Category Archives: admin only: Featured

Women Throughout The Century

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Dimas Martadarma

In the 1920s, flappers were rebellious young women that shifted away from the norm. They would smoke, drink, go out to clubs and do other things that would not be expected of women at the time. They also played a big role in fashion at the time. They would wear short skirts and would wear a bobbed haircut. These women liberated themselves from any limits society had put on them. They achieved a sense of personal freedom, even if they did not have political rights.

In the 1950s, women were expected to be great housewives. They seldom went outside the house or had freedoms. The commercial represents the average lady of the decade. She may have gained some freedoms such as her own car, but she didn’t even have anywhere to go other than the grocery store or to PTA meetings. She would not even be able to have earned a car without her husband buying it for her. Women did not have any high status jobs at the time.

Today, women’s rights movements have made very big strides. The image of the 50s has gone and women are now very independent. Women have freedom to vote, get jobs, and do whatever they please. In most aspects, women are viewed as equals to men, although some might argue that women make less money than men do. Regardless, women have achieved a lot to get the rights they have today. It’s a shame that it took so long, but at least it’s finally here.

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The Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Jing Jun Ma

A. Philip Randolph’s “March on Washington” which caused President Roosevelt to pass Executive Order 8802, which banned discrimination in defense jobs and established the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC). A. Philip Randolph’s threat of the “March on Washington” started because of the exclusion of African-Americans in the expanding war industries during World War II. This marked the beginning of the civil rights movement which continued and gave motivation into other equal rights groups in the future. (CH 22 – World War II)

March on Washington 1963

“Gay Liberation” in the sixties. The 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Bar in New York’s Greenwich Village was one of the beginning points of this movement. According to Foner, “Rather than bowing to police harrassment, as in the past, gays fought back.” This event just like Philip Randolph’s “March on Washington” was a movement for social equality. It is also safe to assume that motivation and inspiration was given to this movement by Philip Randolph’s movement in the past which caused the beginning of the civil rights movement. (CH 24 – The Sixties)

The American Indian Movement was also a chain effect of the social changes of the 1960s. Like the other two movements, this was also a social movement but targets another cultural group – the Native Americans. This movement however rather than fighting for literal equality (as in equality laws and rights), is more for compensation for past deeds. All three events are linked because they are fighting for social issues, rights and equality. After the first successful social right movement, others copied and replicated their success. The first movement started a domino effect which causes all future equal right movements to be interlinked. (CH 27 – Globalization and Its Discontents)

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An Easy Scapegoat for troubles

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Jack Masterson

leading the American people down a false road to prosperity

It is typical of Americans to blame president for anything that goes run, especially when it comes to nationwide financial troubles. From George Washington to Barack Obama, nearly every president has been blamed for some kind of miscalculated fiscal, spending or monetary policy. Yet when you examine the nature of our system, especially so since 1913 (advent of the federal reserve system) the presidents have hardly had any real command of fiscal and monetary policy. In fact, the federal reserve is so separated from the command of the president (really as a protection built into the system) that his only real decision making is in deciding who should run the federal reserve during his administration. In the case of Obama, he actually kept the same federal reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, as Bush appointed; the person who, in many Americans point of view, is responsible for steps leading up to the crash of 2008. But federal financial policy leading to recessions and depressions is as old as the republic itself. In 1932 Andrew Jackson started to take measures to destroy the second bank of the United States of America, the equivalent to the federal reserve in the early 19th century. In 1936 he succeeded in revoking its charter and by 1937 the country was in deep financial turmoil because credit dried up when the job of the bank of the US was dumped on a number of smaller banks. This credit crunch was coupled by a monetary crisis; many banks wouldn’t accept paper money for loan repayment and many people became out of luck in this department. The crisis was blamed on Jackson, especially so by the whigs (the other party in the two party system of the time). Van Buren (D) was president for only 6 weeks when things took a turn for the worst but even he was blamed. In the case of the panic of 1837, the president’s reckless fiscal/bank/monetary policies were largely to blame with regards to Andrew Jackson. He conducted a ‘war on the bank’, blaming it for all the troubles, but, when finally abolished, no new system was even thought of and thus Jackson’s action and inaction directly caused the panic of 1827.  Flash to October 1929. Hoover, the 4th president to work within the framework of the Federal Reserve system, is taken by surprise to find that the federal reserve was lending millions of tax payers dollars to support a system of call-market trading and buying and selling of securities on margin, or with lent out money. Essentially, the federal reserve was loaning at 4% to banks like JPMorgan who would in turn loan to brokerage houses at 6-9% who would then loan money to individuals looking to buy stock on margin for 12-20% (using the stock the people bought with the lent money as collateral in the transaction). Again, Hoover wasn’t even aware of the magnitude of this financial disease, nor of the Federal reserves very key role in getting the ball rolling, until a few weeks before Black Thursday. Thus, by the time he started to take control of things, the stage was already set for a titanic rupture in the financial system. Hoover, hand-cuffed by circumstances, actually decreased the federal reserve interest rate, which caused even more money to flood the call market and even more speculative buying and selling (on one of the days the volume of trading was so great that the meter in the NYSE broke down for 15 minutes causing huge panic on the floor). Thus, all things considered, even though Hoover shouldn’t have appointed ex-bankers to run the Fed and even though he should have paid more attention to the importance of the call-market and buying stock on margin he really can’t be completely blamed. The crisis of 1929 was primarily a crisis of a flawed private financial system and less so a crisis of fiscal/lending/monetary policy of Herbert Hoover. And yet, as the cartoon above shows, he was blamed as if he was the one forcing people to buy stock portfolios with money that they never had in the first place. Fast forward to 2008. Suddenly, in the same week, Lehman Brothers (a bank worth over 100 billion dollars) goes bankrupt, AIG, the second biggest insurance company in the world, is purchased by we the people, and the government leverages a by-out of Merryl Lynch, another multi-billion dollar bank/investment firm on wall street, by Bank of America. What exactly happened in September 2008 is still being sorted out but the Wall Street Journal was spot on when they said that the events would change capitalism forever. Essentially, every major bank and was purchasing and selling billions upon billions in securities pegged to the housing market in the United States of America. One of the culprits, mortgage backed securities, were packages of sometimes million and millions of dollars worth of mortgages were traded by hegdefunds and investment banks. How they figured out how to make money off of rapidly buying and selling what is essentially debt, or owed money, is beyond my understanding of economics. The insurance companies, like AIG, sold credit default swaps, insurance against people defaulting on their loans, to the banks trading MBSs. Thus, when the housing market reached its maxmum (supply in US became higher than demand), everything came crashing down as people defaulted on their loans. This was followed by a credit crunch, trillion dollar stimulus spending, rescuing of the entire private financial infrastructure by us tax-payers and the rest of the story everyone knows. So, who do you blame. Of course you blame that guy George for everything. Surely he cooked up this whole mess as a get rich quick scheme. But wait? Again, George didn’t have anything to do with the day to day of the Fed. So, besides appointing half of the former board of directors of Goldman Sachs to the Federal Reserve board, did Bush really cause this financial crisis? As for the recession, we blame Comrade Barak Obama for forcing us to live under a Stalinist regime as he pumped trillions into the economy with his stimulus plan, which was really a scheme to transfer money from the rich to the poor. But is the stimulus spending to blame for the slow growth rate of businesses in America, or can we blame the banks that are still overly cautious about lending? Again, it still remains to be seen. All three of these events are similar, not only in that they triggered recessions, but also that presidents seemed to be the scapegoats for all of them. This tells us that the American people are quick to blame their executive when things go wrong for them. Instead of realizing that the capitalist system is inherently flawed in that it has recessions and growth periods built right in, the people look to blame the government. That’s the American mentality and that’s what has happened from 1787-present.

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The Calling of War in the Name of Freedom.

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Sabrina

These three presidents were the commanders of war on countries three times less the size  and power of ours.  All three of these wars were disguised with reasons of liberation, where they were truly wars of tactical greed and positioning.  All three created and lied about  some of the worst war crimes.

Even though the WWII was a just war to stop an evil dictator, the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima killed most of Japan’s population.  Truman dropped two atomic bombs in 1945,  without knowing the effects.  There are some that speculate that the Japanese already surrendered before they were dropped.  Even so, the bombing of pearl harbor, gave US the chance to go into Japan and conquer, allowing them to write Japan’s constitution, leaving Japan with no Army and America with bases to watch all of Asia.

Next on our criminal presidents, is our lovely Nixon.    In 1969, Nixon spent 14 months carpet bombing rural areas of Cambodia, a country we were not at war with, and then lied about it.  This was all in the approach of holding onto South Vietnam, and extending the American Empire.

How can we forget about Bush and his “Weapons of Mass Destruction.”  In 2003, Bush invaded Iraq in cause to search  for these infamous weapons.  Even though Iraq was not responsible for the terrorist attacks,  Bush bombed and invaded Iraq, even though the world was protesting him to not.  A few years later, two CIA agents came out, and told the public that they informed Bush that there were no WMDs.

It is crazy how time creates the same puppets.

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Atomic Bomb Brings Change Both Good and Bad

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Sam Cirola

This first image is of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 6 1945. This one of the biggest events in recent history. America has become infamous because of the use of this atomic weapon. It had positive short term effects and negative long term effects on our country. The dropping of the atomic bomb led to alot of different events in America immediately and in the long term.

The use of the atomic bomb almost immediately gave the US victory in Japan. On August 14, 1945 Japan surrendered and the US had officially won the war. This day quickly became known as V-J Day. This famous photograph was taken in Time Square on that day. In the photo a sailor is seen kissing his girlfriend in celebration of victory in Japan. The photo graph shows the emotion of joy and happiness that the war was over. The joy and celebration of V-J Day would not have been possible, for a very long time at least if the US had not used atomic weapons on Japan.

The next event spanned over 30 years of America’s history. This event was the cold war. The use of atomic weapons on Japan sent a message to the Soviet Union that the US had dangerous weapons and were a force to be reckoned with. This along with other factors sent the Soviet Union and the US into a all out arms race. The point of this arms race was to generate more nuclear and atomic power than the opposite country. This cartoon shows Kennedy and  Khrushchev arm wresting while sitting on atomic weapons. This represents how the two countries fought with one another and how they both had atomic weapons. The use of atomic weapons on Nagasaki, as well as Hiroshima was one of the key causes of the cold war.

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Woman’s Rights

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Thomas L

Throughout this course we have seen woman gaining power and presence in the United States.  Above is an image of a woman casting a vote.  Woman’s suffrage lead to the 19th Amendment which declared that no state or federal government can deny a citizen to vote base on sex.  Although many woman didn’t believe their say would amount to much this would slowly change throughout history as woman had more presence and dominance in society, government, and the workforce.

Above is the famous piece propaganda from WWII.  As you know it is to encourage the female involvement in the workforce.  WWII was a time where woman were leaving the household and picking up jobs that males had to leave behind when heading overseas.  This was the spark of woman in the workforce which gave woman a sense of fulfillment and presence.

I chose this graph to show the percentage of woman making up the workforce from 1964 to 2009.  There has been a steady increase in the percentage of the workforce made up by woman in the United States.  In 2009 woman made up for 49.8% and today after the economic downturn woman have now become the majority in the workforce, becoming in many cases the top earner, or “breadwinner.”

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Native Americans

Posted on December 7, 2010 by yindeli.guzman

1968 American Indian Movement


In chapter 27 Foner mentions Native Americans in 2000. In the 2000 census their population ranked in the 4 millions. According to Foner, this was a sign that their population was growing and that they have renewed pride that allowed many Indians to identify themselves as such. This is a major accomplishment considering what most Indians tribes went through in the early 19th century. In chapter 16 Foner discusses about the elimination of the Indian treaty system in 1871 by the federal government, which allowed the Indians to negotiate with the government as if they were independent nations. This was one of the many to come oppressions that followed the Indians, but many groups would soon seek to ratify these oppressions. In chapter 25 Foner discusses the founding of the American Indian Movement in 1968, which sought to protest demanding tribal self government and the restoration of economic resources guaranteed in treaties. Finally, In the 1970’s and so on, many tribes won great control over their education and economic development on their reservations as well as monetary settlements due to claims suits for past dispossessions.

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United States Presidential Scandals

Posted on December 7, 2010 by xuran tan

Bill Clinton

What these presidents all have in common is that they were involved in scandals.

Bill Clinton was the 42 nd President of the United States, scandal of his affair with Monica Lewinsky became known on 1998. Clinton’s sexual affair with an intern eventually paved the way for the second presidential impeachment in the history of the country (Andrew Johnson was the first in 1868). However, President Clinton was ultimately acquitted of any crime. But, his affair with Lewinsky became a laughing stock for everyone in the world. The reported documents  of Clinton remained odd in political history because of the graphical description of Clintons entire sexual relationship with Lewinsky.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States. One of the major scandals to rock the presidency in modern times is “Iran-Contra”. In 1985, the Reagan administration was selling arms to Iran, and not only selling but also using the proceeds  to secretly fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Also, Congress had already prohibited the president from giving any assistance. With that, the story caused a blaze throughout the country in 1987 after a newspaper was leaked. The two who became the main target of the scandal was Admiral John M. Poindexter and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. They were then involved in long trials and at first convicted for their roles, but then these convictions were later released on appeal, along with fourteens others who were charged criminally with the entire affair.

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, resigned on August 9th, 1974, in order to shun impeachment on charges stemming from the investigation of the Watergate break-in and cover-up. In addition, he was told that enough votes existed to convict and remove him from office. Therefore, Nixon decided to resign. I guess it’s Better to step down in shame then wait to be thrown out in shame. However, Nixon did state that he should have acted more “decisively” and “forthrightly” in dealing with the situation, ” particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy”. The greatest tragedy this country ever suffered was the Watergates tragedy because no redeeming and positive features will ultimately exist.

Thomas Jerfferson

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States, allegedly had a relationship with Sally Hemmings. This became the first presidential sex scandal in American history. Jefferson was charged with having an affair with his slave ( Sally Hemmings) in 1802. Also, noted that he was the father of one of her children. However, denying the charges he then remained president for an additional 7 years. In 1998, debate about the matter was put to rest when DNA testing proved that Jeffferson is more than likely the father of at least one of Sally Hemming’s children.

There are many scandals in the United States presidential history, but none can compare base on absolute impact the Watergate scandal created under president Richard Nixon.

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A long way

Posted on December 7, 2010 by aodi

Slavery

The 13th Amendment

President Barack Obama

Since the creation of the 13 colonies, slaves were being brought from Africa to work in America. Africans were being taken away from their home country and were forced to work in plantations. Slaves were being exploited and it wasn’t til after the civil war when the 13th amendment was passed slavery was abolished.

The 13th amendment along with the Emancipation Proclamation made sure that slavery was outlawed in America. With the abolition of slavery, it gave rise to the civil rights movement. Even though African Americans were no longer slaves, they were still being deprived of all the freedoms that white Americans had. Through many decades of civil rights movements the United States can officially be called the land of the free.

Finally in 2008 the United States has it’s first black president. This just goes to show what a long way America has come since it declared independence from England. To some, president Obama represents the idea that the United States is finally equal in terms of race.

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Economic Changes in America

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Lisa Wu

Industrial Revolution

Depression

Economic Crisis

America started off with the Industrial Revolution that changed many people’s lives. it brought people from the cotton fields to factories and turned America into an industrial society.  Americans started the marketing system and stock markets. People consumed more and credits were invented. People enjoyed these years of spending and getting things they wanted and not just needed. But people overused credits and the markets crashed, this was when the Great Depression kicked in. Everyone panicked and did not have money to feed their families. Times were terrifying. They thought the economic was just going to increase and did not see the fall. President FDR’s New Deal that helped the Great Depression. Economic started rising steadily until it reached the height once again in 2008 which was caused mostly with the house mortgages. We are still on the road of helping our economy and we hope it works out well.

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Tyranny of the Majority?

Posted on December 7, 2010 by momotaro.kinoshita

The TSA is blamed for racial profiling when conducting 'random' screenings at airports.

Even Japanese people who held American citizenship were held in interment camps like these when the United States was at war with Japan during WWII.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zywzzl9AiU

This documentary explains the roots of the first Red Scare and who it affected.

The United States has had a diverse population of many nationalities since the beginning. Unfortunately during times of war, when certain people share the same ethnic background as the enemy of America they are often profiled. During the First World War, Russia converted to communism. Although not enemies with Russia during the war, Americans were frightened of this new concept that was once thought to exist only in books. In response to this fear, the red scare emerged. The red scare was the fear of communism inside the United States, it was during this period that wrongful accusation and deportations took place. According to the documentary, immigrants, union supporters, and progressives were prime targets of the red scare.

Only a few decades later another World War took place. After being provoked by a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, America joined the fray. With Japan as an enemy, the federal government created internment camps for those of Japanese heritage, regardless of citizenship. The Japanese Americans, like the victims of the red scare, were antagonized by the country. Therefore, the governments actions were justified.

In recent years Al-Queda, an Islamic terrorist organization, hijacked a plane and flew into the Twin Towers of NYC. The TSA or transportation security administration began a more rigorous screening procedure following the attack. Under the pretense of ‘random’ screening they racially profiled individuals of middle eastern decent more than of any other region. Though one may call it a minor inconvenience, these travelers are screened as if the TSA is labeling them terrorists. However, there is a common logic between all three instances of profiling. In order to provide security to the greater population certain groups are forced to sacrifice their rights.

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Killings, Massacres, and Destruction.

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Edmond Tai

Wounded Knee Massacre

Dropping of atomic bombs on Japan

US Marines marching Iraqi prisoners during the Gulf War

Throughout history the United States government have taken actions that resulted in a great number of deaths. The photos above are of the Wounded Knee Massacre, the atomic bombs used during World War II, and the Gulf War. These three events are just a few of many events in history that shows how the United States government have made certain decisions that killed many.

In the event of the Wounded Knee Massacre, soldiers intercepted 350 Native Americans of the Lakota nation, and escorted them to Wounded Knee Creek, and killed them. Towards the end of World War II, President Truman ordered the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan killing over 200,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Then in 1991, the US initiated Operation Desert Storm, and drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait, and this event resulted in tens of thousands deaths of Iraqis and deaths of 184 Americans.

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Women’s rights progress

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Moti Ankari

Many people such as Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony influenced the women’s right movement ). With the help of many, the 19th amendment was passed to congress on June 4, 1919 and was ratified on August 18, 1920. The ratification of the 19th amendment allowed women the right to vote. In the 1920s women have received the right to vote, but were still unable to take on opportunities that were only open to men such as, joining the army or as simply smoking a cigarette.  Women, during the 1920’s, may have received political freedom, but they haven’t received personal freedom yet.

During  World war 2, women aided the war by offering their help as nurses serving men who would get injured during the wars. They needed women to do this job because there wasn’t anyone else at the time to do this. Women were than offered jobs that were open to men. Jobs such as pilots to help aid wars. Women also helped aid the Civil war. When men were off to war, women decided to take on their jobs in order to make money to support their family.

By 2000, women represented nearly half of the American Warfare, and unlike in the nineteenth century, a majority of women working outside the home were married. After the ratification of the 19th amendment and the involvement of women in wars helped made women who they are today. Hilary Clinton, serves as a prime example, who was a lawyer and pursued and independent career after her marriage.

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Restrictions throughout American History

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Wei Chen

These three events in American history targeted the Non-American, restricting their freedom in their homes. The removal of the Native Americans, two in history known as the  Trail of Tears and the Navajos’ Long Walk, could be seen as oppression from the American government on the native people. Local Native Americans were forcefully relocated due to America’s greed in incorporating new land into their empire.

The Chinese Exclusion Act, one of the many acts targeting immigrants, imposed many restrictions on the Chinese immigrants. They were derided as inferior. Chinese families, especially women, were barred from entering the United States in 1875 to prevent the growth of the Asian population in America. Chinese, who were already lived in America, were forced to assimilate and suffered discrimination.

Jim Crow laws, which was promoted by the Plessy v. Ferguson case, targeted African Americans throughout America. This approved unfair treatment towards African Americans which included denying them into social gatherings such as bars and restaurants, seating them in a generally specified seats, which were less desired, on buses and railroad carts, and to some extent, beating and harassing African Americans. The environment set up by the Jim Crow laws persisted into modern history. In Birmingham, non-violent protests were confronted with violence by the authority. African Americans, however, continued to fight for their freedom and eventually, they received it.

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Economic downturn in the U.S.

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Viktor Bunin

Great Depression

Clinton's Recession

Recession of 2008

The events covered are: Great Depression, Recession under Clinton, and our current Recession.

I am not sure whether or not our current recession is covered in the textbook but I felt it was best to step a little out of bounds and cover something we can all relate to.

Throughout American history, we have had an incredibly strong economy that produced the highest standard of living in the world. However, we have also faced many difficult times, three of which will be covered here. It seems that our economic model must experience an economic downturn every few years and some of the worst are the Great Depression, the Recession in the early 90′s and today’s Recession. Each event has been brought about by the economic leaders of or country such as banks and big business. Although the blame is not solely theirs, their practices and policies have played a pivotal role in these economic downturns.

The reason these events are so interconnected is that we see a recurring theme when we examine the events that led up to them. Deregulation and unscrupulous money practices have led banks and big business to make risky decisions that have a tendency to backfire and bring the most pain to those at the bottom of the ladder. The problem each time is that too many risky decisions have been made and too much money has been lost. This sets off a panic in which the stock market falls and in 1987, it fell by more than 20% for a total of more than 500 points.

The problem is that businesses will continue to make risky decisions to attempt and earn a profit and these recessions will continue to occur. The fundamental link between these events is that while we live in a capitalistic society, companies will continue to go to greater lengths to attempt and earn more money and even though some times, profits will be extraordinary, other times millions of people will lose their life savings. I am not sure if increased profits are worth risking peoples lives for.

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American Interference

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Cindy Yin

America has interfered in many countries, whether it was for economic pursuits or international objectives. Ever since expansionism in the late 1800s, America has been involved with mostly countries that are in chaos or have tyrannical leaders. The Philippines was an exception, because Emilio Aguinaldo established a government similar to that of the United States. President McKinley fought a war with the Philippines because of economic opportunities. His defense was that he wanted to “uplift and civilize and Christianize” the people of the Philippines, even when most of them were already Roman Catholics. When the United States won the war, McKinley modernized the economy there and enforced American officials to impose American ideals and laws.

After World War II, the Cold War had also began. Most of Europe were in ruins and there was fear that communism would spring up in European countries and therefore, the policy of containment took place. However, the war in Asia was the hottest. The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953. Before the war, North Korea was communist and South Korea was democratic. When North Korea invaded South Korea, the United States stepped in and sent troops and aid to South Korea. America was keeping its promise to prevent the spread of communism in its containment policy. When North Korea retreated behind the border, American and South Korean troops advanced towards North Korea and almost into China, when Chinese troops forced them back. The result was that Korea was still divided into two different government once again.

A Korean War battleground.

Globalization emerged towards the end of the century and communism started to fade away. As a result, there was an internationalization of commerce and culture and many pacts were made with international countries. The Gulf War began when Iraq invaded Kuwait and Bush was scared that Saddam Hussein would attack its longtime ally Saudi Arabia so Bush sent troops there. Not long after, troops attacked Iraq and freed Kuwait, but not before thousands of Iraqis and 184 American soldiers died. Even when Iraq was defeated, Hussein still remained and Iraqis became furious at the atrocities of Bush’s actions.

"Highway of Death," north of Kuwait City.

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Freedom, here we come

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Lisa Yin

The 15th amendment gave the right to vote for all citizens, including the African Americans. With this right, they themselves took a huge step towards freedom.

Signs like these represented the works of the Jim Crow laws which seperated colored from the white.

As many African Americans go through fair unequal treatment, the Civil Rights movement developed and helped blacks get equal rights.

African Americans started here in the United States as slaves who served the southern plantation owners. They had a range of jobs from picking cotton, helping the owner as a maid and working on the fields. They lived and worked through harsh conditions. A decade later, they were set free but did not have many rights. The 15th amendment was passed and it gave all the citizens of America despite their race, age and color the right to vote.  From that moment on, African Americans had the right to vote. (Picture 1) Not short after did the Whites try the best they could to stop the blacks from voting. They mad Jim Crow laws which included, literacy tests for a vote and many more conditions. The United States was still treating the African Americans differently. They had many buses in which the whites sat in the front and the Africans in the back, which is shown in picture 2. There were water fountains marked with white only and colored only.   In addition, there were restaurants that only allowed the white to sit at the booths. These were all examples of the Jim Crow laws. After receiving unequal treatment, many African Americans demanded their equal rights and thats where the Civil Rights started. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his ” I have a dream speech” and Rosa Parks arrest were in that time period. During the 1960′s, African Americans wanted their right to be equal more than anything else. (Picture 3)

These events are linked to each other. The first event which is the passing of the 15th amendment meant that the African Americans could vote and the whites did not like that. Therefore, as a result, they set up Jim Crow laws. Because of the poor treatment that African Americans received through the century and the laws itself, many African Americans demanded their equality during the Civil Rights movement.

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To be Eco-Friendly? Or not to be Eco-Friendly?

Posted on December 6, 2010 by debbie.chu

The first Clean Air Act Bill, which was in 1963.

In Chapter 26, Foner discusses Nixon’s Domestic Policies and one them is The Clean Air Act. The act is a U.S. Federal environmental law that set the standards of air quality in the nation. The purpose of it is to help protect the public from hazardous chemicals in the air. Air pollution started to become a problem when more and more cars were on the road especially in interstate freeways, metropolitan areas, and areas with factories and power plants.

The assembly line for building automobiles.

However, if it wasn’t for automobiles, then we wouldn’t have this bad air quality and air pollution in our ozone layer. Foner discusses the rise of the automobiles in the 1920s in Chapter 20 because of the assembly line. During the 1920s, half of all of American families owned a car. And with so many people buying cars, it causes more carbon monoxide into the air because of what the car releases out. In the 1920s, the oil that they used for the cars aren’t as clean as they are today so they let out even more toxic fumes.

Factories in the 1890s.

This whole chain reaction of air pollution all started with the second industrial revolution discussed in Chapter 16. The only way automobiles to have actually been created is if there was no rise in factories, and factories were also the source of the air pollution problem because factories also emit carbon monoxide into the air. If factories hadn’t come around, then we wouldn’t have been able to produce steel and rubber to create the automobile, which would lead to no automobiles to be invented, which means there would be no air pollution.

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Civil Rights

Posted on December 6, 2010 by sumanta sugrim

In 1917, Randolph Bourne teased Progressives who believed they could decline the war according to their own liberal purposes. “Despite the administration idealistic language of democracy and freedom, the war (ww1) inaugurated the most intense repression of civil liberties the nation has ever known,” (695).

The 1920s was a start of a coherent concept of civil liberties. “The arrest of antiwar dissenters under the Espionage and Sedition Acts inspired the formation in 1917 of the Civil Liberties Bureau, which in 1920 became the American Civil Liberties Union. For the rest of the century, ACLU would take part in most of the landmark cases that helped to bring about a ‘rights revolution’,” (737). It helped citizens by giving meaning to the civil liberties. Holmes’s doctrine would remain the basic test in 1st amendment cases. “The court majority observed that the 14th amendment obligated the states to refrain from unreasonable restraints on freedom of speech and the press. The comment marked a major step in the long process by which the Bill of Rights was transformed from an ineffective statement of principle into a significant protection of American’s freedom,”(738).  The flow of civil liberties decision making slowly began to change.

In 1990, disabled Americans were given the benefit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It prohibited discrimination in hiring and promotion against people with disabilities and required that entrances to public building to be redesigned to ensure access for the disabled.  (1025)

These events relate to each other because it has to do with civil liberty and it is a major importance in today’s society. From the beginning, society didn’t have a voice in the government. As time progress, events were leading to the phenomena of American lives as they were given chances to be part of society. They were given rights.

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Freedom for women, in different meanings and in different ways

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Fardina Habib

Women had a long struggle to gain equal rights as men. There were numerous protests and organizations established in demand of  fair treatments of women as citizens of the Unites States. Suffragists were subject to arrests and many were jailed. Nevertheless, it was not fully achieved until 1920, after decades of endeavors, when the 19th amendment was passed stating that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

During World War II, however, the respect towards women had suddenly shot up to the skies. This poster is one of the examples of how women were pampered and flattered in order to get their help in the war efforts. Several other posters said things like, “We can do it!”, “Keep ‘em flying, Miss U.S.A.”, “I’ve found the job where I fit best.” and “The girl he left behind is still behind him–She’s a WOW”. These posters too carried essences of freedom for women by implying that women could do what men could do. Beside that, the poster puts women in a spot that gives them significant importance and recognizes their roles in the society and what they can do for their country. I think it successfully gives women the feeling of being wanted in the war efforts thus treating their capabilities with respect. And even though it was mostly because the country needed their help, there was an obvious effort made in trying to imply that it was about promoting women.

In the 1970s abortion controversies led to bitter battles between defenders of abortion and its opponents. The defenders associated safe abortion with freedom by claiming that women had the right to control their body, therefore deserved a safe and legal abortion. Whereas others referred to the moral and legal status of abortion, and said that it took away the “right to life” of the unborn child. They said that there’s hardly any difference between abortion and murder so if the society is to conserve its innocence, abortion should never be legalized. By the 1990s, there were even anti-abortion activists who placed bombs at hospitals to kill doctors who provided services to women seeking abortion. This is the example of another struggle towards a different kind of freedom that many felt was necessary in order to establish the idea of complete individual liberty.

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