Blog 28

Dear Principal,

            As students, we receive textbooks as a source of information and to teach us important facts - but what if some significant information was left out? If we were to leave out pieces of our homework, we would earn an "incomplete" for a grade. Leaving out parts of history in high school textbooks, in my opinion, would also be considered incomplete. I fully understand the concept of censoring certain topics or areas that are covered by young/grade school students to prevent fearful or shocked responses, but students at a high school level should be mature enough for the truth. At 18, we are allowed and encouraged to sign up for the military and potentially give our lives at war, but we're being deceived about our own countries history? That doesn't make sense to me. Before this weeks discussion, I had never heard of the Rape of Nanking, nor did I have any idea that other forms of genocide were taking place during WWII. I was also unaware of violent actions that took place in Russia in the early 1990's. Russian civilians were abused and murdered by their own military, which we were never informed of. History can be a very touchy subject to talk about, and discussing devastating events could offend or make students uncomfortable, but I feel it is necessary to teach these aspects so we can have a better understanding of our past.

Sincerely,
USH student

Blog 27

         Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extraction of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group. More than likely, this definition leads you to recall the actions of Hitler during the Holocaust. Yes, that is a genocide and it is arguably the most infamous one, but genocides still happen today. Genocides are happening today. Thankfully, we have had no true genocides in America, but should we ignore the ones that are occuring in other countries? Congo, Sudan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Burundi, Russia... these countries have all experienced horrible acts of genocide. As Americans with the luxury of living in a very powerful and successful country, it isn't easy to watch these acts of genocide occur in other countries, but it's also difficult to intervene. I think we should ship supplies such as: food, water, clothes... to countries suffering from genocide, but I do not believe actual military involvement would be the right decision. I think that trying to fight off the government or people performing the genocide would only ignite the flame. In situations such as this, we should try to save as many lives as possible. Sending our troups to help the countries in need would not satisfy this concept and, no doubt, would result in many Ameican casualties.

Blog 26

View Braddock's Fight Recod in a larger map

Blog 25

Cinderella Man Outline

• Takes place in New York/ New Jersey during the Great Depression
• James Braddock (protagonist) was a boxer who was forced to retire after breaking his hand in his last fight
• James's wife, Mae, would pray that he would quit boxing before he was permanently injured
• Like most families during the Great Depression, the Braddocks struggled to pay the bills and feed their children
• James worked at the docks when shifts were available (very few workers chosen, high unemployment rate) but still dreamed of being a boxer again
• Years after his last fight, James's old manager was able to provide him with another opportunity at boxing with a substitute fight against the second-ranked world contender
• Surprisingly, Braddock won this fight which allowed his boxing career to progress once again
• Braddock fights younger, stronger, and heavier boxers in the ring, but maintains his winning streak
• James is named the "Cinderella Man" for his amazing comeback
• He is a symbol of hope and determination for America
• Eventually, he gets the chance to fight the heavyweight champion, Max Baer, for the title
• Baer has killed two men in the ring and everyone (including his family) believed he would be the third
• Mae begs James to not take the fight and to stop trying to get more glory and publicity
• She doesn't realize what Braddock represents to other American families until right before the final fight
• Mae realized the symbol of hope James is to so many people and that he isn't just fighting for his own family - he fights for America.
• In the end, Braddock beat Max Baer in the championship fight and won the title

Weekly 7

      
       Sacco and Vanzetti were in an unfavorable position before the trial even began. Two  factors included: 1) that they were Italian immigrants in a time period when foreigners were not openly welcome and were considered suspicious for their differences and 2) that they were anarchists. The Italians emigrated to the United States in June of 1908 then, several years later, fled to Mexico for four months with other anarchists to avoid public or military service. During the Red Scare, the anarchist newspaper Sacco and Vanzetti wrote for exposed their names to the public for the first time. Around this time, many crimes were being committed and planned such as bomb plots and murders and Sacco and Vanzetti always seemed to be near by. These incidents cast a suspicious shadow over these two immigrants. Sacco and Vanzetti worked with other anarchists such as Ferruccio Coacci, Roberto Elia, Andrea Salsedo and Mario Boda who also seemed to be involved with several crimes around Massachusetts. Ferruccio Coacci told O. L. Root, the Bureau of Immigration Inspector, that he did not report as he was scheduled because he needed to care for his sick wife. A chief police looked into Coacci's story and went to his house to find Coacci's wife in fine health, and him packing a suitcase and insisting on leaving immediately. Suspicious cases similar to that of Coacci occurred often in the time when Sacco and Vanzetti were most active with their anti-government actions. On August 23, 1927, two men were murdered in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Sacco and Vanzetti were in the area at that time and were convicted with the murder. There was a highly politicized dispute over their innocence or guilt, as well as whether the trials were fair or not. The case presented was so weak because no hard evidence could prove their guilt or innocence. Several witnesses could identify Sacco and/or Vanzetti but did not have to pick them out of a line up or say them commit the crime. The first trial was held on Christmas Eve, 1919 and only Vanzetti was tried for an attempted robbery and murder (this was not a strong conviction either though). The second trial was for the murder Sacco and Vanzetti were accused of committing in South Braintree. Vanzetti testified that he had been selling fish at the time of the Braintree robbery and Sacco testified that he had been in Boston, applying for a passport at the Italian consulate. These men had a history of lying to officers, however; and few people could barely confirm they were at the scene of the crime. Weak, unhelpful, evidence like this continued for a significant amount of time and eventually the judges had to make a decision. Based on their unfavorable background by being Italian immigrants and anarchists, the lying and suspicious behavior didn't help their situation very much. Finally, on April 9, 1927, Judge Thayer heard the final statements from Sacco and Vanzetti and sentenced them to death via the electric chair. Based on the lack of hard evidence, I would argue in favor of Sacco and Vanzetti's innocence, even considering their criminal history or different ethnicity.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/SaccoV/SaccoV.htm

Blog 24

        With time, there comes change and progression. Life was different in the early 1900's than it is today in the 21st century. One major change is whether evolution or creationism is allowed to be taught in schools or not. Today, it is illegal to teach creationism in public schools because it may offend people of different religions. Coming from a Catholic school and being quite religious, I do believe in creationism over evolution but I do not think it is appropriate to be taught in public schools. There is really no "happy medium" when dealing with this topic, but evolutionism is considered less offensive, hence the reason why it is taught in public schools today. People may argue that both theories should be taught, but with hundreds of different religions, which ones would we choose to teach? Obviously, they can't ALL be taught. Should only the "important" ones be taught then? How would we distinguish which religion is the true form of creation? I believe evolution is taught because it's much easier to explain through science. I don't believe everything can be explained through science however, but it's pretty much impossible to teach the unexplainable which creationism follows. In the 1900's, it was illegal to teach anything other than creationism. The biology teacher, John Scopes, was put on trial for teaching evolution to children in school. This is ironic because we have completely reversed this rule now so creationism is illegal to teach and evolution must be taught. If the people do not agree with which theory is taught, then they have the right to attend a public or private school where they have the choice of learning the theory they believe in.

Blog 23

Topic 7 Study Guide



Scopes Trial - In 1925, a biology teacher, John Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution. During this time, only creationism was allowed to be taught in schools and other ideas such as evolution and Darwinism were not accepted.

Prohibition - The 18th Amendment was issued in 1920 to ban the manufacture and sale of alcohol because of increased amounts of domestic violence and corruption. The IRS enforced this act which seemed predestined to fail because consumption, possession and transportation was still legal, making it impossible to completely ban alcohol. The 21st Amendment later repealed this.

Flappers - Young women in the 1920's who were typically seen wearing short, revealing dresses and smoking a cigarette.

Economic Issues (1920's) - In this time period, new consumer demands emerged such as automobiles and radios, consumer credits expanded and the stock market escalated. Investors began to take advantage of margin loans provided by their brokers and people started selling their stocks to cause problems in the economy, leading to the Great Depression.

Dust Bowl - This was a time of extreme drought in the Midwest which lasted about 15 years. New technologies for farming were introduced causing the soil to become less compact and more susceptible to be blown around in the strong winds.

Agriculture Issues - Farmers had to rotate their crops in order ensure better products. The drought made it very difficult to grow the plants due to the poor soil quality and lack of water. Tractors and plowing machines were new forms of technology but loosened the soil which quickly blew away in the wind.

Immigration Policies (1920's) - In 1924, Immigration acts were passes to limit ethnic groups to 2% of the count from the 1890 census. We started to limit Immigrants after WWI for security reasons and we banned the Asians entirely. This resulted in chaos because the opposition of quotas disappeared.

Nativism - This refers to the opposition of immigration or efforts to lower political or legal status of different ethnic groups because they are considered foreign.

Significant Literary Works - Jacob Riis wrote a book about city life and how people were living, Upton Sinclare wrote "The Jungle" to inform us about the meat-packing industry, Ralph Nader wrote "Unsafe at any Speed" which was about vehicle safety and Langston Hughes wrote "The Ways of White Folks", embracing his culture and writing about white people.

The Great Migration - After the Civil War, most people stayed where they were. In the 1920's, people began to move from the south to the north, creating racial differentiation and new cultures to form.

Harlem Renaissance - African Americans who recently moved to NYC took ownership for literature, art, music (especially jazz)

Sacco and Venzetti - Italian anarchists who were charged with murder and found guilty two times. Evidence was found that someone switched Sacco's barrel on the gun that he used during the murder; they were never given another trial and were both executed by the electric chair.

Labor Issues (1920's) - Unions did not thrive during this time period because for years they had concentrated their efforts on workers skilled in one specific area. The rising mass-production industries were not favorable to the unions and their workers were largely unskilled.

The Red Scare - After the end of WWI and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Red Scare emerged in the United States. The Red Scare brought a nationwide fear of communists, socialists and anarchists causing many innocent people to be jailed for expressing ideas relating to those topics.

Schenck v. United States - Charles Schenck, secretary of the Socialist Party of Ameica, printed, distributed and mailed oppositions to military draftees during WWI. The Supreme Court decision defended the Espionage Act (1917) which concluded that a defendant did not have a First Amendment right to freedom of speech against the draft used in WWI.

Blog 22

        During the Organized Crime presentation, I learned about several active gangsters in the early 1900's. John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson and Machine Gun Kelly were the specific gangsters involved in crimes such as: robbery, theft, and murder. John Dillinger robbed over two dozen banks, escaped from jail twice and even carried out some crimes with Baby Face Nelson. Bonnie and Clyde were the rare couple criminals who were responsible for many murders and robberies. Baby Face Nelson was mostly known for bank robberies and killing the most FBI agents in the line of duty than any other American citizen! Machine Gun Kelly's most famous crime was his kidnapping of Charles Urschel which later led to his arrest in 1933. These criminals were significant to "gangster history" for the organized or planned methods of carrying out the crimes.

Blog 21

Acrostic Poem

People drank more

Raged wives supported it

Only manufacture and sale was prohibited

Hard to enforce

IRS was in charge

Bad choice because they deal with taxes

It caused the opposite reaction

Transportation was still allowed within USA

Impossible to completely ban

New amendment (21st) later repealed this

Religion didnt matter to New Americans

Old Americans were still firm believers

Anarchists Sacco and Venzetti were charged with murder

Red Scare started from Bolshevik Revolution

Immigration restrictions were made

New fads for women

Giggle water became popular

Tea time was replaced with cocktail hour

We banned Asians

Entirely

New consumer demands

This time period preceded the Great Depression

If you were foreign, unamerican actions caused suspicion and consequences

Ethnic groups were limited to 2% of count from 1890 census

Soldiers returned home