This week the entire world focused on the daring and risky raid that ended in the death of Public Enemy Number One…Osama Bin Laden. After years of gathering information and putting together numerous but disparate clues, our intelligence agencies pointed to a million dollar complex located outside the capitol of Pakistan as the likely hide-out of Osama Bin Laden. The high compound walls, ringed with barbed wire, the lack of phone or internet service and the occupants’ habit of burning all trash led our analysts to believe this may be the hideout they had been looking for. While there was no certainty that Bin Laden was in the compound, all clues indicated this was our best option. President Obama made the decision to order a commando raid, rather than a bombing or missile attack, to ensure confirmation that Bin Laden was the occupant and to collect the mass of intelligence information that would be available. As we learn more and more details of the raid, conducted by Navy Seals, it seems we are watching a Hollywood movie…a night raid, a helicopter that fails, a running gun battle as they move through the compound, a woman who shields the target, and the treasure trove of computer data and files brought back for further study. This event will surely be highlighted in new textbooks.
On Friday, President Obama was back in our studies as we received a response from The White House to your letters. The package included photos and a letter to you from the President. His letter thanks you for writing to him with ideas and suggestions and urges all of you to set high standards and work hard. This is a special moment for our class…you should feel proud you were able to articulate your thoughts and the President of the United States responded. The letter will be framed and we will post it in our class. Great job!
Oral History Project
The excitement is building as you think about your project, a topic and a person to interview. You have the guidelines, the rubric and the preliminary interview sheet. The preliminary sheet should be completed as quickly as possible so your person and topic can be approved. Most classes completed the decades activity, which will help you decide what your focus will be for the oral history project. I have already had students tell me they have found a friend or relative who would speak with them on such diverse topics as Beatle mania, the Great Depression, Vietnam, and the Civil Rights Movement. You have a great deal of flexibility in this project but you must make some decisions early in the process so you have the time to put together a quality interview. Think hard about the questions you will ask and be prepared with follow-up questions.
Civil Rights Movement
We continued with our study of this movement by first looking at the diverse strategies and leaders. We had Dr. Martin Luther King at one end of the spectrum…a man who advocated nonviolent confrontation. Other leaders, such as Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael, were discouraged by the slow progress and turned towards the threat of violence and advocating for separate black communities.
We also looked at key events including the lunch counter sit-ins, the Freedom Riders, and the Birmingham protests. We learned that publicity, including photos and television coverage, played an important role in teaching people outside the Deep South about some of the violence and humiliation African Americans experienced every day. One early attempt at integration in Georgia, the Albany Movement, failed in part because the chief of police made mass arrests but avoided scenes of dramatic violence to prevent the protestors from gathering additional sympathy and support.
We also read an excerpt from one of the most eloquent pieces of writing to come out of this movement, Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” We looked at word choice and the structure of the letter to better understand how Dr. King was able to evoke such an emotional response. His use of parallelism, listing the grievances and using his 6 year old daughter, mother, and wife as examples of innocent victims, personified the suffering he described in terms any reader could understand.
You also had a quiz on the events of this time period. Your syllabus clearly indicates when you will be quizzed so please be prepared. We are doing most of our work and assessments in class this quarter so earning high quiz grades will help you meet standard.
Little Rock Nine
Of all the events within this time period, the one that speaks loudest to students is the integration of Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas. We watched a clip from a 6 hour PBS documentary “Eyes on the Prize” that highlighted this effort to have nine African American students attend what had been an all white high school. Officials at first did not think it would be a problem, but once the day arrived, a mob made up of people from all over the South formed. The Governor brought in the National Guard to keep the African American students out of the school. President Eisenhower, who had to uphold the Supreme Court ruling on integration, met with Governor Faubus in Newport and urged him to allow the students to enter. When the Governor returned to Arkansas, he replaced the National Guard with local police, again with the intent to keep the African American students from entering. It was at this point the President sent in federal troops. As one of the students, Ernie Green said, “It was a year like no other school year.” A story of courage - and to think it happened just a little over 50 years ago.
Freedom Riders
We are also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the people, both African American and white, who took the Freedom Ride from Washington DC into the deep South in an effort to get buses and bus facilities desegregated. To celebrate this event PBS will be showing a documentary on May 16. We watched a clip from the upcoming show. I would urge you to take the time to hear the stories of these riders. This is a great example of what can be learned by listening to those who witnessed history in the making.
Our Unit is ending
We are almost done with our study of the Civil Rights Movement. If you have been following your syllabus you know we have a few concluding questions on why politicians were so slow to act on civil rights legislation.
As announced, you will have an in class writing assignment on the movement. You will write on one of four questions.
The Women’s Movement
Our next unit of study will look at the women’s movement that began just as the civil rights movement was becoming successful. You will have a syllabus and we will start with a section from your text. Please bring your book to class so you can complete the assignment during the class period.
International Speaker Series
Our last speaker will be from the United Kingdom and be with us during advisory on May 13. You will be given a pass to present to your advisory teacher. As part of your final exam, you will have questions based on our series.
Mother’ Day
In 1915, President Wilson designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Julie Ward Howe, author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and a former summer resident of Portsmouth, introduced the idea of honoring mothers in 1872. Howe believed that by honoring Mothers we would also be honoring peace. Mothers play many different roles in our lives and over time our perception of these roles can change. CNN did a piece on the questions everyone should ask their mothers. They are questions well worth thinking about…here is the link so you can see the questions you may want to ask your mother or the woman you look to as a mother.
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