Eleanor Roosevelt can never be underestimated in her contributions in American history. She would inspire the country to allow Henry Wallace to the Vice President during the early 1940’s. She promoted the rights of black people and for women. She held press conferences for women alone and she inspired Franklin Delano Roosevelt to appoint more women in government. She urged the creation of the National Youth Administration. She was a civil rights champion and pushed for including black Americans in government programs. She had flown with Tuskegee Airman Charles “Chief” Anderson in March of 1941. After her experience with Arthurdale and her inspections of New Deal programs in Southern states, she concluded that New Deal programs were discriminating against African-Americans, who received a disproportionately small share of relief moneys. Eleanor became one of the only voices in the Roosevelt White House insisting that benefits be equally extended to Americans of all races. At the same time, she grew so popular among African-Americans, previously a reliable Republican voting bloc that they became a consistent base of support for the Democratic Party. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt spoke out against anti-Japanese prejudice, warning against the "great hysteria against minority groups." She also privately opposed her husband's Executive Order 9066, which forced Japanese-Americans in many areas of the U.S. into internment camps. Eleanor also broke with precedent by inviting hundreds of African American guests to the White House. When the black singer Marian Anderson was denied the use of Washington's Constitution Hall in 1939 by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Eleanor resigned from the group in protest and helped arrange another concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Roosevelt later presented Anderson to the King and Queen of the United Kingdom after Anderson performed at a White House dinner. Roosevelt also arranged the appointment of African-American educator Mary McLeod Bethune, with whom she had struck up a friendship, as Director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration. To avoid problems with the staff when Bethune would visit the White House, Eleanor would meet her at the gate, embrace her, and walk in with her arm-in-arm. She supported the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. Eleanor Roosevelt worked with the PWA’s Housing Division for planned communities (or “greenbelt towns”) and slum clearance. She backed the Federal Arts Projects, even the ones with “controversial” themes. Eleanor Roosevelt supported workers’ rights and lobbied for the Wagner and Fair Labor Standards Acts. She wrote articles, spoke publicly, and on radio. She traveled across America to see firsthand on how the Depression affected the most vulnerable and she had a dedicated to progressive ideals. Eleanor Roosevelt supported the United Nations and she was the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later, she chaired the John F. Kennedy administration’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. Rexford Tugwell said this about her: “No one who ever saw Eleanor Roosevelt sit down facing her husband, and, holding his eye firmly, say to him, ‘Franklin, I think you should….or, ‘Franklin, surely you will not….’ will ever forget the experience….It would be impossible to say how often and to what extent American governmental processes have been turned in new directions because of her determination.” She passed away on November 7, 1962.
During the 1840’s and in the 1850’s, Chicago grew as a transportation hub. There was massive immigration in Chicago too. Chicago mostly was settled by Northerners. Then, many Irish Catholics came into Chicago by the 1840’s as a result of the Great Famine in Ireland. As time went on, Chicago developed more railroads, stockyards, and other heavy industry by the late 19th century. This attracted many skilled workers from Europe like the Germans, the English, the Swedes, and the Dutch. In the Midwest in general, there are a high amount of these ethnic groups in that region. Chicago‘s population grew rapidly. In 1840, Chicago was the 92nd most populous city in America. In 20 years, Chicago was the ninth most populous city in the nation. The Illinois and Michigan Canal was opened in 1848. It allowed shipping from the Great Lakes through Chicago to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The first rail line to Chicago or the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad was completed in the same year too. The growth of the first steam locomotives, the introduction of steam powered grain elevators, and the telegraph grew Chicago too. The Chicago Board of Trade dealt with economies. By 1870 Chicago had grown to become the nation's second largest city, and one of the largest cities in the world. By 1857 Chicago was the largest city in what was then known as the Northwest. In a period of twenty years Chicago grew from 4,000 people to over 90,000. Chicago’s transportation hub grew with its road, rail, after, and later air connections. Many national retailers developed in Chicago offering shopping like Montgomery Ward, Sears, Roebuck and Company, etc. These companies used the transportation lines to ship supplies nationwide. By the 1850’s, railroads in Chicago was even more widespread. Over 30 lines entered the city. The main lines from the East ended in Chicago and those oriented to the West began in Chicago. By 1860 the city became the nation’s trans-shipment and warehousing center. Cyrus Hall McCormick in 1847 opened the harvester factor in 1842 as factories grew. The harvester factory was a processing center for the natural resource commodities extracted in the West. The Wisconsin forests supported the millwork and lumber business; the Illinois hinterland provided the wheat. Hundreds of thousands of hogs and cattle were shipped to Chicago for slaughter, preserving in salt, and transport to eastern markets. There were refrigerated cars allowed the shipping of fresh meat to eastern cities in 1870.
In 1883, the standardized system of North American time zones was adopted by the general time convention of railway managers in Chicago. So, for now on, the continent had its uniform system for telling time. The prairie bog nature of the area provided a fertile ground for disease-carrying insects. In springtime Chicago was so muddy from the high water that horses could scarcely move. Chicago created a massive sewer system. First, sewage pipes were laid across the city above ground to use gravity to move the waste. Since Chicago was in a low lying area, it was subject to flooding. So, in 1856, the city council decided that the entire city should be elevated four to five feet by using a newly available jacking up process. In one instance, the 5-story Brigg’s Hotel, weighing 22,000 tons, was lifted while it continued to operate. This was a great example of American determination and ingenuity. Chicago along with St. Louis and Cincinnati were important Midwestern cities back then. Chicago was the home of Stephen Douglas, the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago (where they nominated the home-state candidate Abraham Lincoln). The xenophobic and racist Know-Nothing Party (which was made up of protestant groups. Now, this Party is not representative of every Protestant, so I want to make that perfectly clear) in Chicago demonized the Irish Catholic and German immigrants who were coming into the city. The Know Nothing Party was anti-immigration, anti-liquor, and wanted to reduce the power of saloonkeepers. In 1855, the Know Nothings elected Levi Boone mayor, who banned Sunday sales of liquor and beer. His aggressive law enforcement sparked the Lager Beer Riot of April 1855, which erupted outside a courthouse where eight Germans were being tried for liquor ordinance violations. After the American Civil War, saloons became community centers only for local ethnic men, as reformers saw them as places that incited riotous behavior and moral decay. Between 1870 and 1900 Chicago grew from a city of 299,000 to nearly 1.7 million, at the time the fastest-growing city ever. Chicago's flourishing economy attracted huge numbers of new immigrants from Europe and migrants from the eastern states. Relatively few new arrivals came from Chicago's rural hinterland.
There is strong diversity among Asian American culture in Los Angeles. Asians and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing ethnic group in the city of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is home to the very first established Chinatown in the U.S. and Little Tokyo was declared a National Historic Landmark District in 1995. There’s also Koreatown or LAs very dynamic neighborhood with three squares miles of hip new eateries and a bustling community. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens shows must see gardens themed from around the world. The Huntington is an ever-changing exhibition of color and breathtaking scenery. There are the Chinese and Japanese gardens in the Huntington too. The Chinese garden is known in Chinese as Liu Fang Yuan or the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, offers a glimpse into the traditional style of scholar gardens from Suzhou, China. The garden complex is complete with pavilions, a teahouse and tea shop, stone bridges and waterfalls that together comprise a scenery evoking tranquility. The Japanese Garden celebrated its centennial in April 2012 and includes a drum bridge, Japanese house, traditional Zen garden, expansive bonsai court, and a ceremonial teahouse and tea garden. The Fowler Museum at UCLA has global arts and cultures from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americans. There are collections from Insular Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and aboriginal Taiwan are among the strongest in the United States. The Indonesian and Philippine textiles reinforce the Fowler Museum's standing as a major repository for the textile arts. Also included are significant collections of sculptural material from Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Luzon, puppetry from Java and Bali, basketry from Indonesia and Philippines, and metalwork from the Philippines. The collections from mainland Asia are smaller but growing rapidly. The Chinese American Museum or CAM is the first museum in Southern California that examines the cultural and ethnic diversity shared by the Chinese people. Koreatown is a large district of Los Angeles. In Koreatown, there is the 388 room Line Hotel, which was opened in January of 2014. It is across the street from the Wilshire/Normandie Metro Rail station. Like table-top BBQs and karaoke, Koreatown is also known for its proclivity of spa-treatment centers and most notably (and sometimes, slightly painfully), their body scrubs. Crystal Spaincludes the requisite steam rooms, skin-care stations and massage rooms for a full-service luxury spa. Crystal Spa can be reached from the Wilshire/Normandie Metro Rail station by heading one block north on Normandie, then a block and a half east on 6th Street. There is the Korean American Museum. It shows the area’s rich cultural and architectural history. It shows educational programs and it has various artistic works too.
By Timothy
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