What Caused the Civil War

Rosanny Lora

Professor Young

AFAM 2100

8 Feb 2017

Why Must Our Minds be Fed Garbage?

Many of the events that took place in the earliest years of my schooling have now become a blur, but of the things I still happen to remember is the first time I was introduced to the topic of the American Civil War. The teacher stood at the front of the classroom and told the class that it was a war that was fought between the Union, which was comprised of 23 free states and 5 border states, and the Confederacy which was made up of 11 slave states. After the teacher implanted that piece of information into our brains she moved on to briefly discussing why the Civil War had even happened in the first place. It was the answer that I’m sure was recited over and over to the millions of students that have been cheated by the American educational system throughout the decades: “The American Civil War was fought because the Union States to the North wanted to abolish slavery, but Confederate states to the South wanted to keep in existence for as long as possible.” After giving the terse explanation the teacher swiftly moved onto another topic.

At that stage in life neither I nor my fellow classmates had been in a classroom that had helped develop or nurture our critical thinking skills, so, more often than not we just took that information at face value. That, paired with a public school system that was in shambles, didn’t really lead to a birth of critical scholars that questioned the history curriculum being taught in search for the real truth. Honestly, until I started attending college--yes, college-- I completely underestimated the importance of the events that acted the catalyst that started the Civil War.

After reviewing the information in the Prezi presentation and comparing into to what I already know I realize that: a) I have so much to learn and b) what I have been taught over the years were fallacies that were put in place to distract learners from the truth about how crucial events in the mid-nineteenth century actually unraveled. One of the most important things that the there wasn’t just one spark that led to the immense wildfire that was the Civil War, but rather multiple sparks (i.e. disputes and violent outbreaks regarding complex entities such as the institution of slavery and the government, and those who fought nail and tooth to end slavery). My brain is currently in the process of digesting all of these juicy bits of information, but there is still one thing that isn’t clear to me. I understand that there were to blame for the start of the Civil War but what was the last straw on the camel’s back? What event prompted government leaders to say,“That’s it! We will now wage war until we get what we came for”?

Modern Black Superhero- Reaction Paper

Rosanny Lora

The New Jim Crow

25 Jan 2017

Prof. Young

Modern Black Superhero Poster: Reaction Paper 

     I was looking through the collection of this year's FDU Black History Month posters and I let out a small shriek when I saw Laverne Cox's name on one of them. I clicked on the poster to get a better look and I discovered that there was a scenario depicting a child getting harassed by a group of peers that surrounded them. The scene reminded me of the Sophia Burset, the fictional character that Laverne Cox plays in the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. In the show Sophia was brought to the breaking point many times when she was belittled and dehumanized by both her peers and superiors because of her often misunderstood gender identity, somewhat like the child in the scene in the top right corner might be experiencing. Another thing I picked up on were the colors used in the piece. More often then not colors used in pieces like these have some obvious or hidden symbolism attached to them. When I looked at the colors of the letters above Laverne and the color of the dress she wore I thought that the red could represent her fiery personality and her unwavering determination to fight for the equality of members of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly the people who identify as transgender. In addition, a close friend of mine pointed out that the blue, white and pink colors in the background are actually the colors that make up the transgender flag. This is another element that the creator of this poster adeptly used to make this all one cohesive piece of artwork. 

     Laverne Cox has worked for many years to hone her craft and to use it to spread the word about the hardships that transgender people like herself are experiencing day to day not only in America, but all over the world. I chose to write about her because I've always been so inspired by how she uses her status and position as an actress to advocate for those who's mouths have been forcibly silenced by the fear--fear of many things, but above all the fear of being alienated or harmed. This Black Heroin is portrayed in an assertive stance with her fist ready ready for what's coming her way. She will not back down and neither will her army because the struggle still continues!