Race is a Social Construct

On February 5, 2016 in Scientific American, Megan Gannon, writes an article, 

"Race Is a Social Construct, Scientists Argue"

Clips from PBS's Race: The Power of an Illusion

Phrenology

Phrenology (not to be confused with physiognomy - or phenology)

From Wikipedia:

1848 edition of American Phrenological Journal published by Fowlers & Wells, New York City

Racism[edit]

Europeans looking for a scientific basis for their racism found phrenology attractive as justification for European superiority over other "lesser" races. By comparing skulls of different ethnic groups it supposedly allowed for ranking of races from least to most evolved. Broussais, a disciple of Gall, proclaimed that the Caucasians were the "most beautiful" while peoples like the Australian Aboriginal and Maori would never become civilized since they had no cerebral organ for producing great artists.^[43] Few phrenologists argued against the emancipation of the slaves. Instead they argued that through education and interbreeding the lesser peoples could improve.^[44]Another argument was that the natural inequality of people could be used to situate them in the most appropriate place in society. Gender stereotyping was also common with phrenology. Women whose heads were generally larger in the back with lower foreheads were thought to have underdeveloped organs necessary for success in the arts and sciences while having larger mental organs relating to the care of children and religion.^[45] While phrenologists did not contend the existence of talented women, this minority did not provide justification for citizenship or participation in politics.^[46]

Education[edit]

One of the considered practical applications of phrenology was education. Due to the nature of phrenology people were naturally considered unequal with very few people would have a naturally perfect balance between organs. Thus education would play an important role in creating a balance through rigorous exercise of beneficial organs while repressing baser ones. One of the best examples of this is Félix Voisin who for approximately ten years ran a reform school in Issy for the express purpose of correction of the mind of children who had suffered some hardship. Voisin focused on four categories of children for his reform school:^[47]

• Slow learners
• Spoiled, neglected, or harshly treated children
• Willful, disorderly children
• Children at high risk of inheriting mental disorders

Phrenology is an element of...

From Wikipedia:

Scientific racism (sometimes referred to as race biology,^[1][2] racial biology, or race realism^[3]) is the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.^[4][5][6] Historically, scientific racist ideas received credence in the scientific community but are no longer considered scientific.^[5][6]

Scientific racism employs anthropology (notably physical anthropology), anthropometry, craniometry, and other disciplines or pseudo-disciplines, in proposing anthropological typologies supporting the classification of human populations into physically discrete human races, that might be asserted to be superior or inferior. Scientific racism was common during the period from 1600s to the end of World War I. Since the second half of the 20th century, scientific racism has been criticized as obsolete and discredited, yet historically has persistently been used to support or validate racist world-views, based upon belief in the existence and significance of racial categories and a hierarchy of superior and inferior races.^[7]

What is the Google Books Ngram Viewer?

Chapter 19:

“Old man,” said the young one, “I reckon we might double-team it together; what do you think?”

“I ain’t undisposed.  What’s your line—mainly?”

“Jour printer by trade; do a little in patent medicines; theater-actor—tragedy, you know; take a turn to mesmerism and phrenology when there’s a chance; teach singing-geography school for a change; sling a lecture sometimes—oh, I do lots of things—most anything that comes handy, so it ain’t work.  What’s your lay?”

“I’ve done considerble in the doctoring way in my time.  Layin’ on o’ hands is my best holt—for cancer and paralysis, and sich things; and I k’n tell a fortune pretty good when I’ve got somebody along to find out the facts for me.  Preachin’s my line, too, and workin’ camp-meetin’s, and missionaryin’ around.”

Chapter 20: 

The king got out an old ratty deck of cards after breakfast, and him and the duke played seven-up a while, five cents a game. Then they got tired of it, and allowed they would “lay out a campaign,” as they called it. The duke went down into his carpet-bag, and fetched up a lot of little printed bills and read them out loud. One bill said, “The celebrated Dr. Armand de Montalban, of Paris,” would “lecture on the Science of Phrenology” at such and such a place, on the blank day of blank, at ten cents admission, and “furnish charts of character at twenty-five cents apiece.” The duke said that was him. In another bill he was the “world-renowned Shakespearian tragedian, Garrick the Younger, of Drury Lane, London.” In other bills he had a lot of other names and done other wonderful things, like finding water and gold with a “divining-rod,” “dissipating witch spells,” and so on. By and by he says:

Socialization: Dynamics of Oppression

Does Huck Gaslight Jim in Chapter 15?

"Gaslighting is a form of manipulation used against a partner to convince them that they were the ones that were wrong. "

From Health.com:

5 Signs Your Partner Is Gaslighting You; 

These are the red flags for this subtle form of emotional abuse.

1. Your partner corrects your recollections
2. They tell glaring lies
3. They call you “crazy”
4. They shut you out when problems arise
5. Their mistakes become yours

Read more.

From YouTube: 

Not many people are familiar with the term “gaslighting,” but it is an extremely important one to learn. Gaslighting is a term that was actually coined from a 1940’s movie, where a husband tried to convince his wife that she had gone crazy. Gaslighting is a form of manipulation used against a partner to convince them that they were the ones that were wrong. This technique is not exclusive to romantic partners. It can happen between coworkers, friends, or by your boss. So, today, we will discuss some signs that you have fallen victim to gaslighting. 1. You Are Told How You Feel We’ve all met these people Is there anyone in your life that tells you how you feel? It could be something as little as, “You don’t actually want to watch that television show” to “You do not want me to be successful.” These comments usually come out of left field and instead of asking you these questions, they simply make assumptions about your feelings and run with it. 2. You Question Your Sanity Sometimes you can leave the conversations with this person thinking, “Am I crazy?” Often, you actually mean that question. If you’ve experienced this, and you feel that you are going more and more insane, you just may be a victim of gaslighting. 3. You Try Anything to Avoid Misinterpretation If you are constantly walking around on egg shells and hold in your opinions for fear that they will be twisted against you, there’s a strong possibility that you are a victim. Having someone twist your words against you gets old very quick. So, victims will tend to avoid those situations to not experience that manipulation. 4. You Are Always Apologizing Do you feel like a broken record, repeating over and over again that you are sorry? Not only is this not normal, it is also not healthy. Victims of gaslighting are constantly apologizing for their feelings and beliefs. 5. You Are Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop If you’ve already experienced one outburst, you may be waiting for the next one. You never know when the next time is going to happen, bringing you back to walking on egg shells in anticipation. 6. You Keep The Truth From Friends and Family This is a huge red flag. You should be able to be proud of your relationship and show off your significant other to your friends and family. However, if you feel that you need to hide aspects of your relationship, there’s a problem. 7. You Think You Are Too Sensitive Do you ever feel that you are constantly in the wrong because you are too sensitive? Do you feel that you bring less value to your relationships because of that? If you have these genuine thoughts, you may be a victim. These opinions and feelings may be planted by someone else. 8. You Lie to Defend Yourself Victims will lie constantly, since the truth will get them into trouble with their perpetrator of gaslighting. If you need to tell lies in order to keep someone from attacking you, there is a problem. 9. You Are Always Confused Since victims are always lying, afraid to let others in and are being told that they are wrong, they just do not know what to believe. Therefore, life can leave them a bit disoriented all the time. They say if you tell a lie so many times, you will begin to believe it. This certainly seems to be the case for gaslighting victims. So, what can you do if you, or someone you know, is a victim of gaslighting? The best thing to do is to seek out professional help. The professional can help you figure out your true feelings and figure out who you are. Have you ever heard of the term gaslighting before today? Do you know anyone who has escaped one of these toxic relationships? Let us know in our comment section.

Mark Twain - Great Scott!

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain names the sinking steamboat the Walter Scott, after... 

From Wikipedia:

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet FRSE (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Old Mortality, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor.

In his 1883 Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain satirized the impact of Scott's writings, declaring (with humorous hyperbole) that Scott "had so large a hand in making Southern character, as it existed before the [American Civil] war", that he is "in great measure responsible for the war".^[60] He goes on to coin the term "Sir Walter Scott disease", which he blames for the South's lack of advancement. Twain also targeted Scott in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, where he names a sinking boat the "Walter Scott" (1884); and, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), the main character repeatedly utters "great Scott" as an oath; by the end of the book, however, he has become absorbed in the world of knights in armor, reflecting Twain's ambivalence on the topic.

Huck Finn - Journal

1. A good education makes a good person.

2. It is better to follow laws, even if we don’t agree with all of them.

3. Children should obey and respect adults.

4. The ability to read and write is the most important skill a person can learn in life.

5. An adolescent’s behavior is influenced by friends more than anything else.

6. An adolescent’s attitudes are influenced by parents more than anything else.

7. A person must “play the game” to survive.

8. “Game playing” is dishonest.

9. Cruelty begets cruelty and kindness begets kindness.

10. When bad things happen to a person, he/ she has done something to cause them.

Twain's Vernacular: Vocabulary in HUCK FINN

Twain's Huck Finn (Chapters 1-11) - Vocabulary List @ Vocabulary.com

Twain's HUCK FINN (Chapters 12-22) - Vocabulary List @ Vocabulary.com

Twain's HUCK FINN (Chapters 23-34) - Vocabulary List @ Vocabulary.com

Twain's HUCK FINN (Chapters 35-Chapter the Last) - Vocabulary List @ Vocabulary.com

Listen and READ - HUCK FINN

READ THIS HTML version of Twain's novel or download from Gutenberg.com.




Above audiobook is a playlist that includes a slide show of the text.


Full audiobook:




I recommend the reading by Elijah Wood on audible.com


Playlist: Context to TEACHING HUCK FINN:

Mark Twain - Life and Times

Playlist: Context to TEACHING HUCK FINN:

See Mark Twain's Wikipedia Page

How Historically Accurate Is Spielberg's Lincoln?

When the movie was released in 2012, many historians along with journalists wrote reviews of Steven Spielberg's Lincoln.

For example:





December 2012

How Historically Accurate is "Lincoln"?

by Kelsey McKernie

Excerpt:

Critics of the movie have pointed out that there were other events happening at the same time, which helped to push the 13th Amendment forward and end the war. Professor Eric Foner points out that “slavery died on the ground” as well as in the House, due to abolition efforts by feminist leaders like Susan B. Anthony, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the actions of free blacks themselves. However, the absence of such events is not really historical error, but rather a choice of focus. The movie is about Lincoln, and the politicians on both sides of the aisle who were directly involved in the process of passing the 13th Amendment and ending the war -- not about the actions of other involved parties, however important they might have actually been to the historical event. Their stories are not this movie’s to tell.

Another criticism, voiced by Kate Masur in her New York Times review of the movie, is the passivity of black characters in the movie. It is true that free African Americans were actively involved in efforts to get the 13th Amendment passed, and the movie could probably have shown this a bit more without significantly veering off-course, possibly by highlighting the role of Frederick Douglass, who does not appear in the movie, or by providing more context for black characters like Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker and one of the leaders of the African American community in Washington. Once again, however, this is not exactly an issue of historical accuracy (at least insofar as omissions are not errors) but of storytelling.

NPR: 

We Ask A Historian: Just How Accurate Is 'Lincoln'?

Interview with....

Ronald White, author of A. Lincoln: A Biography, tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer that if a ninth-grader were to write a school paper based on the film, she'd find that its "dramatic core" is basically on target.

On Kate Maser's New York Times op-ed, which criticized the film for keeping black people quietly in the background

"I think that's a point well taken. And what the audience doesn't fully understand, in the final scene — almost the final scene — where suddenly African-Americans arrive in the balcony as the final vote is to be taken, that one of those is Charles Douglass, the son of Frederick Douglass. Charles had fought in the famous Massachusetts 54th; he will write to his father after that climactic vote: 'Oh, Father, how wonderful it is. People were cheering, they were crying tears of joy.' So that had the potential for more black agency, but it doesn't come to full fruition in the film."

On whether freeing the slaves was the prime motive of Abraham Lincoln, as the film suggests

"I think we still don't understand, sadly, although historians have been telling us this for a generation — that slavery really was a cause of the war. However, Lincoln did start the war to save the Union; he did not start the war originally to free the slaves. But that became a purpose for him when he realized that he could no longer move forward without a true understanding of liberty and union. He ran in 1864 for re-election on the slogan 'Liberty and Union,' and so it becomes the second purpose of the Civil War."

Context to Huck Finn

Map of Huck and Jim's journey down the Mississippi.

 Playlist:
Context to TEACHING HUCK FINN:





Covers the time period from 1844 to 1877: A challenging period of expansion, crisis, and rebuilding for America.

Manifest Destiny