History is written by the winners — at least, that’s what internet trolls always say. More often than not, history is written by men.
Across all historical periods, there are remarkable women whose stories have been ignored or cast aside. Today, we’ll be looking at an extraordinary group of women whose courage, resilience, and genius shone too brightly to be lost to the shadows of history. Join us in celebrating, and most importantly remembering, these unsung heroines and the indelible mark they left on society.
Kathrine Switzer had some men clutching at their pearls when she became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in 1967. Switzer entered as “K.V. Switzer,” and when race organizer Jock Semple realized that Switzer was a woman (gasp!), he assaulted her. “Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers,” Semple yelled after trying to snatch her bib and before getting blocked by Switzer’s then boyfriend, Tom Miller. Pictures of the incident spread, and the Boston Marathon started accepting female runners in 1972.
Claudette Colvin was the first black woman arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama bus — nine months before Rosa Parks.
Colvin nearly became the subject of a federal suit to desegregate Alabama’s bus system, but local civil rights leaders (led by Martin Luther King Jr.) ostracized her. Colvin believed this was because her skin tone was too dark and because she became pregnant at 16. NAACP Secretary Rosa Parks became the face of the movement, but Colvin’s refusal stands as a reminder of the power of saying “no.”
Freddie and Truus Oversteegen didn’t have a typical upbringing, spending their formative years in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. In 1941, a commander with the Haarlem Resistance Group recruited the sisters, who had been spreading anti-Nazi newspapers and pamphlets for the Dutch resistance. “Only later did he tell us what we’d actually have to do: sabotage bridges and railway lines,” said Truus, “and learn to shoot, to shoot Nazis.”
The sisters were joined by another young woman named Hannie Schaft, and together, the trio took on sabotage and assassination missions against Nazis and Dutch Collaborators in what could only be described as a Quentin Tarantino movie come to life. On at least one occasion, Truus seduced an SS officer, leading him into the woods to be shot by resistance members.
Sadly, there’s no happy ending to this story. Schaft was captured by the Nazis and executed in 1945. The sisters were devasted by the loss of their best friend and did their best to move on after the war. “We did not feel it suited us,” Truus said of being an assassin. “It never suits anybody, unless they are real criminals.”
In 1967, then-graduate-student Jocelyn Bell Burnell was the first to notice the anomaly. She was also the first to argue the significance of the strange squiggles in the night sky. Still, her adviser Antony Hewish received all the credit for the discovery of pulsars: a subset of rotating neutron stars that send out pulses of radiation at regular intervals.
The discovery was announced via a paper in Nature, and wouldn’t you know it, Hewish’s name was the first listed in the study. Burnell’s was second. Hewish received the 1963 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery, but Burnell wasn’t bothered. In fact, she was thrilled that the Nobel Prize had been awarded to someone studying physics. Besides, she’d go on to receive about every other honor for the discovery.
For decades, French physician Marthe Gautier was denied the spotlight for her role in the 1958 discovery of trisomy 21: an extra copy of chromosome 21 that causes Down syndrome.
The way Gautier tells it, she shared patient samples with her male colleague Jérôme Lejeune, who offered to have them photographed. Six months later, Lejeune authored “Human Chromosomes in Tissue Cultures,” taking credit for the discovery while listing Gautier as the second author and misspelling her name. The French National Institute has since defended Gautier, stating that Lejeune’s participation in the discovery was unlikely to be of great importance.
James Watson and Francis Crick are renowned for the discovery of the DNA double helix, but now it’s believed they only made the discovery after stealing data from physical chemist Rosalind Franklin.
Watson was shown an X-ray image of DNA taken by Franklin, without her permission. Known as Photograph 51, the image is “the philosopher’s stone of molecular biology.” Popular culture will have you believe that Franklin couldn’t understand the significance of the image, while Watson understood it at a glance. Uncovered documents reveal that Franklin was an equal contributor to the discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure.
There’s no shortage of forgotten women in history: women who spoke when they were told to be silent, who stayed sitting when they were told to stand, and who never wavered when told they were wrong. If you like what you’ve read, we encourage you to dive deeper and discover what other secrets history has to offer.
The University of Texas Permian Basin offers an online Master of Arts in History for anyone interested in uncovering the untold stories that have shaped our world. Courses include:
UT Permian Basin’s online MA in history program will equip you with the tools, knowledge, and research skills needed to not only contextualize the impact history has on society but also advance your career and share that expertise with others.
By understanding the past, we pave the way for a more equitable future. Take the first step toward making history and apply to UT Permian Basin and its online MA in history program today.
Sources:
https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/kathrine-switzer/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/us/forgotten-womens-history.html
https://www.science.org/content/article/after-more-50-years-dispute-over-down-syndrome-discovery
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/974222?form=fpf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/09/08/she-made-discovery-man-got-nobel-half-century-later-shes-won-million-prize/
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01313-5
https://www.history.com/news/dutch-resistance-teenager-killed-nazis-freddie-oversteegen
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/claudette-colvin-refuses-to-give-up-her-seat
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/25/claudette-colvin-the-woman-who-refused-to-give-up-her-bus-seat-nine-months-before-rosa-parks
Steven Spielberg. Alfred Hitchcock. Undoubtedly, you’re familiar with these legendary filmmakers. Both widely admired and imitated directors are the subjects of their own dedicated courses in The University of Texas Permian Basin’s online Master of Arts in English. Our program takes a deep dive into consequential historical and modern English-language literature and film, giving special attention not just to their words but to their cultural, sociopolitical, and psychological themes and encouraging students to uncover modern parallels in own their lives.
Our program provides an enriching exploration for students who are ready to move into graduate-level English studies and seek new perspectives of the world. Aside from its engaging curriculum, the flexibility of our program offers a fulfilling experience for students while completing their online master’s degree in English and afterward. Let’s look at that unmatched flexibility now—including capstone options that allow you to decide how to conclude your degree and other advantages—and see if our program might be a good fit for you.
As an English graduate student, you’ll hone essential soft and durable skills such as communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork. While these have long been acknowledged among the most important life skills, prominent organizations from Forbes to the U.S. Department of Labor now identify this diverse skill set as crucial for anyone wishing to compete and advance in the professional sphere today.
Our MA in English program offers diverse electives and the flexibility to finish your program your way, based on your interests and accomplishments. Dr. Sophia Andres, English MA program director and faculty member, provided some insight on this unique advantage: “Unlike other MA programs which offer a thesis as the only capstone option, UTPB offers four different options, each catered to the students’ needs.” Those options include:
There’s added flexibility for students in terms of the source of any of these capstones, as Dr. Andres explained with one example: “The project can be a longer [version] of a paper that they already wrote for a class, but they were so excited they felt like, ‘I wish I had the time to write more about this.’ Okay, so go on, write the project on it.”
Equipped with an MA in English, you can take numerous rewarding career paths, including:
See salary and employment potential for these and other jobs related to this degree.
If you plan to continue your academic pursuits after completing your online master’s degree in English, you’ll find our program and the corresponding skills a strong foundation for doctoral studies or law school.
Presented 100% online through asynchronous courses, our MA in English program empowers you to complete coursework on your own schedule. Access lectures, take exams, and submit assignments 24/7, from practically any location in the world. You don’t have to live in Texas or even in the United States. UT Permian Basin is proud to have students from 45 different countries in our programs, and if you travel abroad, you can take your program with you.
Adding a master’s degree to your resume can lead to greater earning potential. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), master’s degree holders enjoy median earnings of $86,372 per year. That’s 16% higher than the reported median earnings of individuals with a bachelor’s degree alone. The BLS also shows those with a master’s degree are more likely to be employed.
Do yourself this favor: Choose a flexible master’s degree program that gives you a broad range of possibilities before and after graduation! Apply today.
The humanities cover a wide variety of subjects, including communications, history, languages, and literature. In short, this broad field focuses on the study of the human experience and the expression of that experience.
Students pursuing a humanities degree, whether studying art or anthropology, learn new ways to engage with the world around them, gaining critical thinking, research, and writing skills in the process. These versatile degrees can lead anywhere—but don’t take our word for it.
What can you do with a humanities degree? Here are eight influential people who majored in the humanities. As you’ll see, the greatest journeys can have the humblest beginnings.
We start with the one and only. Oprah earned a degree in communication and performing arts from Tennessee State University in 1986. After graduation, she came onboard the failing talk show “AM Chicago.” The show was soon renamed, and it wasn’t long before “The Oprah Winfrey Show” was the highest-rated television talk show in the U.S. The talk show spawned a media and business empire, including the successful Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).
On education, Oprah has said, “Education is the way to move mountains, to build bridges, to change the world. Education is the path to the future. I believe that education is indeed freedom.”
Michael Eisner graduated from Denison University with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Theatre in 1964. Eisner dreamed of writing a Broadway play but struggled to find work out of college. Such is the life of a writer.
After landing a gig as an NBC clerk, Eisner began to scale the corporate ladder at ABC and Paramount. He later served as the chairman and CEO of Walt Disney Productions from 1984 to 2005, during which time he oversaw the Disney Renaissance.
On the humanities, Eisner said, “Literature is unbelievably helpful, because no matter what business you are in, you are dealing with interpersonal relationships. It gives you an appreciation of what makes people tick.”
Steve Jobs famously dropped out of college to found Apple, but for the brief time he was enrolled, he majored in creative humanities, so he earns a spot on this list on a technicality.
From humble beginnings (Jobs and Stephen Wozniak built the Apple I out of a garage), Jobs wound up running a trillion-dollar tech giant. Jobs was one of the first to recognize the potential of personal computing, and under his leadership, Apple would revolutionize how we engage with technology with such releases as the iPod and iPhone.
Jobs credited the humanities for Apple’s success: “It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing.”
Conan O’Brien majored in American history and literature at Harvard University. His humanities education served him well throughout his storied career, as evidenced by his boundless Civil War knowledge.
After graduating, O’Brien moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in television, and after writing for “Not Necessarily the News,” “Saturday Night Live,” and “The Simpsons,” he got a chance to be in front of the camera with “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” O’Brien was the name in late night until “Conan” went off the air in 2021. He gave these parting words during his final episode: “My advice to anyone watching right now — and it’s not easy to do, it’s not easy to do, but try; try and do what you love with people you love. If you can manage that, it’s the definition of heaven on Earth.”
Author Toni Morrison was an avid reader at a young age. Morrison graduated from Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in English before earning a Master of Arts in English from Cornell University. She went on to become one of the most celebrated novelists in history, writing such classics as “Beloved” and “The Bluest Eye.” In 1993, she became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Morrison told her students: “When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else.”
Jack Ma is known for co-founding Alibaba.com, one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world. Less known are the many challenges he faced on his journey.
In 1988, Ma graduated from China’s Hangzhou Normal University with a BA in English. He failed the entrance exam not once, but twice and received over 30 job rejections after graduating. He taught English, managed a small translation company, and sold flowers, books, and clothes on the side. The man can hustle. Ma’s break came in 1999 when, along with 17 friends, he co-founded Alibaba.com.
The former English teacher shared this with his employees: “I told my son, ‘You don’t need to be in the top three in your class. Being in the middle is fine, so long as your grades aren’t too bad.’ Only this kind of person has enough free time to learn other skills.”
Arundhati Bhattacharya, the first woman chairperson of the State Bank of India, retired from her position in 2017, wrapping up a 40-year career in India’s financial sector. Under her leadership, the 212-year-old bank successfully transitioned to the digital age. Many thought her corporate journey was at an end, but she’s now Salesforce’s India CEO.
Bhattacharya studied English literature at Lady Brabourne College in Kolkata, India, but she attributes her success to being a lifelong learner. To a packed audience at her 2018 TEDx Talk, she said, “Approach every situation with a questioning mind and a learner’s humility and you can’t go wrong.”
Howard Schultz graduated from Northern Michigan University with a BS in communications in 1975. Schultz then moved from New York to Seattle and in 1981, joined Starbucks as director of operations and marketing. At the time, the fledging company had only four stores. Four! A year later, Schultz was in Italy, drinking the finest coffee and wondering how to bring the Italian coffeehouse experience to America.
Schultz retired as Starbucks’ CEO in 2018 to become chairman emeritus. By then, Starbucks had grown to nearly 30,000 stores in the U.S. and abroad. “It took years before I found my passion in life,” the coffee magnate said, “but getting out of Brooklyn and earning a college degree gave me the courage to keep on dreaming.”
A humanities education provides insight into human culture, history, literature, philosophy, and art. As illustrated by the famous, influential people on this list, you can go far by understanding and appreciating what makes us all human.
The University of Texas Permian Basin offers several online humanities degrees. Undergraduate students can pursue a bachelor’s degree in:
Graduate students can pursue a:
Humanities degrees can lead to a variety of career paths, including roles in education, writing, research, cultural institutions, media, public relations, and more. Critical thinking, communication, and cultural awareness are skills highly valued in any career field, and these are only some of the skills gained while earning a humanities degree.
Visit our Program and Courses page to learn more about the humanities degrees offered online at UT Permian. When you’re ready, click apply!
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oprah-Winfrey
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Eisner
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Steve-Jobs/Saving-Apple
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Conan-OBrien
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/toni-morrison
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jack-Ma
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-asia/salesforces-arundhati-bhattacharya-on-lifelong-learning-and-talent-reinvention
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/arundhati-bhattacharya/
https://stories.starbucks.com/leadership/howard-schultz/
Whether you were spellbound by the cinematic world of ‘Harry Potter’ or terrified by the eerie corridors of ‘The Shining,’ you’ve likely experienced the unique thrill of watching a movie adaptation of a beloved novel.
If you’ve ever read the book before watching the film, you know the mixed emotions it can evoke. As avid readers, it’s natural to have a strong connection to the stories we’ve envisioned in our minds, which can make us feel like insiders when it comes to adaptations.
But the question remains: Are books superior to their cinematic counterparts, or does each medium offer its own set of advantages and limitations? Today, we’re journeying through the realms of literature and cinema to explore the history of book-to-movie adaptations and uncover the merits and pitfalls of each.
Before the invention of the moving picture, novels reigned supreme. Reading a written narrative gave us the freedom to create cinematic experiences in our minds. Sure, the settings and characters manifested differently from reader to reader, but that was the beauty of reading literature.
Then, in the late 1800s, the ability to turn photographs into moving pictures became a reality, and film was born, albeit on a shorter and simpler scale. Small video clips focused on everyday occurrences, such as people walking down the street. But as the technology of the Cinématographe improved, so too did the quality of film-making.
By 1899, Georges Méliès released the first book-to-film adaptation of the story ‘Cinderella,’ based on the fairytale by Charles Perrault. While there wasn’t any dialogue in the film (that wouldn’t happen until 1927), the production was nearly six minutes long and featured a full cast, multiple sets, and background music to set the tone. This adaptation proved that it was possible to recreate a story using a different medium than its original.
Fast forward to the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s and ‘40s. Major studios began realizing the commercial potential of turning popular novels into films. Thus, classic adaptations of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Gone With the Wind’ became iconic films of the time.
While the success of a film adaptation is subjective, ‘Gone With the Wind’ is largely considered a successful adaptation for a few notable reasons:
As the decades wore on, more notable books became movies, including:
In recent times, filmmakers have infused classic texts with contemporary flair. The 1999 film ’10 Things I Hate About You,’ derived from Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew,’ modernized the storyline for a younger audience. Director Gil Junger’s approach allowed for the enjoyment of Shakespeare’s plot while making his themes more relatable for a modern audience.
Now, it’s time to address the elephant in the room: If you’re a dedicated fan of franchises like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, or any self-contained book or novel series, do the movie adaptations of books ever match the expectations and emotional connections you’ve developed with the characters through reading?
Below, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both mediums.
There are plenty of advantages to films and novels, including the following examples:
Novels
Films
Alas, with every pro, there is often a con. Below, we list a few disadvantages of films and novels:
Novels
Films
Fuel your love for dissecting book-to-movie adaptations at UTPB. Our online Bachelor of Arts in English program opens a world of captivating literature courses, perfect for your annotating and analytical prowess. Dive deeper with our elective course, ‘Films as Literature,’ which explores the fascinating crossover between films and literary works and delves into the rich history of cinema.
Ready to unravel the magic of storytelling in both print and on-screen? Apply now and let your passion thrive at UTPB!
Sources:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pickford-early-history-motion-pictures/
https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/film/experimentation-with-sound
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gone-with-the-Wind-film-by-Fleming
Whether we’re aware of it or not, semantics is something we all use in our daily lives. It involves grasping the meaning of words, expressing emotions, and resolving ambiguous statements others make. For example, when your professor says your contributions to today’s discussion were “interesting,” you may wonder whether she was complimenting your input or implying that it needed improvement (hopefully the former).
It makes sense, then, that different forms of AI, like chatbots and virtual assistants, could also benefit from using semantics. After all, if it helps us, it may also aid them in understanding what people are asking so they’re able to provide the most accurate answers. That’s where natural language processing (NLP) comes in. But what is NLP?
Today, we’re breaking down the concepts of semantics and NLP and elaborating on some of the semantics techniques that natural language processing incorporates across various AI formats.
In the most basic sense, semantics refers to the study of words. To dig a little deeper, semantics scholars analyze the relationship between words and their intended meanings within a given context.
Take the phrase we used earlier: “dig a little deeper.” In a literal sense, it refers to digging farther into the ground. But we know that in this instance it’s being used as an idiomatic expression. In this context, the phrase carries the figurative meaning of going beyond the surface level to find an answer.
With semantics on our side, we can more easily interpret the meaning of words and sentences to find the most logical meaning—and respond accordingly.
Picture yourself asking a question to the chatbot on your favorite streaming platform. Since computers don’t think as humans do, how is the chatbot able to use semantics to convey the meaning of your words? Enter natural language processing, a branch of computer science that enables computers to understand spoken words and text more like humans do.
NLP uses different types of computational linguistics modeling, including:
The more examples of sentences and phrases NLP-driven programs see, the better they become at understanding the meaning behind the words. Below, we examine some of the various techniques NLP uses to better understand the semantics behind the words an AI is processing—and what’s actually being said.
As we mentioned above, words often have more than one meaning. With word sense disambiguation, computers can figure out the correct meaning of a word or phrase in a sentence. For example, the word “bear” has two meanings. It could reference a large furry mammal, or it might mean to carry the weight of something. NLP uses semantics to determine the proper meaning of the word in the context of the sentence.
Words can carry either positive or negative emotional connotations. Let’s look at the word “bold” as an example. When we say, “Your style is so bold and confident,” it has a positive meaning. However, the statement, “It was bold of you to assume we liked that type of style” has a more negative meaning. NLP-driven programs that use sentiment analysis can recognize and understand the emotional meanings of different words and phrases so that the AI can respond accordingly.
One of the main reasons people use virtual assistants and chatbots is to find answers to their questions. Question-answering systems use semantics to understand what a question is asking so that they can retrieve and relay the correct information.
Natural language understanding (NLU) allows computers to understand human language similarly to the way we do. Unlike NLP, which breaks down language into a machine-readable format, NLU helps machines understand the human language better by using semantics to comprehend the meaning of sentences. In essence, it equates to teaching computers to interpret what humans say so they can understand the full meaning and respond appropriately.
Sure, you use semantics subconsciously throughout the day, but with an English degree, you can dive deeper into the world of words to analyze word and sentence meaning, ambiguity, synonymy, antonymy, and more. If the idea of becoming a linguist or computational linguist (someone who works at the intersection of linguistics and computer science) piques your interest, consider earning your BA or MA in English at UTPB.
Both of our programs are entirely online and offer an array of benefits:
Of course, you don’t need to be an aspiring linguist to be the perfect fit for our program. Graduates with degrees in English have plenty of career opportunities:
Take the first step to achieving the career of your dreams and apply today!
Sources:
https://lhncbc.nlm.nih.gov/ii/areas/word-sense-disambiguation.html
https://www.ibm.com/topics/natural-language-processing
https://monkeylearn.com/sentiment-analysis/
Many of us enjoy a good book, and while we can usually identify what we like about it—interesting characters, an intriguing plot, the setting, etc.—we don’t always think more deeply about how those specific qualities connect with us. We certainly do feel them, however, and those evoked emotions are just one area in which psychology and literature meet. Here we’ll discuss that intersection further with a couple of examples from the writer’s perspective and a couple from the reader’s perspective.
As a writer creates a character, they consider that character’s motivations, emotions, past experiences, and other psychological factors that will drive their actions throughout the narrative. This aids in making a character believable and relatable to the reader. By giving them a distinctive personality, habits, and quirks, the writer also makes them a multidimensional character—more like an actual human being. Though one-dimensional characters can serve a purpose in a story, a multidimensional character is much more interesting to the reader.
Through their stories and characters, writers often endeavor to elicit thoughts and emotions from their readers that inspire action or inspire a change in mindset that leads to action, such as:
Psychology and literature intersect in a very dramatic way in first-person stories. These give readers perhaps the most comprehensive view of the inner workings of the protagonist’s mind, though since we only know what they tell us, we must consider that they may be unreliable narrators. The first-person voice facilitates readers’ empathy and identification with characters, even unlikable ones:
Richard III, the eponymous character of the William Shakespeare play, is one example. He is physically deformed from birth, and this garners some sympathy from the reader, but his true flaw is a murderous lust for power that leads him to order the death of his two young nephews and others who might stand in his way.
Alex, the sociopathic main character of the Anthony Burgess novel “A Clockwork Orange,” leads us through his gang activities—beatings, rapes, and robberies—his eventual imprisonment, his ostensible rehabilitation through aversion therapy, and the aftermath. Yet he possesses a certain charm and sophistication that almost makes him a sympathetic character.
Reading can help sharpen the mind, stave off dementia, reduce stress, and increase our ability to think critically and empathetically—all while sparking the imagination and providing a temporary escape from everyday concerns. As stated in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet, “attentive immersion in great literature can help relieve, restore, and reinvigorate the troubled mind—and can play a part in relieving stress and anxiety, as well as other troubled states of mind.”
This is supported to the extent that a practice called “creative bibliotherapy,” or the reading of literature in a guided or group setting, is being used to promote prosocial behavior and minimize aggression, depression, and anxiety among participants.
The University of Texas Permian Basin offers two enriching online degree programs that will give the literature lover in you a deeper appreciation of the art form.
Online Bachelor of Arts in English
If you’re just getting started on your college journey—whether you’re looking at some degrees or have already earned a few credits but haven’t declared a major—this program provides a clear path forward. Our BA in English equips you with valuable skills that will benefit you throughout all your personal and professional endeavors. As you complete your degree, you’ll:
If you want to learn more about how psychology and literature connect, or even psychology as a stand-alone subject, these BA in English courses may interest you:
Online Master of Arts in English
If you already have a bachelor’s degree or are in the process of completing one, this program will enable you to further cultivate your appreciation for the English language and culture. You’ll enjoy unique opportunities, including the ability to:
If you want to learn more about psychology in a literary context and beyond, these MA in English courses may interest you:
Get more program details and apply today!
Sources:
https://www.today.com/life/inspiration/benefits-of-reading-rcna61735 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6370723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8993009/
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-29712-006
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-exactly-creative-bibliotherapy-anne-vize
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00337-8/fulltext
This November, American families will gather around the dinner table to feast on stuffed turkey before celebrating a timeless Thanksgiving tradition: Thursday Night Football.
Thanksgiving as we know it bears little resemblance to historical events. Once upon a time, Native Americans shared stores of food with English settlers—strangers from across the Atlantic—who would have starved were it not for their generosity.
That’s the story of Thanksgiving—at least, the story told to school children. The idea that Native Americans capitulated to colonialism by welcoming English settlers to their ancestral land is a myth: one perpetuated to cover up a tragic and bloody history.
Let’s travel back to a time when fortune and freedom were promised to anyone who could lay claim to the Americas and discover what led to Native Americans and English settlers sharing the first harvest feast.
Here’s the real history of Thanksgiving.
The Mayflower embarked from Plymouth, England, in September 1620 bound for the “New World.” The ancestors of Native Americans living in the Americas as far back as 30,000 years ago may have taken issue with that term, however.
The Pilgrims traveled to the Americas in search of religious freedom, or so the story goes. In truth, they were separatists who wanted to own land, make their fortune, and set up a religious theocracy, which is kind of the opposite of freedom. Sidenote: They never referred to themselves as Pilgrims. The term “Pilgrim” wouldn’t pop up until the 1880s.
After 66 days at sea, the Mayflower made landfall near the tip of Cape Cod and, one month later, crossed Massachusetts Bay. There, the Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony, having found a village, spring, and fertile fields ready for the taking. A prime example of manifest destiny, right? Well, the only reason the land was unoccupied was because the Native Americans living there had been wiped out by disease.
The first winter was unforgiving. Of the 102 passengers aboard the Mayflower, half wouldn’t live to see spring. That’s when they received a surprise visit from a member of the Abenaki tribe. He spoke English and later returned with Tisquantum, known as Squanto.
A member of Pawtuxet, a band of the Wampanoag tribe, Squanto had been captured and sold into slavery in 1614. He learned English in England. Later, he escaped in London and returned to his home across the Atlantic.
Wampanoags had experienced a century of contact with English settlers, and they didn’t always exchange pleasantries. At least two Wampanoags had been victims of the slave trade and had already been to and returned from Europe.
Squanto became a translator and teacher, showing the Pilgrims how to fish, grow corn, avoid poisonous plants, and extract sap from maple trees. However, for all his kindness, Squanto may have only been laying the groundwork for a meeting with Wampanoag sachem (chief) Ousamequin.
The Pilgrim’s first corn harvest was successful. Governor William Bradford organized a feast to celebrate and invited the colony’s Native American allies, including Wampanoag chief Ousamequin. America’s “first Thanksgiving” lasted three days. Alas, there was no pumpkin pie, candied yams, or potato casserole on the menu. Without an oven, the Pilgrims made due with dishes prepared using traditional Native American cooking methods, including roasted wild fowl and deer.
Senior Plymouth leader (and later chronicler of the Pilgrims) Edward Winslow wrote:
“… many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit (Ousamequin), with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted … And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”
Ousamequin would form a shaky alliance with the Pilgrims in the hopes that they would fend off their rivals: the Narragansetts. The alliance lasted 50 years (hey, there’s a silver lining!), but would end in war. King Philip’s War, also known as the Great Narragansett War, was a bloody conflict that resulted in the ruin of the Wampanoag tribe.
Was this the first-ever Thanksgiving? Doubtful. Harvest festivals date back millennia and were celebrated across cultures. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all feasted and paid tribute to their gods after the fall harvest. Before landing in the Americas, European settlers had a long history of feasting during times of plenty. Native Americans had similar feasts to commemorate the fall harvest.
While the tale of Thanksgiving is often told as a celebration of harmony between Pilgrims and Native Americans, the truth behind the holiday’s origins is far more complex and tragic. What began as a fragile alliance forged out of necessity soon gave way to a long history of broken promises, violent clashes, and devastating losses for the Native communities.
To understand how the story of Thanksgiving evolved from a feast of cooperation to one of conflict and bloodshed, we must look at the factors that led to the unraveling of the initial peace and the hardships that followed:
In 1827, abolitionist and “Mary Had a Little Lamb” author Sarah Joseph Hale launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. She spent 36 years writing to politicians and presidents and became known as the “Mother of Thanksgiving.”
At the height of the Civil War in 1863, Abraham Lincoln called for an annual Thanksgiving celebration to be held on the last Thursday of November. The move was likely strategic, with Lincoln encouraging Americans to ask God to “heal the wounds of the nation.”
Thanksgiving is taxing for many Native Americans, particularly those of the Wampanoag tribe, whose lives were forever changed after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth. Wampanoag adults recall learning about the history of Thanksgiving in grade school, feeling invisible while teachers dispensed a Disneyfied version of events. Society, in their eyes, is making light of tragic events that weigh heavily on Native Americans. The Wampanoags of today commemorate Thanksgiving not as a day of thanks but as a day of mourning.
If you’re interested in Native American history, consider enrolling in our online course Native North America: Contact to Removal. This course surveys American Indigenous history from the period before European contact through forced removal policies and is offered as part of our 100% online Master of Arts in History program.
The University of Texas Permian Basin’s online MA in history program is ideal for aspiring educators, historians, and legislators, among others. Throughout this 30-credit online program, students explore the diverse people and unbelievable events that shaped the world we live in.
We’ve already mentioned Native North America: Contact to Removal, but other core courses include:
We’ve designed our program to be as accessible as possible. We offer a non-thesis option, in which all credit hours are devoted to coursework. Courses are entirely online and asynchronous, allowing you to pursue your graduate degree on your schedule. As a student, you’ll also have the option to enroll in graduate-level live remote courses offered by the history department.
If you’re an aspiring professional or a history buff looking to turn your passion into a career, our program may be right for you. Apply now to our online Master of Arts in History program before history repeats itself—and you have to wait another semester.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/thanksgiving-myth-and-what-we-should-be-teaching-kids-180973655/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/thanksgiving-myths-fact-check.html
Other articles you may be interested in:
At the iron gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the most infamous extermination camps of Nazi Germany, the chilling phrase “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work sets you free”) still casts a haunting shadow. These deceptive words led into one of history’s darkest chapters. Beyond that gate, more than a million lives were brutally ended. Auschwitz-Birkenau was just…
Are you fascinated by vampires, haunted houses, or the macabre? If you nodded at any of those horror tropes, chances are you’ve encountered (or at least heard of) Gothic literature. From the timeless terror of “Frankenstein” to modern-day Gothic thrills like “The Haunting of Hill House,” Gothic literature draws us into the creepy underbelly of…
What do virtual historical sites, AI-powered poetry analysis, and digital art galleries have in common? They’re all part of the growing world of digital humanities, where technology meets the study of human culture. From history and literature to art and beyond, digital tools are reshaping how we explore and connect with the past. Curious about…
“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure …”
— Gandalf in “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien
Adventure calls and a hero answers. Along the way, they encounter unlikely allies, formidable foes, and trials that will test their resolve. Against all odds, they prevail, and the world will never be the same.
Sound familiar?
This is the hero’s journey: a story structure followed by virtually every bestselling novel, blockbuster movie, and hit TV show. Spoiler alert! We’re here to talk about how the hero’s journey has shaped the craft of storytelling. Join us as we spoil every plot point and twist ending you’ll ever encounter!
The hero’s journey comes from author Joseph Campbell and his seminal work “The Hero With a Thousand Faces,” which was published to widespread acclaim in 1949. In it, Campbell presents the concept of the monomyth: a narrative pattern shared by all heroic tales, transcending historical, cultural, and regional differences. (Shoutout to James Joyce for coining the term.)
Myths reveal universal truths about human nature, with themes “appearing everywhere in new combinations while remaining, like the elements of a kaleidoscope, only a few and always the same.” Myths, Campbell believed, inspire us to live a blissful life in harmony with our inner selves.
We’re all searching for the meaning of life. So are our mythical heroes, “who must travel to an unknown world and do battle with the powers of darkness in order to return with the gift of knowledge.” The hero’s journey breaks down the monomyth into stages, outlining the transformative quest a hero undertakes to overcome whatever challenge they’re presented with.
Campbell described anywhere from 17 to 31 stages in the hero’s journey. Inspired by “The Hero With a Thousand Faces,” Hollywood story consultant Christopher Vogler developed a condensed, simplified version of the hero’s journey that can be applied to almost any story, particularly screenplays.
The 12 stages of the hero’s journey, as described by Vogler, are:
Scriptwriters and storytellers have for decades used the hero’s (and heroine’s) journey as a blueprint to craft stories that resonate with all audiences. Famously, George Lucas took inspiration from “The Hero With a Thousand Faces” when making “Star Wars: A New Hope.” A more contemporary example can be found in “The Hunger Games” and its heroine, Katniss Everdeen. (Luke is trained by the wizened Ben Kenobi, while Katniss is mentored by the jaded Haymitch Abernathy. Can you spot any other parallels?)
The hero’s journey has influenced countless books, films, and TV shows. If, however, you’re worried it leaves little room for originality, don’t be. Think of the hero’s journey as a tool, highlighting the common elements of modern storytelling. And like any other tool in a writer’s repertoire, its effectiveness depends on how it’s used.
Whether you’re an aspiring writer or avid reader, there’s so much more to learn about literature, visual arts, and the cultural, historical, and psychological elements that influence these works. If you have an insatiable appetite for storytelling, we recommend studying English online at The University of Texas Permian Basin.
We offer two English degrees: A Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Arts in English, both of which are offered entirely online. Gain a deep understanding of the English language by looking at modern and classic literary works. Study your favorite movies in one of our film courses, or enroll in a literature course to examine the works of British and American authors. (Check out Literature and Mythology for more on the mythological allusions found in pop culture.)
Stuck in the Ordinary World? Visit the above program pages to learn more about online learning at UT Permian Basin. If, however, you’re ready to answer the Call to Adventure, apply to one of our online English programs.
Sources:
https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:qGPBdNK8njwJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,10
https://bornagaintechnologies.org/ohs/moodledata/8/Summary_of_Hero_s_Journey.pdf
The Boston Tea Party is one of those historical events that most Americans know about, though for many the details are somewhat sketchy. (Spoiler alert: It wasn’t a party, and no tea was consumed, though it was the focus of the event.)
The Boston Tea Party was actually a revolutionary statement to Parliament and the then-reigning monarch of Great Britain, King George III, about trade restrictions placed on the popular beverage and other related issues. Let’s look at this historical episode and its larger context: a story that involves nefarious dealings with international smugglers, a false flag operation, and another highly popular beverage.
When British subjects crossed the Atlantic Ocean and settled as colonists in the Americas, they brought their noted fondness for tea with them and weren’t about to let geography deprive them of their homeland habit. At that time, most tea was imported to the Colonies; even today, tea is still not widely grown in the United States.
In the 1770s, the British East India Company (EIC)—which transported tea but was also closely associated with trafficking African slaves to the Colonies—was experiencing financial problems. To bolster the struggling company, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act, which made the EIC the exclusive importer of tea to the American Colonies, among other stipulations.
A tea tax had been levied in the Colonies since 1767, though some tea merchants had sidestepped this by purchasing tea from Dutch smugglers. This latest exertion of control by the government back home did not sit well with the independent tea sellers that were edged out by EIC’s monopoly and low-price advantage, essentially creating the Wal-Mart Effect long before the term was officially coined 233 years later.
While tea merchants in other port cities refused to do business under the new terms, Boston’s royal governor, Thomas Hutchinson, was steadfast in cooperating. However, some locals had another idea.
So, what really happened at the Boston Tea Party?
Dozens of men dressed as Native Americans stormed Boston Harbor one crisp December night in 1773, boarded EIC ships, and dumped about £18,000 worth of tea overboard. (Some accounts have participants breaking open the heavy chests before pouring the tea directly into the water, while others have them heaving the chests into the water.) The incident was famously immortalized in a 1970s educational cartoon.
Samuel Adams—influential writer, politician, signatory to the Declaration of Independence, and inspiration for the beer brand that’s sold today—was a colonial-rights supporter who opposed the Tea Act and “taxation without representation.” The night of the Boston Tea Party, Adams spoke at a large meeting of likeminded individuals at Boston’s Old South Meeting House. Some attendees later took part in dumping tea into Boston Harbor, though Adams’s role in planning that act of protest and whereabouts during the act itself remain unclear.
Parliament responded to the Boston Tea Party with wide-ranging sanctions against Massachusetts in particular. While this may have been predictable, it served as yet another point of contention in an escalating feud between the Colonies and their mother country.
About 16 months later, the American Revolutionary War broke out. That conflict lasted more than eight years and, in combination with a small outbreak that ran concurrently, resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. But it also gave birth to an independent nation that showed Britain its control over its growing global footprint could be successfully challenged.
One of the most fascinating aspects of studying history is gaining a more nuanced perspective on some eras and events and a more accurate understanding of those that may be commonly misunderstood. Delivered in a 100% online, asynchronous format, The University of Texas Permian Basin’s Master of Arts in History program features in-depth 16-week courses that illuminate the American Revolution and other pivotal epochs of American and world history. View all program courses here.
How can an MA in history degree prepare you for a more rewarding future? Consider these facts:
Ready to go back in time so that you can move forward? Start your journey today!
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Boston-Tea-Party
https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/king-george-iii-biography
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Adams
https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/11/7-myths-boston-tea-party/
https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-boston-tea-party/additional-resources
The American continent before European contact was home to around 60 million people, with up to 18 million living in North America and divided into more than 500 diverse nations and tribes. The westward expansion of incoming European settlers who coveted the rich resources and fertile land in North America resulted in a purge of…
The humanities cover a wide variety of subjects, including communications, history, languages, and literature. In short, this broad field focuses on the study of the human experience and the expression of that experience. Students pursuing a humanities degree, whether studying art or anthropology, learn new ways to engage with the world around them, gaining critical…
At the iron gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the most infamous extermination camps of Nazi Germany, the chilling phrase “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work sets you free”) still casts a haunting shadow. These deceptive words led into one of history’s darkest chapters. Beyond that gate, more than a million lives were brutally ended. Auschwitz-Birkenau was just…
Remember when Roman numerals were taught in school? Or when knowing how to read an analog clock was a necessity? These skills may seem trivial today, but there was a time when they were critical. Let’s explore five life skills that have nearly disappeared, and why learning the skills that last is more important than ever.
The seven-digit Roman numeral system was devised by the Romans in the pre-B.C. era. It wasn’t until 1931, however, that American educators advocated for Roman numerals to be taught during elementary school. Today, many schools no longer formally teach Roman numerals, but teachers may still reference them in some classes.
Even if you don’t know your Roman numerals, you might recognize them from every modern Super Bowl, including “LIX,” which took place in early 2025. You may even spot them on some clocks and government buildings. Sure, it’s good to know Roman numerals, but you may not need them in your XXI (21st) century career.
Whether you see it at city hall, a bank, or your local school, a towering analog (traditional) clock adds a sense of authority to the building. But what about the skill of actually reading an analog clock or watch?
Phones, computers, and other devices now display the time digitally by default. And without the need to read traditional clocks, “telling time” might just be a skill of the past.
Despite the shift toward digital devices, some schools are still teaching students to read analog clocks around the age of six, a practice that’s widely supported by parents.In fact, a 2021 CBS News poll showed that nearly three-quarters of Americans believe this skill should be taught in schools. But time may not be on the side of analog clocks. Parents of future schoolchildren will no longer have grown up with analog clocks and may have different views.
With the prevalence of texting and email in everyday communication, cursive writing has faded as a foundational skill. Fewer than half of U.S. states—21, to be exact—require the teaching of cursive in public schools.
Cursive handwriting, as unique to the individual as a fingerprint or DNA, helps children develop key motor skills and greater mental acuity, among other benefits. Still, a 2022 NEA Today Facebook poll showed educators divided on whether cursive is critical to young learners. Those who downplayed the importance of cursive generally felt efforts spent teaching an obsolete skill would be better placed elsewhere.
The large wooden card catalog, a fixture in libraries since at least the late 1800s, stored the basic details and location of books within the library. On each card, you could find a book’s location using the Dewey Decimal System.
Developed in 1876, this numeric system was divided into broad classes including:
Each class included multiple subcategories. But using the Dewey Decimal System required some interpretation and, for some schoolchildren, felt a bit like learning a new language.
The card catalog was declared dead by Smithsonian Magazine in 2015 when the Online Computer Library Center stopped printing the cards. The Library of Congress still houses a card catalog, however. Collectors can sometimes find the cabinets in antique stores, and the cards have been recycled or otherwise repurposed. Finding library books is much easier today. Now, we simply enter a search term into a library’s website and it provides the book’s location.
The metric system is based around units of ten and is the global standard in scientific fields. It was once taught in the U.S. as early as elementary school. But we remain one of very few countries that never adopted the metric system. (England—officially a metric country—still incorporates the “English system” that we use in the U.S.)
U.S. momentum for the switch to metric ground to a halt during the 1980s, though there have been recent renewed efforts. With our country now firmly a part of a global economy, there may be a business case to make for going metric, though none of us should hold our breath.
It may be hard to believe—or even funny to some—that these were once considered important skills. But they were.
So, are there any enduring skills that will help you in practically any career? Absolutely!
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, soft skills provide today’s jobseekers with a “competitive edge,” as they are among the skills most sought after by employers. Forbes concurs.
Durable skills, a more specific term gaining ground with experts and employers, are also in high demand. A sort of “Soft Skills 2.0,” durable skills by definition have a half-life of over 7.5 years and include:
In a study of 82 million job postings, about 70% included durable skills. These listings represented positions unlikely to be eliminated by future automation and many were leadership roles, demonstrating that durable skills can continue to benefit professionals for years.
Despite this, durable skills are in short supply among today’s job seekers, as reported by Forbes in 2022. The skills aren’t widely taught in schools, and many individuals who finish high school or even college are underprepared to enter the workforce.
While practical skills like reading an analog clock or balancing a checkbook may be fading from everyday use, they reflect a larger shift: the world no longer rewards memorization or manual know-how the way it once did.
Instead, skills like critical thinking, clear communication, and adaptability (the kind nurtured in a humanities education) are more important than ever. These aren’t relics of the past. They’re what help us navigate the future.
UT Permian Basin’s online Bachelor of Arts in Humanities is a multidisciplinary program that broadens your perspective of human history and cultures. Working with one of our faculty advisors, you can steer your studies to your specific interests by choosing two to four concentrations from areas encompassing:
As you complete your degree, you’ll develop highly sought-after—and lasting—skills that will benefit you in a career and beyond, including communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork.
Our BA in humanities program is delivered in an asynchronous, 100% online format that empowers you to maintain your professional and personal commitments while earning your degree. You can access the virtual classroom online on your own schedule from practically anywhere in the world—just like today’s library catalogs. No campus attendance is required.
Hone in-demand skills that will stay with you for life! See more details about our online BA in humanities program or apply now.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/story/is-it-still-important-to-learn-roman-numerals
Other articles you may be interested in:
At the iron gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the most infamous extermination camps of Nazi Germany, the chilling phrase “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work sets you free”) still casts a haunting shadow. These deceptive words led into one of history’s darkest chapters. Beyond that gate, more than a million lives were brutally ended. Auschwitz-Birkenau was just…
Are you fascinated by vampires, haunted houses, or the macabre? If you nodded at any of those horror tropes, chances are you’ve encountered (or at least heard of) Gothic literature. From the timeless terror of “Frankenstein” to modern-day Gothic thrills like “The Haunting of Hill House,” Gothic literature draws us into the creepy underbelly of…
What do virtual historical sites, AI-powered poetry analysis, and digital art galleries have in common? They’re all part of the growing world of digital humanities, where technology meets the study of human culture. From history and literature to art and beyond, digital tools are reshaping how we explore and connect with the past. Curious about…
