HSTAA 105 Final Study Guide PDF

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Final exam study guide; Professor: James Gregory...

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HSTAA 105: Final Study Guide Directions: You will see four of the following short answer questions from the readings and lectures. You will be expected to answer all four of the questions within 45 minutes. Each answer should be about 200-300 words for each answer.

Reading Questions: Proud Shoes 1) “As I look back on those years in Grandfather’s house, I see that I inhabited a world of unbelievable contradictions,” Pauli Murray writes on page 266. Explain. 2) Describe Cornelia’s surprising relationship with Mary Ruffin Smith. a) Cornelia was Mary Ruffin Smith’s favorite; they were similar (I think??) MRS was basically her mother and she looked up to her, but at the same time, she always kept Cornelia at an arm's length and would never fully accept Cornelia as officially part of the family. b) Although she respects her, she may resent her as well because Sydney left all of his money to MRS and not Cornelia. 3) Why did Pauli Murray choose the title Proud Shoes? a) Pauli Murray is expressing how she is proud to walk in the shoes of her family especially her grandparents. She takes pride that her grandfather fought for freedom, not only in the Civil War but in daily life as well. Pauli was taught to be proud and told that she was just as American as everyone else, and that as Fitzgeralds they should never be considered inferior. 4) “Having no parents of my own, I had in effect three mothers.” This quote comes late in the book. What did Pauli Murray mean? a) She refers to “three mothers' ' as her birth mother who passed away and then her two aunts that stepped in to raise her. Pauli’s aunts were very influential and highly regarded in society as they were school teachers. Pauli feels their influence in many ways. For example … 5) Why does Pauli Murray emphasize the murder of John Henry Corniggins? a) Although it is unclear who John Henry is, it was often believed that he was a white man who stole a watermelon and was later shot by someone. However, the truth was never uncovered, and later the death became somewhat irrelevant. Pauli Murray witnesses this death at a young age, and Corniggin’s death becomes a key example of injustice and inequality associated with people of color, in addition it was a premonition of the struggle to come in the following generations.

Out of this Furnace 1) Why is gender important to understand the Slovak immigrant experience as detailed in Out of this Furnace? a) Domestic economy- many women had to work to support the family by hosting tenants in their house; much of the hard work of these women seemed to go unnoticed. The domestic labor is just as backbreaking and stressful as working in the mills, but even more so because they get no breaks and work 24/7. In addition, because their husbands' jobs are so dangerous, they run the risk of being widowed and having to support a family on a single income. Many of the women in the book are consistently abused by their husbands (Elena), yet as the generations go on, the reader gets to see women treated more as equals by their husbands. Mary and Mike + Dobie and Julie’s marriages were more of partnerships. When women’s work goes unappreciated, it damages other aspects of the character’s lives, but in these more successful marriages, the husbands show much more respect and appreciation for the women. b) Because women were treated substantially worse because they were expected to do all housework including raising children, and get no credit for it c) Taking care of the family was an equal job. These generations of gender

roles reflect the ideals of the time and shift culture with future generations. d) 1. The first generation of the Kracha/Dobrejack family starts off with

George Kracha. He then has a daughter with Elena, Mary, who married into the Dobrejack family with Mike. They then had several children, one of which was Dobie. With the first generation, Kracha, women are treated more as people to be used and women should respect their husband taking care of them more than themselves. EX. ELENA just worked around the house, no income 2. When they move to Mary's generation, they talk about how women can bring more to the family table than just cleaning and cooking, they can bring a supportable income. Mary kept boarders at her house, which helped support Mike's income, and was there to help the family stay alive when Mike did not have a job. EX. MARY worked more around the house, took in boarders as a job 3. And in the final generation, with Dobie, women were also seen as someone to love back, not just as a person to keep things stable at home. So as the generations go on, the important thing to notice is that

women's rights seem to be slowly, but steadily increased, and their value seems to slowly become more noticed. EX. JULIE worked as a store clerk e) “A man with a wife who kept borders was better off than any single man” (75). f) “There aren’t many men in the mill who work harder than their wives. Cooking, scrubbing, looking after the children-- that’s hard work, make no mistake about it. No days off when the mill shuts down. And every year another baby. But try to tell that to some of our people” (175).

2) Explain the ethnic hierarchy of jobs in the Braddock steel mills a) Every time a new group of immigrants arrived, they were placed at the bottom of the “totem pole” of the social hierarchy b) In the beginning, most of the workers at the Braddock steel mills were American and English. When the Irish came, the Americans and English, to whom sheer precedence as much as anything else now gave a near monopoly of skilled jobs and best wages, moved to the streets above Main into North Braddock. The First Ward was taken over by the Irish. c) New mills and furnaces were built, new supplies of labor found. The Slovaks came; and once more there was a general displacement. The Irish began to invade the better parts of town, while those Americans and English who could afford it fled to the Pittsburgh suburbs. d) All of this transition was not accomplished without bitterness and conflict.

3) Explain Dobie’s idea of what it means to be American. a) Dobie considers being American to be an ideology that, although something that may remain foreign to him, will still be something he can adopt. Dobie states that being an American doesn’t necessarily mean that someone had to be an Anglo-Saxon Protestant, but rather someone that had been “Made in the U.S.A.” As seen on many of the products that are shipped out, the label “Made in the U.S.A '' implies that Dobie recognizes that his immigration journey in America has been a labor of hard-work and forged in the ways that any product of the mill he worked at daily was manufactured. He recounts how being an American derives not from one’s place of birth, but instead how they felt about certain things and expressed themselves. Dobie’s idea of what it means to be American is rooted in one’s ideological values of freedom - whether it be free speech, freedom under the law,

or freedom of people to be their autonomous self. He believes that these ideals, more so than people’s ethnicities, is what truly binds the nation together as a whole. 4) Explain the title Out of this Furnace a) “Out of This Furnace” is used as the title to allude to the dominance of the steel mill in immigrant lives. The title can also refer to the concept of trying to escape the prejudice against immigrants as the Slovaks transition into people considered to be more “American” with better jobs and opportunities. Another concept is that Slovaks are considered to be the steel themselves. They enter the “furnace”, or America, and like the steel they come out more refined and stronger than before. Immigrants could be considered as malleable as raw materials, and after facing hardship and work they can be forged into something stronger. The furnace is a place of intense heat and pressure, similar to how when immigrants first arrive into America they are placed under intense pressure to succeed and pull themselves out of the lower class. Asian American Dreams 1) What does Helen Zia mean by subheading “A Myth and a Movement”? a) Myth → reference to how Asians can be considered a “model minority” which places unrealistic expectations on them → not all Asians are the same and it is a myth that they can all fulfill this expectation b) Movement → panethnic civil rights movement for Asian Americans to make a name for themselves and form their own identity c) Important to consider that public sentiments towards Asian Americans were extremely fickle, for example “friend today foe tomorrow”. Asian Americans are only seen as good if they are creating benefits for America while they can just as quickly be regarded as bad people if America has tension with Asian countries. 2) Why does Helen Zia emphasize the Vincent Chin case? Why in her view was it significant? a) Murder of Vincent Chin (1982), “It felt dangerous to have an Asian Face” (58). “From childhood, nearly every Asian American has experienced being mistaken for other Asain ethnicities, even harassed and called names as though every Asain group were the same” (63-64). b) Chin’s death brought Asian Americans together ethic lines to form alliances to organize for civil rights and to advocate for change. Chin was celebrating his bachelor party when two white men who had just been laid off in the auto industry (blamed on Japanese imports). It didn’t matter that Chin was Chinese, they saw that he was Asian and became angry. Attacked him with a baseball bat.

c) Activists worked to bring Chin’s killers to justice, how the story went from local to national and became about a story about civil rights and race. Zia is one of the founding members of American Citizens for Justice. 3) Explain the title Asian American Dreams a) “After a century of seeking acceptance by distancing themselves from one another, Asian Americans were coming together to assert their right to be American” (81). b) “His dreams and those of the Asian Americans who came before him stay within each of us. They are the memories of where we’ve come from, the lessons of what we’ve come from, the lessons of what we’ve been through, and the visions of roads we have yet to walk in this land called America. They are our dreams, Asian American dreams” (319). i) It was Pan ethnic movement- Japanese, Chinese, and you were still considered an Asian American. ii) Even though they had their differences in the past, they found power in uniting together to fulfill the “dream” of reaching equality in the U.S. and being treated as “true Americans.” Together, they are working toward a collective Asian American dream.

American dream- why people come to america Asian american dreams- different people have different versions of the dream Overcome more than white people had to Preserving the memories from where they came from but also adjusting to the American culture is what an Asian American dream is 4) Zia opens her book with a story about a high school conversation: “Helen, you’ve got to decide if you are black or white.” (4) Why does she think this was significant? a) Zia finds this quote significant because at that point in history, the general public had only considered people to be “black” or “white”. Therefore, Zia does not know how to respond, as the identity of an Asian American has not yet been defined. She refers to this as the black-white paradigm, expressing how there were only two choices for her to make. Zia places so much importance on this moment because it exemplifies all that it meant to be an Asian American -- stuck in the middle of a Civil Rights movement while attempting to form a movement of their own.

Lecture Questions: 1) Explain why politics became so important to Irish Americans. a) Irish American political machines were formed i) Were able to finally express their right to vote after being oppressed ii) “Cringing Before the Irish Vote” → reference to a photograph iii) Immigrant voting was allowed until the 1920s

iv)

Mass naturalization ceremony → Irish Americans register and vote at higher rates than anyone else

2) Explain what happened to German cultural identity. a) German immigrants were able to create entire communities for themselves by settling in rural areas b) German cultural identity formed in opposition to Anglo-Saxons → women CAN work and it is typical for a husband and wife to work together in caring and managing a business c) Use of alcohol was a cultural practice for Germans which amplified tensions against Anglo-Saxons who pushed for temperance i) Beer advertisements were an example of flaunting the disagreements between Anglo-Saxons and Germans 3) Explain the concepts of “ethnic enterprises” and “job ghettos” a) Ethnic enterprise: an institution or occupation that is dominated or substantially associated with a particular ethnic group, thus providing access to jobs or other opportunities b) Job ghettos: some low status occupational patterns can become a trap, reinforcing stereotypes and closing off other opportunities 4) Reconstruction and the “unfulfilled promise of equal rights” -- explain. a) The Civil War ends and Reconstruction confronts the issue of what to do with the treasonous states of the South b) YET, Confederate leaders are pardoned and then re-elected to office and nobody is charged with treason i) President Johnson implements a lenient policy toward the defeated Confederates c) In 1867, Congress implements a Military Reconstruction plan → the South does not need to be reconciled, it needs to be reconstructed i) This means guaranteeing equal rights for African Americans (1) Universal manhood suffrage (2) Ratify the 14th Amendment (3) Confederate leaders are banned from office ii) Military presence remains in the South until all the standards set out have been met d) Congress impeaches Johnson and legislature implements “Black Codes”, which make it illegal for African Americans to leave their job i) Bound to a plantation → maintains slavery that existed before Civil War 5) Explain the history and significance of the 14th Amendment to the constitution.

a) 14th Amendment (1868): “all persons born or naturalized in the United States...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law...equal protection of the laws” i) Segregation laws were huge violation of 14th Amendment ii) Plessy v. Ferguson : “separate but equal” ruling (1) After being arrested for riding in the wrong part of the street car, the Supreme Court ruled that as long as the facilities are equal in quality, mandating segregation and separation is not a violation iii) Political Suppression (1) Literacy tests, poll taxes with “grandfather clauses” (2) Terrors: mobs, lynching 6) “Era of fragmented whiteness” - explain. a) Italians, Greeks, Middle Easterners, Jews, and others have been considered “not-white”(1840-1920) b) Anglo-Saxon (Nordic), Celtic, Hebrew, Slavic, Alpine, Mediterranean races c) Court cases: i) (1922): Takao Ozawa (Japanese man) sued to obtain citizenship, saying that his skin was white like all other European people (1) Supreme Court ruled that he was NOT white, because although his skin was white was not Caucasian ii) (1923): Bhagat Singh Thind (Indian man) sued to obtain citizenship, saying that he was Caucasian (1) Supreme Court ruled that he was NOT white, because although he regionally was Caucasian he was not considered white 7) Thomas Nast’s depictions of Irish people and Chinese people - describe and explain. 8) “Dangerous religions” - explain and provide examples. a) Jewish people i) Return of the KKK and anti-nativist anxieties ii) “The Modern Moses” painting, showing Uncle Sam parting the Red Sea and bringing fellow Jews from Eastern Europe to the United States (1) This reflected the public’s fear of the danger of Jewish immigration iii) Henry Ford fuels anti-Semitic crusade (1920) (1) “The International Jew: The World’s Problem” (a) Published by Henry Ford Sr., The International Jew was a four-volume anti-Semitic work first published in the 1920s that proved to be a particularly powerful tool for people trying to validate their hostile beliefs 9) The Workingman’s Party of California and the “indispensable enemy” - explain.

a) The goal was to get rid of Chinese Cheap labor, its slogan was “The Chinese must go!”. Kearney attacks against the Chinese were openly racist, and lots of white California b) Skilled Chinese workers were dominating employment in cigar making, show making, and textiles. c) Workingmen’s Party : socialist party which had absorbed remnant ion fo the Karl Marx’s International Workingmen Association

10) 1924 National Origins and KKK - explain a) 1924 National Origins Act (Johnson-Reed Act): an immigration policy that restricted each country to a quota for the amount of people that the United States would accept from that country i) Especially racist against Asian countries → Quota from Great Britain was 65,721 people while quota from China was 100 people ii) Law is passed that restricts three classes of immigrants (1) Asians banned (2) People who cannot pass a literacy test in their own language (3) Radical and revolutionaries are banned b) Return of the KKK: i) Emerges during Reconstruction fueled by anger against emerging Jewish filmmakers ii) Defending 100% “Americanism” (1) Enforce segregation, restrict immigration, target Jews and Catholics 11) Turning from scientific racism to cultural pluralism - explain 12) Explain how new unions and changes in the Democratic Party in the 1930s contributed to the turn toward pluralism 13) The internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans - explain a) Pearl Harbor bombing: 1941 b) Executive Order 9066: FDR allows secretary of war to prescribe certain areas as military zones → authorizes evacuation of Japanese on the West Coast from 1942-1946; stemmed from racism and suspected espionage c) Korematsu vs United States: Fred Korematsu tried to argue fifth amendment; Judges rules that national security was more important than individual rights of Japanese Americans and upheld its constitutionality d) 62% of internees were U.S. citizens :/ 14) NAACP legal strategy and Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas - explain a) Finally overturning “separate but equal” and acknowledging that segregation greatly diminished students’ self-esteem.

i)

Clearly defined what they meant by equal accommodations-- Meaning getting the same thing, at the same time, and in the same place b) Thurgood Marshall was the first African American to serve on the Supreme court, had a unique role in the fight for equality with the NAACP legal team c) Brown v. Board came after challenging Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal) 15) 1964 Civil Rights Act - explain a) What it did: Ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin b) Proposed by President John F. Kennedy and survived through strong opposition from southern members of Congress and was signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson c) “Howard Smith’s Surprise” i) Congressman Howard W. Smith was a die-hard segregationist ii) Stood up and said he wanted to amend the bill → the bill originally banned discrimination on the basis of race, religion, and national origin (1) He wanted to add the word “sex” to the discrimination (a) Women then stand together and say that they want to protect the bill → a coalition between conservative and liberal women form (2) This one act allows the amendment to pass and the entire bill goes quickly through the House of Representatives but then receives one of the longest filibusters in history in the Senate (a) Filibuster lasts 82 days but the bill is finally passed! 16) Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 a) The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, abolished an earlier quota system based on national origin and established a new immigration policy based on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor to the United States. Over the next four decades, the policies put into effect in 1965 would greatly change the demographic makeup of the American population, as immigrants entering the United Stat...