EOTO Reaction

In our final EOTO's of the that we heard about events that were both positive and negative to the time. Some of the types of events that were discussed included some of the assassinations that had taken place in the late 60s and also some of the living aspects for African Americans during the Civil Rights era when protests were at their height in the 60s. 

GraceAnn started talking about the assassination of MLK which was a major loss in the African-American community and he was one of the people in the African-American community leading the charge for equality and he was a bright spot in the possibility for freedom for African Americans and his life tragically was cut short in 1968.

Josh then talked about the death of Robert F Kennedy who was a major politician who was shot and killed as well in 1968. A lot of people were in shock considering he was very close to winning the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. This was a major blow since most Americans believed he was the future of the US and democracy.

Max talked about another murder that had occurred where Malcolm X was killed in 1965 when he was giving a speech and was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital and this was a very controversial moment for African Americans since he was in support of MLK and his mission. 

Kayla talked about the Loving couple who were an interracial couple that got married in Washington D.C. and lived in Virginia and they ended up leaving it after they were arrested and Virginia had violated the 14th amendment by throwing the Loving's in jail. RFK intervened and helped the Lovings be able to return to Virginia. 

On the positive side there were lots of events that took place in the 60s for African Americans 

Johnathan talked about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was the act that had prohibited discrimination in public accommodations based on nationality, race, or color. This act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson and this act was brought to life by speches that MLK JR and the bus boycotts in Montgomery which convinced Congress this worth made happen. 

Kaycie had talked about the Voting Act of 1965 which was also signed into law by LBJ and this law made it possible for a poll tax to not be available for African Americans and this gave greater access for voting for African Americans. 

Lucy spoke about Affirmative Action which was helpful in increasing workplace and educational opportunities for underrepresented people of all races. This was a move that created opportunities for many minorities in the United States of America. 

Overall, there were lots of great movements that took place in the 1960s and the Civil Rights era was a very important time period for lots of people and it was a period of time where bad things also happened but it was instrumental in shaping history as we know it today. 

To Sir, With Love Reaction Post

 To Sir, With Love is a British drama that stars Sidney Poitier as an immigrant from British Guiana who studied engineering. After a long 18 month job search for an engineering job in London he finally finds in education at a school in the rough neighborhood of East End in London. He has been hired to take over for another techer who had recently died as he arrives to the new school he discovers that the students are badly behaving everywhere and the teachers are very discouraging when it comes to the kids behaviors. 

Lots of these students are students who were rejected from lots of other schools and are very troubled. He walks in and gets a lot of pranks directed at him including breaking his desk and he has a challenging start with his students and he was at the beginning of the film warned that he was on his own when it comes to managing the students behavior. Mark keeps his cool at first with all of the pranks and he soon meets another female teacher who he becomes close friends with.

On top of the behavioral issues that the kids have, some of them also have very abusive and reckless home lives considering all of them are kids of the working class. The kids are all misbehaving for a long time until Mark Thackery gives a talk to some of the students after they throw a burning item out the window at him and while even though it misses him he is very angry and yells at all of them. 

Sir makes a big decision then to not teach them academics but more on the ways of the world. He decides he will teach them to be adults and they will talk about marriage, rebellion, manners and regular living skills such as cooking. The students start to become less rowdy and start showing him more respect and he starts to give them more trust. He decides that he wants to take them on field trips to various attractions and museums. 

They become closer and start to become a little family almost and when Seal's mother dies they all decie to comfort him as they have all become closer and get him a wreath although some kids are not willing to bring the wreath to at the time the colored neighborhood. 

Denim is the one kid that has not yet adjusted to Sir's beliefs and ideas. They both later get in a boxing match and Sir ends up winning this fight and has finally gained Denim's respect considering even in the middle of the movie he still was playing pranks on Sir even when everybody else had respected him. 

The movie ends at a school dance where Sir starts dancing with Pam and Sir goes to a classroom and tears up his engineering job letter offer and decides he still wants to remain at his school after receiving his gifts. This movie sees Sir take on an impossible challenge of teaching young students with troubled lives and turns them into responsible adults.