America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920

America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920 PDF Author: Ellen M. Litwicki
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588344169
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
From the revered Memorial Day to the forgotten Lasties Day, America's Public Holidays is a timely and thoughtful analysis of how the civic culture of America has been fashioned. By analyzing how holidays became a forum for expressing patriotism, how public tradition has been invented, and how the definition of America itself was changed, Ellen Litwicki tells the intriguing story of the elite effort to create new holidays and the variety of responses from ordinary Americans.

America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920

America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920 PDF Author: Ellen M. Litwicki
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588344169
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
From the revered Memorial Day to the forgotten Lasties Day, America's Public Holidays is a timely and thoughtful analysis of how the civic culture of America has been fashioned. By analyzing how holidays became a forum for expressing patriotism, how public tradition has been invented, and how the definition of America itself was changed, Ellen Litwicki tells the intriguing story of the elite effort to create new holidays and the variety of responses from ordinary Americans.

America's Forgotten Holiday

America's Forgotten Holiday PDF Author: Donna T. Haverty-Stacke
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814737056
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Though now a largely forgotten holiday in the United States, May Day was founded here in 1886 by an energized labor movement as a part of its struggle for the eight-hour day. In ensuing years, May Day took on new meaning, and by the early 1900s had become an annual rallying point for anarchists, socialists, and communists around the world. Yet American workers and radicals also used May Day to advance alternative definitions of what it meant to be an American and what America should be as a nation. Mining contemporary newspapers, party and union records, oral histories, photographs, and rare film footage, America’s Forgotten Holiday explains how May Days celebrants, through their colorful parades and mass meetings, both contributed to the construction of their own radical American identities and publicized alternative social and political models for the nation. This fascinating story of May Day in America reveals how many contours of American nationalism developed in dialogue with political radicals and workers, and uncovers the cultural history of those who considered themselves both patriotic and dissenting Americans.

American Holy Days, Second Edition

American Holy Days, Second Edition PDF Author: Boardman W. Kathan
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
Our national holidays have been trivialized by merchandising, consumerism, and long weekends. What do you know about the origins of the national holidays of the United States? Boardman Kathan presents the persons and events that each of our “holy days” commemorates. In so doing he explores the shaping of American history and identity, revealing often-misunderstood parts of our national story from a new approach. Each chapter looks at the many books and research written about the events commemorated by these holidays, showing their relevance for today. Kathan includes discussion of the spiritual or religious dimensions of these national observances, pointing out that although the United States was not founded as a “Christian nation” on biblical principles, people throughout American history have perceived a divine guidance—or what George Washington called “providential care.” This book reflects back on the original meaning of these days and seeks to inspire renewed forms of celebration, commemoration, and observance. Celebrating patriotic holidays can bring us together as a people, especially in times of stress and conflict. Schools, religious institutions, patriotic organizations, readers interested in history, in short the general public, will find this an enjoyable aid for recalling our history, reclaiming our values and traditions, and restoring a sense of community.

America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920

America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920 PDF Author: Ellen M. Litwicki
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Holidays
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
"Although many of the public holidays created between 1865 and 1920 seem to have devolved into little more than three-day weekends, Litwicki demonstrates that their celebrations still have the potential not only to convey American ideals but also to expose tensions in American society."--Jacket.

Celebrating Canada

Celebrating Canada PDF Author: Mathew Hayday
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442621540
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 461

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Book Description
Holidays are a key to helping us understand the transformation of national, regional, community and ethnic identities. In Celebrating Canada, Matthew Hayday and Raymond Blake situate Canada in an international context as they examine the history and evolution of our national and provincial holidays and annual celebrations. The contributors to this volume examine such holidays as Dominion Day, Victoria Day, Quebec’s Fête Nationale and Canadian Thanksgiving, among many others. They also examine how Canadians celebrate the national days of other countries (like the Fourth of July) and how Dominion Day was observed in the United Kingdom. Drawing heavily on primary source research, and theories of nationalism, identities and invented traditions, the essays in this collection deepen our understanding of how these holidays have influenced the evolution of Canadian identities.

There Is Power in a Union

There Is Power in a Union PDF Author: Philip Dray
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307389766
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 818

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Book Description
From the nineteenth-century textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, to the triumph of unions in the twentieth century and their waning influence today, the contest between labor and capital for the American bounty has shaped our national experience. In this stirring new history, Philip Dray shows us the vital accomplishments of organized labor and illuminates its central role in our social, political, economic, and cultural evolution. His epic, character-driven narrative not only restores to our collective memory the indelible story of American labor, it also demonstrates the importance of the fight for fairness and economic democracy, and why that effort remains so urgent today.

Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa PDF Author: Keith A. Mayes
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135284016
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Kwanzaa: Black Power and the Making of the African-American Holiday Tradition explores the beginning and expansion of Kwanzaa, from its start as a Black Power holiday, to its place as one of the most mainstream black holiday traditions.

History Lessons

History Lessons PDF Author: Beth S. Wenger
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400834058
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
Most American Jews today will probably tell you that Judaism is inherently democratic and that Jewish and American cultures share the same core beliefs and values. But in fact, Jewish tradition and American culture did not converge seamlessly. Rather, it was American Jews themselves who consciously created this idea of an American Jewish heritage and cemented it in the popular imagination during the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. History Lessons is the first book to examine how Jews in the United States collectively wove themselves into the narratives of the nation, and came to view the American Jewish experience as a unique chapter in Jewish history. Beth Wenger shows how American Jews celebrated civic holidays like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July in synagogues and Jewish community organizations, and how they sought to commemorate Jewish cultural contributions and patriotism, often tracing their roots to the nation's founding. She looks at Jewish children's literature used to teach lessons about American Jewish heritage and values, which portrayed--and sometimes embellished--the accomplishments of heroic figures in American Jewish history. Wenger also traces how Jews often disagreed about how properly to represent these figures, focusing on the struggle over the legacy of the Jewish Revolutionary hero Haym Salomon. History Lessons demonstrates how American Jews fashioned a collective heritage that fused their Jewish past with their American present and future.

Unequal Freedoms

Unequal Freedoms PDF Author: Jeff Strickland
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813055415
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
During the latter half of the nineteenth century, German and Irish immigrants were as central to the development of the political economy of Charleston, South Carolina, as white southerners and African Americans. As artisans and entrepreneurs, foreigners occupied a middle tier in the racial and ethnic hierarchy of the South’s most economically and politically important city. As agents of change, they provided a buffer, alleviating tensions between the castes until assimilating after emancipation and, in many instances, effectively embracing white supremacy. In Unequal Freedoms, Jeff Strickland examines the complex interplay of race, ethnicity, and class to reveal the pivotal ways in which European immigrants influenced the social, economic, and political development of the South.

Mexican National Identity

Mexican National Identity PDF Author: William H. Beezley
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816526907
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
In this enlightening book, the well-known historian William Beezley contends that a Mexican national identity was forged during the nineteenth century not by a self-anointed elite but rather by a disparate mix of ordinary people and everyday events. In examining independence festivals, childrenÕs games, annual almanacs, and the performances of itinerant puppet theaters, Beezley argues that these seemingly unrelated and commonplace occurrencesÑnot the far more self-conscious and organized efforts of politicians, teachers, and othersÑcreated a far-reaching sense of a new nation. In the century that followed MexicoÕs independence from Spain in 1821, Beezley maintains, sentiments of nationality were promulgated by people who were concerned not with the promotion of nationalism but with something far more immediateÑthe need to earn a living. These peddlers, vendors, actors, artisans, writers, publishers, and puppeteers sought widespread popular appeal so that they could earn money. According to Beezley, they constantly refined their performances, as well as the symbols and images they employed, in order to secure larger revenues. Gradually they discovered the stories, acts, and products that attracted the largest numbers of paying customers. As Beezley convincingly asserts, out of Òwhat sold to the massesÓ a collective national identity slowly emerged. Mexican National Identity makes an important contribution to the growing body of literature that explores the influences of popular culture on issues of national identity. By looking at identity as it was fashioned Òin the streets,Ó it opens new avenues for exploring identity formation more generally, not just in Mexico and Latin American countries but in every nation. Check out the New Books in History Interview with Bill Beezley!