Rebecca Ann's Blog

For our EOTO and mock trial this week we did, Brown v. Board of Education. Which was the case where the court found that racial segregation in public schools was an act of discrimination and that it violated the 14th amendment. So around 1952, the supreme court outlawed discrimination in public accommodations and ruled that separating children in public schools solely on the basis of race was unconstitutional. This case made racial segregation in the public schools in American come to end, which canceled out the “separate but equal” doctrine that was set in the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896.                                                           For our EOTO, our group was researching the negative occurrences that happened within the civil rights movements, and my job was to research “Bloody Sunday”. So to start it...

 The Eight Values of Free Expressions, without these values, we as American citizens wouldn't be able to do a lot of things we take for granted.  They are a part of why America is the way it is today. So here they are! Marketplace of Ideas  I feel this is an idea for a more open community; this concept seems to draw its attention to sharing individuals' opinions, hence creating a more open community. The concept of marketplace ideas allows people to make their own decisions based on what they want because the key in this concept is to put everything out there. In Milton John's book, Areopagitica , He wrote this in protest of censorship because he believes it is wrong; which it most definitely is! It is not up to the people who censor it's up to the people to hear what it is and decide for themselves. Participation in Self Government  With participation in self-government, it's almost a way of them looking at speech as a way to keep an eye out for what government can...

  Below is a speech I wrote from the perspective of Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe. Some additional information is;  Around 1850, when Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law , Stowe decided to write a book about the abolishment of slavery. The Stowe family were extremely against slavery and even supported the  Underground Railroad while they temporally housed several escaped slaves in their own household.  Portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Francis Holl, 1853 Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe, born June 14, 1811, was known to be a revolutionary author who wrote about thirty books in her lifetime. She rose to fame around 1852 when her book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was published. This book was intended to popularize the emotional portrayal of the negativity on slavery individuals. This book captured America's attention; in Stowe’s book, she made it known that slavery touched all society and added the debate about abolition and slavery. This created a riot in the south and...

  Instead of us having a regular class day, we got to watch Gone with the Wind in the HPU theater. I remember watching the first part of this movie a long time ago, but I think I was too young to understand the movie; so I was happy we had the opportunity to watch it again. To start it off, since the movie is around four hours we only had the option of watching the first part; but it starts off before the civil war. In Georgia, a girl known as Scarlett O’Hara appeared to be a selfish, young woman who mostly wrapped her life around partying and flirting with men. The movie involves a predicament where Scarlett is deeply in love with a man, Ashley, that is bound to marry his cousin. Scarlett is extremely upset about this and decides to get dressed up and go confess her love to him, but her plans did not go her way. Ashley respectfully tells Scarlett that he can not marry her; she gets even more upset and angry about this rejection and goes on to marry Charles Hamilton in a blink of a...

  What I learned about the Positives and negatives of the Reconstruction era. I learned that the 13th Amendment immediately freed over 100,000 slaves from the states of Kentucky to Delaware and that this Amendment was a response to President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Which was brought on January 1,1863 where Lincoln gave the authority to employ African Americans in a military capacity.  Freedmen’s Bureau, this act was considered one of the key factors of the Reconstruction era. Where it created a great improvement for the lives of a lot of freed slaves by providing protection. Including food, shelter, land, and other hospitality aspects. They also provided school establishments and offered legal assistance. Though their major goal was to give slaves rights and the ability to participate in political parties.  The reconstruction policies are known as “40 Acres and a Mule” would offer long-awaited economic justice to African Americans. Was a promise by Union Gene...

In our second mock trial, our case was Plessy v. Ferguson. Plessy was a man that considered himself to be “seven-eighths Caucasian and one-eighth African blood” though he presented himself as a proud black man. Plessy is allegedly arrested for sitting in a white train car and is sent to the United States Supreme Court to undergo trial. In his trial, he argued that the Louisiana segregation law violated his civil freedom and the 14th amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. While the whole Supreme court argued the decision that justified the constitutionality of racial segregation by the "Separate but equal" doctrine. Meaning that Plessy’s civil freedom rights were not violated since they had a car for African Americans as well. There was only one man that objected. Justice John Marshall Harlan, the dissent of the case. He objected the Louisiana statute should not stand. For under this statute they are regulating a seat on a train on the basis of color, neither the passengers nor...

  In January of 1863 after the Civil War, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that stated: “that all persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free.” Lincoln also helped approve the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. This was considered a great success for African Americans with their long-drawn-out fight for equality. Though they rejoiced with what has happened a lot wanted to interfere with the steps forward of African Americans in the United States. A lot of the local governments created things such as Jim Crow laws that fought to legalize racial segregation to stop African Americans from having equal rights. When this started Americans went into what is known as the Reconstruction Era. This proceeded with all the steps forward in Black progress being paused until the civil rights movement  After this happened violent groups started to surface; the most popular one was the Ku Klux Klan also known as the KKK. Popular in the south, the KKK was a ...