Author Archives: Jonathan Muschel

05/24/11

My trip to the tenement museum

A few weeks ago I visited the tenement museum on the lower East Side. I took a tour of two apartments that were used in the early 1900′s. In one of the apartments, there was a micro-sweat shop running, where they would make dresses for women. They would sit in the master bedroom that fit no more than 6 cramped, and would saw, press, and cut the fabrics. Between the fumes and the lack of air circulation, the health department wasn’t so happy with these kind of operations and forced them to shut down. The other apartment we visited was occupied by a family of 8. In that apartment, I saw a copy of the Jewish newspaper from that time, with news of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, something I knew about, and something we discussed in class. After the fire, there was a big strike from all the girls who were working in the garment district and being treated unlawfully and unfairly. The two girls from this second apartment, the Rogarshevsky’s had to decide if they were going to strike and stand up for what they believe in, or if they were going to go to work, and be able to help support the family and pay rent. That was a common problem back in that time, do we say “No! This is the land of life, libery and pursuit of happiness, and I will achieve that!” or do you say “I will do whatever it takes to be able to supply for my family.” Our tour guide of the museum had asked all of us to put ourselves in these girls shoes and asked us what we would do.

Being confronted with that scenario, seeing the apartments, and learning in our class all about the big wave of immigration coming to America, it really made me think about what kind of living conditions were existing in their native countries. If living in a tiny apartment, sleeping head to toe with your brothers and sisters in the living room, working for thieving bosses who overworked you and underpaid you, if all this was an improvement from their home life, its unimaginable how bad they had it. I learned a lot from this class, and one of the things I learned from this class was a greater appreciation for this country that is my home. These people were living in hard times, but they were able to live without religious persecution, and were able to live freely, capable of anything. I have a new appreciation for the country that has their entire pacific fleet wiped out, yet still prevails and triumphs over the enemy. I have a new appreciation for a man named FDR who was able to pull our nation from the trenches of economic turmoil. I have a new appreciation for a man named Johnson, who worked endlessly to help African-American’s gain civil rights and equality. I have a new appreciation for a man named Reagan, who through the hard work of his predecessors and his own hard work, was able to convince a communist country to end its ways and become a democracy.

The tenement museum enables you to see first hand the way people lived less than a hundred years ago. People who would do anything to live in those one bedroom apartments, and if you go and see them, I think you will have a new found appreciation and even more understanding of what it means to be a free American. The life of unions and fair work standards were born in the lower east side and if you see these apartments and hear the stories, you will know why. You should really try to go, you will remember it for the rest of your life.

 

05/18/11

What if Gore won….

We spoke a few times during class this semester about historic fiction…What would have happened if the Japanese never bombed pearl harbor?, what would have happened had Rosa Parks gotten up from her seat? Now we can look at the Gore vs. Bush Presidential election of 2000 and say, what would have happened had Gore won? Would the country be in an economic crisis? Would we have a military presence in Iraq? Would the hunt for Osama Bin Laden even be conducted? These are all important questions because had Al Gore won the Presidential election in 2000, whether we want to believe it or not, our lives would have been impacted and things would have been different. Foner has to cover over 100+ years in his textbook so I have no “issue” with his lack of reporting and documentation of the Bush vs. Gore election, but I feel some more should be said on it.

Al Gore, the Vice President to Bill Clinton had the Democratic nomination for President in 2000, Governor George Bush of Texas, who was better known for being the son of former President George H.W Bush had the nomination for the Republican party. It was an extremely close race, one that may never come to that minimal of a margin. Florida was the deciding electoral vote and due to some technical difficulties with the ballots, it seemed that many people who wanted to vote for Al Gore, accidentally voted for both Gore and Bush voiding their ballot. It was a rare vote where Bush, the winner, had less popular votes than Gore, but had more electoral. A dramatic controversy ensued due to the fact that a recount had to be held and the Governor of Florida overseeing the recount was none other than Jeb Bush, brother to George. The decision was taken all the way to the Supreme Court and after many weeks of back and forth, it was ruled in favor of Bush, who became the President elect in mid December, only weeks away from inauguration.

The month or so from election day to December 12th was and will always be a huge part in Modern American History as it marked who the President would be for 4 (and subsequently 8) years.

Attached is Fox News coverage of the Supreme Court decision, clip taken from youtube

 

05/18/11

9/11 Eternal Archive

I chose the title Eternal archive because in a sense that is what the site is, a site that will always be up for all to see and to memorialize the victims lost on that day.

There were many things I thought were appropriate and thoughtful about the site, and some things which I wasn’t such a fan of. The idea of having a central place, for people of all religions and backgrounds and histories to come and talk about their feelings about 9/11, where they were and how it changed their lives is very therapeutic and thoughtful. If not just for a place for people to vent, a forum for voices to be heard and stories shared. The site represents what America was all about immediately following 9/11; American pride, uniting, and helping others.

While I find it to be appropriate for people to be able to post how they felt about 9/11 and subsequently, where they were exactly when they found out about the attacks, which building of the World Trade Center they were in when they felt the ground shake….I am not such a fan of people being able to post whatever picture they want. The internet is a huge server and there is a time and place for everything, but seeing a picture on this site of some random families in New York City with the Twin Towers in the background in the mid 1990′s is hardly that said place. I believe the pictures should be of that day, where lower Manhattan was covered in dust, ash and sut, and a select few pictures of the Towers prior to 9/11, because after all, we are here to memorialize the people we lost that day, not the two towers the 30 years they were in existence.There should be pictures of the fathers who didn’t come home, the mothers that didn’t return, not the towers that are made of steel. The towers can be rebuilt, the families can not.

~Jonathan

05/3/11

Ask not what your country can do for you

This post is delayed. I tried putting it up last week but the internet was down on campus or mega slow or something and then it got deleted so anyway, here it is, somewhat revised.

In 1961, John F. Kennedy took office as the 35th President of the Unites States. In Kennedy’s inaugural address, Kennedy stated “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” This has become a very well known, repeated line in American history. Kennedy’s biggest contribution in the few years he was President was setting up organizations in the US. He took office during the Cold War, and he wanted to do all in his power to fight it. He was responsible for creating the Peace Corps, among many other organizations. During the 1950′s many Americans were getting caught up in the new technology and social culture that was taking over America. People were into the cars, and technical advances like the television but Kennedy wanted to focus on people stepping forward and helping America as a whole, not just have the social change contribute to their individual lives. That’s why he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you”…meaning, how they can make your lives better, and easier and more fun, rather “ask what you can do for your country”….how will you help us fight the Cold War? What are you doing to help this country? I apologize for the delay, seeing how JFK put the “trainers” in Vietnam, I guess this is still somewhat relevant to what we are discussing right now, but definitely relevant to our class, and our history.

04/28/11

Jimi Hendrix & Green Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duTKDlPXCQg

 

The two songs I posted are songs in response to war. The first video is the audio of Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner on electric guitar at Woodstock in 1969. Aprox 50 seconds in, he strays away from the normal melody of the anthem and goes on a crazy distortion of the song. He was using the electric guitar sliding down the shaft making a lot of loud and off color noise. Many people believe that was Hendrix’s way of protesting the American invasion of Vietnam. He took the National Anthem, the song that represents America, and turned it into a wild and loud and painful to the ears, kind of song. He was expressing his opinion of the war via his Guitar. Because he didn’t mention the war or anything during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, it isn’t 100% proven to be anti-war, which we can’t say the same about Green Day’s 21 Guns.

Green Day released a song called 21 Guns, released in 2009. The name was adapted from the well known 21 gun salute that is included in military funerals for soliders who die in the line of duty. The song right away starts with the chilling lyrics “Do you know whats worth fighting for? When its not worth dying for” Green Day stated multiple times that they are opposed to the war in Iraq and it is very obvious that this song is an anti-war protest song. The chorus says it all; “Lay down your arms, give up the fight”

 

04/10/11

Sitting Down and Standing up for what you believe in

On Decemeber 1, 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for not following the orders of the bus driver, who demanded she give up her seat for a white passenger. Parks, an African-American, who has become known world wide for her push for civil rights, was the “straw that broke the camels back”, and her arrest led to the Montgomery Bus riots. Parks actions were considered very courageous and she became an public icon, a representative, if you will, of civil rights for African-Americans all over the nation. In the link above, there is a short expert from an interview with Rosa Parks regarding the importance of segregation and simple reason behind it “we hope to achieve equal rights like any human being…” (please excuse the banner on the back of the video)

Parks was able to witness change and recognized equal rights for all. Just as she recognized, she was very much recognized for her hard work and bravery. The US Congress called her “the mother of the freedom movement”. She received many awards and honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then President Bill Clinton. One of the highest honors she reieved was posthumously, when her body lied in state in the Rotunda in the capital building. She was the first non government official to receive this honor, and the first woman as well. An honor very much deserved.

03/2/11

It’s happy hour somewhere

While I agree with Foners description of the Prohibition Act, I don’t believe he provided the right amount of time and information. The Prohibition Act was a very significant change in US laws and lifestyle. It involved an amendment and a ratification of the amendment and I feel Foner should have paid more attention to it. The whole issue of prohibition was a real debated issue and a lot of the supporting opinions argued back then are argued today with many issues the United States are facing. The image above, taken from cartoonstock.com depicts the closing of the saloons/bars during the days of prohibition.

03/1/11

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World was a Union formed in 1905 by workers, (mostly miners) who were against the exclusionary policies of the more popular, common union-American Federation of Labor. The union was founded in Chicago during a convention made up of socialists and anarchists. The union was a tight-knit union and that was their objective and agenda. The motto was “An injury to one, is an injury to all”. Its goal was to promote worker solidarity.

The picture above is the label of the Workers of the World. The picture was found on wikipedia and the link to it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Label.svg . As per Wikipedia, the logo was found through the the IWW website.

02/21/11

2 different reasons, 1 destination

Immigrants look towards Lower Manhattan as their ship approaches their new home. Year unknown. Photographer unknown.

Italian immigrants look towards the Statue of Liberty as their ship approaches. Photographer unknown. Year aprox early 1900's

Both of the photographs above depict immigration to the United States. While both photographs involve immigration, they are different in terms of the focus of the reason for immigration. Two big reason why people decided to come to this amazing country were 1: Freedom and 2: It is the Land of opportunity. Now while the two go together, at the time of these pictures people were immigrating because of religious persecution, and because of poverty. The Italian family above had probably left Italy due to the high taxes of the Government which led many to poverty. They are looking towards the Statue of Liberty and seeing what the United States has to offer: Freedom, Democracy, among many others. That’s what the Statue of Liberty stands for, and that’s why it was so strategically placed next to Ellis Island. To let all immigrants see that first when approaching the US. The first picture shows immigrants looking towards lower Manhattan. They see the big buildings of downtown, they see the opportunity that can come from hard work. In their previous home country, hard work got them nowhere, but they see that in this country hard work gets you everywhere. Both pictures show the last part of the journey of immigration, but tell a different story as to why someone might have immigrated here, and shows us how amazing the United States is and the many reasons why it’s a great place to call home.

02/13/11

Allll Aboardddddd

In 1863 construction began for the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. The railroad was operational in 1869 and was considered the greatest technological advancement the United States made in the 19th century. It was built by the Central Pacific Railroad of California connecting California to Nebraska. There was already a railroad from Nebraska to New York. The Transcontinental railroad was a major breakthrough for the Unites States as it connected every part of the county. Everything was reachable. The concept of having no limits in terms of trade was new to the business world in the US. The fact that any business could transport anywhere within the US would soon change the business world. The world of travel and export had been recreated.

02/8/11

“Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow”

In August of 1974, President Richard Nixon became the first and only President to resign from office. The resignation came due to his role and involvement in the Watergate Scandal. The Watergate Scandal was the illegal break-in to the Democratic Committee headquarters in the Watergate building. The picture above is Nixon’s final wave goodbye as he boards Marine One departing the White House for the last time.

02/1/11

Big Brother is watching you…so is everyone with an internet connection.

The use of technology is both helping and hurting the collection of historical archives. The blog entry regarding the Library of Congress archiving every tweet while can be considered saving everything, seems a little excessive. There is a lot of information out there floating around the internet, to save it all for possible use in the future, doesn’t seem realistic. Let things go untouched. We don’t need to inscribe every tweet, blog post, status update, or forum thread in our books of history. Having said that, I do believe that there is a lot of good coming from the internet in terms of historical data. We are going to be able to have tons of information at our fingertips. Even in the world post 9/11, we are able to watch archived news footage on multiple web sites. There are millions of newsapaper articles, journals, and databases available on the internet that have all become part of our history.

I believe the wikileaks story was an unpleasant wake up call for anyone who posts anything on the internet. It was evidence that there really is no privacy online. If you post something, anyone can see it, and if they want to see it, they will see it. It is a generation where you can no longer hide evidence easily, where you can have a “take back”. There are no more take backs, once its out there, its out there. So be careful when posting even what you think may be harmless tweets, status updates, or blogs. Because its no longer just Big Brother who is watching you, its anyone with an internet connection.