HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW? Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. ~African Proverb

ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES “And I will do everything that I can as long as I am President of the United States to remind the American people that we are one nation under God, and we may call that God different names but we remain one nation.” President Barack Obama, quote from a speech on Sept.10th, 2010.

What are Primary Sources? A primary source is a piece of living history.  It may be defined as any artifact that provides first hand or direct information about the past.  Primary sources may include first person accounts (e.g. oral histories, diaries, memoirs, correspondence), documents (e.g. correspondence, treaties, laws, speeches), images (e.g. maps, photographs, drawings, paintings), or historically gathered data.

Questions to Consider When You Analyze Primary Sources: Written Primary Sources: Who created the source and why? What sorts of information does the source supply? Under what circumstances was the source created?  How would this influence the content of the source? For who was the source created? Was the source meant to be public or private? Did the creator wish to inform, persuade, or deceive his or her audience?  What did the creator hope to accomplish by writing the source? Can you trust the source's content at face value? What were the opinions, motivations, or interests of the creator?  How does his or her point of view compare to other writers of the period?  What kind of impact would this have on the content of the source?

Questions to Consider When You Analyze Primary Sources: (b) Visual Primary Sources (images) Why was the image created? What does the image reveal about its subject? What is the point of view of the image? Whose story is it telling? What is the setting of the image?  What sorts of details does it include or emphasize?  What sorts of details does it exclude? What are the underlying messages of the image and motives of the artist? How long after the event was the image created? How does this influence the image's content or perspective?

How to Keep All Those Critical Questions in Mind? ACRONYM 1: T – Time Period (when doc. was produced) A – Author (any info. about him/her) P – Purpose (intended purpose/tone of the document) T – Type of document (ex: legal (contract, law), informal (diary)) A – Argument(s) (main idea(s) in the doc.) B – Bias (prejudice/favoritism expressed in the doc.) ACRONYM 2: S – Speaker (author) and hi/her Status O – Occasion (when doc. was produced/delivered) A – Audience (intended audience for the doc.) P – Purpose (intended purpose of the document) A – Arguments (main ideas expressed in the doc.) B – Bias (prejudice/favoritism

When You Interpret Primary Sources, The Challenge is to Figure Out Answers to the Following Questions: (1) What does the document say? (meaning of the document) (2) WHY would the author of this document have this particular opinion? (Reasons behind the Author’s Point of View (POV))

BE CRITICAL and PERCEPTIVE!!! Scrutinize everything!!! Source: John Barbot, an agent for the French Royal African Company, made at least two voyages to the West Coast of Africa, in 1678 and 1682. “This barbarous usage of those unfortunate wretches, makes it appear, that the fate of such as are bought and transported from the coast to America, or other parts of the world, by Europeans, is less deplorable, than that of those who end their days in their native country; for aboard ships all possible care is taken to preserve and subsist them for the interest of the owners, and when sold in America, the same motive ought to prevail with their masters to use them well, that they may live the longer, and do them more service. Not to mention the inestimable advantage they may reap, of becoming Christians, and saving their souls, if they make a true use of their condition....”

Remember This: People are Products of Their Time, Upbringing, and Environment !!! Insert your Pic here 

Consider This!

Consider This! Any crossing of two beings not at exactly the same level produces a medium between the levels of the two parents. This means: the offspring will probably stand higher than the racially lower parent, but not as high as the higher one. Consequently, it will later succumb in the struggle against the higher level. Such mating is contrary to the will of Nature for a higher breeding of all life…. The consequence of this racial purity, universally valid in Nature, is not only the sharp outward delimitation of the various races … Historical experience offers countless proofs of this. It shows with terrifying clarity that in every mingling of Aryan blood with that of lower peoples the result was the end of the cultured people. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf 1924 2007 Friends walking in a park (Berlin, Germany)

Consider this! "America has been hit by Allah at its most vulnerable point, destroying, thank God, its most prestigious buildings." Osama bin Laden’s speech on October 7, 2001, after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

So, in summary… When dealing with primary (and secondary) sources, it is important to: (a) Figure out the meaning of a text or an image (What is the message of the source?) (b) Determine factors that might have influenced / shaped that message. (author’s status, religion, race, prevalent views of that time period, type of the document, intended audience, etc.)

When you are analyzing the author’s perspective, you are saying: MADE

Work Cited: Slide 1: http://questgarden.com/81/41/7/090425122417/images/photo05.jpg http://www.safepassageohio.org/photos/COFFIN3.jpg http://foolocracy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Anti_American_propaganda_9- 636x1024.jpg Slides 2-4: http://www.si.umich.edu/spies/lounge-sources.html Slide 7: http://photos2.fotosearch.com/bthumb/FSA/FSA302/x16998564.jpg http://techpaul.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/skeptical-face.jpg Slide 8: http://www.ashridge.org.uk/website/content.nsf/FileLibrary/ B486E07E6D471E01802575C300611E52/$file/Gen-Y-ExternalInfluences_49.gif Slide 9: http://www.osce.org/files/imagecache/small/images/web/d/e/7662.jpg?1269002138 Slide 10: http://www.historynyc.com/prodimages/5460s.jpg Slide 14: http://www.saqibonline.co.uk/images/content/slider_image_01.jpg