Mr. X

Malcolm X

     Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, was an icon in his time.  He was one of the most influential figures of the 50s and 60s up until his death in 1965.  Even though he held such influence on the african population in America he himself was admittedly incorrect in some of his early beliefs which brought him such fame.
     Malcolm sprang from a poverty stricken beginning in Nebraska after the death of his father past away and his mother sent him to be bought up in a white foster home.  After droppin out of school he relocated to a ghetto in boston and was arrested after getting mixed into dealing and prostitution circles. During his time being incarcerated Malcolm Little decided to become a muslim and rename himself Malcolm X to signify he was disassociation with the white man's name passed down to him through his enslaved ancestors.
     In his early years Malcolm X was a fervent supporter of complete separation of the races and violence to meet violence done.  Once he stated how blacks should "by any means necessary  strive for what they justly deserve.  He was quickly recognized by the NOI (Nation of Islam) and assigned to be a high ranked spokesperson for the group most likely due to his adept skill in communication. After some disagreements and insubordination associated with the Kennedy assassination he decided to leave the group due to differences in belief.

Malcolm X 1965 (after journey to Mecca)

     After his journey to the holy city of Mecca, practiced by many of the islamic faith, Malcolm X experienced a transformation in philosophy. He refuted his earlier idea of a singular solution to the race problem, that being total separate state for African Americans, and accepted a new idea more closely related to Martin Luther King Jr.'s suggestion of integration of the races. In an interview on CBC Malcolm X spoke of how on his travels in the Middle east he came across a sense of brotherhood felt throughout the region. This same feeling he wish upon America at his return. This shows how after his haj he realized that his earlier belief in complete separation of the races was not the only solution as he previously preached with passion.

Kaaba in Mecca

     Many articles are focused on Malcolm X's desire to separate however he only held this view during his early years closer to his release from prison and before the haj to Mecca. He had experienced a metamorphosis of belief on his haj and noble accepted how he was incorrect in his earlier beliefs. Not only did he bring back a new beard, he did what was so very difficult for many whites of the time to do themselves. He altered his pronounced belief and accepted his earlier fault.
     Malcolm X was assassinated by members of the NOI in a ballroom at a rally of his admirers. A
possible cause for the assassination was the NOI did not like his growing influence on the black muslim community.  Tensions were high between the NOI and Malcolm X ever since he severed his affiliation with them as he stated on CBC, "When I began to doubt that he(Elija Muhammed) himself believed that that(the only solution was a separate state for black people) was feasible... then I turned in a different direction.", and accepted orthodox Islam and its view of brotherhood.

Malcolm X giving a speech

     Although after his haj Malcolm X more so embraced the idea of integration his views on violence to meet violence were as strong as ever. The belief that no one white or black should stand by and be harassed with no retaliation he held onto until the day he died. This idea may be construed through media and incomplete recollections to mean Malcolm X supported outright hate and violence toward the whites which he most definitely did not.
     Malcolm X was one of the most influential figures of his day.  Maybe his changing of his beliefs make him an even better role model showing how the bigger man accepts his faults.  His views on how to get equality for the black may have shifted drastically but his vision for a better life did not.

Malcolm X

Sources:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7IJ7npTYrU&safety_mode=true
• http://www.ushistory.org/us/54h.asp
• http://monthlyreview.org/2005/02/01/interview-with-malcolm-x
• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/malcolm_x.htm
• http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Afro-Am&month=0605&week=a&msg=43GffgtXUjcbUiTbbr/Kgw&user&pw
• http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/race/022265race-ra.html
• http://www.newsinhistory.com/blog/malcolm-x-assassinated

How WWI Influenced the Development of Communications Tech

     World War One was one of the most devastating events in recorded human history.  It was the was the "war to end all wars". Along with being a cause of massive loss for the world population, it was also the catalyst for many new developments in the ways humans communicated.  Communications technologies saw many advances during the time period surrounding the war.  As is the case with most wars, this was the time of rapid development all over the planet even with communication as slow as ever with the exception of trains.  Airplanes were becoming more modern, radio began to be an excellent source of home entertainment and a way to relay information, the post service saw a boom because of soldiers sending mail back home, even language of many cultures changed due to soldiers conversing in the trenches, and government communication to the masses began to take a new turn.

WWI Aerial Photography

       Let us start around the end of the war when America finally decides to join in on the fun.  Military leaders quickly saw the advantages of new airplane and photography technology.  In order to gather intelligence on the whereabouts of enemy troops many scout missions consisting of airplanes with photographers hanging over the side of the cockpit to take pictures behind enemy lines.  This had never been available before this time.  It was a massive change in the way war was fought.  Although this new technology was able to more clearly communicate the business of enemies to officers it was still an excruciatingly long process.  The cameras of the time were nothing like a Polaroid camera.  It took hours to develop even one hazy photograph taken from hundreds of feet off the ground.  This form of communication of information took many steps from the time of WWI to the time of WWII and is still being developed today.

Radio Developments During the War

Wireless Telegraphy unit

     Radio is one of the biggest developments of communication caused by the war.  Before this time everything was wired in.  If you wanted to make a call you needed to be at home, work, or in a telephone booth.  Luxuries such as these were sadly unavailable to troops fighting in Europe. However soldiers on the front lines needed ways to communicate back to headquarters with out having to send a messenger to deliver a communique in person.  Thus radio, at the time called wireless telegraphy, was developed.  This technology would have been very useful to possibly prevent the war in the early 1900s.  Because the only form of communication many of the time had access to was a the post maybe traveling by train the leaders of the countries involved did not have the most communicative relationships.  It is known Germany was very unlikely to want to go to war if Britain was to intervene.  This knowledge could not be properly communicated in time to stop Germany from beginning its warpath.  Radio has become one of the most popular technological advancement of the last two centuries and if it was only invented a few years earlier could have prevented a world war.
       Unbeknownst to many modern citizens of the world, WWI was very influential in the development the language of the different cultures involved in the conflict.  Cushy, crummy, lousy, dud, and trench coats are all examples of slang developed by soldiers communicating in their horrid time spent in the trenches.  The mixing of social classes during the war made slang words known all over the world possible.  This shows how a war can influence almost every part of a society even into the vehicle for which people communicate.  I found it amazing that words like lousy and crummy refer to items in the trenches infested with lice.  It was always known to me that soldiers tend to have a knack for making slang and words like these from WWI demonstrate that point nicely.

Learn NC WWI Posters

     Government communication was also unable to escape the influence of the war.  In order to enlist more troops into the military America needed to sway the public opinion of the war.  To do this the best idea they came up with was a huge campaign of poster and propaganda to communicate the viciousness of the germans to the American public.  Posters such as the one depicted to the right were printed and posted all over America.  This one gives the message that as a civilized and powerful nation America needed to wake up and help the distressed European nations.  During the time of World War One American government made some very dissatisfying decisions about public relations.  America had been suffering through a recession and if it entered the war many jobs would blossom thus stimulating the economy.  This is what caused the propaganda which the government pumped into the blood of America.  The war was the cause of this development in communication technology.













My sources and what I learned from them;
The Radio Intelligence Devlelopments has information of the development of radio technology around the time of WWI. 

I learned about government regulation on communications from Europe and the wireless telegraph from The Newseum.
AVL Article "Fed up? Blame WWI" from News Limited Australia told me about how language was influenced by the war.
The Library of Congress had a pictorial concerning new developments in newspaper printing. (primary)
From the New York Times June 11, 1916 edition I learned that during the war newspapers began introducing many more images on their prints.
I found many different examples of Propaganda Posters on this site.
The British Postal Museum told me about the postal services available to soldiers during WWI.

Postcard Project Update

     This project making postcards from the cruise of the Great White Fleet has been an entertaining one.  At this point in my project I have acquired all of my postcard images and have arranged in the final format. I have only two more sources to locate before I transfer my information to my document to print out. I have enjoyed the brevity of the work and the knowledge I have gained.

The Classic Pop Music

     The Gilded Age was a wonderful age for music.  With the emergence of leisure time many of the middle class and working class had much more time on their hands and were looking for ways of entertainment.  This new demand for performers caused the entertainment industry to be born.  In the early days of the Gilded Age the most popular acts were the traveling minstrel shows which soon evolved into Vaudeville theatre.  To accompany this new form of theatre many new styles of music had to be developed.

Scott Joplin

     Music of the time was much less modest and melodic than anything which had come before it.  The most notable innovation in music at the end of the 19th century was the development of a new genre of African influenced rhythmic music called ragtime emerging out of New Orleans.  Ragtime is the most well known of any styles of music from the Gilded Age.  Scott Joplin is one of the most famous Ragtime composers gaining much of his following from his piece called "The Maple Leaf Rag".  Before this time most popular music was strictly classical in style and composition following rules derived from the romantic age of Bach and Mozart.  Charles Ives was one of these composers to step out of the Classical comfort zone as he implement very strange and innovative chords in his compositions.  In the time of Vaudeville and Ragtime many songs start to have signs of structure know today as; verse chorus verse chorus verse chorus.  In this structure a song would have clear sections where the music changed or the lyrics repeated.  This form of song writing has directly influenced popular music today. 

Example of Vaudeville Theatre

     Popular music of the Gilded Age was also know for its common themes in lyrics of the night life and descriptions of city life and fantastical new ways to spend one's time.  In this time the lyrics of many songs performed in Vaudeville contained many more suggestive themes never before seen in lyrics predating this time.  Ragtime was well known for being criticized as vulgar by many classical composers of the day.  The Gilded Age was the time for major shifts in popular music.  Ragtime began to change peoples view of the piano to that of a rhythmic instrument and not the beautiful melody producing machine it was before. 

     Other than in Vaudeville most music was still enjoyed instrumentally.  This is show by the mass of sheet music found in saloons and taverns where a pianist usually entertained the patrons of the establishment.  Often these musicians were not classically trained and could play only few songs.  The working class could not often listen to the most well trained of musicians and compositions.  at this time there is evidence which shows a large increase of music for the lower level citizens in cities which caused most popular music to be governed by the working and middle classes. 

     There is no question Vaudeville outmatched the music business in the Gilded Age.  This was the case until the late 1890s when and entrepreneur from San Francisco decided to use the Phonograph to record and playback music that the music industry would be able to overtake the Theatre in popularity.  Before the Phonograph the only way a person living in the Gilded Age could listen to music was to know a professional musician  or to buy the sheet music and play it himself.  As I studied Popular songs and music technology of the Gilded Age I found America's first platinum hit.  "After the Ball" by Charles K. Harris sold over two million pieces of sheet music by the end of the 19th century.  This song was made famous after it was given to a vaudeville performer to perform in a show.  The song was described an individual recounting to a young girl how they lost there love after a ball.  "After the Ball" demonstrates the theme of entertainment in the lyrics and fame of Ragtime music in this time period. 

Eli.com

History Matters

This Fabulous Century: 1910-1920

The Gershwins

Music and Cultural Expression in the Gilded Age

Scott Joplin Bio

Cambridge Journal

The Gilded Age: Perspectives on the Origins of Modern America

The Immigrant Nation Connected

     After the past couple weeks learning about immigration to America and thinking of how my ancestors and where they came from, It has become easier than ever before for me to see America as a nation of immigrants. Although I recognize the United States of America was founded and built by immigrants, I believe now that a majority of americans see people who have descended from immigrants from the past to be 'true' Americans and anyone coming to America today as aliens to be shunned and disliked. The culture of the U.S. was shaped by the massive melting pot of cultures during mass waves of immigration before and after world wars. Most people who could uproot their families and move away from a home they knew to a strange new land had to be under great economic or government stress. This shows that America was definitely built from the ground up by the poor clawing their way up the ladder of success. By this point in time my ancestors have worked to give my family a great head start to have the most well-off life of any in the family before. I believe I have little connection to my immigrant ancestors because my parents have not had any interest in researching my ancestors so the any information i have gotten has come from my uncle in New Orleans.

 

Darren P. Barrilleaux   

Face to Face with Faces of America

     For last few days I have been watching a series called Faces of America learning about the immigrant background of some famous people in American culture.  I found the main gist of these episodes to be attempting to demonstrate how America's past as a nation of immigrants is intricately woven through everyone living here today. Among the people interviewed the most notable to me was Yo-Yo Ma and Stephen Colbert. In the interview both shared a little of what they knew about their background and how they came to be here in the U.S.A. I was surprised to find Yo-Yo Ma was only able to stay in America because by chance his father was offered a job as a music teacher just before they were to leave to return to China.

John D. Rockefeller the Self-Made Man

     John D. Rockefeller is know around the country as one of the richest or THE richest men in history.  John D. Rockefeller was born a son of a salesman in 1839.  His dad was a traveling medicine salesman who would be away for long periods of time then show up with the money he had amassed on his travels.  In his childhood his family moved around because of his fathers line of work. later they settled in Cleveland which is where John attended high school and got his first job as an assistant bookkeeper. He was taught many life lessons by his mother many of which he took to heart. Rockefeller learned at a young age to always help others when you could, to be honest with everyone, and to save your money whenever possible.  By the age of twelve he had accumulated fifty dollars (about $15,000 by todays standards) from working for neighbors. After being encouragment  by his mother, Rockefeller loaned his money to a local farmer with seven percent interest which could be payed over the course of one year.  Recounting this investment Rockefeller was quoted as saying "The impression was gaining ground with me that it was a good thing to let the money be my servant and not make myself a slave to the money..."  Kerosene was soon developed after partnering with another christian from his church to get into the business of crude oil.  One of the drawbacks he saw to the oil market was the fluctuating prices due to events such as masses flocking to oil deposits to get into the developing trade and the Civil War.
     After learning about his background and some of his earlier experiences, I found that John D. Rockefeller was almost a perfect generic role model for anyone in life.  He grew up with his mom and took to heart the lessons in life that she taught him then applied himself and through some luck and some willpower he amassed one of the largest fortunes in history.  Rockefeller was know for making large donations to various churches and charities. However these large donations could not come close to dent his funds.  I believe the largest contribution to John D Rockefeller's success was his ability to learn from people who were teaching him.

Time Magazine

PBS.org
The Freeman