FREE I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Plot Summary Marguerite, or Maya, Johnson is a young black girl growing up in the racist town of Stamps, Arkansas. She and her brother Bailey (her only friend in the world) were sent to Arkansas by their parents when she was three and he four: they now live with their father's mother, Momma. Momma is strictly religious, and she owns a general store where the children are expected to work. They are both very intelligent, and spend much of their time reading because there is little else to do in Stamps. Maya does not understand why white people treat black people so terribly. In fact, she does not understand much of the adult world, though she tries hard to do so. Maya's life continues with a series of episodes that affect her in different ways-some positive, some negative-but all of them teach her something. In California, Maya at first lives with her grandmother, then her mother.
U.S. Constitution : Amendments XI - XXVII U.S. Constitution : Amendments XI - XXVII XI - Judicial Powers Construed Passed by Congress March 4, 1794. The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state. XII - Manner of Choosing a President and Vice-President This Amendment altered Article 2 Section 1 Part 2 Passed by Congress December 9, 1803. 1. 3. XIII - Slavery Abolished Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. 1. 2. XIV - Citizen rights not to be abridged Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. XV - Race no bar to voting rights Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. 1. 2. XVI - Income taxes authorized Passed by Congress July 2, 1909. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever sources derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. XVII - U.S. 1. 2. 3.
Alto Arizona! - History of Racist U.S. Laws “Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore...” - Cesar Chavez If the struggle against oppression is that of memory against forgetting, then it is of primary importance that we look to the past to learn about a long line of xenophobic, racist laws that were once widely accepted by the mainstream public. The justification of criminalizing migrants because they are here without documents is immoral and, moreover, the majority are here because they have been displaced due to U.S. foreign trade policies, further implicating the U.S.' UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, declared on December 18, 2008, International Migrants Day: "...We continue to see the criminalization of irregular migrants. It's imperative that people of conscience speak out and act to overturn and rid our country of these types of racist, xenophobic laws. Top
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou The free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wings in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own. But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. © by owner.
Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident: He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; [Signed by] [President]
Dred Scott Dred Scott first went to trial to sue for his freedom in 1847. Ten years later, after a decade of appeals and court reversals, his case was finally brought before the United States Supreme Court. In what is perhaps the most infamous case in its history, the court decided that all people of African ancestry -- slaves as well as those who were free -- could never become citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue in federal court. The court also ruled that the federal government did not have the power to prohibit slavery in its territories. Born around 1800, Scott migrated westward with his master, Peter Blow. Scott's extended stay in Illinois, a free state, gave him the legal standing to make a claim for freedom, as did his extended stay in Wisconsin, where slavery was also prohibited. Scott went to trial in June of 1847, but lost on a technicality -- he couldn't prove that he and Harriet were owned by Emerson's widow. The decision of the court was read in March of 1857.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Plot Overview In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou describes her coming of age as a precocious but insecure black girl in the American South during the 1930s and subsequently in California during the 1940s. Maya’s parents divorce when she is only three years old and ship Maya and her older brother, Bailey, to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, in rural Stamps, Arkansas. Annie, whom they call Momma, runs the only store in the black section of Stamps and becomes the central moral figure in Maya’s childhood. As young children, Maya and Bailey struggle with the pain of having been rejected and abandoned by their parents. Growing up in Stamps, Maya faces a deep-seated southern racism manifested in wearying daily indignities and terrifying lynch mobs. In the aftermath of these events, Maya endures the guilt and shame of having been sexually abused. To Maya’s relief, but Bailey’s regret, Maya and Bailey return to Stamps to live with Momma.
Martin Luther King: pourquoi "I have a dream" est un chef-d'oeuvre de rhétorique universel Martin Luther King lors d'un discours en Alabama en 1965 (DALMAS/SIPA) Le "I have a dream" de Martin Luther King prononcé il y a 50 ans pourrait être classé au patrimoine mondial de l’humanité comme chef-d'œuvre de la rhétorique. Prononcé le 28 août 1963, à l’occasion du centenaire de l’abolition de l’esclavage aux États-Unis, ce rêve partagé transforma la ségrégation raciale des États du Sud en honte nationale. Ce jour-là, une marche sur Washington "emplois et liberté" s’achève en meeting devant le célèbre mémorial de Lincoln, l’homme qui a fait abolir l’esclavage un siècle plus tôt (1863). Un rendez-vous avec l'histoire Les grands discours sont ceux qui se saisissent des circonstances. La tension est extrême dans le pays. Un message fort et cohérent Pas besoin de lui énoncer les règles rhétoriques, King les connaît : structure cohérente, message fort, présence et équilibre entre le logos, l’ethos et le pathos. Un message fort. Frapper les esprits - Logos : Frapper les esprits
Sharecropping: Digital History Printable Version What the freed men and women wanted above all else was land on which they could support their own families. During and immediately after the war, many former slaves established subsistence farms on land that had been abandoned to the Union army. But President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat and a former slaveowner, restored this land to its former owners. The failure to redistribute land reduced many former slaves to economic dependency on the South's old planter class and new landowners. During Reconstruction, former slaves--and many small white farmers--became trapped in a new system of economic exploitation known as sharecropping. Instead of cultivating land in gangs supervised by overseers, landowners divided plantations into 20 to 50 acre plots suitable for farming by a single family. Nevertheless, the sharecropping system did allow freedmen a degree of freedom and autonomy far greater than they experienced under slavery. Copyright 2016 Digital History
Jim Crow Laws - Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site From the 1880s into the 1960s, a majority of American states enforced segregation through "Jim Crow" laws (so called after a black character in minstrel shows). From Delaware to California, and from North Dakota to Texas, many states (and cities, too) could impose legal punishments on people for consorting with members of another race. The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their black and white clientele separated. Nurses: No person or corporation shall require any white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which negro men are placed. Buses: All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races. Intermarriage: The marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with a Negro, Mongolian, Malay, or Hindu shall be null and void.
Mémorandum: Personnalités noires ayant marqué l´histoire de l´Afrique et de l´humanité | Africpost Barack Obama Le sénateur Barack Obama devient le 44e président américain le 6 novembre 2008 alors qu’il bat le sénateur John McCain. Il défend par la suite sa présidence en 2012 alors qu’il défait Mitt Romney. Son élection à la Maison Blanche fait de lui le tout premier président afro-américain de l’histoire des États-Unis, mais également le tout premier joueur de basketball à s’installer au bureau ovale, bureau qui accueille habituellement des amoureux du golf. Frédérick Douglass, la plume enflammée des abolitionnistes Né esclave (1817-1895), Frederick Douglass apprit à lire et à écrire en cachette, avant de s’enfuir en 1838 pour échapper aux mauvais traitements et rejoindre le mouvement abolitionniste dont il devint l’un des porte-parole les plus éloquents. W.E.B. Sociologue, homme de lettres, W.E.B. Marcus Garvey et son message identitaire Ce pionnier (1887-1940) du nationalisme noir et promoteur du mouvement « back to Africa » est né à la Jamaïque. Booker T. Nelson Mandela Beyoncé
Opposing views on Emancipation Proclamation through political cartoons Examining opposing views in history makes studying the subject more exciting and potentially provides one balance. Of course, different perspectives not only come in words, they also come in images. One of the most controversial measures of Abraham Lincoln's presidency was his decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Union soldiers as well as civilians viewed the Emancipation Proclamation in diverse ways. The image above was drawn by Confederate sympathizer Adelbert J. A more favorable view of Lincoln's measure is David Gilmore Blythe's lithograph, President Lincoln, Writing the Proclamation of Freedom. It has been said many times that "a picture is worth a thousand words."