Friday, February 17, 2012

Extra Credit Opportunities

Your February Break may give you the opportunity to get away from the rush of daily homework assignments and do something away from your textbook that you’ll enjoy and will help give you a deeper understanding of the period we are currently studying.  Do one of the following and write a 2-page reflection on the movie/book/visit and what insight it gives you into America at the turn of the century. The project is worth ten points if done well (i.e. an 85 on a test would turn into a 95 if the project is done thoroughly and with some intelligent thought).

Watch Episodes 3 "Sunshine and Shadow" and 4 "The Power and the People" of the PBS docmentary film New York, by Ric Burns.  This will fill in many of the blanks that we did not cover in our discussions about urbanization in new York City from 1865-1918.  You can find these on netflix, etc. as well as youtube.  This is the series that I have often posted on our class blog.


Watch the movie Matewan which is an excellent film about a community of coal miners who struggle to organize a union against a brutal and abusive mining company. It gives a good insight into the challenges for workers and unions at the turn of the century.  You shoudl be able to find this on both netflix and youtube.

Read the book The Alienist. It’s long, but it’s a great murder mystery that takes place in New York City in the 1880s. The novel is a real page-turner and it exposes the seedy side of New York City better than any history book I’ve read. Everyone who reads it loves it.

Visit the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side. Visits to the museum have to be arranged in advance as the visit is a guided tour of an authentically recreated tenement. The tour is led by actors who actually play the role of the people who lived in the tenement 100 years ago and tell you their story of life on the Lower East Side at the turn of the century.

Due date is March 23.

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