Twilight Zone Research Project

Research Project

•In the teleplay, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" by Rod Serling, a small community becomes alarmed by unexplained (alien) occurrences happening all around them. In turn, certain members of the community are scapegoated, or blamed, for the creepy events taking place.  As a result, these innocent individuals suffered many negative events, including death.

•This idea of scapegoating has occurred all throughout history. And, in many cases, these occurrences have lead to severe negative effects. Take a journey into the past and become an expert on scapegoating and how it has influenced the world we live in today.

Task

1. You will start on this investigation alone

2. You will conduct research  using websites provided here and found on your own to learn about scapegoating throughout history.

 3. Put on your thinking cap and get ready to take a trip back into history!

• You will examine one of 5 major groups that have been identified as scapegoats throughout history.

•    Each student will conduct research on a the chosen topics. 

–It will be your responsibility to identify an instance of scapegoating and gather factual information.

–Hold on to this information because later you will be asked to compare and contrast the information gathered with the events that took place in "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street."

•    Next, each student will meet with other students who have chosen the same topic and present/share all information with each other.

–At this point, your team will have selected one of the "scapegoat" groups to further research as a team in identifying who was responsible for their becoming scapegoats, explain why it happened and discuss how the events have influenced our world today.

–Last, but not least, you will  indepently write a 3 to 5 paragraph essay about the your research topic. 

Process

1. Decide which topic to research.  

 

2. There are five topics to choose from. Therefore, you will have to look at each and decide what you are most interested in.

 

The topics are as follows:

The Salem Witch Trials

Japanese Internment During WW2

African Americans

Jews as Scapegoats During WW2

Native Americans 

3. Identify and explain the term "scapegoat."

Go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoat 

Research

1.Scroll down to your research area and explore the links to your topic.

2. You may do additional research if you feel necessary. Using search engines like Google

•The Salem Witch Trials

•Explore the following websites on the Salem Witch Trials:

•http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials 

•

•Japanese Internment During WW2

•Explore the following websites on Japanese internment during World

•War 2:

•http://www.asianamericanmedia.org/jainternment/index.html

•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_Internment 

•African Americans 

•Explore the following sites on African American Civil Rights:

•Click here to answer the question, "What is African American Civil Rights?“
Click here to explore "Race: The Power of Illusions"

•Click here to view the "African American World Timeline" 

•Click here to learn more about the "American Civil Rights Movement" and even read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech"

•Jews as Scapegoats during WW2 

•Explore the following sites on the Holocaust:
http://www.ushmm.org/

   http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/history.html

•

•Native Americans 

•Explore the following sites on the "Trail of Tears": 

•Stories from the National Historic Site 

•Trail of Tears Interactive Map 

•Click here to read a poem about the Trail of Tears