Reaction to Writing the Photo Essay March 20, 2007

When we discussed in class that for this assignment a specific event would probably be the easiest course to take, I immediately thought of the 1968 Democratic Convention.  While I was interested in this topic and had done previous study on it, I was unsure as to how many pictures were actually available for the public.  I first did a Google image search just to see what was out there and came up with a few interesting shots.  However, my fear of copyright infringement actually prevented me from using a lot of interesting photos.  Many of the photos that appeared in the Google Image search had very unclear origins.  I mostly stuck with Wikipedia because we had discussed in class how to cite Wikipedia and to me it seemed the most fool proof.

Originally I wanted to just find a generic picture of Chicago to set the scene for the convention.  However, the only picture I could find of Lincoln Park specifically, the scene of a lot of the riots, was in winter, the park covered with snow.  This seemed inappropriate to me since the convention took place in the summer.  The only other pictures of Lincoln Park I found were from poster websites so I quickly abandoned that idea.  I started with Mayor Daley because when I thought about it he was such an important force behind Chicago politics and especially the events surrounding the demonstrations.   After I had the idea to use pictures of people the rest fell into place easily.

Instead of using the general city picture that had originally planned, I ended up finding the great picture of the riots which is much more fitting for the essay as a whole.  Also while I had originally wanted a picture of Tom Hayden from the 60s but when I found the more recent picture of him, speaking at a recent protest I thought that would be a good way to tie the events of the 68 convention to more recent conventions and current politics.

Overall, I really enjoyed doing the photo essay because I got to look at a lot of interesting pictures, even if I couldn’t use them all.  I also found it a somewhat anxiety ridden assignment since the consequences of copyright infringement can be very big.  However, I think that pictures are important when writing about history, especially more modern history where there is certainly a wealth of photographs to choose from.  Photos can certainly enhance the story of history and add valuable visuals when discussing important events.

1968 Democratic Convention in Photos

The 1968 Democratic National Convention took place in Chicago from August 26-29. America had been in turmoil after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy earlier that year. Vietnam War protests were also on the rise and early on many different groups such as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Youth International Party (YIPPIES) planned to protest war policies at the convention.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia, Richard Daley

The mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley took a tough stance on protestors right from the beginning. When Chicago citizens had rioted after hearing the news of Martin Luther King’s death, Daley had been criticized for being too soft on the rioters. There had even been talk about moving the DNC to Miami. Therefore, Daley assured the planners of the convention that the police were ready to handle the incoming crowds. A common rumor is that Daley instructed the police to “shoot to kill.”

Photo credit: Wikipedia, Abbie Hoffman

The man pictured above, Abbie Hoffman, is probably one of the most notorious activists of the 1960s. He was known for his ridiculous antics, once claiming that he could levitate the Pentagon. As a leader of the YIPPIES, he was planning on bringing a group of people to Chicago to protest Vietnam. His celebrity made him a target for the trials that followed the riots at the convention. Before the convention even started the tension continued to mount. Daley implemented curfews on parks and any areas near where the convention was going to be held.

Photo credit: The Village Voice, Rioters and Police clash in Chicago

As protesters camped out in Lincoln Park, testing the curfew rules, there were violent encounters with the police. Most of these encounters were incited by the curfew and by trying to prevent protestors from reaching the convention site. Ironically, the intention of the protests were to rally for peace when the Democratic Convention is remembered for the extreme violence that took place. It is said that tear gas used by the police and stink bombs used by the protestors permeated the air of Chicago, affecting hotels where delegates were staying. A study that was later conducted by Daniel Walker, a Democratic business man placed most of the blame for the violence on the police which is a widely accepted conclusion. However, Mayor Daley disagreed and gave the police a pay raise.

Photo credit: Wikipedia, Chicago 8

One of the most famous events in the aftermath of the Chicago riots during the convention was the trial of the Chicago Eight. The original defendants included Bobby Seale, a Black Panther leader, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, Yippie leaders, Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis, prominent members of SDS, David Dellinger, Chairman of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam , Lee Weiner, a research assistant at Northwestern University, and John Froines, professor at the University of Oregon. The trial is often categorized as a circus and early on, Bobby Seale was separated from the rest of the group. When he continuously yelled bitter comments at the judge, Julius Hoffman (no relation to Abbie), Hoffman had him bound and gagged in the courtroom which immediately led to a mistrial for Seale. The men were from then on known as the Chicago Seven. The group was the first to be prosecuted under a 1968 Civil Rights Act which made it illegal to cross state lines to incite a riot. During the trial there were large protests outside of the courtroom supporting the defendants and bringing turmoil to Chicago once again.

Photo credit: Wikipedia, Tom Hayden at the 2004 Democratic Convention

In this picture, Tom Hayden, addresses an anti-war protest at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Many of the activists that took part in the protests and riots in Chicago in 1968 are still actively involved in anti-war movements today. After many arrests and for Hayden, prosecution, these activists have not given up their resolve. While the 1960s have been long over, the legacy still lives on today.

Voices of Civil Rights Website Review March 7, 2007

Voices of the Civil Rights Movement (www.voicesofcivilrights.org). Created and maintained by Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, AARP and Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

The Voices of Civil Rights website has a clear mission and that is to become the largest archive of civil rights stories in America. Interestingly while there is certainly a large focus on the struggle for African American civil rights, it has stories about many different civil rights struggles that took place throughout American history. For example, among the stories of people who were working in the south, there is also information about Japanese internment, discrimination against Jews, the struggle for women’s suffrage, the Hispanic movement for equal rights, and many other stories that play a part in ordinary people’s struggle for a better life.
The usability of this website is very easy and even those who may be less experienced with the internet should not have a hard time using this site. On the homepage there is a horizontal navigation bar which remains a fixture at the top of the page as one moves around the site, making it very simple to get to different parts of the website. There are also many links on each portion of the site that guides a user to find the main features of the site and to easily find other aspects of the site. For example, the main content of the site is the civil rights stories that were collected by the site. When a user clicks on the link called “the voices” it leads the user to two new links, one in which the user can read featured stories and one where a user can search through the archives of the stories collected. The search page is also quite easy to use and includes a drop down menu of different story subjects, a drop down menu for different story location as well as a line to search by story year, author’s last name or a typed in keyword.
The content of this website is very vast. In total 549 stories have been collected from different people and archived on the website. There is also a great amount of information on the civil rights movement itself. One important contribution this website makes is to emphasize that civil rights activity did not just occur during the 1950s and 1960s but that the struggle for civil rights of many different people during many different time periods make up the story of the civil rights movement in America. However, while the website does make this statement several times, there is clearly a strong focus on the African-American movement. Another important part of this website is the history page which includes an extensive timeline, divided into three sections: 1868-1953, 1953-1968, and 1969-Present. The fact that the middle section of the timeline is focused on such a short period of time while the first and last section go over a much broader period of time once again shows the greater amount of information on African American movements but other movements are still represented. At the bottom of the timeline page there is also a large glossary that includes many terms discussed in the timeline so that users have access to even more information. On the history page there is also a photo gallery, which includes many images that are well known in civil rights scholarship but also some that are not. While it includes the typical pictures of the March on Washington and Rosa Parks sitting on the bus, it also has pictures of Cesar Chavez, Ralph Abernathy meeting with leaders of the American Indian Movement and pictures of gay rights protests as well as supporters for the rights of the elderly.
Another feature of this site that is important is the page called “Civil Rights Today” which outlines stories of some people who continue to fight for civil rights on a daily basis. It also emphasizes that while a lot has been done there is still a lot to be achieved. Another major part of this website is the bus tour site that was organized by the Voices of Civil Rights project. During the summer of 2004 a Voices of Civil Rights bus traveled across America to talk to local people and archive their civil rights stories. There is a detailed site that documents the trip including links to journals, video from different parts of the tour, a photo gallery of the tour as well as a detailed map outlining the route taken.
The scholarship on this site definitely has a more general tone. Since the civil rights movement covers so many different places and this website presents a broad look into these events, it does not go in to great detail about different things that happened during different movements. The timeline certainly outlines major events and the glossary that goes with it gives a little more detail. However, the main contribution this website makes to historical scholarship is the vast archive of oral histories. This is a huge contribution to social history and the history of many different civil rights movements.
The presentation of this website is also very commendable. The website looks modern and is pleasing to the eye. The website is also very organized and it is easy to know what all the aspects of the website are. There is also use of flash on the home page as well as sprinkled throughout some other places throughout the website. There is also use of video as well as an easy to use database which makes the content of the website very accessible to a general audience which is probably the type of people the creators of this website are trying to reach. Overall this website is put together very well and proves interesting to historians and the general public alike.

Reaction to writing The History of Valentine’s Day February 21, 2007

    Personally I still feel very uncomfortable using web sources to get historical information.  When I was trying to find sources for this essay it was hard to find ones that I trusted.  Even so I was still wary of the information I found and I’m sure that my information varies from that of my classmates.  While I went to the History Channel first because I had seen their History of the Holidays section, I was wary when at the bottom of the page of the history of Valentine’s Day there was a special thanks to American Greetings.  While I had previously thought that the History Channel is a reliable source for general information, this certainly made me doubt that.  By thanking American Greetings, it is clear that by writing this history there were certainly other motives, which probably explains why there was somewhat of an emphasis on the history of sending cards for Valentine’s Day.

The other website I looked at was Christianity Today which also certainly had somewhat of a motive of explaining the Christian origins of Valentine’s Day.  The only website I used in which I felt like there was no ulterior motive was CNN.  However, the article on that website extensively quotes from a man who wrote a book about Chaucer and Valentine’s Day and I did not see in any clear place what this man’s credentials were to make him an “expert” on Valentine’s Day.  The Google book search was also quite frustrating to me because while I found a few books that I thought would be helpful, the preview cut off the information before I was able to finish reading the whole history of Valentine’s Day that these authors wrote.  Therefore I did not feel comfortable using the partial information that I was allowed access to.

Overall while I found a lot of the same information in most of my sources I still do not really feel that confident in any of them.  The only solace I have is that they back each other up.  I also found similar information on other websites I decided not to use which gives me a little more comfort that maybe the sources I did choose to use got it right.

The History of Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated each February 14 and is supposed to be a day where people honor the ones they love. However, what are the origins of this holiday and how did it become what it is today? This essay will try to explore the origins and history of Valentine’s Day.

According to The History Channel and their page on the history of Valentine’s Day a lot of mystery is still behind the exact origins of Valentine’s Day. There are a few stories as to who Saint Valentine actually was. One that this website mentions is that when the Roman Emperor, Claudius forbid young men to get married (he thought this would make better soldiers), Valentine helped young couples get married in secret. When Claudius discovered Valentine’s actions he had Valentine put to death.

Another legend that surrounds Valentine’s Day, according to the history of Valentine’s Day is that Valentine sent the first Valentine card himself. While he was in prison he fell in love with his jail keepers daughter and wrote her a note signed “from your Valentine.”

The History Channel’s account also goes on to say that the reason Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February is also somewhat of a mystery. One possible reason could be that it was an attempt to christianize the pagan Lupercalia festival that marked the beginning of spring. Another idea was that in France and England it was believed that the middle of February was the beginning of the birds mating season and therefore Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance. In Great Britain, Valentines Day began to be celebrated on a regular basis in the seventeenth century and took on the form in which we celebrate it today.

Christianity Today, in an article on the history of Valentine’s Day supports most of what the History Channel website has to say on the topic of Valentine’s Day and it’s origins. However, one interesting departure is that they believe that Valentine was a martyr buried on February 14 with little or no connection to the dispersal of romantic love. However, they do agree that much legend surrounds Valentine and focus on the same stories that were previously mentioned.

In the Library of Congress’s description of Valentine’s Day, they only mention the festival of Lupercalia that Romans later Christianized by moving it to the day when a few martyrs named Valentine were killed. They also mention the idea of February 14 being the day that birds choose their mates but attributing it to a general Middle Ages idea, not just an English idea like the History Channel did.

On CNN.com there is an article about the history of Valentine’s Day which states that Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous English writer first came up with the Valentine’s Day idea in England. He was writing a love poem for the engagement of Englands Richard II to Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer was searching for a saint on May 3, the day the engagement papers were signed, and came up with Saint Valentine. Henry Angsar Kelly, who wrote a book called Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine, concludes that Chaucer was actually the Englishman to dream up that May 3 was the day that birds choose their mates. Kelly they states that the date was pushed back to February 14 when the English first began to see song birds reappear from the winter.

Kelly also explains how Valentine’s Day was not a holiday that was always celebrated between the seventeenth century and today. He states that it was celebrated in Genoa in the sixteenth century and then disappears until it resurfaces in England in the late eighteenth century. At that point is when the sale of greeting cards first becomes popular. As Kelly puts it “The celebration suffered a popularity plunge in the 19th century… but by the next century, Americans had rescued Valentine’s Day from the trash heap, turning it into a commercial bonanza.”

One thing that becomes clear about the history of Valentine’s Day is that there is no concrete concensus on how it actually formed and why. While many sources cite the same legends that surround the mysterious holiday, all admit that these are in fact, just legends and that no concrete evidence as to who Saint Valentine was exists. While there is much speculation behind this particular holiday, one thing is clear, it has certainly boomed into a commercialized holiday that celebrates love.

Evaluation of Four History Websites February 7, 2007

As internet usage continues to grow many valuable history resources can be found on the web. While there is always the problem of what is reliable, there is also a wealth of valuable resources at historian’s fingertips. Here I will discuss four history websites and their contribution to the online historical community. The four websites to be discussed are The Valley of the Shadow, The History Channel, Do History and National Museum of American History.
The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War is an archival project presented by the University of Virginia. This website has an enormous amount of archival material including maps, church records, pictures, newspapers and personal letters and diaries. The purpose is to compare Franklin County, Pennsylvania with Augusta County, Virginia to show the differences and similarities of northern and southern communities during the Civil War period. The website is divided into three sections, “The Eve of War,” “The War Years” and “The Aftermath” and within each section one has access to many different types of records from each community as well as summaries of general trends written by the web designers. These archival resources are the websites main contribution towards presenting history. While this website certainly has a wealth of valuable information there is a lack of bells and whistles. The layout is very simple and it seems that the main audience is the academic community. There is certainly little effort to attract the common web browser.
The History Channel website is incredibly different from The Valley of the Shadow, this website is enormous and also holds a vast amount of historical information on a variety of topics. On the homepage alone there is a scrolling picture highlighting various parts of the website and on the sidebar there is a choice of a variety of topics including “Military and War,” “Mysteries of History,” “U.S. History,” “Culture,” “World History” and “Political and Historical Figures.” On the main page there is also a “Today’s Picks” section with numerous videos to pick from, most of them are meant to appeal to a wide audience. For example, there is a video about the Beatles first arriving in America, a video about the history of Valentines Day and a “Great American History Quiz” about the Beach Boys, all found on the homepage. The large amount of popular culture history on the homepage alone exemplifies that the makers of the History Channel website assume that the average person browsing this site is mainly interested in popular culture since other historical topics are only a link on the sidebar. While this website has a vast amount of historical information, there are not a lot of primary sources, unlike The Valley of the Shadow which relied mainly on primary sources. The main primary source is videos or audio of famous speeches. Besides that there are articles from other websites such as World Almanac Education Groups and other historians. One resource that this website does have is a section called “Classroom” which is meant to be an aide to teachers, however, it is unknown to me as to how helpful this resource actually is. It seems that the main point of this website is to promote the TV channel itself and to attract a more general audience, therefore giving less in depth information on a large amount of topics.
Do History is a website about the eighteenth century midwife Martha Ballard whose diary has become famous for detailing her life as a midwife and the insights that historians gained into her world. While this website is very specific it is also an important resource since it has transcribed pages of her diary scanned online. The website is obviously not a commercial as one can tell from the web address alone, however, besides giving the general public access to this valuable resource, it also helps someone who may have no experience with history be able to interpret the diary. Under the heading “Practice Reading the Diary” there are many helpful links such as “Decoding the Diary” as well as giving the visitor an idea of how hard it was to transcribe her diary with the link “Try Transcribing.” There is also a page about the movie A Midwife’s Tale which was based on the diary as well as links to common themes. While it seems like this website is trying to make history accessible to a general audience the layout of this website is also very simple. While it is more advanced than The Valley of the Shadow it is not even close to The History Channel. However, it is still important because it gives a general audience experience with a primary source as well as lessons on how to interpret it for their own use. Hence the websites name Do History is very indicative of the websites main goal, to help the average person “do history.”
The National Museum of American History website, made by Smithsonian is a lot more similar to the history channel. Interestingly enough, the museum itself is now under renovation until the Summer of 2008 which it says prominently on it’s website. However, front and center is a picture of Dorothy’s ruby slippers, underneath of which say that the “Treasures of American History” exhibit is still on display in the National Air and Space Museum. Once again, like the History Channel, this website is choosing to feature most prominently, relics of popular culture. The one display that they have decided to feature and allow the public to access is based around popular culture. “Highlighted objects include Dorothy’s ruby slippers, Kermit the Frog, Abraham Lincoln’s top had, Lewis and Clark’s compass, Custer’s buckskin coat, the Greensboro lunch counter, Thomas Jefferson’s bible, and Edison’s light bulb,” is what is says on Treasures page. While there are certainly interesting and valuable pieces of history included in that list, popular culture reigns supreme.
There are, however, many interesting online exhibitions, one is once again the “Treasures” exhibition but there are also forty six others that cover a wide range of American history topics. Some of these exhibitions include “A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution,” “The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden,” “Fast Attacks and Boomers: Submarines in the Cold War,” “Photographing History: Fred J. Maroon and the Nixon Years, 1970-1974,” and many others. While all of these exhibitions offer a great amount of historical information there is no citation of sources, hence it is difficult to know where this information came from. Another feature of the website called “History Explorer” includes a timeline of all the exhibits the museum holds. There is also an educators page that includes information on taking classes on tours of the museum as well as resources for inside the classroom. Once again this website is certainly geared toward a general audience and has the unique task of keeping the American public interested in the museum while it is closed for renovation. It would be interesting to see what the website looks like once the museum gets up and running.
The differences between these websites show how many different purposes and outlets history on the web can have. For example, History Channel and the National Museum of American History are certainly much more focused on commercial interests than Valley of the Shadow and Do History and each website reflects this clearly. It also demonstrates that history can be presented in many different ways on the web and still provide valuable resources and information to the general public.

Newark and Detroit Riots of 1967 January 29, 2007

Rutgers University put together a website about two of the most severe riots that swept America in the late 1960s, Newark and Detroit.  The website discusses the events leading up to each riot and the catalysts of each event.  It provides a good amount of information on these two riots in particular and also discusses the social unrest that spread across America in general.  Like all the other websites mentioned, this again has video oral histories from people who experiences the event first hand.  Once again, it has a good amount of information but could benefit from more pictures.

Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement

Sponsored by the National Parks Service, We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement has a list of park service locations that were important places for the movement. The most impressive thing about it is the roll over map which shows where the locations are in America. There is also the option to click on the map for more information about each location. While the website does not contain in depth information, each site has a detailed description and a picture that goes with it. This website could also help people discover lesser known civil rights sites.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

This Montgomery Bus Boycott website provides detailed information on the event that launched the career of Martin Luther King, Jr. The website is funded by the Montgomery Advertiser and the newspapers influence shows on the site. Something unique about this site is the section of front page articles about the boycott itself. Like many of the other civil rights websites discussed in this blog, this website also has a link to personal testimonies and biographies of people who participated in the boycott. There is also a Rosa Parks memorial section that is certainly interesting. While there are a good amount of video clips throughout the site, it could use more pictures.

SNCC

SNCC 1960-1966 is a website intending to give information about the civil rights group the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.  While this website has a lot of good general information for someone who may not have studied civil rights before, there is certainly a lack of depth to the site.  Some of the aspects of the site include a timeline, a list of issues that SNCC dealt with, and well known people involved in the organization.  There is also a lack of pictures on the site which also could have added to the general quality of the site.