Atomic Age

Monthly gas mask test in case of a nuclear explosion in a school.

With the invention of the nuclear weapon, a huge burden for mankind was created. Many countries and men soon became obsessed with the destructive weapon, dedicating millions of dollars on mass producing it. I did my research on the “Atomic Age”, the era from when the first bomb was dropped, to current day. A lot of fear was put on the people of the world when it was created, and it became a huge debate for the leaders of the world whether they should, or when they should be allowed to be used. Overall, I have learned that it is now impossible to stop the creation of nuclear weapons, and it will forever be a tactic of warfare to be used around the world.

The most intriguing part about the beginning of the Atomic age was how clueless and naive some of the American population and even some leaders of America were about the bomb. After the first bomb was dropped, the whole world seemed to be in a scramble and panic, but they had a sense of safety because they knew the Americans were the only ones capable of producing such a weapon at the time. Soon after hearing about this weapon, the Soviets were well on their way to creating one as well. When it was found out that the Soviets had a nuclear weapon as well, the American population went into panic mode. The American government did a very good job on informing their population on what was going on with the atomic weapons, and they also did a good job telling them protocol to follow if there ever was an atomic bomb dropped in their area.

Personally, I do not think it was entirely necessary to drop the Atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, because of how destructive these bombs are. It is not like the American leader did not know what the bomb was going to do, because they had dropped the test bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico. They easily could have told the Japanese government what they were capable of doing, and if they did not comply with that reasoning, then take further steps to win the war, which could mean dropping the bomb. But instead, they decided to drop the bomb without warning, killing 40,000 japanese with just the first bomb. I thought they should have tested the bomb much more than just doing one test, but I’m assuming they felt like they did not have the time or resources to do that. The best option would have just waited longer, rather than wiping out two cities, and killing many civilians that were not involved in this affair to begin with.

I do think the American government did a very good job doing research on how the radiation affected things, and what the atomic bombs would do to these cities. They did many tests throughout the learning process with the nuclear weapons, and with these test came a lot of experience with the bombs. The scientists and other military officers became so informed on how the bomb worked, they were able to tell how far the blast radius would be, how far away you should be to stay safe from radiation poisoning, what radiation poisoning does to the human body, and many other things that became very useful when dropping atomic bombs.

They learned a lot of this through the test they did in the middle of the ocean, right off the coast of an island during The Castle Bravo Test. The Americans seemed very humane when asking the natives of the island if they would move  their homes a little bit so they could test their weapon on the coast of their island. Even though the natives cooperated, some of them were still subject to radiation poisoning. They did another test, to learn how the radiation would affect a living organism close to the blast radius. The Americans decided to put a bunch of pigs inside the blast radius to see how the radiation would affect them. This process, in my opinion, makes America’s leadership look very good, because they decided to take the time to test these weapons before they used them any longer.

I do believe the controversy initially created on whether nuclear weapons should be used is still a major problem in today’s world. Now that so many people are able to create such a destructive weapon, there is nothing truly stopping them from blowing up the entire world. That is why I think we are still living technically in the Atomic Age.  I think it would have been better for mankind if nuclear weapons never would have been invented, because now every major country has the option to literally destroy another, with the push of a button.

The first step of my process was to watch the movie The Atomic Cafe. I think this was the most helpful part of my research process because of the perspective it gave me on how the people reacted to this new powerful weapon. Many websites I used as sources did not really give me a great sense on how scared and clueless some people were on the subject, and all the government did to inform the public on what atomic weapons were capable of. Also, this was a source that showed the point of view of Americans when other countries created nuclear weapons. It showed the protocol taken in case countries tried to drop an atomic bomb on America. Although it is considered a secondary source, it had many primary sources inside the film, including clips and videos of presidents, politicians, and other average american’s stance on whether they thought nuclear weapons were morally, the right thing to use. I used many other websites and sources, many of them informing me on more factual and date based information, but there was no source that helped me understand the perspective of the American population like The Atomic Cafe.

This is a picture of a mushroom cloud after a nuclear explosion.

Children enter bomb shelter on an Air Force base.

"Duck and Cover" drill at a school.

"Fat Man" the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssKiI1P3lT4
This was the best source I used, also the recommended one. It gave me a great perspective on how the American population reacted. It also had a lot of primary sources within it.

http://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2011/03/17/134604352/images-of-the-atomic-age
I used this source because it had comment from people that they sent to NPR, about what symbol reminded them most of the possibility of nuclear annihilation.

https://www.raptureready.com/time/rap31c.html
I used this source because it had the facts and dates of the atomic age, in chronological order. It was easy to find when and where bombs were dropped.

http://www.atomicarchive.com/historymenu.shtml
I used this source because it had a summary of all the events so it was easier to understand.
http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/
I used this source because it had good information of the Atomic bomb and had question that were brought up in the discussion of the Atomic bomb which helped me in my thinking process.
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/timeline/
I used this source because it had a timeline that goes all the way to present day.

Cinderella Man Essay

Jackson Grelier
May 1, 2015


When someone thinks about the 1930s, one of the first thought that pops in their head is the Great Depression. Which makes sense, because it is one of the biggest events in American history. There are many ways people got through these depressing, dark times, and one of the best stories regarding an uplifting story is the boxing career of James J. Braddock. The movie, Cinderella Man, is written about Braddock, which is such an inspirational story to tell, but I think the movie does a much better job helping the audience understand what the Great Depression was really like for these people.

The great thing about this movie, is that the director and creators went to great lengths to make it historically accurate.  One example of this is how Max Baer has the star of David on his boxing shorts in the movie, which could have been a small thing the creators could have left out. If they had left it out, it is almost certain that nobody would have noticed it, but because they were trying to be as accurate as possible, they put it in the film. They also depicted the Hoovervilles very well in the movie. The shacks the people lived in, made out of scraps and wood from anything they could find was very similar to the ones in real life. The work Braddock did on the dock was also depicted accurately, based on how they chose the workers, and what kind of work they would be doing on the dock. The creators of the film also took the time to research the dates of all the fights, which is important to the argument that they cared enough about the actual facts. These are only a few things that helped shape my understanding for the Great Depression, because they were so factual in the process of making this film.

There were very few things that made the story not so accurate. Perhaps the most important one was how they portrayed Baer. They portrayed Baer as being a bad kind of guy, being rude to Braddock and his wife, and emphasizing the killing of two men in the ring. There is no evidence that Baer ever acted like he did towards Braddock and his wife. There is also evidence to show that he did kill a man in the ring, but what the directors failed to show was how Baer felt about the death. He was extremely depressed after he killed the man, and even gave the family of the dead boxer a lot of money. These seem to be events that were added to the movie as a dramatic effect, which I do not blame the director for. It made the story so much more emotional and made us side with Braddock easier. These events that were manipulated in the movie were a small price to pay to make the story more interesting and heartfelt for the audience. It also seemed to be that the false information had little or nothing to do with the Great Depression, which is why it is almost completely accurate regarding the facts about that time period.

Overall, the truths and historical accuracies far outweigh the embellishments and fake stories. The way the Great Depression was depicted was very accurate, with few scenes that had false information. It was quite an informative movie for these reasons, and was able to teach me personally, as much as a textbook.


Links

• The real Max Baer 
• Facts vs. Fiction

Homework

1. When did World War I (The Great War) begin, and Why? (What was the immediate cause?) Between what two groups of allies was it fought? Give the name and member countries for each of the opposing sides.
   The war began on July 28, 1914 and it began because the archduke of Austria-Hungary was assasinated. It was between the central powers and the allies and the members of the central powers were Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. The allies were Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States.

2. When and why did the United States enter the war?

The U.S. Entered the war on December 1917. They entered the war because Germany attacked a vessel with American citizens on it with submarines.

3. When and why did World War I come to an end?

It ended in November 1918 because the axis powers were too weak to continue to fight the war.

4. What were the terms of the major agreement ending the war? Why did the United States not ratify this treaty, even though President Wilson had played such a major role in negotiating it?
   The Axis signed the Treaty of Versaille, stopping the fighting of WW1. The president did not sign this treaty because the citizens of the U.S. Did not agree with the treaty.
   
   
   
5. Come up with a question of your own. What would you like to know? What do the facts about World War I make you wonder?
   What is the story and why did the archduke of Austria- Hungary get assasinated?

Birmingham Trip

Jackson Grelier

I liked the Birmingham trip a lot because I got to see how special the church and museum was to this community. It was much easier to learn about it out of the classroom because the people that were teaching it knew a lot about the topic. I had a great time trying to find the Milo's, Mason's 'favorite' restaurant, which we discovered he had never even been to. I really liked listening to the man in the church, because he had so many life stories to share with us.

THIS IS A PICTURE OF MASON'S FAVORITE RESTAURANT!!!!

Jackson Grelier

History

In-Class Essay

Often when the Civil Rights movement is brought up, the first thought that comes to mind is Martin Luther King Jr., or the time era of the 1960's. In reality, it began during the Progressive Era. African Americans have experienced racism throughout American history, but what began to finally change the discrimination was the African Americans standing up for there rights. There were many reasons blacks were finally getting rights, but the main reason, in my opinion, were the many great African American reformers during this time period. They communicated their ideas and worked together to reach a common goal, which without the ideas and actions of those great men, the Civil Rights movement may have occurred much later in history.

Without the war that occurred in this time period, the black reformists may have not gotten the oppuritunity to do the great things they did. Because of the war, there were a surplus of jobs availible for black men and women. Around 90% of all African-Americans lived in the south before the civil war. Many black families fled the rural south, in search of a new home towards the north or west. They left the south in search of a new home because they were subject to harsh restrictions of sharecropping and racist segregation laws. At least 6 million blacks relocated, with the main cities they inhabited being New York City, Chicago, and Detroit. This relocation of blacks to northern cities became known as the “Great Migration”.

Violence became a fairly big problem between the blacks and whites during this era. With the migration of so many black to these huge northern cities, there was a shortage of housing for all of them. The low paid black workers all crowded into housing, and as more blacks began to come, they began to get closer and closer to the white neighborhoods. This angered many whites, and eventually led to violence. On July 2, 1917, there was a white mob that burned down many houses in a black neighborhood in St. Louis. This was a huge event because more than 40 African-Americans died that day. Blacks also had some internal conflict between their communities. The black people that were in the cities before the migration were upset about the new blacks because they were so much different from each other. Many had different religions, and all around a different lifestyle.

I think the black reformists were the main reason the Civil Rights movement finally got some attention. W.E.B. Du Bois was a great example of an African-American reformist. He was the founder of the Niagara Movement, an organization founded in 1905, which was to fight racal inequality as violently as possible. This was one of the the first big organization to get recognized in what they were trying to accomplish. Later, the Niagara Movement slowly turned into a different racial equality organization, which Du Bois also created, called the NAACP. Instead of using violence to fight for there rights, the NAACP used tactics of legislation, law cases, and protests to seek there goal. This was much different than the Niagara Movement, because the Niagara Movement's ideology was to do whatever possible, even resort to violence, to fight for their equality. The NAACP had a magazine called “The Crisis”, which Du Bois and many other reformists used to express and spread their ideas. One great quote from Du Bois in one of his editorials was, “Since, therefore there is no fair proof of some races being substantially superior to others in inborn capacity, our moral standard, or the manner of treating others-[...]- Should remain the same whatever people we are dealing with.” This quote show how strongly Du Bois' opinion on racial inequality is.

Another great example of an African-American reformist is Booker T. Washington. He was the founder of Tuskegee Institute, an all black school at the time. He was more of a pacifist in the fight for equality than Du Bois. He believed they should collaborate with the whites using education rather than fighting with violence. Ida B. Wells was a journalist who used the media to display the lynching and horrible racial discriminations of the south. Newspapers often looked right past all of the news about lynching and discrimination, because they were published by whites. In order to fight the media, blacks began writing many of their own papers to help educate the population on what racial discrimination there is in this country.

 If it was not for many of the great African-American reformists and all of their extraordinary ideas, the Civil Rights movement may not have been as effective or a prolonged series of events. It's these men's way of collaborating and sharing their ideas with each other to fight against racial inequality.

Jackson Grelier

Works Cited

   Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey. New York: McGraw-Hill College, 2007. Print.

• This is the best source I used, because it had all the essential information I was able to find anywhere else. It is obviously credible because it is our textbook.

  

L  Lewis, Femi. "African-Americans and the Progressive Era."About Education. About.com. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.

• This was a great source because the information was easy to sort out and find. This author is credible because there is a whole website page dedicated to her credintials.

    Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013)."Overview of the Progressive Era." Digital History. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

• This source was good because it helped me understand the idea of the Pogressive Era better and there is also a page on their website dedicated to the and contributors credintials.

"International African American Museum."International African American Museum. International African American Museum. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.

• I liked this source because it gave me good statistics on the information about the “Great Migration during the Progressive Era, and it is credible because it's the website of a museum in South Carolina.

"Reading the Progressive Era Timeline."Reading the Progressive Era Timeline. Southeast Vermont Community Learning Collaborative. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.

• Great source because it puts the major events in a chronological order which helped me understand it better. The website was legitamate because the about page had a lot of info about the website's credintials.

Primary Source

Du Bois, W.E.B. "Races." Editorial. Crisis Aug. 1911: 157-58. Webdubois.org. Web.

• This was a great source because it was a direct editorial from perhaps the most famous black reformer during the Pregressive Era. It is obviously valid because it's a primary source.

African American women working

Women's Liberation

W.E.B. Du Bois

Great Migration  

How to analyze a political cartoon

Jackson Grelier

Make sure to look at every detail of the cartoon because they could all be important. Read the caption because it may have information that could help analyze the cartoon.

Political Cartoon Guide

 I know what questions to ask myself when I am analyzing the cartoon. I learned from this article about all the devices authors use when creating these political cartoons. I will be able to tell if it's being serious or making a joke out of the cartoon.


This political cartoon is talking about how america is taking over and imposing themselves on the Philippines.

This political cartoon is talking about how the Philippines are almost stuck in between being control by two empires.

Speech

Jackson Grelier

Speech

I have learned a lot about the history of the United States during my semester in this class. I’ve learned that you don’t necessarily have to copy down notes while the teacher lectures all class period, or learn straight out of a textbook, but you can also get the same learning experience from watching a historic film or two. It really enjoyed learning in depth about how industrial workers were treated during the industrial era of the United States. In years past, I had learned a lot about the industrial revolution, but the detail we went into really helped me fully understand what the conditions were like during that era. One thing that I thought was an unpleasant topic in the history of the United States was the treatment and removal of Native Americans from their home lands. I felt it was very wrong to remove a group of people from a place they had been living in for much longer than the new American settlers had. The school system seemed to like to shield us from the wrong things America had done when we were younger, so it was very interesting to see these events from the perspective that they really happened. I feel like I will always be able to talk about the Sand Creek Massacre no matter how long it has been since I learned about it. Not only did I do one of my major projects on that topic, I also found it very interesting, and can tell the stories very well, from memory, about what happened on that day. I learned so much about the first hand accounts from the people that were against what the soldiers had done, which happened to be most people by the way, and read many personal letters and stories about the soldiers that experienced and resented the slaughter that occurred at Sand Creek. It is important to learn about the history of you country for many reasons, one being that it is easy to repeat mistakes you have made in the past if you don’t learn from those mistakes people had made previously. It is easy to see this pattern because of the many times our nation and it’s people have repeated the same mistake throughout the years, even coming back to us present day. We have many problems that can be traced all the way back to time periods we studied this semester. If I had to name this era, I would have to go with the revolutionary era. Between all of the many great industrial innovations, and all of the many great men that came out of this time period, it is safe to say they revolutionized the way people thought about business and many other aspects to the American way of life. These men completely changed the nation and the world when they brought in their ideas. I’ve realized that learning about history isn’t just about memorizing the facts, or the dates of a war, but understanding and analyzing the significance these events had on our country.