Category Archives: Final Exam Component

Chinese Exclusion Act

Photocredit: University of California at Berkeley

This political cartoon from the late 1800s depicts the seething animosity towards Chinese immigrants in the late 1800s.  White immigrants and white Americans alike joined in accusations of the Chinese for stealing jobs and lowering wages.  They rallied to drive the Chinese out of their neighborhoods and forced them into concentrated slums all over the country and called it “Chinatown”.  This cartoon depicts a Chinese person with sub-human characteristics, as with many cartoons during that era.  It was a systematic attempt to dehumanize the Chinese population as to make whites feel more superior.  My film will highlights the discrimination and struggles of Chinese immigrants during that period.

Posted in 1865-1877, 1880-1890, 1890-1900, 1900-1916, 1916-1920, 1920-1932, 1932-1940, Cultural History, Final Exam Component, Social History | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Chinese Exclusion Act

Congressmen Dickstein – American fascism fighter.

400 rabbis column marching in Washington to draw attention to the plight of Holocaust victims in 1943. The video of the marching rabbis will be mixed with the footage of documentary chronicles of the children in concentrate camps like Auschwitz. The melodies of Jewish lullaby will play on a background. Beautiful and calm melody will only increase and emphasize the horror of the tragedy that was happening all over the Europe. Rabbis approaching the steps of the U.S. Capitol and meeting with Senator William Warren Barbour. The voice of the main hero – Congressmen Dickstein on a background saying: « Senator William Warren Barbour was one of a handful of politicians who proposed legislation that would have allowed as many as 100,000 victims of the Holocaust to emigrate temporarrily to the United States, but unfortunately he died six weeks later after introdusing the bill and it wasn’t passed. I introdused the parallel bill in the House of Representatives, which also failed to pass. During the Holocaust, fewer than 30,000 Jews a year reached the Unted States, and some were turned away due to immigration policies. The US didn’t change its immigration policies until 1948. Because of that so many many people died, that could be saved ……»

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Great Depression

This video would be playing on a television set in a shop window as the main character walks by, as though it was a news program.  He stops to see what the rest of the world is watching about what he is living through.  There is no sound as he is outside the shop.  He walks away shaking his head as if to say, “if they only knew the half of it”.

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Evolution of Freedom [1865-1945]

The Evolution of Freedom begins in 1787

One of the iconic songs based of the Woodstock concerts was “Freedom” by Richie Havens. This video highlights a freedom revolution that occurs in 1969 but is based off a culmination of events before it. My documentary shows how freedom was subjective to the American populations and had different meaning evolve for it throughout the years. Foner does make a mention of this as the chapters progress, or in our case as we looked back at history. The documentary will begin and end with this song.

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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

New York City’s Tringle Shirtwaist Factory fire that took 146 lives brought attention to events leading to fire. It inspired hundredths of activists across the country to fight to change workers rights. It highlighted inhumane working conditions and epitomized the extremes of industrialism.

I think Rose Schneiderman was one of the most determined activist who supported changes in worker’s rights regulation, as well as female rights movement. Among others she cooperated with E. Roosevelt, F. Perkins and R. Wagner.

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Scalawags vs. Carpetbaggers

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The Citizenship rights for Southern whites and former slaves were key controversies during Reconstruction. The first part of my Documentary movie shows the Reconstruction. Many white Southerners deeply resented the Reconstruction governments and the role of blacks in them. They branded the few white Southerners active in those governments as scalawags and the Republican Northerners who came South to take part in Reconstruction as carpetbaggers. The Documentary movie includes a Play titling Scalawags vs. Carpetbaggers.

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Freedmen

This youtube clip examplifies the period of recontruction covered in my movie script proposal.

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Music to movie “Who I Was Unwillingly”

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This song which is written and sung by Tracey Chapman will play in the movie twice. Once in the beginning while flashes of history concerning freedom run across the screen. Then again during the main actress' own flashbacks of her treating black americans harsh. It's a sad yet realistic song with a smooth tune that I hope draws the audience in.  

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Freedom in American History

In my movie I would start with the music “Let my people go” in the scene of Abraham Lincoln.

In the following part of the movie where I talk about the victory of Blacks who serve the US Senate, I will use “waving flags”  from K’naan because it shows someone who will become strong and overcome the struggle in the society “when I get older, I will be stronger”

To finish the Movie I would use the music “Freedoon” from Akon, because it is positive and it  matchs better with the modern days. In the society where the economic power matters. this music will reach many people who fights for freedom though an economic freedom.

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Four Gold Pens

The title of my documentary refers to the signing of the Federal Reserve Act by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913. He used four gold pens to sign the document as reported by the New York Times. My documentary consists of real footage and recreated scenes accompanied with great music like the song “Money Makes the World go Round” from the movie Cabaret and “Money” by Pink Floyd. It covers relevant economic history beginning with the Panic of 1907 and ending with the establishment of the FDIC Act in 1933.

The image above shows J. P. Morgan (middle) and his daughter arriving in Washington DC. for the Pujo Hearings. The purpose of the hearings was to investigate the “Money Trust” or the connections between Wall Street bankers who had and still have powerful control over the Nation’s finances. Scenes from the hearings play an important part in my documentary since they show a strong opposition against the financial elite at that time. The hearings took place from May 1912 to January 1913.

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