The Reinterpretation of American History and Culture. INSTITUTION National Council for the Social Studies, Washington, D.C
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 0e7 648 SO 006 696 AUTHOR Cartwright, William H., Ed.; Watson, Richard L., Jr., Ed. TITLE The Reinterpretation of American History and Culture. INSTITUTION National Council for the Social Studies, Washington, D.C. PUB DATE 73 NOTE 570p. AVAILABLE FROMNational Council for the Social Studies, 1201 16th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20036 ($8.50) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *American Culture; Bibliographies; Civil War (United States); Colonial History (United States); *Historical Criticism; *Historiography; Minority Groups; Reconstruction Era; Resource Materials; Revolutionary War (United States); *Social Studies; Teaching Guides; Theories; *United States History; Urban Culture; Womens Studies ABSTRACT The materials gathered in this volume are part of a continuing 30 year effort to help the social studies teacher develop understandings in United States history related to contemporary social issues, to stimulate student and teacher thinking, and to relate recent historical scholarship to the classroom. This book contains 25 studies by distinguished historians which reinterpret various periods of United States history and related topics. The first section, along with an introduction, describes the state of American history. Part two, presenting five chapters on the topic of race and nationality in American history, covers native, Afro, European, Mexican, and Asian Americans. The third section, on perspectives in the study of American history, includes the topics of women, the American city, war, and intellectual history. In the last section, a substantial part of the book concerned with the reappraisal of the American past, fifteen chapters reinterpret United States history chronologically from the colonial period to 1970. Each author has included extensive references or bibliography. (KSM) U S DEPARTMENT OF HEAL EOUCAION A WEL FARE NATIONAL ,NSI1TUTE OF EDUCAT,ON r -,, ..t The r+F ,.-rr, on NE, Reinterpretation of American Hitory and Culture Editors William H. Cartwright and Richard L.Wat.z,D, J 0 NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES The Reinterpretation of American History and Culture William H. Cartwright and Richard L. Watson, Jr. Editors 0. NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES A National Affiliate of the National Education Association 1201 Sixteenth Street, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20036 Price $8.50 NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES Officers for 1973 President Directors Harris L. Dante Joan Alcorn Kent State University James A. Banks Kent, Ohio Charles E. Billings President-Elect H. Thomas Collins Dorothy L. Dunn Stanley P. Wronski Shirley H. Engle Michigan State University Jean Fair East Lansing, Michigan John Jarolimek Vice-President Dana G. Kurfman Jean Tilford John McAulay Cincinnati (Ohio) Public Schools Lee H. Smith Ida Fabian Spirawk Executive Secretary Bob L. Taylor Merrill F. Hartshorn George G. Watson, Jr. Washington, D.C. Associate Secretary Publications Board T. Marcus Gillespie ROBERT BEERY,Chairman Washington, D.C. ROBERT BARR CHARLES BILLINGS Editor MARK KRUG Daniel Roselle ANNA S. OCHOA Washington, D.C. NANCY SPRAGUE The National Council for the Social Studies is a National Affiliate of the National Education Association of the United States. Itis the professional organization of educators at all levelselementary, secondary, college, and universitywho are interested in the teaching of social studies. Membership in the National Council for the Social Studies includes a subscription to the Council's official journal,Social Education,and a copy of the Yearbook. In addition, the Council publishes bulletins, curriculum studies, pan-?hlets, and other materials of practical use for teachers of the social studies. Membership dues arc $15.00 a year. Applications for membership and orders for the pur- chase of publications should he sent to the Executive Secretary, 1201 Sixteenth Street, N.W. , Washington, D.C. 20036. Copyright © 1973 by the NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-84548 Acknowledgments The editors are indebted to many people who have cooperated in the production of this book. We are particularly grateful to the authors, all with many other commitments, who have, without remuneration. contributed the chapters.Itis remarkable that twenty-five authors, representing eighteen institutions, completed difficult assignments involv- ing bibliography and interpretation within less than two years after accepting the invitation to participate in the project. The biographical section gives a brief academic sketch of each author, but does not try to include the numerous fellowships and other forms of recognition which the authors have been accorde :. Eric Smith, a graduate assistant in the Department of Education, and his wife, Asta, painstakingly checked and assisted in standardizing the hundreds of footnotes. The editorial work was carried out with the help of a grant from the Research Council of Duke University. Daniel Roselle and Willadene Price, of the editorial staff of the National Council for the Social Studies, put the volume through the final stages before publication. We also appreciate the constructive suggestions made by the members of the Publications Board of the National Council. Although it has been a cooperative project in the fullest sense of the term, the editors must take full responsibility for errors in editorial judgment. WILLIAM H. CARTWRIGHT AND RICHARD L. WATSON, JR., Editors Foreword Edward H. Carr has written that history is "a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the past." Modern social studies educators might well contemplate and apply to the present Carr's further state- ment that: "I hope I am sufficiently up-to-date to recognize that anything written in the 1890's must be nonsense. But I art: not yet advanced enough to be committed to the view that anything 'written in the 1950's necessarily makes sense." Certainly the best history is that which is interpretative, and history does not need to be mere description, narration, or exposition. In fact, historians have always recognized that their chief purpose has been to interpret the past to their own generatio. This is why each generation writes its own history anew. The past must be used to serve the present. Just as the progressive role of the Supreme Court has been to interpret the Constitution to fit the changing conditions of modern times, so can history relate the past to future hopes. This is the role that history has to play in a contemporary social issues social studies program. Every modern problem has its roots, and history provides the necessary perspective. As has often been said, it is difficult to know where we are without some understanding of how we got there and where we have been. A knowledge of history can also alert one to the logically weak and sometimes dangerous use of historical analogies. Many understandings related to contemporary society require more than quantitative analysis (although historians today are making use of empirical studies, including psychology and psychiatry), since they deal with man, his motives, his capacity to change, and even the part played by historical accident. The point is often missed that there are various levels of generalizations and that while some may be less definitive than others, they can, nevertheless, provide the student with some meaningful insights. Alan Griffin, one of the architects of the "new" social studies, often used illustrations from history to put the student in an intellectual jam and to stimulate reflective thinking. Thus, he not only developed a very vi useful teaching strategy, but the generalizations which finally emerged were those that had a universal application. Since historical scholarship is continually arrivitg at new conclusions and since each generation is rewriting historyi*1 the light of current emphases, it is necessary to take stock periodically of areas of agreement and disagreement and to be aware of the discoveries of new historical knowledge. Thus, for example, there have been significant new changes in interpretation related to the colonial period, the American Revolution and the Constitution that are the result of meticulous scholarship. Again, the pendulum of revision has swung back and forth in several areas since the end of World War II. In the late forties and fifties the views of the neo-revisionist consensus historians were prominent. Under the impact of the great social upheavals of the sixties their conclusions are being rewritten and more history is being written from the bottom up. Thus, the influence of the Civil Rights movement has taken a more positive view of the work of Radical Reconstruction and the leaders of this period are given credit for the Fourteenth Amendment, which stands as the basis for much of our current struggle for equality. It might seem that to present to students changing historical inter- pretations might only confuse them and cause them to lose faith. On the contrary, such teaching of history would probably be the most effective way to learn. By studying various sources and divergent conclusions the student can come to understand that most great issues are complex and that there are no simple causes or solutions. Furthermore, in many classes the old legends persist. There is often a considerable gap between the most recent historical scholarship and what is found in textbooks and in the classroom. The classical example of a piece of historical research which took years to change the textbooks was that published by A. H. Lybyer in 1914 entitled "The Influence of the Rise of the Ottoman Turks upon the Roots of Oriental Trade." He showed that Italian trade with the Orient did not decrease following the fall of Constantinople in 1453 but only after 1500 when the Portuguese had established an all-water route to the East. Despite Lybyer's conclu- sion, the old storythat Columbus had sailed west because the Turks had captured Constantinople and had cut off the trade routeswas still to be found in some textbooks and in the thinking of many teachers and students fifty years later.