Philippines After the Spanish-American War

Time: 1 Block period (1:45)

Common Core Standards: RH1, RH5, WHST2

Objectives:

The students will place events in the correct sequential order along a timeline
The students will explain why certain events led to greater or less freedom for the Philippines
The students will be able to understand how the Philippines achieved independence
The students will comprehend why America was hesitant to grant the Philippines full independence

Initiation:

The cover of Judge Magazine

Project the cover of Judge Magazine. If the students are unable to read the text, tell them the date at the top is June 1899. The caption reads “The Filipino’s First Bath: McKinley --‘Oh you dirty boy!’”

Ask the students to describe what they see – who is the man in the bathing suit? Who is he bathing? What does the water say? What does this represent? Who are the 2 people in background? What is the artist’s purpose in drawing this? Etc. Make sure to explain the racial and gender inferences included in the cartoon since racialization, genderization, and infantilization were key factors in how the United States handled the Filipinos. (10 minutes)

Learning Activities:

Before class begins, place each of the 7 events around the classroom by cutting them and taping them to the walls.
Following the warm-up questions, distribute a timeline to students. Tell them that they will be looking at 7 major events over a 50-year period that led to independence for the Philippines. Some events led to greater independence, while other events took freedom away from the region. They will analyze each event to determine how it affected the Philippines and place it correctly along the timeline. (5 minutes for directions)
Tell the students to start at the event on the wall closest to their desk. After reading about the event, they need to determine if it brought greater or lesser freedom for the Philippines. If the event brought greater foreign control, they should place it on the bottom half of the page. If the event was getting the Philippines closer to becoming independent, it should go above the timeline. Students should write the name of the Act/Commission/Event and then briefly explain what it did.
Allow the students about 5 minutes at their station and then have them rotate to the next one as a group. Adjust the time if the students need more or less time at each until they have rotated completely around the room and gotten each event on their timelines. (45 minutes)
Once the students have completed their timelines have them return to their seats and hand out the worksheet. Have the students create a political cartoon to represent one of the events for their timeline. After the students have completed their cartoons, ask some students to sharer and explain their drawing’s viewpoint. Be sure to let the students understand that each event is evaluated in different ways today and many historians disagree about whether some led to greater independence or were just lip service. You can also show them some of the cartoons from the PBS – Crucible of Empire website listed in the “Other Primary Sources” section. (20 minutes)