Final Blog/Presentation Post

 

    America is a special place. It’s a country known for its opportunities for a better and more financial stable life. In America you can be anything you want to be without rejection; and you may serve whatever God or not as you will. Living in America, you get the privilege of living amongst different people who come from different cultures. However, with the pros, their always come the cons. 

    I, a white female being brought up in an upper middle class white town, have never witnessed poverty or financially unstable areas. I do not know what it’s like to be on the other side of the fence. However, this class helped me gain perspective by trying to put me in the shoes of what it was like to live life in America back then.

To Sir, with Love

Julia smedira

December 11, 2023

 To Sir, with Love 

    “To Sir, with Love” is a 1967 movie, set in the swinging sixties, about a black man named Mark Thackeray. He was born in the English Guyana, with a poor and simple background, he wants to become an engineer however jobs are scarce; so, he accepts to work at a job teaching, to replace a colleague who has left school, in the East End which is a rough London neighborhood. 

    Mr. Thackeray ends up teaching high school, for a class of all white, poor, rambunctious, and totally undisciplined group of students. With no experience as a teacher, and having no control in the classroom, he quickly learns that his students need a different kind of education rather than a textbook. With only a few weeks before graduation, he decides to teach discipline and respect.

    Mr. Thackeray’s experience in teaching a group of unmanageable, hopeless students, forces him to take charge of an unpleasant situation. He has lots of difficulties approaching them, the students not only have little interest in school but are not quite ready to be taught by a black man. Causing him to show the students that he will not tolerate disobedience. Mr. Thackeray realizes he has a lot of work cut out for him.

    Determined to make some difference in the students’ lives Mr. Thackeray demands the students call him "Sir". This is because he is a man of polite manners, who values respect. He treats his students like adults and has discussions with them about things they have questions on, showing the kids what being an adult is all about.

    Through the course of the term, his students learn to respect others, themselves, and him. Even more his students realize they do have bright futures if they remember what Mr. Thackeray taught them. The process by which he molds these rebellious teens into mature and thoughtful adults was his goal from the start. It’s the type of characteristics and actions you show, that determine your character in the end. 

Affirmative Action Reaction Post

Assassination of MLK 

    The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, was one of the most devastating events of American history not just for African Americans. MLK provided a powerful voice of reason and peace. He was a major advocate for the African American community and civil rights movement, providing them a sense of hope. MLK gave many well known speeches and always told his supporters to take the high road in protests by being peaceful. 

    Martin Luther King Jr was shot by James Earl Ray, an escaped fugitive. After he was shot there was a nationwide manhunt run by the FBI to find him. Ray was eventually caught and first told people he was framed by a gun smuggler. A trial took place on TV where Ray confessed to shooting MLK in cold blood.He was then sentenced to 99 years in prison, the case would never be reopened after that. Losing Martin Luther King was a catastrophic loss, he was honored not only by African Americans but all Americans. 

Death of Robert F. Kennedy

    Robert F Kennedy was a former United States attorney general; who had advocated so much to move forward in the progress of civil rights. He Became loved by many Americans and became known as “Bobby Kennedy”. He became a known icon to all Americans but especially minorities. Unfortunately he was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan, an Palestinian immigrant who was angry at the US government for how they were treating the middle east. This assassination made America more divided than ever, hope was killed for Americans on that day. This event was a massive setback for the African community and USA. 

Assassination of Malcolm X

    Malcolm X was a leader in the civil rights movement and a supporter of Black nationalism, also he was a minister. He urged Black Americans to protect themselves against white aggression “by any means necessary,”. He also criticized the mainstream civil rights movement, challenging MLK central beliefs of not using violence. It was known that in his past he had committed various crimes that would lead him to get a prison sentence for 8-10 years. 

    Minorities Saw Malcolm X as an advocate for Racial equality, activism, and human rights. On February 21st, 1965 Malcolm X was about to give a speech but before he could address the audience he was shot multiple times by several gunmen who rushed the stage. He eventually died from his wounds, New York City at age 39. 

Anti Miscegenation Laws

    In 1958 a couple named Richard and Mildred were taken out of their bed in the middle of the night and arrested by Virginia police because they were an interracial couple. The couple was charged with violating the state's anti-miscegenation statute, which banned inter-racial marriages. The Lovings were found guilty and sentenced to a year in jail. However A local judge allowed the Lovings to flee the state to avoid prison time. The couple decided to move to D.C.

    The loving’s started to fight for their marriage in 1963 where their case was Appealed over the next few years. When their case finally got recognized by the supreme court The judges unbiasedly ruled in favor of the Lovings with Chief Justice Earl Warren writing “the freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.” The historic ruling led to the overturning of similar statutes in more than a dozen states and ultimately marked the end of segregation laws in America.

Redlining/Great Depression

    Redlining is a discriminatory practice in which loans or other services are withheld from customers who live in low income neighborhoods because they might be a "risk" to invest with. These neighborhoods have significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities. During the Great Depression when every American was struggling financially, Down payments for housing were insanely high at 50%. Banks did this because they were afraid that people would take out a loan and then not pay it back. 

    Federal agencies realized it can’t keep giving out all these loans for free, their way to solve this problem was to deny the African American customers loans. Eventually this problem was overturned by the fair housing act of 1968 because it was realized this program was explicitly designed to increase and segregate America's housing stock. However the black and white homeownership gap has remained largely the same over the past few decades. 

Boston Bus Riots

    The desegregation of Boston public schools was a period from 1974 to 1988 in which the Boston Public Schools were under court control to desegregate through a system of busing students. Race-integration busing was the practice of assigning and transporting students to schools within or outside their local school districts as an effort to diversify the racial quotas of schools. The call for desegregation led to a series of racial protests and riots that brought national attention. There were 5 schools in Roxbury and South Boston that had participated in the desegregation.

    However on the first day of school when the buses were bringing the African American children to the schools, they were met with 100s of white protesters. Who started Violently throwing bricks and eggs at them because of the desegregation laws. Which caused so many African American parents to withdraw their kids from these schools. On that first day of school only 20 white students in Roxbury attended and none from South Boston. This was showing when the government tried to use their government power it backfired because there was so much backlash from Americans everywhere.

Civil Rights Act 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by congress public law, which prohibits against religion, race, law, sex, or origin. These Laws ensured constitutional rights for minorities. This act was First proposed by President John F. Kennedy, it survived strong criticism from southern members of Congress over the years and was then eventually signed into law by, Lyndon B. Johnson.

Voting rights Act of 1965

    The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law on August 6th, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. Its purpose was to outlaw the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War. Before this act was put into place, African Americans in the South faced major obstacles to vote. Some include poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions to deny them. This law expelled all these obstacles African Americans were facing and has been passed over many times to make it better to help the voting rights against discrimination. 

Fair Housing Act 1968

    The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was signed into law by President Johnson, 7 days after MLK was assassinated. This law attempted to end the deep practices of segregation in our nation, like the The denial of services like loans based on race or address. Before this Act was put into place, people were turned around housing solely based on the color of their skin. This act outlawed discrimination and gave equal opportunity for everyone regardless of their background. Once the act was upheld families could now find homes in better communities with better schools, jobs and resources creating diverse, vibrant communities. This act is an enduring symbol of progress, and it reminds us of the work that still lies ahead.

Thurgood Marshall

    Thurgood Marshall was the first African American to serve on the supreme court, who won a 69 to 11 vote. He was an attorney who fought for civil rights, leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Marshall was a prominent figure in the movement to end racial segregation in American public schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases, which he argued before the Supreme Court. One being, reaching a finale in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

    The equal employment opportunity commission or "EEOC", investigates complaints of job discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex , national origin, disability, and age. If they believe an employer is violating these laws, the EEOC will take action to stop the discrimination. The EEOC was formed by Congress to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The laws apply to all aspects of work, including hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, wages, and benefits.

Bakke V California Mock Trial Post

    Today I'll be arguing why affirmative action is not a positive thing, in fact it’s racist.  Even though in the beginning its intentions were well intended, it is ultimately unfair and unsuccessful.

    Affirmative Action is the practice or policy of favoring individuals belonging to groups regarded as disadvantaged or subject to discrimination. Given that definition, it’s hard to deny that affirmative action isn’t racist because its whole premise is based on differences including the color of one's skin. Affirmative action of its essence is based on preferential treatment according to race.

    When President Roosevelt declared in 1941, "There shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries and in Government, because of race, creed, color, or national origin”, he was trying to right a wrong. Black workers were not being given equal opportunities and they rose up to fight it.

    While its intention was good, to ensure that “applicants are employed, and …treated without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, etc…”, what it has ended up causing is the exact opposite.  Employment and college enrollment are being conducted in some cases based SOLELY on race. Rather  than encouraging harmony and integration, preferences have divided campuses and caused civil disturbance.

    For instance, two candidates could have the exact same qualifications, but one candidate could potentially be chosen over the other strictly on the basis of his/her race to fill racial quotas. Treatment of a person based on their race is simply racist and wrong.

    No one of ANY race should be given an advantage over another based solely on the color of their skin.  As Martin Luther King stated, “We should judge a man by the content of his character and not his skin”.

    If we truly want to consider each other equals, race should never be a qualifier on school applications, or employment applications. If we want “a color-blind society” , as put forth by Dr. Martin Luther King, affirmative action cannot be a part of it.

Driving Miss Daisy

 Driving Miss Daisy

    Driving Miss Daisy is the story of an unlikely friendship between two people from very different backgrounds, Miss Daisy, and Hoke Colburn. This film takes place from 1948 - 1973 and is set before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement. While exploring racism and depicting antisemitism in the South. 

    The first Character is Miss Daisy or Daisy Werthan who is a 72-year-old, widowed, retired schoolteacher who lives alone in the deep south of Atlanta, Georgia, trying to maintain the one thing she has left, her independence. Our other main character is Hoke Colburn who is a 60- year- old African American, poor man hired by Miss Daisy’s 40-year-old son Boolie. Hoke is known as a kind-hearted man who proves his noble intentions many times.

    Boolie hires Hoke as a chauffeur because one day, Miss Daisy drives her 1946 Chrysler Windsor into her neighbor's yard. Now that Miss Daisy must be driven around, Boolie wants to have a talk with Hoke before he starts the job to let him know that Miss Daisy might be hesitant and may not appreciate Hoke’s efforts right away, because of how much she values her independence. However, she cannot fire Hoke since Boolie is the employer.

    At first, Miss Daisy refuses to let anyone drive her, but Hoke convinces her to be driven so she reluctantly accepts the first two trips. Daisy and Hoke's relationship gets off to a rocky start, but they eventually form a close friendship over the years, one that outshines racial prejudices and social expectations.

    Miss Daisy really didn’t like this arrangement to begin with, so she tries to get Boolie to fire Hoke after discovering a can of salmon missing from her pantry; but before Miss Daisy could confront Hoke about the missing can, Hoke admitted to being hungry and eating her salmon and shows her the new can he bought to replace the eaten one with.  

    As Miss Daisy and Hoke spend more time together, she gains appreciation for his many skills and even teaches him to read for the first time using her past teaching experience and resources; Together they both face many difficult hardships. 

    Miss Daisy realizes she’s a victim of prejudice after she faces antisemitism, when her synagogue where she attends services is bombed, presumably the Ku Klux Klan; Hoke faces racism in multiple ways because black living in the South still encountered racial prejudice and encouraged it. Which meant he was not allowed to have an education and highly paid jobs which meant he could only be a member to the lower class. But more than that, he and all the other African Americans were considered criminals just because they were black. 

    An example of Hoke facing racial prejudice would be him not being allowed to use the public bathroom because it was a law back then, so he must pull over the car because he couldn’t stop earlier at the service station restroom. In this scene Hoke forces Daisy to confront her own failings when he points out her tendency to treat him like a helpless child for wanting to stop to use the bathroom. Daisy was oblivious to the fact that Hoke, because of his race, couldn't use the restroom where they stopped earlier.

    Daisy thinks she's enlightened and unprejudiced. She eventually attends a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., and insults Hoke when she asks if he wants to go on the way there as a guest but only for the car ride. Offended by this, Hoke tells her that she may think things are changing but nothing really is. While Daisy is at the dinner Dr. King's speech talks about good people who sit back and allow blacks to be mistreated, Daisy feels ashamed and guilty by this. She now realizes what Hoke has been trying to make her understand.

    As the film progresses and their friendship grows, Miss Daisy learns a lot from Hoke and Hoke learns a lot from Miss Daisy. In one scene she even gives Hoke a “gift” but specifically told him to not call it that, and said it was a tool to help him learn how to write better. Also, we see their friendship progress because usually Miss Daisy, forbids Hoke to help her with the garden, However, at the end of the movie, right before Miss Daisy starts displaying signs of dementia, they are working in the garden together. This scene shows the evolution of their relationship and how they have formed a lasting friendship. At one point she even calls him her best friend. 

Reaction Post

Reaction Post

Abby: “the birth of a nation”

Was a Landmark film for the industry. Film follows 2 families one from the north and one from the south. All African males in the movie are depicted as the root of all evil.The KKK portrays a healing force from destruction. During this the Boston civil right movement and proxy civil right movement were happening  across the nation. KKK disappeared after the 1870s. However, there was a reemergence of the KKK, new era of Klan activity. 

Evan: The rise of the 2nd KKK

1915-1920, KKK was reborn to a much more organized group, it instilled fear and violence. There main goal, was to attempt to make the country 100% American. Upper class white males could be considered 100% American.

Ariel: Sundown towns

Sundown Towns are all-white communities, neighborhoods, or counties that exclude Blacks and other minorities through the use of discriminatory laws, harassment, and threats or use of violence. Blacks must leave by sundown. There were up to 10,000 sundown towns in 1890 and 1960. Causing African Americans to began to migrate to other regions of the country No minority groups allowed in sundown towns. Some expelled black communities in a single day. Suburbs became whiter over time.

Cali, Texas, New York, and the Carolinas still have sundown towns.

Lindsey: 4 little girls

On Sunday, September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed by four members of a Ku Klux Klan-affiliated racist group. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, four African-American girls between the ages of 11 and 14 who had been attending the church's Sunday school, were killed in the blast.

White supremacists saw how the church was becoming a symbol of civil rights and wanted to put an end to it and have segregation. It took away many innocent lives. Causing Racial division and discrimination in the USA. It created a lot more protests, and violence because the bombing case went international, which created a lot of publicity. The 4 little girls became symbols for the civil rights struggle.Going after these kids showed how far white supremacists were willing to go. 

Lynx: Emmet Till 

An African boy who was murdered in 1955 at the age of 14. He was accused of offending a white woman, the woman claimed he grabbed her hand and waist expect she lied. After hearing what Emmet allegedly done. Heinous crimes were committed to him. Emmet was kidnapped, beaten, shot in the head, mutilated, had a large metal fan tied to his neck with barbed wire, and was thrown into the Tallahatchie River. Years later the case was reopened again, and Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam were accused of the murder. However, the white woman is still just as much at fault because she did say she made it up, so she was involved in the murder.

Kasen: Mississippi Burning

Involved the murder of 3 activists during the civil rights movement. The KKK was going after 1 of the activists because he was organizing local boycotts. This event took place June 1st, 1964. 3 activists had been heading to investigate a church fire that the KKK had done. At night while the 3 men were out driving, it’s said that the KKK were following them. The 3 men were never found again, Except for their burnt Vox wagon. A Search lasted from June 23 to august 3rd. Two bodies were found; it was seen they were both shot in the chest. None of the KKK were convicted or charged with murder when the bodies were found. However, in 2005 the case was reopened, and they got sentenced. This event would later that inspire the civil right act in 1964.

Kayla: Brown v board - Arguing on the side of brown (EOTO)

1915, cold war just started. Our country came out of the bloodiest war, WW2. There was new technology, which created a new economy. This case challenged separate but equal. Post WW2 culture had everyone questioning segregation and the whole idea of separate but equal. Now more blacks were going to college. A big advocate was Thurgood Marshall, he was a civil rights lawyer who used the courts to fight Jim Crow and dismantle segregation in the U.S.. Civil rights movement occurred during this time, Martin Luther King was arguing for it,  he was a minister, so he gained white’s support. 

Gabby: Moral argument 

Separate but equal mindset is unjust. Our country needs to be united, and segregation does the opposite of that. African Americans deserve the same treatment and advantages.

Josh: Religious argument 

God made everyone and to look at them less is looking down on God. Many still try to justify their actions which is selfish. Christianity isn’t meant to divide people. Teaching Christianity in these white segregated schools is harmful because you’re then teaching these young mindsets that God “doesn’t like” African Americans when this isn’t true but would ultimately spread more hate and violence. 

GraceAnn: The economy

Think how much it costs to make water fountains, buses, schools, etc. Now double it! Take this tax money and divide it in half. Only half of the taxing goes to the children. Upholding segregation would cost an arm and leg from the government. Think how much stuff could improve if we didn’t have to make double of everything. For example, if we put everyone together, we would have more taxes for the army. The most important thing though is the education of our children. Don’t provide your child with substandard education, our children are the future and each and every one of them deserve a blue-ribbon education. 

Brad: Legal argument

It’s clearly not equal protection under the law, it goes against the 14th amendment. Black schools are underfunded and overcrowded, there’s not enough resources for the black students. All these factors combined have led to white students to be 4 times more likely to graduate high school. Give every student the equal right and protection they deserve.