Latha Karne
April 30, 2015
H Block
Cinderella Man Blog Post Essay

     I agree with the statement that "The movie, Cinderella Man, takes place during the Great Depression, but it ultimately does a much better job of telling us an emotional and inspirational "fairy tale" about one man that it does exposing audiences to the facts about the Great Depression as it was experienced by most Americans." This was seen in the way Braddock's story has a happy ending.

    The movie is an accurate depiction of what life was like during the Great Depression and right before the Great Depression hit, with the Stock Market Crash. Right before the Great Depression, everyone was so happy that they were free from the war that they saw life in a new way. This feeling was depicted in the movie in the way the first fighting seen was portrayed, where Braddock easily won. The scene was light and fun and everyone around the boxers were happy and Braddock seemed happier. He comes to his family and his wife has someone with her while they are watching the kids. The music played in the background during this scene was light and fun, nothing was tense or stressful.

   Almost immediately, the movie starts the next scene during the Great Depression. There is no transition scene, it jumps straight in. I feel that this demonstrates the abruptness of the Great Depression. There was no transition point; families were thrown straight from a life of happiness to a life of poverty and struggle. In this movie, this is abrupt transition is depicted by the scene with a table full of the things the Braddock's own, and then immediately switching to the next scene where the table is empty.

   Another scene in the movie that describes the abruptness is the way the filmmaker uses the night. Before, Braddock was happy to be coming home at night and being awake at night. This was before the Great Depression where the table of the Braddock's things was full. During the Great Depression, James Braddock, or "Jim" as he is refered to in the movie, is struggling to be awake at night. He gives up his breakfast so his daughter, who is very hungry, can eat.

   Depicting the abruptness of the Great Depression helps the viewers to better realize the horrifying part of the Great Depression.This realization is important because it allows the readers to see that there was no preparation. Now, if a man found out he was going to lose his job and everything, things may slowly start to disappear, so the man has time to acclimate to his new life. In this case, there was no acclimation. It just happened.

   The historical accuracy where people were waiting in long lines and begging for money is true. In the picture depicted below, there is a long line of people waiting to get bread. The bread line was not depicted in the movie, but the struggle for food and money is seen in the movie. This is seen in the scene where James' son steals food from the bakery because they have none and it is also seen in how it takes James at least 3 times (of the times shown in the movie) to get a job at the docks.

  Though the movie exposes its viewers to the harrowing life that was experienced by people living during the Great Depression, it distracts from the horrifying part by telling viewers the "fairy tale" story of the Great Depression. Everything about the movie is true, howegver the filmmaker did not a good job of stating what happened to all of the other people during the Great Depression after Braddock's fight.

  At the end of the movie, Braddock won his fight and this was true in real life too, but he was just one man who became successful out of many people who did not. At the end of the movie, the viewer is happy thinking about how amazing it was that Braddock won. However, the filmmaker does not say what happened to the millions of other people who didn't win like Braddock. Yes, Braddock's story is inspiring and definitely something that gave people courage to keep fighting and not giving up during the Great Depression. However, the Great Depression still went on. The ending of the movie changed the focus of the movie from being about the Great Depression, to being about how one man overcame it and found a way to live life without as many struggles. Some people could get distracted by the inspirational and emotional story, than about the real struggles that millions of other people faced during the Great Depression because life didn't magically come together for many people.


The long lines people had to wait in to get food.

Sources:
Rotten Tomatoes

Washington - What was life like in the great depression?

Calisphere

Begging in the Great Depression"

WWI Propaganda Posters

1.   This poster was meant to convey happy feelings when people looked at it. It is a poster advertising how exciting joining the Navy would be, in a time when they needed men to fight. The artist uses bright colors to convey how exciting joining the Navy would be. The artist also uses a man wearing a clean uniform that is blue, the color of boys, to convey that this poster is targeting men and it is a good job, because the men can keep their uniforms clean. Also, the poster is conveying a sense of urgency by the words, “Ashore, on leave” saying that the Navy needs you whenever you’re ready. The artist also uses the word, “wonderful” to convey how amazing this is to try and convince men to join the Navy.

2.  This poster is also targeting men by trying to get them to join. The colors outside the window convey life and activeness. The man inside the window is dark, and the question is asking men whether they want to be outside the window, with their friends, or inside the window, in the dark.

3.  During WWI, propaganda posters were used to get women to join and help out in the army as medics. This poster is appealing to the maternal side in all women and getting them to join so that they can do something even better and take care of their soldiers.

Civil Rights Field Trip

I learned about the 16th Street Church. I had heard about the church and how it was bombed, but never knew how many girls were killed and that the bomb didn't blow up the entire church. I think hearing about the events in a classroom can often bore people. By going to the event, it allows us to connect with what we learned and when we have to remember the material for a test, we can easily say, "Oh I remember seeing that on the trip," and it will stick because there is a visual picture that is already present in our mind. Otherwise, by hearing it in a classroom, we are visualizing the image and stories in our head, and not always able to remember what we came up with. I don't think this experience changed my perspective on the Civil Rights' issues because I still feel like schools shouldn't be segregated and there shouldn't be racism towards any race. I just am horrified that our country, who speaks so much about diversity and being the melting pot, had a time in history where we were being absolute hypocrites. I think the field trip was worth it because I now have a more distinct view on what people mean when they say Civil Rights movement. I've always thought of it as the period of 1950s-1960s and that's when people started speaking up even more, but I never realized the extent of how much better life was for a white person. Actually going to the historic site makes it even more worth it because you are forced to pay attention. If you're in class watching a movie or going through a slide show, it is already tough to pay attention. On the field trip, you are responsible for doing the work and you have to. The visuals at the museum made it much more interesting because I wasn't just reading or seeing pictures, I felt like I was in the classrooms, on the buses, at the water fountains. What the museum had done was re-create the 1960s with stone people and allowed us to see what that time period was really like.

World War I Fast Facts Homework Questions

1.     Began in 1914; triggered by assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; officially began when Germany invaded Belgium and France; groups: Allied powers (UK, France, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro, Russia, US, Italy, Japan). Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria)

2.      The Unites States entered the war in 1917 because of: sinking of Lusitania (British passenger liner), unrestricted German submarine warfare, and Zimmerman note(German plot to provoke Mexico to war against the US)

3.      The war ended because Germany (the Ottoman Empire) had realized that it was had lost the war and its territories were slowly being lost. They surrendered on November 11^th, 1918

4.     The major agreement was called the Treaty of Versailles; made Germany give up territory and pay reparations for the War; also started the League of Nations (now the United Nations)

5.     I want to know how the other countries were able to stop Germany and the Allied from fighting back after WWI had ended. How did these countries ensure that the Allied Powers followed the terms set by the Treaty of Versailles.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=12

http://www.is.wayne.edu/MNISSANI/WWI/Encarta.htm                  

http://cmes.arizona.edu/sites/cmes.arizona.edu/files/2.%20Overview%20-%20WWI%20in%20the%20Mid%20East.pdf

WWI Casualties Graph

3rd Quarter Research Project

Latha Karne

February 18, 2014

H Block

3rd Quarter Research Project

    

       Birth control was such a controversial topic in the late 19th and early 20th century. This was such a controversial topic because people believed that birth control shouldn't be allowed to be used because it was against the bible. Others believed that it should be used because women should have the right to pleasure in marriage and not have the burden of children.

       In the progressive era, many women were beginning to want to have a place in society and be able to speak up for themselves. However, they were being held back because they had to stay at home and take care of their children. The beliefs behind the movement were that women were dying because they were giving birth to many children and that weakened their bodies (the average number of babies a child had in the 1800s was 7 babies). Over time, women became creative and began to use home remedies and abstinence to resist sex. Also, women would marry late or not marry at all to postpone having children.

      
       Margaret Sanger was a huge activist for the birth control movement during the progressive era. She worked as a nurse and saw many mothers die during pregnancies because their last pregnancies left them too weak. She also saw her own mother die at a young age and blamed it on the fact that her mother went through 18 pregnancies, which is not healthy for any women. Sanger also saw large families in poverty who did not have the financial ability to take care of another child, yet they still had more children because there was nothing they could do about it. Other mothers who could handle another child would self abort. Margaret Sanger said, “Most of us are brought into this world by accident and that is exactly what birth control is going to change. That is going to make humanity a conscious and voluntary thing…” I want to relate this quote to the picture below of the woman holding up a sign saying, Mother by Choice. This is monumental because it allowed to women to have a say about when they are ready to have a child. It gave women more of say and more control. At this point, marriage was very male-dominant, in that what the father said goes. Women were seeking a “companionate” marriage.

       Margaret Sanger was the voice of this campaign. When she started campaigning for the right to distribute birth control and give knowledge to people about the importance of birth control, she was arrested for breaking the Comstock Law. The Comstock Law was created in the 1870s and prevented the spreading or birth control information or devices. This law was created because people believed that birth control is immoral. He said that God made women to bear children and that by using birth control, women were going against God and committing a sin. Also, at this point in time, sex was only seen as a means for procreation and not for pleasure within a marriage and that was a belief that Sanger and her colleagues were trying to fix. Another argument against the birth control movement was that it was selfish and limiting families. It was depriving the nation of a future workforce ad that the Upper Class should definitely not use it because they had desirable traits that needed to be passed on.

       Dr. Charles Knowlton, a doctor in Massachusetts, used the work from other proponents of the birth control movement and set out to find a new method for birth control. He believed that there were some cheap, convenient, and harmless methods which shouldn’t interfere with the enjoyment. They were able to use rubber to create a method for birth control, called condoms. However, the proponents were not successful in the persuasion aspect of this innovation process because they American population was not ready to hear about sex in a pleasurable way.

       Margaret Sanger began working to spread the word on birth control, and through this coined the phrase, “birth control.” She published newspaper columns that got shut down, and also printed a newsletter called, “The Women Rebel” that ended up getting shut down. Then, Sanger was arrested for violating the Comstock Law. She fled to England instead of facing charges and while in England, studied the birth control movement that England had gone through. She also traveled around Europe, learning about their contraceptive methods. Sanger returned to the US and opened up a clinic called the New York Birth Control League. Sanger and her colleague Bryne were arrested for opening the clinic and distributing information and devices for birth control. However, during their trial, one judge, Judge Crane, said that Sanger was not breaking the law. The New York Law stated that, “an article or instrument, used or applied by physicians lawfully practicing, or by their direction or prescription for the cure or prevention of disease, is not an article of indecent or immoral nature to use, within this article.” He also defined disease as, “an alteration in the state of the body…causing threatening pain or sickness.” This means that preganancy is considered a disease and physicians could talk about contraception and contraceptive methods with married couples. Sanger then opened up a birth control clinic and staffed it with 40 doctors.

       However, Archbishop Patrick Hayes, an opponent to the birth control movement, had Sanger and her colleagues and staff at the clinic arrested. He was a member of the church and did was Sanger called, “barricaded himself behind the bible.” This got the sympathy from the doctors and the judge ended siding with the physicians, saying they had the right to privately discuss contraception with married couples.

       I think the innovation of the birth control movement was successful in the progressive era. Sanger communicated with the public, collaborated with doctors and other women (some are shown in the picture below), and tried to persuade the American people about the importance of birth control. However, this was not a successful reform until the 1950s and 1960s. At the time of the progressive era, the American public was not ready to hear about sex being used for pleasure in a romantic love. The American public was still in the mindset that sex is a way to procreate and that if that is not the case, then it is against the bible. God created women to procreate (as said in the Bible) and raise the future men and women, and if that was not happening, then sins are being committed. However, Sanger was successful in the area of communication because she spoke directly to the women who were suffering and related to the women, and collaborated with women to get the movement to go. If it was not for Sanger’s determination along with her communication, collaboration, and persuasion, this movement would have been successful in US History. This movement during the progressive era laid the foundation for the success of the moment in the 1950s and 1960s. 

Pictures:

This is an image of Margaret Sanger, a leader in the birth control movement of the progressive era.

This is a picture of a mother who is a supporter of the birth control movement and is proud to be a mother because she chose to. She wants all mothers to be this way and this can be seen through the smile and peaceful look on her face.

This is the book that Margaret Sanger wrote when she was trying to educate girls and women on the importance of contraception and birth control.

Margaret Sanger is surrounded by her supporters, who are all female and are discussing an important issue.

This is an image of the Archbishop of New York City who requested to have Margaret Sanger and her colleagues arrested who going against the Comstock Law. Also, he was against the birth control movement.

Sources:

 National Women's History Museum

This website was useful because it allowed me to see the history behind the controversy over birth control and what organizations were started. It also gave me search terms with organizations that are directly linked to the progressive era because the name of the organization changed after the progressive era.

Penn State University - Birth Control

This website was useful because it gave me multiple views on the controversy over Birth Control. It gave the arguments of Michael P. Dowling, Winter Russell, and Margaret Sanger. Michael P. Dowling was against the birth control pill and Winter Russell and Margaret Sanger for pro-birth control for different reasons. Reading these opinions helped me see how people were persuaded because there were different reasons to be pro-birth control. Also, it gave me Michael P. Dowling’s opinion and seeing the opposition and what they believed and why they wouldn’t be pro-birth control.

US History Textbook (from class)

The textbook was useful because it gave me an overview of the birth control movement. It also told me one of the causes for the controversy on birth control and how it was due to the fact that people began to change their belief on the purpose of sex and that it was a pleasurable experience and a way to celebrate love instead of thinking of sex as a way for procreation.

History of Birth Control - Washington Post

This website was useful because it gave me an overlook into the history of birth control and also told me who Margaret Sanger collaborated with. It also showed me another reason as to why Sanger was so pro-birth control.

First Speech by Margaret Sanger

This was a useful source because it was a primary source and allowed me to read one of Sanger’s first speeches and see the evidence and the horrific numbers that are part of infant deaths.

Birth Control Movement - Issues and Controversies in American History

This website was useful because it was an article and let me see the entire story from beginning to end on the birth control and Margaret Sanger’s role in the movement. It was also a good source for pictures. 

How do you analyze a political cartoon?

A political cartoon is a satirical way of commenting on events that are occurring currently, or that have already occurred. The best way to analyze a political cartoon is to understand what is going on in the cartoon and find a way to connect the cartoon or situation at hand to a real life event. The cartoons are usually supposed to look at a heavy or sad event in a funny way.

After reading the blog post, I agree with what was said and I feel the same way I did before. I also learned to think about the perspective that the cartoonist is offering based on the cartoon to gain an extra insight. And, to also look for labels and words. Using these criteria:

• What issue is this political cartoon about?
• What is the cartoonist’s opinion on this issue?
• What other opinion can you imagine another person having on this issue?
• Did you find this cartoon persuasive? Why or why not?
• What other techniques could the cartoonist have used to make this cartoon more persuasive?

Website I found the guide from

Political Cartoon #1

This political cartoon is highlighting the open door policy in an agreeable way. 

I can tell that this is about the open door policy because it says it at the bottom. Also, it shows the Philippines being used as the gate for the foreign countries to invade China. Also, it shows Uncle Sam (representing the US) opening the door for the Germans, English, and Russians to enter. 

Political Cartoon #2

This political cartoon is using sarcasm to show what the US is using the Philippine islands for. It also portrays the US in a negative way in that Uncle Sam is shown stepping on the Philippines to go into a country with signs portraying all of these problems.

I came to this conclusion through the words written on the signs, the image of Uncle Sam stepping on the Philippines, and the numerous objects that Uncle Sam is holding while stepping towards China. Also, the author portrays this situation in a negative way by using green as the color of the Philippines and the US, but yellow as the color of the beaches of China. It is known that China is the land on the right side of the picture through the gray wall in the distance that signifies The Great Wall of China. The sarcastic tone is shown through the caption at the bottom. The main words being, "After All" that signify the sarcasm. 

 

Political Cartoon #3

This cartoon depicts the unwillingness of the US territories to cooperate with the US rules and their hesitation to oblige by the US's rules. It also shows that through time, these territories will become states like the others did.

To come to this conclusion, I first looked at the caption at the bottom. It shows a dialogue between Uncle Sam and his students. Uncle Sam says that the territories must learn the rules and adjust to life and after time, it will make life easier for them. I knew that he was talking about the territories needing to adjust to to the US's rules because it kids in front that Uncle Sam is talking to have the countries' names on their shirts (Puerto Rico, Philippines, Cuba, and Hawaii). I knew that he was talking about life improving for them (as did for the current states) because the kids in back have the names "California" "Texas" and "Arizona" on their books.