It’s crazy to think about how far America has come with the acceptance of differences. The 1960’s were a crucial time for minorities in America, with many groups of brave activists stepping up to gain their rights as American citizens. From the African American movement to the feminist movement, people have gained the powers that should have been theirs from the beginning, such as the right to vote and having a position in the workplace. However, though there has been much improvement over the years, it is sad to see controversies over commercials such as this General Mills Cheerios commercial published in 2013 I found on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbWeH9cztHw. I remember seeing this commercial on the air a few months ago and thinking nothing of it. There is nothing different about it really; a young girl pours Cheerios on her dad’s heart after confirming with her mom that they are “heart-healthy”. In essence, this is just a sweet, family-oriented commercial that Cheerios was using to promote their product; however, there were many people who couldn’t get past the fact that the family was an inter-racial family. People were commenting negative comments beneath the video on YouTube, like that this commercial was unbelievable because “a black dad wouldn’t stay with his family”, that they felt disgusted watching it, and other racist remarks. Eventually Cheerios had to disable the commenting underneath the video because the comments were so degrading and hurtful, but refused to pull the ad. I’m shocked that there are still so many people who can only see life in black and white. This is just one example of how racism still exists today. Though leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panthers, and Rosa Parks helped gain the rights deserved for the African American people, there is still a long way to go until we can claim that all Americans are considered equal in everyone’s eyes. I chose this video because I think that we need more commercials such as this one to air because the more often inter-racial couples are seen, the more accepting people will be.

One of the most iconic images ever taken to describe America as a whole would have to be the one taken during the 1968 Olympics when the winners of the 200 meter race were being awarded their medals. In the 1968 Summer Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos were two people of color athletes who were competing for the United States in the 200 meter race. Their honorary display of solidarity was photographed and grew to become one of the most iconic images of the 20^th century. I was able to download the image in .jpeg format from theguardian.com. The website is a well known global news source that is most famous for their disclosure on the Edward Snowden story. This photograph was particularly found in an article about the life of one John Carlos after the Olympics. The iconic photo itself was taken by a man named John Diminis who was a photographer for Life magazine at the time of his capture.  Probably the most important aspect about this image was what it stood for. This image was a sign for solidarity within the black community. A famous quote that can summarize the photograph is by Tommie Smith. He said, “If I win, I am American, not a black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say I’m a Negro. We are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight.” Because of this photograph and this sign of solidarity for the black community, they became poster boys for civil rights activism in the United States. I saw the image a few times around the internet and I picked the one that was clear and somewhat less grainy than the others. I’m assuming it was scanned at some point from the Life magazine that it was originally published in, but it appears to be in good condition. The file size of the image is 19.2 KB which is really small for a jpeg file. This may be because the pixel count and quality isn’t as clear as it could be. Personally, I see this image as being timeless. It still appears in many modern day reports and recaps of the past century. It will not deteriorate in importance for as long as we’re around. It is also really easy to find, I personally Googled “black power Olympic picture” and it came up with millions of results, all showing the same thing. The interest that arose from a textbook that we were assigned this semester was the perfect inspiration necessary for this microhack and even though our class wasn’t able to cover the book in detail, at least I’ll know who and what the picture on the cover stands for. Black power was a huge cultural aspect of the late 1900’s and it continues on in many forms in present day America. This image and many others that display the power of unity will be timeless and their meaning will carry on to multiple generations down the road.

Saturday morning the world welcomed the new Royal baby, Princess of Cambridge. The baby’s name has yet to be revealed to the public. Although this is quite different than what we have been talking about in lecture, the royal family is something that I love to learn about and get engulfed in their lives. As I learned about the baby’s birth, I thought what the line of succession would be, and how she fits into the tree. The picture posted below shows where she is in the line to the throne. This was also interesting to me because it’s crazy to think that this little baby girl is related to all the historical figures in Britain’s royal heritage and she doesn’t even know it. For example, her great-grandmother is one of the world’s oldest reigning monarchs who has gotten her country through many economic and political downturns. I found that the royal baby’s birth had more history than just being born, she was born into a long reign of royalty that has been in place practically since Britain’s existence.

This photo that I decided to analyze depicts a young girl named “Tereska,” who grew up in a concentration camp. This photograph was taken in Poland in 1948, while she was living in a home for disturbed children post World War 2. Tereska was asked to draw a picture of “home” on the blackboard, and the result was this array of scribbles and lines. The photographer behind this picture was named David Seymour, a famous polish photojournalist who gained fame for this photo, as well as many others, in a series of post war photographs entitled “Children of Europe.” This chilling photo gives viewers a look into the type of trauma and lasting scars concentration camps left on their inhabitants.

The look of confusion on her face shows that she is incapable of grasping the true meaning of the word “home” because she never had one. The torture and chaos of life in the concentration camps was too much for any child to comprehend, which is why the only thing that she could think to draw was this endless void of lines. There are some theories that suggest the lines represent the barbed wires in the concentration camps as well. This photo is also on display at the War/Photography exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.

I chose this photo because I find the topic of the Holocaust to be one of the most interesting topics in history. Since millions of people were persecuted, I find it fascinating to learn about the individual stories of victims since they are all so different. I have personally visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. and have spoken with a concentration camp survivor, so I feel I have a personal connection to this subject matter. I obtained this photo through Google search engine from rarehistoricalphotos.com in JPG format. Although taken in the 1940’s, this photo still maintains a clear image that isn’t pixelated or blurry, similar to its original condition. All in all I find this image to be very powerful and reflective of the mental state of all Holocaust survivors.

In lecture, we discussed how television sitcoms during this period, such as I Love Lucy and Leave it To Beaver to distract the public from the social and political chaos resulting from the ongoing war and unrest of the Civil Rights Movement. However, these TV sitcoms featured the typical, white, middle-class “American Dream” family.

Today, what we see on TV is so much different. ABC’s Modern Family depicts a very unconventional, different family. This shows how what the media chooses to show on television has progressed from the typical white, straight, “American Dream” family to a mixed cultural family with homosexual couples, adoption, divorce and remarriage.

We have been discussing the 1960s and especially the Civil Rights movement in small and large lecture for several weeks. History seems to be repeating itself over 50 years later in 2015 and it is really rather sad. It just comes to show that legislation does not completely solve a problem and that it needs to be enforced in reality. All of the protests and riots that have been occurring throughout the country, and especially recently in Ferguson and Baltimore, tell us that nothing has changed in the last half century and begs the question: When will it all change? When will racism end? When will stereotypes be erased? It needs to happen now and so that this country that we so proudly call the Land of the Free will stop sounding so hypocritical.

The Baltimore riots that occurred on Monday were on the news everywhere and very highly publicized. The death of a Black man named Freddie Grey at the hands of police caused outrage and made thousands of people hit the streets in protest, seeking justice for Freddie. I immediate saw the connection between the movements that were going on in the 60’s and 70’s that Dr. Putnam has talked about in lecture to those going on today: the image below, put on the cover for Time magazine, alludes to this and immediately got me thinking about lecture. It points out that even though we like to think about American Society today as a post-racial one, it is an incorrect assumption.Yet, today it was announced that the six officers involved in Freddie’s death would be prosecuted, something not usually done in cases like these. Is this a new step in the right direction? are we finally going to come to terms with our racist society and do something about it? Only time will tell, but the prosecutions announced today are welcomed step in the right direction.

  This week in Professor Putnam lecture we talked about the 1974 impeachment of Richard Nixon. Today at my game my coach made a joke about one of my teammates saying he would not be fit to be president. This reminded me of our talk of Nixons impeachment and the rash decisions he made. Putnam showed us a video on him resigning and giving up his place in office and also told us why Nixon “resigned” instead of being impeached. This intrigued my attention because it was funny that my coach would say my teammate wouldn’t be fit to be president because he would make dumb decisions. The harsh comment reminded me of the harsh comments that Nixon would receive at the time and comments he would receive in the future for the decisions he made.

                      I was scrolling through my tumblr feed and repeatedly saw posts about the riots in Baltimore. These protests against police racism resemble the fight for equality of the Civil Rights Movement. Though we have made a lot of progress since the 60’s and 70’s, there are still instances of racism in today’s society. This is most prominently shown in the news headlines when a black man is subject to Caucasian police brutality more so than his white counterpart. Racism is still a huge issue today and these protests will work the same way to change the nation’s policies.