The History of What Things Cost In America: 1776 to Today
sheeboo2
This article from the Wall Street Journal, "The History of What Things Cost In America: 1776 to Today," made me think of the Timeline aspect of Sandra's "Disposable Checklists for Unschoolers" (http://SandraDodd.com/checklists).
http://tiny.cc/um7rw
My dad talks about what things used to cost, but I don't remember ever bringing it to conversations. Interesting stuff, especially for kids who are into money.
The old Coca-Cola ad reminded me about Duke University's digital advertising archive:
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/
It is an amazing collection of print ads dating back to the early 1900s. Some are creepy, like the ones for Lysol as a feminine hygiene product:
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/protfam.prfad02163/pg.1/
Brie
http://tiny.cc/um7rw
My dad talks about what things used to cost, but I don't remember ever bringing it to conversations. Interesting stuff, especially for kids who are into money.
The old Coca-Cola ad reminded me about Duke University's digital advertising archive:
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/
It is an amazing collection of print ads dating back to the early 1900s. Some are creepy, like the ones for Lysol as a feminine hygiene product:
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/protfam.prfad02163/pg.1/
Brie
Sandra Dodd
-=-My dad talks about what things used to cost, but I don't remember
ever bringing it to conversations.-=-
OH! Two days ago Marty and his girlfriend and I were talking about
the index, though I couldn't remember the name of it (consumer price
index), and how it compares the price of a loaf of bread to mininum
wage and such.
Marty has asked me about what the motivation of a young, black,
southern man might be to join the army during WWII. He's involved in
a role playing game involving an alternative history about different
nations having different gods, and his character has been assigned as
a soldier in the 1940's. We talked about the G.I. Bill and upward
mobility, and the general feeling of patriotism and fear in the U.S.
in those days, and that the army had options (probably still does) for
enlistees to send some or all of their paycheck to their mother or wife.
That was just a day or two after someone had asked on this list about
kids' interests in military history.
We talked about early-'50s tract houses, built in part, it seems, to
satisfy the promises made to veterans that they could get a loan to
buy a home. We lived in a 1952 tract house when my kids were little--
one that my husband's parents bought in the late 50's. His dad had
been a recon pilot in the Pacific. My dad was a motor-pool sergeant
in Germany during the occupation.
We talked about the prices of houses and cars and how much it went up
in the 1970's.
The site linked before has an image of a Continental Congress coin.
It had never occurred to me that there might be such a thing. It has
a sun, a sundial, and says "mind your business" (not the same as "mind
your OWN business...") :-)
http://247wallst.com/2010/09/16/the-history-of-what-things-cost-in-america-1776-to-today/
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
ever bringing it to conversations.-=-
OH! Two days ago Marty and his girlfriend and I were talking about
the index, though I couldn't remember the name of it (consumer price
index), and how it compares the price of a loaf of bread to mininum
wage and such.
Marty has asked me about what the motivation of a young, black,
southern man might be to join the army during WWII. He's involved in
a role playing game involving an alternative history about different
nations having different gods, and his character has been assigned as
a soldier in the 1940's. We talked about the G.I. Bill and upward
mobility, and the general feeling of patriotism and fear in the U.S.
in those days, and that the army had options (probably still does) for
enlistees to send some or all of their paycheck to their mother or wife.
That was just a day or two after someone had asked on this list about
kids' interests in military history.
We talked about early-'50s tract houses, built in part, it seems, to
satisfy the promises made to veterans that they could get a loan to
buy a home. We lived in a 1952 tract house when my kids were little--
one that my husband's parents bought in the late 50's. His dad had
been a recon pilot in the Pacific. My dad was a motor-pool sergeant
in Germany during the occupation.
We talked about the prices of houses and cars and how much it went up
in the 1970's.
The site linked before has an image of a Continental Congress coin.
It had never occurred to me that there might be such a thing. It has
a sun, a sundial, and says "mind your business" (not the same as "mind
your OWN business...") :-)
http://247wallst.com/2010/09/16/the-history-of-what-things-cost-in-america-1776-to-today/
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
Those links do lead back to some wonderful old stuff. Holly and I
were looking at this one:
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/protfam.prfad02311/pg.1/
They don't have the article. I wish they did! But it was called "Do
War Toys Hurt Your Children?" and promised to have both sides of the
argument.
What it DOES have is a little boy dressed in cowboy gear, looking at
himself in the mirror, or as Holly said, "Practicing his bad-ass
face. Practicing intimidation."
The photo was published in January 1957. I was four then, and I had a
Dale Evans outfit. It had a fringed skirt and matching vest, a hat
kind like that boy's hat in the photo, and a gunbelt with two guns,
like his.
For more recent photos of unschoolers with toy guns, here:
http://sandradodd.com/peace/guns
Sandra
were looking at this one:
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/protfam.prfad02311/pg.1/
They don't have the article. I wish they did! But it was called "Do
War Toys Hurt Your Children?" and promised to have both sides of the
argument.
What it DOES have is a little boy dressed in cowboy gear, looking at
himself in the mirror, or as Holly said, "Practicing his bad-ass
face. Practicing intimidation."
The photo was published in January 1957. I was four then, and I had a
Dale Evans outfit. It had a fringed skirt and matching vest, a hat
kind like that boy's hat in the photo, and a gunbelt with two guns,
like his.
For more recent photos of unschoolers with toy guns, here:
http://sandradodd.com/peace/guns
Sandra
plaidpanties666
"sheeboo2" <naturewalkersinfo@...> wrote:
We've been watching the series "Carnivale" via netflix, which is set during the 1930s and it has sparked some conversations about how much things cost as well as the changing nature of language. It took us all a few weeks to figure out what a "sawbuck" was, for instance ($5), and we ended up going to the internet for "two bits" (25c) and "geek" - not a monetary term but a description of a particular carnival act involving biting heads off chickens. George knew that, but I didn't and the kids and I weren't sure we believed him until we looked it up. The show has been an interesting conversation starter for sure!
---Meredith
>*******************
> My dad talks about what things used to cost, but I don't remember ever bringing it to conversations. Interesting stuff, especially for kids who are into money.
We've been watching the series "Carnivale" via netflix, which is set during the 1930s and it has sparked some conversations about how much things cost as well as the changing nature of language. It took us all a few weeks to figure out what a "sawbuck" was, for instance ($5), and we ended up going to the internet for "two bits" (25c) and "geek" - not a monetary term but a description of a particular carnival act involving biting heads off chickens. George knew that, but I didn't and the kids and I weren't sure we believed him until we looked it up. The show has been an interesting conversation starter for sure!
---Meredith
sheeboo2
----Marty has asked me about what the motivation of a young, black, southern man might be to join the army during WWII....<snip>...We talked about the G.I. Bill and upward
mobility, and the general feeling of patriotism and fear in the U.S. in those days----------
I'm not sure if this is up Marty's alley, but one of my favorite short stories, James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" touches on the above beautifully (the brother is from NY, but the family is originally from the south):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7086554/Sonnys-Blues-by-James-Baldwin
Brie
mobility, and the general feeling of patriotism and fear in the U.S. in those days----------
I'm not sure if this is up Marty's alley, but one of my favorite short stories, James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" touches on the above beautifully (the brother is from NY, but the family is originally from the south):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7086554/Sonnys-Blues-by-James-Baldwin
Brie
Vicki Dennis
On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 11:26 AM, sheeboo2 <naturewalkersinfo@...>wrote:
My first exposure to Lysol was the small dark brown bottle of concentrate in
my mother's pantry with the douche bag (which I also did not understand its
use). That was in the 50s and early 60s.
That pantry also held Epson Salts, Mineral Oil, Baker's Hair Tonic, Baking
Soda, the blue Milk of Magnesia bottle.....all sorts of sights and smells.
vicki
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>I suppose creepy has to do with life experiences.
>
> It is an amazing collection of print ads dating back to the early 1900s.
> Some are creepy, like the ones for Lysol as a feminine hygiene product:
> http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/protfam.prfad02163/pg.1/
>
> Brie
>
>
>
>
My first exposure to Lysol was the small dark brown bottle of concentrate in
my mother's pantry with the douche bag (which I also did not understand its
use). That was in the 50s and early 60s.
That pantry also held Epson Salts, Mineral Oil, Baker's Hair Tonic, Baking
Soda, the blue Milk of Magnesia bottle.....all sorts of sights and smells.
vicki
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Gwen Montoya
Sandra,
For some background, Marty might look into "The Great Migration"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_%28African_American%29>that
takes you to the wikipedia page.
I've read "The Promised Land" (which is cited in the article) and really
found it enlightening.
More pertinent for him would be "The Second Great
Migration"<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Migration_%28African_American%29>-
wiki page again
It is a fascinating (to me, at least) bit of history that I didn't learn
about in school.
Here is a site that has some interesting facts: http://www.lwfaam.net/ww2/
I found this at
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-AfricanAmericansinthMltry.html (this
site also gives a brief history of African Americans in all the wars) :
"At the outbreak of World War II, America reverted to its practice of
turning to African Americans when it needed more troops. In 1940,
President Franklin
D. Roosevelt <http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-RooseveltFranklinD.html>appointed
Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., to be the army's first black
brigadier general, and opened the Army Air Corps to black pilots. These
“Black Eagles,” including Davis's son, Benjamin O. Davis,
Jr.<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-DavisBenjaminOSr.html>,
who trained at Tuskeegee, Alabama, served in all‐black units. In 1941, black
labor leader A. Philip
Randolph<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-RandolphAPhilip.html>threatened
a protest march on Washington for equal opportunity in the
defense workforce and the military. Civil rights activist Bayard
Rustin<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-RustinBayard.html>and
Black Muslim leader Elijah Muhammad dramatized such concerns by going
to
prison.
Most of the 900,000 blacks who served in the armed forces in World War II
were in segregated units, chiefly in the army (and including black women,
who served in segregated units of the
WACs<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-WAC.html>and the Army and
Navy Nurse
Corps <http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-NurseCorpsArmyandNavy.html>).
However, wartime demands for increased numbers of service people as well as
the ideology of a war against Nazi racism contributed to some integration.
The Coast Guard began racial integration on shipboard, and the navy followed
on some fleet auxiliary ships. Army units were segregated for most of the
war, but beginning with the Battle of the
Bulge<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-BulgeBattleofthe.html>,
when the army suffered shortages of white infantrymen, some 4,500 men from
black service units volunteered and formed black platoons in formerly
all‐white combat companies. Although the Marine Corps accepted a few black
recruits, it largely maintained its racial segregation. Black service
people, like other veterans, benefited after the war from the G.I.
Bill<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-TheGIBill.html>
.
In the postwar era, the armed forces initially sought to avoid integration,
delaying even in the face of President Harry S.
Truman<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-TrumanHarryS.html>'s
1948 election‐year order (Executive Order 9981) for an end to segregation in
the military—the armed forces were directed to provide equal treatment and
opportunity regardless of race. The U.S. Air Force, however, had moved
toward integration in 1949 after achieving independent status in 1947.
Beginning in 1951, the reverses of the Korean
War<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-KoreanWar.html>led to the
end of all‐black units in the army and Marines, and moved all the
services toward racial integration in the enlisted ranks for greater
efficiency. Black and white service people now fought side by side, dined in
the same mess hall, and slept in the same barracks. Nevertheless, the
officer corps remained white, with black officers representing only 3
percent of the army's officers and 1 percent of the air force, navy, and
Marine officer corps."
I'm going to stop now. :-)
Gwen
For some background, Marty might look into "The Great Migration"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_%28African_American%29>that
takes you to the wikipedia page.
I've read "The Promised Land" (which is cited in the article) and really
found it enlightening.
More pertinent for him would be "The Second Great
Migration"<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Migration_%28African_American%29>-
wiki page again
It is a fascinating (to me, at least) bit of history that I didn't learn
about in school.
Here is a site that has some interesting facts: http://www.lwfaam.net/ww2/
I found this at
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-AfricanAmericansinthMltry.html (this
site also gives a brief history of African Americans in all the wars) :
"At the outbreak of World War II, America reverted to its practice of
turning to African Americans when it needed more troops. In 1940,
President Franklin
D. Roosevelt <http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-RooseveltFranklinD.html>appointed
Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., to be the army's first black
brigadier general, and opened the Army Air Corps to black pilots. These
“Black Eagles,” including Davis's son, Benjamin O. Davis,
Jr.<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-DavisBenjaminOSr.html>,
who trained at Tuskeegee, Alabama, served in all‐black units. In 1941, black
labor leader A. Philip
Randolph<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-RandolphAPhilip.html>threatened
a protest march on Washington for equal opportunity in the
defense workforce and the military. Civil rights activist Bayard
Rustin<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-RustinBayard.html>and
Black Muslim leader Elijah Muhammad dramatized such concerns by going
to
prison.
Most of the 900,000 blacks who served in the armed forces in World War II
were in segregated units, chiefly in the army (and including black women,
who served in segregated units of the
WACs<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-WAC.html>and the Army and
Navy Nurse
Corps <http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-NurseCorpsArmyandNavy.html>).
However, wartime demands for increased numbers of service people as well as
the ideology of a war against Nazi racism contributed to some integration.
The Coast Guard began racial integration on shipboard, and the navy followed
on some fleet auxiliary ships. Army units were segregated for most of the
war, but beginning with the Battle of the
Bulge<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-BulgeBattleofthe.html>,
when the army suffered shortages of white infantrymen, some 4,500 men from
black service units volunteered and formed black platoons in formerly
all‐white combat companies. Although the Marine Corps accepted a few black
recruits, it largely maintained its racial segregation. Black service
people, like other veterans, benefited after the war from the G.I.
Bill<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-TheGIBill.html>
.
In the postwar era, the armed forces initially sought to avoid integration,
delaying even in the face of President Harry S.
Truman<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-TrumanHarryS.html>'s
1948 election‐year order (Executive Order 9981) for an end to segregation in
the military—the armed forces were directed to provide equal treatment and
opportunity regardless of race. The U.S. Air Force, however, had moved
toward integration in 1949 after achieving independent status in 1947.
Beginning in 1951, the reverses of the Korean
War<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-KoreanWar.html>led to the
end of all‐black units in the army and Marines, and moved all the
services toward racial integration in the enlisted ranks for greater
efficiency. Black and white service people now fought side by side, dined in
the same mess hall, and slept in the same barracks. Nevertheless, the
officer corps remained white, with black officers representing only 3
percent of the army's officers and 1 percent of the air force, navy, and
Marine officer corps."
I'm going to stop now. :-)
Gwen
On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 11:17 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
>
> Marty has asked me about what the motivation of a young, black,
> southern man might be to join the army during WWII. He's involved in
> a role playing game involving an alternative history about different
> nations having different gods, and his character has been assigned as
> a soldier in the 1940's. We talked about the G.I. Bill and upward
> mobility, and the general feeling of patriotism and fear in the U.S.
> in those days, and that the army had options (probably still does) for
> enlistees to send some or all of their paycheck to their mother or wife.
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
sheeboo2
Wow, Gwen! That's an amazing collection of links! Perusing it brought to mind Spike Lee's film about Buffalo soldiers in WWII, "Miracle at St. Anna," a remake of James McBride's novel (http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-St-Anna-James-McBride/dp/1573229717):
The film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1046997/
and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Soldier
Brie
The film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1046997/
and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Soldier
Brie
Gwen Montoya
My husband reminded of that there a movie called The Tuskegee Airman. When I
googled it I found this site: http://www.tuskegeeairmen.org/ and the movie
from 1995 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114745/
Miss Evers Boys http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119679/plotsummary is also
related to African-Americans, the military & WWII. Both star Laurence
Fishburne...which is interesting.
Gwen
googled it I found this site: http://www.tuskegeeairmen.org/ and the movie
from 1995 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114745/
Miss Evers Boys http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119679/plotsummary is also
related to African-Americans, the military & WWII. Both star Laurence
Fishburne...which is interesting.
Gwen
On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 4:56 PM, sheeboo2 <naturewalkersinfo@...>wrote:
>
>
> Wow, Gwen! That's an amazing collection of links! Perusing it brought to
> mind Spike Lee's film about Buffalo soldiers in WWII, "Miracle at St. Anna,"
> a remake of James McBride's novel (
> http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-St-Anna-James-McBride/dp/1573229717):
>
> The film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1046997/
>
> and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Soldier
>
> Brie
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]