Reflection on the Trip to Birmingham

The trip to Birmingham, most specifically the 16th Street Baptist Church, really opened my eyes about the harsh reality of segregation. Previously, I had heard about segregation and honestly thought that yeah, it was a bad thing but it wasn't just awful when compared to previous tragedies such as slavery. But now I get it, it sucked. The walk through the Civil Rights Museum and viewing the differences between "colored" and "white" water fountains and jail cells and what not. I also learned how messed up even the justice system was in Alabama at the time. They let one man go fourteen years without seeing a courtroom after he almost definitely bombed the church leading to the death of four young girls, and two others were free for almost forty years.

The difference between learning these events in a classroom and going to the place where they happened to somewhat experience it is dramatic. Previously, I had heard about the 16th Street Baptist Church and I learned that it was awful and was something that should have never done, but when you walk into the church and experience it it's almost sacred to know that four young girls lost their lives close to where you are standing and that it was all for a reason that should have never been a thing at all. I do feel as if Randolph 11th graders no matter how busy should still go on this trip. It's very beneficial for us to witness the tragedies that have occurred in previous generations in order to know not to recreate them.

This picture is of NBA star "Big Baby" Glen Davis and he is a stand in for Mason, who in his obsessive state forced us to walk around all of Birmingham while he slandered about Milo's Hamburgers.

Questions about World War I

1.) "The Great War" began on July 28, 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The cause of the beginning of the world war was assassination of Franz Ferdinand by the Serbian Nationalist Gavrilo Princip. This war was fought between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire made up the Central Powers and Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and Japan made up the Allied Powers. 

2.) The U.S. entered the war on April 6, 1917 and joined the Allied Powers. A main reason America entered the war was the sinking of the Lusitania, a British Oceanliner, by the Germans,

3.) The Germans signed an armistice on November 11, 1918 that effectively ended the war. The Germans and the rest of the central powers were falling apart due to lack of resources and bad moral. Following the surrendering of many allies, Germany signed the armistice.

4.) The terms of the armistice were that the Germans had to leave all German-occupied territories on the Western Front within two weeks, Allied forces were to occupy the left bank of the Rhine whereas the right bank was established as a neutral zone. All treaties previously signed with Russia and Romania were annulled. The Germans had to give up most of their ammunition, aircraft, locomotives, and submarines. The United States did not ratify this treaty because they did not want to become part of the League of Nations. Other things such as hostility between countries and different ethnic groups in America not agreeing with the terms of the treaty played part in this.

5.) What made the countries divide into the powers that they did? Were these countries previously allies or just united by the war?