Captains of Industry or Robber Barons

Gallery Walk Poster

Standard: 4.2.3 Analyze and evaluate how technology and ideas have shaped U.S. History.

Assignment Directions: You will research in assigned groups a selected Captain of Industry/Robber Baron from the Gilded Age. While researching you will gather biographic information, but you will focus on their business and labor practices, their fortunes, and how they used their wealth. From yourresearch, you will be asked to complete a poster that will be used for a gallery walk so that other students in the class can learn about your captain/robber baron. Once the gallery walk is completed, you should be able to answer a short essay question asking you to choose a position whether the Industrialists of the Gilded Age were Captains of Industry or Robber Barons.

Procedures:

  1. You will be assigned one of the following: Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D Rockefeller or JP Morgan.
  2. You will be asked to read the handouts provided in class about your assigned captain/robber baron and research on your own more than 3 sources if you want a 4/4.
  3. You will use the attached handout to help you find information about your Captain/Robber Baron.
  4. You will divide your poster between the Good and the Bad for your Captain/Robber Baron.
  5. Your poster must be organized, creative and include at least 3 graphics/pictures to receive an A.

Poster Requirements:

A. Nameplate: Your assigned Captain/Robber Barons full name, nickname and picture

B. Biography: Date they were born, their family, net worth, what they are known for, how did they acquire wealth, personal characteristics. You should also include at least 3 graphics or pictures that represent your Captain/Robber Baron.

C. The Good: At least three reasons why your leader is a Captain of Industry (these should not be vague but as specific as possible) – these should be written in complete sentences.

D. The Bad: At least three reasons why your leader is a Robber Baron (these should not be vague but as specific as possible) – these should be written in complete sentences.

E. Bibliography: At least 3 sources cited on the back of the poster using proper MLA format to receive a 4.

Captains of Industry/Robber Barons Research Questions: 4 Points

Use the attached handout to complete your research. ALL group members must turn in their OWN copy for points.

Robber Barons or Captain of Industry Gallery Walk Chart:

Complete the chart on the three industrialists you did not research in class and fill in the blanks. Once the blanks are filled out, you need to determine whether you think each Industrialist was a Robber Baron or a Captain of Industry and explain why.

Captains of Industry or Robber Barons

Gallery Walk Poster Research Questions

Name of Industrialist ______

Born:______Died:______

Lived:______

Family?Wife/Children:______

Net Worth:______

Start of their Business: How did he make his money? ______

How did he acquire his wealth? ______

How did he treat his workers? ______

How did he spend his money? ______

Examples of the GOOD things he did: ______

Examples of the BAD things he did:

______

His Legacy: What mark did he leave on history? ______

Robber Baron or Captain of Industry?

25 points

Learning Target: I can evaluate whether each Industrialist was a Captain of Industry or a Robber Baron.

Use your classmate’s posters to fill out the chart below about each of the other business people.

Person:
How he acquired his wealth.
What did he do that was Good?
What did he do that was Bad?
How did he spend his money? How did he donate his money?
Robber Baron or Captain of Industry? Why?

Resources that might help you

ANDREW CARNEGIE (STEEL)

  • The Gospel of Wealth
  • Personal Recollections of Andrew Carnegie
    chapter 1)

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER (OIL)

  • John /d, Rockefeller and the /standard Oil /company
  • Rockefeller and Standard Oil... Rags to riches...
  • John D. Rockefeller - A Short Biography (Video)
  • The Dismantling of the Standard Oil Trust

CORNEIUS VANDERBILT (STEAMSHIPS AND RAILROADS)

  • Cartoon, "The Great Race for the Western Stakes"
  • Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt fought war over route through Central America
  • Why We Should Be Lucky Bill Gates and Warren Buffet Don't Take After Cornelius Vanderbilt

JOHN Pierpont Morgan (BANKING AND FINANCE)

  • Now It Is Told
  • Capital and Labor
  • First Public Demonstration of Edison's Light Bulb
  • The Morgan Bonds
  • John Pierpont Morgan Quotes
  • The House of Morgan
  • John Pierpont Morgan and the American Corporation
  • John Pierpont Morgan