summer reading assignment for honors us history,...
TRANSCRIPT
Summer Reading Assignment for Honors US History, 2014 - 2015
It has been said that history has been written by the victors. This tends to be true with the telling of the
story of the United States since its inception. Your US History textbook will tell the story of our nation
from a traditional viewpoint. Therefore, for your summer reading, you will read some chapters from a
book that attempts to tell the story of the United States from the viewpoint of those who were not the
victors; the Native Americans, African Americans, immigrants, women, factory workers, and the poor.
No historian, no matter how objective he or she can try to be, can escape the taint of bias in the telling
of the story. As the good historian you will learn to be in your HUSH class this year, you must look
beyond the bias and form your own educated opinion. We are helping you in this pursuit by providing
a counter history to your textbook. You will be left to explore, research, and reach your own, personal
view of the history of the United States based on a number of varied (and historically accurate)
perspectives.
Therefore, your reading prior to returning to school in August 2014 is to read and take good notes on
the following chapters in Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. You will be
responsible for writing an essay in class when you return to school in August. The question(s) you
will answer will pull from the following questions.
Honors - Chapters 1, 2, 4, 11, and 17.
As you read and take notes, keep these questions in mind. At all times, your ideas MUST be supported
with evidence from the book.
1. In what ways did this reading shed new light on what you might have already known about these
periods of US History? In what ways did this reading confirm what you already knew?
2. What does Zinn say about his purpose for writing A People's History of the United States?
3. What are the two most important things that Zinn says about the writing of history?
Chapter 1
1. Identify initial and subsequent motives that drove Columbus to oppress indigenous peoples.
2. How did the English usually justify their attacks on the Native Americans? How did Governor John
Winthrop justify seizing of Indian land?
3. How does Zinn attempt to prove that the Native Americans were not inferior? Give specific
examples.
Chapter 2
1. Why were Africans considered "better" slaves than Native Americans in Virginia?
2. How did slavery in Africa differ from slavery in Europe and in the Americas?
3. Why did on-slaving owning whites support the institution of slavery? Why did slave owners fear
poor whites?
4. What was done by slave owners to prevent the joining of poor whites and slaves in a rebellion?
Chapter 4
1. What is the thesis of this chapter?
2. What myth, associated with “Common Sense,” has come down from 1776? To what extent is the
myth true? (include evidence)
3. After reading the entire chapter, describe Zinn's purpose for this chapter.
Chapter 11 (similar to Chapter 4 in the description of a power and a class struggle)
1. Horatio Alger wrote "rags to riches" stories and the opportunity for anyone to make a fortune. To
what extent did Alger's stories represent fact or to what extent did Alger's stories represent myth. Cite
specific evidence to support your position.
2. What do you believe is the purpose of education in today's world? How is your opinion similar to or
different from the purpose of education in the years between 1860 and 1900? Cite specific evidence to
support your position.
3. Describe the factors (1860 - 1900) that led the farmer ("the backbone of the US economy") to
organize against capitalists/ industrialists and government?
4. Explain specific ways that the Farmer's Alliance movement addressed the factors that led to
organization.
Chapter 17
1. What is Zinn's thesis for this chapter?
2. Describe the mood of the poems that Zinn includes in the chapter.
3. Who represented the African American sentiment the most and WHY?
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr or Malcolm X or Huey Newton and the Black Panthers