Australia's View of Americans

"Australia's America"
http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2007/february/1240978945/john-button/americas-australia

"In more normal times, the relationship is characterised by vague impressions and fuzzy understandings. Australians are not particularly well informed about the US. Americans are generally ignorant about Australia: many of them don't know where it is. In surveys conducted by the Austrian government in the 1980s, 60% of Americans surveyed confused Austria and Australia, and 75% thought the kangaroo came from Austria."



"My father was a postgraduate student at a university in New York. He liked Americans, but thought they were "soft". He attributed this to central heating, claiming that when he wanted to get rid of visitors to his student digs, he just opened a window, letting fresh air into the room. "That," he would say, "is the way to get rid of Americans." This became an established hypothesis in the family. It was one I never had the opportunity to test.

My father's opinion seemed to be confirmed towards the end of World War II, when Australian families played host to visiting American servicemen. One regular guest at Sunday lunch was an army major. He was 6'5" tall and a big eater. As lunch concluded, my father would say, "Well, Major Franz, how about a brisk walk round the lake?" The major always had an answer like, "If you don't mind, sir, I'll take a rest. Whenever I feel the urge to walk, I lie down until it wears off." He was true to his word. When my father returned an hour or so later, Major Franz would be flat out on the family couch, his head on one armrest, his legs dangling over the other.

So, as children, we believed Americans were soft. We also suspected they were funny, because of the comedians Abbott and Costello, whom we sometimes saw at the local picture theatre. They specialised in wisecracks and throwing custard pies at each other. When American servicemen said things like, "Melbourne is half as big as the New York cemetery and twice as dead," we thought this must be funny, although not everybody seemed to agree."



"What Does the World Think of Us"
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/314/opinions-of-us.html

Civil Rights Movement in America

I found a few cool videos to act as primary sources about the Civil Rights Movement in America. Segregation was such a horrible but important part of our history in the United States. It was unjust and these people did the best they could to fight against it to create a better country for themselves and future Americans.

This first Video shows perspectives about the Sit-Ins that happened in the South. These are interviews with people involved as well as some footage of the Sit-Ins and protests which took place.

This second video is an interview with Rosa Parks about her arrest nearly 28 years after the incident. She is interviewed on the Merv Griffin show in 1983 and gives her accounts of what had happened.

My third video is a comparison between the perspectives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. It is short snippets from speeches to show the difference in perspectives between the violent protests and non-violent resistance.

My last source is a song "I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free" written by Billy Taylor 1964 but was made famous by Nina Simone in 1967. 

The Impact of Emancipation

There were so many impacts on the freed slaves after the Emancipation. When the slaves were freed they were illiterate, had a lack of property, and meager skills. Most slaves found freedom overwhelming. Some found that liberty meant mobility. Some moved out of their slave quarters and some left the plantations entirely. The population of African-Americans doubled or tippled in urban areas. The movement to Urban areas were prompted by the urge to locate lost family members. The Freedman's Bureau helped former slaves get info on missing relatives and helped with travel to find them. Reuniting family often failed due to rebel slaves who died during the war and some people were just untraceable. Once reunited, freed slaves would legalize the unions made during enslavement; often in mass ceremonies with up to seventy couples at once.

Freed women stopped working and major labor shortages followed immediately after the war because women mad up half of the previously enslaved fieldworkers. After reconstruction some previously enslaved women went back to work as laundresses, cooks, and domestic servants. Some white women also started working at this time. Another major blessing for the freed after Emancipation was the ability to raise their own children.

The desire for independence among the Freed Slaves lead to a growth in black churches. These churches provided a fervent, participatory experience, provided relief, raised funds for school, and supported Republican policies.



(Never got posted but written 10/24/14)