Class Recap 2/26, 2/27

Yesterday in class, we focused on a man named Garvey. We divided into groups of 4 and were handed a packet including four documents regarding Garvey and how he contributed to his cause and questions that were attached corresponding to each document. Reading about Garvey was interesting because was a man with very radical ideas. He believed that blacks and whites would never be able to coexist. Garvey dedicated his life to an organization designed to help African Americans live a better life. Garvey's main goal was to raise enough money to begin transporting African Americans to motherland Africa. His organization was very popular for many years until he was jailed for mail fraud. It was interesting to learn about his take on the situation because it was so different than other people's at the time.
Today, we looked at different medias involving the black segregation. It was a great class because we read Langston Hughes and listened to Duke Ellington. We also looked at at from that time period. I really liked today's class because we connected what we are learning to actual arts of the time.

Class Recap 2/15, 2/25

On Friday in class before vacation, the only thing we worked on is recording our voices for the Reconstruction project. It was a pretty uneventful day because I wasn't one of the kids who read the script. Cam and Sarah talked and Laurel and I sat with them as they spoke. Not much else happened because other groups had to record their scripts as well. The rest of us quietly talked until class was over. After vacation, we returned to a normal classroom experience. As we walked into class, we were told that we were either an "A" or a "B" and to sit with someone with the same letter. Then we read a document highlighting either Booker T. Washington or W.E.B. DuBois and answered questions regarding the document we read. Then we paired up with a student that had the opposite letter and exchanged answers to the questions. The two men had very different ideas about how to deal with inter-racial society. It was interesting to learn about what each person wanted to do for America and what they were going to do about it. It was a neat class, but average as far as history classes go.

Class Recap 2/13, 2/14

Yesterday in class, we had the "dress rehearsal" for the RSA project. Cara had written out most of our plan and outlined the topics into an intro and organized each point chronologically. I wrote about one of the topics, and when we got into the classroom, we combined the plans and collaborated about what we were going to do for the pictures on the whiteboard. It seemed as though we were completely prepared for the next day when we were supposed to draw and make the RSA on the whiteboard. We only got to work on it for less than half of the class and it was hard because we made some mistakes 20 minutes in and we could not restart or do anything about it. I was the one writing on the board and it felt like I was alone up there. Nobody was helping and I felt terrible when I messed up. I am afraid that the pictures won't line up with the words we speak on the RSA. I also hope that they are graded easily because I really have a hard time not having a perfect project to present.

Reconstruction Timeline

Class Recap 2/7, 2/11

On Thursday, our class focused on sharecropping. Sharecropping is just a way for white landowners to keep control over African Americans by lending them an area of land to grow crops and sell, but they charge such a large amount for rent that the family goes into a debt that is impossible to get out of. After debating the pros and cons of sharecropping and taking notes on the topic, we worked on our RSA projects for the remainder of the class. Monday, we did not have any school because of a snow day.

Class Recap 2/5, 2/6

Yesterday, we focused on equality. We talked about what it means to be equal, and if separate means equal. Without much difficulty, the class defined "equal" as the same, without difference, etc. We figured that to be treated equally meant to be treated the same. But we were quickly proven wrong when we looked at a scenario in which a doctor had to treat two different patients with headaches in the same way. One of the patients had a brain tumor and the other just had a little headache. It was a hard question to answer because equal will never really mean equal, no matter what happens. After we talked for a while, we read about Plessey and his motions to make everyone equal by sitting in a white cab instead of a black one. There were segreagation laws banning segregation, but it happened regardless of any sort of law. People were just not ready to merge their lives with the black people. It caused a huge problem for such a long time in America.
Today in class, we took notes on a few slides from a powerpoint and then just talked about the RSA project and got together with our groups and planned for Monday, which is the dress rehearsal for when we record our actual RSAs.

Class Recap, 2/1, 2/4

On Friday in class, we read an obituary of Andrew Johnson. It was interesting to read because the writer tried to make it sound like he was a good President but all he had to write about was all the bills Johnson vetoed and denied. The writer talked about his impeachment and how he kept in office by one vote. It was strange because all that anybody needed to know about Anrew Johnson was in the writings calling for his death. From reading the obituary, anybody can could tell that Johnson was not the best for our country. Today in class, we took notes on Reconstruction and the white Southerners response. The powerpoint focused mostly on the KKK or the Ku Klux Klan, and what they did to the freedmen. There was a huge amount of controversy about merging the African Americans back into society, and making them equal. There were bills passed to make everyone equal but white business owners and white people all over that were getting aorund the laws by separating the blacks and whites. It was a hard time in America, because everyone was going so nutty about separate public places that they were not thinking about what was really important. It was an interesting class.