The Iconic Gibson Girl

Camille Clifford

Throughout the early 19^th century the development and rise of industry in the United States was exponential. Industrial growth was taking on new formats where human work wasn’t nearly as involved. The moving assembly line by Henry Ford cut down work hours and production costs and in return workers received higher wages and better work hours. All the people who had flocked to the cities for work now had to find ways to spend their ‘free time’. This spare time gave rise to entertainment like sports, theater, and movies. The country work life that consumed all time was a thing of the past. Men and women alike now had the time to go out and explore the world around them. Women who had once been invisible now had personas and ideals. The birth of the ‘American woman’ came to be known as the Gibson Girl, credited to the artist Charles Dana Gibson.

Original Drawing of the Gibson Girl

Charles Dana Gibson first began drawing the Gibson Girl in the late 19^th century. The official start of the Gibson Girl was the publishing of his first portfolio of the iconic woman in 1894. The Gibson Girl took shape with the help and idolization of 4 women that Charles Dana Gibson knew personally. The early model for the Gibson girl was dance star, Evelyn Nesbit. Her upswept hair and fragile face was the ideal model for the beginning of the Gibson Girl. She was followed by the actress Camille Clifford and both are well known “living models” for the Gibson Girl. But of the four women the one most direct reflections were Gibson’s wife, Irene Langhorn. Mrs. Gibson provided the Southern Belle looks with a demure facial expression, modest dress and regal air.  She set a standard for the Gibson Girl that Charles Dana Gibson stuck to. The Gibson Girl’s Influence all across America was extraordinary from the comic strips was born an ideal—The ‘New Woman’.

Evelyn Nesbit

The Gibson Girl was the “perfect image of femininity, uniquely American.” Every woman strived to be her, the nameless figure that was America’s woman. Everything from songs and operettas, to clothing lines, hairstyles and wallpapers were made in the Gibson Girl image. For every new bow that Charles Dana Gibson put in a comic strip, an identical and real version was being worn in every lady’s hair up, down, and across the United States. The dresses that revealed the lithe figure of the Gibson girl could be found on every mannequin in every store. The Gibson Girl was a revolution in the development of the ideal woman. The Gibson Girl was brought to life the American women. Every girl strived to the one and every guy dreamed of finding his ‘Gibson Girl’. The irony was that Charles Dana Gibson had never intended the Gibson Girl to be anything more than a mockery of high society Americans, but even the highest women of society adopted the ideals. One of the most recognizable figures of the Time period was Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice Roosevelt. If anyone was the Gibson Girl Alice Roosevelt was. Even President Roosevelt had to agree, “I can do one of two things. I can President of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both. –Theodoore Roosevelt” ("Woman of the Year." This Fabulous Century, 1900-1910. Vol. 1. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life, 1969. N. pag. Print.). The Gibson Girl had created the fun loving woman that would grow into the Flappers of the 20’s and would remain a figure of American society until the first World War.

For as much as the Gibson Girl affected the woman and ‘who she was’, it also became a trend among the men. The creation of a Gibson Man was eminent. As men showed up in comics with the Gibson Girl, many of those fictional males became real life people. For every girl that shaped herself into the Gibson Girl there was an equivalent male figure close by waiting to woo her. Everything characterized in the comics, man or woman, could be found walking the streets of New York or hiking up the mountains on trails nearby. Men fantasized about being the man in the picture. The man of the Gibson Girl can clearly be identified in the drawing in many photos, one of which selected is Their First Quarrel. The men of the United States were rising to meet the expectations set forth by Charles Dana Gibson’s characters, who till this remain nameless, which would explain why so many people were able to connect and develop themselves without changing their identification; women especially.

Their First Quarrel

Leisure time was the start of the entertainment craze and the beginning of the Gibson Girl. As both of these aspects became more plentiful, the Gibson Girl had more facets. Her ideals manifested into activities like sports and jobs. Later drawings picture her playing the violin, riding a bike and even selling newspapers that featured herself. The Gibson Girl was the headway into women becoming a part of the workforce rather than just being the invisible housewife. The influence of the Gibson Girl spread into many areas from entertainment to commercialization. The American woman had developed into an able bodied person of society who could walk among men, maybe not as equals but with more influence.

Women as Jurors 

American women would not be the multifaceted figures of the 21^st century if they had never given the jump start in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Without the formation and development of the Gibson Girl, many iconic ladies we knew might have never come to light and more importantly, without the industrial revolution and the imagination of Charles Dana Gibson.

Sources:

Wikipedia:Camille Clifford

• I used this source to make Camille Clifford had actually modeled for the Gibson Girl. I also used it as a source of way to describe the Gibson Girl

Wikipedia: Evelyn Nesbit

• I used this source to make sure Evelyn Nesbit had actually modeled for the Gibson Girl. It also gave me sources for a picture of her.

JSTOR: Charles Dana Gibson, Illustrator

• This source offered insight from another person's side of the Gibson Girl. It goes a bit more in depth into his studies in France and how he developed his style of art.

JSTOR: The Gibson Girl Goes to College

• This paper gave insight from a woman's point of view of the Gibson Girl from a later date. I used it to see different and conflicting points.

Library of Congress: Gibson Girl's America

• I used some direct quotes from this site to help show how writers in the time period pictured the Gibson Girl.

Library of Congress: The Gibson Girl Phenomenon

• I used this source to see how it influenced other cartoonists and culture surrounding the cities in the early 1900's.

Library of Congress: The Gibson Girl as The New Woman

• Described the activities that the Gibson Girl would have done. Gave me a better idea of how women would have acted when trying to copy the Gibson Girl.

Library of Congress: Creating an Ideal

• I used this as a source of ideals that were clearly described for the Gibson Girl. It gave me a clearer understanding of how people viewed her.

Library of Congress: The San Francisco Call, Sunday Magazine

• This news article was a primary source of how the Gibson Girl was actually a recognized part of society in the early 1900's.

PBS: Charles Dana Gibson and "The Gibson Girl"

National Museum of American Illustrators:Charles Dana Gibson, American Imagist

• This was my source on background information about Charles Dana Gibson. It gave me insight on his career and styles of drawing he might have used.

Racial Influences

After going through serveral articles mostly about migration, and seeing the physical data, it hard to see why races still exist. After taking a quiz where you were supposed to classify people into races it was easy to see that most people look very similar! That would seem intuitive after looking into the flow charts about migration in certain time periods. Take south Asia for instance, in  the time period of 2005-2010 there was an enormous migration of people to West Asia and other parts of the world.

Inquiry: Philanthropy as a Whole

Philanthropy can easily be describes as the "Love of Humanity" in sense that you are helping the growth of humanity. Overall I learned that philanthropy can cover a wide range of aspects from military development like helping manage the distribution of money to the furthering of education and medical/scientific research. Most philanthropists put their money in charities and group who further the ideals that they support all the across the world and in their home towns.

Thinking About Success

1) Hard Work

2) Opportunity

3) Skill

3) Luck

My reasoning for putting hard work as the primary source is because out my personal experience I've found that hard work leads to more opportunity and skills are usually a development from doing what you love (e.g working with animals, knowing what to look for on pets who've had surgery). Also when you work hard people notice that you care and will seek you out and give you opportunities that wouldn't have been open to you if you hadn't worked as hard and showed people that you cared. I feel that luck doesn't really play into your prosperity, opportunity or even skill. I've come to believe that you get out what you put in. The harder you work the more prosperous you'll be.

Maybe cause opportunity comes from hard work.

The Controversy of "Fast Fashion" within H&M

During today's class we were asked to look over the rise of "fast fashion" and the companies heading this new 'fad'. After furthering my research and focusing on the "fast fashion" controversy I found that one of the companies most focused on for their failings and rise in fashion is H&M. H&M is a popular, fast turnover company based out of Sweden. Over the last couple of years they have run into a lot of factory safety issues like the death of 21 people at the manufacturer Garib & Garib in Bangladesh. Even worse was the building collapse at Rana Plaza killing 1,138 workers because "[t]he risk of a building collapse instilled less fear in those managers than the risk of losing orders due to late delivery." The Article hyper-linked in the quote is a great image of how messed up the production and safety measures are in foreign manufactures. 

It ceases to amaze me how people can be so ignorant of safety policies with the lives of innocent people on the line. As a consumer how is it that we are so ignorant to the blundering mistakes of these mass, multi-million dollar companies that we cherish so much. What can we do as the mass public to help create a better environment for the workers and enforce the building codes actually necessary for the safety of these workers?

Fireman Walking in the Remains at Garib and Garib, an H&M manufacturer

The Image of "Savage" Indians

After searching Google for the definition of savage, I've found that it is most directly seen as an adjective. It would describe someone or something as "fierce, violent and uncontrolled". After reading the archive to find more on the opinions of white settlers about Indians, I searched the archive for the word savage and savagery. Any instance of this word was directly linked to Indians. All Indians were referred to as savages rather than native Americans or more kindly indigenous peoples. If I hadn't had any previous knowledge or opinions on Indians this article it would have given me the idea that Indians were an uncivilized group of people. That they could not be a part of the growing society and american culture because they were unlettered and savage.

The Effects of the Ghost Dance: A Day in the Life

Dear Diary,

                It’s all over the front page of the news! And Papa’s been talkin’ about it all morning since we got the Omaha Daily Bee. And who could blame him! The Indians are terrorizing the whole of the west with their prophecies, new messiah and what have ya. Everyone is calling it the Ghost Dance war but thankfully we haven’t had any run-ins with the Indians ourselves just yet, but we’ve building up our fronts in case of an attack. All the soldiers running around town totin’ around their rifles and such and Johnny’s been sneaking out each night to go talk to ‘em. But ole’ Pa won’t have none of that once he finds out about it. Daddy even said that troops all the way from Texas have started to move towards our state in preparation for the big fight to come. That’s only if they don’t settle it peacefully though… But Ma and Pa have high hopes for the settling of the Indians before it comes to outright attacking. But I overheard Pa talking to Mr. Peters and Captain Finch about the Ghost Dance. They said they’d even seen it and described it as religious. Mr. Peters and Capt. Finch even said that there was “nothing of a warlike nature” about the dance and so they didn’t feel it was overly important.

                Even more scary was the news I heard about Short Bulls sermon, the whole thing that got the war going! He was said to have spoken about the new messiah and how the four tribes were gonna come together and wipe out the population of white folks like us… It makes me scared to hear these things but Pa reassures me that I’ve got nothing to worry my pretty lil’ head about. Johnny came home earlier spouting off about the Indian Short who came to town and talked about the dance with us, “white people”.

                Sadly poor Mrs. Ivans from Fort Dodge Iowa died of diphtheria yesterday and Pa said we’d be leaving for the funeral shortly. But on a happier note I got to attend the annual Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor in Hastings! Ma agreed that I was old enough and I had so much fun! Even Rev. Willard Scott got to speak at the convention with all the famous prophets and other reverends. Other than that the weather is just getting colder and colder with winter well on its way… Ma and I are going out to get new fur linings for our coats this evening at Hellman’s to help prepare for the blizzards coming our way!

                                                                                                -Marriana Smitty

I hope this ends peacefully for the sake of Johnny's life...

Omaha Daily Bee: News on Indians

After scouring through the Omaha Daily Bee it was obvious to me how Indians were a big part of Western settlers lives in Nebraska. Indians were considered a large problem to western civilizations and part of their culture that was foreign or out of place was considered to be a sign for war or rebellion. The Omaha Daily Bee from November 22 talked about the "ghost dance" being preformed by multitudes of Indians that had gathered in certain reservations. All tribes were coming together, in the article Short Bulls Sermon: What the Prophet Said to His People at Rosebud Agency Short Bull, the Chief summarized the gathering of the tribes that was a good representation of the language and translations used during this time period. "We (the Indians) are the ones who are living a sacred life. Our father in heaven has placed a mark on each end of the four winds. A clay pipe lies at the setting of the sun , representing the Sioux; a holy arrow at the north represents the Cheyennes; at the rising of the sun there lies a halo representing the Arapaho tribe; at the south there lies a pipe and feather representing the Crow tribe" The use of direct translations implies that there was also contact between tribe leaders and English journalists and the higher ranking military officials. After reading the whole of the newspaper it was easy to see the bias held by most settlers against the Indians and vice versa.

Deep Thinking

"Our use of social media for news is selective and intentional so that we may tend to remain interested only in things we are already interested in. On the other hand, professional news outlets like newspapers expose readers to information on a broad range of topics, this helps me to see what other people are interested in or think is important."
-Mrs. Lawson

Newspaper History and Analysis

The definition of a newspaper, as said by Business Dictionary is a form of printed media that can be found weekly or daily. It is a folded book of papers that is generally sectioned off in different categories based on subject and content. The most common format will have the top news stories on the front and work into the more minute articles that may be more local.

The first newspaper in America was found in Boston during the 1960's. It was known as Publick Occurrences, but it was quickly shut down. The first successful and long running newspaper was the Boston News-Letter. Among the newspapers today some of the oldest and long running newspapers include the New York Post, New Hampshire Gazette, Hartford Courant, Augusta Chronicle, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

I chose The Wall Street Journal to use as a primary resource for my research. The top stories of the newspaper on Oct. 12, 2015 include a story on the turmoil in Turkey after a terrorist attack, the SEC cutting the use of private judges in court cases, the threat of a cyber war creating a new arms race, and continually followed by political and economic news.Newspapers like The Wall Street Journal used to be called "newspapers of record" because they  would report only local events and keep citizens in that jurisdiction up to date on the city's on-goings. Secondly, the newspaper was able to reach high quality and standards of journalism and writing about topics of interest of greater importance. The first "newspaper of record" was The New York Times. Other examples of a "newspaper of record" include The Guardian, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.

In a general comparison and overview of newspapers versus social media (i.e Facebook, Instagram, etc.) it is very easy to spot one major difference  the type of connection varies. Social Media is a more personal way to reach out and find out about news that would only relate to topics you enjoy reading and even keeping up to date with familial on goings. Newspapers like The Wall Street Journal offer information about world news and current events around the globe and continental United States. Another key difference is presentation. Social media like Instagram is all pictures and small captions and even Facebook is similar with the reposting of news articles, where the only visible portion is a picture and the headline. Newspapers usually consist more of words and full length articles with a picture or two scattered about to give you a better idea of whats going on.

Quarter 1 Reflections

This year in history have proven to be more of an eye opener than any other history class I’ve taken. With the curricular not being just text book based it hast to participate and engage my learning. The emphasis on in-class work and group work has made it more fun to learn about the topics at hand. It’s a bonus in my mind that we don’t get a lot of busy work for homework; rather our homework is a more in depth continuation of our class discussions. This in combination has increased my ability to think critically use empathy as a way to help bring the learned topic into focus. One of my favorite activities this year was the sympathy vs. empathy activity. It was a great way to show how history is a multifaceted subject that needs to be seen from every aspect and helps to connect it to current events, thus making it more interesting.

In line with my growth as a thinker, its helped me to understand more about the aspect of slavery and controversy in the union army during the Civil War. When we studied slavery through the analytical use of movies it was interesting to see the actions of the slave masters to the slave, which seemed kind at first. But the underlying motive made it hard to see it as an act of kindness. The movie Glory was a wonderful cinematic recreation of the Civil War. It helped me to understand that even though the Union soldiers were considered the “good guys”, there was actually a lot of racism towards the black union soldiers from the whites. The culmination of this learning in an essay definitely helped to solidify my knowledge and newly learned knowledge. The essay also helped to solidify my use of technology especially hyper linking instead of creating a MLA works cited page. The use of quotations to help prove my point and also helped me to better understand what I was actually writing about.

Native American Research Project: Tribal Dancing and Religion

After spending the class researching on Native American Dance and Religious aspects I learned that there was a large debate of what could be considered religious in the Native American Tribes. Most of their religion consists of tribal and ceremonial dances, each one appeasing a specific need like the Rain dance or Hopi Snake Dances. As strange as it may seem most Tribes did not have a large say in what was deemed as religious and sanctioned as appropriate. The majority of these rulings were made a council known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs, most of whom were devout Christians and not Native American themselves.  But this debate would also be the first time a mass of non-Native American conservatives would rally with Tribal leaders to fight for their culture. This became a critical turning point for the states and their policies on Indian Religion. The large mass of support from non-Natives made it hard for states to argue against the tribes and so they had to change their viewpoint on tribal dances to a more rounded view, by encompassing tribal dances as a religious aspect.

Native American Rain Dance

Film Essay

Madi Smith

Film Essay

            Learning history through text book readings only can prove to be a boring way to learn for most people. By diversifying the way that a student learns, a teacher can help improve the amount of information a student, like myself, can retain after each lesson. By using movies as an addition to textual reading and research, I’ve been able to paint a clearer picture of the topic we are currently studying—The Civil War.

            During first quarter we watched Glory, best described by the director as “a chance to re-examine history.” In this way, Edward Zwick is bringing life to what I would have read in the history text books. By bringing these text books to life with actors, it allows me to see a more realistic version of what went on during the Civil War, thus making it easier for me to strengthen my knowledge and gain new insights and perspectives on the War Between the States. Glory is a perfect example of bring history to life, even Edward Zwick believe that 54^th regiment was an cardinal point in the Civil War, because without the 54^th regiment and others like it the Union might not have won the Civil War. One of my favorite quotes is the tag line to Glory—“Their innocence. Their heritage. Their lives. Nothing would be spared in the fight for their freedom.” It is a clear depiction of what the African American soldiers were fighting for. Though it was only used to be a pick-up line for the movie, it can actually be used to describe what the 54^th regiment was fighting for during the real civil war. This all really goes back to how movies can actually be used as a source of information! Initially I was thought that watching movie for learning really wouldn’t do much, but in reality I’ve solidified my knowledge about the Civil more than I ever did reading boring text books. Mainly because there are perceptible emotions which also make it easier to empathize and understand history on a deeper level.

            Emotionally taxing movies by consequence make us think on a deeper level, because we want to understand why it made us feel that way. While learning history it is important to empathize with both sides of the argument, like understanding the position of the Confederates versus the Union soldiers. Deeper than that you could learn to understand the difference of opinion between white Union soldiers and African American Union soldiers or how the whites felt about free blacks and vice versa. The movie 12 Years a Slave, is a recent depiction of the time period post Civil War and is based on a true story and memoir of a free man brought back to slavery and freed once again. The creator of the sound track to 12 Years a Slave said that he wanted to “work on something that…felt [like]…unresolved history.” The word unresolved leads to me to believe that besides missing a part of history you are missing the emotions and the understanding of what a freed man like Solomon was going through. Meaning most people would have only understood the views and opinions of the white men during that time period. Steve McQueen even believed that by telling this story he could reveal a new truth about what actually went on post Civil War. He even left the interpretation to the audience, saying “Just tell them truth on screen, whatever that is.” This lets history students like myself use our analytical skills to decipher the truth in the movies and form a more developed sense of that time period. This can be difficult for most because movies are laced with small changes to help create a more “payer friendly” movie.

            Both movies were critically acclaimed movies because of their sensational and heart wrenching plots. None of these movies can be claimed as 100% accurate, but during my research I found that changes made to the movies were in order to create a more well rounded perspective and movie. Glory is a perfect example of this.  Edward Zwick, the director, is sometimes ridiculed for having made up the supporting characters in the 54^th regiment, but in reality there were very few personal accounts of African American soldiers leaving him with nothing to make up the regiment. His ability to create the supporting actors and have them blend into the story like they actually existed proved that he understood what a group like the 54^th regiment would have been like. Each character has a different personality to help create diversity in the movie but this also helps a critical thinking student, like myself find different ways to empathize and understand the emotions of that time period. The relationship between Colonel Shaw and his soldiers versus Major Forbes and the regiment paints two different points of view of how black soldiers were treated by their higher-ups and how they empathized with each other.

            These two movies are two out of many movies that are clear depictions and great representations of the Civil War. Using these movies as educational materials along with text books and research has helped me retain more knowledge of the Civil War. They have even opened my eyes to new perspectives between different groups in that time period, making it easier for me understand what was actually going on during those tense times.

Hyper Links

Wikipedia

·         List of Accolades Received by 12 Years a Slave

History vs. Hollywood

·         12 Years a Slave (2013)

IMDb

·         Glory(1989)

·         Glory(1989) Awards

Reel Views

·         Glory (United States, 1989)

History Net

·         History Net: Ed Zwick, Director of Glory

The Tech: Online Edition

·         Glory director Edward Zwick discusses motivations behind the film

Movie Fone

·         '12 Years a Slave' Director, Filmmakers: Movie Is 'Unresolved History'

Practice Incorporating a Quotation

Movie critic James Berardinelli agrees that because of Glory's historical accuracy "[it] has become one of the most frequently shown motion pictures in high schools" across the United States.

While paraphrasing and quoting the movie review of Glory I learned that the difference between the two is that paraphrasing is used to show your understanding of the material(s), while quotations are used to strengthen an argument it an essay. Quotations should only be used when the author of the work has stated your idea in a clear and more concise way, and it couldn't be better explained.

This is what Mrs.Lawson wanted me to learn today:

• Only use a quote when it adds power and style to my writing.
• Always make it clear, from context, that I understand the full meaning of the quote.
• Whether I quote or paraphrase, always be transparent about the source and how I'm using it.
• If I use another author's words or phrases, to any extent, I have to use quotation marks and give credit.
• If I use another's author's presentation of facts or ideas, but put their ideas in my own words, I better have a good reason for doing that, and I MUST give credit.
• Hyperlinking is so easy, there is no excuse for not being transparent about my sources.

I understand how to paraphrase and use quotations properly.

Paraphrase Practice

"The historical backdrop against which Glory transpires is mostly historically accurate. In fact, a great deal of effort went into getting the details correct. The main events shown in the film happened much as they are depicted, some of the key characters (Shaw, Frederick Douglas, etc.) existed, and the outcome was as Zwick presents it. Many of the secondary characters are either partially or entirely fictionalized, but they are intended to represent a broad cross-section of the types of men who joined the Massachusetts 54th."

This quote is an excerpt from a movie review on Glory, by Reelviews Moive Reviews.

The movie Glory, directed by Edward Zwick, is debated as one of the historically accurate movies of the Civil War. Zwick spent a large portion of his time trying to correctly depict the history of the Civil War and the details that helped shape the war. This is due in part to the accessory characters who are used to fabricate a deeper and more accurate portrayal of the Civil War. The mixed personalities of the black soldiers like the wise Sgt. Maj. Rawlins and the angry Private Trip were a representation of the wide variety of men that were part of the Massachusetts 54th.

What is Empathy?

The definition of empathy is the intellectual identification or vicarious experience of the feelings, thoughts and attitudes of another.It is the experience of understanding another persons condition from their perspective. An extreme example of empathy would be your ability understand or theorize how a psychopath would be feeling or acting after committing a murderous act. This capability to understand or "step into someone else's shoes" is a clear example of how empathy works. It is an important skill to be able to empathize in history because in order to fully grasp both sides of history you need to be able to 'step into other peoples shoes'. Only understanding the morally correct side of history gives the student a rose colored view that there was only good and bad, when in reality both sides would have had good and bad parts, like the Union soldiers. Their intentions were good at first, trying to abolish slavery and fight for African American freedom, but in reality the Union soldiers still held prejudice against their fellow black soldiers. Almost sometimes as bad as the Confederate soldiers and slave masters.

Mirror of Empathy