United States, "land of the free" at a costThroughout our readings, agriculture, food, and environment have been in the background. From Puritans taking land away from Native Americans to Catharine Beecher talking about the hazards of women of reproductive age working in dirty factories, to the age of industrialization where many immigrant workers were classified as only useful to do manual labor- forcing them into dirty cities and dirty jobs. Americanization of immigrants led to processed food that was seen at the time to be a way to hasten the process of cooking to allow for other activities. For every action there is a consequence and this is where my presentation begins...
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A brief overview of societal issues from history and our readings.
GenderMen:
• In the majority of our reading, men play a large role in leadership and influence the way society has evolved. Men did not value women for anything other than mothering future Republic leaders. • Sexism can be seen in the philosophies of Rousseau and Locke. Thomas Jefferson and his idea of "natural aristocracy" and of educating all children (Spring, 2014). Noah Webster and his religious texts geared toward Protestant ideology. Workingmen's Parties, the Democrats, the Whig political parties, Horace Mann- all Common School Reformers with different reasons for wanting the same thing- an equal education for their youth. John Dewey and group and cooperation centered education and very much against testing. And the list of influential men goes on and not much mention of agriculture or environment or food as America began to grow. The common thread all of these influential men possessed was power. Women: • Women's role was to be seen and not heard. Tasked with: up-keeping the house & bills, keeping husband content, raising children. • In charge of educating pre-school aged children the ways of the Republic. • Women were thought of as "naturally nurturing" and "morally superior" to men (Spring, 2014). Finally have a career option as educators, but are ultimately being used for less pay and their submissiveness to men. • Women worked in schools without heat or bathrooms. Exposure to large amounts of children of all ages attending school with illness. Teachers ate meager lunches of bread with lard. • Women were used during the time of the depression for factory work. Many women of child bearing age were exposed to chemical agents and toxins that made them ill. •Women spent less time in the kitchen due to mass production of processed food. More free time meant time to become more educated. |
Race• Native Americans were killed and persecuted for undermining the white man's ways. Boarding schools were put in place to separate children from the traditions of their parents (to make it easier to deculturize), and to obtain land. Their land was taken from them, only to be stripped of all it's resources and farmed. No consideration was taken for the effects this would have on air pollution, water pollution or water table.
• Manifest Destiny kept whites thinking they had a right to take, take, take from those who they considered inferior. "Colonization has been and continues to be enacted in the takeover of Indigenous land and the subsequent conversion of agriculture from diverse food and useful crops to large-scale monoculture and cash crops and, notably, ‘drug foods’ (e.g. sugar, tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, and chocolate)" (McCoy, 2014). • Immigrants [Irish, Chinese, Mexican, African American (just to name a few)] were force fed American/Anglo/Protestant ways including an American diet of processed foods. They were forced to work doing grunt work in farming, mining, and industrial conditions. No doubt that the health of these workers suffered from poor working conditions and poor pay. • During the industrial era, cities overflowed with immigrants leading to an increase in air, land, and water pollution. Environment not suitable for raising children (it was thought that family and community were failing to teach children), so kindergartens and playgrounds were used as a means of reducing crime and controlling/influencing immigrant populations to become more American like. • Immigrant children always had to contend with prejudice and inequality and segregation, making their school experience less enriching. Prejudice maintained, especially in the South even through crusaders like Lyndon B. Johnson, who put an end to segregation by passing laws that financially penalized schools who did not desegregate. |
Class• In Colonial times, only upper class white males received an education to enter the clergy or to become leaders.
• Lower class had less money, more likelihood of obtaining a job where they would be exposed to environmental toxins such as factory emittance. • Schools divided students based on test scores that were culturally biased and geared toward white students. Those who performed poorly, were placed in job training programs that were geared toward manual labor, stripping them of the chance to get out of their class. It kept the rich rich and the poor poor. • After The Great Depression, pollution was rarely mentioned as people were just trying to get by. Being American became synonymous with materialism. The more goods you could obtain ie. cars, clothing, houses, stuff, the more society accepted you as having achieved the American Dream. More materialism led to more consumption. Originally thought to boost the American economy, but proved to be a way to increase the richness of corporate elites and destroy natural resources while polluting our air, water and land with toxins used in production, transporting, and waste. |
Nature of work• Native Americans who would not conceed to the white man's ways were banished to lands thought to be less useful to Protestant Americans ie. Arizona, New Mexico (as we know them today). Native Americans worked mostly in trade and were efficient in creating goods such as pottery, and clothing without a lot of waste.
• African Americans were bought and sold as slaves and put to work in fields with little pay and no chance of climbing a social ladder. Poor working conditions and low pay lead to poor health. • Mexican Americans said to be the easiest of people to work with, because they did not talk back, they kept to themselves and did what was asked of them. Long working hours, poor working conditions, low pay lead to poor health. • Schooling for children living in America went through many changes, all the while immigrant children's parents wanted them to work as to make money for the family. • During Industrial revolution, there was an increased risk for people working in factories with exposure to toxins. Pollution abounds in this era. Resources thought to be unlimited, land and water thought to be self healing. |