Author: Annie Huang

05/15/11

School Lunch

President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on December 13, 2010. This act is an effort to help American children stay healthy and have access to balanced nutritious school lunches. More students are eligible to enroll in school meals; this legislation addresses issues such as hunger and obesity levels that are currently affecting many kids in this nation. This important dilemma is being tackled to give children choices to have a healthier lifestyle. This bill allocates $4.5 billion towards the implementation of nutritional standards in public schools.

Back in 1994, the Schools Meals Initiative for Healthy Children was passed to order to teach children how to make healthy choices. All school meals must meet nutritional standards, but very few schools actually met those goals.

 

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/14/school-nutrition-regulations-come-under-fires/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/13/president-obama-signs-healthy-hunger-free-kids-act-2010-law

05/9/11

The Impeachment of Clinton

Bill Clinton’s impeachment stemmed from an investigation by Kenneth Starr, a special counsel who was originally supposed to investigate the Whitewater scandal but shifted his focus to several allegations against Clinton. These allegations included a sexual harassment suit by Paula Jones, an affair with a white house intern Monica Lewinsky, and several recorded tapes of conversations engaging in sexual activity between Clinton and Lewinsky. President Clinton had his origins of sexual harassment back when he was a Governor of Arkansas. On May 1994, an Arkansas state employee name Paula Jones brought a sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton. However the lawsuit was dismissed.

On July 1995, Monica Lewinsky had begun working at the White House as an unpaid intern. In November 1995, Clinton began his affair with Lewinsky, over the course of a year and a half; they had a dozen sexual encounters. Lewinsky told Linda Tripp, a worker at the Pentagon about her affair with the president. Tripp then began secretly recording conversations with Lewinsky about the details of the affair. As soon as this scandal made news, Clinton publicly denied the affair with Lewinsky. When Lewinsky turned in her dress with Clinton’s DNA, he was forced to admit that he had an affair with Lewinsky. On December 1998, Bill Clinton was impeached under the ruling of obstruction of justice and perjury. Clinton became the second president in U.S history to be impeached after Andrew Johnson in 1868.

04/28/11

Where Is The Love?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkZC7sqImaM

The two songs I chose are “Give Peace A Chance” by John Lennon and “Where Is The Love?” by Black Eyed Peas. The first song “Give Peace A Chance”, was released in 1969. John Lennon repeats “All we are saying is give peace a chance” in the chorus part multiple times. This song soon became the anthem of the anti-war movement during the height of the Vietnam War. Millions of protesters in Washington D.C repeated the chorus, singing the famous lines of John Lennon’s song at the Vietnam Moratorium Day on October 15, 1969.The Black Eyed Peas released the single “Where Is the Love?” in 2003, two years after the attack of 9/11/01. This song covers issues that we are facing in society and as a nation. Issues that are coved in the song are terrorism, war, racism, discrimination, government hypocrisy, greed, juvenile crime and the invasion of Iraq.

04/18/11

The Women’s Movement for Equal Rights

During the 1960’s, the women’s rights movement became active again after being passive during 1940s to 1950s. During the 1950s many women were working, however they had yet to achieve many positions in the work force. One major obstacle that woman overcame was the passage of the 19th amendment in August 18, 1920 giving women the right to vote. The Civil Rights protest prompted women in the 1960’s to continue to push for equal rights in employment, educational fields, end to domestic violence, restriction of limitations on women in administrative jobs, and sharing housework and child nurturing responsibilities.

In the 1960s there were two different types of Women’s Rights groups, they were the Women’s Liberation group and the Women’s Rights groups. The Women’s Liberation group focused on equality between men and women in education, employment and in marriage. This feminist movement also focused on attaining sexual and reproductive freedom, feminists wanted birth control, affordable child care, abortion and women’s shelter. While the Women’s Rights group pushed for equal rights laws to be enforced. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, protecting the rights of minorities and women’s rights.

04/9/11

Sputnik and the Space Race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbAXkWPasYw

On October 4, 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, the first earth satellite into the orbit.  The launch of Sputnik marked the beginning of space race between the U.S and USSR. Many Americans feared that the USSR would be capable of launching ballistic missiles. In response to the launch, the U.S passed the National Defense Education which offered federal funding for higher education. The U.S also started funding for its satellite project to regain their military and technological superiority over USSR, as well as regaining the publics’ confidence. The launch of the Sputnik led to the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it also led to several technological advances such as computer science, global communication and satellite navigation.

04/2/11

Containing Communism

The Marshall Plan was ratified in 1947 to help rebuild Europe after WWII. This Act was also meant to prevent communism from spreading and gaining control in war torn countries. The Marshall Plan had a huge effect on Europe in which it assisted in Europe’s economic growth and recovery. This soon led to trade relations with the U.S.  If U.S had not put the Marshall Plan into effect, it may have caused a delay in Europe’s economic recovery. Another effect may be that Communism would not be contained and it might have spread and taken control over war torn countries.

03/16/11

New Deal: Alphabet Agencies

Political cartoon of FDR and Albert Einstein. Photo courtesy of the Basil O'Connor Collection

During the Great Depression President Roosevelt quickly responded to this economic crisis by establishing many government programs in the New Deal also known as the Alphabet Soup. Many of these programs addressed the country’s industrial, agriculture and employment issues. The cartoon shown above depicts FDR showing Einstein a list of agencies from the New Deal. Due to the poor print I couldn’t see Einstein’s statement. However I am assuming that the artist is trying to make his point about how there’s too many new programs to the New Deal and there’s no guarantee that these programs would solve the economic problem. Among these programs the National Recovery Administration (NRA) is shown in bold. I think the artist is probably trying to emphasize the fact that many people hoped that NRA would help the economy in which businesses were to set rules such as production quotas, prices, wages, and hours. However the NRA program was a complete failure.

03/11/11

The Great Depression in America

People sleeping on the streets using newspapers as a blanket and as a mattress

The Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s and early 1940s. There was a sharp decline in profits, personal incomes and tax revenues. Businesses were failing rapidly and many people became unemployed and homeless. The two images shown above portray how the Great Depression greatly impacted their lifestyle. The first image have multiple pictures combined, it shows people of different backgrounds besieged with the same problem. The second image shows homeless people sleeping on the streets. This resulted from high unemployment rates, causing many people have no source of income to support themselves.

03/7/11

The Stock Market Crash of 1929

After World War I, the United States had an extensive economic expansion due to new technologies and enhanced production processes. The Stock Market benefited from the expanding economy. Eventually the Stock Market Crashed on 1929. Many banks tried to collect loans made to stock market investors since their holdings were worth nothing at all. When people found out that the banks’ assets contained uncollectable loans, depositors rushed to withdraw their savings, concerned about the security of their bank. Several thousand banks began to fail due to the panic. In result of the Stock Market Crash, many people lost their entire saving, many companies failed, and peoples’ faith in banks was destroyed. This event triggered the beginning of the Great Depression.

03/4/11

Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand

One cause of WWI is the assassination of Archduke, Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife on June 28, 1914 by a Serbian nationalist from the Black Hand organization. Immediately this event is the trigger that set off declarations of the war. In response to the assassination of Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Austria blamed Serbia for the assassination since Serbia supported the Black Hand’s in order to be free of Austria’s rule. Due to Austria’s alliance with Germany, Serbia tried to get help from Russia. When Russia began to mobilize in result of its alliance with Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914. Two days later Germany declared war on France. Germany swept through Belgium on its way to France, the invasion of Belgium caused Britain to declare war on Germany.

02/28/11

The Sinking of the Lusitania

Foner’s coverage for the sinking of the Lusitania is a bit broad, he should go more in depth about how Americans reacted to the death of several Americans on the ship and how this incident changed Americans perspective and got them involved in World War I. However Foner gave a good general overview of the background of what began before and after the sinking of the Lusitania. Adding onto Foner’s coverage, on May 7, 1915 the Lusitania was carrying about 1,900 passengers across the Atlantic Ocean. Soon being spotted by the Germans, their U-boat launched a torpedo into the Lusitania; it took 18 minutes for the ship to sink. Among the passengers that were killed were 124 Americans. The sinking of the ship and the deaths of several Americans had an intense impact on the United States.

02/26/11

The Ludlow Massacre

April 20, 1914 dates the horrific incident of the deaths of innocent men, women, and children at Ludlow, Colorado. The coal strike against Rockefeller Colorado Fuel and Iron Company began when workers united together to demand recognition of the United Mine Workers of America (UMCA), wages increases, and an eight hour workday. When their demands were not met, miners and their families moved out of the houses provided by the Coal Company, and moved into tents. In response to the strike Rockefeller sent armed militia units to attack and raid the tents.

02/19/11

Immigration To The New World

These two images portray the lives of Italian immigrants in the early 1900s. Both images depict their living conditions in the 1900s. The image on the left shows the bedroom of an Italian family. Judging from the image, the family may be from a lower class because their living condition seems poor, cramped and unsanitary. However comparing this image to the one on the right, they are complete opposites from one another. The image on the right shows a much well off family probably in the middle class. The breadwinner in this family may have been a scholar, allowing him to have a higher paying job compared to other immigrant families with low education back then.

02/11/11

The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887

On February 4, 1887, the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 is passed by the Congress to prevent unfair practices in the railroad industry such as railroad monopolies. Before the Interstate Commerce Act was passed, railroads were privately owned and unregulated thus letting railroad companies take advantage of their power of charging high fees in places they enforced monopoly control. These monopolies were harmful to farmers who either lacked the shipment volume or money. Railroads back then greatly influenced people and businesses because it was an important form of transportation for people and goods.

The Interstate Commerce of 1887 targeted problems of railroad monopolies by setting guidelines for railroads and stopping railroad abuse. The law required railroad rates to be reasonable.

02/6/11

Truth behind biased historical events

I find David Blight’s book Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, to be very incisive because he brings back the unheard voices and memories of neglected African-Americans who participated in the Civil War; in order to bring forth the truth behind the biased history imprinted in our culture. African-American soldiers should be honored and given credit to because they are also heroes who sacrificed their lives for the Civil War just like the White soldiers. Everyone would benefit from reading this book because there are always two sides to a story and we get to know the other side of the story of those who also participated in the war but was neglected. Blight’s book shows the importance of historical memory because there can be politically motivated bias in historical events, in this case he brings to light the truth behind politically motivated bias of historical events that took place in the Civil War.

One example of a historical event that is remembered differently is the Rape of Nanjing. Many Chinese men and women suffered from barbaric treatment by the Japanese invaders. Many thousands of women were rape, brutally injured, mutilated and killed. However the Japanese are in denial of these actions. Japanese school textbooks, historical works, or newspapers never mentioned anything about the Rape of Nanjing. This shows that Japan is putting this historical event under the covers and pretending that this massacre never happened, their actions prove that this is most definitely politically motivated. Japans’ denial prevents its whole nation from facing history and the truth.

Rape of Nanjing Memorial Hall

02/1/11

Being A Part of History?

Many technological advances have been made over many decades in which it have had impacted many people in both positive and negative ways. People over the years have been so engrossed with new technology that they’ve become so dependent on it. Many people no longer write letters or postcards because email took its place. Online social networking such as Facebook, Aim, Msn,Twitter etc are very popular, nowadays many people no longer mingle around in public areas to meet new people because doing it online is faster and convenient.

Future historians may look back into our emails, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace or any sort of technological database to gather any sort of information about our culture based on how we lived and thrived in society. Based on the article “Archiving Tweets”, the Congress is planning to keep track of peoples’ tweet regardless of whether the tweets are important or useless. This may also cause additional problems for those who have privacy concerns because not everyone is interested in advertising about themselves nor interested in reading about other peoples’ business. However this may help contribute to future historians’ research as evidence for our time period since everyone can leave a bit of history behind. I mean who doesn’t want to be a part of history?

Based on “WikiLeaks and the Historical Community” I find it very fascinating that Wikileaks contains such important guarded national data . Wikileaks would definitely be a great source of information for future historians because they would be able to learn, reveal and rediscover our history and continue building it.