Week Four - The Origins of Empire: The US in the World
Share an idea or two from this week's reading. What was most interesting to you? What was most strange? How does the reading this week fit into issues and discussions we have had in this class?
I found it odd how normal racism was for these times. In class we discussed the racism around the 1870's, and at the time of the excerpt, "Our Country, Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis" by Josiah Strong in 1885, racism was still a very common and normal thing. I was surprised to see an entire paper about how Anglo-Saxons are the best race and that North America is to be there home. I wonder how many people at this time even thought racism was wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe Aguinaldo Case highlighted an aspect of the Spanish-American war that until now I failed to realize was happening in the Philippines at the time. The Filipino who wrote this piece revealed a "double-standard I had not yet thought about. As the Philippine islands traded hands of ownership, and saw to free itself from all imperialist grasps, the rebels were no different than the late 1700s rebels. "Did you lay down your arms when you, too, were rebels, and the English under good King George demanded your submission?" I have begun to realize the extent of American imperialism at this time by reading through the eyes of a man whose nation has been assimilated into not one, but two different cultures.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that America sent notes to all of these other countries explaining the Open Door Policy about trade with China when the race that America was the most prejudiced against was the Chinese. Americans treated Chinese as the lowest of the low, but yet we still wanted to ensure that we had the opportunity to trade with them just the same as any other country. I would be very interested to know how Chinese immigrants in America felt about this policy being suggested by the United States.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting in the case of AGUINALDO's case how the Filipinos were being treated different. How is America free if there is still discrimination against minorities? The person writing this is frustrated with the government and how it has deceived the U.S. The writing also explains how misrepresented they were by Americans and they would simply smile back and deplore their ethnological knowledge. The Writer goes into detail on how the government has been deceiving the people in relation to the Military.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that 4/5's of women who were earning their own income in the 1900's were single. There was such a strong difference between the lives of single women versus married women during this time due to having a job and their own money to do as they please, and experience life in a different way. I feel that earning their own income gave them a sense of independence that had not been felt by most women before this time, and this independence sparked the first wave of feminism.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that single women that worked were probably single most of the time, and they got to go out, and do things that a married woman with kids didn't get to do. And it was interesting that these hard working women didn't have the right to vote, or have any say in their community. The Chinese immagrants were mistreated badly, they couldn't own anything, or find a good job.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how most women was determined to be independent and earn their own income.. I also found it strange how the women who were independent and worked hard for their own was not given the right to vote.
ReplyDeleteAmerica declared war in 1898 against Spain (Spanish-American War), and the following year, the United States attacked the Spanish Fleet at manilla bay. This resulted in guerilla warfare in the jungles of the Philippene Islands, which influenced Aguinaldo to publish appeals to Americans. He stated that if the American people saw what they saw every day, they would come together and "demand this barbaric war to stop". I found it interesting how this relates to this current time period. If we as a country saw other wars throughout the world, we would also have that mindset.
ReplyDeletei just looked on here to find the week 5 blog post and realized my post had been deleted or didn't upload right. i didn't know that the united states helped the Philippines free from Spain because they wanted to self govern, but then kept them under their rule for many years. it interested me that a group of woman made an anti-alcohol group called the Woman's Christian Temperance Union because their husbands were spending their working money on alcohol.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that single women in this era worked for most everything they had. Factories preferred white women to work so most single white women did not have trouble finding jobs. With this money earned, the women begin to go out and enjoy their time off. This began the an era where women would begin to spend and enjoy their free time much differently than society had seen before. Eventually this way of thinking and change in the "traditional woman" would help lead to voting and economic rights for women.
ReplyDeleteI think it's very interesting that women were so brave to stand up for what they wanted and was willing to get out and make money on their own without the help of a man. But I think it's very strange how only white women were getting good jobs, while the black women were still working in white homes taking and looking after their kids. If both groups of women came together to fight for women's rights than both should have got the same treatment when it came to jobs.
ReplyDeleteI found it in Interesting that single white women were self sufficient. They payed their own bills, shopped and even enjoyed entertainment. Sad that black women still had to work in the house of whites. Also that women still couldn't vote
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