UNIT IV. AMERICAN HISTORY
To what extent has American history influenced the world?
Theme : The Past in The Present
FINAL TASK IV - A LETTER FROM THE PAST
The American History Museum is looking for young writers to give their visitors a preview of the past. They want to review American History and have people read letters from major events that shaped the USA.
You decided to participate and will write a 200-word letter on your own to submit to the museum. You will decide the era you want to work on. It has to be up to the 20th century.
LESSON 1 – THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND THE YANKEE DOODLES
“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
― Benjamin Franklin
"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the origin of which dates back to the French and Indian War, fought from 1754 to 1763 between British troops in America and French forces that controlled what is now Canada. The "Yankees" were the American colonists the trained British forces viewed as sloppy and ill-equipped as soldiers.
At the start of the Revolutionary War (1765 – 1783) in 1775, when American colonists fought for independence from Britain, the song was sung by the British troops because "Yankee Doodle" was a derogatory term for an American. According to the United States Library of Congress, when the Americans started winning the war, they appropriated the song and sang it proudly. It has since become a patriotic song for America.
Taken from songfacts.com
Design for the first American Flag symbolising one step toward independence.
The 13 stripes represent the 13 colonies who fought against British rule.
'Yankee Doodle'
Yankee Doodle came to town
A-riding on a pony,
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni.
Fath'r and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Goodwin,
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.
CHORUS:
Yankee Doodle keep it up,
Yankee Doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.
And there they'd fife away like fun
And play on cornstalk fiddles
And some had ribbons red as blood
All bound around their middles.
REPEAT CHORUS
And there was Captain Washington
Upon a slapping stallion
A-giving orders to his men
I guess there was a million.
Yankee (unascertained origin)
Comes from the Dutch name ‘Janke’ (Little John) or ‘Jan Kaas’ (John Cheese) that was used to mock new residents of New Amsterdam (New York)
Doodle
Low German word Dudel meaning ‘bad musician’
Low German word Dödel meaning ‘fool’ or ‘simpleton’
Macaroni
A special kind of wig worn during the 1770s by men very concerned by their physical appearance
Dandy
A man overly concerned by his appearance
Captain Goodwin
A generic name for soldiers at the time
GRAMMAR : COMPARATIVE & SUPERLATIVE
COMPARATIVE
+ I am crazier than you
+ You take more time in the bathroom than him
= She is as determined as you
- They are less funny than their neighbours
SUPERLATIVE
+ You make the strangest cookies
+ You are the most sensitive person I’ve ever met
- She is the least motivated person in the class
LESSON 2 – WAR AGAINST SLAVERY
“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves”
― Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works - Volume XII
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
‘O Captain, my captain’ – Walt Whitman
LESSON 3. TIME FOR A CHANGE
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. & Malcolm X
Both men were born in the 1920s, sons of politically active preacher fathers. King grew up in a stable, relatively comfortable middle-class home in Georgia. His father was an NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) organizer and leader, and King credited the loving atmosphere of his youth for his belief in non-violent, civil disobedience as the means to attack racial prejudice in America.
Malcolm (born Malcolm Little), experienced poverty and violence at a young age. His father, a supporter of Marcus Garvey, died when Malcolm was a child, at the hands of what his family believed to be white nationalists. His mother was institutionalized several years later. Although highly intelligent, Malcolm dropped out of school and eventually drifted towards a life of crime.
King and Malcolm clashed over the best tactics to end racial discrimination and prejudice. Malcolm was highly critical of King’s non-violent approach, believing King’s actions to be too slow-moving and too accommodating to white Americans and going so far as to refer to him as “a 20-century Uncle Tom.” Malcolm called for a more militant approach, achieving equality and Black liberation by “any means necessary.” King attacked what he considered Malcolm’s dangerous radicalism, writing, “Fiery, demagogic oratory in the Black ghettos, urging Negroes to arm themselves and prepare to engage in violence, as he has done, can reap nothing but grief.”
Taken from Biography.com
