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.
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
The Greensboro Sit-Ins | North Carolina History Martin Luther King Jr., Source: Library of Congress I want you to imagine that you’re a freshman in college (if you already are one, this exercise will prove quite easy). I want you to imagine walking into your local Starbucks. Allow me to set the stage: February 1st, 1960. Our story truly begins a few days earlier with the Greensboro Four (as they would soon be collectively known) debating on the best course of action. Woolworth's Counter, picture taken by Mark Pelligrini The first day was tough going, but the movement soon caught steam. On the fourth day, 300 people joined the sit-in (Wolff). But what of the Greensboro Four, the originators of the protest? Beyond the initial success that they had in desegregating Woolworth, the Greensboro Four also inspired other similar protests. This story must be told, again and again, until everyone knows it. Bibliography Channing, Steven and Cerese, Rebecca. Weatherford, Carole Boston., and Jerome Lagarrigue. Wolff, Miles. Frazier, Thomas R.
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.
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.
Courage at the Greensboro Lunch Counter | At the Smithsonian On February 1, 1960, four young African-American men, freshmen at the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina, entered the Greensboro Woolworth’s and sat down on stools that had, until that moment, been occupied exclusively by white customers. The four—Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., Joseph McNeil and David Richmond—asked to be served, and were refused. But they did not get up and leave. Indeed, they launched a protest that lasted six months and helped change America. A section of that historic counter is now held by the National Museum of American History, where the chairman of the division of politics and reform, Harry Rubenstein, calls it “a significant part of a larger collection about participation in our political system.” William Yeingst, chairman of the museum’s division of home and community life, says the Greensboro protest “inspired similar actions in the state and elsewhere in the South.
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.
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
American History FREE Lessons and Activities 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.
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."
Albert H. Small Documents Gallery - The Gettysburg Address With the generous support of Mrs. Laura Bush, the White House is loaning this copy of the Gettysburg Address for a very limited public viewing. In just a few words, Lincoln honored the Union soldiers who fought and died at Gettysburg and expressed the belief that their sacrifice was for a higher cause than preserving the country. Lincoln’s words have endured for all who embrace the promise "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Download a printable version of the Gettysburg Address (.pdf) First page of the Gettysburg Address Second page of the Gettysburg Address Third page of the Gettysburg Address Explore this exhibition: