Tuesday, November 26, 2019

10 Super Weird College Majors Youve Never Heard Of

10 Super Weird College Majors Youve Never Heard Of You have a passion for something, but you aren’t sure whether there’s a major for that. We’re in an exciting, evolving time now where, depending on where you choose to study, you can kind of go your own way. There are tons of weird, but cool- and real- majors out there for you to explore and extend what drives you. So pick your passion, follow your bliss, and major in something that matters to you. Here are 10 of the weirdest and the coolest ones we’ve found.1. Adventure EdIf you go to Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, you can take courses in Rock Climbing, Canoe Paddling, Wilderness Expedition, etc. in preparation to help teach kids, adults, at-risk populations, and yourself to have challenging experiences in the great outdoors. Your job prospects include working for outdoor education at state or national parks, or even outdoor adventure programs the world over.2. BagpipingShow your Scottish roots- at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, yo u can major in Bagpipe Performance. The major has been around for 75 years.3. Canadian StudiesAt Duke University in North Carolina, it’s not all about American Studies. You can study the literature, politics, and culture of the giant country to the north- regardless of whether or not you hail from there. Learn, in-depth, about our neighbors!4. AuctioneeringThink you’d make a great auctioneer? If you go to Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania and study things like Audience Communications, Auctioneering Law, Procurement and Appraisal of Merchandise, and Preparations for the Auction, you’ll prep yourself for a very specific career. Job prospects: obvious!5. The BeatlesNo, really. At Liverpool Hope University in the UK, you can â€Å"examine the significance of the music of The Beatles in the construction of identities, audiences, ethnicities and industries, and localities.† Job prospects: Beatles historian (yes, apparently that is a thing) or Po pular Music Studies specialist.6. CitrusIf you go to Florida Southern University, where citrus farming is key, you can learn all you need to know about planting, irrigating, weed managing, pruning, fertilizing, pest controlling, and all other general citrus tree managing. Job prospects are surprisingly numerous: work for large citrus production companies, grove service companies, agricultural cooperatives, juice processing plants, agrochemical and fertilizer companies, or at citrus research facilities.7. Comic ArtComic arts are a real art these days. Study History, Concepts, Storytelling, Print Web Publishing, Composition, Character Development, etc. at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, then take a job at comic studios as a cartoonist, illustrator or author or in comic book art production.8. EgyptologyLove mummies? At Brown University in Rhode Island, you can prepare yourself for a career as an Egyptologist, historian, or specialized archaeologist by studying all things An cient Egyptian and Mesopotamian.9. Farrier ScienceLearn how to shoe horses at Mesalands Community College in New Mexico. Enjoy courses such as Equine Anatomy and Physiology, Horseshoeing Theory, Blacksmithing, then find yourself your dream career as a self-employed farrier, or work in equine or agricultural industries.10. Pop CultureAre you that person who knows everything about pop culture and doesn’t really care much about anything else? There’s a degree for you at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Your course load would include things like Intro to Popular Culture or Popular Culture and Media, Black Popular Culture, Television as Popular Culture, Folklife and Material Culture, and History of Popular Literature. And a wide variety of careers might be open to you, including positions in advertising, public relations, journalism, mass media (management, performance, production and marketing), teaching, library and museum work. It never hurts to be a well-rounded person who knows a ton about what’s going on around you.

Friday, November 22, 2019

How to Win Community Service Scholarships

How to Win Community Service Scholarships SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Have you been significantly involved in community service or volunteer work?Will you be applying to college soon?Good news! You can use your community service experiences as a way to help pay for college or to fund future volunteer projects. Read on to learn what community scholarships are, how you can find one, and how you can increase your chances of winning one. What Are Community Service Scholarships? Community service scholarships are scholarships awarded to students who have demonstrated a significant and positive impact on their community as a volunteer.Many schools and organizations value students whom they think will have a positive impact on the world, and they reward people who have begun to do this already through their community service. While some scholarships have requirements for the type of service that had to have been done, community service, in general, can be completed nearly anywhere: hospitals, parks, schools, animal shelters, and more.As long as you have been significantly involved in a service project, you will likely find a scholarship you are eligible for, regardless of where you completed this work. The award amounts of these scholarships can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars or more.Most of the scholarships are used to help pay for school, but others are for funding future service trips or projects. What Qualities Do Evaluators Look For in Community Service Scholarship Applications? The exact qualities vary for each scholarship, but in general evaluators look for: Commitment to community service and bettering the lives of others A deep interest in your volunteer work Leadership experience Work that had a strong positive impact on your community Personal growth as a result of community service Read on to learn how to emphasize these qualities in your application and for step-by-step guidelines to crafting a strong application that will increase your chances of winning a community service scholarship. #1: Develop a Strong Record of Community Service The most important way to increase your chances of winning a community service scholarship is to have a strong record of community service.Even if you write a brilliant essay, have top grades, and submit glowing letters of recommendation, if you don’t have a history of significant and dedicated community service, it will be practically impossible to win a community service scholarship. It’s obviously easier to strengthen your community service if you are younger and have more time before applying for scholarships, but even people without a lot of time can make improvements to their community service record.Listed below are components of strong community service records to aim for in your own work. Qualities of Strong Community Service: Working Primarily at One Location or in One Field Dedicating months or even years to volunteering at one place or within one field (such as education or medicine) is more impressive than spending a few hours volunteering at many different places, because it shows dedication and passion for a cause. If, for example, all your volunteer experiences have involved working with animals, the people reviewing your application will be able to clearly see what your interests are and get a better understanding of your personality and the issues you care about. Leadership Experience Colleges are always looking for leaders because they are often more likely to have a larger impact on the world.Ways to show leadership through your community service experiences include gaining more responsibility over time, developing or leading the planning of a new project, and supervising other volunteers. Regularly Participating in Community Service The people and organizations awarding scholarships want to see a significant commitment to helping others, which means they prefer applicants who haveregularly participated in community service over a long period of time. This often means months or years of volunteer work.If you haven’t been involved in community service for very long, try to volunteer regularly and look for leadership opportunities in order to strengthen this part of your service. Helping People or a Place You Care About A passion for helping others is a critical part of most community service scholarships, so reviewers want to see applicants who have strong reasons for volunteering.Hopefully, you had important reasons for choosing to volunteer where you did. Do you plan to work in a similar field in the future? Was this place important to you growing up? Did you have a particularly influential tutor while growing up and want to provide the same guidance to someone else? Discuss these reasons in your essay and/or have someone else discuss them in your letter of recommendation.Try to develop relationships with the people you are helping and the people you are working with. Not only will this make your volunteer work more enjoyable, it will also likely increase the positive impact you have and make people more willing to write you a great letter of recommendation. #2: Analyze Your Community Service Experiences The application process for most community service scholarships requires you to think critically about your community service and its impact on your life.Thinking about this now, early on in the process, will give you time to review and strengthen your answers and will also help you choose which scholarships to apply for and how to structure your essays later on. Ask yourself the following questions, and write the answers down somewhere where you can reference them again as you complete your applications: What made you first choose to participate in community service? Why did you choose to volunteer where you did? How has your community service changed you? How has your community service benefited others? What is your favorite memory from community service? What friendships have you gained as a result of your community service? #3: Have Solid Academics Even though the people reviewing your application are particularly interested in your community service, they also want to award the scholarships to strong students, as the majority of these scholarships will be used to pay for college.Many community service scholarships require a minimum GPA, and somealso require completing particular coursework, such as taking certain math courses for scholarships geared towards STEM students. For most community service scholarships, the stronger your grades and academic work, the better your chance of winning.This includes your GPA, class rank, and rigor of your courses.Some scholarships are also only given to students planning on majoring in a particular field or who plan on pursuing a particular career, such as nursing or social work. If your grades aren’t as high as you’d like them to be, there are some community service scholarships that do not take your grades into account, so you may want to focus on applying to those. #4: Research Different Scholarships After you've spent time strengthening and thinking about your community service experiences, it’s time to start looking for scholarships.There are hundreds of community service scholarships available, and we have a guide that includes a complete list of them!You can also see ifyour high school or future college offers community service scholarships, or search online. You can search for scholarships based on the type of community service performed, specific colleges you’d like to apply to, GPA requirements, and more. Before you apply to a scholarship, it's important to check whetheryou meet its eligibility requirements. Many community service scholarships have very specific requirements for things such as applicants’ age, race, GPA, and financial need.Check eligibility carefully now so that you don’t waste time applying for a scholarship you don’t quality for. You also shouldn't apply to just one scholarship.One of the best ways to increase your chances of winning a community service scholarship is to apply for multiple scholarships.Keep in mind as well that not all community scholarships are restricted to high school seniors, so you may be able to start applying earlier and build up your scholarship fund. Throughout this process, you should also be paying careful attention to application deadlines.Many deadlines are early in the school year, so try to start your applications early and use a calendar to keep track of when materials need to be submitted. #5: Write a Strong Essay Almost all community service scholarships require an essay in order to apply, and they are often the most important part of your application.Your essay gives you the chance to explain what you did during your community service, the impact it had on others, and the impact it had on you. These are all things that are very important to scholarship committees. Before you begin any essay, make sure you carefully read the instructions. Different scholarships will want your essay to focus on different aspects of your community service. Some want you to discuss how you changed, while others want you to focus more on how you helped others. Some want you to describe one specific memory from your community service while others want a broad overview of your work. Pay attention to this, because even if you write a wonderful essay, if it wasn’t on what the instructions asked for, you won’t win the scholarship. If you are applying to multiple scholarships, also be prepared to write different essays for each of them, although you can often reuse parts of one essay for other scholarships. We have a guide thatexplains step-by-step how to write great community service essays. Some major points to keep in mind are: Include specific details about your experience so people reading your essay better understand the work you did. Discuss specific projects, moments, and people in your essay. Highlight your personal strengths so readers get a better sense of your personality. Are you a motivated leader? A natural people person? Give examples to support this. Make your accomplishments clear. What was the impact of your community service? Who did it help? How did it improve your community? Image Source: Jonathan Kim/Flickr #6: Get Excellent Letters of Recommendation Not all scholarships require submitting a letter or letters of recommendation, but when they are required, they are usually a very important part of the application. We have a guide that gives a complete overview of how to get a great letter of recommendation.Some of the main points to consider are: Ask your community service supervisor to write your letter, as they will often be able to fully describe the work you did and write professionally. If your supervisor doesn’t know you particularly well, you may consider asking a coworker write you a letter instead, if that is allowed by the scholarship’s guidelines. Talk to the person writing your letter about what you’d like them to include, such as particular projects, examples of leadership, or times you worked well with others. Remember that youwill get the best letters of recommendation if you have developed strong relationships with people you volunteer with and if you’ve spent a significant amount of time working at one place. This is again why having a strong record of community service is so important for winning scholarships. #7: Gather Additional Materials Writing the essay and getting letters of recommendation are usually the most challenging parts of applying for community service scholarships, but once you have finished with those, don’t forget some of the smaller application requirements. Most community service scholarships request some additional application materials. The specific material needed varies for each scholarship, but can often include: School transcripts Your work history A list of your other extracurricular activities Awards or honors you've received Proof of financial need Some scholarships have different submission deadlines for different parts of the application, so make sure you are staying organized and submitting each of the application materials on time. #8: Review and Submit! The final step before you submit your application should be to check over each of your application materials.Is your essay as strong and specific as it could be? Do you have each piece of information you need to apply? It’s often useful to have someone else, such as a parent or teacher, look over your application, particularly the essay. Many times they can give valuable feedback that will help make your application even stronger. Once you are confident with everything, it’s time to submit!If there is a website for the scholarship, it will usually mention when winners will be notified, but if you can’t find this information, feel free to contact someone who helps organize the scholarship and ask them.Good luck! What's Next? Want to learn more about community service? Check out our guide to community serviceand learn what community service is, what its benefits are, and how you can get involved. Want to know where you should do volunteer work? Check out our guide to the 9 best places to do community service. Interested in applying to other scholarships? Check out these 21 great scholarships for high school seniors. Want to improve your SAT score by 160points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

How to Win Community Service Scholarships

How to Win Community Service Scholarships SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Have you been significantly involved in community service or volunteer work?Will you be applying to college soon?Good news! You can use your community service experiences as a way to help pay for college or to fund future volunteer projects. Read on to learn what community scholarships are, how you can find one, and how you can increase your chances of winning one. What Are Community Service Scholarships? Community service scholarships are scholarships awarded to students who have demonstrated a significant and positive impact on their community as a volunteer.Many schools and organizations value students whom they think will have a positive impact on the world, and they reward people who have begun to do this already through their community service. While some scholarships have requirements for the type of service that had to have been done, community service, in general, can be completed nearly anywhere: hospitals, parks, schools, animal shelters, and more.As long as you have been significantly involved in a service project, you will likely find a scholarship you are eligible for, regardless of where you completed this work. The award amounts of these scholarships can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars or more.Most of the scholarships are used to help pay for school, but others are for funding future service trips or projects. What Qualities Do Evaluators Look For in Community Service Scholarship Applications? The exact qualities vary for each scholarship, but in general evaluators look for: Commitment to community service and bettering the lives of others A deep interest in your volunteer work Leadership experience Work that had a strong positive impact on your community Personal growth as a result of community service Read on to learn how to emphasize these qualities in your application and for step-by-step guidelines to crafting a strong application that will increase your chances of winning a community service scholarship. #1: Develop a Strong Record of Community Service The most important way to increase your chances of winning a community service scholarship is to have a strong record of community service.Even if you write a brilliant essay, have top grades, and submit glowing letters of recommendation, if you don’t have a history of significant and dedicated community service, it will be practically impossible to win a community service scholarship. It’s obviously easier to strengthen your community service if you are younger and have more time before applying for scholarships, but even people without a lot of time can make improvements to their community service record.Listed below are components of strong community service records to aim for in your own work. Qualities of Strong Community Service: Working Primarily at One Location or in One Field Dedicating months or even years to volunteering at one place or within one field (such as education or medicine) is more impressive than spending a few hours volunteering at many different places, because it shows dedication and passion for a cause. If, for example, all your volunteer experiences have involved working with animals, the people reviewing your application will be able to clearly see what your interests are and get a better understanding of your personality and the issues you care about. Leadership Experience Colleges are always looking for leaders because they are often more likely to have a larger impact on the world.Ways to show leadership through your community service experiences include gaining more responsibility over time, developing or leading the planning of a new project, and supervising other volunteers. Regularly Participating in Community Service The people and organizations awarding scholarships want to see a significant commitment to helping others, which means they prefer applicants who haveregularly participated in community service over a long period of time. This often means months or years of volunteer work.If you haven’t been involved in community service for very long, try to volunteer regularly and look for leadership opportunities in order to strengthen this part of your service. Helping People or a Place You Care About A passion for helping others is a critical part of most community service scholarships, so reviewers want to see applicants who have strong reasons for volunteering.Hopefully, you had important reasons for choosing to volunteer where you did. Do you plan to work in a similar field in the future? Was this place important to you growing up? Did you have a particularly influential tutor while growing up and want to provide the same guidance to someone else? Discuss these reasons in your essay and/or have someone else discuss them in your letter of recommendation.Try to develop relationships with the people you are helping and the people you are working with. Not only will this make your volunteer work more enjoyable, it will also likely increase the positive impact you have and make people more willing to write you a great letter of recommendation. #2: Analyze Your Community Service Experiences The application process for most community service scholarships requires you to think critically about your community service and its impact on your life.Thinking about this now, early on in the process, will give you time to review and strengthen your answers and will also help you choose which scholarships to apply for and how to structure your essays later on. Ask yourself the following questions, and write the answers down somewhere where you can reference them again as you complete your applications: What made you first choose to participate in community service? Why did you choose to volunteer where you did? How has your community service changed you? How has your community service benefited others? What is your favorite memory from community service? What friendships have you gained as a result of your community service? #3: Have Solid Academics Even though the people reviewing your application are particularly interested in your community service, they also want to award the scholarships to strong students, as the majority of these scholarships will be used to pay for college.Many community service scholarships require a minimum GPA, and somealso require completing particular coursework, such as taking certain math courses for scholarships geared towards STEM students. For most community service scholarships, the stronger your grades and academic work, the better your chance of winning.This includes your GPA, class rank, and rigor of your courses.Some scholarships are also only given to students planning on majoring in a particular field or who plan on pursuing a particular career, such as nursing or social work. If your grades aren’t as high as you’d like them to be, there are some community service scholarships that do not take your grades into account, so you may want to focus on applying to those. #4: Research Different Scholarships After you've spent time strengthening and thinking about your community service experiences, it’s time to start looking for scholarships.There are hundreds of community service scholarships available, and we have a guide that includes a complete list of them!You can also see ifyour high school or future college offers community service scholarships, or search online. You can search for scholarships based on the type of community service performed, specific colleges you’d like to apply to, GPA requirements, and more. Before you apply to a scholarship, it's important to check whetheryou meet its eligibility requirements. Many community service scholarships have very specific requirements for things such as applicants’ age, race, GPA, and financial need.Check eligibility carefully now so that you don’t waste time applying for a scholarship you don’t quality for. You also shouldn't apply to just one scholarship.One of the best ways to increase your chances of winning a community service scholarship is to apply for multiple scholarships.Keep in mind as well that not all community scholarships are restricted to high school seniors, so you may be able to start applying earlier and build up your scholarship fund. Throughout this process, you should also be paying careful attention to application deadlines.Many deadlines are early in the school year, so try to start your applications early and use a calendar to keep track of when materials need to be submitted. #5: Write a Strong Essay Almost all community service scholarships require an essay in order to apply, and they are often the most important part of your application.Your essay gives you the chance to explain what you did during your community service, the impact it had on others, and the impact it had on you. These are all things that are very important to scholarship committees. Before you begin any essay, make sure you carefully read the instructions. Different scholarships will want your essay to focus on different aspects of your community service. Some want you to discuss how you changed, while others want you to focus more on how you helped others. Some want you to describe one specific memory from your community service while others want a broad overview of your work. Pay attention to this, because even if you write a wonderful essay, if it wasn’t on what the instructions asked for, you won’t win the scholarship. If you are applying to multiple scholarships, also be prepared to write different essays for each of them, although you can often reuse parts of one essay for other scholarships. We have a guide thatexplains step-by-step how to write great community service essays. Some major points to keep in mind are: Include specific details about your experience so people reading your essay better understand the work you did. Discuss specific projects, moments, and people in your essay. Highlight your personal strengths so readers get a better sense of your personality. Are you a motivated leader? A natural people person? Give examples to support this. Make your accomplishments clear. What was the impact of your community service? Who did it help? How did it improve your community? Image Source: Jonathan Kim/Flickr #6: Get Excellent Letters of Recommendation Not all scholarships require submitting a letter or letters of recommendation, but when they are required, they are usually a very important part of the application. We have a guide that gives a complete overview of how to get a great letter of recommendation.Some of the main points to consider are: Ask your community service supervisor to write your letter, as they will often be able to fully describe the work you did and write professionally. If your supervisor doesn’t know you particularly well, you may consider asking a coworker write you a letter instead, if that is allowed by the scholarship’s guidelines. Talk to the person writing your letter about what you’d like them to include, such as particular projects, examples of leadership, or times you worked well with others. Remember that youwill get the best letters of recommendation if you have developed strong relationships with people you volunteer with and if you’ve spent a significant amount of time working at one place. This is again why having a strong record of community service is so important for winning scholarships. #7: Gather Additional Materials Writing the essay and getting letters of recommendation are usually the most challenging parts of applying for community service scholarships, but once you have finished with those, don’t forget some of the smaller application requirements. Most community service scholarships request some additional application materials. The specific material needed varies for each scholarship, but can often include: School transcripts Your work history A list of your other extracurricular activities Awards or honors you've received Proof of financial need Some scholarships have different submission deadlines for different parts of the application, so make sure you are staying organized and submitting each of the application materials on time. #8: Review and Submit! The final step before you submit your application should be to check over each of your application materials.Is your essay as strong and specific as it could be? Do you have each piece of information you need to apply? It’s often useful to have someone else, such as a parent or teacher, look over your application, particularly the essay. Many times they can give valuable feedback that will help make your application even stronger. Once you are confident with everything, it’s time to submit!If there is a website for the scholarship, it will usually mention when winners will be notified, but if you can’t find this information, feel free to contact someone who helps organize the scholarship and ask them.Good luck! What's Next? Want to learn more about community service? Check out our guide to community serviceand learn what community service is, what its benefits are, and how you can get involved. Want to know where you should do volunteer work? Check out our guide to the 9 best places to do community service. Interested in applying to other scholarships? Check out these 21 great scholarships for high school seniors. Want to improve your SAT score by 160points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Entrapment by Government Agents Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Entrapment by Government Agents - Essay Example Throughout the two and a half years, the government has been pestering Jacobson, to the point of almost forcing him to commit a crime. The fictitious organizations that have been sending him mails and surveys seem to be wanting to pin him down. The government was trying to lure him to commit the crime by informing him that censorship was infringing on his rights and sexual freedom. Jacobson is an innocent victim of entrapment by the government. The information about pornography and other illicit sexual activities were being fed to Jacobson, flaunted right into his mail box. The government did not give him a choice but to participate in the surveys and be a member of the phony organizations. Instead of trying to trap him, the government should have gone after the real offenders, those who do not need any persuasion from them to commit the crime. The Supreme Court defined entrapment in this case by stating that â€Å"if the defendant before contact with law enforcement officers or their agents did not have any intent or disposition to commit the crime charged and was induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit the crime, then he was entrapped† (What constitutes entrapment by government agents?, 1992). Yes, one agrees with the definition of the Supreme Court. One believes that to prove that there is entrapment, two factors must be considered which was captured in the definition of the Supreme Court. The first is that the defendant was induced by the government to commit the crime. The second factor is the matter of whether the defendant is predisposed to commit the crime, given the fact that he was induced inappropriately to commit the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Statement of Alberto Giacometti Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Statement of Alberto Giacometti - Essay Example Alberto preferred the life of the cat over the painting of the supreme Dutch painter of the seventeenth century, Rembrandt, who was an artist of intensely poetic thoughts, without a doubt with an unambiguous penchant towards the implausible, and enthusiastically involved in tribulations of design. Opting to save a cat over Rembrandt painting is not a simple decision as when art lovers imagine masterpiece painting, it is Rembrandt who first appears in mind. And the obsession they worth most is how Rembrandt depicted people, and himself in all those self-portraits, with such impending, compassion, and understanding. Giacometti was right in saving the cat over the Rembrandt paintings as he was a main actor in the Existentialist faction, but his work opposes uncomplicated classification. Several explain it as Formalist, others disagree that it is Expressionist. Still after his excommunication from the Surrealist group, while the intent of his sculpting was frequently simulation, the end products were an expression of his emotional reaction to the subject. He endeavored to produce renditions of his sculpts the approach he saw them, and the way he contemplates they should be seen. Giacometti stands in distressed necessitate of a moral ideal for the dealing of living beings and nonliving beings in society.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Reconstruction 1965-77 a false dawn for African-American Civil Rights Essay Example for Free

Reconstruction 1965-77 a false dawn for African-American Civil Rights Essay To what Degree was Reconstruction 1965-77 a false dawn for African-American civil Rights? After the end of the civil war, there were many issues which needed to be addressed. The civil rights of the African Americans were in need of change, and during this period there were hopes that new legislation would be implemented to aid African Americans and other minority groups. This legislation would be called the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the 14th Amendment of 1868 (which promised equality), and finally the 15th Amendment (which gave the right to vote). However, despite the positive legislation, reconstruction aggravated a lot of people and brought the southern states into conflict with the Government. The Freedmens Bureau was established in 1865, which aimed to provide food, clothing, and fuel to formal slaves and white refugees. The Freedmens Bureau bill was also passed by Abraham Lincoln; however Johnson vetoed it, however a supplementary act extended its existence until 1870. This was very good for black rights, as it gave blacks more protection and a safety net if they were too poor to buy food and support their families. However, it was only meant as a temporary act, and therefore there was always the looming feeling that it would soon come to an end, and also the promises of it were not fulfilled to the extent at which it was said to be. The Amendments which were introduced also gave black people a real hope in gaining independence and freedom. The 13th amendment was introduced in 1865, and this guaranteed the permanent abolishment of slavery. The emancipation proclamation which was introduced by Abraham Lincoln was seen as more of a temporary fix whilst the war was going on, however the 13th amendment solidified it and made it a more permanent and clear reality. Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. However, although by law it states that there shall be no slavery, slavery continued on a more hidden basis. Sharecropping still existed, and freedmen who had come out of slavery with no qualifications or experience became unemployed, so the living conditions for most freedmen did not improve. Slave-owners were also reluctant to let their slaves leave, and often kept them illegally. The 14th Amendment however was introduced in 1870, and this aimed to further secure the rights of the freedmen. This turned out to be one of the most important Amendments ever made to the American constitution. It threatened to reduce the representation of the states which continued to discriminate. However, a loophole in this law was that the states which continued to discriminate would just accept the unequal representation, but carry on with their discrimination, yet just not so obvious. Therefore by some, this could be seen as a false dawn, as it did address the issue of freedmen not having rights, but it also created a loophole for the southern states to take advantage of. The 15th Amendment was introduced two years later, which aimed to cover the loophole which was created by the 14th amendment. This stated: Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude This was a huge step forward for black civil rights, as this means that the south was not able to carry on with their discrimination against many voters, and this nullified the loophole in the law which was created by the 14th Amendment. However, more loopholes were created with this, with unattainable requirements being implemented just to be able to vote. For example, voters in some states had to be taxpayers which was not possible for freedmen, as most were not earning enough to be able to pay tax, and also literacy tests were introduced which were severely biased against black people, with questions which were completely unanswerable. Another reason why this did not entirely work was because of the uprising of the KKK. They were a terrorist group which aimed to scare black people into not voting, and to basically cause terror because they were black. They at first were not an ultra-violent group, however as time progressed they quickly became increasingly violent, as lynchings were common, and they would often target the black people who were doing well for themselves, I.E lawyers who were doing a lot for civil rights, or those who went to vote. Because of this huge suppression and hatred, a lot of black people were scared to vote and in reality voting was not a freedom for black people. Some historians would say that reconstruction it itself did not really care for the black rights, and that it was a political move to try and remain Republican power in the south. Abraham Lincoln himself did not have a clear policy for freed slaves after the Civil War, so reconstruction was not seen as a solid plan from the start, it was looking like a false dawn. False Dawn something which seems to show that a successful period is beginning or that a situation is improving when it is not. Reconstruction The act of constructing again, of rebuilding Bibliography * Wikipedia * Class Notes * Civil Rights In America Ron Field * About.com

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Lessons from The Piano Lesson by August Wilson Essay -- The Piano Less

What should one do with their legacy, and how should it be put to use? In the play â€Å"The Piano Lesson†, the Charles' family faces this question, and struggles to find the answer. The family’s legacy is in the form of a piano. On the piano are carvings of their ancestors. The two main characters that are having a conflict over the piano are Berniece and Boy Willie. Boy Willie wants to sell the piano so he can add the proceeds of the sale to the proceeds of selling watermelon’s and buy some land from â€Å"Sutter†. Berniece doesn’t want to sell the piano because it holds the memories and blood that stains its wood (Gale, 2000, p255). She refuses to play the piano and keeps its history from her daughter in fear of calling up the spirits that might lie within the piano. The main symbol of the play is the 137-year-old piano, an object that holds a key to the family history. It takes on a number of meanings through the course of its life. It was carved to make Miss Ophelia happy, the piano's wooden figures indicate the interchangeable nature of slavery. As Doaker notes, who is Berniece and Boy willie’s uncle, "Now she had her piano and her niggers too." (ACT I, p741) The slave is the master's gift and accessory. The piano â€Å"visibly records the lost lives of Berniece and Boy Willie’s ancestors, and it is the only tangible link remaining between past and present† (Galens 2000). The piano also becomes a symbolic attempt to keep the family together. It is also then the physical record of the family's history. Boy Charles especially understands the carvings as narrative. As Doaker recalls: "†¦say it was the story of our whole family and as long as Sutter had it he had us. Say we was still in slavery." (Act I, p741) It might appear as if Be... ...ing one's legacy is answered so simply. The living draw strength from the ghosts of the past and the ghosts respond to the living because they speak from that very place. Works Cited Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition  © 2007 by Salem Press, Inc. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=MOL9830000328&site=lrc-live SparkNotes Editors. â€Å"SparkNote on The Piano Lesson.† SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. "The Piano Lesson." Drama for Students. Ed. David M. Galens. Vol. 7. Detroit: Gale, 2000. 243-262. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX2693200025&v=2.1&u=bali98452&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w Wilson, August. â€Å"The Piano Lesson.† Booth, Hunter, and Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Portable ed. New York: Norton, 2006, p716-778.