Time Period: Pre-Colonialism

Date: Published in the 1840s and set pre-1607 

Point of View: First person 

Themes: Violence, conquest, spirituality, nature, invasion

Connection: 

The “Ghost Dance Songs” by the Arapaho and Sioux tribes was a spiritual movement which empowered the bonding of the Native American tribes before conquest over their land and culture. This was the result of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in America in 1492. In the songs, the Sioux tribes sing, “The Whole is coming, A nation is coming, a nation is coming, The Eagle has brought the message to the tribe”. This quote indicates that the Native American culture lost sight of who they are through mass killings, reproduction and the colonization/expansion of the Spanish and the Americans.

Time Period: Colonialism

Dates: Published in 1741 and set in 1741

Point of View: Third person

Theme: Religion, predestination, puritanism, freedom, evolution

The written practice, “Sinners in the hands of an angry god” by Jonathan Edwards strictly contradicts the discoveries of the Scientific Revolution through scaring the population with graphic religious terms. Edwards threatened believers with the supernatural which did not fall in the books of scientific discovery. In the piece, Edwards speaks, “The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them…and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out:”. This line compares and contrasts how religion and science fought through the Colonial Period.

Major Historical Events: The American Revolution (1765-1791), John Adams establishes the Wealth of Nations (1776), The Constitution (1787)

Major Authors: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Abigail Adams, Mary Wollstonecraft

Source: Bentley, Jerry. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, sixth edition, McGraw Hill Education, 2015.

Time Period: Enlightenment

Dates: 1776

Point of View: First person

Themes: Deism, philosophy, science, individualism, reason

Connection: 

The Enlightenment period fought for human thought, reason and identity through human rights against the Church which would result in liberated happiness. The Declaration of Independence continued, and perhaps lifted the Enlightenment thoughts, strengthening the movement as a whole. The pronouncement declares, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. The declaration resulted from the American Revolution, which fought for strength and guidance to separate from Britain, connecting to inner strength and the faith of the United States as a united nation of Enlightenment. 

Major Historical Events: The Missouri Compromise, The Second Great Awakening, Indian Removal Act, Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions 

Major Authors: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville 

Source: Bentley, Jerry. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, sixth edition, McGraw Hill Education, 2015.

Time Period: Dark Gothic Romanticism 

Dates: published in 1850 and set in the 1600s

Point of View: Third person, omniscient

Themes: Individuality, nature, freedom, romance, mystery

Connection: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter discusses themes of Dark Gothic Romanticism, a period that romanticizes mystery, the fog of human emotion. Hawthorne states, “she was patient- a martyr, indeed- but the forebore to pray for enemies, lest, in spite of her forgiving aspirations” (Hawthorne 68). Like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Hester Prynne explores her environment through individualism, finding truth and identity. Hawthorne continues, “Pearl, who had enough of shadow in her own little life, chose to break off all acquaintance with this repining brook” (144). Hester’s story exemplifies powerful individualism, something prevalent in the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions.

Time Period: Transcendentalism

Dates: Published in 1867 and set in 1867

Point of View: First person

Themes: reform, reason, nature, minimalism, humanity

Connection: The period of Transcendentalism was a period of empowerment through literacy which presented thoughts of new life and freedom. Walt Whitman’s, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” expresses the ideas of nature vs. human life and barriers that separate us. The poem writes, “How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars”. Exemplified in Emerson’s “Nature”, this line connects to the power nature has on the thoughts and decisions that we compile.

Major Historical Events: Frederick Douglass publishes “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” (1845), Sojourner Truth’s “Speech Ain't I a Woman” (1851), William LLoyd Garrison publishes “The Liberator” (1831-1865)

Major Authors: Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, William LLoyd Garrison

Source: Bentley, Jerry. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, sixth edition, McGraw Hill Education, 2015.

Time Period: Slave Narrative

Dates: Published in 1845 and set in 1845

Point of View: First Person

Themes: violence, labor, barbarism, dehumanization, religion, faith

Frederick Douglass was a self-freed slave, Abolitionist, orator and writer. He published “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, which discussed his personal experiences while enslaved. He spoke on the power of reading and writing in which he goes on to stay, “...I have been engaged in pleading the cause of my brethren- with what success, and with that devotion, I leave those acquainted with my labors to decide” (69). This quote compares to Sojourner Truth’s “Speech Ain't I a Woman”, which too speaks of the troubles that slavery brought her and how she found the power in herself to grow through education and knowledge.

Major Historical Events: World War I (1914-1918), Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937), The Great Depression (1929-1939), World War II (1939-1945)

Major authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Ernest Hemingway, 

Source: Bentley, Jerry. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, sixth edition, McGraw Hill Education, 2015.

Time Period: Modernism

Dates: Published in 1925 and set in 1922

Point of View: Third person

Themes: loss, wealth, romance, reputation, depression

Connection: 

The “Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald discusses topics of wealth and reputation through a romanticised lens. In the book, he states, “And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy” (54). This quote complements the ideas of wealth, reputation and love along with where they get you. Additionally, it hints what led up to The Great Depression (1929-1939), in which people who got lost in money, got lost in alcohol, which along with many other occupations, caused bankruptcy, creating an economic fall of hopeful America.