Biography of African American Senator Hiram Revels

Biography of African American Senator Hiram Revels It took until 2008 for the first African American to be elected president, but remarkably the first black man to serve as U.S. senator- Hiram Revels- was appointed to the role 138 years earlier. How did Revels manage to become a lawmaker just years after the Civil War ended? Learn more about the life, legacy and political career of this trailblazing senator. Early Years and Family Life Unlike many blacks in the South at the time, Revels was not born a slave but to free parents of black, white and possibly Native American heritage on Sept.  27, 1827, in Fayetteville, N.C. His older brother Elias Revels owned a barbershop, which Hiram inherited upon his sibling’s death. He ran the shop for a few years and then left in 1844 to study at seminaries in Ohio and Indiana. He became a pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and preached throughout the Midwest before studying religion at Illinois’ Knox College. While preaching to blacks in St. Louis, Mo., Revels was briefly imprisoned for fear that he, a freeman, might inspire enslaved blacks to revolt. In the early 1850s, he married Phoebe A. Bass, with whom he had six daughters. After becoming an ordained minister, he served as a pastor in Baltimore and as a high school principal. His religious career led to a career in the military. He served as a chaplain of a black regiment in Mississippi and recruited blacks for the Union Army. Political Career In 1865, Revels joined the staffs of churches in Kansas, Louisiana  and Mississippi- where he established schools and started his political career. In 1868, he served as an alderman in Natchez, Miss. The next year, he became a representative in the Mississippi State Senate. â€Å"I am working very hard in politics as well as in other matters,† he wrote to a friend after his election. â€Å"We are determined that Mississippi shall be settled on a basis of justice and political and legal equality.† In 1870, Revels was elected to fill one of Mississippi’s two empty seats in the U.S. Senate. Serving as a U.S. senator required nine years of citizenship, and Southern Democrats challenged Revels’ election by saying he didn’t meet the citizenship mandate. They cited the 1857 Dred Scott decision in which the Supreme Court determined that African Americans weren’t citizens. In 1868, however, the 14th Amendment granted blacks citizenship. That year, blacks became a force to contend with in politics. As the book â€Å"America’s History: Volume 1 to 1877† explains: â€Å"In 1868, African Americans won a majority in one house of the South Carolina legislature; subsequently they won half the state’s eight executive offices, elected three members of Congress, and won a seat on the state supreme court. Over the entire course of Reconstruction, 20 African Americans served as governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer or superintendent of education, and more than 600 served as state legislators. Almost all the African Americans who became state executives had been freeman before the Civil War, whereas most of the legislators had been slaves. Because these African Americans represented districts that large planters had dominated before the Civil War, they embodied the potential of Reconstruction for revolutionizing class relationships in the South.† The sweeping social change spreading across the South likely made Democrats in the region feel threatened. But their citizenship ploy did not work. Revels’ supporters argued that the pastor-turned-politician had been a citizen. After all, he’d voted in Ohio in the 1850s before the Dred Scott decision changed the citizenship rules. Other supporters said that the Dred Scott decision should have only applied to men who were all black and not mixed-race like Revels. His backers also pointed out that the Civil War and Reconstruction laws had overturned discriminatory legal rulings like Dred Scott. So, on Feb. 25, 1870, Revels became the first African American U.S. senator. To mark the groundbreaking moment, Republican Sen.  Charles Sumner of Massachusetts remarked, â€Å"All men are created equal, says the great Declaration, and now a great act attests this verity. Today we make the Declaration a reality†¦. The Declaration was only half established by Independence. The greatest duty remained behind. In assuring the equal rights of all we complete the work.† Tenure in Office Once he was sworn in, Revels tried to advocate for equality for blacks. He fought to have African Americans readmitted to the Georgia General Assembly after Democrats forced them out. He spoke out against legislation to maintain segregation in Washington, D.C., schools and served on labor and education committees. He fought for black workers who’d been denied the opportunity to work at the Washington Navy Yard simply because of their skin color. He nominated a young black man named Michael Howard to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but Howard was ultimately refused entry. Revels also supported the building of infrastructure, levees and railroad. While Revels advocated for racial equality, he did not behave vengefully toward ex-Confederates. Some Republicans wanted them to face ongoing punishment, but Revels thought they should again be granted citizenship, as long as they pledged loyalty to the United States. Like Barack Obama would be more than a century later, Revels was hailed by his fans for his skills as an orator, which he likely developed because of his  experience as a pastor. Revels served just one year as U.S. senator. In 1871, his term ended, and he accepted the position of president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in Claiborne County, Mississippi. Just a few years later, another African American, Blanche K. Bruce, would represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate. While Revels only served a partial term, Bruce became the first African American to serve a full-term in office. Life After the Senate Revels’ transition into higher education didn’t spell the end of his career in politics. In 1873, he became Mississippis interim secretary of state. He lost his job at Alcorn when he opposed the reelection bid of Mississippi Gov. Adelbert Ames, who Revels accused of exploiting the black vote for personal gain. An 1875 letter Revels wrote to President Ulysses S. Grant about Ames and the carpetbaggers was heavily circulated. It said in part: â€Å"My people have been told by these schemers, when men have been placed on the ticket who were notoriously corrupt and dishonest, that they must vote for them; that the salvation of the party depended upon it; that the man who scratched a ticket was not a Republican. This is only one of the many means these unprincipled demagogues have devised to perpetuate the intellectual bondage of my people.† In 1876,  Revels resumed his work at Alcorn, where he served until retiring in 1882. Revels also continued his work as a pastor and edited the A.M.E. Church’s newspaper, the Southwestern Christian Advocate. In addition, he taught theology at Shaw College. Death and Legacy On Jan. 16, 1901, Revels died of a stroke in Aberdeen, Miss. He was in town for a church conference. He was 73. In death, Revels continues to be remembered as a trailblazer. Just nine African Americans, including Barack Obama, have won election  as U.S. senators since Revels time in office. This indicates that diversity in national politics continues to be a struggle, even in a 21st century United States far removed from slavery.

Greek Influence on the Early Roman Empire essays

Greek Influence on the Early Roman Empire essays "Do you agree with the following: Rome conquered the Greek empire and its civilization, but Greek culture conquered Rome?" This paper will argue that this statement is true. Furthermore, the Romans were willing co-conspirators, replacing the relatively primitive (and displaced) Etruscan and Latin cultures with the far more nuanced and rich Greek culture. One can regard the Romans as having taken the best of Greek culture and made it their own. Greeks provided architecture, systems of government, the religion of Rome (with Roman names replacing Greek names; Zeux=Jupter, etc.). This does not mean that the Romans admired the Greeks in all things. Instead, as the Spartans judged Athenians to be 'civilized,' so did the Romans regard the Greeks as civilized, and therefore 'decadent.' Indeed, even those Greek natives who became Roman citizens were suspected by Roman leaders: When Demosthenes consulted Hadrian about his foundation, the emperor congratulated him and his city not for his se rvice to the Empire, but for the "honorable ambition"...(Braund). This implies that Hadrian, like most Romans, respected the learning and culture, but found "ambition" a unique Roman trait, not found in many Greeks. The Greeks supplied the Romans with culture in many ways. The Athenian idea of democracy is often cited as a precursor to our current democracy. In fact, that was not the case. Athenian citizens were free, but their slaves were not. Athenian women, as did Roman women, had the right to buy and hold property, even as they joined their husband's household. The Roman law, therefore, took over many of the customs of Greek law, including their patrician idea of democracy for non-slaves. Romans took the Greek arts completely, from sculpture to architecture and painting. Roman houses are based on the Romans' superior knowledge of building and engineering, but particularly in the eastern portions of the Empire, the Greek influence was strong (Hales). ...

Internet Saerver Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Internet Saerver Management - Essay Example an e-mail system using technology called web front end, so named because the mail client normally accesses his/her e-mail account utilizing the Internet. It is free for the individual user but several businesses also use the service and Gmail is the most popular web mail, with almost seventy-five million more clients than its nearest competitor, Hotmail. One of the biggest advantages of using web mail is the portability. Whether in Glasgow, Georgia or Guam one does not have to be connected to the office to send and receive mail. Faculty and students of Eilean Muile who travel for research probably find Gmail convenient and easy. The biggest disadvantage is lack of security and is a distinct reason why most Governments specifically forbid web mail for official transmissions. If one wishes to use a stand-alone mail program such as Outlook, by its own website (Google 2012), Google uses both IMAP and POP protocol, although it suggests that one choose IMAP, because of its stability and the fact that â€Å"Unlike POP, IMAP offers two-way communication between your web Gmail and your email client†. On the other hand, mail distributed through a local server, also known as local client, is totally different. With that approach, mail is received, distributed and disseminated on a local server, usually specifically for that purpose. The most popular version is Microsoft Exchange, in partnership with MS Outlook installed on the client computers which is what UHI uses. The mail service is named after the year in which the version was introduced, as is usual for MS applications, and the current version is Exchange Server 2010, although the older versions are still in use worldwide. It is almost used exclusively with Outlook, although Novell Evolution can also be utilized. The advantages include the increased security unavailable on Web clients. Mail can be scrutinized for denial of service attacks and Microsoft claims that Exchange 2010 is the most secure yet and

Convincing that the same sex adoption morally RIGHT Essay

Convincing that the same sex adoption morally RIGHT - Essay Example Having children is a dream come true for most couples, who are we to say that it is wrong for the same sex couples to want the same thing? In some ways, maybe same sex adoption has benefits that will prove it to be a morally right set up for those children looking for loving homes to belong to. After all, it is never morally wrong to want to give a child a place to live where he is loved unconditionally right? Let's admit it, not all heterosexual parents chose to become parents. Some of them became parents by accident. Such situations result in unwanted children whose existence is sometimes only slightly better than living in hell. On the other hand, same sex couples choose to become parents. It is because of this motivation that we can be assured that they will always be morally responsible for their actions when it comes to their children. According to experts like Abby Goldberg (As cited in Pappas, 2012), gay parents are usually more motivated than their heterosexual counterparts because they made the choice to become parents. As such the perception that same sex couples only want to have â€Å"designer babies† is based upon misinformation. The same sex couples have a full understanding of their responsibilities as parents and what to expect when they have children. They have a much deeper understanding and commitment to the life of the child that they will be raising than most heterosexual couples do. These children have the advantage of growing up in a home that has open-mindedness, tolerance and role models for equitable relationships as part of its lifestyle. Therefore the children will grow up having a deeper understanding of social issues and a ready acceptance for anything that others might view as out of the ordinary. Children raised in gay households are no different from their heterosexual counterparts. If anything, they grow up with more empathy towards other people because they do not find themselves constrained by gender stereotypes (Bloo ms, 2011). Instead, they prove to be well adjusted individuals who have a serious insight about life and the responsibilities that it entails. Let us not forget that there are thousands of unwanted children lined up in adoption agencies who are in need of a home. Homosexual parents are more than willing to give children that heterosexual parents pass on a good and loving environment to be raised in. Children all deserve to be raised in loving homes by people who only want what is best for them. But unlike straight couples who tend to pick the best of the litter (if one were to compare babies to dogs), same sex couples do not care about the shortcomings of a child. In a report by the LA5 Champions for Children, they discovered that (2012): â€Å"Research by the Evan P. Donaldson Adoption Institute found that gays and lesbians tend to adopt children who are typically difficult to place: minorities, special needs children, and kids older than 6... . â€Å" All that matters to them, i s that they have the chance to be parents to a child who would not have a chance in life otherwise. Maybe it is because the same sex parents have to overcome adversity and judgment themselves that is why they are able to offer the kind of love and care that these less than ideal babies and children would not get from traditional parent couples. Now that leads the a question that is normally asked of parents. What exactly makes a good parent? Does being a good parent mean that a child has a set of heterosexual pare

Identity and Belonging Essay Example for Free

Identity and Belonging Essay Feedback is considered by many education experts to be one of the most important elements of assessment for student learning as well as being a crucial influence on student learning (Brown, Harris Harnett, 2012). Feedback, when applied effectively, can result in an increase in learner satisfaction and persistence as well as contributing to students taking on and applying more productive learning strategies. Feedback is a powerful strategy for teachers of all subjects and grade levels to use and has been endorsed worldwide. Feedback can be defined as the information provided by an agent, for example; a teacher or parent, regarding aspects of ones performance or understanding (Brown, Harris Harnett, 2012). However, when feedback is provided to students inappropriately it can lead to negative effects. This is why, as teachers, we need to have a full understanding of what constitutes effective quality feedback as well as developing an understanding of how to apply feedback in an appropriate manner for our students as differentiated learners (Clark, 2012). Feedback is consistent with the Assessment for learning strategy which focuses assessment on in-course improvement-orientated interactions between instructors and learners rather than end-of-course testing and examinations (Brown, Harris Harnett, 2012). Assessment for learning acknowledges that individual students learn in idiosyncratic ways and is designed to give information to teachers on how to modify and differentiate teaching and learning activities as well as giving teachers an idea of how best to provide effective feedback to their students (Brown, Harris Harnett, 2012). There are a few guidelines in which teachers can follow to help improve the quality of their feedback to their students to increase learner satisfaction and persistence as well as catering for differentiated learning, these guidelines include timing, amount, mode, audience (James-Ward, Fisher, Frey Lapp, 2013) and also allowing students to provide one another with feedback (Brown, Harris Harnett, 2012). The timing in which teachers provide their students with feedback is important as feedback needs to come while students are still mindful of the topic, assignment or performance in question (James-Ward, Fisher, Frey Lapp, 2013). Feedback needs to be provided while students are still thinking of their learning goal as a learning goal, meaning; something they are still striving for and not something they have already done (Brown, Harris Harnett, 2012). It is extremely important to provide students with effective feedback whilst they are still working on reaching their learning target, as mentioned earlier this will influence student learning. It is extremely important for teachers to know the audience in which they are providing feedback to in order for the feedback to be most effective for student learning (James-Ward, Fisher, Frey Lapp, 2013). This is based on the fact that no student is the same and feedback needs to accommodate for differentiated learners (Clark, 2012). Once a teacher understands his or her students individual learning they can then apply feedback in a way that is best addressed to the student about the specifics of the individuals work in terms the student can understand. Mode is also extremely important in providing effective feedback as it also supports differentiated learning. Mode stands for the different ways in which feedback can be delivered as it can be given in many modalities (James-Ward, Fisher, Frey Lapp, 2013). Some sorts of assessment lend themselves better to written feedback, some to oral feedback and others are better in demonstrations, and teachers can decide with their knowledge of how best to provide each individual student with feedback based on how they learn and understand best, whether it is written, spoken or demonstrated, in order for the feedback to be most effective in reaching each students learning needs (Clark, 2012). Also recently there has been an increasing agreement that students are a legitimate source of feedback as peer and self-assessment practices encourage students to identify learning objectives and helps them to understand the criteria used to judge their work aiming to reach the goal of increasing self-regulation (Brown, Harris Harnett, 2012). As timeliness can play a real issue in the effectiveness and quality of feedback from teachers, using students as a source of feedback can legitimately reduce this problem (Brown, Harris Harnett, 2012). As there are many different ways in which a teacher can go about providing feedback on set learning tasks to their students whether it is orally, written or demonstrated, the ways in which to construct effective feedback varies depending on the student (James-Ward, Fisher, Frey Lapp, 2013). Ultimately it is the teachers understanding of feedback and the knowing of how each individual student learns best that influences the type and quality of feedback they provide (Brown, Harris Harnett, 2012). Effective feedback will help increase student evaluation of their own learning progress and will help reach the Assessment for learning goal of developing self-regulating learners (Brown, Harris Harnett, 2012).

Free Narrative Essays - The All-Star Baseball Team :: Example Personal Narratives

The All-Star Baseball Team    Several summers ago, I made my first All-Star baseball team for a local little league. When I heard that I was picked, I was overwhelmed with happiness. A lot of my friends and teammates in years past had made the team, but never me. I was finally selected by the head coach of the All-Star team, and considered it quite an honor.    Although I was on the team, I was the only one who had never been an All-Star. I spent most of the tournament on the bench. But there were a few times when I had to go up and pinch-hit. I loved those times. I actually came through with a few clutch hits. Eventually, we made it to the championship game. Because we had lost our first game of the tournament, we were in the loser's bracket, and had to beat our opponent twice to advance to the next tournament. I am an extremely competitive person (probably the most competitive I know) and I was pumped up. But we lost our composure, and then lost the game. Needless to say I was more than a little depressed by the whole situation.    A year later, I was again chosen for the team. This time, I worked my way from being a back-up catcher to the starting 3rd baseman in two weeks. But after going 0-2 in my first two at-bats, my coach took me out of the starting line-up. Again, I pinch-hit, and was very successful at it. I even hit what turned out to be a game-winning homerun. We later reached the championship game again, but we lost it for the second time. This time I was more frustrated than I could ever remember being. I was slamming my hand into walls and almost crying. I was really acting very childish.    Once again, the next year, I was on the All-Star team. This time we were all determined to stay in the tournament and win the championship. We started off lousy, though, making four errors in the first game and losing 4-0. We now had to win every game and beat the last team twice. We did defeat every team we went up against, including the team that beat us the first game, and once again ended up in the championship game.

Comparison of “A Good Man is Hard” Essay

SETTING The setting of â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is in a place in Georgia, but the reader is not exposed to the description of the original setting. The story begins in a city that is not named where the family lives and takes the reader to many places where the family travels. There is â€Å"Plenty of local color – there are the old plantations that get passed, and Red Sammy’s roadside barbeque joint.† For â€Å"Love in L.A† the story takes place on the Freeway of Los Angeles, where Jake, protagonist, lazy, self-absorbed and irresponsible, is driving along the freeway (Dagoberto, 2004). The similarity in the setting of the two stories is the fact that story happens as an experience of persons travelling. However the two stories are different because in â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† it involves a family and the relationship to one another. This is not the dame case in â€Å"Love in L.A† where the story involves Jake who is driving along a freeway. CHARACTERS In â€Å"Love in L.A† Jake is presented as an irresponsible, self absorbed and lazy protagonist. This is seen when he hits Mariana’s car due to his carelessness. Jake is also dishonest when he gives Mariana wrong information regarding his address, phone number, and insurance information (Dagoberto, 2004). The main reason as to why he does this is for him to walk free from the consequences he is likely to face for hitting Mariana’s car. Mariana is the story’s antagonist. She believes the information given to him by Jake and she gives her correct information to Jake, with hopes of becoming good friends. Despite the fact that he hits her car does not make to feel anger against him, but instead accepts his proposal. In â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† the grandmother is seen as a manipulator. She does not want to go to Florida because she has relatives in Tennessee she  wants to see. She tries to change the mind of Bailey through a subtle style (Flannery, 1992). The Misfit despite being violent and a wanton killer, he has a different opinion to that of the grandmother. As much he knows that he is not morally upright, he also has the view that there are some people who are worse than him. He is consistent in these views, something that lacks in the grandmother. Bailey can be seen as submissive since he submits to his mothers request to visit the old plantation house. He is also ineffective when he fails to quiet his mother but in vain. Red Sammy Butts is honest as is seen by the trust that the grandmother has in him. He is gullible to fault. The two escaped criminals are cowards because they escape from the consequences that they are likely to face, having killed several people. The two children are adventurous as seen by their push to visit the old house their grandmother having said that it contained a secret panel. SYMBOLISM The freeway in â€Å"Love in L.A is symbolic in that it makes Jake feel all the freedom provided by the open road, something that leads him into day dreaming. The car is also symbolic because it represents how well or bad he uses his freedom, basing on the fact that he is involved in an accident due to carelessness. In â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† the grandmother’s hat which she puts to show that she is a lady is symbolic in a way that it represents her moral code, which is misguided (Flannery, 1992). This is illustrated when she dresses in that specific manner, so that in case there is an accident, everyone would easily identify her as a lady. The â€Å"Toomsboro† town is mentioned in a manner that it sounds like a â€Å"Tomb† meaning that the family is headed for doom. Through the description of Misfit’s car, the writer brings out the picture of the ultimatum of the family. He uses â€Å"a big black battered hearse-like automobile,† instead of brand names like Cadillac, Lincoln and many others. THEMES In â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† the main theme is good versus evil where  there is a confrontation with a superficial logic of goodness and a person who is embodies aspects of evil. She treats goodness just to appear decent, with the right manners and to paint of a picture of coming from a family of right people, which is a contrast as is seen when she meets the Misfit who acknowledges and accepts his true nature. In this piece, the writer brings out the nature of people to paint a picture which is in contrast of their true natures just to gain a social status among the people they interact with. In â€Å"Love in L.A† the main theme is love for self. This is seen as Jake is consumed with himself and the obsession he has with his car. He wants more for himself and for the main reason of getting more women. The author illustrates the nature of people in the society to always want more in life (Dagoberto, 2004). TONE In Love in L.A, The tone of the author brings out the fact that he might see himself in the main character, Jake. The author could be a good person who at one time struggled in the place of a bad guy. In A good Man is Hard to Find, the overall tone used plays a fundamental role in developing the plot of the story, which is retro respect, based upon the unforgiving terrain especially during the writing of the story. IRONY The title of the story,†A Good man is hard to find† is ironic because the grandmother refers the Misfit as a good man when she says, â€Å"I know you’re a good man †¦ I know you must come from nice people,† (Flannery, 1992). which is not the case since the Misfit has escaped from prison and has killed his father. Irony is also evident in â€Å"Love in L.A† because of the continual longing for love which does not occur. Through Jake, love is developed in different fashions which do not suggest anything positive. He is seen as one with a love for image, daydreaming and self conceit, which does not represent the true meaning of the word love. MORAL CODES In Love in L.A, Jake has no moral codes. Despite the fact that he knocks Miranda’s car, he does not make any efforts to honor the responsibility but instead tries hard to evade the situation by telling Miranda lies and giving him false information. He does not also mind about the conditions of other people but instead thinks about himself and does everything to get what he wants. In â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† I think the grandmother does not have the qualities to be looked at as â€Å"a good man† since the image that she tries to paint is not what she truly is, she lives in deceit and does everything to get recognized (Flannery, 1992). This is the same scenario in the case of Misfit, who despite the fact that he sees himself as perfect, and that there are others even more dangerous than him, does not mean that he is morally upright. This is because he does not make any efforts in changing what evil he has done in the past. FINAL THOUGHTS I have learnt that there are many ways in which perceive love. Having read the two short stories, I discovered that people are of different opinions. This is illustrated by Jake as being in love with his car and self image, the same thing is seen with the grandmother, where he only loves the image that can be represented by her and not about the affairs of the other people. This is a moral lesson that we should learn and try as hard to always consider the affairs and statuses of other people before putting ours ahead. REFERENCES Flannery, O. (1992) A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories Chicago: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Dagoberto. G, (2004) Love in L.A. Chicago: Cengage Learning