Photo 5: Freedmen's School: One of the many Freedmen’s schools in the postwar South.

I became the African
American’s top rail
To teach and to educate
Those who don’t fail
Doing so much good
And feeling hunkey dorey
Teaching all of these freedmen
So they can one day tell their story
Reconstruction, rebuilding
And new generations to come
Will have the ability to learn from me
And gentleman become
Reading and writing
Are the main things taught
Books, writing utensils
And paper were the main things brought
One day all of these children
Will be happy and joyful
In their new life, where they
Will be educated and hopeful

Photograph 1: Ruffin, Pvt. Edmund, Confederate soldier who fired the first shot against Fort Sumter

By the hands of Mr. Edmund Ruffin
I began the civil war
Fired against Fort Sumter
Didn’t know what was in store
All I heard was screams, moans
And the Yanks are coming
Fire, fire, fire
Can’t leave them controlling
Hurray, we have won the battle
But I feel so ashamed
Hurt so many soldiers
And the Union we defamed
Now that I have been through the mill
And feel so played out
We have lost the war
And now the Yanks victory shouts
Each side had their own thoughts
And thought they knew best
But now it is all finally over
And I feel very blessed

Assignment 1: Preview Reflection Blog Post: Life Changing Events Unit 6

People only change after something bad happens.

I completely agree with this statement for many reasons. We make many mistakes throughout out lives that sometimes lead to something bad. Only after we have had that bad experience do we realize we need change. The only thing we can do with the bad things that happen to us is learn from them. It does not necessarily have to be a big change, but maybe after something bad happens you change the way you do certain things. My phone was recently stolen from my stroller when I was putting my baby in the car. I learned to not let the stroller alone and take everything off of it before turning away. Sometimes though, something bad doesn't necessarily have to happen to you, but you see others go through a bad circumstance and that's when you change.

Assignment 1: Preview Reflection Blog Post: When to Get Involved?

I think it is ok to most of the time not to get into other people's business. I have learned this to be true because lets say person A is fighting with person B. I am person C and if I intervene for person A, then person C is not going to like me. Person A might fix things with person B, but now person B is mad at person C for having intervened for A. The same would go the other way around. I think the only way when someone should intervene is when there is a possible reason for harm. Otherwise, just mind your own business. You might end up with more enemies than friends. If the problem started with two parties, they need to fix it. No one knows the problem as well as they do to fix it. They will call a third party if needed.

Gilded Age

Game
Illegals
Laws
Disease
Economy
Death

Advertising
Government
Egoism

Assignment 1: Preview Reflection Blog Post: Is it all about the money?

I think that life is definitely not all about money, but it is something we definitely need. People's actions are definitely influenced by money in many ways. Some of the wealthy often times view people that are less fortunate not as good as them. A person's views and values should not change when they have money, but it happens more often than it should. This happens even in the workplace. A lot of people who get promoted in a job start to act like they are better than someone else who has less power at their work. I just think that sometimes the more people have, the more they want. I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be happy if I had a lot of money. I definitely would be very happy, but that is not the only thing I need to be completely happy. Some wealthy people earned their money by working hard and being entrepreneurs. Others though just depend on others to do the hard work for them. One example is large business owners. A lot of them just hire workers to do the hard work for them. Basically, most of the time you need money to make money.

Top Ten Most Exciting

1. Louisiana Purchase 1803- The Louisiana Purchase was one of the most important land acquisitions because it doubled the size of our country. It of course brought turmoil to the Native Americans which I do not agree with, but our country today would not be this size without this land purchase.
   
2. Lewis and Clark Expeditions 1804-1806- This expedition was exciting because it gave us and accurate look at the land that had actually been purchased. Besides, it was also the first expedition of the U. S. to and from the Pacific coast.
   
3. Congress prohibits importing of African slaves 1808- This decision was one of the most critical parts of our history. Prohibiting slave trade did not stop slavery and the cruel condition some of them lived in, but at least no more Africans were captured from their land to come to a place where they were treated like property.
   
4. Federal Government offers land at $1.25 an acre 1820- This was an exciting event because the price of the land lowered, and more people were able to purchase land to start their plantations and make money from it. If they couldn't make much money from it, at least they could grow their own food.
   
5. California Gold Rush 1849- I chose this as an exciting event because thousands of people went to California in search for gold and some of them got rich and others ended with at least a little more than they started with. Unfortunately there were also many hardships during the trips to California but it was still a critical point for California to grow.
   
6. Cotton Gin 1793- This invention was really exciting because it sped up the process of removal of seeds from the cotton fibers. I think it is exciting because it allowed the economy to grow. Of course there were bad effects as well like the need for more slaves to plant more cotton.
   
7. Volta invents electric battery 1800- This was an exciting part of our history because it would lead to more experiments and also because we still use batteries today. If it weren't for batteries, we wouldn't have cell phones, laptops, and ipods.
   
8. Steam boat sailed the Mississippi River 1811- This invention was very important because it provided a faster method of transportation along the Mississippi River and it also made trading faster.
   
9. Daguerre invents first form of photography 1839- This invention was very important because we were able to capture parts of the Civil War in pictures. War is never a good thing, but at least we have documents and evidence of the horror that ocurred during these times.
   
10. Library of Congress Founded 1800- The Library of Congress provided Congress with references and it still does today in a lot of cases. It has some of our oldest documents including some of the first pices of sound recorded.
    

Assignment 1: Preview Reflection Blog Post: Fights

I have never actually gotten into a physical fight with anyone, but I have had several verbal arguments. I have solved most of them except for one of them. My best friend's mother used to view me as a good person and welcomed me into her home when I was still a freshman in high school. I became good friends with her daughter and I would frequently visit them and go out with them. I decided to move to Boston a couple of years ago and everyone assumed different things and started commenting to her mom that I was doing bad things. All these rumors were false, but she believed them. I came back from Boston and to my surprise, the lady absolutely hated me and did not want me around her daughter. Of course her daughter and I continued to be friends and it was about 3pm or 4pm when we decided we wanted to grab a bite. I would pick her daughter up and we would go to eat and come back. When I got there, the lady stood in front of my car door so her daughter would not get in. Her daughter was 19 at the time and I thought it was ridiculous. It was not even late and it is not like I was going partying or something. She started yelling at me and offending me and I yelled back and told her that all she was doing was pushing her daughter to be more distant from them. She got even more upset and told me to leave. I left and I have only seen her once after that in 2 and half years. I saw her at a flea market and she just kept walking with an angry look ( I think I made her day). I tried to avoid the argument by staying quiet at first, but she started to offend me and that is when I could not keep quiet any more. She sayid that since she was older than me, that I had to respect her. You have to give respect in order to be respected. The argument just made things worse and till this day, she still hates me and thinks that I am a bad influence for her daughter even though her daughter is 21. I think she just has untrue information about me from people who do not have a life. On top of that, her daughter frequently lied and said she was with me many times when she really was not. I think she is jealous of the part of her daughter's life that she shares with me and not her. I don't know if this issue will ever be resolved, but I will put in on my new year's resolution list....