Civics & Government Practice (& a Quiz Wednesday!)

Want to learn more about civics and government? Register for a free account at icivics.org The site allows you to play games and access materials to help reinforce and expand on what we learned in class.

I started a class so I can track progress and suggest activities/games. I’ll give you the class code & password on Wednesday.

ALSO – There will be a “quiz” (i.e., practice questions from the orange book) over the civics & government unit we’ve been studying. I recommend looking over your notes before Wednesday!

The Electoral College

The electoral college was mentioned in today’s “This Day in History.” It’s a confusing thing indeed. We’ll learn more about it as the semester goes on, but here’s a cool interactive map that shows the electoral map for every presidential election.

http://www.270towin.com/ 

I recommend going to this map when learning about a new event or time period in American history. Who was politically powerful at that time? Why does it matter? What connections can you make between the electoral college map and the historical events at the time?

Veterans Day

These profiles & photos are taken from Zinn Education Project’s Facebook Page. Like this page to receive This Day in History updates!

Here is a Veterans Day tribute to a group of Veterans we seldom hear about, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. From the U.S. alone, 2,800 people volunteered to defend the republic and fight fascism in Spain beginning in 1936, including nurse Salaria Kea pictured here. This is a key story for students studying WWII. As historian Paul Ortiz commented: “Salaria Kea: a true American hero. Fought against Facism and Nazism in Spain long before the official outbreak of World War II. Most Europeans and sunshine patriots in the U.S. were fine with Facism and Nazism as long as it was aimed primarily at the Ethiopians or the Anarchists in Spain. Had the nation heeded Salaria Kea, Langston Hughes, and other early freedom fighters, WWII may have been avoided.” Learn more from the invaluable photo book on the brigade here: http://bit.ly/Q6sMxq Learn more about Kea, including how she met Langston Hughes in Spain and was captured by Franco’s forces and Germans, here: http://bit.ly/19dgFBi

We remember on Veterans Day: Aug. 13, 1955,Lamar Smith (activist), 63-year-old farmer and WWI veteran, was shot dead in cold blood on the crowded courthouse lawn in Brookhaven, Mississippi, for urging blacks to vote. No one was prosecuted. His murder is one of those listed in the 1955 NAACP pamphlet, “M is for Mississippi and Murder”:http://bit.ly/14JcF05 Read more: http://bit.ly/NmLyit

Photo: An early photo of Lamar Smith and his wife Annie Clark Smith/collection of Mary Byrd Markham.

On this Veterans Day we remember Medgar Evers who returned from active duty in WWII to be turned away from the polls when he tried to vote. He dedicated himself to fighting for voting rights; investigating race-based murders of African Americans including Emmett Louis Till, Rev. George W. Lee, and more as NAACP field secretary; organizing NAACP Youth Councils; supporting James Meredith’s right to attend Ole Miss; and more until he was murdered in June of 1963, leaving behind his wife and three young children. Learn more about his life and legacy: http://bit.ly/11eWCQ4

Photo: Tougaloo College Archives

Women’s Right to Vote

We’ll talk about political rights – including voting – throughout the semester. Women in the United States didn’t have the right to vote until 1920 with the passing of the 19th amendment to the Constitution. It’s fascinating to see some of the materials printed fighting AGAINST women’s right to vote, like this pamphlet published in the 1910s:

The reasons state:

BECAUSE 90% of the women either do not want it, or do not care.

BECAUSE it means competition of women with men instead of co-operation.

BECAUSE 80% of the women eligible to vote are married and can only double or annul their husband’s votes.

BECAUSE it can be of no benefit commensurate with the additional expense involved.

BECAUSE in some States more voting women than voting men will place the Government under petticoat rule.

BECAUSE it is unwise to risk the good we already have for the evil which may occur.

Read more about the pamphlet and where it came from in this The Atlantic article: http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2012/11/vote-no-on-womens-suffrage-bizarre-reasons-for-not-letting-women-vote/264639/ 

Think About It: What do you think about the reasons given above? Why do you think people believed these reasons for being against women voting? Leave a comment!

Voting Information!

Here’s a great site that details all you need to know about where, when, and what you need to bring to vote on November 4th. Remember early voting is open, too!

http://www.866ourvote.org/state/ga

Also, we won’t have classes on Election Day, November 4th, to make sure everyone has an opportunity to get to their polling stations and vote!!

Learn about the Candidates

Check out www.votesmart.org for information on candidates and the election process. Don’t forget Election Day is November 4th!