Silent Films During The Age of the City

During the late 19th century, cities in America were starting to grow as cultural and financial centers of the country. America as a whole was becoming more urbanized. Even families in rural areas were able to buy food or even houses from catalogs which reduced the need for agriculture. Because of the rapid growth of industry and technology and the spike in economic wealth in the middle class, people had more leisure time and more money
to spend on entertainment. Places meant purely for recreational purposes such as Coney Island or Central Park started popping up all over cities. One thing that men and women enjoyed for recreation was silent films. Silent films were popular from the late 19th century to the 1930s. While silent films were just meant for entertainment, they actually influenced society and culture.

The Birth of a Nation Movie Poster

                The earliest silent films were made in France by the Lumiere Brothers. (Tonya Howe) Silent films started out as short picture shows called "Nickelodeons" and developed into long epics such as "The Birth of a Nation" directed by D.W. Griffith. The silent film industry was working hard to disassociate itself from these nickelodeons and vaudeville theatre. In an article called "The Silent Era", the author Tonya Howe talks about how film and film technology spread from Europe to the east coast of America in New York City and in New Jersey, and spread even further west to Hollywood from there. There was a decline in competition from the Europeans because of World War I.

The Roxy Theatre in New York City

                Silent films were played in theatres ranging from small store front theatres to huge “picture palaces” that could seat a thousand people. Smaller theatres were much more common than the large picture palaces. There were about 15,000 silent film theatres in the United States and on average, cost about 10-25 cents for admission. One very large theatre in New York City called the Roxy Theatre seated 6,214 people. Tonya Howe talks about how Silent film theatres’ main aim was to make family-friendly, clean, and safe places for middle-class audiences. Howe says a typical 1920s bill at a theatre would have included a musical overture, a news weekly,
a lantern slide show, a live revue, a brief comedy or novelty film, and finally a feature film. Theatre owners decided to start and end programs at a specific time so that they could have better audience turnover. Silent film theatres also created jobs for people. “Descriptive talkers” or “lecturers” were hired to narrate the films and sometimes these narrators would improvise dialogue that was not supposed to be included in the movies. The use of lecturers did die out though because as the feature film industry became more popular and centralized and the use of title cards for dialogue became more prevalent.

Flapper Fashion in Silent Films

                Musicians also had more job opportunities because of silent films. Silent films were far from silent. The films were accompanies by either a single pianist or reed organist or a full orchestra in large picture palaces. Silent films also created more business for sheet music companies. Howe talks about how these companies made music that could be appropriate for different scenes in the films so that musicians could choose the music that best fit what was happening in the movie. Howe also talks about how these silent film musicians (especially the soloists) had to be experts on reading visual cues in the movies and improvising on the spot. As feature films became more popular, musical music choice not as flexible. Feature films came with their own musical scores and cue sheets for certain scenes.

                According to the article by Tonya Howe, the more popular that silent film industry got, the more there was a need for standardization. The Motion Picture Patents Company was established to do just that. They worked towards standardization by giving patents to film makers and licenses to theatres so that they could play patented films.  The Motion Picture Patents Company also came into existence to eliminate competition between theatres and to control the availability of films to the theatres. Howe states that controlling distribution of films gave established East-coast theatres monopoly over the industry. Studios controlled distribution of their films through the General Film Company.   

Silent Film Actress Mary Pickford

              Women also found their way in to the film industry.  An article of the “Women Film Pioneers Project” talks about one of the most famous Canadian- American actresses, Mary Pickford. Mary Pickford was very influential because she was not just a film actress but she was also a company director, film company founding partner, film distributor, screenwriter, producer, and theatre actress.  According to the article, Pickford was the first movie star to be on the cover of “The New York Dramatic Mirror.” Silent films were influential to women in society because it introduced them to new fashions.


           

Sources:

1.The Silent Era

This source had very god information about theatres and music for silent films ranging from small store front theatres with a single pianist to full size theatres with orchestras to accompany the films. This document also had good information about the expansion of film from east to west and about holding rights. This website helped me to get a bigger picture of the range of people that silent films were seen by.

2.The Birth of a Nation

This video is one of the most famous silent films directed by D.W. Griffith called “The Birth of a Nation.” I found many names of actors and actresses through this source so I was able to further my investigation of silent films.

3.Profit Margins: The American Silent Cinema and the Marginalization of Advertising

4.Women Film Pioneers Project: Mary Pickford

This source had very specific information about 1910s-30s actress, Mary Pickford. Even though the article was specific to Pickford, I was able to get good information about the influence of women on silent films and the influence of silent films on women in society.

5. A Survey American History by Alan Brinkley

This source helped me get a better picture of the “age of the city.” I didn’t really find any information about silent films but this source did help me write an introductory paragraph.

I pledge.

Andrew Carnegie

     Carnegie seems to have believed that the best way to improve people's lives was through providing education and the pursuit of knowledge. Carnegie opened colleges and gave people grants to improve their educations and opened many foundations to fund scientists to help them make discoveries. Carnegie didn't just want people to be educated and have knowledge about many things. he wanted them to use this knowledge for goo and to be ethical people. He didn't just care about America, he wanted to help with education on a global level. He also founded a federation for "heros" in society. He was encouraging people to be philanthropists and to do good things.
     I agree with Carnegie's approach of educating people to improve their lives. Education makes it possible for people to advance in our world and it also creates jobs for teachers and professors. Without education and the pursuit of knowledge, our world would be completely different. There would be no medicine, government organizations, or anything that we rely on for normal life today. The counter of this argument to this approach would be that concentrating on something that not everyone can always afford is a waste of time.
     If I had millions of dollars to give away, I would too give my money to organizations who are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. Bringing education to impoverished countries could take out a large chunk of the number of people living in poverty. I would also give money to charities that help protect endangered species and to the Humane Society because I believe that it is important to protect the creatures on the earth that cannot protect themselves.

Conflict Over Native American Bones and Artifacts



Indian Burial

     Conflict over historical artifacts' possession by museums or federal agencies is prevalent whenever an archaeologist wishes to study his findings. Conflict There has been the same type of conflict over Native American artifacts in the U.S. Historians want to keep excavating ancient burial grounds to study the different Indians' cultures and today's Native Americans and some non-Native Americans want the excavations to stop because they believe that it is destroying Native American culture. After much argument between historians, congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to settle the conflict. Congress also provided for the artifacts at the Smithsonian Institution to be repatriated or returned home. NAGPRA also made it against the law to buy or sell Native American Artifacts. Newberry.org says that the buyer or seller must have a permit and "permission from the party who has the right to dispose of the items" to be in possession of their artifacts.  I believe that the unburying of Native American artifacts and bones can be both positive and negative for archaeologists and native Americans.

Safely Collecting Indian Artifacts

     There are positive ways that both Native Americans and archaeologists benefit from the unburying of bones and artifacts. Historians are able to find out details about the oldest culture in the United States. NAGPRA  affected the negatively because they were not able to do any further study of the bones and artifacts. Clement W. Meignat said "In my view, archaeologists have a responsibility to the people they study." He is saying that the study of Native American bones and artifacts can also benefit Native Americans because it keeps their past culture alive. Without the study of bones, Native Americans can begin to lose touch with their culture and knowledge about it. Clement W. Meignat also said the reburying bones is "the equivalent of the historian burning documents after he studies them." Thousands of dollars had gone down the drain for archaeologists after NAGPRA was passed and they were forced to return their artifacts back to their original resting place.

Indians of the Midwest

     The unburying of artifacts and bones in the U.S. also has a negative effect for Native Americans. Many native Americans feel like their past and their culture is being violated when their burial grounds are excavated. Many people that were not native Americans felt the same way about the excavations. Rather that believing that the archaeologists were unburying bones and artifacts to study to get a better grasp on past cultures, some people agreed with the Native Americans in that culture was being destroyed rather than extended. The unburying of bones was very offensive to most Native Americans. After NAGPRA was passed, many modern day tribes had very specific ways the their artifacts and bones were to be reburied. All of the artifacts and bones had to be covered in
red flannel and were not allowed to be touched by certain people or they would be considered contaminated. The unburying of bones also had a negative effect because after the problem seemed to be fixed when NAGPRA was passed, some federal agencies did not follow NAGPRA and didn't rebury the artifacts that they obtained. For the most part though, NAGPRA got rid of mostly all of the conflict between archaeologists and Native Americans.


Sources:

Indians of the Midwest
This website gave me good information about the history of NAGPRA and told me what it meant. The article also mentioned some of the main points of the conflict over repatriation and the possession of Native American artifacts. Knowing the main points helped me to form an opinion of my own.

Safely Collecting Indian Artifacts
This website gave me information on the trade of Indian artifacts and some of the laws against it and punishments for breaking these laws. It also explained "pot hunting". This source didn't help me that much with my argument but it did allow me to get a better grip on the situation and conflict.

Debating NAGPRA's Effects
This website was very helpful to my argument because it gave me the opinion of an archaeologist against NAGPRA as well as explaining NAGPRA and why it was put into place. This was probably the most useful website that I used for research.

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
I did not use much information from this website. I got one quote about some of the requirements of NAGPRA and found out that some federal agencies have not completely followed NAGPRA. this website had more information about federal agencies' roles in NAGPRA rather than peoples' opinions about it.




 

     Cowboys are often depicted as something that they definitely were not. Popular images of cowboys include the "natural man", someone tough and free to roam as they please. The real experience of the cowboys in the West was much less glamorous than people in the 19th century thought. Real cowboys were laborers that were paid low wages for their hard work. Cowboys were the lowest of society (other than Chinese migrants) in the West.
     Other historical realities of life in the West are distorted because of the false character of the cowboy. Many people believed that the west had no support from the federal government because of the independent and free "cowboy" image that people had, when in fact the federal government helped the western settlers a lot. One example of the way that the federal government helped the settlers was the Homestead act. Another way the western image was distorted was that people believed that the West had no other peoples and the cowboys ruled the West when there were actually many other cultures and peoples that had already settled in the West.
     There were many factors that contributed to the idealization of the American cowboy. One factor was that the west was shrouded in mystery and people were left to their own imaginations to picture the West's people and landscapes. It was easy for people to believe all settlers were successful and independent. Another factor that contributed to the American cowboy idealization were paintings of the West and literature about cowboys that convinced people even further that cowboys were successful "natural men" that could take care of themselves.
http://revoltagainst.wordpress.com/category/men/

Before we started our first unit in history class, I did not know anything about the reconstruction. I only knew about the beginning of the civil war up to when Abraham Lincoln was killed and then there was a huge gap in in history before westward expansion started. I think the reason for this is all of my history classes until this year have been very concentrated on the civil war itself because it was so important, but barely touched on the reconstruction of the South. One thing that we learned this unit that stood out to me was the fact that the north didn't push harder against segregation. I felt like congress turned their back to it because they did not want more conflict with the South. One things that I did know about the events during the reconstruction was that Lincoln was assassinated and the southerners weren't sad about it. I didn't know that Lincoln's death would effect them negatively in the long run.
I feel that it is important and beneficial for people to know and understand the history of the place that they live in. History is a series of lessons. Records are kept so the same mistakes aren't made twice. Huntsville's history is very important to the people who live here because it has made Huntsville an engineering and space exploration hub. It is also important that we understand that the south has had the worst education system throughout history so that we can strive to make it better.

'Merica

'Merica
Here is the video about what I think of when I hear the word America!