The Crucible Pre-Reading Group Project
Task: Each group will prepare a Poster presentation. The presentation should:
1. Address the guiding questions for your group
2. Contain a mix of pictures, graphics, readable text related to the topic
3. Each member of the group will turn in their notes on the topic (1 page).
Every person in the group is responsible for researching information to share with the class. Summarize the information you get from
reading your sources. You should not have paragraphs of information on your poster instead; create bulleted lists of essential
information.
GROUP
Group 1 – Daily
Life in Salem
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Group 2 Witchcraft
Background
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GUIDING QUESTIONS
What type of people settled Massachusetts?
How did they survive?
What were their main fears and anxieties?
Describe the Puritan society, clothing, family life,
religious beliefs, jobs, etc.
How did their clothing support their religious views?
Describe the types of homes that probably existed in
Salem.
Describe the family life of Puritans.
Explain how the Puritans thought of witches.
Which type of person was most likely to be considered
a witch?
Define Clinical Hysteria. Explain how stress and
clinical hysteria could account for some of the unusual
behaviors observed.
In what forms does witchcraft exist today?
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RESOURCES
Puritan Life
Puritanism in New England
Puritanism
Massachusetts Bay - "The City Upon a
Hill"
A Brief History of Witchcraft
Persecutions before Salem
Witch-finder witch?
European Witch Hunts
The Burning Times
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Group 3 - The
Salem Witch
Trials of the
1690s
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Group 4 – Arthur
Miller
Group 5 Communism
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How are modern day witches treated or viewed? (Think
about what is known and how they are portrayed in
movies/tv)
What events led to these trials? What behaviors started
to appear among the villagers?
What is a theocracy and how would it affect the view
of Salem residents toward witchcraft?
Who were these people and what happened to them in
1692? Giles Corey, Martha Corey, John Proctor, and
Sarah Osbourne
Who were Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, and Tituba?
What were the outcomes of the trials?
How do historians interpret these events?
Describe some of the tests for a witch.
Key event of his life
Other works produced
Beliefs/political outlook
Appearance before the House Un-American Activities
Committee
Effect of the HUAC appearance on his career
Common themes in his works
Reasons for writing The Crucible
What is communism? Where did it come from?
What is the Cold War?
Who was involved in the Cold War?
What was the outcome of the Cold War?
Describe life in the US at the time and the views of
Russia.
What is the American Communist Party? How did it
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Salem Witchcraft Trials 1692
Salem Witchcraft Hysteria
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The Carey Document: On the Trail of
a Salem Death Warrant
Salem Witch Trials: The World
Behind the Hysteria
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Arthur Miller Biography
Arthur Miller
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Cold War
Cold War History
Red Scare
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Group 6 McCarthy Witchhunts
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impact the lives of Americans?
What was blacklisting and who was affected by the
entertainment industry blacklists?
Define a witch-hunt (be sure that you don’t simply say
hunting a witch)
Who was Joseph McCarthy and what did he
investigate? Why were Americans concerned about
Communism during the 1950s?
What was the HUAC? What happened to people
brought before the HUAC?
What happened when the McCarthy hearings were
televised and he began to accuse Army officers of
being Communists?
How was McCarthyism a witch-hunt? How might the
events in the 1692 witch-hunts be compared to those of
the McCarthy era in the 1950s?
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McCarthyism
Senator Joseph McCarthy,
McCarthyism, and the Witch Hunt
McCarthy's Downfall
Joseph R. McCarthy