Political Cartoons in Utah History and Current Events The Utah War

Where should your backpack be? Bell Activity This is still a no gum class. Please dispose of it properly! Your word is “civilian” Find the word on your grey study guide and complete the following information for the word. Find the definition using a glossary. Use your own knowledge and experience to complete the rest of the definition. Where should your backpack be?

Does your work look something like this? Word: civilian My Understanding: 4 3 2 1 Definition: Draw a picture of it: Sentence: Synonym/ Example: Antonym/Non-Example:

Does your work look something like this? Word: civilian My Understanding: 4 3 2 1 Definition: a person who is not part of Draw a picture of it: the military Sentence: Civilians are often casualties of war. Synonym/ Example: non-combatant Antonym/Non-Example: soldier

Today we will learn about Political/Editorial Cartoons History Objective – We will interpret current and historic political cartoons to learn about the temperament of the period in question. Behavior Objective – We will collaborate with our groups to understand our cartoon. Language Objective – We will analyze a cartoon with our groups and write our own summary and response to a political cartoon.

The Importance of Political Cartoons to History Political Cartoons play an important part in telling the history of a given period of time. They help us understand the events, people, prejudices, attitudes, culture, concerns, fears, and so on of a particular time period.

A Brief History of Political Cartoons People have been expressing opinions with pictures for a long time. This ancient Egyptian picture shows a noble as a mouse and her servants/advisors as cats.

Political Cartoons in America This picture was created by Benjamin Franklin when the British and the French were preparing for the French & Indian War. It later became a popular symbol for the American Revolution.

The Influence of Political Cartoonists Some of the artists who have created cartoons in the past still influence the present. Thomas Nast popularized the use of the elephant and donkey for the Republican and Democratic Parties. Even our modern image of Santa Claus was influenced by Thomas Nast. To this day, the Democrats think of the elephant as bungling, stupid, pompous and conservative, while the Republicans regard it is dignified, strong and intelligent. On the other hand, the Republicans view the donkey as stubborn, silly and ridiculous, but the Democrats claim it is humble, homely, smart, courageous and loveable.

How Do Political Cartoons Work? Political cartoons try to communicate powerful ideas. They often use humor to make a point. They incorporate events of the period in an easy to understand format that most people can relate to even if they don’t read well.

How do Political Cartoons convey information? Symbols, caricature, drawings and exaggerations used by the cartoonist point out themes and problems of any given time period.

Let’s try to analyze the meaning of a current political cartoon. Background knowledge about the time period is important for student understanding of political cartoons. Students need to know universal symbols, such as Uncle Sam, doves representing peace, and so on. They also need to recognize characters of the time period.

Historic Political Cartoons Understanding historic political cartoons is more difficult, but provide insights into the temperament of the time. If you don’t get the symbols that are being used, a little research will help. So, during the Gilded Age, one would need to recognize visual presentations of men like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan.

Steps to analyzing a political cartoon, past or present. Identify the characters, symbols and objects in the cartoon. Look for clues, cues, and details that will give further meaning. Identify the main idea of the cartoon by reading the captions and putting the message into your own words. Identify any bias the cartoonist might have.

Terms to Know Symbolism - an object used for or representing something else Caricature - a picture ludicrously exaggerating the features of persons or things Captioning and labels - a title or explanation for a picture or illustration, especially in a magazine Analogy - a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based Irony - the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning Juxtaposition - an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast Exaggeration - the act of exaggerating or overstating

Your students have probably seen political cartoons before, but have perhaps never analyzed them. The political cartoon at the bottom of this post appeared in “The Wasp”, a magazine from San Francisco, on February 8th, 1879. You can project it onto a screen, zoom in on the cartoon, and discuss it with your class. Ask the following questions (some of which are taken from the textbook, “Utah: A Journey of Discovery”, pg 179): What do you think the cartoonist thought of Mormonism? What does this cartoon tell you about what the country thought about Mormons? Since Uncle Sam was able to symbolically “kick-out” the Chinese and Mormons, what does the cartoonist think should happen to the others still in the bed?

Let’s look at some cartoons from Utah history. Open your books to page 151 and look at the cartoon on the page. Let’s go though the steps to analyze this cartoon. After modeling several cartoons, put students into small groups. They will look at a series of cartoons and follow the steps above to interpret them. Finally, give each student their own cartoon and ask them to individually interpret the meaning based on the time period.

Utah: The Struggle for Statehood Reformation What did Brigham Young call for the Mormons to do? How did this look to outsiders? To War Why did Pres. Buchanan send troops to Utah? In the Meadows Describe the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and what happened after it. Cold War & Peace How did the attitude of the soldiers change about the Utah War, and how did the Utah Militia harass them?

Current Events On the test, you will analyze a political cartoon from the era of the Utah War. We are also going to do a current event assignment in which you will choose a modern political cartoon. First summarize what the cartoon depicts, explaining the people, symbols, and so on. Then respond and give your opinion of the cartoon, its message, the bias of the author, and so on.