Erie Canal 4.10.13

It has been too long blog readers. I had surgery last week and have endured a week of endless suffrage. However, I'm back! Today in class we broke into groups of thee to discuss both the posistive and negative effects of the canal. With much concideration of the information we found today, I concluded that the Erie Canal was generally a positive step for our country. Geographically speaking, the canal made travel west both easier and quicker, not to mention much cheaper. Towns along the canal grew and good fertile land was being sold and developed. Although it did have negative effect on the surrounding land and caused certain amounts of pollution, the canal caused several geographic improvements. Economically, it made jobs. When people are working the economy thrives. Not to mention the thousands of businesses that flourished due to the canal. Towns along it got revenue from passing travelers and it made for the developement of many new industries such as bridges and tolling. The easier transport of merchandise allowed businesses to thrive, and the entire venture was very profitable for the government. Socially, with the creation of new jobs, many people were able to find work which in turn raised the quality of life for many. Although there was several disadvantages the canal wreaked, such as the spread of disease and undesirables traveling through towns the canal brought great benefit to the people in New York and the county.

Snap debate

Today we had a snap debate over the causes of the War of 1812. I was in the group that advocated for incitement. Incitement was when the British armed Amerindian's with weapons and ammunitions and instigated attacks upon American citizens on settlements along the western frontier. Impressing was a British policy where they would forcibly place American citizens into their navy. In total they kidnapped approximately 140,000 Americans and acted on the ideal of "once a British citizen, always a British citizen." The Chesapeake Affair, was when a British ship attacked a U.S ship in the Chesapeake bay and captured American citizens. This act violated American sovereignty and basically added a new level of violence to impressment. Orders in Council restricted trade between France and the rest of the world, acting in retaliation to Napoleon's Continental System. Britain's navy was far superior and this ended up with a win for Britain. After analyzing a source document each of the four groups had to try and convince the others that their event was the most important. After everyone went, I still believed that Incitement held the most important as it was occurring on our soil and most directly effected American citizens. However several people did switch after hearing all the arguments, most switched to ours. I found this was a very helpful lesson and a fun way to learn. It combined finding knowledge, applying it and then personal opinion. I really enjoyed it and would like to do it again!

Diary of the Corps of Discovery 4.1.13

Myebook - The Story of the Civil Rights Movement

Myebook - The Story of the Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Personality: Tommie Smith

http://funnyfames.com/images/tommie-smith-10.jpg

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CRsmithT1.jpg

http://socialistworker.co.uk/chimage.php?image=2008/2123/tommie_smith.jpg

http://simonhickson.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/tommie-smith-john-carlos.jpg?w=460

http://todayinafricanamericanhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/tommie-smith.jpg

http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article930226.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Tommie+Smith+and+John+Carlos

http://as.sjsu.edu/legacy/img/TS.jpg

http://as.sjsu.edu/legacy/tommie.htm

http://www.tommiesmith.com/
dedication to Tommie Smith by Claude Harris Jr

Class Summary 3.18.13

In the previous lesson, we learned about the freedom rides. In May 1961, the Committee on Racial Equality (CORE) decided to test the Supreme Court ruling that prohibited segregation on interstate bus travel. This movement, which was supposed to take participants from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, LA became known as the Freedom Rides. Three white men and three white women, along with seven African Americans boarded two buses headed south on May 4, 1961. In Anniston, AL, the first bus was met by an angry mob who tried to break in the bus and successfully slashed the tires. When the bus was forced to pull over on route to Birmingham due to flats, the mob followed the bus and chaos ensued. The mob of 200 men threw fire bombs into the bus and proceeded to beat the demonstrators as they fell out of the bus door. When the second bus arrived in Birmingham, the same occurred. Local police gave men 15 minutes to do "what they could" before they would have to interfere and break up the beating. The trip was forced to stop in Jackson, Mississippi, short of the New Orleans goal and President Kennedy provided Federal Marshalls to protect the freedom riders.

Today, in four groups, we studied the actions of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. After the investigation of one of the leaders, we assembled in groups of four, each with one of the four documents to compile a general knowledge of the two public figures. King, arguably the most influential leader of the Civil Rights movement, was the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC). He organized numerous marches, rallies, and strikes to bring attention to the discrimination against minorities. He preached for nonviolent protests and urged demonstrators to act with love and with God. Malcolm X, member of the Nation of Islam and the founder if the Organization of Afro-American Unity, believed that violence was the only way to gain independence and that they should not try to integrate with whites. The two demonstrated the opposite sides and approaches to the Civil Rights movement.

Class Summary 3.14.13

With a substitute, we watched a documentary which gave a general summary of the events that occurred during the Civil Rights movement. By the end of the end of the video, there were two questioned that prevailed in my mind. First, why, after having two men (Mylum and Bryant) being found innocent for the murder of Emmett Till and weeks later admit to the crime in the press; were whites still willing to stand behind segregation? How were they able to continue to push for white supremacy with such monstrous acts occurring? Secondly, why is it that Martin Luther King Jr. had to ask African Americans that when desegregation finally came that blacks go into situations with a sense of reasonableness? Why, after the hell they were out through were such things being asked of them? I have found myself struggling while learning about these events, completely consumed by disgust over what occurred in our country.

Following the movie we discussed sit-ins, which were the most effective tactic of the Civil Rights movement. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) gave young African Americans the oppertunity to make decisions about the direction the movement was headed. In Greensboro, NC on February 1960, four black students sat at a segregated lunch counter at Woolworths store. Angry whites poured condiments over the demonstrators, even dropping lit cigarettes down the backs of the demonstrators shirts and dressed. after King showed his support of these demonstrations, more than 70,000 students participated in sit-ins in 1961. This form of nonviolent protest occurred throughout the 1960's.