Jill Frank Thesis

On April 17th, I attended an Honors College thesis presentation by Barbara Armeta, an American Studies major here at UMass Lowell. Throughout her presentation, she explains the research she did on a ranch owned by her family and the history of the land. Armeta started her presentation by going all the way back through her family line to the end of the Spanish - American war. She introduced Electa Ousley, who was one of the first women in Gilroy, CA to be granted the right to claim her own land. Ousley and her husband were one of the early pioneers in Santa Clara County who made the wagon train journey during the Gold Rush.

Cheryl Crazy Bull, who’s Lakota name Wacinyanpi Win means “they depend on her” is an enrolled member of the Sicangu Band of the Lakota Nation and comes from a Lakota, French and German heritage. Crazy Bull was born in 1954 and raised on the Rosebud Reservation. She has spent most of her life in the Dakotas. She is a family oriented educator and describes herself as, “a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a lifelong educator.” Cheryl knew early on the need for self determination in Indian education from her father’s painful boarding school experiences. Her father had been forced away from his family, into a school where he could not speak his own Lakota language, and was forced to learn history from a White perspective in which Native Americans

Discussion One — The History of Mary Prince — Revision Assignment Topic 1a: The Black Body In “The History of Mary Prince”, black bodies were primarily perceived as property by their slave owners. They were seen as valuable for their labor and their ability to increase profits for their owners. They were bought and sold as if they were cattle and were treated at auctions as such. They were priced based on the results of their inspection, physical strength, and ability to work. Along with being subjected to hard labor, slaves were subjected to horrible living conditions, and a lack of rights to their own bodies.

college. Even though she might have grown up with a hard life, she fought for different ways to

February of every year is known as National Black History Month. There are many African American people who made a great impact on all African-Americans today. In honor of this month, though, I have chosen to write about Marian Anderson. Marian Anderson was a singer who had made a great impact on many of the black singers in the past. She was one of the first female African-American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1955. Some of Marian’s last words to the public were “I have a great belief in the future of my people and my country.”

Nancy Forner is a great author on immigrations and the issues that surround it. She states that immigration was one of the predicaments that covered the New York City in the early 20th Century. This immigration saw the influx of population that altered the lives of the residents as the immigration was not planned for (Foner, p1). They disrupted the social economic and environmental aspects of the city including the introduction of new cultures, new methods of cooking to Ney York City. These impacts are evident today as there are still descendants of the Europeans, Italians and Chinese in the New York City. Currently, there is a new wave of immigrants from people of colour moving to the New York City. There exists a significant difference on

This showed up on my Newsfeed the other day supposedly written by Deborah Messing of "Will and Grace" fame. I wasn't going to respond, but me being me, I couldn't just let it slide, the hypocrisy is just overwhelming. Deborah Messing is an outspoken advocate for women's, minority and LGBT rights. Messing is a talented actress who has played many roles in her career but I would venture to say her role in the TV show "Will and Grace" is what brought her the most fame and fortune. She has used her fame to advocate for the rights I mentioned previously.

The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, tells the story of Jeannette's upbringing and her road to adulthood. Jeannette, and her siblings, were raised by dysfunctional, poor, and sometimes homeless parents, Rose Mary and Rex Walls. The Walls children were pretty much abandoned by their parents and in some cases they were forced into making their own money, or stealing food just so they would not starve. Rose Mary and Rex Walls allowed the children to do anything they wanted, whenever they wanted to do it, but that did not stop Jeannette from being successful. She recognized that she did not want to live her life the same way her parents have lived their lives. In The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls believes that sometimes people are actually

We also learn that her husband yells at her, so maybe that is why she does not want to leave because she is ashamed of this. This also stops her from reaching the American Dream because she can't even leave her apartment making it so she really has nowhere to go and nothing to do. This shows that shame can in fact make it from stopping you from reaching the American Dream whether it is leaving school or not wanting to leave your

Anne Frank, a popular female figure in history. Her diary was published so that everybody could know about her struggles during the Holocaust. Have you ever thought about the “value” of the content she wrote? Have you thought about her writing about all the horrors, and reliving them? Also, do not forget about being trapped in an annex for over two years! Who is Anne Frank exactly?

The deaths of World War II range from about 50 million to 70 million people. 6 million being jewish people. One of them being Anne Frank. Anne Frank was a teenage girl in hiding for two years. Throughout those two years she kept an immense amount of hope and strength considering the situation she was in. In her diary, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, readers get to look into what she faced everyday and how she was able to keep her strength. Other people who showed that hope and strength are most important in times of conflict were Sophie Scholl and Elie Wiesel. In the book, Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler’s Shadow, Scholl made her voice heard, knowing the consequences that would soon come. Elie Wiesel, author of the book, Night and

Without a college degree, it is very difficult to get a financially stable job. To get a college degree you need some sort of income to pay for your schooling. She did not have a degree and ended up working for 7 dollars an hour or less. The work was both stressful and degrading.

never go to school. All of this was taken away from her at such a young age, when she

While filling out a questionnaire like the Census it is solely up to the individual to decide the race they considered themselves to be in. Race can have many different meanings while trying to categorize a person. As we have learned in the past weeks, there are many aspects that can be considered while defining someone’s race. A few examples would be color, culture, family history and place of origin. Because of the flexibility in defining race, different ethnicities focus more on certain aspects. This causes a discontinuity while defining race. This leads to the question brought up by Julie Dowling in her writing.

She is learning to be out on her own for the first time in her life. Because she is away at school she does not have the guidance that her parents once gave her. She has to make decisions about her life and life choices. So far she has not had much success in making these choices. She almost decided to quit school and move in with her boyfriend. This poor planning has left her very behind in school making her have to attend for an extra year in order to graduate. She also decided that it was all right to smoke marijuana. This led to problems with the law, which is not good considering that she is a criminal justice major. Next year she will be moving into an apartment and will have to work in order to support herself. This is another step toward autonomy from her parents.