Crucible Poster Activity: 1950's Witch Hunts and Arthur Miller's Play

 

adapted from

http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cruc/cructg.html

AP Language and Composition

Alpharetta High School

Dr. Gingrich

 
 

Introduction

 

Often during the course of  world history people in power have scapegoated individuals and groups in order to exercise control over a society.  Frequently these leaders have caused hysteria  through the spreading of propaganda.  Two of the major works that we will be reading this semester will address this concern, Maus, and The Crucible by Arthur Miller.  We will focus on the issues of hysteria and scapegoating in this lesson and then focus more on the uses of propaganda when we study Maus.  We will focus on three different historical periods and their use of propaganda, hysteria, and scapegoating:  Russian Communism, Nazi treatment of Jews during the 30's and 40's, and McCarthyism during the 1950's.

 

1 .Choose one  topic to explore further.

 
2. Then  explore the links listed under each topic, choosing text and graphics that might relate to the question:
       

       

       

       


      How did the political events of the period  influence the writing of The Crucible?

      How did they create a sense of hysteria?  To what extent was propaganda used to manipulate public opinion?

       

      The Topics

      The Cold War


      Cold War at History.com

      http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/videos?paidlink=1&vid=HIS_SEM_ContentNetwork&keywords=cold%2Bwar%2Bpicture&utm_source=google_content&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=cold%20war&utm_term=content_cold%20war%20picture#cold-war

      Cold War Museum

      http://www.coldwar.org/museum/board_of_directors.asp

      Cold War International History Project

      http://wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=topics.home&topic_id=1409

      The Cold War as History

      http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SSFUL-0-4917&artno=0000109664&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Cold%20War%201950%27s&title=The%20Cold%20War%20As%20History&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=Y&ic=Y

       

       

       

      Fear of Communism in the 1950s

         
      Senator Joe McCarthy


      House Un-American Activities Committee

      The Hollywood Ten
        The Hollywood Blacklist How to Learn From the Blacklist
        University of Pennsylvania Writing Center
         http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/blacklist.html
        Hollywood Ten
        http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/269472/Hollywood-Ten

         
      3. After reading the texts and taking notes carefully, pull your ideas together to answer the question above fully. The poster should include at least two visual images (taken from sources or self-generated) and at least five key ideas from the web pages.  You are not limited to the web pages that you are given. The following suggestions will help you create your poster:
       
      • Look for ways McCarthy and other committee members examined witnesses, then recall how Judge Hathorne and others in the play asked questions. Compare the two methods.
      • Examine the hysteria you find in the play and the hysteria you have read about in the documents from the 1950s. Find similarities and differences.
      • Consider how propaganda was used to illustrate points
      • Use exposition, narration, description, argumentation, exposition, or some combination to support the main proposition.
      • Analyze several historical records of a single event.
      • Include information from all relevant perspectives, taking the validity and reliability of sources into consideration.
      • Provide a formal bibliography of the web pages you used.  Use at least three different web pages.

    Performance Standards