sale of stock would be given to each member of the community. I also found it very interesting that they enjoyed several leisure activities that we do today, including playing cards, skating, sledding, and listening to music. After leaving Brook Farm (it failed in 1847 due to debt and the fact that the residents were intellectuals and not motivated to work), he became a literary critic, publicizing his ideas in several New York newspapers until his death in 1880. Ripley was motivated to create a social reform, and change the way society operated and the church influenced it’s members.
2. From my point of view, I enjoyed learning about Sylvester Graham, as his main cause was only one of several that he fought for. He was an advocate for temperance as well, and also many other natural remedies such as cold baths and eating 3 meals a day. He also experimented with becoming a minister, moving on after finding that it wasn’t right for him. I find it neat that someone of his prominence still had to test the waters and find what suited him best. The person that my character, George Ripley, would most associate with is Ralph Waldo Emerson, as they both believed in transcendental thinking, and they were coordinators of the Transcendentalists Club together. They both lived at Brook Farm, and were most likely good friends. Their philosophies were also very similar, in that people could connect with nature and god in their own ways, and that personal experience is more important than written scripture.
3. This lesson was unique in that we got to reenact different perspectives on history and take notes on different people. Up to this point, we have only been reading from the textbook and talking about history from a presentist view point. This activity allowed us to step into their shoes and walk around, learn about their environments and their motivations, and truly connect our culture with theirs. Although we didn’t necessarily talk about the differences between now and then, while researching, it was definitely a thought that occurred to me. By researching these people, students like myself had a better chance to establish a connection with a person who existed during this period, making it more likely for information to stick with us.
1. In the speed dating activity, I was able to learn a lot about my person. The person I selected was Frederick Douglass who was an African American social activist, abolitionist, Women’s-Rights activist, and a U.S. minister to Hati. I also learned that about his troubling and horrific childhood. Frederick Douglass was born in slavery which made a lasting effect in his life. When I was researching about Frederick Douglass, I learned of his drive or ambition to succeed. Being in that poor situation, Frederick Douglass worked his tail off to accomplish the things he did. He endured a lot of pain and a lot of hardships when he was in slavery. He overcame and beat every challenged he faced and accomplished great things. Frederick Douglass’s motivation was him trying to prove everyone wrong and prove that a slave or anyone brought up in a terrible situation can achieve greatness.
2. The reformer that I enjoyed meeting the most was David Walker. His life was very interesting and I could see some similarities between this person and mine. Frederick Douglass and David Walker both experience slavery, were strong on African-American Equality. They also were both writers as well. In the speed dating, I learned that David Walker wrote an article on how African-Americans should fight for equality, both socially and economically. David Walker was also believed that African American children should have a right to an education.
3. The lesson was a different way to learn about a topic than what we have traditionally done throughout the year so far. This lesson helped us embody the reformer and kind of puts everything into perspective. Listening to everyone talk about/embody their character gave us a lot of information on how the era was like. When we usually learn about a historical figure in this class, we just take notes on who the person was. But, in this activity, we went in depth and learned about what they each stand for and how they were relevant to the time period and us today. To conclude, although this activity was different, it gave us the best understanding of the era and each reformer made an impact.
1. I learned that Neal S. Dow had a strong hatred for the Irish immigrants (nativist view), and now I completely see why. The Irish had a strong drinking culture. So it is very to see why that is the reason Dow (very anti-alcohol) didn’t like the Irish. Dow even said the reason he lost re-election for mayor was because of illegal votes by the Irish Immigrants. Now I know where all that hatred comes from. I think Dow was motivated to be so involved in the Temperance movement because of his religious background and observations he made as a young kid in Portland. Quakers did not really drink much alcohol, and if they did it was very moderate. This is important because even before he was born, opinions on alcohol were instilled in him because of his religion. As a young kid, Dow saw Irish immigrants pouring in the country and just in general the excessive drinking culture by all people. So even from an early age he was starting to show tendencies of his nativist views, and starting to show how much he didn’t like excessive drinking because he was always observing it.
2. My favorite person to meet was Frederick Douglass because of his interesting life story. From “talking” to Douglass I learned many insights into a slaves life. For example Douglass told me they didn’t record slaves birthday. Also I learned about the struggle of the free blacks (blacks after slavery). That’s a perspective I never really thought about. Lastky, I thought it was interesting about all the talks and speeches Douglass gave after he escaped slavery. After Douglass told me this I was confused on the motive on all these speeches when he just got his freedom. After reading the Narrative of his Life though and seeing the alignment Douglass had with the abolitionist movement as a slave I understand his motive for his talks and speeches.
3. This way of learning about a topic is much different than how we usually do things. Usually, we learn from the Powerpoint and take notes from this. This time though we interacted with each other way more. Potentially that could be a bad thing because we might not be informed or knowledgeable on a topic. I felt the way we did it this time avoided that issue though because through writing our papers it made us knowledgeable about the person we were assigned. Also, the fact that we could choose who we wrote about helped because it motivates us more to actually do a good job researching. Overall, I felt like this was a fun and interesting way of doing things, but something we couldn’t do often due to the fact that a lot of the curriculum requires Mr.Wickersham to teach the information to us.
1.I learned a lot of David Walker and how he was an African American abolitionist who wanted to free slaves and or have no slavery. I never knew that the person I picked has such a rich history in the African American community and how he was willing to go to any length just to get the truth out and give freedom for people that needed it. By him writing an appeal it allowed for it to make a great impression in the south. Slaves were begging to be inspired by David Walker’s words of wisdom. His words even inspired some slaveholders to re-think about having slaves and if they should let me go. David Walker had a lot of motivated to why he wrote his appeal. With his mother begin free and his father still a slave he wanted to find a way to inspire people and let them begin to fight for their rights.
2. One other reformer that was my favorite to meet was Fredrick Douglas because of what he stood for and all the important things he wanted to do for the African America movement. He was amazing for me that during that time period where he was black he serve very high positions within governments and or advice people in big level positions. It is just eye opening on what Fredrick was able to do during that time and how he wasn’t going to let anyone stop him on what he wanted to do in life. Another reason why how he was so brave on writing his book during him begin in slaved and was willing to risk his life in order to inform people about the hard times during slavery. It was just eye-opening to lengths he was willing to go to free people from slavery.
3. This lesson was very different from the way we normally learn it. I liked this way better because it allowed me to sit one on one and have someone explain their person to me which allowed for me to learn more about them than usual. It allowed for me to pay addition to very interesting conversations. I think that learning this way is very cool. It allowed for me to experience something different and learn a different way which can be good sometimes to try something different everyone once in a while.
1. I was assigned Ralph Waldo Emerson for this project, the leader of the transcendentalists. Since I learned about transcendentalism in English last trimester, I am already quite familiar with the philosophy. Through my research I was able to go a little more in depth about Emerson’s personal life and his career before becoming a transcendentalist. Before transcendentalism, Emerson had graduated from Harvard (I was not aware that he had received such a good education), afterward he served in the clergy (which is probably where the religious aspect of transcendentalism came from). After the death of his wife, he resigned from the clergy and traveled to Europe. There he surrounded himself with different writers. This is what most likely motivated him to to preach ideas of self reliance and connecting to nature, and it is probably what opened his eyes to what he saw as a growing problem in America.
2. My favorite reformer to meet was Horace Mann, who fought for the public education of America. He is my favorite partly because I did a project on him in 8th grade, but mainly because I completely support what he fought for. It is because of Mann’s work that America has the great education system it does. He is one of the only education reformers that we are taught about in American History, and I honestly think that we don’t focus on him enough. Even though I hate school with a passion, I truly think that having an educated population is extremely important. Being educated allows you to develop your own thoughts and think for yourself. Horace Mann was the first one to notice the awful condition of America’s education system, and if it weren’t for him, the education system would not have made it to where it is today.
3. Unlike a normal lesson where we would just sit and take notes, this lesson lets us go deeper into the lives of those who greatly influenced this country. Usually in a regular lesson we learn about the events of a certain time period, but this time we got to learn about the people that shaped those time periods. This lesson was also different in the fact that we got to move around instead of being stuck in chairs for an hour. We were able to move around and talk, and I feel that this aspect made it less boring. It was a change from the normal, everyday lesson. We were able to socialize and learn things at the same time. Also, by having to research one individual person in depth, we were able to learn a lot about that one person and teach it to the whole class.
William Lloyd Garrison was an abolitionist. And he was one of the most vocal and radical of them all. He once burned a copy of the constitution because of its inclusion of slavery. Garrison used his newspaper to constantly expose the horrors of slavery and spread the philosophy of immediate abolition. The Liberator had 1,820 issues on a more than thirty year run. Garrison’s newspaper was incredibly successful. He did more than just publish a newspaper, he organized the American Anti-Slavery Society, which was dedicated to converting others to Garrison’s views on slavery and immediate emancipation. He was also a complete advocate for women’s rights. His views on women even divided the abolitionist community. That never stopped Garrison. His views were unshakeable and true.
I greatly enjoyed meeting Dorothea Dix. She was a truly remarkable person with a big heart. After her time in prison and realizing how awful the prisons were, she went out to pursue better prisons and separate facilities for the mentally ill. She went on a crusade throughout the states, going to court. This established prison regulations and new facilities for the mentally ill. Dorothea Dix saw a wretched side of society that most did not get to, and that sight instilled in her the desire to service this under cared for community.
Traditionally, we would all sit down and review these individuals on a long powerpoint. We would get very general information, and not the most depth. This method allows to learn about one person incredibly in depth first. It allows you to learn the ins and outs of their character, see their morals and understand their point of view. I personally feel incredibly close to William Lloyd Garrison, his tenacious advocacy for abolition and women’s rights is something I admire. Once doing this, you have an opportunity to share with everyone the person you have “become.” With this speed dating technique you have a much greater chance of obtaining specific details other than these peoples big accomplishments. These smaller bits of information gets you a better picture of the character of these people. With this technique you also get a chance to better connect with the reformers, because you have a physical stand in for them.
1. I learned that Dorothea Dix… Well, she was my person, and she was a prison reformer. Gotta reform those prisons! And so basically, I learned that she spent a good chunk of her life advocating for rights for the mentally ill. They were motivated because one day in 1841, Dorothea, who’d been teaching since she was 14, went into a mentally ill place for Sunday School, and she sees that there’s no heating. The place smells disgusting, everything dirty and unfurnished, but the big whopper is no heating! And so she goes to a court because she recognizes the cruel treatment that these people are getting.
2. My favorite to meet was 100% for sure Sojourner Truth. Her accent was amazing and I think her amazing yet short speech is really cool, I think someone who was put down by race and gender… She’s got both to go after… She was really standing up for her rights and she really did something that will put her down in history. And her own history was interesting too! I love the speech that she made, “Ain’t I a woman?” I think it was? I think her character – She got a backlash for what she said and I think that should be commended… There’s a lot of people who speak out and don’t get credit, and they also get harassed for doing the right thing on top of all that…
3. WELLLLLLllllll… What an interesting question. I feel like this is an unnecessary question, the answer is too easy. But we’ve never done this before, to put it simply. I can’t remember a time that outside of a class we were set to do individual research, with the fact that it was a research no one in the class was doing. And it was really cool to go around and interact with people… I feel it was a good way to learn about these characters, I got some great notes down, and I also feel that my notetaking skills have improved for college! (Assuming I get into college) We haven’t exactly done this from the perspective of the people we’re studying, we look at the people of history and we evaluate them, but evaluating people based off of someone else’s perspective, I think that was cool and it was a nice, fresh new way to look at things.
Well, I guess the biggest thing I learned about Ralph Waldo is the fact that he was an Abolitionist. I have tried not to assume that someone who stood for one kind of reform or somebody who was an activist was also fighting for some other cause, as I got a rude awakening from Susan B. Anthony with Black People, or Tupac with Biggie (talks out against gang violence and then threatens to kill somebody over a song). I learned that Ralph at first was just Anti-Slavery, as he was apprehensive of joining the heavily opposed Abolitionist movement, but after being swayed by the plight of his relatives and seeing the effects of such a system of cruelty, he joined the movement with his family.
My favorite reformer to meet was Brigham Young, portrayed by Grey. I was intrigued by him due to the fact that though he was a figurehead in a religious movement in the Second Great Awakening, what he did wasn’t necessarily as progressive or reforming as his contemporaries, as he in fact helped cause the Isolation of Mormons in Utah. He made some changes to the beliefs of Mormons and GREATLY increased their numbers, but he himself had instilled some less freeing and accepting doctrines into the Mormon Ideology, and was known to be a staunchly standing racist, barring Blacks from the title of Bishop in not only the Mormon Church, but all churches in his area for a time. In a sense, he may have restricted his people from advancing with the rest of American Society for his time.
This lesson helped teach us about history in a way that was different from the other Projects, Blogs, and assignment because it emphasized individuals and particular ideologies of a time rather than emphasizing the more broad events and atmosphere of a particular era through timelines. In reality, things like the Era of Good feelings unit was more or less focused on a few key people and was more fixated on events and disputes, as were most of the other units, exceptions being the most present in the very early units about colonial America, what with their Washingtons and Adams, and the more recent history of the past 50 years, such as the Reagan Era and the Vietnam War.
1.) The Person I did research on was Lucretia Mott, a women’s right reformer and anti-slavery advocate. She was a Quaker and that lead her to be anti-slavery and lead her to be interested in reforms. At the world anti-slavery convention she went with her husband but was denied a seat because she was a women. This trying along with how she had experienced unequal pay in the workforce lead her to become interested in preaching about women’s rights. She met Elizabeth Cady Stanton and they clicked instantly. Outside of the convention they preached about women’s rights and later organized the Seneca falls convention. They way people were treated inspired her to speak out about what her and others were experiencing.
2.)Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the reformer that Lucretia Mott would be most excited to meet because they both worked for the same cause, women’s rights. They both started as anti-slavery/ abolitionist advocates but then came together with their experiences about how they were treated as women and worked to organized the Seneca falls convention. But the reformer that I was most interested to meet was Thomas Skidmore. His ideas were so different from the other reformers that I had met. He founded the workingman’s party and got kicked out of his own party. Skidmore’s best interests were in land and money and he also seemed pretty problematic but wanting to redistribute all the land and even having problems with Thomas Jefferson. He was a supporter of everyone, colored, white, women, men, so maybe Skidmore and Mott would get along but I think they would disagree on what’s more important, land or equal rights.
3.)I liked this way of learning because it was hands on, fun, creative, and interesting. If it was just pictures and words on a slide that we had to take notes on, I probably wouldn’t have been as interested as I was while doing this. It was not hard to do research on someone and find out about their life, and then explaining it to other people 7 plus times you really memorize what they did. I was excited to learn about the other reformers in depth in a quick summary, while being relaxed and doing something different. For me personally, I am a hands on learner, so getting up and moving around to learn was fun for me and I would do it again!
Diego Roell
APUSH 5th hour
1. I learned a lot about the reformer I chose, which is Thomas Skidmore. Before this project, I was not even aware that he existed or that there was a significant movement of which he was part of. I found it particularly interesting how Skidmore seemed to espouse many socialist and communist ideas, especially because he had come up with these ideas himself. He co-founded what was basically a labor/socialist party in 1829, but The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels would not be published until 1848. In fact, Skidmore died nearly sixteen years before the pamphlet was published. I was very interested in his life, as he was a teacher at the age of thirteen and became an inventor and scientist at the age of eighteen. I was also greatly interested in his success as a politician and activist, given the fact that the party he co-founded (the New York Working Men’s Party) won thirty-one percent of the vote the very same year it was founded. He was motivated to change society for the better in the name of the common man, because he saw that burgeoning industrializations could open the door to a new kind of slavery and oppression. Skidmore advocated for wealth redistribution, universal public education, increased suffrage, labor rights, etc. His writing were also interesting, particularly his writing in opposition to Jefferson’s decree that every man had a right to life, liberty, and happiness. He wrote that every man did have a right to these, but that Jefferson was wrong to omit the right to property as people who did not own property would be denied these rights as a natural function of American society. That is why he advocated for complete restructuring of society.
2. I enjoyed meeting many other reformers, but I feel that Skidmore would have been able to identify a lot with William Lloyd Garrison. Both Skidmore and Garrison felt that there was something inherently wrong about American society and that it should be rectified immediately. Both were proponents of suffrage and, although I could find no sources stating that Skidmore opposed slavery, I believe that his opposition to oppression in any form would likely extend to slavery as well. The thing that I believed most closely linked the two together was how Garrison once burnt a copy of the constitution, decrying it as a pact with the devil due to it allowing slavery and oppression. Skidmore likely felt the same way, if he was willing to argue against Jefferson, who was one of the most influential founding fathers and wrote the Declaration of Independence, another of the founding documents of the nation.
3. This lesson was very different from the previous types of lessons we’ve had before, but I feel it was very helpful. It allowed us to learn about many diverse, complex historical figures in a quick and entertaining manner. It made us be able to identify similarities and differences between characters, and helped give us context on how different movements and groups interacted and affected each other. Being able to see the many different points of view held by influential Americans and how they interacted to form the nation as it is today was extremely fascinating.
1. Over the course of this research project, I learned a lot about Sojourner Truth. However, the start of my learning about this historical character did not begin with this project, for in fourth grade, we did a project similar to this, and my persona was Sojourner Truth! Truthfully though, I learned what I now know about Sojourner Truth because of this project. For instance, I did not know that her original name was Isabella Baumfree. Also, I did not know that she was originally a slave, and that she escaped to eventually become one of the most famous abolitionists in America. Further, I was not aware that she was a women’s rights activist on top of an abolitionist. The prime motivation of Sojourner Truth to fight slavery was probably the fact the she was a slave, and had suffered greatly. The abuse and oppression of her race (and herself) is a pretty good cause to speak out against slavery. Likewise, I presume she spoke for women’s rights because she was a woman; especially since the examples used in her famous speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” defending the honor and strength of women were all about her life, and how she did not need to rely on men.
2. As Sojourner Truth, my favorite person to meet was Lucretia Mott. She and I are definitely the most compatible. We are both women’s rights activists, and we are both abolitionists. And we both have noses! I have extreme admiration for her boldness. I applaud that she tried to go to a women’s convention, and when she was denied entrance, I further applaud that she went ahead and became the president of a women’s activist group. I am also sure that her book about women in society is amazing. Additionally, the fact that she opened her home to runaway slaves is just gravy.
3. This assignment was a lot more interactive than the class assignments usually are. The class basically worked as a team to gather a bunch of information, and we all shared it with each other. I also think this makes the unit a lot simpler, because we did not have to look up 10 people and learn what they accomplished. I additionally like the fact that we spent a class period conversing in pairs, as opposed to as a class (and taking notes as a class). I thought it was a lot more fun to do this than to take notes on a document.
1. Through the research and work put into the speed dating project, I actually learned quite a lot about my character, Margaret Fuller. I already knew that she was a women’s rights activist, but I never knew that she also was a huge abolitionist, and even a prison reformer, and she visited many prisons to interview many of the inmates. I also learned that she was a transcendentalist writer, and wrote many books, such as Summer on the Lakes and Women in the Nineteenth Century, and that she even was presented with the opportunity to edit a book by Ralph Waldo Emerson, called The Dial. Also through the research, I learned about her motives for what she did, which was that she, having never received a proper education, wanted to present more women with the opportunity to become educated, and along the way, learned about many other reform movements, and joined them. I also learned some interesting facts about her, such as she never received a proper education but instead was educated by her father, which was a lawyer until she was 14. I also learned that she died in a shipwreck off of Fire Island in New York two years after the speed dating project takes place, in 1850. And I learned that she was the first woman allowed to use the library at Harvard University.
2. I have to say, my favorite person had to be John Humphrey Noyes. Now I’m not saying this for the naughty part of it, but I’m just saying, that attempted isolated community was really interesting. I thought that his community that he had planned, as well as the reason that he came up with the community was very interesting and just a little weird. John Humphrey Noyes’s community and reform stood out from the rest and was completely different, and it took a completely different perspective on marriage and reproduction. Although his perspective of marriage and reproduction, as well as his community were both very unique, What I found most weird of all was when I pulled out a spoon from my silverware drawer and noticed on the back that the word “Oneida” was engraved on the handle. Overall, I found Noyes’s community and ideals to be very interesting and unique, which is why I chose him to be my favorite reformer.
3. This lesson was very different from the usual way that we go through a chapter. First we start by reading the chapter, then doing the powerpoint on the classroom, and end with the test. This speed dating project really shifts gears by introducing new perspectives on certain people by other people, and it also introduces some more activity, which helps others pay attention, as they are actively engaging in the learning instead of writing down things onto a computer that they may have not yet comprehended. Those two reasons are why I liked this speed dating project a lot, because it was different, introduced new perspectives and ideas, and allowed people to actively engage in the learning.
1. My person was Horace Mann, an american educator who deeply cared about the education of children and making them into future leaders through education. I learned that Horace Mann came from a very poor and poverty-driven past, giving him sympathy to those in need of money as well. In such, Horace Mann wanted to create schools which didn’t discriminate against a child’s race or gender, such that every child should be suited to learn and compete on equal grounds no matter where they come from. I feel that Horace Mann was so passionate about education because of his past, as he was never given any opportunities when he was a child. I feel that he didn’t want other children to be in the same situation he was in today which furthermore gave him an incentive to give everybody the right to read and learn.
2. I especially enjoyed meeting Catharine Beecher due to her having similar goals to my character, Horace Mann. Both were a part of the education reform and shared many beliefs together, such as how children should be free to learn despite race or gender. However, I also appreciate Beecher for her works on such novels like Tom’s Cabin, in which she showed how harsh slavery could be and gave mind to many people of what slavery was like in itself, exposing the cruelties of it.
3. I feel that this lesson was very interesting, as it allowed us to learn about ourselves a lot and others. Although it felt very tiring saying the same thing over and over again when meeting a different person, it really ingrained the idea of what the person strived for and was like in my head. Although I do wish that we could act as characters that were more related to the test, I think that this sort of learning style may have some potential. Instead of just writing about the person, we got a chance to be the person themselves in a way, giving us the opportunity to sort of see what their own insight was. All in all, I enjoyed the assignment and am looking forward to seeing what you can do with this Mr. Wickersham.
1. I learned a lot about Sarah Grimke through this project. She was a very influential reformer for human rights, both those of women and African Americans living in the country at the time. While she grew up in the south, she was not “brainwashed” into thinking slavery was ok. From a young age, she could see, with painful clarity, the misfortune that slaves had to live in the south in the early 1800s. For instance, when she was a little girl, she had a handmaid, who was a slave. Sarah used to stay up all night teaching her slave to read, but she was forced to stop when her father caught on. On a trip to Philadelphia, she got to experience life without slavery, and this drove her toward her fight. However, when she spoke she would often receive backlash, simply because she was a woman. This, paired with her childhood of inferior education, and being unable to fulfill her dream of going to college, drove her to become actively involved in the women’s rights movement.
2. I enjoyed meeting all the other reformers in the event, but Frederick Douglass stood out to me. His views were very in-line with that of Sarah Grimke’s and, while it is possible they met, I do not believe they ever did. I think the pair would have gotten along well. He strongly believed in women’s rights, as well as the rights of Black Americans. He had even more of a front row seat to the horrors of slavery than Sarah did, and this made him a powerful member of the abolition movement. Additionally, he was a talented writer and speaker, hard-working, and faithfully committed to his cause. He and Sarah had a lot in common and would have worked well as a team.
3. I thought this was a more interesting way to learn about the reformers than the usual way of listening to a lecture, taking notes, etc. We were up and walking around, and learning a lot about the other reformers of the time period. It was fun to get to hear every reformer talked about in a different way, whereas a traditional lesson gives each person the same voice. This way, it was easier to keep everyone straight.
Honestly I knew only the fact she was an abolitionist. I feel as though I learned everything. You see I felt I deprived of education about many people who were black. I didn’t really start learning an honest education about black history till I learned on my own time. So learning about Sojourner Truth was loads of fun. She became one of my favorite figures. She was the person I wished almost everyone would be. I would love to pick her brain and she her thought process and to see how her Ideals were ranked in her brain.Afterall she was a women’s rights activist, an abolitionist and even a temperance supporter (the one thing I didn’t care for). Her suffrage ideas were before her time. The idea of being universal, that everyone is equal was radial during the time period.She just had an honest ideal that everyone was equal and i feel that besides the christian doctrine in the second great awakening it was ingrained in her fabric. It was her sovern truth thus why she has such a name. When she saw an injustice she would talk about it. And even after the civil war she never stopped (well till she was blind and part deaf). Also the idea that she lived in battle Creek Michigan gave me a wee bit of pride. Her honest truth was her real truth and she wasn’t afraid to learn. She would talk to people like Frederick Douglass or Dorothea Dix or Elizabeth Stanton. She wasn’t afraid to have discussions with people that may be uncomfortable. Like how she disagreed with Douglass on the fact that everyone who is freed should be freed at the same time (which he though men should be freed before women). The idea to have a socratic discussion without someone telling her to have a calm discussion is something everyone needs.
I loved to learn about Ralph Waldo Emerson (whoso happened to be my twin). Both in character we had a conversation stating our beliefs. Sojourner Truth and Emerson had a lot in common. I think if I were to choose another person to research it would be him, They had similar ideas yet had two different paths. I feel if Truth was able to write she would write like Emerson. Though “the third eye” idea way have been a little different than his, I think they would have totally would have been close friends.
The people discussed felt real. I always thought this was an awesome Idea. But I could feel what the person could feel. (not to be a hippie). But usually when I learn about a person it’s like”ok that’s nice Emerson you like trees can we move on to the next section” but when you hear a person acting like the person saying their ideas and dissecting their mindset whether you disagree with their mindset (achem* Brigham Young*) you could hear a voice saying it it felt like “history was alive”.
Will Drake
2/6/18
APUSH Speed Dating Blog
1. I learned a lot about my person, Neal S Dow. I learned all about his life from the time he was born in 1804 until the time he died in 1897. I first learned that he was born to two Quaker parents in Portland, Maine. Then, I learned about his early childhood life. He loved to fight as a young child, despite his beliefs as a Quaker. Then, he became involved in the Temperance movement. He was very much opposed to alcohol throughout his entire life. He believed that it was the reason that his city experienced hardships. Once becoming involved in the Temperance movement, he joined and founded a few Unions that would push the Temperance movement. He became the mayor of Portland, Maine and pushed for the Maine law to be passed. He also felt opposed to slavery and became an abolitionist in his life. He fought in the civil war as well.
2. Lucretia Mott was my favorite reformer to meet. She shared many of the same views I had. For example, she was opposed to slavery, just as I was. She had a strong abolitionist view, and advocated for the termination of slavery. She and I had very similar views in regards to not only abolition, but also women’s rights. She was a strong advocator for women’s rights, and Neal S. Dow was as well. Dow believed that all women should have equal rights in comparison to men, and while so did Neal. Many of the women’s right advocates would have been my favorite people to meet, as they shared similar views that I did.
3. This lesson acts as a very different way than we normally learn. It allowed us to do our own research about one person specifically. Traditionally, we have learned about people and events in a very broad view. Doing this allowed me to not only learn about my person, but also the movements associated with him. I learned a lot about the Temperance movement and why those opposed to alcohol thought it was bad. Also, I learned a lot about abolition and the lengths some people went to in order to abolish slavery. When talking to others, I learned a lot about their movements as well, such as the Mormon movement as well as the women’s rights movement. This was a different way of learning, but it was a fun way to learn, and I think I learned a lot.
1. My person was Catharine Beecher. I had previously known nothing about her, so it was really cool to learn about all of the important things she did to advance female education. I learned that Catharine Beecher was an educator and writer during the antebellum era. After becoming a schoolteacher in 1821, she opened the Hartford Female Seminary in 1823. A typical girls’ school of the time only offered courses in fine arts and languages, but the Hartford Female Seminary offered courses in algebra, chemistry, history, Latin, philosophy, and even had physical education classes. This allowed the school to become extremely successful, making Catharine Beecher well-liked and respected in Hartford. However, she moved west with her father in 1831, and founded the Western Female Institute in Cincinnati. This school was designed to teach women how to teach, and Beecher wanted it to serve as a model for a nationwide system of teacher colleges. The school failed to gain financial support, partially due to Beecher’s abolitionist views in a region split over slavery, and closed in 1837. Catharine Beecher also worked to create the McGuffey readers, the first nationally adopted textbooks for elementary students. She also wrote many famous books on the role of women in society. Unlike other women’s rights reformers, Beecher actually was against women’s suffrage. She believed that the role of women in society was as mothers and educators, but society needed to recognize the importance of that work.
2. My favorite person to meet was Horace Mann. Like Catharine Beecher, he was also an educator who had a profound impact on the American education system. Mann served on the Massachusetts Board of Education. He believed that education was the most important thing in America, and that religion should not influence schools. He was my favorite to meet because I felt that my reformer would have really gotten along with him, and they would have been a good match.
3. This lesson was a different way for us to learn because it was more interactive. We had to research a person and essentially become that person. We were able to learn about many important historical figures by “meeting” them, which is certainly a change from PowerPoints! It was also much more time-restrictive than some of the other ways we have learned this year.
1.) I learned a bit about my reformer, Sarah Bagley, I looked through many sources but could not find a lot of detail about her life especially her childhood and family. Her main story was standing up for herself and women life her once she got to the textile mills in Lowell Massachusetts. I think that fact she, and everyone around her, had to live with the little pay and through the horrible long days in terrible conditions motivated her to advocate for their improvement. The most interesting thing I learned about her was the she was America’s first female telegrapher and the she resigned after she released how much less she was paid compared to men in the same position. Also I find it empowering that sarah expressed her views or the improvement of many issues including slavery and public education in addition to her main cause.
2.)My favorite reformer was Dorothea Dix I think she was the most compatible with my reformer also. She was my favorite because she chose to stand up for people who can not really stand up for themselves. Prisoners and the mentally ill were and sometimes still treated as less than people and i think it’s quite amazing that she was able make people care when it’s clearly a hard group of people to find compassion for. I feel Dix and Bagley would get along because they were essentially fighting for the same types of reform, better working/living conditions, and they were both women fighting against men at a time were that was looked down upon. The both believe that working through the government was the best way to truly help their cause as well.
3.) I think that it was very different because it was one on one with the other students so if someone didn’t do there work, one it was easy to tell, and two you both lost out on learning about that person. But it also went the other way, you could tell when someone had don’t the work and do it well and then it became very interesting and somewhat sad when said person was cut of by the clock. I think to was good that it allowed the class to learn about a lot of different reformers and all in one class period. I personally think it was kind of nice to do something different but I also felt like it was information overload. I think it would be interesting to the same type of thing with current figures of reform. So all in all it was ok, like anything there were pros and cons.
1. I learned a lot about Catherine Beecher. I knew before I did any research on her, that she was an education reformer and a women’s rights activist. I learned that she was a very influential education reformer. She was very influential because she created a very successful all-girls school with her sister, Mary Beecher Stowe. This school is the famous Hartford Female Seminary. She also co-founded/created the Board of National Popular Education with William Slade. This Board recruited and trained teachers to into the west and teach children. Her father was Lyman Beecher, who advocated for temperance, and was semi-successful. I wonder if her reform mindset was influenced by her father. I always thought that women who wanted to make a difference had to get out of her comfort zone, but Catherine thought the opposite. She thought that if a woman wanted to change women’s rights, that they did not have to step out of their sphere. Like most people, Catherine believed that the act of slavery was horrendous and evil, but she did not agree with how the abolitionists were trying to emancipate the slaves. She thought that their process would make slave conditions worse and destroy any chance for peaceful emancipation. When Catherine was little, she went to an all girls school, which was founded by Sarah Pierce, in Litchfeild, Connecticut. This was the extent of her education. When her mother died in 1816, she was left to care for her family that included her, her sister, and her brother. This is when she decided she wanted young girls to learn homemaking at school, so they wouldn’t have to learn from experience like she did.
2. Lucretia Mott was my favorite reformer to meet because she and Catherine Beecher were very similar, so we agreed on a lot of things. Also, not realted to a person, I noticed that many women’s rights advocates were also abolitionists, like Margaret Fuller andh Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Lucretia Mott was not only similar to Catherine Beecher, but also was similar to my views in women’s rights today. She believed that women had to get out of the woman’s sphere to obtain change in women’s rights. She was anti-slavery, not abolitionist, which satisfied Catherine’s beliefs. She also co-hosted the Seneca Falls Convention along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
3. Instead of listening to what each reformer did and their influence, which in my opinion, would have been boring to sit through for a couple days straight, we learned about the reformers in a fun and different way. By doing the speed dating activity, you had to be engaged in what you were doing otherwise it would not have been as beneficial. Whereas, if we were listening to a lecture, you are not as engaged, more likely to zone out, and not recieve the information being given to you.
1. Mother Ann Lee was one of the leaders of the Shakers (Shaking Quakers) in the second Great Awakening. She was an unschooled daughter of a blacksmith and worked at a textile mill until she was twenty-two years old. Like all promised Shakers, she was celibate and strongly advocated for celibacy. I learned that Mother Ann Lee was more than just a passionate celibate woman. What truly surprised me was that she had a traumatizing past with the bearing of four children that died when they were (all) infants. Also, Mother Ann Lee never wanted to marry, and it was her father that made her. What motivated Mother Ann Lee to join the Shakers was that fact that she had sinned and she wanted others to not. In addition, Ann Lee came to the conclusion that the working textile part of Manchester was not a place for her. Lastly, I learned that the Shaker community were very open minded people, in which they supported women’s rights and anti-slavery. Mother Ann Lee wanted to better the Earth and get us closer to Christ and the only way to do that is to live without lust.
2. The reformer that I met and enjoyed the most was Brigham Young. I say this because he is the complete opposite of Mother Ann Lee, and she would have despised him. Brigham Young was a Mormon polygamist who had a staggering 55 wives and 59 children. Though Ann Lee is absolutely against Brigham’s ideals, they both had the same goal on recruiting/converting people. In addition, Young supported women’s rights like Lee. However, the difference between Lee and Young are so conveniently different that it’s surprising that all of these movements were having success. As Mother Ann Lee, she would have bonded with Dr. Sylvester Graham the most. Ann Lee would like Dr. Sylvester Graham so much because he wanted to decrease the people’s sex drive. But unfortunately I never had the chance to speak to him.
3. This lesson was very different in a positive light. I enjoyed having short interviews with the many influential people from the Antebellum era. The Antebellum era was full of numerous groups with different goals and ideals, and I found it very interesting that they all were active at the same time. To have a limited time during the speed dating created some very good notes. You learn much more than traditionally reading a short biography, your notes have key points and you’ve created your own summary. This lesson was a good bonding and learning experience overall.
1. I learned a lot about Henry David Thoreau during this project. I learned about his personal life, his beliefs, and some of his greatest works. He is known by many as just a transcendentalist writer who has followed the same lifestyle his whole life, but after doing research on him, I have realized that Henry David Thoreau was much more than that. As I learned about his early life, I was surprised to hear how normal it was. He grew up with his siblings and parents, had a pretty average childhood, and then went to Harvard for college. He got out of college and did not go directly to becoming a transcendentalist writer, in fact, he might have not become one if he had not met Ralph Waldo Emerson, his friend and mentor. When he became a writer, he did not instantly jump to fame. In fact, he was very unsuccessful in many aspects. He was motivated to keep writing though, because he wanted to spread his beliefs. I also did not know that Henry David Thoreau wrote “Civil Disobedience”, which is one of his most successful and popular works. He wrote this essay because he believed that he did not need to pay his poll tax, since it was funding the Mexican-American War. The message in the essay is that a person does not need to support a government if the government does not improve itself. He was motivated to spread his political beliefs and his transcendentalist beliefs.
2. Ralph Waldo Emerson was my favorite person to meet. I liked meeting him because I already knew a lot about him from doing my research, and he knew a lot about Henry David Thoreau. I had also learned a lot about him in English class, so it was interesting to hear why everything connected, and more about his personal life. Also, I could really see how the friendship and mentorship between Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau affected both of their lives.
3. This lesson was much different than other things we have done this year, but it helped me remember people better, and I learned a lot about them. When I came face-to-face with a person that I was learning about and learned about their upbringing, personal life, and their accomplishments, I remembered a lot of the things they did much better. I also learned a ton about Henry David Thoreau, which helped me understand the time period better as well. When I saw things from his perspective and I knew about the time period, I understood why he and others at the time made the choices they did.
1. During the “Speed Dating” assignment, I learned a good bit about my reformer (Horace Mann) as well as others. About Mann, I learned about his many positions in politics including on the state congress, Massachusetts School Board, and later in life on the national congress. I also learned about his crusade for private (Or in his day “popular”) education and for more highly trained and qualified teachers. Finally, I learned about Mann’s other, less well known ideals and actions such as his pushing for the creation of a mental hospital In Worcester, and his abolitionist viewpoint that he demonstrated during his time in congress.
2. The person who interested me the most besides Horace Mann, was Dorothea Dix. She had very similar viewpoints to Mann, only a bit more strongly pushing for the creation of mental hospitals throughout the nation. What interested me most about her was her life before she joined the reform movement, such as when she opened a school for those children who were unable to afford schooling in the traditional way, and her visit to England and her introduction the British Lunacy Reform movement. Also her career as Superintendent of Army Nurses is impressive, saying that many women during the time period would find it difficult to get any job, let alone a high level military one.
3. I believe that this activity creates a much more interactive environment, which is good for many students. Many people, myself included occasionally, find it difficult or tiring to listen to a lecture or lesson from a teacher about whatever topic, so often ignore what is being said. This leads to a lack of understanding of the topic and a much lower chance of successfully getting decent grades on the tests to come. The mobile, and student led aspect of the activity keeps everyone awake and engaged, since on one hand they’re talking most likely to a person, rather than being spoken at, and must also present their own person. The fact that it’s students talking to students helps them listen, since most of the people know each other well enough that they can have some fun with it, while at the same time learning about the topic at hand.
1.) I learned that my person, David Walker, was a free African American abolitionist who changed the abolition movement. He was born free in North Carolina but didn’t like the constant slavery he saw in North Carolina. He first realized he wanted to be an abolitionist in South Carolina and when he moved to Boston he manifested on his new found wanting. He joined an abolition group and made a book which changed the anti-slavery movement forever. It managed to get a lot of free blacks involved but also provoked a lot of violence. It provoked so much violence that fellow abolitionist like William Lloyd Garrison denounced the book and later in life Walker was killed over the hatred if his book. But still Walkers message and contributions stayed after his death and greatly helped the anti-slavery movement.
2.) My favorite person to meet was the education reformer Horace Mann. Horace Mann intrigued me the most because he was the only reformer I met that reformed what he reformed. Without him I may not be doing this blog right now which I kind of would’ve liked to not be doing. Horace Mann was born and raised in Massachusetts. He was against slavery but he didn’t do much to stop it. He was also against corporal punishments like jail but again he didn’t do much to reform them. Instead he focused on public education reform. For started he felt that taxes should pay for school. He had many ideas for public education joined the Massachusetts school board to put his ideas into effect. He joined many groups to reform education and also was apart of the senate. A fun fact about Horace Mann is he didn’t not like Southerners.
3.) The traditional thing we have done throughout the year was pen and paper notes or keyboard and mouse notes on a power point. One way that the speed dating was different is it was fun. Normal notes are boring and at times hard to focus on. Aside from my hand hurting from all the quick writing I enjoyed the speed dates. It is also different because it is a student led conversation. We did all the research and teaching which has pros and cons but ultimately effective and different.
I learned a ton about my person, Dr. Sylvester Graham. First of all, I had no idea that the graham cracker was even made as early as it was, in the 1800s. Not to mention, before this project, I have never even heard of a Sylvester Graham. When researching Graham, I learned about his rough childhood of the death of his father at a young age, and mental trauma of his mother just years after that. I also found out about how in 1826, he became a Presbyterian minister. Dr. Graham preached all across New England about his views on a healthy diet, minimalistic lifestyle, moderation in terms of all stimulants, and a low sex drive. Graham was mostly influenced by and englished minister named William Metcalfe. All in all, I learned Graham was a part of the temperance movement, the Presbyterian church, a advocate for a vegetarian, and minimalistic lifestyle, and a low sex drive, and that he invented the graham cracker and graham flour.
The other reformer that was my (Dr. Graham’s) favorite person to meet and best match was Lydia Finney. This is because she was the most like Graham that I was able to meet with in what she stood for. Finney, like Graham was born in Connecticut. She encouraged abstinence (much like Graham) and mainly stood against prostitution. Finney was married to a very religious man who was also an abolitionist. Since her husband was very religious, she was too. One of the main qualities that I was looking for during the actual speed dating was for a woman that was religious, and Finney was one of the only people that I actually heard talk about religion. Other than Finney, there wasn’t anyone with values as similar as hers which meant that she was the best match and would have been Graham’s favorite to meet.
This lesson was definitely a fun change of pacing in what we were learning and a cool way to learn about reformers. The research was definitely the I guess ‘worst’ part about the project, but other than researching Dr. Graham and writing the essay about him, the project was definitely a very cool experience. One thing that was kind of stressful was getting all the information about your date on paper in the time allotted. Something that could help with that problem is maybe spreading the dates over 2 class periods instead of one. To conclude, the project was a great change of pace and just a fun time to collaborate and learn in a group setting about reformers during the 1800s, and definitely a better alternative to receiving lectures about them.
1. I chose to research Sarah Josepha Hale and I learned many different things about her. When I first decided to research her, I thought that all of her work would have to do with women’s rights, but I was mistaken. I learned that Hale had done a variety of different things throughout her life. I found it interesting that she made Thanksgiving a national holiday. I was surprised to find out that she wrote the song, “Mary had a Little Lamb.” Another unexpected discovery was that she did not consider herself a feminist. I originally believed that she was a part of the women’s suffrage movement. But, in reality, she had a lot of traditional views as well as wanting women to receive equal education to men. Hale was motivated by her strong views on education and her passion for wanting to make a difference by helping the country.
2. My favorite antebellum figure to learn about was Sojourner Truth. I didn’t know a lot about her beforehand, and I learned about how much of a forward thinker she was for someone in that time. I found it really amazing how she had strong views and was willing to speak out about them, even as a black woman who was no doubt discriminated against. She was a slave and was bought four different times. She eventually ran away with her daughter. From learning about slaves, I know that many slaves did not attempt to run away because of the extreme consequences if they were to be caught. Overall, she was a really brave person and was willing to speak out.
3. This activity was quite different from how we have learned material this year. Usually we listen to Mr. Wickersham and take detailed notes or watch videos. With the speed dating activity, we listened to almost everyone in the class talk for a short amount of time. This person had to talk about the most important details of the figure’s life within two minutes. Normally we take our time on notes. The person writing the information down had to write down the notes quickly as well. This learning style is not what we are used to, but I think it helped me remember the main details of each person.
1 I learned about the radical tendencies of Thomas Skidmore. He spent a lot of time pushing for workers and their 10hr work week. Though, I was surprised by his egalitarian and progressive ideas on suffrage and education. He had extremely radical ideas on wealth and power. Wishing that land and wealth would be redistributed evenly for all (whites, blacks and women). I was caught off guard with the fact that he used to be an amateur inventor, he even improved gunpowder to some extent. He also practically failed in his goals, only electing two legislators. He was even kicked from his own party, then formed a new one which also failed. On paper all he has is a couple of books, even then, only one that mattered. But his ideas are much more interesting than those of the time. Even his uncompromising arrogance that lost him glory is interesting. He was motivated in the thought that society and its laborers had to be reformed. Not running for lucrative New York politics, but to bring the change he sought.
2 Sarah Bagley, was most definitely my favorite guest. She was true reformer at heart like me. Not looking to surface issues like temperance, but digging deep and seeing that our society and its working class are the issue. She also pushed for a rules shortening the maximum work day for a factory worker. She was propping up the working man against the money hungry tyrants of our nation, just like me. She was in support of the anti-slavery movement, in my egalitarian plans for the future of the nation, I supported the blacks having an equal share in the wealth.
3 This method made me have to further understand and remember my character. I wanted to learn more so that I could be more accurate in my presentation. Normally I just soak in the information and hope I retain it, or trial and error my way through. This was different as I was using more of my head to connect to the information. Though there is the issue of me not remembering much of the people I met as it just blurs together without my notes.
1. From researching John Humphrey Noyes, I learned a lot about the Oneida Community and their views on marriage and sex. They practiced what they called “complex marriages” in which a group of people share a marriage, not just two people. Noyes was the leader of the Oneida Community, and he was the person that invented this concept of marriage. Noyes was motivated to start this community after he began to study what the bible had to say about having intercourse in a marriage. His motivation to do this came from the childbirth deaths of four of his five children.
2. The person my character would most likely associate with is Brigham Young because their movements/causes have the most in common with each other. Both men were deeply involved in their religion, Noyes as a christian, and Young as a mormon. They also went to live off in their own communities with others of the same beliefs. The two also developed their beliefs in the same way. Noyes obtained his stance on marriage and sex from reading the Bible, and Young converted to mormonism after reading the Book of Mormon. Lastly, their actual beliefs were very similar as well. Despite being a christian, Noyes believed in the practice of complex marriages, and Young was the head of the mormons, who are famous for their practice of polygamy, so both men accepted abnormal marriage practices. Aside from Young, Noyes also would have gotten along with any abolitionists because he wrote many pamphlets in his early twenties about the need to abolish slavery.
3. This educational exercise is much different from any other way we learned in this class, because we actually impersonated a famous activist or figure during the antebellum era, which made us do a lot of research on our character. Then, in class, we got to interact with other people from that era, so you could make connections with them based on who your character was. This really helped you learn better than just taking notes on a topic or character and then studying it, you became more emerged in the topic you are studying.
Antebellum Era “Speed Dating”
I actually learned a vast amount of information about the reformer of the antebellum era that I had picked. Originally, I had just picked the reformer as his last name contained the same name as my first name, and I thought it would be cool since we have the same name. Eventually after doing research, I find out that this reformer, Sylvester Graham was the creator of the Graham Cracker, was a former preacher, and was abstinent. This was crazy for me because I did not know what to expect when researching this reformer, but I def did not expect to see facts such as dietary reformer, vegetarian, and abstinent former preacher. The reasons behind the motivation towards Graham’s dietary reforms were the diseases of the time and Graham believed that eating healthier would rid the diseases of your body, along with the belief the being a vegetarian would lower your sex drive, in turn making it easier to be abstinent.
The religious leader/ reformer I would love to would be Horace mann because just like my aspirations to fix the problem with human health at the time of my life (birth in 1794), Horace Mann was working very hard to fix the education system and if you think about it hard enough, they go hand in hand because without good health, you cannot attend school and without being educated about your health, you cannot be healthy creating almost a paradox between the two topic which is why I believe that Horace Mann was the best reformer I had met.
I feel that this lesson differed from other lessons in a positive way as we were able to freely research different Antebellum Era religious reformers/ leaders of the time and be able to pick the one that interested us the most. Even with the occasional random pick such as me picking Dr. Sylvester Graham and my reformer because of the common name, but the “free reign” of picking our own topics, I believe, allowed for a greater interest in the topic and a broader range of research as every student has their own topic.
1.) To be completely honest, I learned everything about my character. Frederick Douglass I previously knew nothing about except for the fact that he was a civil rights leader. While researching this man I learned multiple things, one being of his illustrious career after slavery. Not only did he write two autobiographies, but he also published the first abolitionist newspaper in the country. As impressive as that sounds, that’s not it. He was also the only African American to attend the nations first women’s rights conference. The biggest surprise I learned while researching Frederick Douglass was how well spoken he was, as well as how much respect he earned despite being an ex-slave. I gained some more basic knowledge of this abolitionist including the fact that he has not exact birth date as well as his estimated 18 years captured as a slave.
2.) My favorite character to meet was Sojourner Truth based off our similarities within our characters. It was very interesting to see another person in history to have nearly the exact same views on the world as mine did. Sojourner Truth was not only an abolitionist, but also a women’s rights leader which my character was both. Sojourner also shared my characters thought that Slavery is unconstitutional and should be eliminated completely.
3.) This project I thought was very helpful to my learning process for a number of reasons, firstly being that it adds the element of entertainment to learning. What I mean by this is that by sitting at a desk for an hour straight and listening to a brief history of a said person is rather boring, but by adding a speed dating element to it, it creates a sense of entertainment. This also allows us to socialize in a way that helps build knowledge in that area. Overall, I felt that this helped me learn about my character and others because I felt obligated to learn about my character thoroughly (as is was a requirement) as well as having a focused interesting conversation about other people with my fellow classmates
I learned a lot about my historical Antebellum reformer, Henry David Thoreau. Henry David Thoreau was a transcendentalist born on July 12, 1817 in Concord Massachusetts. Henry grew up with 3 siblings, John, Sophia, and Helen. His father operated a pencil factory and his mother rented out rooms in the house to travelers. He was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian. He went to Harvard College, which is now known as Harvard University, and studied Greek, Latin, and German. He graduated in 1837 but didn’t really know what he wanted to do. He briefly took the path of education and opened a school with his brother John in 1838. Sadly, they had to stop operating because John became very ill. Henry was still not sure what he wanted to do yet so he went and worked for his father in the pencil factory for a short time. Then he met Ralph Waldo Emerson in Concord Massachusetts. He was the one that changed Henry’s life forever. Ralph was the one that taught Henry about the ideas of Transcendentalism. Ralph is one of the reasons Henry wrote one of his greatest works, “Walden”. Henry built his cabin on Walden pond on a plot of land that Ralph owned. While staying there he got into a little trouble with the law. He was arrested for refusing to pay a poll tax. This sparked the idea for his essay, “Civil Disobedience”. This essay was about resistance to civil governments.
2. My favorite person to meet on this little speed dating activity was Horace Mann. I really agreed with everything he was trying to do with the education system. He is basically the only education reformer we talk about in American History, he definitely deserves more attention for what he accomplished. I might not be the biggest fan of school, but I still believe that education is important and a lot of kids take it for granted. If you are educated, it allows you to better come up with your own ideas and helps independently think. Horace Mann noticed the terrible of America’s education system and he is the reason the education system is where it is at today.
3. This was quite an interesting and new way to help us learn about something. We regularly take notes in class and for some people that works, but for others, they really need to get involved in order to learn about the topic. Like they are hands on learners. This really made sure we had to get involved and really helped me learn more about reformers I have never heard of before. I hope we do more activities like this in the future.
The Reformer that I chose was the Reverend Robert Finley. I learned a lot about Mr. Finley after I lost a roll with the devils dice. Robert graduated from Princeton University at the age of 15. His Father was from Scotland and had the exciting job as a yarn merchant. Robert decided not to follow his father’s profession and became a preacher. He was the preacher at Basking Ridge Presbyterian church in New Jersey for 20 years. He was an abolitionist even though his views aren’t abolitionist material. He founded the American Society for Colonization the Free People in the United States. He also became the President for the University of Georgia for one year until he became ill and died in 1817, at the ripe old age of 45. Robert Finley is mostly known for the American Colonization Society, which sent free blacks back to Africa. The reason he wanted to send them back to Africa was because he didn’t like interracial marriage and thought free blacks were threating to white society. What a great example of an abolitionist.
Of the other reformers I meet with was a close one but I would say it was Mother Ann Lee. Ann Lee was a Christian like me and believed in Christ’s message to humanity. Ann Lee also disliked Slavery which kind of what Robert was fighting for. Because of Ann Lee’s good Christian faith and disliking slavery made her the best match for good old Robert.
This project was a different way to understand the topic than usual. You had to take the knowledge from the reading and the notes in class we had to write a paper about an influential reformer we learned about. We had to research further on the reformer and their movement that became some important to America. That way we can understand what the reformer was fighting for and explain it someone in the class makes sure you understand the topic. We have done something like this once a in the past, which was the Eisenhower debate, where we had to present evidence on whether he was a good president or not and talk about in front of class. This help us understand the times of the fifties and what people thought in society like what we are doing now with reforming.
The more I learned about Brigham Young the more I disliked him. I already knew about the polygamy and I understand why that is a common practice in the Mormon faith but in my opinion that makes marriage a little less meaningful. He did some good stuff like make peace with the Natives in Utah and give women the right to vote in Utah but that’s about it. I learned that Mr. Young hated black people and put a death penalty on race mixing. I learned he led a Militia against the U.S.. Also he was involved in a massacre killing 120 men, women, and children. Not to mention this massacre took place on september eleventh. How insensitive!
I liked Frederick Douglass the most not because I liked his book, but because I like how he stood up to his master, learned to read, escaped to the north and wrote a book to prove it all of that happened. Unfortunately, Brigham Young would not have agreed with me. In fact he would have hated Frederick Douglass because of the high concentration of melanin in his skin.
This lesson was different from other lessons because instead of learning from a lengthy powerpoint, we learned about a person and told our classmates everything important about said person. Also this is most likely the only time we will ever dim the lights, have fake candles, play Africa by Toto, and in my case create a tinder profile for a school assignment.
1.) I learned a ton about Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and everything I learned was extremely interesting. What I thought was the most interesting was the way she was raised and her motivation for wanting to become a reformer. Her father was a prominent lawyer who very obviously lamented the fact that she wasn’t a boy, because all her brothers had died before they turned 21. She had to listen to him telling all these poor women that they had little to no rights, and that’s what really got her into the topic of women’s rights because she thought these women should be able to fix these awful situations they were in. She got her start as an abolitionist because of her cousin, and her cousin introduced her to who would be Elizabeth’s husband. What I really thought was funny was the fact that they went to the Anti-Slavery Convention for their honeymoon, but what was less funny was the fact that she wasn’t allowed to enter. That’s really what spurred her activism in the women’s rights movement, and I think it’s really cool that instead of just complaining that she didn’t get a say in what she believed in, she actually made a convention of her own for everyone so that everyone got a say in the things they believed in.
2.) My favorite person to meet was Lucretia Mott, because I know that Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia were really close in real life. They met at the convention and conspired to create the Seneca Falls convention. It was really interesting and fun to see how much in common activism-wise the two women had. It was also interesting to see their differences, like how Lucretia’s Quaker faith fueled her to become more of a women’s rights activist, and how Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s dislike of the Bible fueled her to make a difference.
3.) This was a cool, hands-on way to learn all about these reformers! I found it a lot more interesting than I would’ve if we had just taken notes from the board or watched a Crash Course Video, and I think it was because of how into character some people got. The time limit forced everyone to listen and scribble notes and it was nice because we only got what everyone thought was the most important or interesting or entertaining thing about that person. Just doing the research for me was nice because I got more context about some things we went over in class, like the Seneca Falls Convention and the Declaration of Sentiments.
Blog #109 – Antebellum Speed Dating
1.One thing that I learned about my person Reverend Robert Finley is that he created the American Colonization Society. The American Colonization Society was created in 1816 for the purpose of sending free and enslaved blacks back to Africa, this would hopefully end the unavoidable racial tension between blacks and whites. He not only created the American Colonization Society but he also created the modern Sunday School Curriculum that we still use today. Reverend Robert Finley was motivated by his belief that the integration of blacks in America was impossible as blacks would not be able to live to their full potential as human beings in a multiracial society. He also believed that the presence of blacks in America was a threat to the well being and quality of life for whites. Finley felt that by removing blacks from America it would not only save whites but also the blacks from racial difficulties such as interracial difficulties and having to provide for blacks. This was very interesting because I had never heard in depth about the different opinions when it came to being against slavery in the United States and its territories. I also learned about how many politicians and states supported Finley’s organization and their goal.
2 My favorite person that I met during the speed dating activity was Dorothea Dix. We had many similar views on a variety of topics and she was a dedicated reformer specifically when it came to mental illness and also education. Reverend Robert Finley created the American Colonization Society whom’s goal was to end the unavoidable racial tension in America by sending free and enslaved blacks to Africa which later became the country Liberia. Dorothea Dix agreed with these views and just as Finley had a dedication to ending racial tension, Dix had a dedicated goal to preventing mental illness and fixing the prison system. Both of these characters worked very hard for their causes and fixing them and they both made a major impact in their cause.
3. This kind of learning was very beneficial as it not only got us out of our seats and moving around but it also allowed us to interact with our peers in a different way. For the most part our time in class is spent taking notes and having discussions every now and then. But even in those class activities it is usually surrounded with the same people talking over and over again for the most part, which doesn’t allow the entire class to participate or ask questions. The speed dating activity allowed for everyone to talk and interact with each other in a different fun way. The entire class was able to learn about a variety of different people and opinions in one class period. This was very helpful as it changed up the way we learned instead of from a teacher but from our fellow peers. It was very interesting to see some people go fully into their character which made it easier and more fun to retain the information we were learning.
1. Going into this project, I knew virtually nothing about Margaret Fuller. Upon the completion of this project, I learned all about Margaret, from her childhood, to her accomplishments, all the way to her death. Margaret was a very well educated child and became responsible for educating once her father passed away. Margaret was a writer, a women’s rights activist, and she was associated with the transcendentalism movement. She accomplished many different things before passing away in a ship accident. Margaret was responsible for creating conversations, writing articles/books/papers, and giving speeches that shared her view on women’s rights and/or transcendentalism. Margaret was motivated by the fact that she was very big on education and many women weren’t able to receive the same education she did. Another motivation for Margaret’s writings/speeches would be her own personal experiences. For example, she traveled out west, and when she returned, she published a book called Summer on the Lakes, in 1843. This book was centered around her experiences out west as well as transcendentalism in general.
2. My favorite person to meet was Dorothea Dix. It was really interesting to me to hear about her rough childhood and then how she proceeded to have a large impact. Like the others I met, Dorothea had a problem with something and stood up to make a change. Dorothea had a problem with the prisons and she ended up changing them for the better. She didn’t find it okay that the mentally ill were in prison with criminals just because of a disease they have that they cannot control. Therefore, Dorothea pushed to get separate mental asylums built for the mentally ill, and succeed. She went even further than just one jail as well. Dorothea inspected jails all over the U.S. and Europe, making changes where they were needed. I think that her actions are especially remarkable due to the fact that the changes she made didn’t directly affect her. Dorothea was pushing for change in something she thought was genuinely wrong, not just something that would benefit her in the end.
3. This lesson was definitely different from the usual. This was much more student-led and more of a project/paper than a lecture. Because of the fact that each student was assigned one specific character, they were able to go much more in-depth on that character than a teacher could in the same amount of time. Plus, after the student had researched their character, they only shared the most important pieces of information, making it so that each student go only the important details on each character. In addition, this lesson contained a little more self-teaching than the usual lessons. We were the ones in charge of finding the information to share, as well as deciding which pieces of the information to share. We could’ve just had a powerpoint slide on each reformer with a few important facts, but that wouldn’t leave the same impact on our learning/give us the same experience of learning. Overall, I think that this was a nice change, but not something I would enjoy/ benefit from for every lesson. I feel that reformers/religious leaders is one of the best lessons to do this apply this form of teaching/learning.
1. I learned so much about Charles Grandison Finney during this project. I learned that he was anti-slavery and that he was a revivalist. I learned that Finney held the first Second Great Awakening meeting in Rochester, New York. He wanted to revive the practice of Evangelism and wanted to tell everyone about it. I learned that Finney did not like or agree with Calvinism, he believed that went against the writings in the bible. I learned that Finney was was a professor and the second president of Oberlin college and along with his students was a part of an abolitionist movement and helped fugitives from the underground railroad. Finney wrote a book in 1835 called “Lectures on Revivals of Religion,” which is a tutorial on how to start and lead revivals. Which motivated thousands of preachers to start and run revival meetings and taught them how to get people to listen and follow them. What motivated Finney to do what he did was growing up he was raised a Calvinist but one day he went into the woods and conversed in prayer with god. Finney instantly converted to Evangelism after his talk with god and wanted to spread the word.
2. My favorite person to meet was either Sarah Bagley or Brigham Young. I liked Sarah because I respect what she did and how she formed the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association (LFLRA). I like Bagley also because the way she got people to follow her and join her group to protest the working conditions of the textile mills kind of reminded me of how i started the revival meetings and got people to join me. I liked Brigham Young because, although he was a mormon and i was an evangelist, he converted 8,000 people to the mormon faith and led 80,000 mormons to Utah and was just a good leader for his religion. He was the second president of the mormon church.
3. This lesson acts as a different way to learn about the different revivalist/ religious reformers than we usually have done throughout the year I believe this because instead of us briefly learning about each of these people in powerpoints or reading about them in textbooks, we all individually got to go in depth about one specific person in the time period and learn so much about this one person. Then on Friday, we went around class sharing our people and our research we did on them, so everyone learned a summary of all the important things about all of the revivalist/ reformers of the this era. I enjoyed this project, although I didn’t get to talk to all the other people in the class.
1. William Lloyd Garrison was a slavery reformer during the Antebellum period. As an abolitionist, he used public media forums as his output of opinions and viewpoints. He created a Boston-area newspaper called The Liberator. This newspaper expressed concerns and opinions about slavery with a strong negative connotation. In addition, Garrison co-founded the American Anti-Slavery Society, which also was outspoken about the negatives of slavery. Both media forums were very successful and gained a large following. They were a significant part of the abolitionist movement and helped to push it forward. Overall, Garrison was fueled to abolish slavery because he believed it was a sin. He was raised in a strong religious home with his mother, after his father had left because he lost his job. His mother raised him on religious principles, and this was the foundation to his belief of slavery as a sin. Garrison strongly disliked the Constitution because he believed it conveyed messages of pro-slavery, and he showed his disgust by publicly burning copies of the Constitution and writing about his discontent. He also opposed the Republicans because he thought they were corrupt in their principles and morals.
2. My favorite religious reformer to meet was John Humphrey Noyes. Garrison and Noyes were comparable because of their mutual disliking for the Constitution and the principles it stood for. In addition, although both fought for different causes, both were still pretty radical in their movements and wanted change immediately. Besides that, I thought that Noyes had the most interesting life out of all the Antebellum reformers. His beliefs in a Utopian society, and his efforts to do it, interested me. Especially the concept of “complex marriage” made me interested. Regardless if a person was or is for or against the idea, you can’t doubt that it is a very different approach to the same thinking and in some way or another could be seen as genius. Maybe in a good way or maybe in a bad way. The most interesting part to me, though, was the idea of male continence. Not only the idea of it, but also the fact that Noyes’ community was successful in teaching it and was successful with the process altogether. Overall, the entire system of Oneida’s community intrigues me.
3. So far this year, almost all of the learning has been done as notes in PowerPoints in class. As this is one way of learning, it is not a very active one or hands-on. This project was more hands-on in the sense that we had to essentially embody our reformer from the Antebellum period. The research for the person wasn’t based on information that was on a slide, we had to go to our own websites that we found and find specific information. We had to look for it, and personally it helped me remember the information better because I was forced to look for it, it wasn’t given to me. Also, on the day of the activity, it wasn’t just sitting in your chair and listening to someone talk for an hour. Although active listening was involved and notes were taken, it was only in short bursts of two minutes, which are much more manageable than an hour. In addition, on the flip side, we got to talk about our own project and explain to someone else the information we gathered. By explaining our Antebellum person, we start to comprehend the information we gathered even more so, which increases the learning experience. We also had to get up and move around, which increases blood flow, even if it was a ten second movement. Regardless, it helps brain productivity and gave us a sense of a “break” before we started another session with a person, which is always good.
1.I was assigned Ralph Waldo Emerson for this project, the leader of the transcendentalists. Since I learned about transcendentalism in English this trimester, I am already quite familiar with the philosophy. Through my research I was able to go a little more in depth about Emerson’s personal life and his career before becoming a transcendentalist. Before transcendentalism, Emerson had graduated from Harvard (I was not aware that he had received such a good education)he was even a early graduate, afterward he served in the clergy (which is probably where the religious aspect of transcendentalism came from). After the death of his wife, he resigned from the clergy and traveled to Europe. There he surrounded himself with different writers. This is what most likely motivated him to to preach ideas of self reliance and connecting to nature, and it is probably what opened his eyes to what he saw as a growing problem in America.
2. One person that was my favorite to meet was Fredrick Douglas because of what he stood for and all the important things he wanted to do for the African America movement. He was amazing for me that during that time period where he was black he serve very high positions within governments and or advice people in big level positions. It is just eye opening on what Fredrick was able to do during that time and how he wasn’t going to let anyone stop him on what he wanted to do in life. Another reason why how he was so brave on writing his book during him begin in slaved and was willing to risk his life in order to inform people about the hard times during slavery. It was just eye-opening to lengths he was willing to go to free people from slavery.
3.This lesson acts as a very different way than we normally learn. It allowed us to do our own research about one person specifically. Traditionally, we have learned about people and events in a very broad view. Doing this allowed me to not only learn about my person, but also the movements associated with him. I learned a lot about the Temperance movement and why those opposed to alcohol thought it was bad. Also, I learned a lot about abolition and the lengths some people went to in order to abolish slavery. When talking to others, I learned a lot about their movements as well, such as the Mormon movement as well as the women’s rights movement. This was a different way of learning, but it was a fun way to learn, and I think I learned a lot.
Nia Kepes
1.During this project I researched and learned about Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I learned that she was known for being women’s rights activist, feminist, editor, writer, and an abolitionist.She also received the best female education possible at Emma Willard’s Academy 1832. The reason she became a women’s rights activists was because when she went to London for the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention all women were denied entry. This lead her to work with Lucretia Mott and plan the world’s first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y., July 1848 where they created the “Declaration of Sentiments”. One of Elizabeth’s greatest triumphs was after her lifetime when the 19th amendment was passed. The right for all people to vote was something that Staton had worked for and pushed into people’s thoughts all of her life.
2.My favorite person to meet was Lucretia Mott. My person (Elizabeth) had worked with and started her journey with Lucretia. It was cool to meet her but we also both agreed that we had grown apart over religious separations. Lucretia had been a religious person all of her life and believed that the bible was important. On the other hand me/Elizabeth grew up wary of organized religion and religious figures. She disagreed with Lucretia Mott because she believed that the Bible was a key factor in limiting women’s roles in society and denying their rights. She even went as far as to write a Woman’s Bible in 1898. Her bible was censured by National American Woman Suffrage Association which Lucretia Mott was part of. This was very interesting to realize and discuss.
3.This lesson first requires us to do extensive research about one specific topic sort of like the google docs. Then, we had to compile the research in two ways, notes and an essay style biography. After we finished that we had to present our information to each other as if the information was about us forcing us to really understand what we were talking about. This was mostly different than what we’ve done so far because we presented to each other individually.
1)When we had picked our historical figures for this assignment, I quickly chose the only woman that was listed as an author because I love writing and thought I’d enjoy learning about someone who wrote for a living. When I began my research on Margaret Fuller more in-depth, I initially thought I had been reading about a woman who lived at least 150 years after Fuller had. Because of her thorough and rounded education, Fuller was raised an intelligent young woman who was set on a path to succeed in her own career. Setting out to make influential friends who held a similar level of intellect, Fuller found her true passion in writing, with famous transcendentalists (and later, her co-workers) such as Ralph Waldo Emerson as well as Henry David Thoreau. Her writing career took her abroad, to countries like England, France, and Italy, where she eventually settled in Rome. To further push the boundaries of the traditional American society she was raised in, Fuller entered a long-lasting and serious relationship with an Italian man, whom she had a child with, but never married (this would be considered quite the scandal by any 19th-century standard). Regardless, Fuller’s impact on America extended beyond her hundreds of meaningful articles as well as high-selling books, placing her at a level comparable to many successful men of Fuller’s time. Not only did she find personal success, but Fuller managed to prove to the working world of men that she, as an educated and able woman, deserved to be behind pen and paper, rather than a stove. Her personal drive to do well and express her own ideas pushed Fuller to her best ability, leading her to show not by words alone, but by her example as a prosperous writer.
2) One of the more interesting reformers I met was Mother Ann Lee, the leader of the Shakers. Although her interest in religious reform was quite common among many of the other figures in class, Mother Ann Lee presented a compelling argument for her reasoning and beliefs; she had become pregnant four times in her life, which made her turn completely against this idea and became completely celibate. I personally thought it was really interesting that Mother Ann Lee used her personal trauma to her teachings and to influence others, moving them to protect themselves through complete celibacy.
3) The new approach to learning we took with this assignment was nothing like I have ever done before; by researching a new person who I had never learned about prior to this unit, I gained a new understanding of a different approach to the women’s movement of the 19th century I would not have learned about otherwise. On a larger scale, though, this assignment, in general, helped me with the memorization and understanding of significant figures of the time by associating them with the people that did their research in class on said characters.
Devin Roberts 2-6-18
1.I learned a lot about William Lloyd Garrison and how he was a White Abolitionist who wanted to free slaves and/or have no slavery. I never knew that the person I picked would be such a great reformer and ally of the black community and how he was willing to go to any length just to get the truth out and give freedom for people that needed it. By him spreading his word it was an appeal it allowed for it to make a great impression in the black community. Abolitionists were begging to be inspired by William Lloyd Garrison’s words of wisdom. Lloyd Garrison was a man of great courage and principle and he was somebody that took a beating for the black community and for the Abolitionist movement. He had a lot of motivated to get off the sideline get into the movement.
2. One other reformer that was my favorite to meet was Fredrick Douglas because of what he stood for and all the important things he wanted to do for the African American /Abolitionist movement. He was amazing for me that during that time period where he was somebody who understood and he served on very high positions within the movement and or give advice people in high level positions. It is just eye opening on what Fredrick was able to do during that time and how he wasn’t going to let anyone stop him on what he wanted to do in life. Another reason why how he was so brave during and was willing to risk his life in order to inform people about the hard times during slavery. It was just eye-opening to lengths he was willing to go to free people from slavery.
3. This lesson was very different from the way we normally learn it. I liked this way better because it allowed me to sit one on one and have someone explain their person to me which allowed for me to learn more about them than usual. It allowed for me to pay addition to very interesting conversations. I think that learning this way is a very good. It allowed for me to experience something different and learn a different way which can be good sometimes to try something different everyone once in a while. I think that we must do this more often and I think it is a great to have a different experience like this.
Through this project, I learned a lot about labor reformer Sarah Bagley. She worked at the Lowell Mills, experiencing the harsh labor first hand. She experienced the chronic exhaustion, the health issues, and the hardships. She also watched her peers go through the same thing. It angered her. The magazine, “The Lowell Offering”, became an outlet for her to write about life at the mills. She began fighting for more rights for the mill girls, which led to her losing her job. She continued to fight, especially for a ten-hour work day. Sarah and five women formed a Female Labor Reform Association with clear goals. She became president of the association. She made many arguments on the behalf of the girls. Eventually, the law was passed. Unfortunately, companies found a way around the law. Overall, her movement may have been unsuccessful, but she was an incredible role model to the Lowell girls.
I believe that if the real Sarah Bagley attended this speed-dating event she would have loved meeting Dorothea DIx. Even though they were different types of reformers, they went through very similar things. For one, they both knew what it was like to be a woman fighting for rights in a male-dominated world. They both fought in an entirely male legislature. Another reason why they would get along well is that they both struggled spreading the movement across the nation. These women were also similar philosophically. They both fought for those without a voice. Sarah Bagley fought for young women and girls whose voices were suppressed by the mills. Dorothea Dix fought for those who couldn’t speak because of mental illnesses. They both had a wonderful sense of empathy.
This lesson was very different from others this year. This was a much more hands-on approach. I enjoyed it for the most part. I thought it was fun. It was also a nice break from the PowerPoints. I believe that it was MUCH more effective than a portrait. However, I felt that it was difficult to get a grasp on every single reformer in only 2 minutes. It was also frustrating because some people spoke so fast I couldn’t understand them. I felt like it might have been more effective for each student to write a short blurb on every reformer, instead of everyone having to write a longer essay on one. It was also hard to find information on my person, because multiple websites would have differing information and she sort of disappeared from historical records after a while. It was also difficult because a lot of the information was in books that I didn’t have access to.