...In the 1930’s, the Great Plains Region was devastated by drought, and at a time when America was already depression ridden. The harse agricultural decline extended the Depression which was felt worldwide. There were many causes for the Dust Bowl, which had profound social, economical, and agricultural impact on America. The Dust Bowl stretched over 50 million acres from western Kansas to eastern Nevada. “The drought is the worst ever in United States history, covering more than 75 percent of the country and affecting 27 states severely” (The Dust 2). “The Dust Bowl resulted from unusually prolonged dryness and heat, coupled with a surge in farming on suboptimal land, using techniques based on a poor understanding of soil ecology.” (Richards 3) In essence, the...
Words: 905 - Pages: 4
...“Invisible Man” has be a great influence on many Americans, and continues to grow in popularity. Ellison found inspiration for the book from his own life, which makes it important to learn more about him, to help see the brilliance behind his National Book Award winning novel. Ellison’s life is the source of much of his inspiration, and analyzing the Invisible Man in depth while comparing the novel to his life can show where his brilliance comes from. Who is Ralph Ellison and where did he come from? He was born in Oklahoma City where he was raised by his mother and father, Alfred Ellison and Ida Millsap. (“Ralph (Waldo) Ellison” 1) His father, Alfred Ellison, passed away when he was thirty-nine leaving the Ida, Ellison, and Herbert, Ellison’s brother, alone to fend for themselves. This brought an immense change on Ellison’s life as this left the family with little money and resources to survive. At 19 years of age Ellison moved away from his home in Oklahoma and enrolled in the Tuskegee Institute, an institute founded by Booker T. Washington, where he studied music for three years. Due to the lack of financial resources, Ellison was never able to graduate from Tuskegee Institute and left after his third year. Hoping to find work and return to school, Ellison moved to New York in 1936 where he continued to live for most of his life. ("An Interview."1-3) In New York, Ellison met author Richard Wright, who became a great influence on Ralph’s life. Ellison began getting immersed...
Words: 1210 - Pages: 5
...April 15, 2012 Capital Punishment Capital Punishment is the killing of people as punishment for their crimes legally (Haines 3). Since the beginning of time, capital punishment has been a way of punishing people who have committed higher levels of crimes. Although capital punishment has been around for centuries, the first known case of the death penalty in the American colonies happened in the James town colony in 1608 when George Kendall was executed for spying for the Spanish (Green, Melissa S.,compiler. (1998-2009). Focus on the Death Penalty). Capital Punishment is a subject in the United States that was and still is very controversial. Many people want capital punishment to be abolished but on the other hand there are a handful of people who want capital punishment to end. The purpose of this study is to show why capital punishment should be abolished. Capital punishment needs to be abolished because there are way too many cases and executions. During the time span of the Revolutionary war, capital punishment was widely accepted. During this time 162 documented cases of capital punishment were recorded. In the nineteenth century, following that era, capital punishment had increased to 1,391 documented cases. As of April 1, 2008, there were a total of 1,099 people who received the death penalty. The State of Texas had the most cases of capital punishment with a number of 405 cases (Bureau of Justice Statistics 1-2). That is way too many cases just for one state. The...
Words: 1632 - Pages: 7
...Sandra Day O’Connor Sandra Day O’Connor had a very unpredictable political opinion. In many of her decisions, it was difficult to decide which side she was on; for or against. Mrs. O’Connor was influential in many monumental rulings on freedom. Mrs. O’Connor was also very influential in cases concerning harassment and discrimination. Even though Mrs. O’Connor did not always vote how women felt she should have, they still considered her to be a great role model. Sandra Day O’Connor’s influence was strong in the Supreme Court on the decision of many cases. Sandra Day O’Connor was one of four justices to rule on the case of Bush v. Gore. This is a case concerning the miscalculations of votes in four counties in the State of Florida. These votes had to be recounted several times. All ballots had to be verified that they were correctly marked with no question on how the voter intended to vote. The vote for 2000 Presidential Candidate was up for debate. The parties of the current President George Bush and Al Gore were at odds. The largest county in Florida had to recount and verify each and every vote cast in the election. There were numerous hours and thousands of dollars spent to come to an agreeable conclusion. To solve this election question, there were several suits brought before the Court system, one being Bush v. Gore due to the interpretation of the Florida election law. Something needed to be decided to stop the recounts. Ballots had to be electronically...
Words: 794 - Pages: 4
...END HUNGER AMONG HOMELESS B. FARMERS 1. 1929-32 - 400,000 FARMS LOST TO FORECLOSURES 2. DUST BOWL - DRAUGHT AFFECTS THE PLAINS FROM CANADA TO MEXICO; KANSAS, TEXAS & OKLAHOMA HARDEST HIT; ONE STORM HAD A CLOUD 3 MILES HIGH WITH WINDS THAT BLEW OVER 100 MPH FOR 5 DAYS ACROSS THE US TO THE ATLANTIC 3. OKIES MIGRATION TO CALIFORNIA - JOHN STEINBECK’S THE GRAPES OF WRATH - WOODY GUTHRIE’S DUST BOWL BALLADS C. VETERANS 1. BONUS ARMY - WWI VETERANS WANT CASH VALUE OF INSURANCE POLICY NOW NOT IN 1945; 17,000 MARCH ON DC CONGRESS VOTES DOWN BILL & 2,000 WON’T LEAVE; MacARTHUR & IKE USE ARMY AND GAS TO REMOVE VETS; 11 MONTH OLD IS KILLED AND AN 8 YEAR OLD IS BLINDED; BAD PR FOR HOOVER D. WOMEN 1. MARRIED WOMEN HAD TROUBLE FINDING EMPLOYMENT - MARRIAGES DECLINE 2. FRANCES PERKINS BECOMES THE FIRST FEMALE CABINET MEMBER (LABOR) E. CHILDREN 1. CHILD WELFARE SERVICES CUT BY STATES 2. MANY SCHOOL CLOSINGS 3. BREAD LINES AND SOUP KITCHENS F. WORKERS 1. BUSINESS FAILURES - 1929-32 85,000 BUSINESSES CLOSE; 2. UNEMPLOYMENT - 100,000 LOSE JOBS WEEKLY; 1932 - UNEMPLOYMENT REACHES 25% FRUSTRATION LEADS TO MILITANCY AMONG UNIONS & THE UNEMPLOYED G. AFRICAN-AMERICANS 1. INCREASE OF DISCRIMINATION AS THE DEPRESSION DEEPENS H. DEPOSITORS 1. 6,000 BANKS CLOSE (1/4 OF US); 9M SAVING ACCOUNTS LOST II. FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT - 32ND...
Words: 841 - Pages: 4
... in the years leading up to the 1920s racial tension began to rapidly cultivate due to a multitude of reasons including the rapid change in the racial demographic of the northern economy, which up until that point had been principally white. African Americans who had fought in World War I had additionally began to express their want for civil rights due to their contributions in Europe in the war. The previous actions caused the eruption of violence from white mobs in several areas. One of the first cities to see the eruption of violence was Tulsa, Oklahoma which had contained the wealthiest African American business community in the Southwest. The violence commenced after a 19-year-old African American man was accused of assaulting a white female elevator operator which would give rise to a substantial amount of violence in which the number of killed and injured is not completely known with an approximate by the state of Oklahoma stating that 26 African Americans killed, 10 Caucasian killed, and 317 injured. Following the events in Tulsa on New Year’s Day 1923 the small African American settlement in Rosewood, Florida was attacked by a white mob believed to be from Georgia. The death toll from the incident has varying accounts with some newspapers reporting seven deaths and others 21.Hence, the early 1920s began the years of intense violence between Caucasians and African Americans over civil rights. The 1920s showed the scale of immigration to the U.S. and brought up concerns...
Words: 2297 - Pages: 10
...Racism in America The question should be how did racism in America begin? I think that it is probably fair to say that racism began with the Middle passage. The Middle Passage was the slave ships that brought African Americans to America from Africa. The slaves were perceived as being less than human fit for labor, bondage and beatings. Their only function was to be brought to America to work in the cotton fields and build America up to the standards that the Caucasian Americans expected. Slaves were usually fed straps from their Masters tables, given ragedy clothes to wear, they worked from sun up until sun down, and they were not paid. They were beaten if they talked backed back to the Master or did not produce the labor that was required by the Master. The Caucasian by all accounts was thought to be superior and better than slaves were because they owned the land, crops, plantations and houses; the poor slave did not own anything. What did the slave ship look like? Slaves were placed at the bottom of the ship; then men, women and children were chained to one another. With very little movement possible, they suffered and many of them died. This was not an easy voyage. The voyages to America from Africa took months and people got very little air in the bottom of these ships. They were fed but they had to eat lying down in chains and they were fed worst than animals. They were allowed on the deck occasionally where they were washed with water that was poured on them. Many...
Words: 1993 - Pages: 8
...of the secession and the expansion of slavery. Slavery came to an end when the North won the civil war, along with the passing of the 13 amendment. Although slavery was abolished in 1865, it did not give African Americans equal opportunity for education, employment, or basic human rights. Whites in the South during the late 1870s and early 1880s, established Jim Crow laws. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines Jim Crow as the ethnic discrimination especially against blacks by legal enforcement or traditional sanctions. This act, along with racist terrorism and mistreatment downgraded African Americans to a humiliating second class status for decades; until the U.S. Supreme Court started to dismantle Jim Crow laws in the 1950s. This paper will examine the force and the legacy of Jim Crow laws, from the start and finish, and the ongoing effect in today’s world. What was Jim Crow? Following the civil war, Congress passed three amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The thirteenth ended slavery December 18th 1865, the fourteenth banned discrimination July 28, 1868 and the fifteenth gave African-American males the right to vote February 25, 1869. By the early 1870’s black leaders demanded a larger share of political power, especially in States where former slaves comprised a majority of the people allowed to vote. The Republican Party aided African-Americans win elective office at the local, state and federal level. Republicans were instrumental in the placement of military personnel...
Words: 2194 - Pages: 9
...Year 10 Revision Timelines: The Roaring Twenties Women Before First World War * Women could not vote. * Middle/upper class women did not work but had the role of mothers and housewives. Working class women had low paid jobs such as factory work and cleaning. * Women usually wore full length dresses, wore no make up and had their hair tied back in buns. * Divorce was very rare and so was sex before marriage. * Women did not smoke or drink in public. * They had to go out with a chaperone (a family member) when they met their boyfriend. How did the First World War change the lives of women? * During the war, women began to work in areas like heavy industry. They proved they could work as well as men. By 1929, there were 10 million women workers; a rise of 24% since 1920. * Working gave women independence and they began smoking and drinking in public. * Women were given the vote in August 1920 but few were chosen to be actual politicians. * Production of consumer goods such as vacuum cleaners and washing machines meant women had more time for leisure activities. * Flappers emerged in the 1920’s = women from middle and upper class families from the Northern States. They cut their hair in short bobs, wore make up, short skirts and bright clothes. They also smoked and drank in public, went to speakeasies, danced the Charleston with men and listened to Jazz and drove cars and motorbikes. * BUT many groups, particularly...
Words: 6533 - Pages: 27
...Red Scare of 1917-1920, was the primary influence for the emergence of censorship through McCarthyism and Anti- Socialist sentiments in filmmaking during 1940-1960. McCarthyism and three international wars enhanced Anti – Communist resentments within the United States. A brief emergence of Socialist organizations in America heightened the fervor of conservative versus liberal views within cinematography. Motion Movie producers and Distributors, in Hollywood, California were heavily encouraged to influence film directors, screenwriters and actors by incorporating strict codes within their artistic expression. The Dies Committee, former State Senator Jack Tenny’s California Joint Fact Finding Committee on Un-American Activities from the late 1930’s and early 1940’s; as well as the House on Un-American Activities Committee and The Production Code Administration from 1944 – 1959 were created in order to control filmmaking in America.1 War plagued America with the paranoia of imminent catastrophic...
Words: 7301 - Pages: 30
...Contemporary Hate Crimes, Law Enforcement, and the Legacy of Racial Violence Ryan D. King University at Albany-SUNY Robert D. Baller University of Iowa This article investigates the association between past lynchings (1882 to 1930) and contemporary law enforcement responses to hate crimes in the United States. While prior research indicates a positive correlation between past levels of lynching and current social control practices against minority groups, we posit an inverse relationship for facets of social control that are protective of minorities. Specifically, we hypothesize that contemporary hate crime policing and prosecution will be less vigorous where lynching was more prevalent prior to 1930. Analyses show that levels of past lynching are associated with three outcome variables germane to hate crime policing and prosecution, but the effect of lynching is partly contingent on the presence of a minority group threat. That is, past lynching combined with a sizeable black population largely suppresses (1) police compliance with federal hate crime law, (2) police reports of hate crimes that target blacks, and in some analyses (3) the likelihood of prosecuting a hate crime case. Our findings have implications for research on law and intergroup conflict, historical continuity in the exercise of state social control, and theories that emphasize minority group threat. Steven F. Messner University at Albany-SUNY onflict theories of crime and criminal law posit that the...
Words: 15783 - Pages: 64
...03-Banks.qxd 1/30/04 4:52 PM Page 57 3 Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System ETHICAL BACKGROUND It is generally agreed that discrimination based on ethnic origin is morally wrong and a violation of the principle of equality. The equality principle requires that those who are equal be treated equally based on similarities, and that race is not a relevant consideration in that assessment (May and Sharratt 1994: 317). In other words, it is only possible to justify treating people differently if there exists some factual difference between them that justifies such difference in treatment (Rachels 1999: 94). Equality is a nonspecific term that means nothing until applied to a particular context. Thus, in a political context, equality means equal access to public office and equal treatment under the law, and equal treatment extends to equality in terms of job hiring, promotion, and pay. Race refers to groups of persons who are relatively alike in their biological inheritance and are distinct from other groups (American Anthropological Association 1997: 2). Ethnicity is a cultural phenomenon referring to a person’s identification with a particular cultural group (Hinman 1998: 403). Race is socially constructed, and the notion that persons “belong” to a particular race was developed in the last century based on the belief that there was a biological basis for categorizing groups of people. Biologically, however, the term race has no meaning, yet society...
Words: 10761 - Pages: 44
...Prepared for THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PEACE, VIOLENCE, AND CONFLICT, 2nd ed., (Academic Press, expected 2008). Hate Crimes Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt Northeastern University I. Legal Distinctions II. Hate Crimes and Prejudice III. Why Treat Hate Crimes Differently? IV. Problems in Collecting Hate Crime Data V. Types of Hate Crimes VI. Organized Hate Groups VII. VIII. Are Hate Crimes on the Rise? Responses to Hate crimes IX. Conclusion GLOSSARY Defensive Hate Crimes Hate offenses aimed against particular “outsiders” who are regarded as posing a challenge to a perpetrator’s neighborhood, workplace, school, or physical wellbeing. Ethno-violence Acts of hate that do not necessarily rise to the legal standard of a crime, but contain an element of prejudice. Hate Crimes (also known as Bias Crimes) Criminal offenses motivated either entirely or in part by the fact or perception that a victim is different from the perpetrator. Mission Hate Crimes Hate offenses committed as an act of “war” against any and all members of a particular group of people. Modern Racism victim. Prejudice A negative attitude toward individuals based on their perceived group Subtle and institutionalized forms of bigotry based on the race of the membership. Retaliatory Hate Crimes terrorism. Thrill Hate Crimes Hate offenses typically committed by youngsters who are motivated by Hate offenses designed to get even for hate crimes or acts of the desire for excitement. HATE CRIMES are criminal...
Words: 6646 - Pages: 27
...[Enter Document Title] Foundations of the U.S. Legal System Prof. William Ewald Contributors Wim De Vlieger Suvitcha Nativivat Alasdair Henderson Ana Carolina Kliemann Alexey Kruglyakov Rafael A. Rosillo Pasquale Siciliani Paul Lanois Gloria M. Gasso Kamel Ait El Hadj Yuanyuan Zheng Ana L. Marquez Pumthan Chaichantipyuth Wenzhen Dai Penn Law Summer 2006 I. Introduction and Historical Background A. What the course will cover? This is not an introductory course. You are all lawyers; I shall assume a good deal of professional expertise, and that many of you already have a body of knowledge about American law. The task: prepare you for the coming year, give you the basic grounding that you will need for the courses you are going to start taking in September. For this, you need two things: ♥ A great deal of basic factual information about how the courts and the legal system function, and about basic legal concepts (and legal vocabulary); ♥ But more importantly: background information about some of the critical ways in which the American legal system is unique, and differs from legal systems elsewhere in the world. This is hard: often you will find that your professors or fellow‐students will make assumptions or presuppose certain ways of doing things that aren’t explained in class. A large goal of this course is to explain those assumptions...
Words: 43059 - Pages: 173
...African American Studies Final Question Answers M5Q1 NOTES: 1. Which of the following best describes Henry David Thoreau's response to Brown's raid? |1.|Thoreau praises Brown and seeks to defend his memory against those who viewed him as a murderer or insane man| |2.|Thoreau is horrified by the violent methods Brown used, arguing that violence will turn many Americans who oppose the extension of slavery against the abolitionists| |3.|Thoreau argues that Brown should not be put to death as this would cause sectional strife and lead to a civil war| |4.|Thoreau is one of many abolitionists who plea for Brown's life to be saved| 3 points Question 2 1. Which of the following best summarizes the letters John Brown wrote to his family while in prison? |1.|Brown is very hopeful that his wife and remaining children will come visit him| |2.|Brown calls upon his sons to continue his work. Although he speaks in very vague terms, it is clear that he hopes they will launch another slave uprising so that his death will not be in vain| |3.|Brown is upset at the fact that some of his children are ashamed to be sons and daughters of the man who planed the raid at Harper's Ferry| |4.|Brown does not write any letters to his family members while in prison, a fact John Earle makes plain in his introduction| |5.|Brown is upbeat and speaks in mostly religious terms about how there is no need to grieve for their father| Question 3 1. Which of the following is TRUE regarding John...
Words: 10305 - Pages: 42
