About Ancient Treasures

Happy Black History Month ❤

      "The Great Sphinx of Giza, a giant limestone figure with the body of a lion and the head of a man wearing a pharaoh's headdress, is the national symbol of Egypt—both ancient and modern—and one of the world’s most famous monuments. Despite its iconic status, geologists, archaeologists, Egyptologists and others continue to debate the Sphinx's enduring riddle: Exactly how old is it? The most common wisdom holds that the monolith is around 4,500 years old, and was built for Khafre, a pharaoh of Egypt's Fourth Dynasty who lived circa 2603-2578 B.C. His pyramid is the second tallest of the pyramids built at Giza, next to his father Khufu's Great Pyramid. To make up for its lesser size, Khafre's pyramid was built at a higher elevation and surrounded by a more elaborate complex with numerous statues, including the Sphinx, the head of which is thought to be built in the pharaoh’s own image." (History.com) 

"Be, be, 'fore we came to this country / we were kings and queens, never porch monkeys / it was empires in Africa called Kush / Timbuktu, where every race came to get books / to learn from Black teachers who taught Greeks and Romans / Asian-Arabs and gave them gold when / gold was converted to money it all changed / money then became empowerment for Europeans / the Persian military invaded / they learned about the gold, the teachings, and everything sacred / Africa was almost robbed naked / slavery was money, so they began making slave ships / Egypt was the place that Alexander the Great went / he was so shocked at the mountains with Black faces / shot up they nose to impose what basically / still goes on today, you see?" 

("I Can" by Nas, 2003)

About Miss Tubman

Happy Black History Month ❤

Harriet Tubman (c. 1823-March 10, 1913) 

was born Araminta Harriet Ross in Dorchester County, Maryland. "Physical violence was a part of daily life for Tubman and her family. The violence she suffered early in life caused permanent physical injuries. Harriet later recounted a particular day when she was lashed five times before breakfast. She carried the scars for the rest of her life...By the time Harriet reached adulthood, around half of the African-American people on the eastern shore of Maryland were free...Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849, fleeing to Philadelphia. Tubman decided to escape following a bout of illness and the death of her owner in 1849. Tubman feared that her family would be further severed, and feared for own her fate as a sickly slave of low economic value...Tubman made use of the network known as the Underground Railroad to travel nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia. She crossed into the free state of Pennsylvania with a feeling of relief and awe, and recalled later: 'When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven'... Over time, she was able to guide her parents, several siblings, and about 60 others to freedom...The dynamics of escaping slavery changed in 1850, with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law. This law stated that escaped slaves could be captured in the North and returned to slavery...In response to the law, Tubman re-routed the Underground Railroad to Canada, which prohibited slavery... In December 1851, Tubman guided a group of 11 fugitives northward...Harriet Tubman remained active during the Civil War. Working for the Union Army as a cook and nurse, Tubman quickly became an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the Combahee River Raid, which liberated more than 700 slaves in South Carolina...Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia in 1913." (Biography.com)

About Mr. B.T. Washington

Happy Black History Month ❤

Booker T. Washington (April 5, 1856—November 14, 1915) 

     "Booker Taliaferro Washington's life had little promise early on...Booker's mother, Jane, worked as a cook for plantation owner James Burroughs. His father was an unknown white man, most likely from a nearby plantation. Booker's first exposure to education was from the outside of school house near the plantation; looking inside, he saw children his age sitting at desks and reading books. He wanted to do what those children were doing, but he was a slave, and it was illegal to teach slaves to read and write... Booker's mother noticed his interest in learning and got him a book from which he learned the alphabet and how to read and write basic words. [The Civil War ended in 1865.]

     In 1866, Booker T. Washington got a job as a houseboy for Viola Ruffner... she saw something in Booker—his maturity, intelligence and integrity—and soon warmed up to him. Over the two years he worked for her, she understood his desire for an education and allowed him to go to school for an hour a day during the winter months... In 1872, he convinced administrators to let him attend the school [Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute] and took a job as a janitor to help pay his tuition...Booker T. Washington graduated from Hampton in 1875 with high marks..." In 1881, he started the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. "Under Booker T. Washington's leadership, Tuskegee became a leading school in the country. Washington put much of himself into the school's curriculum, stressing the virtues of patience, enterprise, and thrift... Many Southern whites, including some prominent members of Congress, saw Washington's success as an affront and called for action to put African Americans 'in their place'... Booker T. Washington remained the head of Tuskegee Institute until his death." (Biography.com) 

     Mr. Washington was an adviser to presidents Theodore Roosevelt & William Taft. "He called for Black progress through education and entrepreneurship, rather than trying to challenge directly the Jim Crow segregation..." (Wikipedia.org) 

Autobiography: "Up From Slavery" (1901)

Modern Spirituals

I Can — Nas

Don't Shoot — The Game featuring Rick Ross, 

2 Chainz, Diddy, Fabolous, Wale, DJ Khaled, Swizz Beatz, 

Yo Gotti, Curren$y, Problem, King Pharaoh, & TGT

Black Rage — Lauryn Hill

Why — Jadakiss

Blackboy — Tech N9ne featuring Ice Cube, Krizz Kaliko, & Brother J

Freedom — Anthony Hamilton & Elayna Boynton

Why We Thugs — Ice Cube

Don'tgetit — Lil Wayne

Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It — Ice Cube

Streiht Up Menace — MC Eiht

Coming From Where I'm From — Anthony Hamilton

Keep Ya Head Up — 2pac

Be Free — J. Cole 

Hood Mentality — Ice Cube

About Miss Truth

Happy Black History Month ❤

Sojourner Truth (c 1797—November 26, 1883)

was born in New York; her birth name being Isabella Baumfree. Her first language was Dutch, though she learned English at a young age. In late 1826, she escaped slavery with her daughter Sophia. New York emancipated all slaves in July 1927, but her son Peter was illegally sold to an Alabama man. "She took the issue to court and eventually secured Peter's return from the South. The case was one of the first in which a black woman successfully challenged a white man in a United States court... On June 1, 1843, Isabella Baumfree changed her name to Sojourner Truth, devoting her life to...the abolition of slavery...In 1850 her memoirs were published under the title 'The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave'. Truth dictated her recollections to a friend, Olive Gilbert, since she could not read or write... That same year, Truth spoke at the first National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts... In May of 1851, Truth delivered a speech at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron [where she delivered her famous "Ain't I A Woman?" speech]...She openly expressed concern that the [abolitionist] movement would fizzle after achieving victories for black men, leaving both white and black women without suffrage and other key political rights...On at least one occasion, Truth met and spoke with President Abraham Lincoln about her beliefs and her experience... In 1865, Truth attempted to force the desegregation of streetcars in Washington by riding in cars designated for whites. A major project of her later life was the movement to secure land grants from the federal government for former slaves. She argued that ownership of private property, and particularly land, would give African Americans self-sufficiency and free them from a kind of indentured servitude to wealthy landowners. Although Truth pursued this goal forcefully for many years, she was unable to sway Congress... Until old age intervened, Truth continued to speak passionately on the subjects of women's rights, universal suffrage, and prison reform."

Source: Biography.com

Ain't I A Woman? by Sojourner Truth

Delivered 1851 at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio:

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. 

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

About Mr. Douglass

Happy Black History Month ❤   

        "Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, died February 20, 1895) 

was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement from Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writings. He stood as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Even many Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had such been a slave." (Wikipedia.org)

[Nessie's Note: Mr. Douglass TAUGHT HIMSELF how to read.]

        "I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it. He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless spirit. The nearest estimate I can give makes me now between twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age. I come to this, from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old." © Douglass, 1845 

BLM

It's Okay To Be Gay

Ms. Berns' statistics
Americans' view of LGBT

• 26% of LGBT have been physically assaulted in their lifetime
• 44% have been threatened
• 80% have been verbally harrassed
• 79% of Americans approve of openly gay college professors

Definition

“Whom we are sexually attracted to and whom we have the potential to love”

Difficulty in determining numbers/best estimates

• Some people still don't feel comfortable saying they are LGBT (location or family) 
• There is difficulty defining terms 
• Numbers consistently show more gays exist than lesbians or bisexuals
• Most of recorded history shows homosexuality persisting across time
• Probably 2% of men are exclusively homosexual
• 1% of women are exclusively lesbian

Past research

• Before the 20th century, homosexuality was considered a sin
• After the 20th century, homosexuality was considered an illness
• The first research done came from gays who sought therapy and the conclusion was all gays are neurotic [Janessa's note: the sample was obviously skewered because healthy, functioning gays were not included]
• Studies are now based on why we love the way we do; not why are some people homosexual

Conversion Therapy

• Existed for several hundred years; stems from religious groups
• Tries to change person from homosexual to heterosexual
• Incredibly cruel
• Doesn't work & makes person feel guilty

Biological Theories

• **Genetic theory: sexual orientation is inherited
• **Prenatal theory: something happens to fetus and molds orientation
• Birth order theory: the more males a woman births, the more her antibodies affect the children (males only) 
• Brain factors: anatomical structure influences orientation (some studies are totally flawed, however)
• Hormone imbalances

**most evidence

Learning Theory:

• Rewards and punishment shape our behavior
• Born without sexual orientation
• Experience pushes us one way 
• Example: If a woman is raped or abused by a male, she might not find comfort and love in them
• Mixed support 

Interactionist Theory

• Daryl Bem: exotic [different] becomes erotic [sexually interested]
• Males have higher levels of both aggression and activity levels than females
• As children, rowdy boys tend to play together while the doll-loving girls play together
• Since boys interact with boys, the girl is exotic to them and likewise
• Similarly, the sensitive, doll-loving boy who spends time playing with girls will find boys as exotic
• Some support this theory, some criticize it

 Sociological Theory

• We become what we are labeled
• Negative pathway to sexual orientation
• Example: the sensitive, doll-loving boy will be bullied by peers and called a “fag”, causing him to accept the role society has given him

“What is the bottom line? Which theory is correct? The answer is, we don't know yet. We do not know what causes sexual orientation. Several theories have strong evidence supporting them, but no one theory accounts for all cases.”

“In sum, when we consider sexual orientation from a multicultural perspective, two main points emerge: (1) The very definition of homosexuality is set by culture... (2) Some ethnic groups are even more disapproving of homosexuality than are U.S. whites.”

“Sex refers to sexual behavior; gender is being male or female, gender identity is the psychological sense of maleness or femaleness, sexual orientation is being heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual [or asexual]; sexual identity is one's self-label or self-identification as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual [or asexual].”

“There may be contradictions between people's sexual identity (which is subjective) and their actual choice of sexual partners viewed objectively.”

“Not everyone may reach their sexual orientation in the same way.”

⊶ ⊙ ⊷ ⊙ ⊶ ⊙ ⊶ ⊙ ⊷ ⊙ ⊶ ⊙ ⊷

Major Project 2

Homosexuality from Historical Viewpoint

• “Sexual orientation and gender identity are integral aspects of our selves and should never lead to discrimination or abuse.” (6)

• Ancient Greek attitudes: “In parts of Ionia there were general strictures against same-sex [while in Thebes] it was approved of and even celebrated.” (8)

• “In Justinian’s Code, promulgated in 529, persons who engaged in homosexual sex were to be executed, although those who were repentant could be spared. Historians agree that the late Roman Empire saw a rise in intolerance towards sexuality, although there were again important regional variations.” (8)

• “People around the world face violence and inequality—and sometimes torture, even execution— because of who they love…” (6)

• Evelyn Hooker, PhD, conducted major research in 1953 and deduced there “was no association between homosexuality and psychological maladjustment.” (5)

• Homosexuality was considered a mental illness well into the 20th century. “A variety of medical and psychological treatments to ‘cure’ homosexuality were employed, including ice pick lobotomies, electroshock, chemical castration with hormonal treatment or aversive conditioning.” It was removed from the DSM (diagnostic manual) in 1973. (5)

• Stonewall Riots: “The uprising began at 1:30 in the morning on June 28th, 1969, when New York City police officers raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn, located on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. As the police began dragging some of the patrons out, members of the gay community fought back, sparking three days of rioting.” (1)

• A Stonewall protestor reflects on the era explaining: “Being gay before Stonewall was a very difficult proposition, because we felt that in order to survive, we had to try to look and act as rugged and manly as possible to get by in a society that was really much against us.” (1)

• A year after the Stonewall Riots, the first gay pride march was organized and carried out. Its success led to an annual June tradition. Denver’s PrideFest is one of the biggest in the nation with 300,000 attendants.

• In the 1980s United States, HIV and AIDS became a pandemic in the homosexual community. “By the end of [1981], there were 270 reported cases of severe immune deficiency among gay men—121 of them had died.” (4)

• “In 2010, young gay and bisexual men (aged 13-24 years) accounted for 72% of new HIV infections among all persons aged 13 to 24, and 30% of new infections among all gay and bisexual men. At the end of 2011, an estimated 500,000 (57%) persons living with an HIV diagnosis in the United States were gay and bisexual men, or gay and bisexual men who also inject drugs.” (3)

• “On October 7, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming, was brutally attacked and tied to a fence in a field outside of Laramie, Wyo, and left to die…” Matthew’s story would “become one of the most notorious anti-gay hate crimes in American history and spawned an activist movement that, more than a decade later, would result in passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a federal law against bias crimes directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.” It was signed on October 28, 2009, by President Barack Obama.

• “Corrective rape is a hate crime wielded to convert lesbians to heterosexuality—an attempt to ‘cure’ them of being gay. The term was first coined in South Africa in the early 2000s where charity workers first noticed an influx of such attacks.” (10)

• The United States Supreme Court voted for the legalization of same-sex marriage on June 26, 2015, with a 5-4 win. 

References

1.)    Carter, D. (2009, June 26). Stonewall Riots 40th Anniversary: A Look Back at the Uprising that Launched the Modern Gay Rights Movement. Retrieved November 9, 2015.

2.)    Chappell, B. (2015, June 26). Supreme Court Declares Same-Sex Marriage Legal In All 50 States. Retrieved November 9, 2015.

3.)    HIV Among Gay and Bisexual Men. (2015, August 12). Retrieved November 9, 2015.

4.)    History of HIV and AIDS Overview. (2015, May 1). Retrieved November 9, 2015.

5.)    Katharine, M. (2011, February 1). The Myth Buster. Retrieved November 13, 2015.

6.)    LGBT Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2015.

7.)    Matthew's Story. (n.d.). Retrieved November 9, 2015.

8.)    Pickett, B. (2002, August 6). Homosexuality. Retrieved November 13, 2015.

9.)    Sargeant, F. (2010, June 20). 1970: A First-Person Account of the First Gay Pride March. Retrieved November 9, 2015.

  10.)   Strudwick, P. (2014, January 6). Crisis in South Africa: The shocking practice of 'corrective rape' - aimed at 'curing' lesbians. Retrieved November 13, 2015.

11.) Hyde, J., & DeLamater, J. (2011). Understanding Human Sexuality (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill

History of Me

Assignment: In at least two paragraphs, describe how you would stage a story about your life that you want to pass down to future generations. [Hint: the story could be real or wishful thinking.]

        To stage a story about my life, it would begin with a frame of a baby with big, brown eyes lying in an infant hospital bed. It would slowly pan out and Morgan Freeman would begin explaining, “The year is 1994, and on a cold January morning, a prodigal child fell onto the Earth.” He would proceed to inform the audience that my parents divorced when I was 11 months old and that our single mom raised me alongside my two older brothers in Colorado. Morgan would mention that my dad was a frequent alcohol drinker and became quite vocal about other peoples’ inadequacies when he was one too many shades to the wind. As scenes from my childhood flood the screen—playing Mortal Kombat with my brothers on a Super Nintendo, watching WWE and then practicing the wrestling moves on each other, the birth of my half sister when we were 7, 8, and 10—Morgan will tell the audience my mom moved us to three different towns, seven different houses, and five different schools before we settled down in permanently in 2004. 

        A caption that says four years later will show an adolescent me: mouth decorated with braces, sarcastic ideation, side-swept bangs that covered one eye, and dark clothing. It will show me playing volleyball for my high school, going to parties with my senior brother on the weekends, and finding a balance between wanting to be an academic slacker and the brainiac I was supposed to be. At 14, I loved Walt Whitman, ancient Greek and Roman politics, and Pink Floyd music. In a town of 200 that loved country music, worked with agriculture, and hosted events like the Barnyard Olympics, my approval ratings among the community were low. I’ll end my story with me scrolling the Internet for quotes and find one by Albert Einstein that says, “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” I will get inspired and realize my value does not rely on small-minded views, but on my resilience and tenacity. As the credits roll, “Stressed Out” by Twenty-One Pilots will play.

E & J

 Emily

Janessa

Humanities Projectz

Allofit

The first thing I asked San when she asked me to move to Arizona was, "Does it have places I can go? You know, to get away?" I don't think theres anything strange about solitude at all, and I learned that from my mother. I learned that from mother.... Of course I did. Humans learn their most valuable lessons from their mothers; good or bad. I do not know why I, Lochnessie, of all people in history and on planet Earth was blessed with the most perfect mother. Sorry not sorry. 

As I look up now on this slightly-breezy-but-Sun's-shining-nicely-and-birds-are-chirping-all-around-me Colorado day, I see my black-haired pregnant neighbor interacting with her 2-year-old son at the skatepark diagonal from our duplex. He has this light curly brown hair and he's riding a tricycle. She occasionally gives him a gentle push cooing, "Woooo!" It's funny, because that's exactly the sound that the birds are making around us at this very moment.

And that's what most people don't understand: nothing is a coincidence. I was just ranting in my head because I'm stoned and thinking about my mum, and what comes before me but a mother and her child for inspiration? Honestly, as soon as I thought about saying the mom cooed at her son, I stopped typing on this silver Apple iPhone 5s and I listened. I am listening. 

I don't know what the different names of them are. Like Kurz says, "I don't know a lot about anything, but I know a little but abut everything." Everything he says is gold, though, so no surprise there. 

Anyway, I am outside at ten in the morning across the street from my duplex in this clearing, kind of. I guess you could say it's the neighbor's backyard. Whatever's clever. In this clearing/backyard, there is a little wood garage standing ten feet high. It's white paint has deteriorated with time and this unpredictable weather, and there are tin trash cans stacked next a pile of wood boards. The grass is long and unkempt and just the way I like it. Long-stemmed flowers with small yellow petals are dispersed among it. Some people would consider the plant a weed, also known as an unwanted plant that must be killed instantly for vanity's sake... unless they're stickers, 'cause that's some real shit. 

However, other people, like meself, find a happiness in flowers and grass that some of the most interesting humans I have met can compete with. I see a centimeter-long black ant climbing up a grass leaf that must seem like a mountain to that poor dude. I don't get frightened or hurt him. I just keep sitting here. And guess what? It keeps climbing. It's not hurting me & I'm not hurting it. We are just cohabitatin' and speculatin'. 

I like to say that I'm Atheist just to get my point across that I don't associate with a white, male, omnipotent superior being. How can three dudes, one being a fuckin' ghost mind you, be one dude? The same people who wrote the Christian Bible are the same people who thought the Earth was flat. 

If I had to claim any religion it would be pantheism, which Wikipedia says is "the belief that the Universe (or nature a totality of everything) is identical with divinity, or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent god. Pantheists thus do not believe in a distinct personal or anthropomorphic god." I'm inspired by Buddha, too. I like how Buddhism is more of an ideology and guidelines and meditations on how to find inner peace rather than an organized religion where people are taught what to think instead of being taught how to find the lifestyle that suits them best. 

Here's what I'm thinking: I don't need to know what created the Universe. Knowing that information will not change the course of a hundred years ago or next week. What happens after we die is irrelevant, as well. No one truly knows what happens and no one can know. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

The only thing humans need to know moral-wise is to be nice to one another and mind their own business. That's it! Two fuckin' things. If you're in a situation and you don't know if what you're doing is good or bad, judge it against those two things and if it violates one or both, don't fuckin' do it, jah feel?