Name:_____________________
Seventh Grade Core
The Crucible/ McCarthy Witch Hunt Final Project
Introduction
At its heart, The Crucible is a tragedy. Arthur Miller explores how the citizens of Salem lose
their sense of decency and integrity when they get caught up in the mass hysteria of the witch
trials.
Miller wrote this play in the late 1940s when Senator Joseph McCarthy led a movement in this
country to rid the government and the nation of Communists. As you have read, many of
Miller’s friends were attacked for their so-called pro-Communist beliefs. Miller himself was
called before the House [of Representatives] Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in
1956 to testify against his friends. Like John Proctor in the play, he refused to name names.
In this final project, you will conduct research to learn more about the actions of Senator
Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee as well as how those
actions relate to the broad themes of The Crucible. You will also draw parallels between these
2 witch hunts and connect them to a current event.
____________________________________________________________
The Project
In study groups, you will conduct research using books, encyclopedias, periodicals, the web,
and interviews on a specific topic related to the “witch hunts” of the 1950s.
Your group will use the information gathered in this research and our discussions of The
Crucible to create a digital newspaper in the style of The New York Times.
Your will be answering the following ESSENTIAL questions:
How did the political events of the 1950s influence
the writing of The Crucible?
Why is tolerance and free speech essential
in a pluralistic society?
The Process
1. Choose one of the following topics to explore further:





The Fear of Communism in the 1950s
Senator Joseph McCarthy
House Un-American Activities Committee
The Hollywood Blacklist
Other topic ideas? Check with Matthew first!
2. Begin researching your topic and collecting information on electronic notecards. We will
use the same format as we did for the Colonial Research Project. Groups will want to delegate
responsibilities for the research. For this project, each individual will use a minimum of 4
sources, and you will create a minimum of 2 notecards for each source, (for a total of 8
notecards per student). We will create these notecards on Noodletools with Jennifer. You are
required to fill out all the notecard fields in Noodletools.
3. After completing the notecards for your topic, your group will need to pull your ideas
together in order to make connections to The Crucible and answer the main questions fully.
These are some suggestions for how you can do this:
• Look for ways McCarthy and other committee members examined and tried witnesses,
then recall the methods of Hathorn, Danforth and others in the play. Compare the two.
• Examine the hysteria you find in the play and the hysteria you read about in your research
of the 1950s. Find similarities and differences.
• Explore the theme of hypocrisy. How did the Puritans betray their Christian beliefs?
How did the US government betray the country’s founding principles?
• Examine the effects of the witch-hunts on both societies. How did the Witch Trials affect
the community of Salem? How did the McCarthy hearings affect American society?
• The act of “Naming names” is present in both The Crucible and the HUAC hearings.
Why did some choose to do it? Why did others refuse? What role does one’s reputation
play in this? How does one stay true to their beliefs in the face of social pressure?
• What role did intolerance play in the The Crucible and the events of the 1950s?
• What is scapegoating? What was the atmosphere in Salem and the US during the 1950s
that brought about the scapegoating of a particular group of people?
• How does history repeat itself? What are the similarities and differences between both
eras?
• Others?... (check with Matthew)
At a minimum, each group member will answer 1 of the above bullet points, Remember,
you are answering this bullet point, but you are also attempting to link your response to
the ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS.
4. You will compose your bullet point response in traditional newspaper column style. We
will learn more this and discuss what this format entails.
5. After each member of your group has completed their individual newspaper article, you
will begin to construct your digital newspaper. Chris will help us with the format.
6. Each newspaper must contain the following elements: 4 individual articles (1 per group
member) each containing 2 pieces of textual evidence from The Crucible; 1 main front page
article; 1 modern-day witchhunt article; 8 primary sources (with captions); and any additional
materials you and your group decide upon.
_____________________________________________________________
The Crucible: Final Project
Deadlines & Rubric
Topics selected and groups formed:
Friday, February 17th
Research completed:
Friday, February 24th
First draft of Bullet point question
Monday, February 27th
Final draft of Bullet point question
Monday, March 5th
Newspaper Construction:
Week of March 5th
Newspaper Presentations:
Week of March 12th