...King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and the Civil Rights Movement in America are alternative beats of the same heart. In his overall fight against racism, the important landmarks were the Montgomery bus boycott, the March on Washington; anti-Vietnam War Activism and Assassination in the year 1968, Dr. King emerged as a sterling crusader. He was the living legend and glorious in death. He was intensely loved and fiercely hated. In his book, “Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop,” Harvard Sitkoff writes, “I have to craft a brief yet stirring narrative for a twenty-first-century readership that illustrates the historical forces that shaped King, and how he, in turn, changed American society.”(xiv) Black freedom movement was a tough socio-political responsibility for Dr. King, and his adversaries belonged to the powerful ruling class, reluctant to give any concessions to the blacks. He led the movement at great personal sacrifice and suffering. Sitkoff writes, “ However overwrought or sometimes paralyzed by fear he became, King’s biblical faith enabled him to keep his eyes on the prize, to put righteousness before expediency, despite the beatings, jailing, inner turmoil, and constant threats if assassination.”(xiv) Unprecedented changes began to happen in United States and King’s mission paved way for a broader crusade against imperialism and of economic inequality by the time of his death and subsequently thereon. The forces that were bitterly...
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...Mountaintop Removal in Appalachia There is nothing more beautiful or peaceful as the Mountains of Appalachia. Whether you are in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia, the mountains are breathtaking…until you see the bare, flattened remains of mountaintop removal. In 1990 the coal industry was given new life by the Clean Air Act, which restricted sulfur dioxide emissions believe to cause acid rain. This increased the demand for low sulfur coal which is abundant in central Appalachia. (McQuaid) Coal mining has always been one of the hardest, nastiest, unhealthiest and most dangerous jobs, but in some form vital. Mountaintop removal is controversial because it is destroying the mountains and polluting the streams in this area, but the other side would argue it is necessary for needed jobs and to keep electricity prices low. I am going to argue that the destruction caused by mountaintop removal by far outweighs the benefits. There are many reasons to be opposed to mountaintop removal. This type of coal removal has changed the shape, altitude, and ecology of large areas of the Appalachian coalfields. The mud and loose debris carried from the runoff through the hollow fills has been a factor in flooding and pollution. This type of mining (MTR) has been one cause for a decrease in mine related employment in Appalachia. One reason mountaintop removal is undesirable is the amount of change and damage it creates. There are six stages to mountaintop removal: clearing,...
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...Michael Kendrick BIO 220 January 20, 2013 Jerry Slawson Mountaintop removal and its effects on the ecosystem Mountaintop removal or “strip mining” is a huge problem in this region and in others. This process destroys large areas of forests, rivers and streams, and the ecosystems that revolve around them. This has affected all the people in this region in one-way or another. In addition to the destruction of the forests and the ecosystems in them, this process also leaks poisons into the ground water and the air that all living things breathe. The mining technique called mountaintop removal needs to be stopped from destroying the fragile ecosystem that revolves around the streams that are the bloodlines that run through southern West Virginia. This style of mining not only strips the land of all vegetation, it also changes the water. Excess sediment from mining builds up over time causing the oxygen levels to change (S. Burns, 05). Over time this makes it imposable for the stream to sustain life for fish and other types of organisms. This disrupts the biodiversity that needs the river system to survive. Excess sediment is not the only issue but also the toxins, like selenium, that is released into the water from the coal. Selenium is a natural element in coal so when the coal is extracted the selenium is released into the ground water. Once in the water this, like the salamander, can cause genetic mutations in the fish and other aquatic life that...
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...Environmental justice is based on the principle that people have a right to be protected from environmental pollution and to live in, a gleam and healthy environment. It has not been the case for the people living in the Coal River Valley, West Virginia. About half of the electricity in the US is produced from coal. It has been no surprise that the communities living in certain regions where coal is abundant are impacted in ways that are detrimental to their well-being. This documentary shed a light on how communities living close to mines have negative consequences. I think Mountaintop removal mining can be detrimental to communities living next to the mines. In the documentary we could see some of the consequences which were brain tumors,...
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...An Employer and its Lack of Concern for the Safety of its Employees On April 5, 2010, an explosion ripped through an underground coal mine in West Virginia. The name of this coal mine was the Upper Big Branch Mine and it was run by Massey Energy Company. 61 miners were underground at the time of the explosion and 29 of them were killed, making this disaster one of the worst mining tragedies in US history . The MSHA, or the Mine Safety and Health Administration, released a final report concluding that this explosion was caused by a mixture of coal dust and methane, but that was just the actual physical cause. There were several other factors that led to this explosion, and many things could have been done to prevent this tragedy. Luckily for the miners, the explosion at Upper Big Branch was the only big disaster, but Massey Energy and the CEO, Don Blankenship, could easily be held accountable for the explosion. One reason was because of the moral standard that Massey Energy Company failed to follow. They failed on their duty owed to the miners, by deliberately treating them in a way in which they didn’t freely and rationally consent to, and were in turn treated as a means to an end, in order to maximize profits at all costs. Also, Massey Company’s unfair treatment towards its miners created a dangerous environment, beyond the regular risks that are expected at a mine. This was to keep profits the main priority even over employee safety, thus using the employees as a means to...
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...Martin Luther King Jr. gave the moving speech, “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop”, on April 3, 1968, in Memphis Tennessee, about the disgraceful, and wretched reality of society. King was able to transfer his powerful message of peace, love and equality by using an abundance of analogies, and metaphors, while deeply investing his passion in Aristotle's Rhetoric to help tell his story, which helped people easily relate to it and understand its depth. Beginning his moving speech, Dr. King immediately plunges into the topics that he planned on addressing. He starts off establishing the importance of development as a country, as a human, and as a society. He leads that all the way up to this moving and intense line, “It’s no longer a choice between...
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...Jordan Beard Mrs. Laney English III 10 April 2014 “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” Research Paper Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” is considered to be one of his most powerful and effective speeches, considering that it gave not only the black community of Memphis, TN, but all supporters of the nation, the courage to continue a long journey for freedom. His figure as a speaker and a leader had a positive impacting effect on the nation as a whole. On February 1, 1968, during a heavy rainstorm in Memphis, two black sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death by a faulty garbage truck compactor to stay out of the rain (“Martin Luther King Jr”). The City of Memphis, under Mayor Henry Loeb, in order to preserve money in the economy, had continued to use this old and outdated machinery in the Public Works Department when it should have been discarded (Honey). “The city paid most of its 1,300 sanitation workers a minimum wage of one dollar and sixty cents per hour; they worked until their routes were done, often putting in sixty hours a week at forty hours of pay” (Honey). The wages of these workers were so low that they were forced to live on welfare as well as food stamps to simply live day to day and feed their families (“Sanitation Workers Strike”). The city provided unskilled black workers with no job benefits, no access to supervisory jobs, no rights or respect and minimal health coverage. The families of both...
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...In my opinion, I disagree with the use of clean coal because it is nonrenewable, it devastates the environment, and produces high levels of radiation. Most people in West Virginia believe that coal should be kept alive because it is the mass of jobs, but eventually, it will run out. To begin with, there is a infinite supply of coal, and it is nonrenewable. That means that it cannot be replenished, and there is a limited supply of it. So, when all the coal is gone, there will need to be a new energy source. That source would be natural gas. It is just as cheap, if not cheaper, as clean coal. It is also nonrenewable, but is much more abundant than coal and would be in use for longer. Next, coal devastates the environment tremendously....
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...The Timber Industry in the Pacific Northwest The timber boom in the Pacific Northwest began in 1900 when Frederick Weyerhauser, along with fifteen partners purchased 900,000 acres of land from the Great Northern Railway. During the early years, the industry had very little concern for the damage they were doing. They concentrated on how to maximize profit and production. The United States Forestry Service’s first attempts at regulating the industry was to strip all “old growth” to allow for “new growth”, but actually did more harm than good. The new trees did not grow fast enough to replace the older trees being removed so the regulation had the opposite effect. With the United States entry into World War II, any attempts at government regulation went by the wayside as the timber industry increased the production to meet the wartime timer demand. The invention of the gas powered chain saw and the availability of heavy equipment sped up the process even more. One harmful effect caused by the removal of the old growth trees was the destruction of the habitat of the Northern Spotted Owl. However, it wasn’t until June, 1990 that this owl was placed on the threatened species list by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The plywood mill located in Lebanon, OR changed ownership 4 times between 1941 and 1985. In 1967 it was purchased by Champion International Corporation. In 1985, Champion decided that certain timber areas no...
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...Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination | History class Fall semester Nov. 22/ 2011 | Susan Kennedy | The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968 was a tragic blow, not only for the civil rights movement but also for the rights movement of all lower class citizens in America. Dr. King represented one of the few voices in 1968 able to form any type of consensus among increase-polarized groups in society. His death inaugurated a period of some of the worst race riots in American history. However, his death did not signal a end to the Civil Rights Movement. The movement had been splitting into factions for several years before he was assassinated. Dr. King’s death did accelerate the polarization of American society. The Black power became the leading force behind the transforming Civil Right Movement. However, to a far greater degree, King’s death signaled an alienation among white supporters of the movement who saw in King their opportunity to participate in the movement, while opposed to the movement hardened their stance in the face of the emerging drive for black self-determination. Robbed of the man who galvanized their community, outraged African Americans took to the streets to protest. Furor erupted among blacks in many cities as angry African Americans refused to heed the President\’s call for calm. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a vital figure of the modern era. His lectures and dialogues stirred the concern and sparked...
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...Pike County is located in eastern Kentucky. The county is known for its coal fields, and has a long history of fossil fuel extractions (coal and natural gas). As a result, it is one of the nation’s leading producers of these goods. With the task of mapping damage and recovery from mountaintop removal coal mining, the best region of interest (for now) is the area surrounding Fishtrap Lake. This is because, since the mid 1990’s, there has been both an area having undergone remediation and an area where mountaintop removal mining has started. To determine the changes from mining and remediation, I would use Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager imagery. I picked the TM instrument because of its long operational history that will...
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...Dream’ speech? His impact on American history? The civil rights movement that lead to the equality of white and colored people? Those are only a few of many things Dr. Martin Luther King jr. has done within the short time span of his lifetime. A few more things he had a set attitude on are the working conditions for the sanitation workers, how the direction of the civil rights movement has changed because of the events he made possible and most importantly, the achievement of equality for everyone. To begin with, In Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘I’ve Been to The Mountaintop’ speech states that the city of Memphis was mistreating and neglecting the sanitation workers that worked for them. The riot that was lead by 1,300 sanitation workers was neglected and the only thing that was shown in the spotlight of the press is the breaking of windows. In Martin Luther King’s speech ‘I've Been to The Mountaintop’ he states “They [the reporters] don't get around to that.” He stated this shortly after explaining how the riot only was publicized by the violent manner of breaking windows. The press never did explain how the...
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..."Are We Changed?" Matthew 17:1-9 “Have We Changed?” By: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA www.parkview-umc.org One day, Jesus took Peter and James and John with Him up onto a high mountain, and “There he was transfigured before them.” The Greek word metamorphothe is translated as ‘transfigured’. But our understanding of the English word—metamorphosis—as a change or transformation, can be misleading. In all actuality, the transfiguration of Jesus’ face and clothing was not a change into something new, but rather an uncovering of Who Jesus really is! Peter, James and John witnessed, if only for a moment, the glory of God revealed in the Son. This was the true Jesus. There is a lot of talk these days in theological circles as to—“Who is the Real Jesus?” Few, if any, folks will dispute the fact that a man named Jesus did indeed walk this earth 2,000 years ago, and through the work of ‘outside sources’, that is, unbiased sources outside of the Bible—like Jewish historians from that time--we know it to be fact that Jesus was indeed crucified under the watch of Pontius Pilate. And much of the historicity of the Book of Acts is also backed up by other reliable sources as well. So there can be little doubt that there was a Real Jesus… …the question that many are asking is Who that Real Jesus is. This is probably the same thing that the folks who were living during Jesus’ time on earth were asking as well—including...
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...A Worn Path Sandra D Mack ENG125: Introduction to Literature Instructor: Lesa Hadley January 30, 2012 The Pilgrimage throughout life presents familiar and unfamiliar paths of traveling. These paths can sometimes result in crossing areas of self-sacrifice as well as areas of hardship. While others paths of traveling may find an individual faced with victories and a sense of self accomplishments. Motivation and determination seem to be the driven force that compels individuals to continue throughout this journey called life. In the short story titled, “A Worn Path”, the author Eudora Welty, creatively incorporates the use of theme and symbolism to effectively layout a storyline that depicts the path of life of an elderly black woman. In the short story, “A Worn Path”, the author uses symbolic language and theme to identify the conflicts, struggles, self-scarifies and determination that one must face throughout the journey of life. The use of this symbolic language allows the major themes of sacrificial love in the face of hardship and death to be easily identified throughout the story. ” A Worn Path” passes far beyond it’s time capsule and remarkable fusion a number of different elements which incorporate myths, legend, and religious undertones which provide the story with a universally understanding of life and the struggles and accomplishments individuals must face on this journey called life (Moberly, 2005). Throughout the short story, titled, “A Worn...
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...Ryan Kramp Dr. Brian W. Okey LBST 499 9 March 2012 "An illegitimate walk in the woods to remember" In this paper I am going to discuss the various controversial issues pertaining the two sources I read titled Crimes Against Nature and A walk in the woods. I will be discussing and diagnosing the transformation of landscapes and communities within Appalachia from an ecological, economic, and geographic view points. In correlation with the different systems and properties practiced by the communities within Appalachia, I will delve deeper into the more specific subcategories with the intention of making the information easier to understand. The primary ecological impacts that will be addressed are exploitists, mountaintop removal and its repercussions, annihilation of wildlife and endangered species, and the destruction of the surrounding natural environments driven by human goals. On the economic side of things the primary topics of discussion will be income, living conditions, isolationism, homogeneity, maximization of overall utility, timber and natural resources exploitation without resilience. Geographic view points, the final topic of discussion will pertain to environmental monitoring systems, human habitation, evolving spatial patterns, and the outcome of relative location isolation. A major issue behind the driving force of Appalachia's ecological impacts starts with the exploitation of natural resources. Timber is one of the primary resources Appalachia has to...
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