In my previous blog post, I utilized the ability of Google N-grams and Wordle to explore fascinating texts such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech and the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence. While looking at the texts “off the page” and through digital tools, there were new assumptions and conclusions to be made.
Now I am digging deeper behind the most frequently used words,
such as “segregation,” and “government.” Additionally, I found specific newspapers that contain the frequently used words, which I emphasized with common historical knowledge in the last blog. However, now there is a valid connection to be made between the terms, history, and the context in which they were used using these research techniques.
First, I looked for old historical newspapers that contained the word “government.” There are a large amount of these, but I was interested in looking for some of the earliest articles that talk about the formation of our government. Unfortunately, bookworm: ChronAm can only search under historical documents dating between 1836 to 1922. However, I found a newspaper, The Illinois Free Trader, dated Ottawa, Illinois, Friday, July 3, 1840
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Since this issue was printed a day before July 4th, the paper was predominantly about the government’s rights and liberties. There was one paragraph that was particularly interesting. It describes from a liberal perspective, America’s government in the hands of “pure republicanism.” From this we can gather the thoughts of many Americans during 1840. Keep in mind that this was only 64 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Does this tell us that people had thought from early on the government had too much power over the people? It is hard to make a conclusion since this paper might be biased, and it is only one example. Although, the ability to look through newspapers, like this one, can give us a true insight on perspectives from different centuries.
(Bookworm:ChronAm of “government”)
Since I was unable to look for sources past 1922, I could not look for anything in particular with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Instead, I looked for segregation within bookworm:ChronAm. I found an article ,The broad ax. (Salt Lake City, Utah), 31 Jan. 1914. 
The article discussed the prominence of segregation within education. It states that, “…Negro schools have been neglected, a large portion of our children are not in school…” It is incredible to see that segregation in school systems was discussed in 1914, but not officially deliberated until 1952 during Brown vs. Board of Education. This shows that problems overtime do not always go away quickly or effectively. Race is still an issue today, yet the perspective and ultimate goal of unity is shown through centuries.
(Bookworm:ChronAm of “segregation”)
IMPORTANT: Take a look at the progression of “segregation” until 1922. The prevalence of the term becomes increasingly evident in a short amount of time.
