Listen to Jack Hitt’s story, “God Shed His Grace on Thee” from the episode, Give the People What They Want on This American Life.
Submit a one- to two-minute video response to this story. You may find answering one of the following questions helpful:
- Hitt seems to suggest this continent is named after Amerigo Vespucci because he was a shifty sales-man. What do you think of that? How does that square with your idea of this nation?
- What did you learn about Vespucci? Did it surprise you?
- Why do you think Vespucci spends so much of his letters describing the bodies and sexual proclivities of indigenous women?
- What do you think about this story? Why is Hitt’s purpose in telling us these details about Vespucci?