Have a GREAT Break!

 

Personification Story E.C.

 

Personification is when you give a non human item human qualities.  So your last Extra Credit opportunity is to write a Personification story of the Brooks Sumner Affair through the eyes of the cane.  If the cane could talk what would they say?

You do not have to do this, but it is an opportunity.  Due on Canvas by Friday the 20th.

President Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Address

 

Every year I have my students read President Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Address.  To set the scene it is President Lincoln's first day as President, and 7 Southern States have already left the Union.  In February 1861, a month earlier the Confederacy formed at the Montgomery Plan.  War has not started, but everyone knows it is coming. This address is talking directly to the South.  President Lincoln is making a desperate call for peace and unity.  

I love hearing student's reactions and insights.  Every year classes have different insights.  I am so idealistic, and one year a class HATED the address so much.  I was so surprised by their intensity and passion..  Their big complaint was President Lincoln just wrote a speech.  They believed he should have invaded the South with guns a blazing.  The reality is he could not do that.  President Lincoln was doomed from the start.  Nothing he could have done.  I love that this year's classes realized that.  

Here are two quotes that stood out to many students across the board. 1. "We are not enemies.  We must not be enemies."

One student highlighted that this was his final message and plea for unity.  I often wonder if President Lincoln got to complete Reconstruction we would live in a different America.  He would not let thinngs happen like the Black Codes or the Ku Klux Klan.  President Lincoln said the South was disgruntled countrymen not treasonous traitors.  

2. "I have no intention of messing with Slavery..."

The Immediate cause of the Civil War was the Election of 1860.  The South made it clear that there  would no compromises.  They believed a Republican President would free the slaves.  President Lincoln mentions multiple times he has no intention of freeing the slaves.  His goal is to preserve the Union.

Glory - 1st All Black Troops

 

Frederick Douglass, a famous abolitionist, came up with the idea for all Black Troops.  He convinced President Abraham Lincoln, and the 54th Regiment was born on January 1, 1863.  Douglass's sons fought with the 54th. The biggest frustration was they did not see battle.  Most troops were sent to Indian Territory to protect supplies and forts.  They proved themselves out west with bravery and courage.

They mad a movie about the 54th called Glory.  The cast is fantastic Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freemen, and Denzel Washington.  If you have not seen this film please watch!  You get a real sense of what these guys had to go through!

The military will stay segregated till the 1950s, Korean War.  All Black Troops were always stationed out west.  The Native Americans said their hair looks like Buffalo hair so called them the Buffalo Soldiers.  My Grandfather wrote the Standard on the Buffalo Soldiers.  I am so proud of that and Arlen Fowler is my Grandpa.  He is sadly gone, but when he was still alive he came to my classes to talk about his book.  One thing he said that will always stand out to me is how he described the Buffalo Soldiers.  He said it is a story that needs to be taught!  They demonstrated courage and bravery!

Famous Wallace Quote

 

The Great Debaters

 

A GREAT movie to see is the Great Debaters.  It is about a debate team from Wiley College in 1940 deep South.  Of course, Denzel Washington plays the debate coach!  The movie follows their journey to a debate tournament at Harvard University.  Of course they make it!  But along the journey you see what life in the Jim Crow South looks like for African Americans.  

In class we talked about Thoreau and Civil Disobedience.  Thoreau hated President Polk and the Mexican American War so he protested peacefully or Civil Disobedience by not paying his taxes.  So now when you protest or resist peacefully one calls it Civil Disobedience.  In the movie when they make it to Harvard for the debate - Harvard tries to throw them on their toes and changed the theme of the debate to Civil Disobedience, but it worked in thier favor.  The last line always gives me goose bumps.

I also love Denzel Washington's introduction to his debaters!