America’s History: Printed Page 731
| MAKING CONNECTIONS | Recognize the larger developments and continuities within and across chapters by answering these questions. |
ACROSS TIME AND PLACE The Ku Klux Klan of the Reconstruction era emerged in a specific political and social context; while the Klan of the 1920s built on its predecessor, its goals and scope were different. Using material from Chapters 15 and 22, imagine that you are investigating a series of Klan meetings in each era (1870s and 1920s). Where would you conduct your investigation? How might you explain, to the public, the Klan’s membership and activities? How would you compare the two Klans?
VISUAL EVIDENCE This chapter includes two depictions of people dancing to jazz: the Life magazine cover that opens the chapter and Blues by Archibald John Motley Jr., an African American painter of the Harlem Renaissance. Look at these pictures carefully. Who do you think were the intended audiences for each? What evidence could you point to in support of that conclusion? What messages do you think the Life artist and Motley wanted to convey?