From These Beginnings (Volume 2, 8th Edition) is a series of mini-biographies of ten historical personalities—Mark Twain, Jane Addams, Gifford Pinchot, Henry Ford, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Nixon, Elvis Presley, Betty Friedan and Ted Turner.
Your Assignment: Read the following chapters, and answer the following questions (taken from For Consideration at the end of each chapter):
1. Henry Ford (Chapter 4)
a. What techniques did Henry Ford incorporate to turn his small automobile company into the giant Ford Motor Company?
b. Like many other industrialists, Ford opposed government intervention to ease the ravages of the Great Depression. In their view, what were the causes of and solutions for the economic downturn?
2. Eleanor Roosevelt (Chapter 5)
a. As a governor’s wife and First Lady, Roosevelt was known as a “new woman.” With regard to her personal life, politics, gender and race, how did she demonstrate ambivalence about being a “new woman”?
b. Eleanor Roosevelt’s popularity as First Lady grew steadily. Discuss the unusual relationship between Eleanor and Franklin with regard to the presidency during depression and war.
3. Martin Luther King Jr. (Chapter 6)
a. Two schools of thought on achieving advancement for black people dominated late-19th and early 20th century America. Compare and contrast the philosophies and practices of Booker T Washington and William EB Du Bois.
b. Legal decisions and nonviolent resistance proved successful during the 1950s in promoting black civil rights. Identify and discuss some of the watershed events of that decade.
c. By the 1960s, King’s nonviolent resistance was challenged by younger African Americans who believed his methods outmoded. Why did these militant individuals reject King? Does King’s philosophy still have merit in the early 21st century?
4. Choose any other chapter, and answer any 2 questions under For Consideration.