HISTORY TIME!

1)     Umut Uras. “Turkey turning Hagia Sophia back into mosque divides social media.” Al Jazeera. July 11, 2020, This article is about Hagia Sophia; a cathedral turned mosque turned church turned back into a mosque, turned museum.  It wears a lot of hats clearly.  This majestic mosque has been standing since 537, under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.  It had been rebuilt many times, due to earthquakes, and major protests which led to its rebuild in the 14 th century.  Hagia Sophia has served as a landmark for Orthodox Christians and Muslims.    “ Hagia Sophia was built as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire and was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1453 and changed the city's name to Istanbul, (AlJazeera).”  “The Hagia Sophia is so important because it served as the center for religion, politics, and artistic life for the Byzantine world, and has provided us with so ...

                                        Final Presentation!   We made it, guys!   This is my grandfather; marine vet, and firefighter turned police officer of 45 years.  With everything going on right now with the current uproar regarding police officers, I wanted to touch base on the history of police officers, and how taking certain actions can increase hope to all who have lost faith in them.   I have attached my letter just in case you cannot hear or understand me (I'm sorry!), and I say "um" about 800 times.  With that being said, PLEASE ENJOY . Austin Police Department 301 W. 2 nd Street Austin, TX 78702 Dear Chief of Police, Mr. Manley, My name is Kelsey Wells, and I am student at Notre Dame de Namur University, studying Business.  During my time here, I have realized that NDNU is highly supportive of all type...

In what way(s) do you see the historical developments described in this chapter continuing to evolve in our world today?  Let's talk Feminism.  "We are exploited as sex objects, breeders, domestic servants, and cheap labor. We are considered inferior beings, whose only purpose is to enhance men’s lives. . . . Because we live so intimately with our oppressors, we have been kept from seeing our personal suffering as a political condition, (Strayer, pg. 1038)." This quote was from one of the women whom responded to Betty Freidan's book, The Feminine Mystique (1963). Feminism is something we are still working hard to accomplish today; equal rights, equal pay.. so many movements in history led us to where we are today.   Feminism had been revived in the 1960s in both Western Europe and the United States,  and it did so with a quite different agenda..  "I am a free woman. I bought this piece of land through my group. I can lie on it, work on i...

In what way(s) do you see the historical developments described in this chapter continuing to evolve in our world today?  One of the important historical developments that are still continuing to evolve today that I noticed was that of Mohandas Gandhi.  He was given the opportunity to study law in England, and returned as a very [not] so successful lawyer.  He then found a job in South Africa, where he first experienced racism.  This type of experience led him to become very involved in organizations including mainly Indians and Muslims, to protest the country's racial segregation.  He developed strategies to revolt against racism, which would be later applied in India as well.  He was very active in feminist movements, to improve their standings in marriage and society, as well as challenging traditional gender roles.   (Strayer, pg. 984-985).   "Non-violence means conscious suffering. It does not mean meek submission to the will of...

What changes did communist regimes bring to the lives of women? (pg. 941) I found this bit very interesting, as I have never once heard of Zhenotdel, which was a type of Women's Department that pushed a largely feminine agenda in the 1920's.  "They organized numerous conferences for women, trained women to run day-care centers and medical clinics, published newspapers and magazines aimed at a female audience, provided literacy and prenatal classes, and encouraged Muslim women to take off their veils, (pg. 941)." Similarly, China decided to propose the Marriage Law of 1950, which brought upon free choice in marriage, relatively easy divorce, the end of concubinage and child marriage, permission for widows to remarry, and equal property rights for women.  An intense campaign in 1950 wanted to implement these laws, regardless of the strong opposition.  Because of this, Chinese women became much more actively involved in production outside of the home.  (pg...

In what ways did fascism challenge the ideas and practices of European liberalism and democracy?  (pg. 896) "Fascism was intensely nationalistic, seeking to revitalize and purify the nation and to mobilize its people for some grand task.  Its spokesmen praised violence against enemies as a renewing force in society, celebrated action rather than reflection, and placed their faith in a charismatic leader. Fascists also bitterly condemned individualism, liberalism, feminism, parliamentary democracy, and communism, all of which, they argued, divided and weakened the nation. In their determination to overthrow existing regimes, they were revolutionary; in their embrace of traditional values and their opposition to much of modern life, however, they were conservative or reactionary, (pg. 896)."

                        BLACK PLAGUE When COVID started, I think I heard a lot of people joke that it was another Black Plague... Little did they know, it would slightly mirror what was yet to come.  Though we have more technology and medicine than when the Black Plague hit in 1347, it is still a scary and horrible thing we are all dealing with today.  The Black Plague arrived in Europe, when twelve ships from the Black Sea docked at the port in Messina.   There, most sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those still alive were gravely ill and covered in black boils.  Over the next five years, the Black Plague would kill more than 20 million people in Europe—almost one-third of the continent’s population. The Black Plague originated throughout trade routes in the Near and Far East.  The disease struck China, India, Persia and Egypt as well.  The Black Plague was known to have started b...

                                 F O U R T H O F J U L Y     Wooo, that color coding took me far too long.  Anyway.  4th of July: not just another excuse to lay outside in the summer time, grilling, shooting off fireworks, and wearing that red, white, and blue.  Though it sounds very fun, 4th of July is a day of great importance.  4th of July is two days after the day that back on July 2nd, 1776,  the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, after cutting ties with Britain. Two days later, the delegates from the thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson.   Originally, when the Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, very few colonies wanted complete independence from Great Britain because of their beliefs.  Although, in the midst of the next year, more and more colonists ...