Aim: Why should I study global history?
Do Now: Imagine that you are 25 years old and recently met the person of your dreams. Everything seems to be perfect, until this person tells you that
he/she has cheated in past relationships, but vows to stay faithful to you. Would you trust him/her?
I What is history?A) History tells the chronological story of events of
our human past.Chronology: Events that happen in order of time, from past to present.
A timeline is used to show chronology.
Ms. Schlesinger born1980
Ms. Schlesinger graduated Forest
Hills H.S. 1998
Ms. Schlesinger invents time machine
2008
Ms. Schlesinger teaching the best class
ever Sep 2013
I What is history? Continued…B) Global History examines the past from a global,
rather than an American perspective.
Test Your Brain Power!
Would a Japanese history textbook have the same information on WWII as
yours? Why or why not? If not, how would it be
different?
II What can history tell us about the present?A) Patterns•Can help us make predictions about the future, and hopefully help us prevent future mistakes.Example: Hitler ordered an invasion of the USSR in June of 1941. His campaign failed miserably due to exhaustion and lack of preparation for the harsh Soviet winter. If he had studied his history, he would have known that Napoleon had invaded Russia in 1812… and also failed for similar reasons!
B) Current Events•Can only be understood by knowing the historical events that led up to the present day.Example: Israelis and Palestinians are fighting over land in the Middle East. Some people believe this conflict began in 1948 when Israel first became a nation. However, historians would tell you that Jews and Muslims have fought over the land of Israel for over 1000 years!
C) History shows how we are connectedExample: ALL modern humans can trace their origins to a single woman in Eastern Africa approximately 200,000 years ago.
III How do we study history?A) Historians use documents (written sources) to write history
1. Primary Sources: Original materials from an historical event (diaries, photographs, letters, autobiographies, etc…)
2. Secondary Sources: Secondhand materials (textbooks, biographies, etc…)
Which sources are primary?
How do we study history continued…B) Archaeologists dig up artifacts (objects made or
used by humans) from the past.- Archaeologists are scientists, and must record everything
they find.
Which one is the real archaeologist? How do you know?
How do we study history continued…
C) Scientists have traced human mitochondrial DNA (from our mothers) back to Eastern Africa.
How do we study history continued…
D) Linguists study language. Changes in language is part of history.
What words did your parents use to describe something as “cool”? Do you use the same words? Why or why not?
School is groovy, dude!
VI Analysis of HistoryA) Once you have historical evidence, you must
analyze it. - Analysis: To examine something carefully by
breaking it down to its most essential parts.
B) When analyzing historical documents, you should be objective, rather than subjective.
- Objective: Without bias (personal opinion)- Subjective: With bias
Analysis of history continued…C) Revisionist history looks at a well known part of history, but from a new perspective.
- Focusing on the role of women in early American history- Studying the importance of African slaves building NYC
* Be careful; some revisionist history is just dead wrong. Some of the worst offenders are Holocaust revisionists, who deny that the Holocaust ever happened.
How do we know that the Holocaust happened?
How do we know that the Holocaust happened?
• Thousands of written and visual documents, kept by the Nazi government
• Thousands of eye-witness testimony by Holocaust survivors
• Physical remains of corpses• Still standing concentration and death camps• Diaries, such as Anne Frank
Are these primary or secondary sources?
VII How to Explain TimeAD = Anno Domini “In The Year of Our Lord”BC = Before Christ
Instead of using these religious terms, historians also can useCE = Common EraBCE = Before the Common Era
Year 0
BC/BCE AD/CE
Key Vocabulary History Chronology Timeline Global History Patterns Current Events Documents Primary Sources Secondary Sources Archaeologists Artifacts DNA
Linguistics Analysis Objective Subjective Bias Revisionist History Holocaust Deniers BC AD BCE CE