In this sourcing activity, you’ll read two primary sources that provide differing perspectives on imperialism. You’ll complete the Sourcing Tool for both excerpts and provide an analysis focusing on point of view, purpose, and importance. By comparing these two sources written from different perspectives on the same topic, you’ll refine your sourcing skills and become better at understanding how an author’s point of view and purpose impacts the why (importance) of a historical work.

Claim testing, comparison
As with the other sourcing activities in the course, this activity also asks you to use your claim-testing skills to evaluate primary sources. However, in this activity, you’ll also incorporate comparison as you compare two documents from the same time period, on the same topic, both written by authorities. Then you’ll use claim testing to decide how an author’s point of view and purpose influences the importance of their writing.

In this activity, you'll work either in pairs or on your own to read two primary source documents, complete the Sourcing Tool focusing on the point of view, purpose, and importance rows of the tool, and write a response to a prompt.

Your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Sourcing – Differing Perspectives on Imperialism worksheet, which includes the excerpts and the Sourcing Tool. Read the excerpts—starting with the introductory paragraphs—and as you read, think about this question: To what extent did ideology impact imperialism?

After you’ve finished reading each source, complete the Point of View, Purpose, and Importance rows of the Sourcing Tool. Then, after you’ve completed these rows of the tool for each of the primary source texts, respond to these follow-up questions:

1. How do the authors differ in their analysis of imperialism?
2. What are the similarities between the documents?
3. How does each author try to convince you of their argument regarding this topic?

Be prepared to discuss your answers and the evidence you used to support these answers with the class.

Then, write a one- to two-paragraph response that answers the question posed earlier: To what extent did ideology impact imperialism? Your paragraphs should make specific reference to the Point of View, Purpose, and Importance rows of the tool but can include other categories as well.

Your teacher will collect your worksheets and responses to evaluate how your sourcing skills are progressing.

Why was colonialism so violent? There are several explanations. Colonialism was a process of taking control of people who generally didn’t want to be colonized. It was driven by profit and this meant that people were forced to work, often in terrible conditions for little pay. It was also violent because violence was an expected way for people in power to “civilize” or “raise” those under their control in this period, including wives, children, and of course colonial subjects.

The Unit 5 Problem asks: How were modern empires created, administered, and contested in the Long Nineteenth Century, and how did these tensions help to create the world we live in today? Looking at the violence within colonialism will help you to analyze how empires were administered, and also to think about how violence from this era might have implications for our world today.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Henry Morton Stanley’s voyage of exploration in Africa is famous. How does the author characterize it?
2. Why, according to the author, was the initial process of taking control of territory through colonialism so violent?
3. How did economic goals (production and distribution) lead to violence in colonialism?
4. How was violence justified ideologically?
5. What, according to Franz Fanon, were some of the psychological effects of colonialism?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following question:

1. This author rejects the idea that we can ask whether colonialism was “good” or “bad”, and argues that “it’s hard to measure what ‘good’ could have come of it, when weighed against the much heavier physical and psychological suffering it caused”. Do you think he has made his case? Why or why not?

This is the biography of Yaa Asantewaa, the Queen Mother of Ejisu in the Asante Confederation in West Africa. She was an important figure in the resistance to British conquest. In 1900, with her King and grand-nephew in exile, Yaa Asantewaa led the armed resistance to the last stages of the British conquest of Asante. Her actions were unusual, but demonstrate the high stakes for women in the process of colonization.

One of the important questions we ask in this unit is how colonized people—so-called “colonial subjects”—reacted to empire. Yaa Asantewaa’s story is an example of one kind of resistance that occurred. Her strategies were rooted in tradition while also being something new and creative.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What kind of a state was Asante, and who was Yaa Asantewaa?
2. What was the role of the Queen mother, or Ohemaa?
3. What happened in 1895 and how did it affect Yaa Asantewaa?
4. What happened in 1900, and how did Yaa Asantewaa respond?
5. How does the artist represent Yaa Asantewaa’s leadership through art in this biography?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. How does this biography of Yaa Asantewaa support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about reactions and resistance to colonial rule in this period?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!

Colonialism is a big topic, and it can only be understood by looking at human experiences. Formal colonialism first came to the region we today call Ghana in 1874, and British rule spread through the region into the early twentieth century. The British called the territory the “Gold Coast Colony”. The British colonizers tried to control everything from trade and transportation to religion and social structures. But local people resisted in many different ways, reclaiming their ability to make their own decisions and shape their own lives and societies.

This video introduces evidence at the scale of a single colony (and really a single city) for understanding the wider experience and operation of colonialism. This evidence will help you to respond to the part of the Unit Problem that focuses on how people reacted to empire. It also opens colonial Ghana to study through all three frames—production and distribution (taxes and trade), communities (religion), and networks (movement and connections).

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video.

1. When was the region that is today Ghana conquered by the British?
2. According to Ato Quayson, what was the purpose of the Customs House, and how did it help the British to make money?
3. How did some Ghanaians employed at the Customs House fight back?
4. According to Jennifer Hart, what type of transportation did the British want to put in Ghana to control the export of cocoa, and how did Ghanaian farmers seek to control trade themselves?
5. According to Jennifer Hart, how did the informal system of trotros (mini-bus taxis carrying people around Accra) come into being? What did the British call these trotros, and why?
6. What do the plaques on the walls of Holy Trinity Church tell us, according to Ato Quayson?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. In this unit, you are encountering all kinds of evidence about how imperialism was powerful, controlling, and invasive. Does this video support or challenge that narrative?
2. How do the ways that Ghanaians resisted colonialism compare to the resistance you read about in the article about the 1857 revolt in India?

3x5 note cards or cut up paper

This sourcing collection, along with the Quick-Sourcing Tool, gives you an opportunity to practice a quicker kind of sourcing than you do in the sourcing practice progression. The tool and the process for using it—specifically designed for unpacking document collections—will help you be successful when responding to DBQs.

Note: If you are unfamiliar with the Quick-Sourcing Tool or the process for using it, we recommend reviewing the Quick-Sourcing Introduction activity in Lesson 1.2.

The Quick-Sourcing Tool can be used any time you encounter a set of sources and are trying to respond to a prompt or question, as opposed to the deeper analysis you do when using the HAPPY tool that is part of the sourcing progression.

First, take out or download the sourcing collection and review the guiding question that appears on the first page. Then, take out or download the Quick-Sourcing Tool and review the directions. For Part 1, you’ll write a quick summary of each source in terms of how it relates to the guiding question (we recommend using one note card or scrap of paper for each source).

For Part 2, which uses the first four letters of the acronym from the HAPPY tool, you only have to respond to one of these four questions. You should always include the historical significance or “why” (the “Y” in “HAPPY”) for any of the four questions you choose to respond to.

In Part 3, you’ll gather the evidence you found in each document and add it to your note cards so you can include it in a response later. Once each document is analyzed, look at your note cards and try to categorize the cards. There might be a group of documents that support the claim you want to make in your response, and another group that will help you consider counterclaims, for example.

To wrap up, try to respond to the guiding question.

Industrialization created new forms of transportation and communication along with advanced weaponry, which allowed imperial empires to expand into new regions. This collection explores how different societies responded to increased imperial expansion during the period from 1750 to 1900.

The primary source excerpts in this collection will help you assess how different Indigenous societies responded to increased imperial expansion. You will identify techniques used by different societies, which will allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of these responses. In addition, you’ll work on your sourcing skills using the Quick-Sourcing Tool.

We recommend using the accompanying Quick Sourcing activity (above) to help you analyze these sources.

The Qing Dynasty ruled China in 1750, but European influence was growing. The British gained more influence through unequal treaties enforced by military force. Although China was never formally colonized, external pressure from British gunboat diplomacy combined with internal rebellions to create instability for the government. In order to resolve these challenges, the government tried to modernize China while also emphasizing a return to tradition in some aspects of society.

The Unit 5 Problem asks: How were modern empires created, administered, and contested in the Long Nineteenth Century, and how did these tensions help to create the world we live in today? In this lesson, we look at the “contested” part of the problem for the state of China. Although China was not formally colonized, it experienced significant informal imperialism, to which its leaders and people responded in a variety of ways.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Who ruled China in 1750?
2. What were some internal divisions that the rulers of China were dealing with in the Long Nineteenth Century?
3. Why was China subject to unequal treaties in the nineteenth century?
4. What was the Taiping Rebellion, and how did European and American soldiers participate in it?
5. What was the goal of the Tongzhi Restoration?
6. What led the Dowager Empress and Emperor Guangxu to institute the Hundred Days’ Reform?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. China was not formally colonized during this period, except for very small regions. In what ways did it experience imperialism?
2. Should we regard the Qing rulers, especially the Dowager Empress Cixi, as defenders of China, or as imperialists themselves? Why? Is it possible to be both?

In this activity, you will continue to work on your contextualization skills by analyzing the conditions that led to the Opium Wars. By doing this, you will be better able to respond to the Unit Problem about how modern empires contested the authority of other empires and regions of the world. In prior contextualization activities, you have examined contextualization on a fairly large, often global scale. In this activity, you will zoom in a bit to examine the local contexts and conditions that allowed for the Opium Wars.

Causation, CCOT
You will be analyzing the causes and consequences of the Opium Wars in China to better understand the historical context and processes that led to these wars and how the wars’ consequences shaped both China and Western powers long after they ended. With this analysis, you will see the resulting changes and continuities as well.

In this activity, you will use the event cards to complete the Contextualization Tool, which is included in the Contextualization – Opium Wars worksheet. Then, you’ll use the information from your completed tools and evidence from the article “Opium Wars and Economic Imperialism” to write a multi-paragraph response that answers the following question:

What were the broader temporal (time), spatial (location), and cultural contexts that made it possible for the Opium Wars to occur?

Now, your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Contextualization – Opium Wars worksheet and have you work in pairs to complete the Contextualization Tool. Remember to follow all the worksheet’s directions. Start by writing the dates and location for the Opium Wars and then divide the event cards into broad and narrow context.

Once everyone has divided their cards, join up with another pair to form a group of four and follow these directions:

1. The first pair places two event cards on the funnel.
2. They must give a short reason for their placement of each card.
3. The next pair takes a turn placing two of their event cards on the funnel. The second pair can move any of the event cards they think were placed incorrectly by the prior pair, but if they do so, they have to provide justification for why they moved from broad to narrow context or vice versa.
4. Then, this pair places two event cards that have not yet been placed on the funnel.
5. Pairs will follow the same process, alternating turns until all event cards have been placed on the funnel.

Return to your original pair-partner to answer the remaining questions on the tool.

Finally, use your descriptions of broad and narrow context on the tool and information from the “Opium Wars and Economic Imperialism” article to individually write a one- to two-paragraph response to the question posed at the beginning of this activity:

What were the broader temporal (time), spatial (location), and cultural contexts that made it possible for the Opium Wars to occur?

Your thesis statement should be one or two sentences that directly answer the question being asked. Be sure to include evidence from your completed tool and the “Opium Wars and Economic Imperialism” article to support your thesis statement including information about the temporal (time), spatial (location), and cultural context. Your teacher will collect your tool and paragraphs at the end of the activity to assess your understanding of the topic as well as your understanding of this historical thinking practice.

At the dawn of the long nineteenth century, the merchants and leaders of the British Empire desperately wanted access to trade goods from China. In particular, British consumers demanded more tea. There was just one problem: the British Empire had nothing the Chinese wanted, other than silver. However, the British East India Company soon discovered something Chinese consumers wanted: opium. Despite efforts by the Chinese government to stop the harm done to their people by the opium trade, British merchants continued to smuggle the drug into China. The result was two wars and harsh treaties, which set the stage for a “century of humiliation.”

You’ve already encountered many examples of direct imperialism. This article provides an example of indirect, economic imperialism. Like other parts of the world, including the Ottoman Empire, China was not directly colonized by an industrial empire. And yet, thanks to the two Opium Wars, several industrial empires were able to impose their will on the Qing Dynasty in the long nineteenth century.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How does the author define economic imperialism? Why did some empires use this method?
2. Why was tea so important to the relationship between China and Britain?
3. What did the British find to sell to Chinese consumers, and what did the Chinese government do in response?
4. What caused the First Opium War?
5. What is meant by the “unequal treaties” era?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following question:

1. Do you think the legacy of the Opium Wars is still important today? What’s one way in which this history might influence global affairs today?

Working with frames allows you to understand how and why people lived the way they did throughout history. They help you recognize how communities (such as societies and nations); networks (such as those for trade and exchange); and the production and distribution of goods, impacted, and still impact, people in different parts of the world. Viewing history through frames gives us a usable knowledge of history that allows us to make sense of the world today and think critically about the future. The process of depicting frames by drawing them—mixing language with imagery—will make the information more memorable.

In this activity, you will draw the course frames, much like you did earlier in the course. However, instead of coming up with your own ideas about each of the frames, you will draw them according to the frame narratives at this point in the course. This will not only help you gain a sense of your understanding of the frames, but will also give you a chance to review what you’ve already learned, which will help you remember all that stuff!

Don’t worry about your drawing skills—you don’t have to be an artist to complete this activity. However, try to use more pictures than words. And feel free to be creative! Here are the criteria:

• Draw a representation of community based on the content of this unit. Be sure to label that area of the picture with “community.”
• Draw a representation of production and distribution based on the content of this unit. Be sure to label that area of the drawing with “P&D.”
• Finally, draw the networks between communities (people, states, empires, and so on) based on the content of this unit.
• Where possible, use arrows and other lines to show movement. This will largely apply to P&D and networks.

Once you’re done, be ready to share your drawings and thinking behind them with your class. Was your approach the same as your classmates? Or did you think about the frames differently? Frames are no different from anything else we study in history—there can be many perspectives on the same topic.