Abby Weiss

 Lynching         From the years of 1882 to 1968 there were roughly 4,743 lynchings of blacks in the United States. Lynching was a very popular means of unauthorized execution during this time period. Typically lynching was a crime committed against African Americans, but there are many instances where the act was committed against whites as well, prior to the determination of their guilt regarding an accusation. Lynchings were never federal crimes, and it wasn't until 2018 that the Senate passed an anti-lynching bill . This devastating and destructive happening taunted blacks and opposing whites for all too long.      Lynching is defined as the killing of a person through mob action, without legal approval. The victim would be accused of a crime, and not receive proper due process, but be executed regardless. The sequence of order for these lynchings, was often something along the lines of an initial criminal a...

     America After the Civil War     From 1861 to 1865, the United States endured a brutal war. This war was against no other, than ourselves; the north versus the south were attempting to destroy each other over the disagreement of slavery. When the North won, the South was outraged. Life did not continue on as planned. The United States entered an Era of Reconstruction , during this time period there were many black advancements, but also much destruction.      The Reconstruction Era is generalized as the. time period where Lincoln freed the slaves, and blacks were beginning to take massive steps to  reach equality. During the Civil War, roughly 180,000 enslaved blacks helped the Union on the front line to defeat the South. The enslaved soldiers were determined that this war would be the breaking point, and would cause slavery to end.      When the Civil War ended and the Union won, they achieved their goal of ending s...

     In class, we debated the State vs. Mann case, which regards a slave being beat and shot at by the person who is renting her. My group and I were on the State Side of the debate, arguing that Mann should be held accountable for injuring said slave and should be forced to pay his fine. Our argument was structured upon the basis that due to Mann renting Lydia, and her not being his property, he was simply assaulting her.      The State vs. Mann case as a whole dealt with John Mann, from North Carolina, who had rented a slave named Lydia. Lydia was referred to as " disobedient" and in order to handle this, Mann began beating her. In an attempt to avoid the beating, Lydia started running. Mann shot at Lydia while she was running away, and hit her in the back, injuring her. Mann was fined ten dollars, and felt as though he should not be held responsible for paying the fine. The case then worked its way through the system and landed in the Supreme Court...

 Trespassing Across America - A Journey to Fight the Pipeline      Ken Ilgunas, an activist and environmentalist trekked the country in hopes of raising awareness for climate change and the dangers of the  Keystone XL Pipeline. The Keystone XL Pipeline runs for 1,700 miles and spans from Alberta, Canada to Port Arthur, Texas.      This idea of hiking the pipeline was not something Ken originally started out with. Ken explained that he had always been an  environmentalist, and as he watched the world literally burn and begin to fall apart in front of him, he decided he must do something. He was 28 and living in Deadhorse, Alaska with his friend Liam. He was washing dishes and knew that he needed to live a life with an impact. His friend Liam suggested they hike the pipeline, in an attempt to see the environmental impact it caused, firsthand. This idea alone was enough to spark something in Ken. A short time later, he hitchhiked out of Dea...

Pro vs. Anti Slavery - EOTO Facts     While going through the times of history, it is quite easy to see the two sides of many issues. When it came to slavery, the sides were vocal and apparent. Each side made advanced on their case, allowing for each side to further progress regarding its motives.  Pro slavery was raging in the south. Southerners claimed that slavery was ethical, constitutional, and good for the economy. In order to push their point further, pro-slavery folk created crafty and even law abiding ways to advance their goal of making the United States a country of slavery.   The Kansas-Nebraska Act was enacted in 1854. It created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska. These territories allowed for popular sovereignty in regards to slavery, meaning the people inhabiting the land chose if slavery was going to be allowed there or not. This ability to choose whether slavery was going to legal or illegal in the territories caused a major pushback from the...