A warm welcome to our students' blog! This will be our platform for homework and commentaries! Students will have to post their homework, read and comment on the homework of other students on this blog. Homework assignments will be posted by me, Helmut Kalss. Detailed information will be given with the assignments. My comments and corrections will be discussed in class (Error File). There will be a deadline for every homework assignment and posts submitted later will not be accepted.
1948 December 10: The General Assembly of the United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in New York, NY. http://www.un.org/en/rights/
1955 December 1: Rosa Parks is arrested for
refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. A well
planned boycott of city buses continues for over a year and resulted in
desegregation on city buses and the hiring of black bus drivers. Martin
Luther King, Jr. utilizes the Gandhian philosophy of nonviolent direct
action to inspire the disciplined boycott. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1fGdGjitNY
1957 September 4:
Nine students volunteer to integrate Little Rock Central High School,
but are kept from entering the school by armed Arkansas national
guardsmen. International press coverage and outrage directed at US
embassies abroad contribute to Eisenhower’s decision to order the 101st
Airborne to protect students. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
warns government officials, “This situation was ruining our foreign
policy.”
1960: During the “Year of Africa” numerous
African nations gain independence. African Americans pay close attention
to this historic transformation. James Baldwin quoted one African
American as saying, “At the rate things are going here, …all of Africa
will be free before we can get a lousy cup of coffee.”
1963 August 28: More than 250,000 people
gather at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC for the March on
Washington for Jobs and Freedom. John Lewis represents the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in his speech demanding protecting
voting rights of African Americans, “One man, one vote is Africa’s cry
and it is our cry.” The March is an international event, spawning
sympathy marches around the world. On the eve of the march, pioneering
civil rights leader W. E. B. Bu Bois dies at his home in Ghana.
1964: Martin Luther King,
Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize and accepts his award in Norway. The
honor reflects the global awareness and support for his commitment to
human rights in the United States.
1964 July 2: President
Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination in
public places, federal programs, and employment.
1965 July 9: Congress passes the Voting Rights
Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act prohibited the states from using
literacy tests and other methods of excluding African Americans from
voting.
1966: Muhammad Ali, world heavyweight champion, refuses to be inducted into the US army in protest against the war in Vietnam.
1966: The Black Panther Party (BPP) is formed
in Oakland, California. As part of their 10 point program they demand,
“We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.”
1967 April 4: King speaks out against the war in Vietnam
addressing a crowd of 3,000 people in Riverside Church in New York City.
In his speech entitled “Beyond Vietnam” King argued that the war effort
was "taking the young black men who have been crippled by our society
and sending them 8,000 miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast
Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem." Two
weeks later, he and other activists lead thousands of demonstrators on
an anti-war march to the United Nations.
Give
a short interpretation of this song? How does it reflect the situation
of the poor - especially of the African Americans - in the USA in those
days? Why did they become more self-confident?
Imagine, as a young black man and you are living in the USA today.
Which huge problems Barack Obama was confronted with? What is the
reason that he didn´t reach the high expectations? What do you think
about the new Trump administration!
In your opinion, how is the situation of the African Americans today? Are they still discriminated against?
·
Imagine you are a young Israeli or a young Palestinian and you live in
this country. How do you fell about the omnipresent terror? How can we
stop the vicious circle of hate and violence? What can be done to make
the region a prospering and peaceful country?
· Do you
think that the UN will be able to solve the
long-lasting conflict in this region? What could be the solutions
You
are a member of your local Landjugend
Organisation. Your friends want to improve their English - so you organise a
weekly evening about several topics. This week you want to present a new and controversial
project that aims to make customers aware of unfair trading conditions. In your
kick-off speech you are going to address the following issues:
Explain why many of
the products we buy are produced under unfair and inhumane conditions
Describe the projects
initiated in order to make customers more aware of what they are buying –
think about measures everybody can take to help those poor people
Outline what we as
customers can do, in order to help people in developing countries
improving their situation
Dialogue
After
your presentation you talk to a colleague. In your conversation you talk about
the following topics:
why to buy fair trade
products
why it is better to
buy local products than products from far away
why buying locally is
more difficult with clothes and how this problem could be solved