What is ASUTR History300? I’m glad you asked! ASUTR History300 is a project to get Arkansas State University Three Rivers history students engaging with history all semester long, not just for a final project. Our focus is on providing interesting nuggets of history in easily digestible chunks of 300 words or 300 seconds. Why 300 seconds and words? Students like to have word counts, but they stress over how in the world they’ll write that many. The instructor’s goal is to prove to them that 300 words is actually very short. One must write succinctly to share a piece of history in only 300 words. Plus, 300 seconds is 5 minutes, just about the right length for sharing a piece of history via audio, too. In other words, 300 just works! What can we expect on ASUTR History300? Look for original student works each week during the Spring and Fall semesters. We will focus on Arkansas and US History, but may also share some of the works of our Civilization students, too, from time to time.
By Jennifer Arnold Samuel Proctor Massie Jr. was an African American chemist born in Little Rock, Arkansas on July 3, 1919 (Physics Today). He helped to develop treatments for things like mental illnesses, malaria, meningitis, gonorrhea, which is a sexually transmitted disease that if left untreated could lead to infertility, herpes and cancer. He, along with the help of Henry Gilman, worked on the Manhattan Project that brought about the uranium isotopes used in the development of the atomic bomb (Bradburn).
He wanted to become a chemist in the hopes to cure his father’s asthma. Massie had just completed his second year of his PH. D program at Fisk University in Nashville, TN when his father died in 1943. After which, he dropped out to help Gilman in the converting uranium isotopes into useable liquid compounds for the A bomb. After WWII ended, he completed his PH. D in Organic Chemistry and, in 1953, he was elected to the Oklahoma Academy of Sciences (Atomic Heritage).
In 1947, Massie married Gloria Bell Thompkins, whom he had met at Fisk. She became a psychology professor, and the couple had three sons. He was recognized at one of the top six best chemist teachers in America by the Manufacturing Chemists Association. He served as president of North Carolina College in Durham for four years prior to his appointment in 1966 as professor of chemistry at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he was the first black faculty member. He retired from the Naval Academy in 1993 with a Doctor of Laws degree and a $14.7 million grant made in his honor. He died in 2005 in Laurel, Maryland at the age of 85 (Bradburn). His picture hangs in Naval Academy for all to see the face of very hard work and dedication.
Native Americans introduced colonists to corn and even taught them many ways to prepare it. Image by 9883074 from Pixabay
By Curtis Nix
Europeans had a huge impact on the New World which was, sadly, mostly negative for the native people, the land, and the wildlife. The treatment of the natives by the Europeans was not the best either as they were treated as savages most of the time. The Europeans came and took the natural habitat that the natives had lived with for centuries and destroyed it by expansion for farming and settlements. Many native plants and animals were driven to near extinction due to the Europeans’ settlement of the new world. With them, the Europeans also brought new diseases that the natives’ immune systems were not capable of handling so many died from this, also. In the early 1600s, epidemics on the New England coast claimed the lives of 75 percent of the native people living in that area (Khan Academy).
Natives, on the other hand, were both help and hindrance to the settlers of the New World. They taught the Europeans how to survive in the new land and many new crops that would do well. The natives also had some negative impact. Like the Europeans, the natives had their own diseases that Europeans were ill-prepared to deal with, such as syphilis which was fatal for many settlers of the new world (Lumen). Natives had a different outlook on how land ownership. They felt that the land was a resource meant to be used by all, and the Europeans put up fences and boundaries to keep native people off the lands Europeans had claimed as their own. This alone affected many natives due to their migrations taking them away from the lands at certain times of the year. By the time they would come back, Europeans had claimed the land, leaving the natives without the land or resources they always had (Corbet, et al).
Natives and Europeans both had major impact in the other’s way of life in the New World. Some were good and some were bad. In the end, the natives lost so much more than the Europeans, not only their land, but their way of life.
Bibliography
Corbett, P. Scott, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd J. Pfannestiel, and Paul S. Vickery. U.S. History. Houston, TX: OpenStax, Rice University, 2017.
Native Americans believed the land was for everyone and should be respected, not for a select group to exploit. Image by cfranco101 from Pixabay
By Hunter Henderson
When the European settlers arrived in the Americas, they were practically welcomed with open arms by the Native Americans that already inhabited the land. However, the European settlers wanted that land for their own, and did everything within their power to take the land that the natives claimed “belonged to everyone.” The land that the European settlers took from the Native Americans has evolved into what is now known as the United States of America. However, even though the natives inadvertently helped contribute to the development of the New World, the Europeans’ settlements are what ultimately led to the downfall of the Native Americans.
One of the most prominent examples of the damage done to the Native Americans is the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange is a term that refers to not only the ideas, food, crops, and population that the European settlers brought over to the New World, but also the diseases. The Old World, which is considered to be the entire eastern hemisphere, gained a lot of things from the Columbian Exchange, such as new materials like metal and new crops such as potatoes, maize, and cassava. The New World gained a lot of crops from the old world as well, as crops like sugar and coffee were well-suited for the soils of the new land. However, over time, the Native Americans ultimately fell to many diseases that the Europeans brought with them, including smallpox, measles, and even the bubonic plague. Since the natives did not have the immunities to what the Europeans developed, the diseases wiped out nearly 75 percent of the native population.
Perhaps the biggest issue that was presented to the natives in America isn’t something that was presented immediately, but was something that occurred over time. This is the erasure of the Native American culture and heritage. Much like any colonization and settlement, a large part of the heritage and culture of the New World’s native inhabitants was erased by the European settlers. Fifteen years after the War of 1812, President Andrew Jackson introduced the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which allowed Americans to legally remove Native American communities. In an attempt to avoid this removal, the communities would attempt to show “progress” by proving that they had become Christian, which is the religion that the settlers had been pushing onto the Native Americans for generations. This included changing their appearance, ceasing traditional hunting practices in favor of farming, and even cutting their hair and discontinuing tattooing practices, which is all extremely important to Native Americans. However, they did this because they loved their home and culture, and didn’t want it to be erased by the Removal Act of 1830, and the risks that this generation of Native Americans took is what is allowing the last bit of traditional beliefs that are left to live on today.
Bibliography
Corbett, P. Scott, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd J. Pfannestiel, and Paul S. Vickery. U.S. History. Houston, TX: OpenStax, Rice University, 2017.
“Native Nations Face the Loss of Land and Traditions (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed February 12, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/articles/negotiating-identity.htm.
Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian. “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 24, no. 2 (2010): 163–88. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.24.2.163.
The Terracotta Army, discovered in the 20th Century, Qin Shi Huang’s ancient imperial tomb. Image by Mike2218 from Pixabay
By Christian Brashears
The first dynasties that emerged from the warring states period (475-221 B.C.) were the Qin and the Han dynasties. These dynasties together created what is now seen as the First Imperial Era. The Qin Dynasty was not a long and sustained rule, in fact, the first emperor, Shi Huangdi (translates to the first emperor), was the first and last ruler of the Qin dynasty that only lasted for 11 years from 221B.C. to 210 B.C. The death of Shi Huangdi saw a short series of revolts that led to a civil war over control of China.
Lui Bang was one of the men that rose up to fight to gain control of the country during this time, joining forces with a former member of the Chu state royal family, Xiang Yu. There was resistance from many of the other previously ruling states in an attempt to regain the power they had lost. The Chu king wanted to ride the area of Qin forces and placed a heavy emphasis on the city of Guanzhong, the king made a proclamation that if Guanzhong was captured the victorious general would be gifted the title of King of Guanzhong. Lui Bang was the first of the two generals to reach the city and he was successful in driving out the opposing Qin forces. (This all happened around 208 B.C.) The relationship between Lui Bang and Xiang Yu then fell apart because of Xiang Yu and his displeasure in the actions of Lui Bang. As per the king’s proclamation, Lui Bang was given the title of King of Guanzhong, the King of Chu died in 206 B.C., his death gave Xiang Yu full control over the Chu forces and Lui Bang then became King of Han.
With the two former allies now possessing two positions of power, Xiang Yu used his army to act out on his previous resentment of Lui Bang for his capture of Guanzhong. These two armies waged war for a few years, the war ultimately culminated in agreed-upon neutrality or armistice in 203 B.C. There was peace for a year and then Lui Bang went against his agreement with the Chu forces. The culmination of this was in 202 B.C. when Lui Bang outed Xiang Yu at the Battle of Gaixia. This was an utterly devastating defeat and the Chu completely withdrew their control in China and the Han Dynasty began its foothold on the region.
Interesting nuggets of history in 300 seconds & 300 words. 