HST 201 Module #15

Module Fifteen:  Save Room for the Sequel (1873 CE-1877 CE)
I'm professor Ryan Lancaster, and this is Module 15: Save Room for the Sequel. This week, we are looking at all the unresolved issues from the Reconstruction. Much like a movie that leaves plot points unsettled at the end to set up the next film in the series, so goes the end of this module. While the Reconstruction of the union seems like a good place to place a bow on things, unfortunately, that did seem to be the case. Many issues will again brim over the edge, and Americans will kick the can down the road for another time. 

If you think you are ready, let's get started.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Otherwise, we'll see you out there.

​Next Rule of History: Don't detach from your humanity. Anecdotal value refers to the primary social and political significance of stories or anecdotal evidence in advancing knowledge of a social, cultural, or economic phenomenon. While anecdotal evidence is generally unscientific, the evaluation of anecdotes has welcomed sustained academic scrutiny from economists and intellectuals in the last several decades. Academics seek to quantify the importance of the use of anecdotes. For example, consider the quote widely misattributed to Joseph Stalin: The death of one man is a tragedy; the death of millions is a statistic.
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Here is a reasonably morbid exercise I have my students perform to help unshackle themselves from just reading the statistics of an event:

Imagine one dead body. Imagine the toe tag, the white sheet over the corpse. Feel the stillness in the air. This is relatively easy to do, even to someone with the weakest of imaginations.

Now imagine two bodies. Not too difficult here, side by side in the morgue.

Now 10. Ten bodies start to change to the room's smell, which is now full of bodies stacked on top like a ghastly pyramid. 

Now 100. Decaying bodies spill out of the room. Flies and stench of rot fill the air.

Now 1000. 

Now 10,000.

Eventually, the number because to arduous to control. The vision and scope are lost in the sheer size of a problem. That is how we can sit like Hindu cows when we read an estimated 100,000 civilians died from the US bombing of Tokyo in 1945. People are not numbers, and we must remember that as we go through our textbooks. These anecdotal events are actual events that happen to actual people.
HIGHLIGHTS
​LECTURES
#057: Fashion and Fire (29:17)
#058: Scandal, Amnesty, and Panic (42:07)
#059: Blue Jeans, the Derby, and the Page Ac(t 33:22)
#060: Calamity Jane, Little Big Horn, and the Compromise of 1877 (35:30)
READING
My classes utilize both Howard Zinn's Patriot's History of the United States and Larry Schweikart's Patriot's History of the United States, mostly in excerpts posted to the modules. You can access the full text of People's History or Patriot's History by clicking on the links. ​
Picture
Soldiers train with a dromedary camel in the photo of the US Camel Corp, which was active from 1856 to 1866. The Army formed the unit to see how the desert animals would perform in the American Southwest.
WATCH
KEY TERMS
ASSIGNMENTS
  • Forum Discussion #16
  • Quiz #5
​Remember all assignments, tests and quizzes must be submitted official via BLACKBOARD
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Forum Discussion #16
We sure had fun this semester, and grew as people. In two paragraphs or more, describe one thing you enjoyed learning about. If this class was a fate worse than death, describe something you would like to learn about NEXT time?

Need help? Remember the Discussion Board Rubric.
Ready to take the Final Exam? Click the link above to get the study guide.

LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO
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