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Teacher
Development Presentations
by Edward T. O'Donnell, Ph.D.
Topics
in United States History
Click on the topic titles to open a
full description (pdf) of each presentation. If you
have trouble opening them, just scroll down for details.
The Transformation of Antebellum America
_________________________________________
The
Civil War and Reconstruction:
The
Second American Revolution
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Streets
of Fire: The New York City Draft Riots of July 1863
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The
Gilded Age & Progressive Era: Robber
Barons, Radicals, and Reformers
_________________________________________
Shedding the Light on Poverty:
The Work and Impact of Jacob Riis
_________________________________________
From
Farm to Factory: How the Industrial Revolution Transformed
America
or
The Fight for Right: The Labor Movement in America
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Rage
and Reform: The Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire of
1911
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 A
Nation of Immigrants: How America Became a Multicultural
Society
or
Tolerance vs. Hate: America's Uneasy Relationship
with Immigration
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America
in the Age of Imperialism
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The
World War I Era: Idealism and Anxiety
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The
Twenties: Roar and Reaction
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Descriptions
of Presentations
The Transformation of Antebellum America
During the antebellum period (1815-1800) America experienced dramatic changes with the onset of mass immigration, industrialization, urbanization, and technological innovations such as the telegraph and railroad. It was an age of surging nationalism that preached Manifest Destiny and westward expansion, a spirit that ultimately led to Native American removal and war with Mexico. These decades also witnessed the Second Great Awakening, the temperance crusade, the women’s rights movement, and abolition. The latter reflected the increasingly contentious issue of slavery that eventually came to dominate national politics, leading to secession and Civil War.
This presentation, augmented with more than 75 visuals, examines the following:
• the origins of the industrial revolution and the first labor movement
• the intensification of the debate over slavery in the 1840s and 1850s
• the impact of technology, especially the telegraph and railroad, on society and the economy.
• mass immigration and the rise of the nativist movement
• key antebellum figures such as Charles Grandison Finney, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Stephen A. Douglas, and John C. Calhoun.
Note: this talk can be tailored to your specific needs, focusing on a particular incident (i.e., The Christiana Riot, etc.), reformer, issue, or theme such as Frederick Douglass’s impact on abolitionism.
The
Civil War and Reconstruction: The Second American Revolution
The Civil War was the bloodiest and most
divisive conflict in American history. It ended once
and for all the question of slavery and the doctrine
of states' rights over federal authority. Equally significant,
Union victory led to an extraordinary period known as
Reconstruction where America embarked on a radical experiment
in multiracial democracy - what some historians call
the "Second American Revolution." Formerly
enslaved African Americans gained U.S. citizenship and
all the rights associated with it, including the right
to vote, hold office, and enjoy equal protection before
the law. But southerners never accepted black equality
and ultimately, as the northern commitment to Reconstruction
waned in the late 1870s, regained power and restored
white supremacy.
This presentation, augmented with more than 75
visuals, examines the following:
o key factors that led to Civil War
o crucial battles, decisions and events during the war
and Reconstruction
o how the efforts of African Americans transformed the
focus of the war and later, Reconstruction
o the impact of new technology and military tactics
in making the conflict the first "modern war."
o how and why Reconstruction was ultimately abandoned
and replaced by Jim Crow
Note: this talk can be tailored to your specific
needs, focusing on a particular incident (i.e., Antietam,
Draft Riots, etc.), industry, time period (i.e., the
1920s), or theme such as emancipation or Lincoln's leadership.
Streets
of Fire: The New York City Draft Riots of July 1863 - At least 118 people were killed, including a dozen
free blacks who were lynched, when New York City erupted
in the deadliest insurrection in American history in
July 1863. This talk examines the key social, political,
and economic conditions that underlay this dark but
important chapter in Gotham's history.
Also available
as Gotham Goes to War: New York City and the
Civil War
Walking Tour Option: Draft Riot Sites
This presentation, augmented with more than 75 visuals, examines the following:
• the course of the Civil War and Lincoln’s decision to impose a draft
• key social and political factors that led to the Draft Riots
• the anatomy of the riots as they unfolded over four days
• why the mob was especially brutal towards African Americans
• the impact of the riots on the Civil War
The
Gilded Age & Progressive Era: Robber Barons, Radicals,
and Reformers Gilded Age (1870-1900)
America experienced astonishing growth in population,
immigration, industry, prosperity, urbanization, and
westward expansion. It was a time of surging national
pride and self-confidence as America joined the ranks
of the world's most powerful nations. At the same time,
however, Americans grew alarmed over the growing gap
between rich and poor and the stupendous power of corporations
and Robber Barons. By 1900 this concern blossomed into
a wide-ranging spirit of reform (Progressivism) that
brought about significant changes in politics, business
regulation, labor law, women's rights, and social welfare
policies.
This presentation, augmented with more
than 75 visuals, examines the following:
o the maturation of the industrial revolution and rise
of Big Business
o the intensification of class conflict (Homestead,
etc.) and rise of the labor movement
o the growth of anxiety over the widening gap between
rich and poor and the unchallenged power of Big Business.
o the central ideas underlying Progressivism (i.e.,
the common good)
o key Progressive Era reformers such as Jane Addams
(settlement houses), Jacob Riis (housing reform), Ida
Tarbell (anti-trust), Lincoln Steffens (urban politics),
Florence Kelley (child labor), and Alice Paul (women's
suffrage).
Note: this talk can be tailored
to your specific needs, focusing on a particular incident
(i.e., The Great Uprising of 1877, etc.), reformer,
issue, or theme such as Theodore Roosevelt's leadership.
Shedding the Light on Poverty:
The Work and Impact of Jacob Riis Jacob
Riis was one of the most influential and effective Progressive
Era reformers. This presentation examines Riis' pioneering
investigative photography and book, How the Other Half
Lives (1890) and how they led to greater public awareness
of urban poverty and significant reforms in tenement
housing laws.
Also available as part of a wider talk on urban reforms,
including settlement houses, labor law, and public health.
Walking Tour Option: Lower East Side
Museum
Options: LES Tenement Museum or Ellis Island
This presentation, augmented with more than 75 visuals, examines the following:
• Riis and the rise of photojournalism and muckraking
• how and why his photos had such an impact on the American public
• Riis’ attitude toward the immigrant poor, given his frequent use of stereotypes in his book.
• Riis’ contribution to the tenement reform movement
• Riis’ successful promotion of playground parks in poor neighborhoods (Seward Park)
A
Nation of Immigrants: How America Became a Multicultural
Society or Tolerance
vs. Hate: America's Uneasy Relationship with Immigration
Nearly every American is the descendant
of immigrants, some recent and some in the distant past.
As a people, we are intensely proud of our nation's
immigrant legacy and the idea of our ancestors as "huddled
masses yearning to breathe free." Yet throughout
the history of the United States, Americans have periodically
denounced particular immigrant groups (i.e., the Irish
in the 1840s, Chinese in the 1870s, Jews and Italians
in the 1890s, and more recently Mexicans and Arabs)
as undesirable, dangerous, and unassimilable.
This presentation, augmented with 75+ visuals, examines
the following:
o the main periods of immigration to America
o who came to America and what were their primary motivations
for migration?
o the sources of anti-immigrant sentiment and why, despite
broad acceptance of a multicultural ideal, it still
persists.
o the impact of immigration on African Americans and
race relations
o key contributions of immigrants to American culture
and to the economy and labor movement.
Note: this talk can be tailored to your specific
needs, focusing on a particular ethnic group, time period
(i.e., 1880-1924), or theme such as nativism.
From Farm to Factory:
How the Industrial Revolution Transformed America
or The
Fight for Right: The Labor Movement in America
In 1820 the United States was what today we would
call a third world country or developing nation. Its
cities were small and nearly everyone earned a living
in agriculture. Manufacturing was limited to small-scale
craft production by skilled artisans such as carpenters,
cobblers, and tailors. Eight decades later America stood
supreme as the world's leading industrial power. This
astonishing transformation produced unprecedented levels
of prosperity, life expectancy, leisure time, and material
comforts. But industrialization also brought poverty,
exploitation, and suffering and raised troubling questions
about the compatibility between economic inequality
and democracy.
This presentation, augmented with 75+ visuals, examines
the following:
o key factors that contributed to America's emergence
to industrial supremacy
o the role of technology and innovation
o the impact of industrialization on workers and the
subsequent growth of the labor movement
o the ongoing struggle to strike the right balance between
business regulation and free market principles.
Note: this talk can be tailored to your specific
needs, focusing on a particular incident (i.e., The
Triangle Fire), industry, time period (i.e., the 1920s),
or theme such as entrepreneurship.
The
World War I Era: Idealism and Anxiety The
Era of World War I (1910-1920) was one of the most contentious
in American history. Despite ongoing efforts by reformers
to curb the power of corporations, big business was
more powerful than ever before. Some of the most bitter
strikes in American history took place as workers struggled
for a larger piece of the American dream. As record
numbers of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe
arrived at Ellis Island, the immigration restriction
movement gained wider support. When war broke out in
Europe in the summer of 1914, most Americans supported
isolationism and neutrality. Nonetheless, by April 1917
President Wilson reversed course and announced America's
entry into the conflict, "to make the world safe
for democracy." The war effort transformed American
society, as millions of women entered the paid workforce
and African Americans in the South migrated north in
the Great Migration. These and many other unsettling
changes ultimately led to a resurgent conservatism (red
scare, immigration restriction, and prohibition) that
would last through the 1920s.
This presentation, augmented with more than 75
visuals, examines the following:
o the high tide of immigration and the growing restriction
movement
o the contentious relationship between business and
the labor movement
o reform efforts to rein in the power of Big Business.
o sources of isolationist sentiment and key factors
influencing the U.S. decision to enter the war
o America on the home front, including women's suffrage
and the Great Migration
o the post-war turmoil (mass strikes, etc) that led
to the red scare and 1920s conservatism
Note: this talk can be tailored to your specific
needs, focusing on a particular incident (i.e., The
Red Scare, etc.), reformer, issue, or theme such as
reform or prohibition.
The
Twenties: Roar and Reaction The American
economy "roared" in the 1920s as never before,
until late 1929. Industrial output boomed, stocks on
Wall Street soared, and per capita income rose for nearly
everyone. The decade also witnessed profound social
and cultural change as Americans embraced jazz, the
Charleston, silent movies, and radio. Many women shocked
their contemporaries by taking on the so-called "flapper"
look with short hair and short dresses. These trends
eventually prompted a conservative backlash that saw
the revival of the Ku Klux Klan, passage of immigration
restriction, and a surge in religious fundamentalism,
as evidenced by the Scopes Trial.
This presentation, augmented with more than 75
visuals, examines the following:
o the main sources of the economic boom (and the underlying
weaknesses)
o the explosion of consumer culture
o key cultural trends such as Jazz, the Harlem Renaissance,
the "flapper" style, silent movies, and radio
o the rise of reactionary movements like the KKK and
immigration restriction
o the 1929 Crash and coming of the Great Depression
Note: this talk can be tailored to your specific
needs, focusing on a particular incident (i.e., The
Scopes Trial), cultural figure, theme, or issue such
as Prohibition.
Antebellum
America
America
in the Age of Imperialism
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