Upton Sinclair-The Red Currency
1934
Grade:
11
Theme:
Progressives in California
Lesson:
Upton Sinclair and worker’s rights
Objective:
Students will demonstrate an understanding of how labor conditions in
the early 20th system led to government reform.
Standards:
11.2.1 – Know the effects of industrialization on living and
working conditions, including the portrayal of working conditions,
food safety in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.
Historical Interpretation (New History
Education Skill)
1. Students show the connections,
causal and otherwise, between particular historical events
and larger social, economic, and political trends and developments.
Time:
40 minutes
Method:
Review the document using 6C’s document
analysis; summarize the content using postcards from the past
Materials:
·
Computer lab or access to a computer and the internet.
· The 6 Cs document analysis
worksheet
· Image from SVHO
· Template for Postcards from the
Past.
Procedure:
1. This
lesson is designed as a follow up to “How Progressive were the
Progressives”
2. Pass out a
copy (or provide online access to) of the The Red Currency.
3. Review the
section in the textbook dealing with the passage of the 19th Amendment
and growing activism from women in the late 19th century
4. Distribute
copies of the 6Cs-students will use this worksheet to help understand
the document.
5. Explain
the directions for Postcards from the Past. (Separate document)
6. Download
the template for Postcards from the Past to every computer. For
this lesson, each student will use the The Red Currency.
7. A
completed Postcard is the student’s ticket out the door.
Resources:
·
Image from SVHO: One Sincliar Dollar, The Red Currency,
Endure Poverty in California, Easy Pickings in California, 1934
· Directions for using the 6C’s:
The six C’s are a way of looking at historical resources. The six
Cs are: content, citation, context, connections, communication, and
conclusions. The six Cs are from the California History Social
Science Project.
Content
What is the main idea? Documents: List important points, phrases,
words, or sentences Images: Describe what you see
Citation
Who created this? When was it created? What type of source
is this?
Context
What is going on in the world, country, region, or locality when this
was created?
What other sources might help provide answers to this question?
What else do we need to know to better understand the evidence in this
source?
Connections
How does this connect to what you already know? Keep in mind:
nothing happens out of its own time.
Communication
What is the author’s bias or point of view? Who is the intended
audience? Why was the source created? What is the tone of
the document or image?
Conclusions
What contribution does this make to our understanding of history?
How did you come to these conclusions? How does this document or
image help answer our essential or research question?
Putting it all together
Remember most primary sources were never intended for our school
audience.
This tool is designed to help students explicitly dissect a
source. The overall goal is to get the sense of its
meaning. Our purpose is to understand how a resource contributes
to understanding an issue in its own time.
