United States foreign policy has long been deeply entangled with Latin America. Depending on the origin of historical accounts written about these entanglements, readers can come away with different conclusions about U.S. foreign policy in Latin America during the Cold War. In this inquiry, students will use historical sources from various perspectives to answer the compelling question, “What did Cold War tension look like in Latin America?”
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About the inquiry
Compelling Question
What did Cold War tension look like in Latin America?
Standards
D2.His.6.9-12. Analyze the ways in which the perspectives of those writing history shaped the history that they produced.
Instructional Snapshot
Class begins with students examining a series of sources (Sources A-B) describing U.S. action in Guatemala in 1954 from different perspectives. Students work in small groups to describe the portrayal of the U.S. involvement in each excerpt, recording their observations in a graphic organizer.
Students then move to the deliberation stage to determine which interpretation presents U.S. actions in the most positive light and which is the most critical. The teacher may circulate throughout the activity, asking students to justify their decisions and prompting them to consider how word choice informs their understanding.
Next, students finalize the graphic organizer by producing an answer to the compelling question by writing their own excerpt that describes U.S. actions in Guatemala, drawing on evidence from the sources they analyzed.
Formative Tasks
COLLABORATE: Describe U.S. actions in Guatemala from the perspective of each excerpt.
DELIBERATE: Select the interpretation of U.S. actions that is the most critical and most positive.
PRODUCE: Craft an individualized excerpt of U.S. actions in Guatemala.
Sources
Source A: The Daily Record, "Guatemalan Anti-Communists Meet to End War", 1954, Library of Congress
Source B: Textbook Excerpt Collection
Summative Performance Task
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Taking Informed Action
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