Group items tagged

Encyclopedia Britannica's article about the women's movement in the United States offers insight to the movement's history and evolution. One of the catalysts it discusses is Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" which wrote about the suburban housewife's boredom and lack of fulfillment even though they have been educated that they had a nice house, children and husbands. The article also explains how the National Organization for Women (NOW) was created due to the slow understanding that Women needed a liberation group of their own equivalent to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. There is a paragraph about the movement's successes such as the backing of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which granted Women access to jobs in every corner of the U.S. economy.

This webpage describes the conditions in America in the 1930s. It outlines the struggles of the working class as the depression hit. It illustrates the demarcation between classes, especially the working class and the business owners who fought to prevent unionized workers. The reader learns about the violence incited as a result the business owner's fight to limit unions. The webpage also goes on to discuss the plight of black workers in America. The site illustrates an intersection between race and class through examples such as the Scottsboro Boys' case.

I was shocked to have read this quote, populated by the United Nations, but the truth hurts - "No society treats its women as well as its men." This is the conclusion from the United Nations Development Program, as written in its 1997 Human Development Report [source: UNDP]. Almost 50 years earlier, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly had adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which specified that everyone, regardless of sex, was entitled to the same rights and freedoms. The 1997 Human Development Report, as well as every Human Development Report that followed, has highlighted that each country falls short of achieving that goal. The severity of the shortfall varies by country; Nordic countries such as Sweden, Norway and Iceland, for example, are routinely hailed as having the smallest gender gaps. In the developing world, however, women face unfairness that can be hard to fathom. In this article, 10 examples of gender inequality are examined - 10: Professional Obstacles 9: Limited Mobility 8: Violence 7: Feticide and Infanticide 6. Restricted Land Ownership 5: Feminization of Poverty 4: Access to Health Care 3: Freedom to Marry and Divorce 2: Political Participation 1: Education Attainment This site is useful in exploring this week's image largely because it is breaking free and bringing to surface the lack of basic rights compared to those of the male gender that women has had to fight for. Heidi Beckles

This webpage is part of an online exhibition on the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History website, titled "Separate Is Not Equal Brown v. Board of Education". Listed are a handful of Jim Crow laws that prohibited various interactions between white people and individuals of other races and ethnicities. These laws prohibited intermarriage, mandated separate facilities for travel and education, and even imposed jail time for women who carried the child of a black or mixed race man. In communities around the country property owners would sign a restrictive covenant that stated they promised not to sell their homes to individuals who were not white. The bus that Parks was arrested on belonged to a company that adhered to segregation laws. Living in a city as diverse as New York makes it so challenging for me to imagine that there was a time when people couldn't ride a bus together if they belonged to different racial groups. On any given day I find myself sitting or standing next to a variety of people from all kinds of ethnic and cultural background. Thank goodness for the Civil Rights movement and the activists that stood up for equality.

The author of this blog post beseeches the reader to not just view Parks as a demure, passive woman whose one-off contribution to civil rights was not giving up her seat, but as a deeply committed activist whose memory and contributions put her side by side with other civil rights icons such as Martin Luther King Jr. This article was posted on the Ms. Magazine.com blog site, a blog that highlights women's issues written about, by female writers. I believe it appropriate to discuss the feminist angle regarding Rosa Park's historic action. She stood up for her rights not only during a time of segregation, but also a time of clear gender divisions, a time when all women were still considered second class citizens. I did a search on Google for Rosa Parks and feminism, and this blog post came up. When I did a search of Rosa Park's name in the site's search engine, I found more than a dozen articles/posts detailing Park's story and a few mentions of other black female activists such as Shirley Chisholm, the first black female member of Congress, freedom fighter Harriet Tubman, and Flo Kennedy, one of the founding members of the National Organization for Women.

Did you know that Rosa Parks was not the first woman to refuse to give up her seat to a white passenger? This link is the biography of Claudette Colvin who at the age of fifteen (That's right, 15) refused to give up her seat for a white passenger in Montgomery Alabama. The reason her arrest was not used by National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was because of her age and the fact that she got pregnant around the same time she got arrested. Claudette's incident happened nine months before the better known Rosa Parks incident.

This page is from the World Health Organization web site which provides a wealth of information about a vast number of health and welfare issues under the umbrella of the United Nations. Here the definitions of the terms "sex" and "gender" are discussed. These terms can often be confused and I found this page to offer a clear definition of the two terms.

This site reports the the correlation between the income gap and mortality rates. A chart is available revealing the life expectancy change in the last 20 years of the 20th century, including the difference between the life span of men and women. Cause for the financial separation in the U.S. isn't identified, but some ideas are that "Lower-income people are more likely to not have health insurance..." and "Smoking has declined more rapidly among people with greater education and income". In the appearance of the man in the photo, I definitely make the connection with him and not having poor health care and habits.

When I first looked at this photo, the first thing that came to mind was the image of a hillbilly. As I searched the web for information about the photo I remembered visiting the tenement museum in the Lower Eastside, one of the things I remembered was Hard Times and the New Deal of the early mid 1930's. The New Deal came up when I typed in hillbilly in Hale County Alabama, which lead me to this site about Roosevelt and the New Deal. Since the onset of the Great Depression-initiated by the crash of the stock market in the fall of 1929-over $75 billion in equity capital had been lost on Wall Street, the gross national product had plunged from a high of $104 billion to a mere $74 billion, and U.S. exports had fallen by 62 percent. Over thirteen million people, nearly 25 percent of the workforce, were now unemployed. In some cities, the jobless rate was even higher. Caught in a web of despair, thousands of shabbily dressed men and women walked the streets in search of work, or a bit of food, doled out from one of the hundreds of soup kitchens set up by private charities to keep the wage-less from starvation. FDR's response to this unprecedented crisis was to initiate the "New Deal" - a series of economic measures designed to alleviate the worst effects of the depression, reinvigorate the economy, and restore the confidence of the American people in their banks and other key institutions. While the New Deal did much to lessen the worst affects of the Great Depression, its measures were not sweeping enough to restore the nation to full employment. Critics of FDR's policies, on both the right and the left, use this fact as a reason to condemn it. Conservatives argue, for example, that it went too far, and brought too much government intervention in the economy, while those on the left argue that it did not go far enough, and that in order to be truly effective, the Roosevelt Administration should have engaged in a far more comprehensive program of dire

The US Supreme Court to the case of Rosa Park's, actually never got a chance to hear Mrs. Park's case. Rosa Park's was arrested on charges of misdemeanor disorderly conduct, and appeared before judge John B Scoot. Her lawyer Fred Gray, immediately filled an appeal, but then realized that her case would not be upheld in the Alabama court system for years. Although Mrs. Park's case did not make it to the Supreme Court, her experience on the Montgomery Bus, largely aided the African American community to organize the bus boycott.  Four attorney's decided on a strategy in dealing with the bus segregation issues. Fred Gray, Thurgood Marshall, Robert Carter and Charles Langford, with a plan of action approached three other women (Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, Susie McDonald and Mary Louise Smith). These women had also experienced abuse form the Montgomery bus system.  The women became plaintiffs in a federal civil action law against the city and Mayor W.A. Gayle. Affirming the District Court ruling without issuing a written opinion, the US Supreme Court denied the cities petition. Racial segregation on buses within state boundaries became outlawed, the city of Montgomery received an official order to desegregate buses in 1956. Although the four attorneys, and including the other four women may have provided legal change, this write up point out how Mrs. Park's determination, dignity and courage catalyzed the national Civil Rights Movement.  Heidi Beckles 

Ever wonder what happened to the bus in which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on December 01, 1955? It was found deteriorating, rusted, with broken or missing windows, and no engine or seats in a field. In 2002, Save America's Treasures awarded the Henry Ford Museum $205,000 federal challenge grant to restore the bus to its 1955 appearance. The restoration was successful and today it is boarded by (up to) thousands of visitors per day.

I love NPR!  For those of you who do not know NPR stands for National Public Radio: an organization delivering news over the airwaves, and now in many other waves as well.  I have the application for my iPad and absolutely love it.  This webpage is a memorial dedicated to the life of Rosa Parks at the time of her death in 2005.  Here you cannot only read about her accomplishments, but hear Mrs. Parks' voice from several recorded interviews.  Simply click on "Remembrance by Cheryl Corley" and a media player will appear and begin playing the broadcast.

In the southern town of Indianola, Mississippi, a number of segregated schools still exist and thrive to this day. Inexpensive private schools for white children were founded in response to federal orders of desegregation between the years of 1964-1972. The stark difference between the resources available for the white schools as oppose to black schools is blatant - run down buildings, spotty internet, and outdated learning materials plague the public schools predominantly attended by black students. I believe this article is relevant to the Parks' photo because it shows us that even though this country has made strides in regards to equality, blatant segregation still exists.

This work describes how one woman sparked the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. The act of Rosa Parks caused not only pride among those who were mistreated and segregated in society, but also created inspiration. Her single act of courage moved many others to speak aloud and stand up for their rights as well. Describes the boycott organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, where African-Americans used every alternative for travel, proving their worth in society as equals. The Montgomery boycott sparked the attention of one very important man in history, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rosa Parks is quoted as saying, "I thought about Emmett Till, and I could not go back. My legs and feet were not hurting, that is a stereotype. I paid the same fare as others, and I felt violated." Many of us know about the story of Emmitt Till, and plenty of us do not. The year of 1955 and prior year's race was largely marginalized by class, but probably more by nationality, as Roderick A. Ferguson states in his excerpt "Race. Queer formations are excepted when one is white but not queers of color. According to freedom's relation to unfreedom to modern ethics, different permutation of morality continue to shape social formations (Roderick A. Ferguson). To Emmitt Till, a 14 year old African American teenager, I find that this was and still is the case in the year of 2013. I won't go into detail of how this young boy on vacation was damaged, but his murder and the trial became largely energy serge for moral courage, that Mrs. Park's used along with other ill treatment's she experienced to stand her ground. The Emmett Till case was a spark for a new generation to commit their lives to social change; as stated by historian Robin Kelley. Robin Kelley also states that the case was not just about the murder of a teenage boy, but about transforming the south so that no one would have to die like Mr. Till. Civil rights activists used the murder of Emmett Till as a rallying cry for civil rights protest, transforming a monstrous crime into a springboard for justice. The Montgomery Bus Boycott followed closely on the heels of the case. This site adds to this platform the importance of understanding how history can spark reactions in our society, and further shape our society. Heidi Beckles

This is a portrait of Allie Mae Burroughs husband, Floyd Burroughs, taken at the same time by Walker Evans.  This photograph uses the same basic layout with focused placed on the eyes and thin lipped straight-line mouth, made famous in the portrait of his wife, Allie Mae Burroughs.  

This page includes graphs and charts of data from 2005. Also, the page is one large list of statistics relating to daily spending, global income, children's health and mortality, problems concerning water availability and cleanliness, and U.S. spending on various goods. Again, looking at the photo, I think this link sheds light on how the many different global, national, individual financial facts are caused by and are the causes of such factors as unsafe and unsanitary living conditions, poor health care, or unsatisfactory education.

This powerful 1936 portrait of Allie Mae Burroughs was originally taken in order to be used in a story for Fortune.  The story was rejected by Fortune for being too bleak, but the inconic image became one of the many famous Faces of the American depression.  The simplicity of the shot, coupled with the simplicity of subject and set up this now famous portrait by Walker Evans.

This site shows how social class still plays a big role in American society. Although today there is barely such thing as the middle class, you are either lower class or upper class. The image shows a woman who is clearly in the lower class and you can tell by her appearance. The image is most likely from the Great Depression and you can see by this site that almost nothing has changed in almost a century.

The importance of particular women in the history of women's liberation. Particularly discussed is the issue of women's rights and acceptance as equal contributors in society.

Its ok melissa, I saw that and do I did not annotate and I found another source, but I couldnt delete the share. No worries.

Okay- I was just confused- couldn't figure out how that happened-