The movie Cinderella Man illustrates some of the common hardships among Americans in the 1930s as they went through the Great Depression. The severity of the depression, unemployment, relief systems, family struggles, and the radio are some of the topics and difficulties, faced by Americans at the time, that are addressed by the movie. Along with these struggles came strong emotions, such as, desperation, worry, frustration, and the feeling of helplessness and failure.

                Desperation and some of the severities of the depression were shown through the problems in Jimmy’s family, beginning with Jimmy losing his boxing job because of his broken hand. Jimmy pleads with one of his employers asking “what am I supposed to bring home to my family?” Unemployment was one of the main things that drove the depression. Jimmy’s unemployment sets off a chain of problems faced by his family. Being unable to pay the bills, their house’s electricity is cut off. This starts the concern for the children’s welfare, and the mother sends them off to live with other family members. Families were often split up due to unemployment.  Losing his kids really sets Jimmy’s desperation and frustration in motion. Jimmy finally gives in and signs up for state loans and goes to his former employers for any money they can lend to help him out. Public relief systems, such as breadlines, and even State governments were not equipped to deal with the amount of people in need of help. Jimmy needing assistance just to keep his family together took a toll on his pride. Feelings of self failure and helplessness often affected men of the time; they stuck to the belief that the fact that they were jobless was solely the result of personal failure. However some did believe that the government was to blame, like Jimmy’s work partner, Mike. When Jimmy’s wife goes to Joe’s apartment, Joe’s wife says, “They worry that they fail us”. This is another way the movie illustrates the feelings of the men, from the wife’s perspective. Worry is expressed by Jimmy’s wife when he gets back into boxing because of the fear of losing her husband but Jimmy’s persistence to provide for his family keeps on.  When Jimmy has his comeback in boxing, the radio brings the community together to listen to his fights being broadcasted. In the end, the importance of the radio to families was illustrated when Jimmy’s family gathers around the radio to hear and celebrate his big win.

Homefront WWI

• Food and Fuel control act
• "wheat-less Wednesdays" and "fuel-less Mondays"
• U.S. Food Administration
• Women

I wanted to find the answers to these WWI questions and here is what I found...

1. WWI started on July 28, 1914 because Austria's Archduke, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. The combatants of the war were the Allies who were France, British Empire, Russia, Italy, U.S., Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, Japan, Brazil, Portugal, Greece and Belgium, and the Central forces who were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.
2. The U.S. got involved in the war on April 6, 1917 because Germany sunk 7 U.S. merchant ships by submarines.
3.

Casualties of WWI

4. WWI ended on November 11, 1918 when Germany signed an armistice with the Allies.

Great White Fleet:Naval Presence Around the World   This site really helped me understand and grasp just how long the Great White Fleet's journey around the world was. It gave these details with a few short sentences that gave the message directly and easily to me. This was important for me to understand through out making my postcards, but was especially important when I give details about the grandness of the journey in numbers.

The Great White Fleet:Naval History and Heritage Command   This site gave me information about the ships as well as the journey itself. I was able to view the names, ranks, and even important people of each ship in an easy chart that was given. This site helped me know what the purpose of the fleets journey. Why did they travel the world? Who's idea was it? What was the underlining purpose of it all? These were my questions to being with and this site helped answer all of them. With background stories and information on President Teddy Roosevelt, this site gave me information on why the Great  White Fleet took its journey.

The Cruise of the Great White Fleet   This site was especially useful and important when I was researching. It was easy to navigate, with pages about each different country the fleet visited. I used this site when I was writing the letters on my postcards. I could find information about specific things that happened at each place they went to. I was able to look at the places they went in order to better figure out how they took their journey. With the stories and information about all the countries visited by the fleet, I was able to write about where they were and what took place there on my postcards. This is also the site that I got all my pictures from because this site also included many pictures of each place, the ships, and even pictures of actual postcards of the time.

 

Frank Lloyd Wright

In the late 19th century and early 20th century the age of the city began to majorly develop. Cities were booming and becoming much larger. Urbanization was more of an attraction in this time. People were lured to the city because it offered new conveniences and technologies that could not be found in rural areas. With the age of the city there was the introduction to many important new things, architecture being one of them.




With all he new conveniences and technologies of the city came new occupations and jobs that had to be filled. As the city grew there would obviously need to be more buildings. The professionalization of architecture began to be in demand and became more popular. Architects began to want a more ordered lay out of the city and the result was the creation of public spaces and public buildings. Architects were designing great public buildings. The city also had to expand upward due to limited space and this was made possible with the new technologies in architecture. One of the greatest figures associated with the early development of skyscrapers was Louis Sullivan. He introduced many modern elements to skyscrapers and architecture such as large windows, sheer lines, and limited ornamentation. Frank Lloyd Wright was a student under Sullivan and used many of his innovations, applying them to low buildings as well. Frank Lloyd Wright demonstrates his influence from Sullivan especially when he used very few furnishings and large sections of window.      

Louis Sullivan was another major architect of the 20th century

Dr. Allison W. Harlan House was Wright’s first house

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most influential architects of his time and is still considered to be one of the greatest architects today. In 1887 Wright came to Chicago to pursue architecture and was hired by Adler and Sullivan. Wright worked directly under Sullivan for six years but eventually split from the partnership to go out on his own. Frank Lloyd Wright set standards for what would be known as the Prairie style. This style mainly had a long and horizontal theme. One of his most important works that demonstrates this style is the Frederick C. Robie House. Another prominent aspect to his architecture was the influence of nature. Wright described much of his work as organic and was constantly incorporating nature. 

More leisure time was important to the growth of architecture at this time. Since people were spending less time working, leisure time became more usual. Leisure time for women was often spent shopping. Womens importance as consumers was a result of this. Catalogs that were introduced also influenced consumerism and architecture by introducing people to new styles of home decor as well as new machinery and technology for homes. Leisure time also meant people could have time to do other activities in their homes. I believe this factor influenced architecture, especially when Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings demonstrate the flow and brokenness of interior space.
                   
Frank Lloyd Wright stated in an interview that he wanted, “Not an end to cities, but and end to congestion.” I think this quotes especially demonstrates why Wright incorporated so much of nature into his work. With the expansion of cities there was a loss to the connection of nature. He left a legacy of organic buildings. Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision was that the inside and outside of a building be organically unified. He incorporated nature into his buildings by making the inside reach out to the outside by using many windows and even sometimes walls of glass and by the illustration of shelter with overhanging roofs.  

Fallingwater is a famous example of Wright’s organic architecture

Frank Lloyd Wright did a lot for the continuance and modernization of architecture. He was and still is a major influence in architecture. His innovations and ideas continue in architecture today. Frank Lloyd Wright’s works were especially important to the growing cities of the early 20th century.

• Frank Lloyd Wright: Inside and Out This book gave me a lot of information on Frank Lloyd Wright's style of organic architecture. It really explained how he designed his buildings to be in touch with nature and for the inside to be connected to the outside. 
• An American Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright This book showed some important techniques that Wright used in his architecture such as the emphasis of plasticity to increase the sense of interior space and the sense of shelter which was a part of his organic architecture.    
• 20^th-Century Architecture This book reinforced the fact that Frank Lloyd Wright left a legacy of organic buildings.
• Architecture: The Words Greatest Buildings Explored and Explained This book gave me information on Wright's prairie period and his emphasis on openness, open planning, and horizontal buildings. 
• Frank Lloyd Wright, A Gatefold Portfolio This book gave me information on one of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings, The Robie House. It explained how the architecture used to design the Robie House was ahead of its time, contributed to American culture, and demonstrated one of Wright's techniques of unbroken flow throughout the interior. 
• Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation This site gave me a lot of great information on Frank Lloyd Wright's life and biography. Also giving me more information about his work and techniques.
• Mike Wallace Interview with Frank Lloyd Wright This interview gave me an important quote from Wright that showed his desire for an “end to congestion”. This idea of his is demonstrated through his architecture.
• American History By Alan Brinkley had a lot of information on the Age of the City and the growth of cities in America. This was important to the introduction of my topic.  

Carnegie believed that the best way to improve the lives of other people was to educate them while sending them the message that ethics matter wherever you are. I think this is a good approach and it could work to improve peoples lives as long as they keep up with it. However, if you are given the education but don't have resources or opportunities then there isn't much that you can do with it. Though I think the ethics message would be powerful. If I had hundreds of millions of dollars I would be smart with it and I would definitely donate a lot.