Day 4 Blog Post 2/27/13

     Yesterday in history class, we discussed the work of Marcus Garvey, an African American activist who sought equality for blacks worldwide. He was arguably the most radical of the Civil Rights activists of his time, due to his idea that African Americans and whites could never coexist peacefully and therefore must be separated. He believed that in order to achieve this separation, African Americans should migrate "back" to Africa, which many of them had been removed from for generations. Garvey was also jailed and later deported back to his homeland, Jamaica, on the grounds of being an undesirable alien due to his alleged mail fraud. We studied his works by filling out a worksheet on him and how others reacted to his ideas in groups. After that, we briefly discussed the topics that we had just covered.
     Today, we read three brief poems about life in the South and how life elsewhere would be a better alternative, though not necessarily good. We were then asked to think about how these poems described life in the South vs. life in the North. After that, we listened to some music written in Harlem during the Harlem renaissance and discussed what they meant and the overall tones of the songs. Finally, we looked at some pictures from the Harlem renaissance era, which showed how African Americans were able to have fun and much more freedom in the North than in the South.

Clock

I don't know why, but the clock on Blogger is messed up, it said my previous post was made at 4:08, when it was really 7:14

Day 2 Blog Post 2/25/13

     The Friday before vacation, we finished up our RSA Animate projects by recording them on the computer. After vacation, we paired up together in order to discuss the views of DuBois and Washington, two African American Civil Rights activists, DuBois being more radical and aggressive, and Washington playing to the wishes of the white man. Washington believed equality would come by succumbing to white pressure and starting out at the bottom to work your way up in society. DuBois believed that equality would only come if you seized it. Essentially, Washington believed in power through wealth and DuBois believed in the more immediate power through politics. After we were done reading a document about one of the two and answering questions, we switched partners in order to share our information. We then summed up the class by summarizing what each of the activists believed and which was the best solution.

Reconstruction Timeline

Day 7 Blog Post 2/14/13

We dropped E period on Tuesday, day 5. Yesterday, the 13th, we did a dress rehearsal for the RSA animate. This was essentially a rough draft, in which we drew out the steps of reconstruction on a long piece of paper, in order to prepare for the drawing, which took place today. Today, we actually drew out the RSA  animate, while recording the drawing. First, two groups went, as we only had half a board per group. While they went, the other groups prepared further for their drawing. Once the drawing was done, we simply erased it went home to prepare for the voice over.

Day 2 Blog Post 2/6/13

     Yesterday in history, we were asked, what does equal mean. Most of the class immediately responded with the answer "the same," but some of us were left unsure after discussing this with Mr. Boyle playing "devil's advocate." After saying that equal meant the same, we were told that this would mean that African Americans would not receive special protection under law, so we then came to the conclusion that equal meant balanced.
     Today in history class, we first took 3 slides of notes on the black codes and Jim Crow Laws. We then filled out a sheet about sharecropping in the South and how it took advantage of sharecroppers and essentially made them slaves. We determined that farm owners took advantage of sharecroppers by selling the portion of crops belonging to the sharecroppers for very low prices. This caused the sharecroppers to go into debt and to have to continue to work for the farm owners to pay off their debts. After discussing this sheet, we gathered with our RSA animate partners to discuss our strategy for meeting and preparing for the upcoming dress rehearsal on Monday. During this time, we were allowed to ask questions about the RSA animate project and figure out just what it was that we had to have by Monday.

Day 7 Blog Post 2/4/13

     On Thursday, day 5, we dropped history class. We then went on to discuss the role of Lincoln's vice president, Andrew Johnson on Friday. We learned about him by reading his life story and obituary. After reading about him and his rise to power, despite his lack of a formal education, I made a decision about him and his political career. I believe that he was a good president, who had a good idea for the future of the United States, but he was corrupted in his goal of fighting the Radical Republicans. He spent too much of his time and energy on the Radical Republicans and lost sight of the task at hand (Reconstruction). Due to this, he was impeached and nearly kicked out of office. 

    Today we took notes on the events following the Reconstruction of the South and the beginnings of discrimination and the civil rights movement. We first discussed how African Americans took advantage of the rights guaranteed by the 15th amendment and what white Southerners thought of the amendment. The slideshow then went on to tell about how, in response to the sudden freedoms given to African Americans, the KKK, a group dedicated to the discrimination of African Americans, was born. I am both surprised and appalled that a group with such dark ethics would be allowed and able to rise to power. Towards the end of the class, we discussed how Congress began to battle the KKK, by enacting the Enforcement Act of 1870 and later the Civil Rights Act of 1875. This act was a final attempt for Congress to secure African American rights, but unfortunately, a rather large loophole was left, allowing business owners to kick out blacks based on the nervousness invoked on their other clients by the African American presence. I am curious as to whether Congress left that loophole unnoticed, or if they saw it and simply realized that nothing could be done. The class was concluded with a sheet about different arguments as to whether the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was Constitutional, based on the 14th amendment.