Great+Flood+of+1927,+Mississippi+River+Commission

Home 1920's Topics __1920’s Project Assignment__ Great Flood of 1927 Ashley M Water depth ranged from 10ft to 100ft. || US Army Corps of Engineers || The Great Flood covered 27,000 square miles. || ||
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__Task One---DESCRIBE YOUR TOPIC -Due Tuesday, February 7__

The Great Flood of 1927 was one of the worst natural disasters for property in many US states. Over the winter in 1926, there were countless amounts of rainfalls in the South; by spring, 1927, the waters began to rise, causing the most drastic flood in history. According to Stephen Ambrose, the flood was so widespread it affected multiple southern states. It started by rainfalls covering several hundred square miles in Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, New Orleans, and Louisiana. But throughout the winter, rainfalls overflowed banks in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Kentucky. The flood was harder to control not just because of the amount of water in depth, but also because of how many areas were affected, and there were some areas that were more harshly impacted. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Arkansas was one of the more highly affected states. The Flood covered about 6,600 square miles in Arkansas, and 36 out of 75 counties were 30 feet under water. They also spent more in repairs than any other state: totaling over $1 million (in 1927 dollars) for relief and recovery. The Great Flood of 1927 is still the worst flood in history to date because of the amount of water dealt with and the wide range affected.

The Great Flood of 1927 was the most difficult flood in history for people to take in account. Simple citizens and homeowners were affected just as the people involved with maintaining the flood were. According to Exploring Earth, Overall, over 130,000 homes were lost, 700,000 people were “displaced,” and 246 “flood-related” deaths were reported. Stephen Ambrose implies that once the flood took place, it became a nightmare that citizens simply lived in. One man explained, “It was like facing and angry, dark ocean.” Another told a story: “I saw a whole tree just disappear, sucked under by the current, then [I] saw it shoot up, it must have been a hundred yards [downstream]. Looked like a missile fired by a submarine.” But, there were also people working on fixing the flooding. Ambrose also explains the hard work of the US Army Corps of Engineers: their ideas came down to building levees that would divert some of the water into other outlets such as the Gulf of Mexico. These levees went back and fourth in terms of working properly; there should have been a more successful way to tend to the water, but in 1927, they hadn’t quite mastered techniques of “controlling nature,” so the result in southerners returning to their everyday lives took longer than expected. Therefore, the Flood took affect on everyone, whether they chose to be involved or not. Most products for southern citizens did not end happily.

Each topic includes an association or movement and an individual. Please write __two__ extended power paragraphs that address the following prompt:**Explain the achievements associated with your topic. Who and what were altered? Describe why both were significant in the 1920s. Explain the relationship between the individua****l and the association or movement.** POST PARAGRAPHS HERE
 * Support the ideas in each paragraph with evidence from a minimum of three  credible sources.
 * Select only signed  sources from the LC databases--each source must have a credible author.
 * Establish the credibility of the author the first time a source is referenced.
 * Credit sources with internal citations and in a Works Cited.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Insert the Works Cited after the Third Task.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Post the paragraphs to the wiki. Timely posting of completed tasks earn 10 points.

<span style="background-color: #9008b6; color: #7dff00; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: left;">__Task Two-EVALUATE YOUR TOPICS INFLUENCE-Due Friday, February 10__ The Great Flood of 1927 had a highly extensive influence of racism on society at the time. Changes that the flood made within groups of people was found mostly in the poor, black working class and farmers. According to Stephen Ambrose, the black working class was mistreated after the flood due to the lack of materials caused by it. Ambrose writes: “The food they receive was inferior to what the whites got.” Even though a lot of food that some communities got was donated, the black working class did not get an equal share because the whites thought it would “spoil them” or “teach them a lot of expensive habits.” According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, there were concentration camps that black workers would attend in order to set up and work with levees to help resolve the flood. This was hard labor, so mostly blacks were sent over whites. This drew famers’ and planters’ workers away from their fields, not leaving them with enough labor being put into crops. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas also explains how the farmers were being affected because of the flood— the land was being destroyed with animal carcasses floating in mud holes, and mosquitoes’ mass breeding that spread many diseases like malaria and typhoid. Other diseases such as small pox and pellagra (vitamin deficiency disease) were also popular at this time. In the long run, this affected farmers because most people who came across disease were the poor, black working class—which left them with little to no laborers. Therefore the Great Flood greatly delayed the passage of racism in the South. This not only affected blacks, but farmers as well because they were dependent on blacks to run their fields.

The Great Flood of 1927 has affected the 21st century because of its advancement in technology. We remember the flood as “one of the most powerful natural disasters of the 1900’s.” (Exploring Earth) Although the flood was difficult to work with at the time, we have been able to learn from our mistakes to prepare for the future, to hopefully handle a like situation correctly. In 1927 during the flood, engineers like the US Army Corps of Engineers desperately needed to find a way to tame the water. Their best ideas consisted of levees. According to Jim Bradshaw, the engineers went through multiple adjustments with their levees that would not pull through. When they eventually revised the flood control policy, “huge tracts of lowland, called spillways, were set aside in South, Central, and Southeastern Louisiana. Massive gates were constructed to allow excess water to be diverted into these areas in times of severe flooding.” That meant they were now productive with their levee designs—they then applied their new ideas throughout the areas of the flood, and were more successful with concluding flood problems. Today, Engineers have figured out that the way levees were designed in 1927 were inadequate. “…The US Army Corps of Engineers, that opposed to building of spillways and floodways in order to maximize the flow of water in the river. This was based on the mistaken assumption that an increased flow would deepen the Mississippi channel enough to relieve pressure on the levees.” (John M. Barry) Because we learned from the 1927 engineers’ mistakes we were able to apply them a few years ago during Hurricane Katrina. The Great Flood of 1927 definitely impacted the 21st century—giving us knowledge for current day and the future.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: left;">Please write two extended power paragraphs which each cite a minimum of three credible sources. Discuss the scope of influence of your topic on the 1920s. How extensive was the influence? Which part of society was influenced? Did the change endure or stimulate additional changes? What is the topic's legacy? What impact did the topic have in the Twenty-First century. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">POST PARAGRAPHS HERE

<span style="background-color: #9008b6; color: #7dff00; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">Task ThreeJUDGE THE IMPACT OF THE INDIVIDUAL & ASSOCIATION---Due Feb. 15 <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: left;">Now that you have a basic understanding of your topic, and you know the scope of its influence, explain the forces that produced or created the topic. Additionally, what were the driving forces behind the society's reaction to your topic? Use the criteria described in the the Great Man Continuum to determine your topics long-run influence on society. Place your topic on the continuum and justify the reasons for your placement. Please confine your analysis to two extended power paragraphs with each citing a minimum of three credible sources. The Great Flood of 1927 was caused purely by nature. The unfortunate amplitude of rainwater was the product of many months worth of rainfall. “Rain in biblical proportions fell from the sky through the winter. Then, in the spring, the waters began to rise…” (Stephen Ambrose) All of this water began to stir up citizens, especially farmers and laborers. These citizens along with professionals reacted maturely; all they knew was they needed to begin fixing the problem because it was getting worse as time went by. “The American Red Cross, as well as fellow citizens responded quickly, with emergency workers arriving by trains, trucks, and automobiles.” (Encyclopedia of Arkansas) The people of the states that were affected by the flood soon made themselves at home…they knew it was going to be a long ride. According to Jim Bradshaw, families began to cope with the disasters caused by the flood more easily because of group efforts. Parishes quickly began to set up “rehabilitation committees” for food and shelter, as there were soon more and more displaced families. For an unusual tragedy, it was dealt with quite well.

The Great Flood did not just involve one specific person. Everything that was done because of the flood or to help the flood was a group effort, and involved many groups. This puts the event of the Social Determinism side of the Great Man Theory. “The individuals are more influenced by environmental conditions than the actions of individuals.” This is to some degree because the southern states affected by the flood did not have any help from the rest of the country. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, during the flood, the non-affected states were enjoying the peak of Roaring Twenties prosperity. The South was even abandoned by the government, “not one dollar of federal money went in direct aid to the flood victims.” (E of A) During the time of the disaster, southern locals were trying to get organized. Because engineers were failing, the people were trying to make their daily lives manageable given the circumstances. “To save the land, frantic efforts to raise the levee[s] by stacking sand bags on the top were begun.” (Stephen Ambrose) After the flood had accomplished its goals, families wasted no time getting back on their feet. “…The Red Cross provided seed, tools, and rations to farm families facing the daunting task of surviving the winter and starting new crops in the spring.” (Jim Bradshaw) The Great Flood of 1927 had many people, groups, and ideas involved. But it still demonstrated social determinism because it had dominating influence by environmental conditions.

<span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">POST PARAGRAPHS HERE <span style="background-color: #7dff00; color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">POST WORKS CITED HERE

Ambrase, Stephen. "Great Flood." National Geographic News. N.p., 1 May 2001. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news>.

Barry, John M. "Lessons from the Great Flood of 1927." World Socialist. International Committee of the Fourth International, 27 Jan. 2006. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. <http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jan2006>

Bradshaw, Jim. "Great Flood of 1927." Know LA. Encyclopedia of Louisiana, 10 Apr. 2010. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. <http://www.knowla.org/entry.php?rec=763>.

"The Flood of 1927." Exploring Earth. McDougal Littell, n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. <http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science>.

"Flood of 1927." Encyclopedia of Arkansas. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. <http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia>.

<span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">Rubric for all three tasks: <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">Outstanding paragraphs include the following elements: <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ Accurate power paragraph format with <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">each paragraph citing evidence from three different sources. <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ Correct research components such as credibility statement,<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;"> internal citations, Works Cited entries <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ Thoughtful and thorough response to the each prompt <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ A variety of sentences with interesting, clear diction <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ Photos exemplifying the influence of the individual and association or movement <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">Place your topic on the Great Man Continuum;  <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">✓ Complete the criteria table to justify the reasons for your placement.