Cole's US History Blog

Newspaper Research              I researched on two very different topics. I read a newspaper on Carnegie and how he used his wealth, and events he attended; and I read on what happened at the Homestead strike and the different point of views of different people during the strike. Both were very interesting to see the difference between wealth and people who are at poverty level. At the Homestead Strike there were people fighting for better wages and conditions because they couldn't provide enough for their family and could no longer work in the conditions they were in. On the other hand Carnegie was a very very wealthy man and he just spent his wealth on many things and his time at different events.              During the Homestead Strike there was a huge group of people on strike, so the government sent deputies to stop the chaos. They sent 124 deputes to stop the strikers. When they arrived the striker...

Ranking of importance (Luck, Hard work, skill, opportunity) 1. Hard Work 2. Opportunity 3. Skill 4. Luck       I ranked these four words like this because I believe the only way to fully reach success is by hard work. You must work hard to be able to do something effectively, you have to put a lot of time, effort, and money to be able to be successful at something. I kind of think about it as learning to walk. You don't magically just walk you put a lot of effort into it. You first learn how to crawl then learn how to stand up, then learn how to move your feet while standing. It takes a lot of time and work to be able to efficiently walk. I think of it exactly like that when trying to build success. It requires a lot of work and effort to become successful.     Next I think opportunity is the next step towards success. While working hard you must then be able to make contacts with people and see if they will give you the opportunity to present what you h...

Smoke Signals Essay                           In the film, Smoke Signals , many stereotypes were presented but the characters in the movie learned how to overcome them and to own their pride of being a Native American. There were many stereotypes brought onto the characters Victor and Thomas while on their trip to Arizona. A big stereotype that was presented in the movie was that all Indians were alcoholics. Victor's father was an alcoholic, and there were many scenes of Native Americans who were drunk. Also an officer assumed that Victor caused a wreck by drinking and driving even though he had never drank a drop of alcohol before. Obviously not all Indians are alcoholics, even though that is a big problem in their society, and Victor gave pride of being Native American by denying that accusation.            Not only were stereotypes presented in the film, but the history between Ameri...

In what specific ways do the characters in the film, Smoke Signals, experience and struggle with circumstances and ideas having to do specifically with Native American History and Native American stereotypes?  And in what specific ways do the characters find power and meaning in their Native American history and cultural traditions? “Defensible” means you’d have to be prepared to support your thesis with specific evidence from the film “Responsive” means your thesis is clearly doing all the things this prompt is asking you to do.  Struggles and experiences having to do with Native American h istory Struggles and experiences having to do with Native American stereotypes Empowerment or identity/meaning making through Native American history  Empowerment or identity/meaning making cultural tradition Defensible: In the film, Smoke Signals , Thomas and Victor experienced being stereotyped throughout their whole trip to Arizona. They where ...

Carlos Nakai          Carlos is a Native American flutist and has earned many awards. He has been nominated for 11 Grammys according to R. Carlos Nakai's website.   He also has received a platinum award and has sold millions of copies of his music. His career started when he was given a wooden flute when he was younger and began to learn. He then continued to improve playing his flute and learned about his culture.  In an interview, Carlos said he attended Arizona state college and wanted to go to prestigious musical colleges, but had an injury on his lip so he couldn't play as well. Although he had this injury he has been very successful for sharing his heritage. He enjoys nature and is inspired by it and uses it with a lot of the songs he has played. Even one of his albums, "Sanctuary", was inspired by him walking around his summer home near his Ute ancestors, according to  Indian Country .           ...

Native American; Poverty           Native American have a very high percent of poverty. Their percentage of poverty is the highest out of any ethnicity in the U.S. according to Pew Research Center.   Not only is their poverty percentage rate very high, so is their unemployment rate. I find this interesting since our class just talked about how from the first books mentioning Indians they described them as lazy. Maybe Native Erik Stegman , there is still 70% of native adults who are under the poverty line. Native Americans being unemployed could relate back to their stereotype. Their poverty and unemployment rate are both high but most have access to education. I thought there could be something wrong with the education. Only 19% do not complete high school and there is a 58% graduation rate, according to Erik.                    The graduation rate is not high, but since there is more peopl...

I read an autobiography of James Addison Bushnell. This autobiography explained how he and his family were moving to Oregon to see if it would help his father heal since the weather would be different. A lot of the same things happened to them as did the other people moving to the west I have researched about. The Bushnell's family had a long hard journey to reach the west. There was a lot of bad weather they had to travel through. Although I have only learned about people traveling on land, this family also traveled by water. They sent their stock and wagons over water to reach to Oregon, and the family ferried while their stock was being "shipped". Also on their journey they had no idea what would happen and how exactly they were going to get to Oregon. They had many surprises along the way like running into some Indians. Also once they reached Oregon they of course mined for gold. While trying to mine they ran into problems with the weather like it snowing and being v...