Background Essay on Building the Railroads
Expansion and Imperialism
Environment
Settler Colonialism
This essay explains how railroads transformed late-nineteenth century America and shows how their impact was felt differently across class and racial lines.
American Social History Project
2015
ASHP
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
1877: The Grand Army of Starvation Viewer's Guide: Close Reading Worksheet
Labor Activism
Work
This worksheet helps students to undertake a close reading of a section (pages 4-7) of the 1877: The Grand Army of Starvation Viewer's Guide, which accompanies the 30-minute ASHP documentary of the same name.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
2012
1472
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Waiting for the Reduction of the Army
Labor Activism
A massive labor strike in 1877 shook the very foundations of American politics and society. Starting with a spontaneous railroad strike in West Virginia, the “Great Uprising” spread rapidly across the country. In many cities, entire working populations went out on strike. When state and federal troops fired on workers in several cities, the official violence galvanized workers across the country and those who sympathized with them. As this 1878 cartoon from the <em>New York Daily Graphic</em> indicates, in the aftermath of the strike, the press increasingly grouped together Indians, trade unionists, immigrants, and tramps as symbols of disorder and opposition to the nation’s progress.
Philip G. Cusachs
Philip G. Cusachs, "Waiting for the Reduction of the Army," <em>New York Daily
Graphic</em>, June 14, 1878.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1878
English
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Theme Team Worksheets for <em>The Journal of Sean Sullivan</em>
Immigration and Migration
Expansion and Imperialism
This set of worksheets provides reading questions and writing tasks that cover five themes (work, corruption, tensions among immigrant groups, conflict with Indians, boomtowns) found in the historical fiction book, <em>The Journal of Sean Sullivan</em>.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2011.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2011
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning. <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/"></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License</a>.
1924, 1923
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
Active Viewing: 1877: The Grand Army of Starvation
Labor Activism
In this activity, students watch a short clip from the ASHP documentary <em><a href="http://ashp.cuny.edu/ashp-documentaries/eighteen-seventy-seven/">1877: The Grand Army of Starvation</a></em> to learn about the impact of railroad expansion on Americans and the nation as a whole. After watching the clip, students complete the “Technological Turning Points and their Impact” worksheet in order to examine the positive and negative effects of the railroad.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2011.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2011
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2011. <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license"><img style="border-width: 0;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
English
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Themes in <em>The Journal of Sean Sullivan</em>
Immigration and Migration
Expansion and Imperialism
This is a list of the book’s themes along with the related journal entries.
American Social History Project/Center for Media & Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media & Learning, 2011.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2011
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media & Learning. <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/"><img style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License</a>.
1923, 1929, 1924
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
Reading Historical Fiction: <em>The Journal of Sean Sullivan: A Transcontinental Railroad Worker</em>
Immigration and Migration
Expansion and Imperialism
In this activity, students are guided through a close reading of <em>The Journal of Sean Sullivan: A Transcontinental Railroad Worker</em>, a fictional book for young readers based on historical sources. Students will read a short excerpt from the beginning of the book and determine the meaning of key words. Working in groups, students will then read excerpts related to one of the following themes: working conditions of railroad builders; tension between immigrant groups; corruption of the railroad companies; conflict with Great Plains Indian tribes; and boomtowns. They will also complete an individual writing task on their theme. Finally, students will consider the positive and negative effects of the railroad on the country as a whole, as well as on specific groups of Americans.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2011.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2011
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning. <br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
Vocabulary for <em>The Journal of Sean Sullivan</em>
Immigration and Migration
Expansion and Imperialism
This is a basic vocabulary list to use with this book. There are other words and terms that your students may want to add in the space provided at the end.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2011.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2011
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning. <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license"><img style="border-width: 0;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
1924
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
<em>1877: The Grand Army of Starvation</em> Vocabulary (for chapters on "The Centennial Exposition" and "The Railroad")
This is a vocabulary list for chapters on "The Centennial Exposition" and "The Railroad" in the <a href="http://ashp.cuny.edu/ashp-documentaries/eighteen-seventy-seven/"">1877: The Grand Army of Starvation</a> documentary.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2011.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1877
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
1920, 1927
English
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
<em>1877: The Grand Army of Starvation </em>Script <br />
(for chapters on "The Centennial Exposition" and "The Railroad")
<p>This is a partial script, for chapters on "The Centennial Exposition" and "The Railroad" in the documentary <em><a href="http://ashp.cuny.edu/ashp-documentaries/eighteen-seventy-seven/">1877: The Grand Army of Starvation</a></em> produced by the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning. In bold are vocabulary words defined on a vocabulary sheet linked to this script. </p>
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning, 1986.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1985
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
1921, 1927
English