Semester 1:
The US through the 19th Century
Stage One: In Search of American Roots
09/13/00: A melting pot or a salad bowl?
Dispatch introduces Stephanie Elizondo Griest, the 26-year-old Trekker from Corpus Christi, Texas. Stephanie tells the stories of how her great-grandmothers migrated to America from Mexico. Also, she discusses what it was like to grow up in a bicultural family in the Southwest.
09/16/00: The future looks brighter for the proud Navajo and Shoshone Native American nations
09/20/00: Brains vs. brawn: mammoths on the run
Stephanie explores remnants of the culture believed to be the oldest in the New World -- the Clovis of Blackwater Draw, New Mexico.
09/27/00: The time-honored traditions of the Taos Pueblo Indians
Stephanie explores the traditional lifestyle of the people of Taos Pueblo, including language, customs and religion, and shows how they have maintained it over the centuries.
09/27/00: So what exactly goes on at a powwow anyway?
Stephanie hangs with dancers, artists and fry-bread makers at a traditional powwow in Killeen, Texas
09/30/00: How do you voodoo? The truth beyond the Hollywood myth
Stephanie debunks
some of the myths surrounding the ancient African religion of Voodoo by
talking to some of its practitioners.
10/07/00: You go, colonial girl wonder!
Stephanie explores the struggles and triumphs of
colonial women, highlighting the life and times of esteemed South
Carolinian Eliza Lucas Pinckney.
10/11/00: The Natchez Indians give the old heave-ho to the French
Stage Two: The Birth of the United States
10/21/00: War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Huh!
Stephanie examines the battle at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina - the last major skirmish of the American Revolution prior to the British surrender at Yorktown - as experienced by a common soldier.
10/21/00: Fearless Females
Stephanie examines the battle at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina - the last major skirmish of the American Revolution prior to the British surrender at Yorktown - as experienced by a common soldier.
11/04/00: Three wars, thousands of troops and 100 utterly unconquerable Seminoles
Stephanie traces the Seminole Wars from St. Augustine, Florida, down to Lake Okeechobee. Includes information on Osceola, Seminole resistance to Indian Removal, and the Unconquerables.
11/04/00: Cherokee Education: Finding the Ancestors' Words
Stephanie examines the "Civilization Policy" enforced upon Native Americans in the 19th century with a particular focus on the boarding school education of the Eastern band of Cherokees in North Carolina. She compares her findings with the tribe's present-day public school system.
11/08/00: The Alamo's Tall Tales
Stephanie debunks the many myths of the Alamo and ponders why our culture creates such tall tales in the first place.
11/08/00: The King Ranch, just another slice of corporate American pie?
11/18/00: Huckleberry Finn makes waves along the Mississippi
Stephanie explores the childhood home of America's beloved writer Mark Twain in Hannibal, Missouri and wonders why his most famous works have been banned in some schools.
Stage Three: Expansion and Reaction
12/09/00: Dred Scott: "a simple man who wanted to be free"
Stephanie examines the life and times of African- American slave Dred Scott and how his quest for freedom led to a Supreme Court ruling that spurred the start of the Civil War.
12/13/00: I'm nine but I can still fight!
Stephanie examines the role that youth played in the Civil War through a series of fictitious journal entries. John Lincoln Clem - also known as the Drummer Boy Johnny Shiloh - is featured in the article.
12/16/00: The role of African Americans in the Civil War
Stephanie ventures to Camp Nelson, Kentucky, to study the role of African Americans in the Civil War"
Stage Four: Civil War and Reconstruction
12/20/00: Taking freedom back
Stephanie examines Reconstruction from the African American perspective. Topics covered include the Black Codes passed in the South and the subsequent race riots, with a focus on the Memphis Massacre
12/20/00: Taking freedom back
12/20/00: A Trip Home Reveals More Than Just The Family
1/03/01: Segregation and how the South kept its evil ways
Stage Five: The Transformation of the US
01/06/01: Open Plains and the Smell of Hard Work
Stephanie heads to the Lone Star State to debunk the Hollywood myth that cowboys always looked like John Wayne. In fact, two out of three cowboys were African Americans and Latinos
01/13/01: Workers Unite!
After examining the events leading to the sugarcane strikes of Thibodaux, Louisiana, Stephanie explores labor unions such as the Knights of Labor and the Colored Farmer's Alliance to discover how their policies affected the plight of African-Americans and ultimately led to the founding of the Populist Party.
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