Crater Lake Presentation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19n4j7HLBnjinv5O4EQ3Au2xZqLeDQyfeNp4NJly7rdk/edit?usp=sharing

San Jose State students accused of tormenting black roommate are charged with hate crimes

I just wanted to share this article that I found based on San Jose State.  There was a student that was been tormented by his three white roommates.  This is taken from the San Jose Mercury News: "white roommates nicknamed him "Three-fifths," referring to the way the government once counted blacks as just a fraction of a person. When he protested, they dubbed him "Fraction."

Its unfortunate to see that what happened in the 1960s is still happening today. 



http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_24566367/san-jose-state-students-charged-gate-crime

Chinese Political Students: Opinion on America

This an interview was conducted to Beijing students.  In there interview they describe that America values Democracy.  Democracy may not suit China because if it did then they would apply it.  Their opinion on America is that our government thinks that they need to save people from communism.  Democracy may be an absolute value in the U.S but it might not be in other countries.  They see that China will be striding ahead, they see capacity not power.  They stated something that really caught my attention, "Chinese see themselves with unemployment and inflation" when other people see them with opportunities.  This is true for America as well, Americans see America it their perspective because they actually live in America.  This reminds me of a saying that is commonly said "Put yourself in their shoes." We won't truly understand the reason why people live in the places they choose to live unless we see it in their perspective.

The AIDS epidemic and Outbursts of Violence

In this chapter the epidemic rage continues on.  By 200 U.S deaths from the disease surpassed 458,000.  Medications were developed to treat HIV, an infection that often precedes AIDS.  The musical that we still know today called Rent explored the human and cultural impact of AIDS.  AIDS continues to be a problem today but people are more aware about the problem.  There are also more controceptives in which people can take.  Unfortunately we still haven't been able to find a cure but we have been able to control it and prevent it.  It was also a time where violence broke out.  The overall rates fell nearly 20 percents between 1992 and 2000.  Gun deaths exceeded twenty-eight thousand in 2000.  This section of the chapter also brought up the Columbine shooting, where twelve students and a teacher were shot by  two students that went there and afterwards the students committed suicide.

Gay Liberation

Gay liberation emerged to the public in 1969.  There was a raid by New York City police and the homosexual patrons of the Stonewall Inn unexpectedly fought back.  This triggered a surge of ”gay pride” and created widespread of activism.  Gay Liberation movement rose and declared “We are going to be who we are.”  By 1973 eight hundred openly gay groups campaigned for equal rights, for incorporating lesbianism into the women’s movement and for removing the stigma of immorality and depravity attached to being gay.  Today people are openly gay but they still face discrimination by many people and they continue to fight for equal rights.  We have made progress throughout the years, now gay can get legally married in some states.  The fight continues for them.

Wendy Kopp interview on Education Inequality

Education inequality is an issue still today and even though there has been some changes made we still need to more active in the cause.  Wendy Kopp is the CEO and the founder of Teach For America.  Teach For America is a growing movement of leaders who work to ensure that kids growing up in poverty get an excellent education.  In this interview Wendy Kopp speaks about how there needs to be changes made in the education system.  She states that we need to be activists towards education equality.  She references the movie “Stand and Deliver” a movie that was based on Jamie Escalante helps students in an East Los Angeles high school pass the calculus advance placement test.  She said that this movie not only focused on the issue that exist but that it also focused on Jamie Escalante and his motivation to make a difference.  It was brought to the publics attention that we need to be more involved in making a difference.

http://youtu.be/eUqDMfghrX0

The Story of Kathryn Fentress

I chose the following story that I’m about to tell because in many cases we’ve heard of how the African Americans felt like but I wanted to see a different perspective from a white woman.  In this case this white woman isn’t like any of the other whites during this time.  She supported and helped African Americans be able to fight for equality.  Her story is in some ways similar and different from what the African Americans stories are but none the less her actions made a difference and it contribute to some part in me choosing this story.

“I live in Ormond Beach, but I write from the county jail in St. Augustine. I write to you, my community, because I learned that you have been informed of my presence here and I wish to discuss it with you. Twenty years ago this week my father was killed in action on an island in the Pacific, fighting for the freedom of his family, his country, his world. Twenty years ago, on the same day he died, I was born, and it is fitting that I am now fighting for the same thing.

The army I have joined is a non-violent one born out of suffering and love and concerned not only with the welfare of America’s Negro citizens but with the spiritual well being of our whole country. I marched quietly with more than 400 others through the streets of St. Augustine and looked into eyes of hatred. I felt sick to my stomach when some behind me were attacked and all we knew was the sound of screaming, bricks being thrown, and barking dogs.
I hurt for those that suffered then, I hurt because there is only one of me from my community; I hurt for my state that tries in vain to cling to the immoral traditions of the past; I hurt for my country that has failed to live up to the principles on which it was founded. I hurt for all humanity that has not yet learned how to live in a spirit of love and brotherhood. That is why I am here: I hurt.”

Kathryn Fentress was 17 years old when she was sent to a Conference on Human Relations by her Congressional Church in Daytona Beach, Florida.  She was a white young woman born and brought up in the South between her junior and senior years of high school.  She was an honor student and was planning on going to college.  At the conference she met a group of young people that was led by John Lewis of Georgia.  He was organizing a number of students to do some picketing there in Nashville, protesting against the segregation laws and for the civil rights of all Americans.

Kathryn finished her senior year and began her studies at Duke University.  In the summer of 1963 when visiting some friends, they all decided to join in at a sit-in at Woolworth’s Dime store.  Some black kids went to in to sit at the counter and request service.  Some black and white marched in front of the store with protest signs.  She later joined a bus of students that was going to Washington D.C to take part in the march on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. would give his “I Have A Dream” speech.

She worked with Dr. Martin Luther king in all the marches and nonviolence movements he had.  She was moved and inspired by him.  Kathryn faced people’s hatred wherever they went.  She was arrested in many occasions but that didn’t stop her.  A policeman couldn’t understand what she was doing with the black people and when he was informed that she went to Duke University he couldn’t believe it.  He made it clear that someone like her couldn’t be possibly going to Duke because only smart people went there.

Kathryn’s active involvement in the civil rights movement in St. Augustine ended after the summer of 1964.  She returned to Duke University and got her degree in psychology eventually earning her doctorate in psychology.  Kathryn says that “I basically went underground politically, letting my political activism be expressed through my work, as a psychologist.  I try to empower my clients to challenge their programs, their belief systems, helping them to be more compassionate and empathetic.”  She says that she still believes as she did at 17 that she needs to stand up and participate in these humanitarian causes.

Ch 28 blog

After many years of fighting, African Americans continue to fight for the right to be equal.  Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister whose leadership galvanized the modern, grass-roots civil rights movement in the 1960s.  He launched nonviolent marches, sit-ins and prayings in Birmingham, Alabama.  Birmingham was the most segregated big city in America.   On June 11 president Kennedy went on television to define civil rights as “ a moral issue” and to assert that “race has no place in American life or law.”  Kennedy proposed a bill that would outlaw segregation in public facilities and authorize the federal government to withhold funds from programs that discriminated.  Martin Luther King Jr led a march to Washington in 1963 where he gave his famous speech “I Have A Dream.”  He had turned a political rally into a historic event.  This movement just aggravated the white people’s anger even more and some lives of African Americans were lost. 

Kennedy’s assassination broke the hearts of many Americans.  Lyndon Johnson took the role as president and created the Civil Rights Act.   The most significant civil-rights law in the U.S history banned racial discrimination and segregation in public accommodations.  It outlawed bias in federally funded programs, granted the federal government new powers to fight school segregation, and created the Equal Employment Opportunity to enforce a ban on job discrimination on the basis of race religion, national origin, or gender.  One thing that the Civil Rights of 1964 did not address was the right to vote.  In 1965 the president signed the Voting Rights Act that allowed the federal government to protect the rights of blacks to vote; transformed southern politics. Black power rose in 1966 which expressed eagerness of militant activists for militant self-defense and rapid social change.  Malcolm X was a radical leader that proclaimed Black Power and challenged the nonviolent wing of the movement. As a result many African Americans were able to gain education and professions but others were still stuck in poverty.

Life in the 1950s

During suburban America, Americans purchased 58 million new cars during the 1950s.  Manufacturers persuaded people to trade in by offering flashier models.  Federal spending on highways skyrocketed from $79 million in 1946 to 2.6 billion in 1960.  California’s population increased between 1945 and 1964.  Los Angeles had the highest ownership of private homes and cars of any city.  Americans in the 1950s tended to marry young and have babies quickly.  The number of births peaked at 123 in 1957 when an American baby was born every seven-seconds.  Baby Boom was an enormous population spurt from 1946 to 1964, and this once again reinforced the idea that the women’s place was at home.  Marriage and parenthood was glorified by the popular culture throughout the 1950s.  Americans spent more time and money on entertainment and television became the dominant medium as it changed the political life.

Ch 24: Crash and Depression

Black Friday and the onset of the great depression led people to loose all they had.  In 1925 the market value was 27 billion and by October 1929 the market value had raised to 87 billion causing stockbrokers to lend buyers up to 75% of a stocks cost.  Lending institutions would lend out money freely.  This all went down hill on October 24, 1929 also known as “Black Friday.” Prices fell and some stocks found no buyers, the economy went into depression.  Structural weakness in the American economy made the 1920s prosperity unstable.  
Key industries such as railroads, steel, textiles, and mining lagged technologically in the 1930s and weren’t able to attract the investment needed to stimulate recovery.  All analysis linked the U.S depression to a global economic crisis.By 1933 nearly more than fifty-five hundred banks had closed and unemployment stood at 25 percent and those who still had jobs faced cuts in their pay and hours.  President Hoover urged business leaders to maintain wages and employment.  Unemployment was a local issue and therefore Hoover advised city and state officials to create public-works projects.  in 1931 he was able to persuade the nations largest banks to create a private lending agency to help smaller banks make business loans. 
The public turned against Hoover and the crisis got worse.  Hoover called for a tax increase which angered the Americans even more.  In January Hoover recommended that Congress set up a new agency called the Reconstruction Finance Corporation(RFC).  The RFC was establish to make loans to banks and other lending institutions.  Hoovers unpopularity deepened, some people were living in boxes and packing crates only keeping them warm with newspapers also known as “Hoover blankets. ”  The suicide rate increased and violence threatened to erupt in some cities when landlords evicted families unable to pay their rent.

In the election of 1932 Americans refused to have Hoover as president any longer.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt gain presidency and the democrats had the congress and white house now.  Roosevelt showed confidence and the people were captured by that.

Women in the New Economic Era

The assembly line and mass production created the consumer economy with the automobile.  In the 1920s most women were working outside of home, but males dominated in the work field.  Most men worked in auto plants and other assembly-line factories.  Women face wage discrimination, men were getting paid more than men.  By the 1930s 2 million women were working in corporate offices as secretaries,typists, or filing clerks.  About fifty-thousand women received college degrees. Women would entered traditional “women’s professions” such as: nursing, librarianship, and school teaching.  Medical school limited the number of women physicians between 1910-1930.  Women were seen as consumers.  Glamorous women smiled behind the steering wheel, swooned over new appliances and smoked cigarettes in romantic settings.