Civil Rights Milestones

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. Sheets were due on Friday but many of you were out due to field trips so you have until Monday to hand in your preliminary interview questions. You have lots of ideas from our Decades Project to select from and if you missed that activity, take a walk along the timelines posted in the classroom starting with 1950 and ending with 2000. A number of students have told me they have found a friend or relative who would speak with them on such diverse topics as Beatlemania, 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 time to put together a quality interview. Think hard about the questions you will ask and be prepared with follow-up questions. You will have one day in the library next week to do research on your topic so you can develop quality questions. Once you are prepared, you are ready to talk with your interviewee. Your final product can be written, taped or recorded…your choice. Civil Rights Movement We continued with our study of this movement by first looking at the diverse strategies and leaders. Dr. Martin Luther King stood 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. You have a chart for homework that you need to fill out after reading the one page handout on the movement. We can see that the Civil Rights movement had numerous leaders who employed different tactics with the aim of winning civil liberties for all. Brown versus Board of Education We read an excerpt from the Supreme Court ruling in 1954 that outlawed segregation in schools. The unanimous court ruled that separate facilities were unequal and thus schools had to be integrated. This was not a popular decision in the South, and northern schools struggled to integrate by busing children out of their own neighborhoods to schools in other parts of the city where either white or black students were needed to meet the court orders. Little Rock Nine Of all the events within this era, 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 of opponents 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 at the summer White House in Newport, near Fort Adams, 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. At one point as the mob surged someone suggested they lynch one of the students to placate the crowd. What a chilling thought that an adult would actually suggest hanging a teenager as a way to calm the crowd! But frequent lynchings were a way of life for African Americans living in the Deep South. If you are interested in learning more about this heinous time in our history you should read “Lynching and Spectacle” by Amy Wood. 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. Four Little Girls We also watched a clip from Spike Lee’s documentary on the bombing of a church in Birmingham Alabama in 1963 that resulted in the death of four young girls who had just finished their Sunday school lessons. Americans saw the faces of these young innocent children and felt a new surge of disgust with how African Americans were being treated. The accumulation of outrageous actions finally led President Johnson and the Congress to address these injustices with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While the law clearly states that all Americans must be treated equally we all know that the law may say one thing but some people will continue to act in a bigoted manner. We must as a society be constantly on guard not to let our civil liberties erode and we must come to the defense of any group that may be feeling this persecution. There may be a time when we will feel the sting of prejudice and we want to know that others will stand up for our rights. Quiz Time You will have a quiz on chapter 27, section 4, of your text during our next class meeting. Make sure you understand the significance of the Brown case, Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall and the influence World War II had on the civil rights movement. You also need to know about the role of President Eisenhower and the focus of the NAACP during the 1950’s. Stay Safe Our mock car crash this week was a chilling reminder of what can happen when people make bad decisions. As we enter prom season, please take the time to think about your decisions and never get into a car with someone who has been drinking or is impaired in any other way. As a parent, I would want my child to call me and a safe ride will be provided with no questions asked.

Time for R and R

Our week started off with one less candidate for President as former Senator Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania bowed out of the race. While polls showed him a long shot for the nomination, an even more crucial indicator was also pointing in the wrong direction…he was running out of money. Running a political campaign with staff, travel and advertising is a costly venture. Many well qualified people are discouraged by the daunting task of raising the millions of dollars needed. Governor Romney, a very good fund raiser, is also a millionaire in his own right so when funds run low he can go to his own bank account. It is that time of year when many start talking about public financing of campaigns. The advantages of public financing would encourage all to run and remove the pressure to support donors once elected with legislation or favors that might not be what the country needs. On the other side of the equation, public financing would limit the amount of money spent and therefore could hamper a candidate’s ability to get out the message. Something to think about.

On the international scene, we witnessed North Korea’s failed attempt to launch a satellite into space. While this may slow their ability to launch nuclear weapons, it is a clear warning to the world community that they remain serious about developing long-range missiles.


Cold War Wrap Up

This week we finished our study of the Cold War by watching “Duck and Cover” and two clips about the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis. I urge you to talk with family members about this time period and the unique role Newport played during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the city was still home port for the Atlantic Fleet.

Oral history makes our past come alive and gives major events a more personal meaning. As we enter our last quarter, you will be interviewing someone who has lived through events we are talking about so you can get a better understanding of how they affect all of us. I can guarantee you that in years to come, when your own children are taking American History, they will ask you about what is was like during the economic slowdown of 2010 or when President Obama was elected. You are living history and you will be the primary sources of the future. Stay alert!

We finished our unit with a look at the controversy surrounding the Vietnam War. By using music, photos, and documents you could see why the country was divided. Where is Vietnam…why are we there…who is the enemy? After completing your guiding questions, you worked with your group to come up with a thesis. This is what it means to be an historian…asking questions, reviewing a variety of sources, and then coming up with a thesis.

Many of you did a great job on your final assessment. You had multiple choice questions and a writing activity that focused on your vocabulary list.
So now you are on break with no homework. Enjoy!

Three Down and One to Go

We finished our third quarter this week. We want to thank Ms. MacRoberts for all she did to make this quarter such a success. She will be with us for two more weeks and then it is time for her to take finals and walk the stage herself. I think all of us who have had the pleasure of working with Ms. MacRoberts have learned a great deal. Make sure you take the time to say thank you.

Civil Rights Unit

Our next unit of study will be the Civil Rights Movement. While most historians focus on events that deal with African American efforts to gain political and economic rights long denied them, our concept of civil rights for all groups is constantly expanding. We will start with the efforts by such key leaders as Martin Luther King, the Little Rock Nine, Malcolm X and others to bring African Americans into parity with whites. But the success of their efforts also led women and other minority groups to fight for their rights. A recent news article reported on California’s efforts to include Gay History in the high school curriculum to further broaden the concept of civil rights for all Americans.

If you are looking for a good book on this period, I recommend “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. It tells the story of several black maids and their relationship with their white employers in Mississippi in the 1960’s. It is a moving and sometimes disturbing account of how racial divides were viewed very differently by whites and blacks. This book has appeared on the best seller list for hardbacks for over 100 weeks and is now on the e-book best seller list.

International Officers

On Friday we heard from our last officers, from Argentina, Chile and Italy. These presentations have felt like mini-travelogues as we see each country through the eyes of a native. They have offered us a glimpse into all their countries and we thank the Naval War College for making this opportunity available. I hope the presentations have heightened your interest in international travel and your understanding of the perspectives of other countries.

Oral History Project

This week you received your final quarter project. You will be conducting an oral history on a topic of your choosing (once approved) with someone who experienced the event. You have a great deal of flexibility in how you approach the topic and what the final interview will look like. If you are into technology, you may do a podcast or a movie….think of all the possibilities. You have a one-week window to hand in the project. While it is nice to have choice, don’t let all this flexibility overwhelm you…think over the break who might be a good person to talk with and of course select a topic that interests you. We will talk more about the project upon your return.

Time for some R and R

So now we are on break…no homework…but I know you will keep up with the news. This blogger will be off next weekend, so no posting.

Looking towards Space

This week we continued our study of the Cold War by looking at how the government and ordinary people coped with the increasing fear of Communism and the arms race. The Russians increased the pressure on the US by being the first to launch a satellite into space, Sputnik. The Americans countered with the establishment of NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The pressure to put a man into space continued as the Russians were the first to put a dog into space and the first to put a man, Yuri Gagarin into space and to return him safely. NASA quickly responded by establishing the first class of astronauts, known as the Mercury 7 which included Alan Shepard, the US first man into space and John Glenn, the first US astronaut to orbit the earth. For those of you interested in the early days of space travel I recommend reading “The Right Stuff” by Tom Wolfe or watching the movie version. People during this time were enthralled by space travel and magazines, radio and TV were filled with stories about the preparations for space travel and the race between the US and Russia to be the first to the moon.

Back on earth, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin, held hearings focused on finding and rooting out Communists who may have infiltrated our government or armed forces. Many citizens were concerned with the growth of Communism around the world and the possibility of spies at home. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted in 1951 of spying for the Russians and were the first US civilians executed for espionage.

Seeing this issue as a political opportunity, McCarthy launched what his critics called a “witch hunt,” looking for anyone with Communist leanings. While the threat of espionage was real, his tactics ruined the lives and careers of many who were tarnished by association with radicals or views they had held years earlier and later abandoned. McCarthy drew national attention and exerted great influence as he presided over heavily publicized Congressional hearings where he harshly grilled those subpoenaed to testify. He finally went too far by falsely accusing members of the armed services of being Communists, which led to his downfall when the Senate condemned his reckless attacks. Three years later, in 1957, he died.

You had the opportunity this week to take notes from our chapter “The Cold War in the United States” and to use these notes on a quiz. Taking good notes is a skill you will use in all your classes and in future endeavors. If you missed the quiz this week, please come by for a makeup….you have 5 days.

We also looked over your results from the Korean War survey. After collecting data and adding to that of your fellow students, you were able to test the hypothesis, “Was the Korean War the forgotten war?” Your text devotes just three columns to a conflict that lasted two grueling years and resulted in the death of over 54,000 soldiers.
To reinforce our vocabulary from this time period, we watched an episode of “Boy Meets World.”

End of the Quarter

The end of third quarter is fast approaching. We updated the status of assignment sheet this week and to date you have earned 190 points. The quiz on the Cold War adds another 10 points so next week we will update the sheet and you can figure out your score. The quarter ends April 5. We do not have school Friday, April 6.