U.S. History (Period 2) Assignments

ASSIGNMENT:  You are a reporter for a yellow journalism newspaper in the late 1800s.  Read the following summaries of three important events in the Cuban revolution.  Select ONE of the events to cover for your newspaper.

1. Print an original name for your newspaper.
2. Write a sensational headline.
3. Write an article using the Yellow Journalism style.  It should be based on facts, but exaggerated and distorted to make Americans sympathetic to the Cuban revolution.  It should be 150-200 words.
4. Provide a picture of the event.  This can be hand-drawn, from a current newspaper or magazine.
5. Complete the assignment using on unlined paper. This is due at the beginning of our class Tuesday.

EVENT #1 (1896-98):  The Spanish Governor-general, Valereano “Butcher” Weyler, has herded 500,000 farm people into barbed wired “reconcentrados” or concentration camps.  He hopes to stop the farmers from supplying the rebels with food.  The camps provided inadequate food and housing.  About 200,000 peasants, including women and children, have died from disease, malnutrition and starvation.

EVENT #2 (December, 1897):  A stolen letter written by the Spanish Foreign Minister to the US has been published in American papers.  He calls President McKinley “weak” and “a crowd pleaser.”  Americans are outraged.

EVENT #3 (February 15, 1898):  President McKinley recently sent the U.S.S. Maine to the Havana Harbor to protect Americans living in Cuba.  On February 15, at 9 pm the battleship exploded killing 266 of the 350 sailors on board. The Spanish have been blamed for the incident.  No one knows the exact cause, but an underwater mine is suspected.