Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a very peaceful man. He followed the teachings of Mahatma Ghandi. Ghandi preached non-violence and always believed in protest; he once said, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” He believed that one could succeed and achieve what he/she is fighting for through protest. King followed the same path to win freedom for blacks as Ghandi did for Indians. King organized many boycotts and protests due to the segregation throughout the nation. King urged and pleaded blacks to come together with their white brothers and sisters so that our nation could become richer as a whole. State to state, Martin met with civil rights activists so that they could prepare and plan for what lied ahead. However, Martin refused to meet with Malcolm. Martin did not accept the route in which Malcolm urged blacks to follow, but it wouldn’t matter, King was about to make one of the best speeches given in the 20th century that would change the views of many people on segregation.

Malcolm X was a very radical man. He believed that blacks should fight the white man physically in order to gain their freedom. Malcolm often criticized Martin for being too peaceful. He believed that Martin should take the same route as he was taking, the violent and rebellious route. Malcolm was not as articulate as Martin, but he was equally intelligent. Malcolm was a strong devotee to Elijah Muhammad, later known as The Nation Of Islam. Malcolm converted to Islam in prison while serving time on burglary charges. His brother Reginald would visit him and discuss his conversion to the nation, which persuaded Malcolm to convert as well. The Nation Of Islam chose Malcolm to become their spokesman because he was the most intelligent and outspoken man in the NOI (Nation Of Islam). Although comments by Malcolm stating that everything he spoke of came from Allah himself, everything Malcolm had written and said was proofread by a higher member of The Nation Of Islam. Malcolm would later regret ever becoming part of Elijah Muhammad.

Martin and Malcolm had a great impact on America. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was a peaceful man, he used his words instead of physical brutality to achieve his goal of freedom. Malcolm X, a very radical man, thought violence was the answer to the oppression of the white man, he used his outspoken personality to lead the African-Americans to freedom. Both of these men paved the way during the Civil Rights era. Martin and Malcolm could have been a very dangerous duo if they had come together to fight the war against segregation together.

George Washington is known as the Father of Our Country.  He won America its freedom from the British.  He had a big influence on building the foundations of our strong government.  He was the first president to grace our land with his strong leadership.  These are the reasons why I believe nothing can be taller than the Washington Monument in DC.  Nothing can top what George Washington did for our country so nothing should be able to top his memorial.  Our father should be able to look over us, protect us, and guide us for years and years to come.  When I saw the monument up close, I felt secure under it.  The massiveness of the structure exuded strength.  Yet the simplicity of it made it so elegant.  I do not see any better way to honor the great George Washington.

Freedom, democracy, and education are just a few of the things that Thomas Jefferson believed in.  It is unbelievable how the Jefferson Memorial is able to capture the essence of the man himself.  The way it is built really commemorates Jefferson perfectly.  The dome shape with the statue of Jefferson in the middle feels so open.  You can almost feel freedom blowing through the memorial.  The openness of the structure feels like everyone can hear Jefferson’s cry for democracy.  When you go inside, you really feel like you are the center of attention.  I felt like I was on stage and the world was my audience.

“In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.”  These are the beautiful words that Lincoln sits under in the Lincoln Memorial.  As it was stated in the quote, this memorial truly is a temple.  The way Lincoln’s statue is in the center and the size of it makes you feel like you are there to worship him.  It was strange how I automatically felt like I had to be quiet and show respect to Abraham Lincoln.  The size of Lincoln staring at demanded all of my attention.  I feel that the statue itself was made so big because that way we will always look up to Lincoln and revere him.

I picked these three monuments because each one was built to commemorate a president.  I wanted to see how each president was remembered by us.  Each one made me feel a different way even though they had a lot in common.  All of them are very similar in color, are huge in size, and are the top three monuments visited in DC.  Even the way people interacted at each monument was the exact same.  People did their own thing.  Some were quiet, while some were loud.  Some took pictures, while others read the historical facts.  Some stayed for hours, while others were in and out.  It is amazing how I felt like each one was connected because of the way they are set up in a triangle so you can easily get from one to the other.  What I loved about each one was that each was able to personify the presidents so accurately.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12392051@N04/sets/72157603455716731/

I wrote about George Washington Bush for my Wikipedia article.  This article was a stub to begin with so I thought that my article would not be edited by anyone.  I was shocked to see that people edited my article every day.  Every time I checked, there was some sort of change made to it.  Some were just minor grammatical changes while others were changes made to several paragraphs.  Now the article does not even resemble my version of the article.  There is very little left of what I added.  I think my article changed so much because it was not written very well.  It was written well enough to get the topic started but it is definitely written a lot better now.  It is written perfectly with impeccable grammar and sounds like something you would read in a history book.

I learned a lot about Wikipedia from this assignment.  I learned it is very easy to add or edit articles.  But I also learned that there are Wikipedians out there who are very particular about what is contributed to Wikipedia.  I think that some people just sit on Wikipedia and edit all of the new articles that get contributed to Wikipedia so they can make it perfect.  There are people who are just looking for grammatical fixes and then there are people who are perfectionists who want the article to be the best of the best.

I never really had any strong opinions of Wikipedia before this assignment.  After using it, I feel Wikipedia is, for the most part, a reliable encyclopedia in which you can contribute information as easily as you can get it.  I really like that Wikipedia has people who maintain the articles by cleaning up any vandalism.  I am surprised how they can keep it so clean because I know there are a lot of people who find it amusing to write random things and ruin other people’s work.  There is nothing that I do not like about Wikipedia.  It allows you to not only learn things but also to teach others about something you know.  I also like that it gives you the freedom to question what you read.  You can easily ask the contributors of an article a question or give them feedback.  It is amazing how Wikipedia is essentially bringing people together and helping us learn from one another.

            There still are similarities between the portrayal of women in the 1950s and today.  One example of that is how car marketers try to appeal to women.  In the “Oldsmobile What Women Want” video the salesman was learning how to lure a woman in by appealing to her materialistic desires.  He should show her the new elegant emblem, and wide range of colors.  He should encourage her to touch the luxurious fabric and point out the elegant design.  He should talk about the rich fabric used for the upholstery and let her inspect the interior as she would a dress.  The salesman should make sure to show the deluxe seat belts that are so neat and tidy—just as women like things to be.  He should not forget to mention what a luxurious car it is and how it appeals to the unique trendsetter she is.  He should also point out that not many other women own such an elegant car.  What woman could refuse a salesman that convinced her she would be the most fashionable woman driving a car that would make other women envy her?

            I compared that video to the new commercial for one of Cadillac’s cars.  This video also depicts women as materialistic.  They flashed Cadillac’s emblem and showed off all of the beautiful features and sleek design of the car.  It also didn’t hurt them to have the sexy Kate Walsh driving it.  The fact that Kate Walsh said the sunroof, wood accents, pop up navigation, or 40 gig hard drive didn’t matter meant that those were the features that did matter and made that car better than the rest.  This shows that women always want a fully loaded vehicle to make others envy her.  Who wouldn’t want a hot car that could make you feel as gorgeous as Kate Walsh?

Oldsmobile What Women Want

Cadillac Commercial

In the 1930s, perfume advertisements were mostly drawings or paintings—some more realistic than others.  In the “Fragrance” advertisement the picture was drawn in a cartoon like manner.  The woman looks very elegant with an elite group of people surrounding her.  This made women think that by using Yardley’s perfume they too could be like her.  The advertisement has a lot of writing.  The caption talks about how Yardley’s “Fragrance” was a big hit in London and now in America.  Many of the perfume advertisements lured American women in by appealing to the fact that they wanted to be like the rich and elegant Europeans.

The “Irresistible” advertisement is also from the 1930s.  It is drawn like the other ad.  This ad is a colored, more realistic picture of a woman who has a lot more sex appeal.  In the background you can see a little town in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the back.  The caption says that by using the “Irresistible” perfume women will be irresistible to men.  This ad would have appealed to the younger women who wanted to feel sexy and attractive.

The DKNY “Be Delicious” perfume advertisement has a huge picture of a very attractive woman.  She is seductively eating an apple.  The only words on the ad are the name of the perfume.  The ad instantly intrigues a consumer’s eye because it has a close up of the girl’s perfect face.  Putting very attractive people in ads has always made people stop and look because we like to look at gorgeous people.  This is exactly why ads have always used pretty people—not average looking people.

One thing advertisers picked up on, even in the 1900s, is that sex sells.  They all try to use sex appeal to sell their product.  In the DKNY perfume ad, the only thing selling the perfume is a hot young girl.  Most, if not all, advertisements for perfumes have gorgeous young women and men in them.  The old perfume ads also had a central good looking female figure in them.  Both the modern and old ads made sure to show a picture of the perfume bottle.  Women like to see the exquisite bottles that perfumes come in.  Some simply buy the perfume because they love the bottle so much.  The modern perfume ads are always real pictures, not drawings like all of the old ads were.  The photos of people are more appealing because they are real people.  The drawings in the old ads felt unnatural and looked more like art.  Another key difference between the two eras is that the old ads had a lot of writing.  The modern ads put as little writing as possible because who would want to read paragraphs of writing just to find out what that actual product is?  Overall, the modern advertisers took the old ideas and added some fresh twists to appeal to the fast paced world of Americans where only a few seconds have to make a big impression.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12392051@N04/sets/72157603129959843/detail/

Money Bagville was a very busy, booming community.  It was fast paced, profit seeking but family oriented at the same time.  Most people earned the same amount as their neighbors.  There was not a big range of classes.  This gave people a reason to work and compete with their community members to be the richer one.  There were a wide variety of families.  Some were alone, while others had big families they worked for.  Some were religious where as others were money hungry socialites.  In this society, no one cared about what someone else did.  All that mattered was that they were making money for their own needs.  It was a very selfish community.  People believed what they wanted, lived in their own way, and pretended to care about others.  Everyone was kind to one another because that was the only way someone was kind to you.  They treated others how they wanted to be treated for their own benefits.

This community was built as a suburb.  The people lived in close neighborhoods where families could bring up their children in a quiet place or people could find comfort in friends close by.  Someone living alone would not feel it living with their many neighbors.  People were kind to one another but at the end of the day the lives in their own homes was what really mattered.  Most men and women worked in the city which was close to their neighborhoods.  The city was full of shops and offices which were all clumped together in working zones and separate from the residential zones.  This way the families could get away from work and have time to focus on their own lives.  The factories and farms were across the river so the community members could stay far away from the pollutants and noise.

Money Bagville kept developing to become present day Northern Virginia.  Much of the views are the same today.  Northern Virginia is still centered on profit seeking ways.  Also, it is still built the same.  Most of Northern Virginia is built as either an urban or suburban area.  It has many different people living together.  People are nice to each other but it all comes down to their own wants and needs.  Selfishness and money is what fueled and still fuels people today.

[1] Money Bagville Layout

The Americans in this movie were portrayed as very innocent and patriotic people.  The movie’s hero, Benjamin Martin, was a very kind and loving family man.  He was friendly with his slaves.  He had seven kids who he loved and lived for.  He was happy with no worries in sight.  But as soon as the British crossed the line by messing with Martin’s family, Martin became a powerful fighter that could not be brought down by any means.  All of the other Americans were portrayed exactly as Martin.  They were all big hearted Americans who were willing to die for their family and nation.  What also made the British look so bad was the fact that Martin did not want to fight until the British compelled him to take action when they killed his son.  The fact that a good and pure hearted man who was against violence wanted to fight because of the wrongdoings of the British made the British look so much more evil.

The British were shown to be very ruthless.  Throughout the movie there was not one time a British person was shown in a positive way.  The defamation of the British started in the movie when one of the British colonels shot Martin’s kid.  Then the colonel ordered to shoot the rest of the injured and have Martin’s oldest to be hanged.  The British even burned down a church full of innocent townspeople.  These are just a few of the many evil things the British did in the movie.  All of the things done by the British seemed to also show that the British did not go by the rules.  They killed whoever they wanted.  They burned down towns.  This made the Americans look like poor little victims.

A big reason why the British had to be depicted as such evil people and the Americans as such rational kind souls was probably to make it seem like the Americans had a right to stand up for themselves and defend themselves.  And also to make it look like the Americans were being wronged by the British.  There was already a big reason for the Americans to fight, for independence and freedom and equality.  But the movie focused mainly on the revenge the Americans wanted to take against the malicious British for personal pleasure rather than a national cause.

 Slaves had no rights.  They were forced to leave their homeland, labor their lives for someone who did not even look at them as a person, and expect to live the rest of their lives without compensation for their hard work.  The fact that advertisements were even placed in papers for runaway slaves is absurd.  The slaves were described like dogs that had run away.  The papers described what the slave was wearing the day they left, what they had with them, how they looked, their name, their skills.  There was even a reward for the slaves if someone found them.  The slaves were so belittled that they could not even stand up for themselves.

 The slaves did not have enough courage to do anything against their owner’s will.  How did they gain enough will power and self esteem to run away from their masters?  After being treated so poorly, a slave could not even think of skipping work, let alone running away.  Their bodies would probably have been whipped until their backs were numb.  A slave probably did not even think much of themselves after being treated like worthless pieces of property.  The slaves however, slowly realized that the owners had become quite dependent on the slaves.  More slaves began to feel that they did not need their owners to live any longer.  They knew the owners needed them more than they needed the owners.  It does make a lot of sense because the slaves grew all of the crops, did the entire plantation work, cooked, cleaned, etc.  The owners probably did less and less as they began to depend on their slaves for everything.  When the slaves realized how much power they had and how many skills they had learned they like a human and strong enough to leave their owners.  This is proven from the advertisements the owners put out.  The owners were willing to pay more and more as years went by to get their slaves back.  In the earlier years of slavery, there were not as many runaways and not much was described or offered for their retrieval.  By the mid to late 1700s, however, descriptions were so detailed, rewards were higher, and owners even reprinted advertisements in an effort to get their slaves back.  For example, in 1739 a negro slave was only worth 2 pistoles if found[2].  However, in 1803, a slave was worth 20 dollars[3].

 The slaves started out as property, but ironically the skills they learned to do for their owners helped them realize they were more than just property.  The slaves learned they were the ones actually running the country.

[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/slave
[2] Virginia Gazette (Parks), Williamsburg, March 30 to April 6, 1739.
[3] Norfolk Herald (Willett and O’Connor), Norfolk, January 16, 1800.