American Literature Timeline Padlet by

Beginning of American History

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-06 13:58:35 UTC

Period Name

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-07 13:33:37 UTC

Native Americans

Period Special Dates

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-07 13:33:49 UTC

2200 B.C.—Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

2200 B.C. to 1600 A.D.

1607—Early settlement at Jamestown

Period Characteristics

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-07 13:34:02 UTC

1. Oral literature: epic narratives, creation myths, stories, poems, songs.

2. Use stories to teach moral lessons and convey practical information about the natural world.

3. Deep respect for nature and animals.

4. Cyclical worldview.

5. Figurative language/parallelism.

Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-07 13:34:13 UTC

Native Americans spoke more than 300 different languages.

Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-07 13:34:18 UTC

Native Americans cultivated many of the world's most important crops.

Early Settlement

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 13:39:37 UTC

Period Name

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 13:40:04 UTC

Puritanism and Early Settlement of First "American" colonies
1600-1800

Period Special Dates

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 13:40:25 UTC

1507: Early Settlement of the first American colonies - Jamestown

1692: Salem Witch Trials

1741: Jonathan Edwards "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

Period Characteristics

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 13:40:49 UTC

1. Wrote mostly diaries and histories, which expressed the connections between God and their everyday lives.
2. South to "purify" the Church of England by reforming to the simpler forms of worship and church organization described in the New Testament.
3. Saw religion as a personal, inner experience.
4. Believed in original sin and "elect" who would be saved.
5. Used a plain style of writing.

Famous Authors and Works

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 13:41:10 UTC

William Bradford
-"Of Plymouth Plantation"

Anne Bradstreet (poetry)

John Edwards
-"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

Edward Taylor
-"Huswifery"

Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 13:41:17 UTC

Early settlement was harsh for the colonists. The lack of resources and help, along with Native American conflict, pushed the colonists to their limits.

Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 13:41:23 UTC

In 1619, a Representative democracy would begin to form; however, it would start as a very limited government. For example, only men who owned property had the right to vote.

Revolutionary War

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 15:55:32 UTC

Period Name

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 15:55:41 UTC

Rationalism

"The Age of Reason"

"The Enlightenment"

Period Special Dates

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 15:55:53 UTC

1607 Early Settlement—Jamestown

1775-1783 Revolutionary War

Period Characteristics

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 15:56:08 UTC

1. Mostly comprised of philosophers, scientists, writing speeches and pamphlets

2. Human beings can arrive at truth (God's rules) by using deductive reasoning, rather than relying on the authority of the past, on religious faith, or intuition

Famous Authors and Works

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 15:56:25 UTC

Benjamin Franklin
—Autobiography

Patrick Henry
—"Speech to the Virginia Convention"

Thomas Paine
—"The Crisis"

Phyllis Wheatley
—poetry

The Constitution

The Bill of Rights

The Declaration of Independence

Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 15:56:30 UTC

France would be the country to turn a civil war into a worldwide conflict.

Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 15:56:35 UTC

The U.S. wasn't recognized as a sovereign nation until September 3rd, 1783, during the Treaty of Paris.

Fact 3

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 17:42:49 UTC

The Age of Enlightenment produced numerous books, documents, essays, etc.

Fact 4

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 17:42:58 UTC

The Age of Enlightenment directly influenced America and would eventually lead to the American Revolution. The Enlightenment also led to numerous scientific discoveries and philosophies.

Transcendentalism

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 18:55:33 UTC

Period Name

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 18:55:43 UTC

Transcendentalism

"The American Renaissance"

Period Special Dates

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 18:55:55 UTC

1840-1860

Transcendentalism

Period Characteristics

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 18:56:06 UTC

1. Everything in the world, including human beings, is a reflection of the Divine Soul.

2. People can use their intuition to behold God's spirit revealed in nature or in their own souls.

3. Self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external authority and link conformity to tradition.

4. Important social and political movements include the Abolitionist, Utopian, and Women's Suffrage Movements

Famous Authors and Works

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 18:56:14 UTC

Ralph Waldo Emerson
—Nature
—"Self-Reliance"

Henry David Thoreau
—Walden
—Life in the Woods

Louisa May Alcott
—Little Women

Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 18:56:23 UTC

Transcendentalists believe in a self-centered ideology that you as an individual can somehow acquire knowledge or truth through nature minimalism.

Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-08-08 18:56:27 UTC

Transcendentalism arose in New England in the 1800's.

Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-19 14:23:05 UTC

Period Special Dates

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-19 14:23:14 UTC

Event happened on December 1, 1955

Protest happened from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956.

Period Characteristics

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-19 14:23:24 UTC

Began the first large-scale U.S. protest against segregation in America.
Led to the Supreme Court ruling Montgomery to integrate its bus system.
Led to the rise of Martin Luther King Jr.
Ultimately led to the activism against racial segregation in America.

Famous Authors and Works

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-19 14:23:36 UTC

Rosa Parks

- Activist

Martin Luther King Jr.

- Activist

"Rosa Parks: My Story"

- Rosa Parks, Jim Haskins

Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-19 14:23:47 UTC

On June 5, 1956, Montgomery ruled it unconstitutional to racially segregate people according to the 14th Amendment.

Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-19 14:24:11 UTC

The Bus Boycotts led to violence in Montgomery including examples such as snipers and bombers.

Romanticism

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 14:38:40 UTC

Period Name

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 14:39:51 UTC

Romanticism

Industrialization

Period Special Dates

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 14:40:28 UTC

1800-1860

The War of 1812

1812-1815

California Gold Rush

1848-1855

Period Characteristics

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 14:40:57 UTC

1. Valued feeling, intuition, idealism, and inductive reasoning.

2. Placed faith in inner experience and the power of the imagination.

3. Shunned the artificiality of civilization and sought unspoiled nature as a path to spirituality.

4. Championed individual freedom and the worth of the individual

5. Saw poetry as the highest expression of the imagination

6. Dark Romantics: used dark and supernatural themes/settings (Gothic style)

Famous Authors and Works

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 14:41:23 UTC

Washington Irving
—"Rip van Winkle"

Emily Dickinson
—poetry

Walt Whitman
—Leaves of Grass

Edgar Allan Poe
—"The Raven"

Nathaniel Hawthorne
—The Scarlet Letter

Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 14:41:33 UTC

Romanticism focuses on the characteristics of nature; it attempts to perfect nature through literature.

Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 14:41:37 UTC

Romanticism prioritizes emotions and feelings as extremely important in literature.

American Renaissance: Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 16:40:58 UTC

"Henry David Thoreau’s Walden (1854) has been called the finest example of American nature writing and the first great example of modern American prose."

-- ("Literature: An American Renaissance", Encylopedia.com)

American Renaissance: Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 16:44:16 UTC

The American Renaissance led to profound writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Emily Dickinson.

-- ("American Rennaissance", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature)

McCarthyism

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 18:54:51 UTC

"The Red Scare was hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, which intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s."

-- ("Red Scare," History.com)

McCarthyism: Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 18:54:54 UTC

Victims of McCarthyism lost their jobs, reputation, were blacklisted, and some even committed suicide.

-- ("McCarthyism," Encyclopedia. Mccarthyism | Encyclopedia.com)

McCarthyism: Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 19:22:31 UTC

McCarthyism's goal was to dismantle labor union leaders and even social activists working for gender, racial, and economic equality.

-- ("McCarthyism," Encyclopedia. Mccarthyism | Encyclopedia.com)

Walt Whitman

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 19:46:05 UTC

Walt Whitman: Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 19:49:48 UTC

Walt Whitman was born in Long Island. New York, in 1819, and was raised in Brooklyn, NY.

-- ("11 Important and Interesting Facts about Walt Whitman," Interesting Literature. 11 Important and Interesting Facts about Walt Whitman – Interesting Literature)

Walt Whitman: Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 19:53:43 UTC

Walt Whitman is considered to be one of the most important American poets of the nineteenth century.

-- ("11 Important and Interesting Facts about Walt Whitman," Interesting Literature. 11 Important and Interesting Facts about Walt Whitman – Interesting Literature)

Walt Whitman: Fact 3

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 20:03:01 UTC

Walt Whitman began working at the age of 11 for a printing business.

-- ("10 Things You Might Not Know About Walt Whitman," Mental Floss. 10 Things You Might Not Know About Walt Whitman | Mental Floss)

Emily Dickinson

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 20:04:28 UTC

Emily Dickinson: Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 20:04:38 UTC

Emily Dickerson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts.

-- ("11 Fascinating Facts About Emily Dickinson," Mental Floss. 11 Facts About Emily Dickinson (mentalfloss.com ))

Emily Dickinson: Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 20:04:45 UTC

Emily Dickerson never published any poems under her own name.

-- ("11 Fascinating Facts About Emily Dickinson," Mental Floss. 11 Facts About Emily Dickinson (mentalfloss.com ))

Emily Dickinson: Fact 3

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 20:04:53 UTC

Only ten of Dickerson's poems, and one letter, were ever published during her lifetime.

-- ("10 Important and Interesting Facts about Emily Dickinson," Interesting Literature. 10 Important and Interesting Facts about Emily Dickinson – Interesting Literature)

Edgar Allan Poe

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 20:22:29 UTC

Edgar Allan Poe: Fact 1

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 20:22:38 UTC

Edgar Allan Poe published his first book at the age of 18.

-- ("15 Edgar Allan Poe Facts: The Man Behind the Myths," Your Dictionary. 15 Edgar Allan Poe Facts: The Man Behind the Myths | YourDictionary)

Edgar Allan Poe: Fact 2

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 20:22:46 UTC

Edgar Allen Poe is considered the first American Professional Writer.

-- ("15 Edgar Allan Poe Facts: The Man Behind the Myths," Your Dictionary. 15 Edgar Allan Poe Facts: The Man Behind the Myths | YourDictionary)

Edgar Allan Poe: Fact 3

Greyson_Morgan — 2024-09-25 20:22:56 UTC

Edgar Allen Poe had competition with fellow writers such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

-- ("15 Edgar Allan Poe Facts: The Man Behind the Myths," Your Dictionary. 15 Edgar Allan Poe Facts: The Man Behind the Myths | YourDictionary)

Realism (1850-1900)

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-05 16:23:48 UTC

Period Special Dates

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-05 16:26:07 UTC

Civil War
1861-1865

Reconstruction Era
1865-1877

Period Characteristics

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-05 16:26:42 UTC

1. Feelings of disillusionment.
2. Common subjects: slums of rapidly growing cities, factories replacing farmlands, poor factory workers, corrupt politicians.
3. Represented the manner and environment of everyday life and ordinary people as realistically as possible (Regionalism).
4. Sought to explain behavior (psychologically/socially).

Famous Authors and Works

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-05 16:27:30 UTC

Mark Twain
-Huckleberry Finn

Jack London
-Call of the Wild
-"To Build a Fire"

Stephen Crane
-"The Open Boat"

Ambrose Bierce
-"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"

Kate Chopin
-"Story of an Hour"
-The Awakening

Mark Twain

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 13:57:41 UTC

Fact #1

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 13:58:21 UTC

Twain's education was limited during his early life as he worked jobs as a printer and a typesetting job. However, Twain also moved to different U.S. cities throughout his life.

Fact #2

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 13:58:38 UTC

Twain served with a confederate militia during his early life.

Fact #3

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 13:58:45 UTC

Twain based his novel, "Adventures of Huckleberry Fin" on a real person.

Susan Glaspell

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 15:14:27 UTC

Fact #1

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 15:14:33 UTC

Susan Glaspell attended college at the age of 21 at Drake university.

Fact #2

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 15:14:52 UTC

Susan Glaspell wrote the play Alison's House, where she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1931.

Fact #3

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 15:14:59 UTC

Susan Glaspell was raised on a rural homestead just below the bluffs of the Mississippi River along the western edge of Davenport, Iowa.

Modernism (1900-1950)

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 15:55:04 UTC

Period Special Dates

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 15:56:30 UTC

World War I

1914-1918

The Great Depression

1929-1939

World War II

1939-1945

Period Characteristics

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 15:56:52 UTC

1. Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the "American Dream": the independent, self-reliant, individual will triumph.

2. Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form over the traditional.

3. Interest in the inner workings of the human mind (ex. Stream of consciousness).

Famous Authors and Works

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 15:57:24 UTC

Lorraine Hansberry
-A Raisin in the Sun

F. Scott Fitzgerald
-The Great Gatsby

William Faulkner
-"A Rose for Emily"

Eudora Welty
-"A Worn Path"

Robert Frost
-poetry

T. S. Eliot
-The Waste Land
-"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

John Steinbeck
-Of Mice and Men
-The Grapes of Wrath

The American Dream: The 20's

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 16:14:27 UTC

Fact #1

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 16:16:47 UTC

Women were given more freedom in the 20's through the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

Fact #2

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 16:19:40 UTC

Hard liquor was banned in the 20's through the Volstead Act, which closed every bar in the U.S..

The American Dream: The 30's & 40's

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 16:25:09 UTC

Fact #1

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 16:32:09 UTC

The Great Depression, which happened on October 29, 1929, caused serious economic hardship for Americans through the 30's and 40's.

Fact #2

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 16:35:47 UTC

In the early 30's, as America was escaping the Great Depression, Adolf Hitler became president in 1933 and threats of war in Europe had begun.

The American Dream: The 50's

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:12:17 UTC

Fact #1

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:14:00 UTC

Suburban American life boomed in the 1950's as around 77 million babies were born by 1964.

Fact #2

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:16:50 UTC

The Civil Rights Movement began in the 1950's as Blacks demanded more freedom and rights as Americans.

Harlem Renaissance

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:18:25 UTC

Harlem Renaissance
"The Jazz Age"
"The Roaring 20s"

1920–1940

Period Special Dates

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:18:43 UTC

"The New Negro Movement"
1919-1925

Prohibition
1920-1933

Period Characteristics

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:19:37 UTC

1.Black cultural movement in Harlem, New York
2.Some poetry rhythms based on spirituals and jazz, lyrics on the blues, and diction from the street talk of the ghettos
3. Other poetry used conventional lyrical forms

Famous Authors and Works

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:19:54 UTC

James Weldon Johnson

Claude McKay

Countee Cullen

Langston Hughes (poetry)

Zora Neale Hurston

The American Dream: The 60's & 70's

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:24:09 UTC

Fact #1

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:26:38 UTC

Lydon B. Johnson became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Fact #2

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:45:56 UTC

The drafting for the war in Vietnam began in 1964.

The American Dream: The 80's

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:49:15 UTC

Fact #1

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:56:13 UTC

The Ronald Reagan revolution in America was supported by majority of Americans. Reagan supported small government with heavy spending on military.

Fact #2

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 17:57:57 UTC

Nine million people were unemployed in 1982, during Reagan's administration.

The American Dream: The 90's and early 2000's

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 18:25:26 UTC

Fact #1

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 18:31:58 UTC

People began living wealthier, building bigger houses, buying expensive cars, etc.

Fact #2

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 18:33:25 UTC

More Americans began owning guns and NRA memberships became popular in the 90's and early 2000's.

Contemporary and Postmodernism

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 18:35:04 UTC

Contemporary "Postmodernism"
1950–present

Period Special Dates

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 18:35:22 UTC

Korean War
1950-1953

Vietnam War
1954-1975

Period Characteristics

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 18:35:40 UTC

1. Influenced by studies of media, language, and information technology.
2. Sense that little is unique; culture endlessly duplicates itself.
3. New literary forms and techniques: works composed of only dialogue, or combining fiction and nonfiction, experimenting with physical appearance of their work.

Famous Authors and Works

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-06 18:36:19 UTC

Alice Walker

Wallace Stevens

e.e. cummings

Maya Angelou

Anne Sexton

James Baldwin

Richard Wright

Sandra Cisneros

Amy Tan

The Hunger Games

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-11 16:03:01 UTC

The Hunger Games was written in 2008 and is the first part of the Hunger Game trilogy. The book discusses the negative consequences of a dystopian society. The story also uncovers how all authority given to one person or group leads to anarchy and corruption within a government.

Final Remarks

Greyson_Morgan — 2025-03-11 16:52:36 UTC

In each Timeline Tuesday, we learned about the different time periods throughout American history; All the way from the 1800's to today. I learned how society was run during these times as well as how people treated one another. For example, American life in the 1950's was prosperous. Society boomed and there were little worries over the future. On the contrary, in the 30's and 40's, Americans were on edge because of wars and economic uncertainty. In saying this, America has acted like a pendulum in that society sways based on wars, controversies, the economic situation, etc. The main point of these lessons was to show how American literature changes throughout these times. One moment, an author might write about the prosperous future, and another moment, they are writing about war and famine. Overall, American literature is affected by American life and society, whatever that might be.