Blog #15

Newspaper reflection

I contributed an article about the transatlantic telegraph cable and how it was destroyed by the chief electrician. I also included a picture of where the cable lines traveled. I wish I was able to contribute more time to the entire project, but I had a family emergency come up; so I was not able to be at school the entire week. Next time, I will try and tell my group that I will not be there if something comes up.

PICTURES

Segregation, Then and Now

The supreme court case of Brown Vs. Board of Education helped ignite integration in public schools; but it was not able to erase segregation completely.
Brown Vs. B.OE supreme court case was about two black girls named Linda and terry Lynn Brown who had to walk through a railroad switch yard to get to there all-black school(More info here). The Browns believed that the segregated school violated the 14th amendment. Just 48 years before, the case of Plessy Vs. Ferguson, concluded that,

"The object of the [Fourteenth] Amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political, equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either."—Justice Henry Billings Brown, speaking for the majority

After much debate on the Brown Vs. B.O.E case, the supreme court took back what they said about the Plessy Vs. Ferguson case and concluded, "We conclude that the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

Segregation then

In the early 1900s, segregation was everywhere. Every part of life had one for whites and another for blacks. Some things included in segregation included; drinking fountains, buses, schools, shops, and even where people were allowed to live. Many southerners thought we would always have segregation, but because of two young girls, everything changed.

Segregation Now

Even though we don't have special drinking fountains for each race, there is still segregation in our classrooms. Instead of just having to do with the color of your skin, it also relies on how rich you are. People who are rich usually go to private schools and so they fellowship with people that are also wealthy. The same thing goes with people who are poor. The video below shows graphs and examples of segregation in today's schools

• NA. "Brown vs. Board of Education." Landmark Cases. Supreme court historical society. 2 Oct. 2008 .

• "The 14th Amendment of the United States." Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 2 Oct. 2008 .

• NA. "Plessy Vs. Ferguson." Landmark Cases. Supreme Court Historical Society. 2 Oct. 2008 .

Dred Scott V. Sandford

Describe a an important Supreme Court case that took place before 1865 in it's historical context--what precedents were set, whatimpact did they have and what is the case's relevance today?

It first began with a black man named, Dred Scott suing Mrs. Emerson for false imprisonment. He believed that because he and his owner, Mr. Emerson, moved to a free state, that he had also become free. The first case case was won by Mrs. Emerson, But Mr. Scott's lawyers wanted a new trial. Finally, in 1857, the case appealed to the supreme court. Sanford, Mrs. Emerson's brother, believed thaht Scott could not sue because, he was not a citizen in the contex of the constitution. The supreme court finally came up with the decision that, ". . . . . . We think they [people of African ancestry] are . . . not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word "citizens" in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States. . . ." Chief Justice Taney, hope that his final decision over the case would prevent other cases over slave rights, but just the opposite happened.

Blogicon Reflection

1. What are you most proud of on your blog?
I am very proud of how I fooled Randy into thinking that I created my logo using some sophisticate software; but all I did was use the background tool on the blogger.com website. It took me a while to find my awesome picture and I feel like it shows how big our world is.

2. What will I improve during my future blogs? How
I will try to be more detailed in my writing. I will do this by actually finding articles that I enjoy.

3. How can we better connect our blogs?
A good way to connect our blog is to make it a requirement to comment of at least 2 blogs each Tuesday and Thursday. This will get people to at least read other peoples articles and maybe they will see something that interests them so that they might write about the article also.

Sparring in Spanish

Sparring in Spanish

September 19, 2008
-by Jess Henig
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sparring_in_spanish.html

The Spanish Americans are such a huge part of our country that even politicians are trying to create hate against the other candidate. Obama was the first one to try and sway there opinion by saying that the radio host, Rush Limbaugh (R), was calling Mexicans "stupid." He also goes on to say their Rush Limbaugh and McCain are friends; eventhough Rush had said earlier this year that a McCain nomination would "destroy the Republican party," and said he would rather vote for a Democrat over McCain. McCain then goes on to post an ad saying that, ""Obama and his Congressional allies" for the failure of the bill, but the truth is that it was a Republican-led filibuster that stymied it in the Senate and forced Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid to pull the bill from consideration."