In relation to story telling, the usage of graphics can be very effective. In itself, the concept of “telling a story” can be seen as simple and childish, yet fun and powerful. Using graphics can really help readers visualize a scene and shows the emotion of a character and setting very well. I also believe that emotion is one of the most powerful things that can be utilized while telling a story, and seeing intense emotion while being shown a new character helps us empathize with them better and makes the story a lot more powerful.
Category: Uncategorized Page 2 of 4
One question I have about the midterm is how formal the writing is expected to be. And how long is it expected that each of these essays are? and for the second essay I am not sure what is meant by “my society” in the second essay. And for that extra credit point should I continue it in the format of that second essay or make a separate page or paper for that?
The most intriguing part of this field trip was seeing the hanging tree from Lumpkins Jail. In history class, you hear about hangings and cartoons of them in textbooks. Although saddening, we’re either desensitized to it or just don’t take into perspective how terrible this act of execution really was. The fact that I was standing right next to a tree responsible for hundreds of deaths was very gut wrenching. It’s even worse to think about when you consider hanging being known as the most cruel/painful form of death at the time it was done. Going on this field trip and seeing the hanging tree connects straight back to Campbells book, Richmond Unhealed History. Everywhere you go, even if its just passing a tree can tell an entire story about the lives of those oppressed, the oppressors and the history of the city itself.
I was struck by the state of disrepair of the memorial site that Free Egunfemi Bandura created. I know they just had a Gabriel celebration on Oct.10, and I wonder if they met near these signs? Seems like they would have done something to restore it. Still, I love what Free did in recalling and drawing messages of hope from the story of Brother General Gabriel.
Overall, I really enjoyed my research process, even though it was short, it was really rewarding going through all the steps of annotated week biography and learning about all the different ways and styles that exist. Something definitely useful in academia. I realize that if the research that someone has done is effective, and if we spend more time researching putting the pieces together, and writing or evaluating the sources and coming to a conclusion, is much easier and faster, and that’s when I realize the importance of researching deeply effectively and with quality. Even though my question was generally from abroad and three sources were limited still, I was able to answer them to a big extent my question. Seems the sources that I used were both informative and insightful and really niche to the topic that I was researching. That is the extent to which segregation of white and black races has led to segregation in the education field up to today.
When I began writing my annotated bibliography, I was very conflicted between two different sources. In the text, Campbell references a speech given by Frederick Douglass, and within that speech, Douglass touches on a text written by an Episcopalian Bishop named William Meade. Meade’s views on slavery were shocking and immediately caught my attention and sparked the question I am looking to answer which is how Christian leaders of the early 19th century could justify the system of slavery. I was unsure if it would be better to look at Douglass’ speech with Meade’s included or just the text from Meade. Eventually, I decided to do Douglass’ speech because it was very difficult to find a good source for Meade’s text. Writing the annotated bibliography was a little challenging and I am honestly still not completely certain that I did it correctly so hopefully working on it in class will help.
Discussed Annotated Bibliography:
…
Book Discussion:
What year did the U.S outlaw slave trade?
Slavery remained but slaves could no longer be imported for exported. Chapter 4 (pg 75) 1774 slave trade was outlawed.
Surprising? Skin color dictated who would be slaves. Blacks would be born into enslavement if their parents were slaves. Slaves could no longer be imported into U.S so a structure was used to prolong the use of slaves for multiple decades. Humans involved in slavery, saw slaves as animals/ economic units rather than humans. Their humanity was blurred.
Chapter 6: Patrick Henry…Give me liberty or give me death.
White men fought for independence from England, to give everyone rights and freedom, but this excluded blacks.
Page 79. –> The American fight for independence was funded by slavery. Soldiers were given a slave to fight the war. “History bleeds through.” What did we learn about where segregation came from?
White politicians looked for loop holes in the system, Brown vs Education. Its easier to control and limit the extent to which African Americans can contribute to society (Nick Javier).
Examples of specific loop holes
The grandfather clause, if your grandfather voted then you could vote, didn’t apply to blacks. (Will)
Law required people to have jobs but blacks couldn’t have government jobs, only low wage jobs (Julia) Pg 132
People who were supposed to work could only get jobs they could get. White employees looked to give blacks on low wages which acted as indentured servitude(Nick Javier)
Pg 139–> Literacy requirement. Every black had to remember the constitution, It was illegal for slaves to read or right which limited them from voting (Kaylee)
Ana took the literacy test in history class and the test wasn’t based off of knowledge of the constitution but literacy proficiency.
Why were white politicians so determined to create levels of society?
Pg. 130 Whites were supposed to be at the top of social and economic hierarchies while blacks were at the bottom of these structures. Nit picky rules that determines where people stood in the racial hierarchy (Julia).
Richmond took rid of certain districts and annexed certain locations. Red lining effected where people go to school and how voting is effective. All in favor of whites.
Not enough funding for blacks to go to school. There were barriers in teacher salaries between whites and blacks. Angelos volunteered at a school and realized that public schools in black communities had less funding.
Funding of public schools controversy:
School funding is very complicated. Funding is regulated by the state, but school boards enact policy. Formula at the state level that determines how much taxes for certain areas goes to public schools funding. Annexation is important because during segregation, some people didn’t want counties apart of the city. Wealthier people left to the counties to set up their own schools while they still worked in the city. Real estate in Richmond is owned by the government which lowers the tax base.
Back home, new governor, policy passed that allows school choice. Money is being pulled from communities with a majority in minorities. (Ana)
What do we think is Campbells Thesis:
Richmond’s history is unhealed. How?
Even though rights have become better for individuals, the aftereffects of redlining and other barriers still impacts people today. It’s like an open wound that stings and hasn’t healed yet.(Nick Javier)
History can’t be healed naturally like a wound, but it takes action from people to bring healing(Brice)
History still impacts multiple forthcoming generations. (Kristine)
Can history be healed? Things from the past can’t be changed, the wound leaves a scar, the wound is healing but the impact of the would is still seen? Talking about issues helps us to move forward(Kaylee)
Why is there a highway in-between the city? Black neighborhoods were destroyed. The wounds can be seen all around Richmond. The highway is a symbol of the past and its impact on peoples lives.(Julia) “History bleeds through”
High school got renamed from Robert Lee to John Lewis. Schools shouldn’t be named after confederates (Kristine).
In what war is the losing side able to dictate the narrative?(Haven)
Pause on subjects that bug you. We create untrue narratives when we feel discomfort. Pg 94… Slavery was referred to as Patriarchal institution, unenlightened labor etc.
The downriver slave trade. The people who were making money from slave trade had to have a way to shut their brains down from what they were indulging in. Family units are destroyed(how does that affect society). Many of the men who sold enslaved children had fathered those enslaved children. “The problem of America is the problem of the color line.” Why we hide our history is because we are related to people who were involved in the evil past.” Oppressed people made their own loopholes. This serves as hope for society. Look for stories of hope embedded in the book.
Chapter 7:
What struck out to me from chapter 7 was how many peoples rights stem from the importance of politics and being able to vote. In this chapter, it goes into detail as to how politicians would pass defensible laws that would secretly put blacks at a disadvantage voting compared to whites. For example, it says that blacks had to memorized their answers as to who they voted for while whites were given a pen and paper to fill out their ballet. This strategy was used in order to stunt the black vote since they made up a great percentage of Richmonds population. As a result of being unable to vote fairly, white democrats were put into office and passed policy that would virtually segregate and lower the quality of living for Black Americans. One of the most shocking sections of this chapter was in relation to marriage and the eugenics movement. Eugenicists had a strong influence on Nazi politics around the same time period which reflects the immense evil that was taking place in Richmonds politics. Many people were sterilized for being criminals which is more focused on the black community. Due to the laws passed restricting rights, as well as a bias justice system, people of color were more frequently targeted in criminal situations thus putting them at risk for sterilization.
Another moment that caught my attention was at the beginning of the chapter when Richmond built roads over the graveyards that held the remains of many popular blacks and people considered heroes.
Chapter 8:
“Integration, however slight, anywhere in Virginia would be a cancer eating at the very life blood of our public school system.”
It can be seen that education was highly valued, so much to a point that racist politicians believed it had to be restricted from blacks. This is evident in this quote above because the politicians try to mask their agenda through the good of the public school system. Instead, they want to prevent blacks from getting higher education. Education is very important, and it’s reflected later in the chapter when even more black are voted into office. With greater education, and more knowledge, the blacks were given a chance to take control or have influence in politics.
One thing that immediately struck my attention was the picture on page 128 of Daniel Trattles of the 19th Michigan Infantry after he was released from Belle Isle in Richmond. I think this really impacted me because of how deathly skinny he looks. By just looking at his shoulders and chest, I almost would not be able to guess he’s human because there’s just nothing there besides skin and bone. I never knew Belle Isle existed and it’s hard to believe that a prison like that existed in the US. I almost have this notion that yeah, things like this happen, and it’s awful but it seems so foreign, like it could never happen in America.
It also was crazy to read about the countless ways that people tried to continue suppressing black people after slavery was abolished. The school system especially focused entirely on targeting black people, expelling them from schools, and attempting to replace African-American school teachers with white teachers. Urban development was another way that white people attempted to continue to suppress black people. The text talks about the decision to extend 7th Street in Richmond so that it cut directly through Richmond’s historic black cemetery where many famous slaves were buried. Later on in the reading, chapter 8 talks about how highways were developed, splitting historically black communities and displacing residents who would eventually be reconcentrated back into public housing courts. It’s even crazier to think that all of this happened so recently.
The section about education and how white students were told a distorted, watered-down version of history was also interesting. The author talks about a specific textbook that was required for all 4th-grade students. This textbook spent two paragraphs out of 328 pages talking about slavery in the context of the Civil War. To top it all off, the textbook also says, “Some of the Negro servants left the plantation because they heard that President Lincoln was going to set them free. But most of the Negroes stayed on the plantations and went on with their work. Some of them risked their lives to protect the white people they loved,” (Campbell 147). This also reminded me of a conversation I had with one of my friends here at UR who grew up in Alabama. He said when he learned about the Civil War, it was referred to as “the succession of the North”. It’s unbelievable that to this day, we are trying to influence our youth through distorted views of history.
Juveniles crime should not be punctuated seriously, the society should give them more opportunities to let them develop their immature mind and values.
Juveniles’ lawyers do not get paid a lot, is normally about 150 dollars per person and they have to do the exactly same amount of work as any other cases.