Source: https://mrstreit.webs.com/8th-grade-unit-4
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 10:34:09+00:00

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Unit Question - Why does perspective matter? What factors can influence people’s perspectives? What social opportunities and problems arise from an interconnected global economy?
The final two episodes of this series look at defining moments in U.S. history from 1945 on and trace them back to their antecedents in earlier American history. Some of the nation's most prominent personalities and leaders share their ideas on the definitive moments in American history, and reflect on what is unique about the U.S.
Mini-Task: Answer the following questions in your COMP books and be able and willing to discuss with the class.
What inventions do you think have been most important in U.S. history and why?
What do you think have been the five most important events in U.S. history since WWII?
Many historians debate whether or not the U.S. has seen continual progress throughout its history, or if there have been moments of back-peddling or regression. How do you define progress in history? Do you think the U.S. has always progressed? Discuss.
If you could interview one American about our nation’s past, who would it be and why?
The Greatest Generation built the Interstate Highway system in only 5 years.
They produced 80% of the world's cars.
They built 13 million homes in 10 years following the end of World War II and it cost only $71,000 in today's currency.
The Greatest Generation produced a baby (Baby Boomer Generation) every 10 seconds!
They made 15 times more than Europeans during this time.
The U.S. Army was desegregated in 1948.
The U.S. government spent an average of $4,000 ($20,000 today) per U.S. citizen on nuclear and military technology. While the average salary was $4,237 dollars ($24,000 today) in 1950.
How does the Marshall Plan prove a lot has been learned since the end of World War I? HINT: ThinkGermany!
Why do think the Soviet Union and countries controlled by the Soviet Union denied aid?
The Marshall Plan can be viewed as extremely unselfish, but what was the large benefit to the U.S. economy and manufacturing? In addition to your response, was there an additional agenda or motive for the Marshall Plan? HINT: Think Cold War!
How did the attractiveness, sympathy, or simple understanding of communism come to a dramatic end in the United States?
After World War II and the Chinese Civil War ended, who is the communist leader of China?
What did the Truman administration call the Korean War because it was never authorized by Congress? More on the Korean War a bit later!
Was Joseph McCarthy's "list of 205 names" real? Why did he do it?
What 1952 presidential candidate was "blacklisted" by Senator McCarthy?
Why did the American public believe Joseph "McCarthyism" McCarthy? Give an example.
Why didn't Congressman stand up against Joseph McCarthy (image on the right)?
that developed primarily between the USA and the USSR after World War Two. The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred - the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary and the Berlin Wall being just some. For many, the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue.A clash of very different beliefs and ideology - capitalism versus communism - each held with almost religious conviction, formed the basis of an international power struggle with both sides vying for dominance, exploiting every opportunity for expansion anywhere in the world.
BONUS: What was Operation Paperclip?
Who won the Korean War? Was anyone victorious?
I know you remember the Supreme Court decision of Plessy v. Ferguson (see the Before Progress section far above), which stated "separate but equal" re-establishing segregation in the United States. Before the historic Brown v. Board of Education, Briggs v. Clarendon County challenged separate but equal by showing the vast difference in educational spending for black students compared to white students. So, how much was spent on black students compared to white students in Clarendon County in South Carolina?
What National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) leader and great-grandson of a slave and later Supreme Court Justice, argued the Brown v. Board of Education case at the Supreme Court?
What was the Supreme Court's decision regarding the famous Brown v. Board of Education? What is the historical impact of this decision?
What was the Supreme Court's decision regarding Tinker v. Des Moines?
What did Mike King change his name to?
Name the two influential and enlightened thinkers that inspired Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s sit-ins, peaceful protests, boycotts, and civil disobedience policies?
What did Rosa Parks do as a member of the NAACP?
How does the NAACP respond to Rosa Parks' arrest? Who led the boycott?
Was life like for the Melba Pattillo and the other nine African-Americans at Central High in Little Rock Arkansas after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision?
What did President Dwight D. Eisenhower do to secure the safe education for these African-Americans at Central High? Why didn't he act sooner?
How did Birmingham, Alabama respond to the government attempts desegregate the city?
Who helped finance and elect Eugene "Bull" Connor as Birmingham Commissioner (Police Chief)? Why did residents of Birmingham, even those considered "kindhearted", support or allow the racist policies of "Bull" Connor?
How, although not their intentions, did the racist leaders of Birmingham actually help the Civil Rights Movement? HINT: Try this MLK Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" also think TV!
How did "Bull" Connor respond to the nonviolent protests of over 1,600 kids?
What happened to the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963?
Who did President John F. Kennedy put in charge of justice issues for African Americans? Why choice?
What Civil Rights Movement organization did Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. help create?
What event took place on August 28, 1963 in Washington D.C.? Who's idea was it?
What famous speech did Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. deliver on August 28, 1963?
What famous African American leader died around the time of the March on Washington? HINT: We learned about him and his famous debates earlier this school year!
BONUS: Can you tell us why Malcolm X is pictured here with Fidel Castro of Cuba (right)?
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
What award did Martin Luther King Jr. win at the young age of 35? What did he do with the prize money?
What did the Norwegian students teach or prove to Martin Luther King Jr.?
The 15th Amendment (see Reconstruction period above) guarantees that everyone has the right to vote. So, why didn't African Americans in Alabama and Mississippi vote in 1964? Why did Martin Luther King Jr. go to Selma, Alabama that same year?
What did Malcolm X mean by, "If the white people realize what the alternative is, perhaps they will be more willing to hear Dr. King"?
Why was the death of Jimmy Lee Jackson too much for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Civil Rights Movement to bear?
What happened on the Edmund Pettus Bridge between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama? How does the tragedy eventually help the Civil Rights Movement?
After the tragedy of Selma, known as "Bloody Sunday", how did President Lyndon B. Johnson respond on live television to over 70 million people?
What did Martin Luther King Jr. mean by, "Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty and say if you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th Century, I will be happy"?
Who was responsible for the assassination of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968?
Who broke the news to African Americans in Indianapolis, which was televised to the entire nation? Violence erupted around the entire country almost immediately, but not in Indianapolis. Why do you suppose that is?
How many cities burst into riots after the death of Martin Luther King Jr.? How did the Black Panthers respond?
Which of the African Americans writers from 1940-1970, mentioned on pages 162-164, do you most admire? Why?
Death of another 1960s American icon! What made Robert "Bobby" Kennedy so popular as a presidential candidate in 1968? June 6, 1968, Bobby Kennedy was shot by Palestinian nationalist Sirhan Sirhan. What did the historian mean by, "Born the son of wealth, he died a champion of outcasts of the world"?
BIO: Martin Luther King Jr.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Who is the youngest President ever elected?
How and why was the small island country of Cuba a real threat to the U.S.A.?
Who took power as the Soviet Premier after the death of Joseph Stalin?
What was the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) plan, before the Bay of Pigs disaster, for dealing with Cuba? Was this President Kennedy's idea?
What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?What secret concession did JFK make to resolve the crisis peacefully?
What was the public opinion regarding the Vietnam War in the early 1960s? Remember, Congress never approved the Korean and Vietnam Wars, so what were the American troops called in the conflict?
Premier Khrushchev said of President Kennedy, "It quickly became clear that he [Kennedy] understood...that an improvement in relations [with Russia] was the only rational course." How does this comment from Premier Khrushchev prove President Kennedy had survived the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis disasters and the U.S. could possibly survive the Cold War?
Why did President Kennedy decide to visit Texas in November of 1963, despite his press secretary's warning, "DON'T LET THE PRESIDENT COME TO DALLAS...IT IS TOO DANGEROUS"?
How did the people of Texas greet the President and his wife?
Conspiracy Time! So who really killed President Kennedy? HINT: Try Death of a President (again) JFK Resources below to help you decide.
LBJ interview with Walter Cronkite (1969) "I don't trust the Warren Commission"
DBQ on Vietnam (discussion): Use the DBQ on Vietnam: History Teacher.net link, answer the following questions in your COMP books and be ready and willing to share with the class: Did the attitudes and policies of the United States government regarding the war in Viet Nam (1965-1975) reflect the attitudes of the American people during the time of the war? Why or why not? Include present-day opinions and facts about the war in assessing this question as well as the documents.
The American Counterculture refers to the period between 1964-1972 when the norms of the 1950s were rejected by the youth. Counterculture youth rejected the cultural standards of their parents, especially with respect to racial segregation (Civil Rights Movement), the Vietnam War (Anti-War Protests), sexual norms (start of the LGBT Movement here), women's rights (a rebirth in the movement), and materialism (see the SDS and Weather Underground). Hippies were the largest countercultural classification comprising mostly white members of the middle class. The counterculture movement divided the country. Authorities attempted to ban all drug use (start the War on Drugs here), restricted political gatherings, and tried to enforce bans on what they considered obscenity in books, music, theater, and other media. Parents argued with their children and worried about their safety. Some adults accepted elements of the counterculture, while others became estranged from sons and daughters. The movement died in the early 1970s because most of their goals had become mainstream, and because of rising economic troubles.
Vietnam War- Students for a Democratic Society "To Change the World"
"one of the heroic figures of our time."
A true American hero, Cesar was a civil rights, Latino and farm labor leader; a genuinely religious and spiritual figure; a community organizer and social entrepreneur; a champion of militant nonviolent social change; and a crusader for the environment and consumer rights.
A first-generation American, he was born on March 31, 1927, near his family's small homestead in the North Gila River Valley outside Yuma, Arizona. At age 11, his family lost their farm during the Great Depression and became migrant farm workers. Throughout his youth and into adulthood, Cesar traveled the migrant streams throughout California laboring in the fields, orchards and vineyards, where he was exposed to the hardships and injustices of farm worker life.
After attending numerous schools as the family migrated, Cesar finished his formal education after the eighth grade and worked the fields full-time to help support his family. Although his formal education ended then, he later satisfied an insatiable intellectual curiosity and was self-taught on an eclectic range of subjects through reading during the rest of his life.
Cesar joined the U.S. Navy in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II, and served in the Western Pacific. He returned from the service in 1948 to marry Helen Fabela, whom he met while working in fields and vineyards around Delano. Together they settled in the East San Jose barrio of Sal Si Puedes (Get Out if You Can), and had eight children, later enjoying 31 grandchildren.

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