Abby Weiss

 EOTO Recap          While the Brown vs  Board of Education case was going through trial, there was many other  significant events happening throughout the United States. Some of these events were incredible and made strides to create equality among the races, other events took us back a multitude of steps and are very low points in our history.     The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a major event during the Civil Rights Era. It consisted of African Americans simply refusing to use public transport such as busses. This sparked with the Rosa Parks incident. This bus boycott went on from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956; over a full year of boycotting this form of public transportation. Activists met after Rosa Parks was arrested and decided that this would be the simple but productive stance they would take on the issue.      Another significant movement that went on was the March on Washington . This was a...

Brown vs. Board of Education          Brown vs The Board of Education was a turning point in the history of America, breaking the precedent set by Plessy vs. Ferguson . Signifying a shimmer of hope for true equality in the eyes of so many African Americans. In an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the case and the impact it had on America, the class will go through the process of a mock trial; imitating the parts of this trial and arguing either on the side of Brown or The Board of Education.      My team and I were assigned to take the angle of The Board. While there is no logical argument to take in order to support segregation in schools, we had to take ourselves out of this current time period and our own opinions, and travel back to pro-segregation 1954 America. My personal argument is focused on a pathos approach, making a point based upon an emotional platform.      For the past 77 years, black and ...

 Plessy vs. Ferguson - Learning From A Mock Trial Case     Plessy versus  Ferguson was a landmark case, changing practices and viewpoints regarding racial segregation all across the United States in the year 1896. The decision regarding the case allowed for racial segregation to continue across America, depleting the progressive rights and opportunities for African Americans. This decision further pushed distinction between public amenities for blacks and whites.      The case initiated when Homer Plessy, a man having just 1/8 African American in his blood, rode on a train car that was for white people only. Plessy was very fair skinned, and often "passed" as white. Plessy purchased a first class train ticket from the station and boarded the "White's Only" car. Plessy was arrested when he refused to move to the "African American" train car.  He was charged under the Separate Car Act , and his case eventually made way to the U.S Supreme ...

 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...