Gloria Steinem Talks About 30 Years of Ms. Magazine
Description
Gloria Steinem discusses the evolution of the women's movement in the 30 years since the birth of Ms. Magazine.
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The Reluctant President
Description
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses President John Quincy Adams and the challenges of his presidency.
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Knock, Knock. . . Who Lives Here?
Quiz Webform ID
22414
date_published
quiz_instructions
In March 2010, the 23rd U.S. census went out—220 years after the first census, in 1790. What do census questions tell us about American society and values? Look at the categories of census data below and select the year in which the information was collected.
Quiz Answer
1. 1790
families with 11 or more members
families holding 2-4 slaves
avg. slaves per slaveholding family
free colored slaveholding families
persons of Scotch nationality
persons of Hebrew nationality
2. 1840
white persons 20 years of age and over who cannot read and write
scholars in primary and common schools
female slaves 55-99 years of age
free colored females under 10 years of age
men employed in newspaper production
persons employed in navigation of canals
3. 1870
male citizens 21 years of age and over
persons born in Africa
persons 10 and over who cannot read
total state taxation
public debt of the county
youths employed in manufacturing
4. 1880
persons born in China
Indians
colored persons
farms 500-999 acres rented for fixed money rental
average hours labor per week in iron and steel manufacturing
average youths and children employed in manufacturing
5. 1900
other colored females 5-20 years of age
illiterate foreign-born alien males 21 years of age and over
native white illiterates 10 years of age and over of native parentage
farms of colored owners and tenants
capital invested in buildings used in manufacturing
salaries of salaried officials, clerks, etc. in manufacturing
6. 1910
rural population
white persons born in asian turkey
native white males of voting age of mixed parentage
Indian, Chinese, Japanese and male of all other races of voting age
persons 15-17 years of age attending school
farms of foreign-born whites
For more information
In 1790, federal marshals collected data for the first census, knocking by hand on each and every door. As directed by the U.S. Constitution, they counted the population based on specific criteria, including "males under 16 years, free White females, all other free persons (by sex and color), and slaves." There was no pre-printed form, however, so marshals submitted their returns, sometimes with additional information, in a variety of formats.
In 1810 and 1820, additional categories appeared, collecting information on "free White males and females under 10 years of age," as well as those "10 and under 16," "16 and under 26," "26 and under 45," and "45 years and upward." "Free colored persons" and slaves were now counted separately as were "all other persons, except Indians not taxed" and "foreigners not naturalized." Through the decades, the census continued to expand, including a growing number of questions on agriculture, manufacturing, living conditions, education, crime, mortality, and increasingly, race and ancestry.
The census has always had political implications, informing conscription, Congressional representation, and the collection and allocation of taxes. It has also always both reflected and shaped social divisions. Before 1960, census enumerators interviewed families in person and without consulting the individuals, selected which box to check for "race." Starting in 1960, largely for financial reasons, the Census Bureau mailed forms directly to households, thereby allowing individuals to select their own boxes. This led to a fundamental change in the way race was categorized and measured. In 2000, for the first time, individuals could select more than one box and about 6.8 million Americans did so, reflecting the complex nature of racial and ethnic categories today.
The 2010 census is designed to count all residents and will ask a small number of questions, such as name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, relationship and housing tenure. The longer American Community Survey will collect socioeconomic data annually from a representative sample of the population.
For searchable (and map-able) databases of historical census data from 1790 to 1960, refer to the University of Virginia's United States Historical Census Data Browser. For more current information, try the official website of the U.S. Census Bureau..
Sources
- PBS, Race, the Power of an Illusion (accessed December 2, 2009).
- U.S. Census Bureau, "History" (accessed December 2, 2009).
- U.S. Census Bureau, "Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses from 1790 to 2000" (accessed December 2, 2009).
- U.S. Census Bureau, "Selected Historical Decennial Census Population and Housing Counts" (accessed December 2, 2009).
- University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, Historical Census Browser (accessed December 2, 2009).
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Hinkle-Garton Farmstead [IN]
Description
The farmstead dates to 1886. John Henry and Laura Ann Rawlins Hinkle built their Queen-Anne-style home in 1892. The Hinkles built a smaller, Free-Classic-style home on the property around 1910 for their son, Henry Ernest Hinkle, and his wife, Bertha Elizabeth Rogers. As an intact group of farm buildings from the Queen Anne era, it is the only such group in Bloomington and one of the few in Monroe County. Now 11.08 acres, the farmstead includes a Midwest three-portal dairy barn, grain crib, early garage, and blacksmith shed.
The farmstead offers tours.
As American as Mom…
date_published
quiz_instructions
In 1914, President Wilson declared May 9th the first national Mother's Day. Select the correct answer from the following choices.
Quiz Answer
1. Which reasons for supporting Mother’s Day did not appear in U.S. newspapers from 1908 to 1915?
d. It would encourage women to cherish motherhood at a time when women were beginning to enter the workforce in larger numbers.
All of the other reasons often appeared in print at the time. The idea that "the florists invented Mother's Day," although incorrect, was often expressed then, as it is now.
2. Which criticism of Mother’s Day did not appear between 1908 and 1915?
d. In the decades before the first White House Conference on Child Health and Protection, Progressives concerned with the rights of children feared this holiday would overshadow the needs of Americans with the fewest protections, children.
The argument about creating an imbalance between mothers and fathers was compelling enough that attempts were made to change Mother's Day to Parents' Day, but when that proved impossible, to propose, as early as 1911, to establish the third week in June as Father's Day.
3. Who said the following: "All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother"?
c. President Abraham Lincoln
For more information
Mother's Day—as celebrated now in America and in many places abroad—is largely the result of the efforts of a West Virginia woman named Anna Jarvis. In 1908, Jarvis wanted to commemorate her recently deceased mother's own attempt to establish a day in which to honor women.
Jarvis conceived of the day as a quasi-"holy day." She enlisted, by mail, national religious organizations to promote the second Sunday of each May as a day for sermonizing and holding simple services to honor mothers. She encouraged individuals to express their devotion to their mothers by wearing white carnations or by visiting them or writing them letters.
In just a few years, Americans across the country celebrated Mother's Day with massive, organized, civic gatherings. In May 1914, President Wilson proclaimed May 9th as the first national Mother's Day.
Public reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Judging by the letters, reports, editorials, and newspaper columns, the holiday crystallized a variety of sentiments about mothers that ran deep in the culture.
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Historic Site Teacher Immersion: The Oliver Kelley Farm
Description
From the Minnesota Historical Society:
From July 2022 at the Oliver Kelley Farm in Elk River, participants will explore content related to 19th-century agricultural and farming history, technological innovations that impacted production and family, and subsistence vs. market economics. Teachers will also learn about and experience historic site interpretation at one of the Society's much-loved historic sites. In period-appropriate clothing, participants will job-shadow historic site employees and engage in historical interpretation themselves. Teachers will return to their classrooms with an instructional video documenting this experience.
For more information, contact the given email address. To register, fill out this form.
Contact name
Jennifer Cadwell
Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Minnesota Historical Society
Phone number
6512593432
Target Audience
4-12
Start Date
Cost
$50
Duration
Three days
End Date
The Cult of Domesticity
Description
From the National Humanities Center website:
"The Cult of Domesticity was a societal ideal promoted especially during the mid- and late nineteenth century. It provided a behavioral handbook, a 'code,' for middle-class white women in America that served as a way to value, to judge, and to control how they would both see themselves and be understood by others. Women who questioned the social, economic, and artistic limitations that this code imposed learned to challenge it from within the 'sphere' of influence that it prescribed. This workshop will explore how the cult of domesticity constrained women, and how some women transformed it into a tool of empowerment."
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
National Humanities Center
Target Audience
"K-12 U.S. History and American Literature teachers"
Start Date
Cost
$35
Course Credit
"The National Humanities Center programs are eligible for recertification credit. Each workshop will include ninety minutes of instruction plus ninety minutes of preparation. Because the workshops are conducted online, they may qualify for technology credit in districts that award it. The Center will supply documentation of participation."
Duration
One and a half hours
Women Fighting Slavery from the Home Front
Description
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the viewpoints and reform activities of women in the years immediately prior to the Civil War. While many women in the North were advocating the abolition of slavery, Southern women were still defending their way of life.
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North Carolina Textile Heritage: Stories of Mill Workers
Description
This seminar focuses on North Carolina's rich textile heritage as told through the stories, songs, and images of the people who worked in the mills. Using the backdrop of the Louis Hine's National Child Labor Committee Photography, Gaston County, 1908, "Standing on a Box," seminar participants will explore the experiences of mill workers in communities across North Carolina with particular attention to the life and work of families and children. In addition, participants will learn about notable individuals in the North Carolina textile story, such as union songstress and mill worker Ella May Wiggins, who was murdered for her organizing efforts during the Gastonia mill strike of 1929.
Contact name
Wright-Kernodle, Lynn
Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
North Carolina Humanities Council
Phone number
336-334-4769
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
Free; a $75 stipend is provided for completion of the seminar.
Course Credit
Certificates are provided for credit renewal (CEUs) through teachers' individual school districts.
Duration
Two days
End Date
Civil War Home Fronts
Description
This workshop examines the questions "How did the total mobilizations of the Civil War affect the northern and southern home fronts?," "What was life like for women on the northern and southern home fronts?," and "What was life like for African Americans on the northern and southern home fronts?"
The Center's online resource workshops give high school teachers of U.S. history and American literature a deeper understanding of their subject matter. They introduce teachers to fresh texts and critical perspectives and help teachers integrate them into their lessons. Led by distinguished scholars and running 60 to 90 minutes, they are conducted through lecture and discussion using conferencing software. A resource workshop identifies central themes within a topic and explores ways to teach them through the close analysis of primary texts, including works of art, and the use of discussion questions. Texts are drawn from anthologies in the Center's Toolbox Library. To participate, all that is needed is a computer with an internet connection, a speaker, and a microphone.
Contact name
Schramm, Richard R.
Contact email
Sponsoring Organization
National Humanities Center
Target Audience
High school
Start Date
Cost
$35
Course Credit
The National Humanities Center will supply documentation for certificate renewal credit.
Duration
One and a half hours