Mini-project: The Front Page of a Newspaper
Your group will produce the front page of a fictitious newspaper that could have existed during the latter half of the 19th century, up until the start of World War 1.
Your newspaper is fictitious, but from the front page, readers will:
1. Believe that your newspaper represents the actual news from a specific town on a specific date in the second half of the 19th century, up until the start of World War 1.
2. Read at least one article written by every member of your group.
3. See a small masthead that lists the even and fair division of labor in your group (normally this is not on the front page of a newspaper, but for this mini-project, it needs to be there).
4. See at least one journalistic image (an historically-accurate photograph or drawing), one map, one political cartoon and one chart or graph.
5. See only the original work of the members of your group.
Suggested topics to consider (choose wisely according to when and where your newspaper is published):
* The Gilded Age
* Banking
* Oil
* Railroads
* The Pullman Strike
* monopolies
* Homestead Strike
* The Great Railroad Strike
* Labor Unions—The American Federation of Labor, Knights of Labor,
* Haymarket Affair
* Panic of 1893
* Chicago in 1885-1886
* Presidential elections & politics
* Antitrust laws
* "Robber Barons"
* Philanthropy
* Labor Leaders (Eugene V. Debs, Emma Goldman, etc.)
* Industrialists (Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc.)
* Important Supreme Court cases
* Sweatshops
* Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
* Uprising of the 20,000
* Coal Strike of 1902
* Thibodaux Massacre
* Popular culture
* Protest movements
* Muckrakers
* Pinkerton Guards
* Scabs
Your final product:
1. Is a PDF saved in your group's folder on the shared Mac no later than 3:30 pm on 3/1/12. Don't be late!
2. Is 22" x 34".
3. Represents professional newspaper production standards.
4. Will be graded according to each individual student's work—this is not a group grade.
Newspaper Groups can be found here.
Resources
Newspapers
Newseum—Today's Front Pages
Newseum—Archived Front Pages
130 Years of the Los Angeles Times
"On This Day" in the New York Times
New York Times Time Machine
Historical Content
A People's History of the United States—Full Text online.
Kahn Academy—History