In this Learning Unit, we’ll go over what’s needed for Writing Assignment I. This assignment requires an interpretive thesis supported by three primary sources from the Boards.
Writing Assignment:
Please create a short paragraph that includes:
• An interpretive thesis about one or more of the eras we’ve studied so far, in bold text
• Discussion of 3 primary sources (do not display the actual images) from one or more of the Primary Sources Boards in chronological order, with each source related to the thesis through your own explanation
• each source named and fully cited (author/artist, title, date, live link to a page where it is featured)
• a one-sentence conclusion
Don’t have the sources you need? You may add any source to any appropriate Board at any time, so long as it is fully cited and available for all to use.
Here are some tips:
• Make the thesis interpretive and arguable
• Avoid troublesome sources (if the citation information isn’t complete, don’t use it)
• Discuss each source so it proves the thesis instead of illustrating it
Creating an interpretive thesis
A thesis is an interpretive statement about the era we’re studying. It must have a point of view and be arguable (that is, someone else could argue it’s not true). An interpretive thesis takes a stand, and uses the primary sources as evidence to prove it.
For example:
X happened because Y happened.
Although most people believe X, closer examination of the evidence indicates Y.
During this era people experience X, because of Y.
A thesis is not just a topic, such as:
Agriculture through time
Women and voting rights
Why church architecture is special
Rather it needs to be a complete sentence that sets up a point to prove:
The Progressive Era was marked by the recognition by the media of the shift in women’s roles and their increasing influence outside the home.
Discovery of some Roman ruins in 18th century, and reactions to extravagance of Baroque and Rococo lead to the rise of Neoclassicism.
Although the U.S. Congress ratified the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution between the years of 1865-1870, respectively, blacks were still being persecuted unfairly.
A good thesis
One way to tell whether a thesis is good is to pick out the interpretive word(s). For example, in:
The emerging ideals of individualism and free thought during the Enlightenment were influential in perpetuating the French Revolution
“Influential” is the interpretive word. The author will need to prove that these ideas were influential, using primary sources from the Boards.
Hellenic Greece established a gender based civilization that suppressed women.
“Suppressed” is the interpretive word. The author will need to prove this suppression.
In the late 19th century, American imperialism was a prominent force in global politics.
“A prominent force” is what will be proven here.
Interpretive words prevent the thesis from just being factual. Take a look at this one:
The art of the Middle Ages expressed the religious values of the age.
By adding a cause or effect, and being specific, we can make a factual thesis more interpretive:
Stained glass in medieval cathedrals expressed the idea of getting closer to God.
Using and citing sources
We have many sources in the Primary Sources Board, and all are (or should be) fully cited with author/artist, title, date and a live link. We can use only sources that have been posted in the Primary Sources Board for our writing. However, if you have a broad area of study you like and want to write about, you can add sources to any Board at any time throughout the class. So long as they are fully cited and available to all, you may use them. So let’s say I’ve looked through the available Boards, and I see three sources I like that seem to have something in common.
Primary sources that can be used!!!
Artist/Author: Thomas Nast
Title: Andrew Jackson reconstruction and how it works
Date: Harper’s Weekly, 1866
Retrieved from Harpweek (https://www.harpweek.com/09cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=September&Date=1
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This print is mocking Reconstruction. It is making several literary allusions to Shakespeare. It portrays Presidents Andrew Jackson as Lago and a black soldier as Othello. There are riots in New Orleans and Memphis. The bottom is implying a defeat for reconstruction with General Sheridan bowing to General Herron. There is a lot going on with this primary source. It also shows President Andrew Johnson trying to allure a Confederate Copperhead (peace democrats).
Artist/Author: Thomas Nast
Title: “The ‘Bloody Shirt’ Reformed”
Date: Harper’s Weekly, 1876
Retrieved From: HarpWeek
(Links to an external site.)
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This print shows the demand for justice and execution of the white mens responsible for the murder of six black men that occurred after a race riot in Hamburg, South Carolina, in July 1876. As the image shows the Declaration of Independence document on the left and the Constitution on the right. While the KKK, White league, and White liners are shown in the background poster. This can be provided as evidence that there were crimes being committed against blacks regardless of the “equality and freedom” given from the 13th amendment and how crime acts are still happening.
Artist/Author: Thomas Nast
Title: “Is This a Republican Form of Government? Is This Protecting Life, Liberty, or Property? Is This the Equal Protection of the Laws?”
Date: September 2, 1876
Retrieved from: PBS (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/reconstruction-thomas-nasts-political-cartoons/
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Comment: This political cartoon highlights the failure of Southern Reconstruction. Despite efforts made by Radical Republicans and amendments made to the Constitution affording freed slaves some civil rights, black people were still not protected from those who meant them harm. Many believed that the freeing of the slaves was enough, but failed to continue to support them through the transition from slaves to free people.
Artist/Author: Thomas Nast
Title: Emancipation
Date: 1865
Retrieved From: Iowaculture.gov
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: This work by Thomas Nast shows two depictions of the US. On the left side, we see a slave auction and what I presume is a family being torn apart, as the mother cries with her children. Below this we see slaves being flogged by their masters, as well as being whipped in a field. This is a depiction of life under the slave holding south and the confederacy. On the right we see former slaves celebrating their freedom and going to a clerk, purchasing their own goods. In the center we see an African American family together in their home. At the top from left to right we see the hellhound Cerberus, the Lady of Liberty, and a woman extending an olive branch
Artist/Author: Waud, Alfred R. (Alfred Rudolph)
Title: The first vote
Date: 1867 November 16
Retrieved from: https://www.loc.gov/item/00651117/
(Links to an external site.)
Illus. in: Harper’s weekly
Comment: This print shows African American men waiting their turn to vote. The African men are dressed very professionally and are standing in an orderly fashion. This print is referencing the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which granted African American men the right to vote by declaring them citizens of the United States. This print seems to be in favor of that decision.
Artist: Chapman, Thomas
Title: False reconstruction; or, The slavery that is not abolished
Date: 1876
Link: False reconstruction; or, The slavery that is not abolished | DPLA
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: This source has an ironic title talking about false reconstruction because it connects to how slavery not abolished would be part of the failure. This title talks as if it’s one or the other when in fact they are practically the same thing but only seem different depending on the perspective of the reconstruction era and what’s happening.
Artist/Author: Frank Leslie
Title: Meding the Family Kettle
Date: June 16, 1866
Retrieved from: https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3g09374/
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: This shows Andrew Johnson holding a leaky kettle that says “The Reconstructed South”. This leaky kettle represents the hardships of trying to put all the pieces back together post-war and move towards Liberty, represented as the woman in this illustration. The baby held by the woman is the newly instated 14th amendment. The comment on the illustration reads “Columbia- ‘Now Andy, I wish you and your boys would hurry up that job, because I want to use that kettle right away. You are all talking too much about it.’ ”
Artist/Author: Reinhart, Charles Stanley
Title: Lincoln, the emancipator.
Date: April 20, 1872
Retrieved from Harper’s weekly : a journal of civilization and the NYPL Picture Collection
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: This a picture of African American’s gathered around Lincoln’s grave I believe and other generals. In the right hand corner the summary of that passage is talking about the details of where Lincoln or they called him the General body was taken and where the service is being held. It is also about remembering him and that people said prayers at his grave site.
Artist: Unknown
Title: The Virginia Elections
Date: 1865
Source: The New York Public Library
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: New York: Harper’s Weekly Co., 1857-1916. This print depicts the Virginia elections with this text printed on the border. “President Johnson. ‘My good friend don’t sulk and swagger. We have done all that. The United States means no injustice to any man, white or black. They give you a chance. Let me advise you to use it wisely. Times have changed: if you can’t change with them the Government will help you” “Aug 19, 1865.”.
Artist/Author: Alfred Waud
Title: Untitled ( President Johnson as Mercutio)
Date: Harper’s Weekly, 1868
Retrieved from: HarpWeek (https://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=February&Date=1
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Through its illusion of the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet, this primary source is seen to depict the struggles between Johnson (Mercutio) and the predominantly republican congress in regard to the Reconstruction. Johnson is seen being stabbed by two congressional acts that had been rejected by Congress; the Stanton Reinstated and the Supreme Court Bill. An ally of the president, Secretary of State William Seward is seen leaning over and in support while opposing congressmen stand in the background.
Artist: Unknown
Title: Mending the family kettle
Date: June 16, 1866
Retrieved from: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/9503hpr-5fb40aef7d6c9de/ (Links to an external site.)
Comment: This shows president Andrew Johnson holding a leaking kettle with holes all around it labeled as “The Reconstructed South”. The lady is labeled as “Colombia” and the baby as “Constitutional amendment”. This relates to our lesson because “Colombia” is telling president Johnson if he could hurry up because she wants to use the kettle “The Reconstructed South” which is representing that it took them so long to actually ratify the 14th and 15th amendments after the war, and reconstruct the south.
Artist/Author: Alfred R. Waud
Title: The Freedmans Bureau
Date: HarpWeek 1868
Retrieved from: HarpWeek https://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=July&Date=25
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: This cartoon represents the three years the Freedmans Bureau was in place for the blacks to be protected by the United States Army from the whites who did not believe in it. Freedmans Bureau was granted to assist the African Americans into their transition from slavery to freedom with medical, legal, shelter, and other assistance. This lasted from 1865-1868.
Artist: Taylor, James E.
Title: Glimpses at the Freedmen – The Freedmen’s Union Industrial School, Richmond, Va.
Date: September 22, 1866
Retrieved from : https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=8&psid=2377&filepath=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/primarysources_upload/images/the_freedmen_l.jpg
(Links to an external site.)
https://www.loc.gov/item/98501491/
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Comment:
This here is a sketch of black women learning how to sew at the Freedmen’s Union Industrial School. This relates to our lesson because, after the civil war and the 13th amendment freeing all slaves, many of them were illiterate and had no skills. To ease them into the free world they set up schools like this one teaching many black people trade skills and mathematics.
Artist/Author: Unknown (Source: New York Tribune.)
Title: “Terrorism in the South, Citizens Beaten and Shot at, A New Chapter”.
Date: U.S. Newspaper, 1880
Retrieved from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/story-deadliest-massacre-reconstruction-era-louisiana-180970420/
(Links to an external site.)
The picture was made after it was discovered that white Democrats in the south were hunting down African-American voters in an attempt to do voter intimidation. This was due to white Democrats despite having lost the Civil War having a desire to still hold on to the power they once had for decades before. despite their efforts though African-American voters stood strong and managed to vote and succeed in a Republican win for both local and state legislature.
Artist/Author: William Fox
Title: “Letter from Freedmen’s Bureau to Enos Harrell”
Date: January 20 1866
Retrieved from: https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-freedmen-s-bureau/sources/113
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: This print is a picture of a letter written by William Fox from the Freedmen’s Bureau to Enos Harrell on behalf of a freedwoman named Sophia Dunford who claimed she had not received payment for work that she did. In this letter, Enos Harrell is given the option to settle with Sophia Dunford for the money she is owed or an investigation will be conducted. This is a primary source as it was written in 1866 during the Reconstruction era and before the basic destruction of the Freedman’s Bureau by Andrew Johnson. It is just one example of how the Freedman’s Bureau helped freed slaves.
https://www.loc.gov/item/94507780/
(Links to an external site.)
Artist/Author: Harper’s Weekly
Title: Memphis Riot
Date: 26 May, 1866
Retrieved from: Tennessee State Library and Archives
Comment: This image shows the intense massacre which was led by a series of violent events that occurred from May 1 to 3, 1866. The image depicts the racial violence which was ignited from the high tensions following shortly after the American Civil War, leading into the early stages of the Reconstruction Era. This is a primary source from Harper’s Weekly from May 3, 1866 as stated above which was used to spread information around the town showing the ongoing violence
Artist/Author: Principal of School, John J. Carter
Title: Monthly Report for Freedman’s School of Sharpsburg, MD
Date: July 1869
Retrieved: NPS.Gov
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: African-Americans were restricted from Education. During Reconstruction, one of the biggest things they wanted for themselves was to be educated and to learn. There was a shortage of teachers due to the War and the Reconstruction that was happening. There were many white public schools before and after Reconstruction but known for the colored children. This document shows their monthly report in the school system and how they organized it. This primary source shows how the freed slaves began their journey of freedom and bettering themselves in the United States as Reconstruction began.
Artist/author: Thomas Nast
Date: January 12, 1867
Retrieved from: https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/reconstruction/slavery-dead
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: This was created five years after the emancipation proclamation and a year after the ratification of the 13th amendment. The picture is showing how African Americans were not protected in the picture they are being punished for a crime.
Artist/Author: Thomas Nast
Title: This Is a White Man’s Government
Date: Harper’s Weekly , September 5, 1868
Retrieved from: Reconstruction | Definition, Summary, Timeline & Facts | Britannica
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: This shows three KKK members standing atop an African American Civil War veteran. Among the 3 KKK members are founder Nathan Bedford and Wall Street financier August Belmont.
Artist/Author: Thomas Nast
Title: Shall we call home our troops? “We intend to beat the negro in the battle of life & defeat means one thing–EXTERMINATION”
Date: 1875, Birmingham (Alabama)
Retrieved from the library of congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a03175/
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: At the bottom of this image there is an African American who behind the soldier and is holding a rolled up paper that reads: EQUAL RIGHTS. At the top left there are signs that read: KKK (with a skull and crossbones) • CALL HOME YOUR TROOPS • NO COMPROMISE. NO UNIFICATION. BUT A WHITEMAN’S GOVERNMENT OR RUIN AND EXTERMINATION • WE INTEND TO BEAT THE NEGRO IN THE BATTLE OF LIFE, AND DEFEAT MEANS ONE THING – EXTERMINATION. BIRMINGHAM ALA. NEWS. • THE NEGRO POPULATION MUST BE THINNED OUT TO GIVE PLACE TO WHITE MEN.
In this 1875 image published in the Birmingham (Alabama) News and titled, “Shall we call home our troops? We intend to beat the negro in the battle of life & defeat means one thing–EXTERMINATION,” a group of five Southern white men is shouting at and intimidating an African-American man who cowers behind a United States soldier. The soldier is calmly standing between the mob and African American with his gun and bayonet pointed toward the ground.
Artist/Author: Nast, Thomas
Title: Pardon. Franchise Columbia. — “Shall I trust these men, and not this man?”
Date: 1865
Retrieved: Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/resource/ds.07129/
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: The image on the left are Confederate troops begging Columbia for pardon. The image on the right is an African American soldier who lost a leg, does not have the right to vote. Columbia asks, “Shall I trust these men, and not this man?”
Artist/Author: Henry P. Moore
Title: “Slavery, Land Ownership, and Black Women’s Community Networks”
Date: 1862
Retrieved From: https://www.aaihs.org/slavery-land-ownership-and-black-womens-community-networks/
(Links to an external site.)
This print show that the black slaves’ live. There are so many bad thing in slavery. They have to leave their family, they be trade for something. Their owner always use violence to punishment them. Women have a very low status in the society in that time. After the slavery, women give a very important understanding in gender, race and class. The slavery is gone but they still not be equal as a man.
Artist/ Author: D. R. Clark
Title: Abolishing Slavery. Joint resolution of the thirty eight Congress of the United States of America, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery.
Date: 1868
Retrieved from: Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/scsm000681/
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Commentary: The document was in joint with the 13th amendment to rule slavery as unconstitutional. It outlines the specifics surrounding what will be abolished and no longer allowed into slavery states. The signatures show who was in favor of this amendment and represents a turning point for Black people in this country. While it did not solve any racial issues it allowed for many slaves to leave brutal conditions and begin to lead a separate life from slave owners.
Artist/Author: Thomas Kelly
Title: The Fifteenth Amendment
Date: 1870
Retrieved from Lumen Learning ; https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory2os/chapter/primary-source-images-reconstruction/
This image portrays what life would be like if all were to be included in the nation thus including the black community. This means black women teaching, black males voting , couples getting married, going to school and having a say of word of what goes on in the nation ( writing important documents). This depicts what the world would look like if all had been seen as equal.
TitleAbolishing Slavery. Joint resolution of the thirty eight Congress of the United States of America, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery.Contributor NamesWestern Bank Note (Engraver)Created / PublishedD. R. Clark, Illinois, 1868Subject Headings- Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865- African American- abolition- Lincoln-portrait of- Portraits- Broadsides- United States — IllinoisGenrePortraitsBroadsidesNotes- Includes list of Congressmen voting aye.Medium60.7 x 45.7 cm.Call Number/Physical LocationPortfolio 6, no. 14Stern catalog 4787Source CollectionThe Alfred Whital Stern Collection of LincolnianaRepositoryRare Book And Special Collections DivisionDigital Idhttp://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/lprbscsm.scsm0681
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Artist: Thomas Nast
Title: Slavery is dead
Date: 1866
Retrieved from: https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/reconstruction/slavery-dead
(Links to an external site.)
This photo shows that African Americans were not thoroughly protected on the right. The left shows a African American being sold as a for punishment for a crime before the Emancipation of Proclamation. The Emancipation of Proclamation projected that all slaves shall be set free residing in rebellious states shall be set free. You can also notice between the two pictures wording “Civil rights bill”, “Emancipation of Declaration” January 1st 1963.
Artist: Thomas Nast
Title: This Is A White Mans Government
Date: Harpers Weekly, September 1868
Retrieved: HistoryChannel.com https://www.history.com/news/voter-suppression-history-opelousas-massacre
(Links to an external site.)
Commentary: From all the available primary sources in terms of imagery there is a huge correlation to a specific artist or man who is at the root of many of these hard-to-swallow and impactful drawings who is Mr. Thomas Nast. Causing a growth in American political cartoon that sends a serious message that hyperbolizes American society in the past. Which to this credit to what is being shown in the image above is the harsh reality that can still be seen today which is the title itself speaking for itself of the government being a white man sector. With the depiction of 3 white men who look like their representing powers of interest groups like a politician/presidential candidate, a rebel general, and a corrupt businessman, all being on the back pinning a black man who is to be “freed” to the ground to beg in mercy with his anxious face.
Artist/author: Isham G. Bailey
Title: Sharecropper contract, 1867
Date: The State of Mississippi Marshall County, January 1, 1867
Retrieved from: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/sharecropper-contract-1867
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: This source depicts the agreement between two families on how they contribute to their shared land. One family, contributes cotton while the other contributes meat to the Bailey family. A large percentage of what they harvest goes to them while also providing services such as cleaning and cooking. The significance with this is that poor people and former slaves were still economically dependent upon others. Not entirely freedom.
Artist/Author: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper
Title: A Lady Delegate Reading Her Argument in Favor of Woman’s Voting on the Basis of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Constitutional Amendments
Date: 1871-02-04
Retrieved From: Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives and
(Links to an external site.)
National Women’s History Museum
(Links to an external site.)
Comment: This photo captures the moment Victoria Woodhull fought for the right to vote to become the first women to fight to vote among the House Committee. This comes about when the Fourteenth Amendment allowed the freedom of both men and women who were enslaved. This also allowed that no states were to create a law that would take away their rights. But, the fourteenth amendment was the first to mention a name claiming that men over the age of 21 were allowed to vote. Never mentioning the word women, this got people upset especially women making it harder for them to have rights in American despite The Fifteenth Constitutional Amendment stating that voting should be allowed and not discriminated against on account of race.
