Rockefeller vs Tarbell

In my last year of Uni, I took a course on Progressivism in the United States. I didn’t enjoy a lot of it, as most of it was heavily political with business history thrown in, but I loved the social side. The only ‘business’ side I enjoyed was the scandal of John Rockefeller and Ida Tarbell.

Tarbell was a talented journalist, dedicated to the exposure of political corruption and the increasing popularity of ‘muckraking’. But after her family lost their livelihoods to Rockefeller’s Standard Oil company, she decided to focus on his deceitful tactics and share them with the world. Tarbell discovered that Rockefeller forced smaller businessmen to join his company or be crushed; he was unethical, destroying free and fair trade and controlled most of the railroads that transported the oil to different states (non-Standard companies shipping from Cleveland and Pittsburgh paid $1.44 per barrel, Standard Oil paid 80 cents). Rockefeller also occasionally hired thugs to intimidate businessmen. Tarbell did admire his dedication, but Rockefeller’s company “had never played fair and that ruined their greatness for me.” Tarbell’s muckraking journalism caused the federal government to investigate the Standard Oil Company, and it was disbanded in the early twentieth century.

In 1913, Rockefeller was worth over $900 million, $13 billion in today’s money. He was the richest man in the world, and donated $500 million to universities, charities, churches and temperance societies. Tarbell is now of the most famous female journalists in American literature. 

Awesome Titanic Pictures!

2012 marks a hundred years since the Titanic sank, and being from Southampton, I'm eager to see how the city treats this anniversary (the new museum is looking good already). More than half of the 2,200 passengers died, and everyone in Southampton knew someone that had perished, an extraordinary statistic. In the last few weeks, sonar images of the wreckage have been released, giving an incredible and unique perspective on the ship. The Titanic was only discovered in 1985, and it stretches nearly five miles across the ocean floor. Apparently, in the area around the wreckage, nicknamed “hell’s kitchen”, broken china, cutlery and pots and pans remain there, almost frozen in time.

http://www.livescience.com/18975-titanic-shipwreck-map.html

Early Dickens Film!

The earliest film depicting a Charles Dickens’ character has been found by the British Film Institute, conveniently you might say, after all the celebrations this year of one of England’s most famous authors. The Death of Poor Joe, filmed in Brighton in 1901, refers to a character from Bleak House and it’s only a minute long, but it looks incredible! Watch the film here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17298021

Frederick Douglass and the World Temperance Convention

I am ridiculously excited to visit Frederick Douglass’s house in Washington D.C next month, and as ever, my research into his travels in Britain prove incredibly interesting. In the summer of 1846, after the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance (see earlier post), the World Temperance Convention was held in London. Committed to the reduction of the sale and use of alcohol, men and religious denominations came from around the globe to participate in the meeting. Frederick Douglass strongly believed in temperance, lecturing about its importance throughout his life, speaking to numerous temperance societies and women’s groups. Douglass was invited to speak at the convention, but there were some who took issue with his speech. Reverend Samuel Cox of Brooklyn, New York started a public exchange with Douglass after the meeting, denouncing his conduct and accusing him of being paid by abolitionists to disrupt the convention. Cox, an anti-slavery supporter himself, argued that Douglass turned the meeting into a debate about slavery and wrote to him charging him with misconduct:

“The moral scene was superb and glorious – when Frederick Douglass, the coloured abolitionist agitator came to the platform…[he] was perfectly indiscriminate in his severities, he talked of the American delegates, and to them, as if he had been our schoolmaster, and we his docile and devoted pupils and launched his revengeful missiles against our country”. (Samuel Cox, August 8 1846)

Douglass replied:

“Sir, you claim to be a Christian, a philanthropist, and an abolitionist. Were you truly entitled to any one of these names, you would have been delighted at seeing one of Africa’s despised children cordially received and warmly welcomed…[this] tells the whole story of your abolitionism and stamps your pretensions to abolition as brazen hypocrisy or self-deception.” (Frederick Douglass, letter to Samuel Cox, October 30, 1846)

More than anything, Douglass’s experiences in Britain indicate that slavery remained a controversial, disruptive issue, one that could not be ignored on either side of the Atlantic. Much has been made of the American abolition movement, but more attention needs to be focused on Britain’s role in American antislavery in the 1840’s in particular. 

Should History be Compulsory?

This is a somewhat biased question for me since I have enjoyed history since the age of ten, so of course it should be compulsory, at least to GCSE. History is the most important subject, it teaches us about who we are, how we got here, everything from the interesting, the inspiring to the downright unpleasant (because the ugly parts cannot be ignored). There are a multitude of areas within history that I believe should be taught to kids, but where to start? This is the hard part since everybody has different ideas – Battle of Hastings? Henry VIII? Waterloo? Hitler? Thatcher? Civil Rights? I adore American history, so my idea of a national curriculum would be heavily biased towards that, though I can’t deny that London history should be included more in schools, especially the slave trade and the social environment of London. But that's just me...

What’s annoying though is the constant hijacking of history by politicians, who use it as a benchmark to teach kids about identity and patriotism – sorry, whose identity? I don’t want to be preached at, or told what to believe or feel through the highly selective process of choosing historical events that suit a political argument. Michael Gove, the education secretary, needs to avoid the trap of past politicians (though I’m not holding out hope) – history shouldn’t be a celebratory history of the British Isles, a story of progress without struggle, a story of great battles without the ugly side of colonialism.

The other problem is teaching – you can have an excellent curriculum but it’s the teachers that matter. I have been incredibly lucky to have been taught by amazing teachers (through school, college and uni) who clearly enjoyed what they were doing so much, they taught history in a fun, and interesting way. Friends at the same school with different teachers had the complete opposite experience, ditching history as fast as they could because it was too “boring”. This makes me want to tear my hair out. History isn’t about reciting facts – it’s about people, their experiences, and what life was like for them five hundred years ago or fifty. To get people involved in history, schools should take advantage of local heritage sites – nothing beats seeing something you’ve read in class - reading about a castle isn’t the same as standing inside it.

There needs to be a dramatic shake-up of the national curriculum, but history is essential. We need it, and we can’t forget it.