A Different Mirror

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. A taxi driver in Norfolk, Virginia (Chapter 1)

2. Newfoundland (Part 1)

3. 1611 (Chapter 2)

4. Ireland (Chapter 2)

5. White, civilized European society (Chapter 2)

6. Caliban’s mother is a witch from Africa (Chapter 3)

7. 1619 (Chapter 3)

8. Thomas Jefferson (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. It is offensive because it makes Takaki out to be an outsider because he is not white. Just because Takaki is Japanese American does not make him any less American; it also shows that the asker does not take immigrants to be part of the fabric of America since its inception. It shows that the asker likely believes that Takaki just arrived in America and, as such, is not “fully” an American. (Chapter 1)

2. The “Master Narrative of American History” is the dominant story told in most Americans’ popular imagination about how the country was settled and by whom. In the “Master Narrative of American History,” America is a country that was settled by European immigrants and, in present-day, is primarily white. This narrative leaves out the true multicultural history of America, from its earliest days as a country. (Chapter 1)

Chapters 4-8

Reading Check

1. Slavery (Part 2)

2. West, toward the Stony Mountains (Chapter 4)

3. The transcontinental railroad (Chapter 4)

4. The 1800s, spanning the Early Republic, Civil War, and Reconstruction periods (Chapter 5)

5. 1845 (Chapter 6)

6. Unions (Chapter 6)

7. 1849 (Chapter 8)

Short Answer

1. Prior to the incursion of white settlers, according to Takaki, Indigenous populations had dedicated social, economic, and political structures within their societies. But when Indigenous populations were displaced as a result of incoming white settlers, they were often forcibly removed from their lands through deceit, manipulation, and violence; they would endure immense suffering and death in their relocation to reservations. Takaki references case studies from the Choctaws of Mississippi, the Cherokees of Georgia, and the Pawnee in the territory west of the Mississippi River as examples of this devastation. (Chapter 4)

2. African Americans were unable to vote. They were excluded from most forms of wage employment. They were also, by and large, completely segregated from white society. They experienced prejudice as a result of an onslaught of negative racial imagery in popular culture and media that perpetuated negative stereotypes. (Chapter 5)

3. “The Texas game” refers to Americans’ tactics of hostility and violent conquest in attempting to secure the Southwestern portion of the United States from Mexico during the 1820s and 1830s. Historically, “the Texas game” refers to the fight between the American and Mexican governments for Texas, with the apex of this fight being the battle over the Alamo in 1836. Thereafter, any grab for Southwestern territory was colloquially referred to as “the Texas game.” (Chapter 7)

Chapters 9-13

Reading Check

1. Sioux (Chapter 9)

2. The Indian Reorganization Act (Chapter 9)

3. 1920 (Chapter 10)

4. The garment industry (Chapter 11)

5. Harvard (Chapter 11)

6. Jewish Americans (Chapter 12)

7. El barrio (Chapter 12)

8. Sharecropping (Chapter 13)

Short Answer

1. The Hawaii Laborers’ Association advocated for better wages and equal treatment. The formation of the Hawaii Laborers’ Association illustrates the realization of an inclusive, multiethnic labor movement. (Chapter 10)

Chapters 14-17

Reading Check

1. The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois (Part 4)

2. 120,000 (Chapter 14)

3. The Navajo (Chapter 14)

4. President Truman (Chapter 14)

5. Examples include the 1954 landmark case of Brown vs. the Board of Education and the 1946 case of Mendez vs. Westminster School District of Orange County (Chapter 15)

6. South Vietnamese refugees and Afghan refugees (Chapter 16)

7. Mexican Americans (Chapter 16)

8. 70% (Chapter 16)

Short Answer

1. Some 900,000 African Americans enlisted in the US Armed Forces but were segregated from white regiments and usually assigned to service and support duties. Chinese Americans, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans also enlisted in the army in large numbers to show their patriotism and to improve their standard of living. (Chapter 14)

2. The “different mirror” is Americans looking at their own history in a different way. Rather than the usual Master Narrative of American History, which excludes minority groups, Americans must use a “different mirror” to see the reflection of their own history—a history that is multicultural and diverse in nature. (Chapter 17)