Years: pre-1607

Major Historical Events: Christopher Columbus (August 3, 1492 – November 7, 1504),  The Roanoke Colony is founded (1585 ), Jamestown was established (1607) 

Major Authors: Sioux and Arapho

Name of Sample Work: “Ghost Dance Songs”

Time Period: Pre-Colonialism

Dates: published 1840s and set pre-1607

Point of View: First person

Themes: freedom, hunger / starvation, death, redemption, race, spiritual

Connection: Some of the major authors were the Arapaho tribe, Ghost Dance songs were Written and sang by the Indians and they related to how they felt about white people showing a theme of distrust/betrayal because they initially thought whites might be good. A major historical event was Christopher Columbus's exploration and he brutalized Indians, From the Arapaho Indians, “ when at first I liked the whites,” (Arapaho 1.) and “I have no more sympathy for him” (23). both quotes show that the Indians don’t want to associate with the white people due to their actions. 

Years:1607-1775

Major Historical Events: Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded (1628), Jamestown settler John Rolfe married Pocahontas, the daughter of the Powhatan Indian chief. (1614), plymouth colony is founded by pilgrims (1620)

Major Authors: Anne Bradstreet (first american poet),Johnathan Edwards, and John Winthrop

Name of Sample Work: Sinners in the hands of an angry god 

Time Period: Colonialism 

Dates: Published and set in 1741

Point of view: Second person 

Themes: Consequence, religion, sinning, divine power, and evil

Sinners in the hands of an angry god 

Connection: Sinners in the hands of an angry god was a sermon delivered during The Great Awakening. The theme of the sermon would be don’t give into evil/ hell is horrific. Jonathan Edwards says, “thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell”(1). and “the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them,”(1). both quotes show the importance of one's actions and how sinning leads to misery in one's future.

Years: 1776-1820s

Major Historical Events: the U.S. Constitution(1789), the Louisiana purchase(1803), Lewis and Clark expedition (1804)

Major Authors: Thomas Jefferson, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Benjamin Franklin

Name of Sample Work: The Declaration of Independence

Time Period: Enlightenment

Dates: Set and published in 1776

Point of view: First-person

Themes: Freedom, equality, justice, liberty, and separation

The Declaration of Independence

Connection: The declaration can be connected to the constitution of the united states of America, some themes of the declaration are equality and individual human rights which is what the constitution of the U.S. is all about. Jefferson writes, “when in the course of human events”(1). and “they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”(1). These quotes both show the importance of human individuality and the second one refers to taking legal action when there's a problem or an injustice.

Years: 1820s-1860s 

Major Historical Events:The Erie Canal opens(1825), the Second Great Awakening(1830), and The Trail of Tears (1831-1838)

Major Authors: Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Fireside poets

Name of Sample Work: The Scarlet Letter

Time Period: Romanticism 

Dates: Published 1850, Set 1600s

Point of view: Third person

Themes: Sin, religion, honor, worth, and punishment

Connection: The major event in Romanticism was the second great awakening, church attendance saw a major increase. Some themes of the Scarlet Letter are religion and sin. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes, “as if meant for no other purpose than to reveal the scarlet letter on her breast.”(71). And, “Were I worthy to be quit of it, it would fall away of its own nature, or be transformed into something that should speak a different purport.”(160). The first quote shows that she's a sinner while the second quote shows that she believes judgement should be left to a divine power

Years:1840s-1860s 

Major Historical Events: The Gold Rush (1848), the Gadsden purchase (1853), Dred Scott vs. Sanford(1856)

Major Authors: Emerson, Dickinson, and Whitman

Name of Sample Work: Nature

Time Period: Transcendentalism 

Dates: Set and published 1836

Point of view: First-person

Themes: Nature, peace, simplicity, loneliness, and appreciation

Connection: The major historical event was the Gold Rush. Some themes of “Nature” are loneliness and beauty in nature. Emerson writes, “His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food”(2). And, “all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all”(2). Once people saw what nature had to offer (gold) they made it a big part of their lives traveling to the west coast to dig for gold in nature. The people who participated in the gold rush made a living from basically playing in the dirt.

Years: 1900s-1940s

Major Historical Events: the first World Series(1903), the Dawes plan(1924), and Hollywood became the center of the movie industry in the early 1920s

Major Authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, and Gertrude Stein

Name of Sample Work: The Great Gatsby

Time Period: Modernism

Dates: published 1925 Set in 1922

Point of view: First-person 

Themes: Wealth, crime, power, status, and love

Sample work connection: A major historical event was the first world series. This relates to the themes of crime and power in Gatsby because Meyer Wolfsheim fixed the world series in the book. Fitzgerald writes, “ ‘He’s the man who fixed the World’s Series back in 1919’ ”(42), and “ ‘ Who is this Gatsby anyhow?’demanded Tom suddenly. ‘Some big bootlegger?’ ”(63). Both of the quotes show the presence of organized crime during the Modernism time period showing that it was a big problem and that a lot of people were involved in it.

Years: 1820s-1865

Major Historical Events

with years: Civil War 1861-1865

The Civil War (1861-1865), Jim Crow(1900s), and Slavery(1861

Major Authors: Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Henry Bibb

Name of Sample Work: The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass 

Time Period: Slave Narrative

Dates: Set and Published in 1845

Point of view: First-person

Themes: Hardship, education, suffering, religion, and enslavement

Connection: The major historical event is slavery. Some themes of slavery are suffering and hard work. Fredrick Douglass writes, “if at any one time of my life more than another I was made to drink the bitterest dregs of slavery, that time was during the first six months of my stay with Mr. Covey.”(37) and,  “Sunday was my only leisure time”(38). Both of the quotes show that he was involved in restless work with little to no breaks. This was one of the only times Douglass worked the fields showing that slaves who worked there their whole lives suffered.