LAST BLOG POST!

Our last lesson of the year we studied Buffalo Soldiers and Native Americans and how their lives were impacted by the government. The class came up with an essential question, “Were federal policies towards Native Americans and Buffalo Soldiers intentionally discriminatory or well intentioned?” To come up with this essential question my class watched various videos and read numerous documents trying to understand the topics. We were split into small groups and each assigned a different topic, my topic was Key Terms. While watching the videos and reading the documents we took notes on our topic that we would then help  use the information to answer the essential question.

Buffalo Soldiers were African American Cavalry Soldiers. We watched ABC Clio videos to learn the background of the topic. The Buffalo Soldiers served in the Spanish and Indian wars. African Americans were put into Cavalry troops in the late 19th century. The Buffalo Soldiers experienced many challenges. The Buffalo Soldiers were discriminated against, and many fights broke out  between the soldiers and citizens. Although the government established a few laws and acts that helped the Buffalo Soldiers they also created some that were intentionally discriminatory. For instance the government gave Buffalo Soldiers the jobs that all white soldiers would not want to do. On the other hand the government typically treated the Native Americans nicely.

Picture of Buffalo Soldiers

The Native Americans lived out in the West peacefully, with little to no white interference. We read an article about the Native Americans and Buffalo Soldiers. The article helped give us a better understanding of the topics. In 1830 the Indian Removal Act was passed by Andrew Jackson. The Indian Removal act relocated many Native tribes  to the west of the Mississippi River. It was claimed that the act passed was to benefit the Native Americans as well as the whites. However, once the government discovered there was a gold on Native territory the government no longer was nice to the native but instead became very violent. Fights broke out that resulted in casualties. The government used war techniques to wipe out the tribes. The government removed the buffalo in the surrounding areas, which limited the food and clothing supply. The Native Americans were then forced to move to new territory. The government's acts show that it was intentional discrimination. The government also forced Native American child into schools. The government thought that this was beneficially to the Native Americans for educating their children but in a way it took away their children's teaching of the culture.

Picture of Native Americans

I enjoyed learning about this unit however some of the things we learned were quite brutal. Although the government's intentions started off being well they turned into being discriminatory toward the buffalo soldiers and Native Americans. This is still seen in life today, where the government tries make sure everyone is equal but yet there are still many cases where they are discriminatory against certain races and religions.

 

Double Duo

This lesson was one of three lessons that we will be studying over the next few weeks. We split up into groups and divided the documents, and analyzed them to create forty multiple choice questions that we will use in our finals. This lesson mainly focused on Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and their effects on industrial growth, and common workers after the Civil War.  The class gathered in a large circle and discussed the essential question for this lesson. The essential question that we came up with is, “how did the actions of monopolistic leaders, such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, affect the common worker?” A monopolistic leader is one who has control over a corporation. Once we created the essential question we split up into four groups, each group was assigned a different topic. My topic was key people. We then gathered again as a class  and watched videos on ABC Clio and took notes. After completing the notes we could answer the essential question.

Andrew Carnegie affected the common workers in both positive and negative way. To learn about Carnegie and who he is we read the Andrew Carnegie Bio. Carnegie use to be poor and worked his way up to  become a very wealthy man. Carnegie was in the U.S steel industry.  Carnegie used vertical integration which is a supply chain that was controlled by the company. He was able to control raw materials, transportation, and distribution within the steel industry. Carnegie donated millions of dollars to education, science, and medicine. He shared his wealth by donating to libraries and charities he believed in as well. Although Carnegie had a positive impact on the common worker he also had a negative one. In 1892 there was a homestead strike, which revealed Carnegie's plan to destroy the steel and iron working union. The workers were outraged and many articles were written about him. The articles bashed Carnegie and his reputation, saying he was a coward and pitiful. The homestead strike showed Carnegie's negative impact on the common worker. In ways John D. Rockefeller was much like Carnegie.

Picture of Andrew Carnegie

John D. Rockefeller was the cofounder of the Standard Oil Company. Rockefeller was an entrepreneur, and bought out his rival oil companies. Rockefeller would raise and lower the pricing in his company forcing the surrounding companies to not be able to compete, and then Rockafeller would buy the fallen company out. Although this was a good business move for Rockefeller he was be criticized by the common workers. During this time Rockefeller was being accused as greedy and lost respect from the common workers. He negatively impacted the common workers that worked at surrounding oil companies because he put them out of business however Rockefeller also had a positive impact. We in learned in the document, John D. Rockefeller Biography, that Rockefeller donated millions of dollars to education, science, and medicine much like Carnegie.

Picture of John D. Rockefeller

Both Carnegie and Rockefeller affected the common worker in a positive way. The sources that we received in class helped us learn this lesson in the most efficient way, allowing us the ability to create the final questions. I enjoyed learning about Rockefeller and Carnegie in this lesson and how they had a big impact on the common worker.