Respect, Tolerance, and Understanding, or Prepare for the Politically Incorrect

Many times a primary source will reflect a biased, sexist, or racist viewpoint. Sometimes it is important to educate students about the viewpoints of the time period before they analyze the primary source.

Activity
Select one of the following primary sources. What does this primary source tell us about the time period and the views of the people? How can you prepare your students?

• The Husband's Commandments (text)
  
  
• Are Women People? A Book of Rhymes for Suffrage Times by Alice Duer Miller (excerpt) (text) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/99/suffrage/rhymes.html
  
  
• Carry Me Back to Old Virginny (sheet music)
  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/aasm:@field(NUMBER+@band(rpbaasm+1188))
  
  
• The Chop-stick Rag (sheet music)
  http://www-libraries.colorado.edu/cgi-bin/sheetmusic.pl?RagChopStick&Rag&main
  Look at both the covers and the lyrics.
  
  
• Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination (photographs) http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/085_disc.html
  
  
• The Melan-cholic Days Have Come (photograph)
  http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/detr:@field(NUMBER+@band(det+4a27274))
  
  
• The Photographer's Assistant -
  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/detr:@field(NUMBER+@band(det+4a17948))
  
  
• A "Black Hand" letter written to a striker sympathizer (letter) http://www.du.edu/anthro/ludlow/gallery2.html
  
  
• Ken N. letter to Dr. Harrison http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library//archives/contents.htm
  Click on Amache High School student letters. It's the first letter (PDF).

by Eliza Hamrick and Donna Levene