Gary McDonogh. Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture
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educate young readers:
My Brother Sam is Dead
treats the tragic disruption of a family
during the Civil War, while
Number the Stars
depicts a child during the Holocaust. Non-
fiction books dealing with environmental issues also reflect broader American concerns
in the 1980s and 1990s.
Late twentieth century trends included works for the disadvantaged child, works
written with limited vocabulary and a new realism. Children’s literature written by and
about
African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics,
Native Americans, disabled
citizens and children with illnesses all appear in books designed to spur reflection and
conversation with parents and teachers.
S
ee also:
blockbusters
Further reading
Lee, L. (ed.) (1994)
The Elementary School Library Collection,
19th edn, Williamsport:
Brodart.
Jenson, J. and Roser, N. (1993)
Adventuring with Books,
10th edn, Urbana: National
Council of Teachers of English.
GAIL HENSON
children’s magazines
Children’s magazines abound, with an especially large number featuring health and
science-related content. Children between the ages of two and fourteen and parents can
choose from magazines of general interest, those featuring crafts, coloring pages and cut-
out pages and others offering
history,
literature, sports, consumer news,
religion,
geography and entertainment. Generally these contain sixty pages or fewer, and
circulations range from 5,000 to 2.5 million. In the 1990s, these magazines increasingly
used clever graphics, color and activities to extend the reading or educational experience
for their audience. They also show links to consumerism and reproductions of
gender
and other divisions.
The most popular titles include the longrunning, general interest
Highlights fo
r
Children,
with a circulation of 2.5 million and a stated mission of “fun with a purpose”
for children aged between two and twelve.
Boy’s Life,
the Boy Scouts of America
publication, has a circulation of 1.3 million tied to its institutional framework.
N
ationa
l
Geographic World,
a geography magazine for children between the ages of six and
twelve, drawing on the popular adult magazine, has a circulation of 1.2 million.
As
Boy’s Life
suggests, magazines for children recognize and reproduce gender
differences. Girls magazines include
American Girl
(circulation 700,000), a spin-off o
f
Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 216
the popular American Girl books and dolls, and
N
ew Moon: The Magazine for Girls an
d
their Dreams
(circulation 28,000), which encourages pre-teen girls to become confident
young women with dreams and positive role models from various ethnic communities.
Teen-oriented
Girl’s Life
includes traditional features such as pen pals, family advice,
horoscopes and reviews of CDs.
Science and nature magazines include:
Chickadee
(ages three to nine);
Kïds Discove
r
and
Odyssey,
for elementary school students;
Owl; Ranger Rick,
the National Wildlife
Federation publication for elementary students; and
3–2–1 Contact,
the flashy and savvy
science magazine for children aged eight to twelve, published by the Children’s
Television Workshop (CTV also has a preschool magazine,
Sesame Street
). Most have
web-sites that extend children’s experiences beyond the magazine.
The CTV and American Girl connections also suggest synergy in children’s magazines
and consumption. This permeates publications like
Crayola Kïds, Disney Adventures,
a
hundred-page, digest-sized publication covering
television,
sports, music and twenty-five
pages of
comics,
and
Nïckelodeon,
from the
cable
network.
Magazines with historical/cultural emphases include
Cobblestone, Calliope
and the
anthropological
Faces
(for ages nine to fourteen). Meanwhile,
Cricket, Spider
and
L
adybug
provide stories, poems and games.
Stone Soup
provides a forum for writers and
artists up to age thirteen. Other specialty magazines, whether
Zillions,
from consumer
reports, or
Sports Illustrated for Kïds
and
Soccer Jr.,
identify children as junior adults.
Further reading
Katz, B. and Katz, L. (eds) (1996)
Magazines for Libraries,
9th edn, New Providence:
R.R.Bowker.
GAIL HENSON
children’s museums
Children’s
museums
began in the United States with the Brooklyn Children’s Museum
(1899). The Association of Youth Museums has almost 400 members; of these, 200
museums are currently in operation and 100 are in the planning stages. Children’s
museums take many forms, from interactive centers for art, science and
nature
to hands-
on discovery rooms in larger museums, not to mention museums entirely for children.
They tailor exhibits to the developmental capabilities of
children,
complete with
activities, language and displays appropriate for children of various ages, learning styles
and developmental abilities.
When the Brooklyn Children’s Museum was founded, John Dewey was teaching the
Entries A-Z 217
thenradical notion that individuals learn powerfully through personal experience. Maria
Montessori also influenced the early development of children’s museums with her
theories of teacher as facilitator and the value of children having independence and
sharing activities and equipment. In 1901 the
Smithsonian
opened its first Children’s
Room with the theme “Knowledge begins in wonder.”
In the 1960s, Jean Piaget’s theories of child development affected educational
institutions in powerful ways, particularly his assertion that to know an object is to act
upon it. In 1961 Michael Spock, son of the famed pediatrician Benjamin
Spock,
took
charge of the Boston, Massachusetts Children’s Museum and revolutionized the museum
world for children. He designed exhibits meant for interaction—the first being “What’s
Inside,” showing the inner workings of everyday things such as toasters, water heaters, a
car engine and a sewer system.
In keeping with Piaget’s concepts of the stages of children’s development, the staf
f
developed spaces for children’s needs. For example, for the sensorymotor stage (birth to
age three), the staff developed a baby pit with mirrors, blankets and small climbing
structures. A toddler area had small group activities like blocks, and older toddlers had
arts and crafts materials available along with puzzles, play structures and activity tables.
Staff members became interpreters who were ready to answer questions and
demonstrate components of exhibits. The Boston Children’s Museum philosophy was
that “the museum was for somebody rather than about something.”
The hands-on science and technology center was born when Frank Oppenheimer
opened
San Francisco, CA’s
Exploratorium in 1969. He believed “visitors should
control and manipulate the elements of the exhibit and that staff or volunteer ‘explainers’
could help them understand what was happening” (Cleaver 1988:10). His Exploratorium
inspired the many science and technology participatory centers across the country
Most children’s museums strive to engage visitors in the experience of learning about
the world they inhabit and encourage discovery dealing with unknowns in a safe way and
making sense of new experiences. Exhibits created with an emphasis on the process o
f
learning help visitors—whether children,
teenagers
or adults accompanying them—
understand more about their own learning style and motivations for learning, whether
visitors take a random or a linear or methodical approach to experiencing the museum.
Further reading
Cleaver, J. (1988)
Doing Children’s Museums. A Guide to 225 Hands-On Museums,
Charlotte, VT: William-son.
GAIL HENSON
children’s music
Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 218
In any culture, music contributes to the quality of children’s early life experiences.
Founding the first
kindergartens
in the nineteenth century the United States adopted the
theories, philosophies and methods of their German inventor, Froebel. Children’s songs
were an important instructional medium so Froebelian song materials were translated for
America’s teachers.
With the child-study movement in the early twentieth century many researchers also
studied
children’s
rhythmic and vocal development, again influencing publications about
children’s music. For example, early childhood songs in text were notated in the keys in
which children can sing more comfortably.
However, children’s music in educational settings seems to be losing emphasis since
the mid-twentieth century One reason is educational trends that focus more on math and
science. Still, in early childhood education settings, such as preschool, music exists in a
unique way. Children’s musical experiences there include singing, moving to music,
listening to music and playing or creating music with musical instruments. These
activities tend to be limited by classroom teachers who are not necessarily musicians.
Regardless of educational or social trends, children’s song remains important.
American folk or traditional tunes such as “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star” or “Old
MacDonald” are children’s popular songs, transmitted by word of mouth. There is also a
wide variety of recorded lullabies and play songs, including songs from many cultures.
Popular music such as
rock, jazz,
New Age
and pop also form part of children’s music.
Many authors include tunes in children’s books so children can sing through the words.
Some musicians also have created songs for movement and rhythmic games.
Mass media is also an influential factor in children’s music.
Television
programs for
children, such as
Sesame Street
and
Barney,
are very popular among American children
and they learn many songs from such programs.
Further reading
McDonald, D.T. and Simons, G.M. (1989)
Musical Growth and Development: Birth
Through Six,
New York: Schirmer Books.
Choksy L., Abramson, R.M., Gillespie, A.E. and Woods, D. (1986)
Teaching Music in
the Twentieth Century,
New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
JINYOUNG KIM
Childs, Julia
s
ee
cookbooks and cooking media; food; PBS Public Broadcasting System
Entries A-Z 219
child stars
Since the pre-war glory days of Shirley Temple,
children
have emerged as some of the
biggest stars in
Hollywood
. Most, like Macauley Culkin, who became a huge star due to
the
Home Alone
films of the 1990s, embody an endearing cuteness that captured the heart
of America—with the aid of much marketing. Common too, as many exposes have
revealed, are the hardships many of these young stars endure. These include clashes with
parents over money (Gary Coleman of the
sitcom
Different Strokes,
as well as Caulkin),
drug abuse as fame fades (David Cassidy River Phoenix),
suicide
attempts and difficult
adult lives. Elizabeth
Taylor
started her career as a child actor and went on to become
one of the great sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as one of Hollywood’s
constant tabloid stories.
Nonetheless, child stars may have family in the “business.” For example, Hayley Mills
was the daughter of English actor Sir John Mills. Drew Barrymore, who has grown up,
gone into recovery and kept her stardom as a young adult, belongs to the Barrymore
theatrical dynasty Others raise the specter of the “stage mother” (
Gypsy,
1962).
Other popular child stars who have managed to develop later careers include
director
Ron Howard, who started as a sincere young child, Opie, in
The Andy Griffith Show
.
Marie and Donny Osmond, who emerged as
Mormon
pop singers in the late 1960s, have
tried to resurrect their careers with a
talk show
. Jodie Foster and Cristina Ricci,
meanwhile, broke the mold of child stars, presenting darker, more complicated versions
of childhood (
Taxi Driver,
1976;
Adam’s Family Values,
1993). Both have successful
adult careers.
EDWARD MILLER
Chin, Frank
b. 1940
Chinese American author and activist. Chin’s work has included
poetry, novels
(
Donald Duk,
1991), plays (
Chickencoop Chinaman,
1981) and essays on literature,
voice and identity As activist and coeditor of the groundbreaking anthology
Aiiieeeee!
(1974), Chin fought to find and preserve a variety of
Asian American
voices in literature
and history while combating racism and stereotypes. This has also led him to bitter
debates with novelist Maxine Hong
Kingston
over authenticity and assimilation in the
Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 220
Asian American experience.
GARY McDONOGH
CINDY WONG
China
For the US, China has been a distant land that may be mysterious, enchanting or
threatening. While the US, unlike Europe, occupied no protectorate in China during the
late nineteenth and early twentieth century China provided markets for both business
p
eople and missionaries. On the other hand, the Chinese have harbored strong suspicions
about Americans, balancing admiration of some aspects of techno-modernity by concerns
about social and cultural limits. Despite Chinese
immigration
to the US and growing
American knowledge of China, suspicions as well as competitions often divide the
nations.
The Second World War was a watershed in US-China relations. Fighting the Japanese
as allies, the US recognized Chinese citizenship at home and, in Frank
Capra’s
Battle o
f
China,
touted the nation’s commitment to democracy and peace. Yet, seeds of difference
were already present that became climactic in the triumph of the Chinese Communist
Party in 1949. This change reverberated in the
Cold War
US around claims about “who
lost China” and opposition to Chinese communist intervention, played out in
Korea
(and,
later,
Vietnam
). American commitments to nationalist forces who had fled to Taiwan
nearly led to war in 1955 and 1958, and remain a source of conflict today Moreover,
American—Chinese relations have been triangulated by both states in terms of other ties
and conflicts with the Soviet Union,
Japan
and India.
Nonetheless, an important shift in US policy came under Richard
Nixon,
who had
baited the People’s Republic of China for much of his career. Building on sporadic
ongoing diplomatic talks and “ping-pong diplomacy” he sent
Secretary of State
Henry
Kissinger
to Beijing in 1971 for secret talks, followed by Nixon’s dramatic state visit in
1972. Recognition of “the mainland,” as many Americans refer to it, had repercussions
for Taiwan/the People’s Republic of China (then a totalitarian regime with strong
lobbyists in Washington). Loss of its UN seat and wariness over American commitments
and PRC intentions have complicated Taiwan, where America now practices a policy o
f
“strategic ambiguity.”
Sino-American contact grew in the 1970s and 1980s not only between people
(journalists, scholars, tourists) and ideologies, but also between markets. Yet, in 1989, the
US and China again reached point of decision when
television
broadcasted the brutal
repression of students in Tiananmen Square, whose Goddess of Liberty recalled the
American Statue of Liberty
Ambivalence on the part of both the US and mainland China has marked subsequent
Entries A-Z 221
relations. Commercial ties have driven American corporate and political campaigns for
“permanent normal trade relations” and entry into the World Tade Organization. Yet,
human rights activists (including many concerned by
religion
), labor organizers and
right-wing isolationists decry this rapprochement or demand concessions the Chinese are
unwilling to give. This led to bitter confrontations (including those within the
Democratic Party
) before
Congress
approved PNTR status in May 2000. Others asked
why China should be given this status and Cuba embargoed. At the same time, Chinese
courting of American support betrays a wariness of American morals as well as policies.
Both misunderstanding and necessity will undoubtedly continue into the twenty-first
century despite increasing exchange and communication among their citizens.
Further reading
(1999)
Taiwan, the PRC, and the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act,
Washington, DC:
US House of Representatives Committee on International Relations.
Chiang, A. (1988)
The United States and China,
Chicago: University of Chicago.
Christensen, T. (1996)
Useful Adversaries,
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Vogel, E. (1999)
Living with China,
New York: W.W. Norton.
GARY McDONOGH
CINDY WONG
Chinatown
s
ee
Chinese Americans; ethnic enclaves
Chinese Americans
The largest and longest-established
Asian American
community Chinese numbers in
America have also grown rapidly since 1965 through immigration from Taiwan, Hong
Kong, overseas Chinese settlements and the People’s Republic of
China
. Chinese
Americans have become a socalled “model minority” in terms of success in education,
b
usiness and even sports. Yet, as political scandals and espionage accusations made clear
in the 1990s, their “Americanness” was quickly called into question as a reflection o
f
international relations as well as stereotypes of difference.
Like other immigrants in nineteenth-century America, Chinese American lives
originally centered on involuntary
ethnic enclaves
(“Chinatowns”). Facing slurs,
physical abuses and legal restrictions on
immigration
and citizenship, these
ghettos
Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 222
became refuges for predominantly “bachelor” societies, where the male to female ratio
reached 27:1 in 1890. Generally from Guangdong, in southern China, these
Toisan/Cantonese laborers established complex “towns” with shops and living quarters.
Many associations flourished, replacing the traditional familial support left behind in
China. The only non-Chinese in Chinatowns were missionaries and police; for outsiders,
these enclaves epitomized urban mystery and danger.
As Chinese immigration developed, Chinatowns were also transformed. Second-
generation Chinese Americans became citizens and formed new organizations, such as
the Chinese American Citizen Alliance, to express their voices. China-towns declined in
numbers and vitality in the 1930s, while adapting to American
tourism
and tastes.
Abolition of the Chinese Exclusion Act (1943), the establishment of the People’s
Republic of China (1949) and the 1965 repeal of the 105 person quota imposed on China
have all spurred growth of the Chinese American population in numbers and diversity
Chinatowns still provide familiar surroundings for those with little knowledge o
f
American culture. Many low-skilled workers find jobs in ethnic restaurants and
sweatshops;
with scant knowledge of their rights, they face exploitation by employers.
The importance of traditional groups has declined with integration and government social
agencies like the Chinatown Planning Council in
New York
City, NY Some Chinatowns
also face
gang
activities (imputed to Vietnamese or Fukienese immigrants), aging
populations and clashes with other encroaching urban groups.
At the same time, Chinese communities have left the inner city for outlying places like
Flushing (Queens, New York), Greater
Los Angeles, CA
or
Sunbelt
cities. These new
suburban enclaves incorporate diverse Chinese in landscapes dotted with Asian
malls
and
restaurants. Other Chinese immigrants and their children have adapted quickly to
suburban dispersion and rapid assimilation through education and business, sometimes
alarming other ethnic groups.
In politics, Chinese Americans have built slowly on the citizenship allowed them after
the Second World War and their new numbers. While
Democrat
Michael Woo ran
unsuccessfully for
mayor
of Los Angeles, and conservative Matt Fong was defeated in
his bid for the governorship of
California
in 1998, Democrat Gary Locke was elected
governor of Washington state that same year. Yet the actions of Chinese outside of the
US—a tense area of foreign policy—have had an impact on political citizenship. Under
Clinton,
fundraising scandals connected with the People’s Republic and Taiwan tarred
the civic image of American Chinese. China’s access to American nuclear secrets,
examined in the 1999 Cox report, seemed to question the actions and connections of all
Chinese Americans.
The public face of Chinese as Americans suffers from decades of orientalization, from
D.W.Griffith’s 1919
Broken Blossoms
to the 1960s Broadway
musical
/film
Flowe
r
D
rum Song
. Since the 1960s, Chinese American film-makers, dramatists, novelists and
academics have tackled these stereotypes in works by Wayne Wang, Frank
Chin,
Maxine
Hong
Kingston,
Amy
Tan
and Gish Jen. Such authors explore the complexities o
f
Chinese American history and intertwine them with other American ethnicities.
Entries A-Z 223
S
ee also:
Asian Americans; Asians Americans in cinema and television
Further reading
Chen, H. (1993)
Chinatown No More,
Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Takaki, R. (1998)
Strangers from A Different Shore,
Boston: Little Brown.
CINDY WONG
Chisholm, Shirley
b. 1924
The first
African American
woman ever elected to US Congress, Shirley Chisholm
b
ecame a member of the New York State Assembly in 1964 following a career working
as an educational consultant for
New York
City day-care centers. In 1968 she was
elected on the
Democratic
ticket to serve in
Congress
. After re-election in 1971, she lost
in the New York presidential primary of 1972–the first African American to run for this
office.
ROBERT GREGG
chocolate
Americans love chocolate. They eat almost twelve pounds per person each year in
products made using cocoa, baking chocolate, milk chocolate, and sweet and semi-sweet
chocolate, ranking tenth among the world’s consumers of chocolate. The first chocolate
factory was established in
New England
in 1765; names like Hershey and Mars are now
synonymous with American chocolate, despite elite brands (Godiva) and local favorites.
Chocolate played a role in nourishing American soldiers in the Second World War; US
army D-rations still include three four-ounce chocolate bars.
Further reading
“The Story of Chocolate”: http://www.candyusa.org
GAIL HENSON
Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 224
Chomsky, Noam
b. 1928
Dissenting
intellectual
whose theory of linguistics revolutionized the study o
f
language,
but whose following (much of it European) comes from his radical political
analyses. Working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1950s, he
dismantled behaviorism, the dominant school of thought in the social sciences. Through
the study of linguistics, Chomsky showed that
children
did not merely respond to outside
stimuli, but had innate capacity for language. The
Vietnam War
turned him towards
political analysis, and, in a plethora of works like
American Power and the New
M
andarins
(1969) and the essay “
Cold War
and the university” (1997), he has dissected
American imperialism abroad and the corporate capitalist culture at home.
S
ee also:
linguistics
ROBERT GREGG
Christian media
The mere title “Christian media” raises an awkward question—are there non-Christian or
atheist
media in the US? Certainly statements about God and Christian values in the
news,
sports, contests, and
talk shows,
as well as assumptions about church as weekly
activity in many series underscore a pervasive civic Christianity.
Jews
have had an ethnic
presence in
radio
and
television
since the
Goldbergs
crossed over from radio to the
golden age of television and have also had a lively press and literary output. Other
religions make only exotic appearances in
mass media,
for example those of
Santería
and
Voudou
in
Miami Vice,
the
Hinduism
of the storeowner Apu in
The Simpsons,
or the
mysterious “Chinese-flavored” religion of
Kung Fu,
despite their roles in ethnic media.
Christian media, therefore, represent a self-identification within
publishing,
music, radio
and television that often questions the morals or purity of other media. In this sense,
Christian media start from widely shared knowledge and beliefs within the US and push
them further, attacking enemies on the basis of issues and actions more than doctrines.
On these foundations, a series of generally
white
male evangelical preachers have built
empires that move beyond religion into
politics, education
and world affairs (see
Christian Right
). Yet, Christian media also incorporate science-fiction apocalypse,
children’s
games and toys, music videos and slogan-bearing T-shirts.
Entries A-Z 225