Special thanks to my last year students, 

for contributing interesting entries to this blog. 

All best luck, to the last students of the 

LICENCIATURA EN FILOLOGÍA INGLESA

:) Patricia

 

 Civil Rights Movement for African-Americans in the 1960's

 

 

 

 

 

The civil rights movement in 1959 and 1960: sit-ins, marches, boycotts and rallies in Montgomery, Ala., Brooklyn, N.Y., and Washington, D.C. The protests in the struggle for rights of African-Americans. The sit-ins at drugstore lunch counters in the south, Jackie Robinson protesting segregation at airports, Lunch Counter controversies and school integration including Banyard Rustin, Martin Luther King Jr. A background of the Civil Rights movement before Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech. - Integration Report.

 

The African-American Civil Rights Movement were social movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against black Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South. The wave of inner city riots from 1964 through 1970 undercut support from the white community. The emergence of the Black Power Movement, which lasted from about 1966 to 1975, challenged the established black leadership for its cooperative attitude and its nonviolence, and instead demanded political and economic self-sufficiency.
The movement was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between 1955 and 1968, acts of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience produced crisis situations between activists and government authorities. Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and communities often had to respond immediately to these situations that highlighted the inequities faced by African Americans. Forms of protest and/or civil disobedience included boycotts such as the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56) in Alabama; "sit-ins" such as the influential Greensboro sit-ins (1960) in North Carolina; marches, such as the Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) in Alabama; and a wide range of other nonviolent activities.
Noted legislative achievements during this phase of the Civil Rights Movement were passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964, that banned discrimination based on "race, color, religion, or national origin" in employment practices and public accommodations; the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that restored and protected voting rights; the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965, that dramatically opened entry to the U.S. to immigrants other than traditional European groups; and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, that banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. African Americans re-entered politics in the South, and across the country young people were inspired to action.

 

Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

Last Wednesday, we were talking about the Cold Wars in class. When the lecturer told us about the hotline, which was usually portrayed as a red telephone (pictured), it reminded me of a film I saw some time ago.

I'm talking about the movie: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. It is a 1964 black humour film which satirizes the nuclear scare.

According to Wikipedia, "the story concerns an unhinged United States Air Force general who orders a first strike nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. It follows the President of the United States, his advisors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer as they try to recall the bombers to prevent a nuclear apocalypse. It separately follows the crew of one B-52 as they try to deliver their payload."

Link to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove

Well, I wanted to share this mythic scene with the rest of the class

It shows the crew trying to deliver the bomb as they experience some technical trouble....

The Great Depression- The Road To Rock Bottom 

 

 

As economic collapse takes its toll on America, farmers protest; mortgages are called in by banks; robberies increase dramatically; and in the summer of 1932, the U.S. Army is called in to quell the Veterans' Bonus March on Washington DC.

With rural America in economic ruin, "Pretty Boy" Floyd robbing banks across Oklahoma, and veterans marching to Washington to demand that President Hoover and Congress pay for World War I services, many find hope in Franklin Roosevelt after a landslide presidential victory.

Roosevelt and the New Deal

Great Depression and World War II, 1929 - 1945 period

 

 

In the summer of 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor of New York, was nominated as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. In his acceptance speech, Roosevelt addressed the problems of the depression by telling the American people that, "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." In the election that took place in the fall of 1932, Roosevelt won by a landslide.
The New Deal Roosevelt had promised the American people began to take shape immediately after his inauguration in March 1933. Based on the assumption that the power of the federal government was needed to get the country out of the depression, the first days of Roosevelt's administration saw the passage of banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, and agricultural programs. Later, a second New Deal was to evolve; it included union protection programs, the Social Security Act, and programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. Many of the New Deal acts or agencies came to be known by their acronyms. For example, the Works Progress Administration was known as the WPA, while the Civilian Conservation Corps was known as the CCC. Many people remarked that the New Deal programs reminded them of alphabet soup.
By 1939, the New Deal had run its course. In the short term, New Deal programs helped improve the lives of people suffering from the events of the depression. In the long run, New Deal programs set a precedent for the federal government to play a key role in the economic and social affairs of the nation.

English Language Day

United Nations

English, along with French, is one of the two working languages of the United Nations Secretariat, and one of the Organization's six official and working languages. Because it is so widely spoken, English is often referred to as a "world language", or the lingua franca of the modern era. English Language Day at the UN is celebrated on 23 April, the date traditionally observed as the birthday of William Shakespeare. The Day is the result of a 2010 initiative by the Department of Public Information, establishing language days for each of the Organization's six official languages. The purpose of the UN's language days is to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organization. Under the initiative, UN duty stations around the world celebrate six separate days, each dedicated to one of the Organization's six official languages. Language Days at the UN aim to entertain as well as inform, with the goal of increasing awareness and respect for the history, culture and achievements of each of the six working languages among the UN community.

Source: United Nations Web Page

Clara Ruiz Estela

Titanic's 101 Anniversary

On April 10th, 1912, the Titanic, the biggest and most luxurious ship ever built in history, sailed for New York, from the port of Southampton, in what was meant to be its maiden voyage. A few days later, on the early hours of April 15th, the ship went down into the Atlantic Ocean due to an iceberg collision. More than 1500 people perished in the water after its sinking, and only a few fortunates (aprox 700 people) survived thanks to the few lifeboats that the transatlantic carried.

Some of these survivors were interviewed on television in the 1970s, as it is shown in the following clip:

In 1985, over 70 years after the tragedy, the remains of the wrecked ship were found in the depths of the ocean by a French-American expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel of IFREMER and Dr Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The RMS Titanic company gained full rights for the protection and preservation of the remains of the Titanic in 1994.

On its 100th anniversary, last year, Australian billionaire Clive Palmer announced that he intended to build an exact replica of the ship, named "Titanic II", that would sail, at the latest, on 2016.

[Source: Wikipedia.org]

April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day (April 1) is a "holiday" celebrated in many english-speaking countries in the world, and it's widely recognized and celebrated as a day when people play practical jokes on each other.

Many possible origins have been discussed throughout the years, some of them are as follow:

• In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392), the "Nun's Priest's Tale" is set "Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two". It is believed to be a copying error, the right transcription being, "Syn March was gon". Thus, the passage originally meant 32 days after April, i.e. May 2. Readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean "March 32", i.e. April 1.
• In 1508, French poet Eloy d'Amerval referred to a poisson d’avril (April fool, literally "April fish"), a possible reference to the holiday.
• In 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1. In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the holiday as "Fooles holy day", the first British reference.
• On April 1, 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed".

However, the most plausible one took place during the ruling of Charles IX of France (1550 - 1574).

During the Middle Ages, all through France and many other European towns, the New Year was celebrated on March 25. In some places of France, the festivity lasted for one week, thus ending on the 1st of April. In 1564, it was decreed that New Year's Day should be moved to January 1st, following the calendar of Pope Gregory XIII, however most of the french colonies in the United States kept on celebrating the festivity from March 25 to April 1.

By the 18th century, people following the Gregorian calendar made fun of those who celebrated the New Year during the first week of Spring, and considered them to be "fools". Afterwards, to avoid being ridiculized and treated as fools, people decided to turn the day into a "mocking day", and thus was born the tradition of making jokes on the first day of April.

[Source: Wikipedia.org]

The Declaration of Independence

I have watched this short video about The Declaration of Independence which could be interesting to know more about it in an easy way:

Clara Ruiz Estela

DFTBA

John Green, alongside with his brother Hank, started making videos on YouTube on January 2007, as a way to keep in touch with each other. 6 years from that, they have created a huge community of people, called "Nerdfighters", who work together towards decreasing "Worldsuck" (that is, the amount of bad things in the world) just by doing good things for others.

Very recently, the Vlogbrothers (as they are worldwide known now) started a channel called Crash Course, in which they post videos about academic topics such as Literature, Chemistry, Biology, History, and Ecology. This is a fun and interesting way of learning new things or adding knowledge about the topics you may be studying at school/university at the moment.

As this is a class of US History, I decided that it would be a great idea to post the list of videos that John Green has done about the matter, given that we have already seen all these topics in class.

Influenced Art and Literature

This is our powerpoint presentation, it is about how historical periods can changed and have influenced Art and Literature. We are Bernat Cuenca, Jose Úbeda and Joana Bastidas, we hope you enjoy it. http://www.slideshare.net/mobile/JoanaBastidasFernandez/historia-y-cultura-pwp

The Enlightenment

This is our digital storytelling about the Age of the Enlightenment.

We are Victoria Aragonés Mena, Nerea Blasco Sáez and Arantxa Estruch Ripoll.

The Witch Trials

The Witch Trials took place during the end of the 17th Century in Salem, Massachussetts. Here we present a video on this interesting topic, made by Tomàs Canet, Daniela Leonte and Andreea Marasuica.

FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT , 1850

This is our digital storytelling and it focuses on THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT, 1850.

Created by: Mª Amparo Gabarda Benetó, Sonía García Balaguer, Maria Rodilla Simeó, María Tovar Pérez

Transcontinental Railroad

Hello, bloggers! Here's our storytelling about the transcontinental railroad. If you don't want to miss an interesting conversation between the railroad and its inventors, just click and give it a look. We are Hugo Ayala, Lucía Calero, Elena Albiach and María Amparo Domenech. Thanks! =) 

U/S/ Argentine Constitution

This is our Story Telling about the differences between US/Argentine Constitution. We are María Juan Cuevas and Ana C. Toledo Luque. We hope you like it and find it interesting.