Americans today talk about rapid change threatening the moral and cultural values of the “traditional American family.”
When I visitied Colonial Williamsburg, I could look back and see the family as both an agent of change and a product of historical forces with the help of a guidance. It's great to know something that I've never thought of as an ESL teacher, so I just want to share what I've learned with you.
There has never been one American family. Africans, Indians, and Europeans each had families and family customs.
Those changed in the 17th and 18th centuries, not only in how family members related within the group, but also in how the family related to the larger society. Africans were uprooted from traditional homelands and family practices. They were subjected to the will of white Virginians. To a somewhat lesser, but still massively disruptive extent, so were Virginia Indian tribes.
By the end of the 18th century, first among the gentry, then spreading downward, white American families started to develop what we call the “modern” family — a mother, father, and their children, openly affectionate and relatively equal. That became the model for all families in all groups. Paradoxically, that is what we call a “traditional” family.
The 17th Century
Harsh conditions of everyday life, which made the formation of stable families difficult for the first generations of European and African immigrants, began to ease by the end of the 17th century. Native-American family patterns, by contrast, continued to be decimated by disease, displacement, and warfare.
The European Family
European traditions informed the newest Americans' philosophy of family structure: a patriarchal ideal in which the father ruled over the house and extended family. Emerging democratic ideals also would redefine family roles for whites.
The Native-American Family
Native American societies were matrilineal, and divided the work of home, field, and hunt along gender lines. European disease, displacement, and warfare decimated their societies. Traditional dress, language, and customs were eroded by exposure to Europeans.
The African American Family
Africans, who organized their society around complex extended-family networks, were devastated when the slave trade ripped them from their villages and relatives. As they began their own families in America, traditional African values were passed on to a new generation of African-Virginians. Bonds were fragile, since blacks were denied legal marriage, and members were separated when owners sold and traded parents and children.
Changing Roles
A more openly affectionate, child-centered family that reflected egalitarian republican sentiments and changing roles for men and women began to emerge among gentry and middling white families after the middle of the eighteenth century.
An Evolving Society
As the colony stabilized following its early struggles, a white middle class emerged. Social interaction grew in importance, and with it grew the value of manners and deportment. Families became more open and affectionate, turning away from the European patriarchal model. The Revolutionary War brought abrupt change: husbands left, and goods became scarce. For Native Americans and African Americans, an increasing European presence spelled the decline of family and and the loss of traditional culture.
Moving Toward Today's Family
Family change did not stop in the next 200 years. There have continued to be momentous changes in American society that affected the families of all economic classes and ethnic groups. There has been westward expansion, Indian reservations, waves of immigration, changes in economic opportunity, wars, the abolition of slavery, the Victorian ideal of behavior, the growth of American industry and American cities, the civil rights struggle, the women’s movement, the nonconforming 1960s, and more. Families as we have come to know them and as we think they should be are a legacy of the 18th century.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Animals in the rare breeds in Colonial Williamsburg
Christina Lee & Christina Seo,
Cutie girls^^
Colonial Williamsburg's Rare Breeds program was begun in 1986 to preserve genetic diversity in livestock.
Some of the selected breeds represent animals that could have been present in Williamsburg during the 18th century according to historical research.
Rare is defined as having fewer than 1,000 animals registered annually in North America.
The breeds in the foundation's program – the Leicester Longwool sheep, American Cream Draft horses and America Milking Red Devons – have fewer than 200 animals registered annually in North America.
I didn't get to see all the rare breeds in Colonial Williamsburg.
So, I uploaded some other rare breeds with more information.
While I was wathing the milking cows, I felt like I was in my grandfather's house in Korea.
They've been breeding milking cows for over sixty years. I used to breed(giving some food?!?) them whenerever I visited my granfather's house in Hab-cheon. I haven't see those milking cows eversince I came to the U.S. What I've notices was that these animals looked a little different from animials in Korea. (especially, the size..^^)
Leicester Longwool Sheep
A long, healthy, lustrous coat which falls in ringlets, ease of feeding, valuable meat supply and quick maturation are the sheep's breed traits. Leicester (pronounced "lester") Longwools originated in Britain and were used as a pioneer breed. Their use extended to America, Australia, New Zealand and other colonies settled by the Crown. Today they are quite rare in Britain and North America, but they can still be imported from Australia. Their wool is sold to hand spinners, weavers, felters and dollmakers for hair and beards. The original herd of Colonial Williamsburg's Leicester Longwool sheep came from Tasmania, but now the sheep are bred here.
American Cream Draft Horses
American Cream Draft Horses
The only modern breed in the program also is the rarest – just over 500 still exist in North America. American Cream Draft horses are the only breed of draft horse originating from the United States and are now bred here. Breed characteristics include a medium cream-colored coat, pink skin, amber eyes, long, white mane and tail and white markings. These horses mature late at five years old and have an excellent temperament. Mares stand from 15 to 16 hands and weigh 1,500 to 1,600 pounds. Males stand 16 to 16.3 hands and weigh 1,800 pounds and up. American Creams pull wagons and carriages throughout Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area.
Canadian Horses
I wish I could ride the horses...Colonial Williamsburg's most recent addition to the Rare Breeds program, Canadian horses were developed from horses sent from France to Quebec between 1665 and 1670. They stand 14 to 16 hands. Mares weigh 900 to 1,300 pounds and males weigh 1,000 to 1,400 pounds. Canadians were used for farm work, transport, riding and racing. Canadian horses are solid and well-muscled with a well-arched neck set high on a long, sloping shoulder. Canadians are primarily black or reddish brown with full manes and tails. They are energetic without being nervous and are adaptable for a variety of riding and driving disciplines. Originally imported from Canada, Canadian horses now are bred in Colonial Williamsburg.
American Milking Red Devons
Diversity is the trademark of this breed. Their milk contains a high butterfat content – prized in the 18th century for butter and cheese production. They also give quality meat, are very intelligent and are good work animals that are easy to feed and fatten well with minimum supplements. Their milk is used in the Historic Area Foodways program. Descended from the Red Devon breed native to Devonshire, England, American Milking Devons now are bred here.
Milking Shorthorn and Randall Oxen
Trucks, tractors and bulldozers of the 18th century; oxen are cattle trained to work. In Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area, guests will see Milking Shorthorns, Randalls, and a Devon/Lineback cross. Milking Shorthorns originated in England, can be red or white, and are used for milk, meat, and work. Randalls were bred in a closed herd by a Vermont family of the same name for 80 years. They are also called linebacks, due to the white line that runs down their backs. The breeds are rare, classified as a watch breed and a critical breed, respectively. Oxen Emmitt, Rusty, Red, Duke, Dan and Bart can be found working in Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area and at Great Hopes Plantation.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Peyton Randolph House
Peyton Randolph House
in front of Peyton Randolph House
We found a "torturing place" in front of Peyton Randolph House.
We just wanted to try know what it feels like to be a "prisoner."^^
We're stuck here!! Somebody help us!!
Peyton Randolph House
Looking from Market Square toward the Peyton Randolph House.
A carriage passses in front of the house as visitors enjoy the sights, including the cannon on the square.
The original structure of the Peyton Randolph House was built in 1715.
Colonial Williamsburg's primary restoration of the home began in October 1938 and was completed in April 1940. More restoration of the main section was undertaken in June 1967 and was finished 12 months later. The center and west portions of the house opened for exhibition on July 1, 1968.
-Original structure located at the corner of Nicholson and North England Streets
-Built in 1715 by William Robertson
-Sir John Randolph purchased the west wing in 1721
-House willed to son Peyton Randolph
-First restoration 1938-1940
-Further restoration began in 1967
-Center and west portions opened in 1968
-Construction of outbuildings began in 1997
-Rochambeau, Lafayette, and Washington among notable guests at the home
-The deep red Peyton Randolph House is one of the oldest, most historic, and without doubt most beautiful of Colonial Williamsburg's original 18th-century homes.
The west wing of the impressive house has stood at the corner of Nicholson and North England Streets since about 1715. Among the historic figures that took shelter in the house were General Rochambeau and the Marquis de Lafayette.
Three structures became one
William Robertson built the house that eventually became the west wing of the Peyton Randolph house. Sir John Randolph purchased the west wing in 1721. He bought the east lot for £50 on July 20, 1724 and had a home constructed there as well.
Sir John's son, Peyton Randolph, built a spacious and well-appointed two-story central section between the two houses. A hall with a large roundheaded window and a grand staircase connect single rooms on each floor. The first-floor parlor measures 19 feet square, and the bed chamber above has the same dimensions.
Lines of roof vary
The southern face of the center section matches the appearance of the 29-foot-square clapboard house that makes up the west wing. The low-pitched hip roof of the west wing was extended across the addition but ends abruptly when it reaches the high gable of the dormered roof on the east wing.
East wing not connected to the rest of the house
Although the west and center sections of the house were connected by doors on both floors, there was no opening through the brick wall to the east wing. The east wing may have served as an office or a service building, or it could have been rented out. Demolished in the 19th century, the east wing was reconstructed by Colonial Williamsburg after the property was purchased in 1938.
The roof of the west wing was designed to funnel rain to two concealed two-log gutters, which apparently carried the water to a cistern. Only traces remain of this contrivance that may have leaked and was later covered by the roof. A chimney rises through the center of the wing, venting corner fireplaces in three rooms on each floor. The stairway passage is located in the southwest corner of each floor.
Peyton Randolph House dining room. Diners are enjoying a post-dessert course of fruit and nuts. A servant fills glasses in the background.
The center section contains some of the best surviving paneling in the city — some of it walnut — while unusually fine brass hinges and locks trim the parlor doors. The floor is mostly made of original edge-cut pine
Outbuildings supported household activity
A full complement of outbuildings stood to the north (in back), including a two-story brick kitchen, a stable for 12 horses, a coach house, and a dairy.
Peyton Randolph inherited home
Sir John Randolph, the only colonial born in Virginia to be knighted, died in 1737. He left the house to his wife, Susannah Beverley Randolph, until their second son, Peyton, reached the age of 24. Their first son, Beverley, inherited property in Gloucester County; their third son, John, inherited acreage on the city's southern edge; and their daughter, Mary, received a dowry of £1,000. Susannah Beverley Randolph remained in the home until her death sometime after 1754.
Peyton Randolph, Speaker of Virginia's House of Burgesses in the years leading to the Revolution, brought his wife, Betty Harrison Randolph, to the home by 1751. It became a hub of political activity, and its owner Peyton Randolph was elected the presiding officer of the First Continental Congress at Philadelphia in 1774. An inventory taken at Peyton Randolph's death in 1775 indicates how the house was furnished and equipped.
Widow Betty Randolph opened her home to French general Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, when he arrived in Williamsburg with General George Washington to prepare for the siege of Yorktown in 1781. The house served as the French headquarters until they moved to the field.
Exterior of the Peyton Randolph House
Home auctioned to highest bidder Peyton and Betty Randolph had no children and, after her death and according to directions in Betty Randolph’s will, the house was sold at auction on February 19, 1783. A newspaper advertisement described it as "pleasantly situated on the great square." It was conveyed to the highest bidder, Joseph Hornsby, on February 21, and the proceeds were divided among Betty Randolph's legatees.
By 1824, the house was in the possession of Mary Monroe Peachy. She had the honor that year of lodging Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, when he visited the city on October 20 and 21 during a tour of America.
The Peyton Randolph House restored
Colonial Williamsburg's primary restoration of the home began in October 1939 and was completed in April 1940. More restoration of the main section was undertaken in June 1967 and was finished 12 months later. The center and west portions of the house opened for exhibition on July 1, 1968.
We're stuck here!! Somebody help us!!
Peyton Randolph House
Looking from Market Square toward the Peyton Randolph House.
A carriage passses in front of the house as visitors enjoy the sights, including the cannon on the square.
The original structure of the Peyton Randolph House was built in 1715.
Colonial Williamsburg's primary restoration of the home began in October 1938 and was completed in April 1940. More restoration of the main section was undertaken in June 1967 and was finished 12 months later. The center and west portions of the house opened for exhibition on July 1, 1968.
-Original structure located at the corner of Nicholson and North England Streets
-Built in 1715 by William Robertson
-Sir John Randolph purchased the west wing in 1721
-House willed to son Peyton Randolph
-First restoration 1938-1940
-Further restoration began in 1967
-Center and west portions opened in 1968
-Construction of outbuildings began in 1997
-Rochambeau, Lafayette, and Washington among notable guests at the home
-The deep red Peyton Randolph House is one of the oldest, most historic, and without doubt most beautiful of Colonial Williamsburg's original 18th-century homes.
The west wing of the impressive house has stood at the corner of Nicholson and North England Streets since about 1715. Among the historic figures that took shelter in the house were General Rochambeau and the Marquis de Lafayette.
Three structures became one
William Robertson built the house that eventually became the west wing of the Peyton Randolph house. Sir John Randolph purchased the west wing in 1721. He bought the east lot for £50 on July 20, 1724 and had a home constructed there as well.
Sir John's son, Peyton Randolph, built a spacious and well-appointed two-story central section between the two houses. A hall with a large roundheaded window and a grand staircase connect single rooms on each floor. The first-floor parlor measures 19 feet square, and the bed chamber above has the same dimensions.
Lines of roof vary
The southern face of the center section matches the appearance of the 29-foot-square clapboard house that makes up the west wing. The low-pitched hip roof of the west wing was extended across the addition but ends abruptly when it reaches the high gable of the dormered roof on the east wing.
East wing not connected to the rest of the house
Although the west and center sections of the house were connected by doors on both floors, there was no opening through the brick wall to the east wing. The east wing may have served as an office or a service building, or it could have been rented out. Demolished in the 19th century, the east wing was reconstructed by Colonial Williamsburg after the property was purchased in 1938.
The roof of the west wing was designed to funnel rain to two concealed two-log gutters, which apparently carried the water to a cistern. Only traces remain of this contrivance that may have leaked and was later covered by the roof. A chimney rises through the center of the wing, venting corner fireplaces in three rooms on each floor. The stairway passage is located in the southwest corner of each floor.
Peyton Randolph House dining room. Diners are enjoying a post-dessert course of fruit and nuts. A servant fills glasses in the background.
The center section contains some of the best surviving paneling in the city — some of it walnut — while unusually fine brass hinges and locks trim the parlor doors. The floor is mostly made of original edge-cut pine
Outbuildings supported household activity
A full complement of outbuildings stood to the north (in back), including a two-story brick kitchen, a stable for 12 horses, a coach house, and a dairy.
Peyton Randolph inherited home
Sir John Randolph, the only colonial born in Virginia to be knighted, died in 1737. He left the house to his wife, Susannah Beverley Randolph, until their second son, Peyton, reached the age of 24. Their first son, Beverley, inherited property in Gloucester County; their third son, John, inherited acreage on the city's southern edge; and their daughter, Mary, received a dowry of £1,000. Susannah Beverley Randolph remained in the home until her death sometime after 1754.
Peyton Randolph, Speaker of Virginia's House of Burgesses in the years leading to the Revolution, brought his wife, Betty Harrison Randolph, to the home by 1751. It became a hub of political activity, and its owner Peyton Randolph was elected the presiding officer of the First Continental Congress at Philadelphia in 1774. An inventory taken at Peyton Randolph's death in 1775 indicates how the house was furnished and equipped.
Widow Betty Randolph opened her home to French general Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, when he arrived in Williamsburg with General George Washington to prepare for the siege of Yorktown in 1781. The house served as the French headquarters until they moved to the field.
Exterior of the Peyton Randolph House
Home auctioned to highest bidder Peyton and Betty Randolph had no children and, after her death and according to directions in Betty Randolph’s will, the house was sold at auction on February 19, 1783. A newspaper advertisement described it as "pleasantly situated on the great square." It was conveyed to the highest bidder, Joseph Hornsby, on February 21, and the proceeds were divided among Betty Randolph's legatees.
By 1824, the house was in the possession of Mary Monroe Peachy. She had the honor that year of lodging Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, when he visited the city on October 20 and 21 during a tour of America.
The Peyton Randolph House restored
Colonial Williamsburg's primary restoration of the home began in October 1939 and was completed in April 1940. More restoration of the main section was undertaken in June 1967 and was finished 12 months later. The center and west portions of the house opened for exhibition on July 1, 1968.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Magazine
Magazine
When I heard of the name of this place first time, I thought it was strange.
How could the place be named as Magazine? Is it French? No..
"Magaine" sounds like a magazine that we like to read everyday; however, it turned out that "Magagine" does not have any realtion to it. haha^^
So, I need to get this straight!
Magazine
-Built in 1715 by Governor Spotswood
-Stored equipment necessary for protection against
Indians, slave revolts, riots, and pirate raids
-Dunmore ordered emptying of arsenal and disabling of the muskets
-Spark of revolution ignited here
-Events at Magazine in 1775 mirrored events of revolution in Massachusetts
-Magazine used for multiple purposes after government moved to Richmond
-Association for Preservation of Virginia Antiquities formed
as a result of effort to restore Magazine
Built by Governor Spotswood to protect colony's arms and munitions
In 1714, the General Assembly had asked Governor Alexander Spotswood to build "a good substantial house of brick" precisely to protect the colony's arms and munitions. The occasion was the shipment of powder and muskets from Queen Anne's government in England. The city's 17th-century magazine, if it still stood, seems to have been inadequate. Spotswood was authorized to spend £200 from taxes collected on the import of liquor and slaves.
In 1715, he had erected a tall octagonal tower admired by a visitor, Sir William Keith, as "an elegant safe Magazine, in the Centre of Williamsburgh." Spotswood also designed Bruton Parish Church and landscaped the Governor's Palace.
Spotswood's Magazine safeguarded shot, powder, flints, tents, tools, swords, pikes, canteens, cooking utensils, and as many as 3,000 Brown Bess flintlocks – equipment needed for defense against Indians, slave revolts, local riots, and pirate raids. Its first keeper was John Brush, builder of the Brush-Everard House.
So many munitions arrived from 1754 to 1763 in the course of the French and Indian War that the additions of a high perimeter wall and Guardhouse were necessary. But with the departure of the government for Richmond during the Revolution, the Magazine saw less service as a powder horn, as it was sometimes called.
Spark that ignited Revolution began at Magazine
The spark that ignited the Revolution in Virginia was struck where the colony stored its gunpowder, the Magazine in the middle of Williamsburg.
The night of April 20, 1775, Lieutenant Henry Collins stole toward the capital with a squad of royal marines from H.M.S. Magdalen anchored in Burwell's Bay on the James River. Their orders, straight from Governor Dunmore, were to empty the arsenal and disable the muskets stored there.
"Tho' it was intended to have been done privately," Dunmore wrote a few days later, "Mr. Collins and his party were observed, and notice was immediately given to the Inhabitants of this Place: Drums were then sent through the City." It was early the morning of April 21 by then. The marines fled in the dark with 15 half-barrels of powder for H.M.S. Fowey anchored in the York River.
Angry citizenry gathered
Most of Williamsburg's population gathered on Market Square, and some talked of doing Dunmore harm. Peyton Randolph, Robert Carter Nicholas, and Mayor John Dixon averted violence by persuading the crowd to send a delegation to the governor to demand an explanation. Dunmore said he had intelligence of "an intended insurrection of slaves" and only wanted to keep the powder out of its reach. Unless he viewed the angry patriots as slaves, he was lying.
It was Patrick Henry's oratory that helped the governor down this road. At St. John's Church in Richmond on March 23, Henry had risen during the Second Virginia Convention to argue for the organization of a volunteer company of cavalry or infantry in every county. His speech ended: "Give me liberty, or give me death."
Dunmore tries to justify actions
Later justifying the powder's theft, Dunmore wrote:
"The Series of Dangerous Measures pursued by the People of this Colony against Government, which they have now entirely overturned, & particularly their having come to a Resolution of raising a Body of armed Men in all the Counties, made me think it prudent to remove some gunpowder which was in a Magazine in this Place, where it lay exposed to any Attempt that might be made to seize it, & I had Reason to believe the People intended to take that step."
Dunmore knew full well that possession of the gunpowder was the possession of power.
The sword of revolution drawn
Word of Lexington and Concord reached Williamsburg on April 27. The Virginia Gazette got out a broadside the next day that said: "The Sword is drawn and God knows when it will be sheathed." Soon Henry and 150 militiamen were threatening the capital from a Military Encampment just west of the city and demanding restitution for the powder. They were granted restitution.
Late June 3 or early June 4, a spring-gun trap set at the Magazine wounded two young men who had broken in. A furious mob stormed the building June 5. Rumors that the royal marines were returning brought out the militia. June 8, Dunmore fled to H.M.S. Fowey. British rule in Virginia was at an end.
After the government moved to Richmond, the Magazine became, successively, a market, a Baptist meetinghouse, a Confederate arsenal, a dancing school, and a livery stable. But it always maintained a capacity to inspire. Journalist Benson Lossing passed through Williamsburg in 1848 and wrote:
"While leaning against the ancient wall of the old Magazine, and in the shadow of its roof, contemplating the events which cluster that locality with glorious associations, I almost lost cognizance of the present, and beheld in reverie the whole pageantry of the past march in review."
A woodblock engraving that illustrated his account was useful a century later in the Magazine's restoration.
Effort to save the Magazine resulted in formation of Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities
Builders tore down its perimeter wall in 1856 and used the bricks for the foundation of a nearby church. A wall of the Magazine itself collapsed February 6, 1888, and one-half of another the next day. A local woman's determination to save the structure was instrumental in the formation of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, an organization that bought the Magazine the next year for $400. Her name was Cynthia Beverley Tucker Coleman, and she was owner of the St. George Tucker House, and a descendant of its namesake. Her son was a state transportation official, and the bridge over the York River to Gloucester is named for him. In the water near the southern foot of that bridge rests the wreckage of H.M.S. Fowey, which sank during the Battle of Yorktown.
September 9, 1889, the Magazine's roof burned, with only its finial escaping the flames. Repaired, the building became a museum. Colonial Williamsburg restored the structure in 1934 and 1935, rebuilding the brick wall and Guardhouse. In 1946, Colonial Williamsburg leased the Magazine and began its restoration. It reopened as an exhibition July 4, 1949, and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities sold the building to Colonial Williamsburg in 1986.
When I heard of the name of this place first time, I thought it was strange.
How could the place be named as Magazine? Is it French? No..
"Magaine" sounds like a magazine that we like to read everyday; however, it turned out that "Magagine" does not have any realtion to it. haha^^
So, I need to get this straight!
Magazine
-Built in 1715 by Governor Spotswood
-Stored equipment necessary for protection against
Indians, slave revolts, riots, and pirate raids
-Dunmore ordered emptying of arsenal and disabling of the muskets
-Spark of revolution ignited here
-Events at Magazine in 1775 mirrored events of revolution in Massachusetts
-Magazine used for multiple purposes after government moved to Richmond
-Association for Preservation of Virginia Antiquities formed
as a result of effort to restore Magazine
Built by Governor Spotswood to protect colony's arms and munitions
In 1714, the General Assembly had asked Governor Alexander Spotswood to build "a good substantial house of brick" precisely to protect the colony's arms and munitions. The occasion was the shipment of powder and muskets from Queen Anne's government in England. The city's 17th-century magazine, if it still stood, seems to have been inadequate. Spotswood was authorized to spend £200 from taxes collected on the import of liquor and slaves.
In 1715, he had erected a tall octagonal tower admired by a visitor, Sir William Keith, as "an elegant safe Magazine, in the Centre of Williamsburgh." Spotswood also designed Bruton Parish Church and landscaped the Governor's Palace.
Spotswood's Magazine safeguarded shot, powder, flints, tents, tools, swords, pikes, canteens, cooking utensils, and as many as 3,000 Brown Bess flintlocks – equipment needed for defense against Indians, slave revolts, local riots, and pirate raids. Its first keeper was John Brush, builder of the Brush-Everard House.
So many munitions arrived from 1754 to 1763 in the course of the French and Indian War that the additions of a high perimeter wall and Guardhouse were necessary. But with the departure of the government for Richmond during the Revolution, the Magazine saw less service as a powder horn, as it was sometimes called.
Spark that ignited Revolution began at Magazine
The spark that ignited the Revolution in Virginia was struck where the colony stored its gunpowder, the Magazine in the middle of Williamsburg.
The night of April 20, 1775, Lieutenant Henry Collins stole toward the capital with a squad of royal marines from H.M.S. Magdalen anchored in Burwell's Bay on the James River. Their orders, straight from Governor Dunmore, were to empty the arsenal and disable the muskets stored there.
"Tho' it was intended to have been done privately," Dunmore wrote a few days later, "Mr. Collins and his party were observed, and notice was immediately given to the Inhabitants of this Place: Drums were then sent through the City." It was early the morning of April 21 by then. The marines fled in the dark with 15 half-barrels of powder for H.M.S. Fowey anchored in the York River.
Angry citizenry gathered
Most of Williamsburg's population gathered on Market Square, and some talked of doing Dunmore harm. Peyton Randolph, Robert Carter Nicholas, and Mayor John Dixon averted violence by persuading the crowd to send a delegation to the governor to demand an explanation. Dunmore said he had intelligence of "an intended insurrection of slaves" and only wanted to keep the powder out of its reach. Unless he viewed the angry patriots as slaves, he was lying.
It was Patrick Henry's oratory that helped the governor down this road. At St. John's Church in Richmond on March 23, Henry had risen during the Second Virginia Convention to argue for the organization of a volunteer company of cavalry or infantry in every county. His speech ended: "Give me liberty, or give me death."
Dunmore tries to justify actions
Later justifying the powder's theft, Dunmore wrote:
"The Series of Dangerous Measures pursued by the People of this Colony against Government, which they have now entirely overturned, & particularly their having come to a Resolution of raising a Body of armed Men in all the Counties, made me think it prudent to remove some gunpowder which was in a Magazine in this Place, where it lay exposed to any Attempt that might be made to seize it, & I had Reason to believe the People intended to take that step."
Dunmore knew full well that possession of the gunpowder was the possession of power.
The sword of revolution drawn
Word of Lexington and Concord reached Williamsburg on April 27. The Virginia Gazette got out a broadside the next day that said: "The Sword is drawn and God knows when it will be sheathed." Soon Henry and 150 militiamen were threatening the capital from a Military Encampment just west of the city and demanding restitution for the powder. They were granted restitution.
Late June 3 or early June 4, a spring-gun trap set at the Magazine wounded two young men who had broken in. A furious mob stormed the building June 5. Rumors that the royal marines were returning brought out the militia. June 8, Dunmore fled to H.M.S. Fowey. British rule in Virginia was at an end.
After the government moved to Richmond, the Magazine became, successively, a market, a Baptist meetinghouse, a Confederate arsenal, a dancing school, and a livery stable. But it always maintained a capacity to inspire. Journalist Benson Lossing passed through Williamsburg in 1848 and wrote:
"While leaning against the ancient wall of the old Magazine, and in the shadow of its roof, contemplating the events which cluster that locality with glorious associations, I almost lost cognizance of the present, and beheld in reverie the whole pageantry of the past march in review."
A woodblock engraving that illustrated his account was useful a century later in the Magazine's restoration.
Effort to save the Magazine resulted in formation of Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities
Builders tore down its perimeter wall in 1856 and used the bricks for the foundation of a nearby church. A wall of the Magazine itself collapsed February 6, 1888, and one-half of another the next day. A local woman's determination to save the structure was instrumental in the formation of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, an organization that bought the Magazine the next year for $400. Her name was Cynthia Beverley Tucker Coleman, and she was owner of the St. George Tucker House, and a descendant of its namesake. Her son was a state transportation official, and the bridge over the York River to Gloucester is named for him. In the water near the southern foot of that bridge rests the wreckage of H.M.S. Fowey, which sank during the Battle of Yorktown.
September 9, 1889, the Magazine's roof burned, with only its finial escaping the flames. Repaired, the building became a museum. Colonial Williamsburg restored the structure in 1934 and 1935, rebuilding the brick wall and Guardhouse. In 1946, Colonial Williamsburg leased the Magazine and began its restoration. It reopened as an exhibition July 4, 1949, and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities sold the building to Colonial Williamsburg in 1986.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Carpenter of Williamsburg
Carpenter
In a century when most structures were built from wood, no tradesman was more useful than the carpenter. The main business of the colonial carpenter was to cut and join timber and board into sturdy wooden homes and shops. As Williamsburg blossomed, the demand for new homes, shops, outbuildings stables, sheds, and their repair grew at a rapid pace.
Carpenters built city of Williamsburg
Carpenters lay shingles on the roof of a shed near Shields Tavern in the Historic Area.
Hand-sawn beams are the order of the day.
The city was literally hammered together in the 1700s by men like Benjamin Powell, John Wheatley, James Morris, Christopher Ford, and dozens of other carpenters whose names appear on the ledgers of building trades customers. Much of the work was accomplished by slaves that such builders owned or hired. Large numbers of slaves – skilled and unskilled – helped construct the colonial capital. Carpenters were also hired to do repair work build additions to existing structures, or to make smokehouses, dairies, necessaries, and other outbuildings. Brick structures, too, required finishing work and routine maintenance.
The carpenter worked from a building's foundation to its roof ridge. He laid floors, chiseled mortise-and-tenon joints, framed walls, raised rafters, carved moldings, hung doors, and nailed weatherboard. Carpenters sometimes acquired building materials from less-skilled laborers, frequently using planks cut from logs by a sawyer and shingles made by slaves at a building site.
Common carpentry tools included:
saw
broadax
hammer
awl
mallet
plane
scribe
drawknife
gimlet
froe
also,
Carpenters built with:
oak
locust
tulip
poplar
yellow pine
cypress
juniper
oak chestnut
Colonial carpentry survives in original 18th-century buildings
Durable examples of the work of carpenters may be seen in the 88 original 18th-century buildings in Colonial Williamsburg. None, perhaps, is finer than the Peyton Randolph House, where carpenters reconstructed the site's outbuildings. Currently, the Historic Trades Carpenters are using 18th-century tools and techniques at Great Hopes Plantation.
In a century when most structures were built from wood, no tradesman was more useful than the carpenter. The main business of the colonial carpenter was to cut and join timber and board into sturdy wooden homes and shops. As Williamsburg blossomed, the demand for new homes, shops, outbuildings stables, sheds, and their repair grew at a rapid pace.
Carpenters built city of Williamsburg
Carpenters lay shingles on the roof of a shed near Shields Tavern in the Historic Area.
Hand-sawn beams are the order of the day.
The city was literally hammered together in the 1700s by men like Benjamin Powell, John Wheatley, James Morris, Christopher Ford, and dozens of other carpenters whose names appear on the ledgers of building trades customers. Much of the work was accomplished by slaves that such builders owned or hired. Large numbers of slaves – skilled and unskilled – helped construct the colonial capital. Carpenters were also hired to do repair work build additions to existing structures, or to make smokehouses, dairies, necessaries, and other outbuildings. Brick structures, too, required finishing work and routine maintenance.
The carpenter worked from a building's foundation to its roof ridge. He laid floors, chiseled mortise-and-tenon joints, framed walls, raised rafters, carved moldings, hung doors, and nailed weatherboard. Carpenters sometimes acquired building materials from less-skilled laborers, frequently using planks cut from logs by a sawyer and shingles made by slaves at a building site.
Common carpentry tools included:
saw
broadax
hammer
awl
mallet
plane
scribe
drawknife
gimlet
froe
also,
Carpenters built with:
oak
locust
tulip
poplar
yellow pine
cypress
juniper
oak chestnut
Colonial carpentry survives in original 18th-century buildings
Durable examples of the work of carpenters may be seen in the 88 original 18th-century buildings in Colonial Williamsburg. None, perhaps, is finer than the Peyton Randolph House, where carpenters reconstructed the site's outbuildings. Currently, the Historic Trades Carpenters are using 18th-century tools and techniques at Great Hopes Plantation.
A Scary Story-Bruton Parish Churchyard
-Many buried at home in colonial times
-17th-century graves found in land donated for second Bruton Parish Church
-Catherine Memorial Society formed to preserve gravestones
Churchyards not first choice for burial location
Colonial Virginia churchyards were not the first choices for burials. The custom was to inter the dead at home. In 1724, the Reverend Hugh Jones, Bruton Parish rector, complained about this practice because it meant he had to travel to plantations and farms to conduct funerals.
17th-century graves located in Bruton Parish Churchyard
Despite the burial customs of the era, there are 17th-century graves in the parcel of land John Page donated for the second Bruton Parish Church on November 14, 1678. Page's gift included the land 60 feet in all directions from the building. No one knows how many graves it contains, or the age of the oldest. Many of the early burials are not marked. In some instances, the lack of grave markers led to people being buried atop one another.
Archaeological excavations at the site of the second church in 1993 showed no standard depth, nor any standard orientation, for graves. Some order eventually came to grave orientation, but depths varied into the 19th century. By 1836, this was enough of a problem for the vestry to decree that all new graves had to be at least 4.5 feet deep.
Archaeological excavations at the site of the second church in 1993 showed no standard depth, nor any standard orientation, for graves. Some order eventually came to grave orientation, but depths varied into the 19th century. By 1836, this was enough of a problem for the vestry to decree that all new graves had to be at least 4.5 feet deep.
Notables buried in Bruton Parish Churchyard
Graves of note include those of Governor Edward Nott, first rector Rowland Jones, the powerful Thomas Ludwell, merchant John Greenhow, and two infant children of Martha Custis Washington by her first husband. Some of their names are still heard on Williamsburg's streets, including the name of little Matthew Whaley.
In 1705, Matthew's mother buried him beneath a stone that says:
"Matthew Whaley lies Interred hereWithin this Tomb upon his father dearWho Departedthis life the 26th of September 1705 AgedNine years only childof James Whaleyand Mary his wife."
Mrs. Whaley established the Mattie Free School for the poor on Capitol Landing Road in the boy's memory. It had a schoolhouse, a master's house, and a stable. Mrs. Whaley left for England, entrusting the school's management to the Bruton Parish Church wardens. She died in 1742, leaving a legacy of about £800 to support the institution. But an executor refused to pay, resulting in a suit in chancery that dragged on past the Revolution. The wardens, unable to support the school, sold the property and earmarked the proceeds for poor relief.
Matthew Whaley School named for child buried in churchyard
In 1859, an English lawyer called the church's attention to the still-pending chancery suit. In 1867, the College of William and Mary agreed to discharge the trust of the will and used the legacy to build the Matthew Whaley Observation and Practice School on the then-vacant Governor's Palace grounds. The school stood until the 1920s, when Colonial Williamsburg acquired the property and had the school, as well as the new high school in front of it, torn down. The school John D. Rockefeller Jr. built to replace them is named the Matthew Whaley School.
Deterioration of graveyard noted in newspaper editorial in 1825
As the city's fortunes faded after the Revolution, so did those of the graveyard. Daniel Walker Lord of Kennebunkport, Maine, came through Williamsburg in 1824. He wrote of the church, "There is a burial ground around it, some of the tombs are marked as early as 1693. . . . The tombs in the yard have most fallen down, and look as though their friends are all extinct."
The Phoenix Gazette, a Williamsburg newspaper, reported in the midst of a campaign for a city graveyard in 1825, "It is with a feeling of sadness that we see the rapid decay of the monuments in the old churchyard of Bruton Parish. One by one they are crumbling, and like the beings whose virtues they were erected to commemorate, they will soon be passed away."
Martha Vandergrift visited Williamsburg as a child in 1844 and 1845 to see relatives. She recalled years later, "We used to jump from one tombstone to another. I always felt that I had a right to, as many of them marked the graves of my Page ancestors."
Wounded Yankees and Confederates rested in graveyard awaiting treatment
After the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862, the church became a Union hospital for Yankees and Confederates. Many of the wounded were laid in the graveyard to await treatment or to recuperate. Witnesses said their blood stained many of the tablet stones. Some of the dead are buried in graves near the north wall, but there are few names on the markers.
As Matthew Whaley's headstone illustrates, graveyard inscriptions were sometimes elaborate. A 19th-century Baptist preacher, the Reverend Scervant Jones, was beloved for his wit and his rhymes. Jones buried his first wife in the Bruton Parish graveyard under a stone he brought to Williamsburg on the roof of the same stagecoach he used to carry his second wife to the city.
As Matthew Whaley's headstone illustrates, graveyard inscriptions were sometimes elaborate. A 19th-century Baptist preacher, the Reverend Scervant Jones, was beloved for his wit and his rhymes. Jones buried his first wife in the Bruton Parish graveyard under a stone he brought to Williamsburg on the roof of the same stagecoach he used to carry his second wife to the city.
The tablet reads:
"Here lies all that the grave can claim of
Mrs. Ann Timson Jones
Consort of the
Rev. Scervant Jones
Born 1st Sept. 1787
Married 26 Dec. 1805
Baptized 3 Mar. 1822
Died June 6, 1849
If woman, ever yet did well;
If woman, ever did excel;
If woman, ever did excel;
If woman, husband ere adored;
If woman, ever loved the Lord;
If faith and hope and love;
In Human flesh did live and move;
If all the graces ere did meet;
In her they were complete.
My Ann, my all, my angel wife,
My dearest one, my love, my life,
I cannot sigh or say farewell;
But where thou dwellest I will dwell."
A vestry book minute of March 9, 1897, says that two of their number, Drs. Moncure and Garrett, were appointed to a committee "to so fix the gates that cattle may be prevented from trespassing in the churchyard." There are scattered notes in the minute book of people seeking permission to raise fences around family plots to preserve them from wandering animals.
But a minute of April 5, 1907, says: "On motion it was decided that all persons interested in the fences in the church yard be earnestly requested to remove the same at their earliest convenience as it is the unanimous opinion of the Vestry that in view of the city ordinance of Williamsburg prohibiting the running at large of cows and horses, that in their opinion, no occasion now exists for enclosures in the Church Yard."
Cynthia Beverley Tucker Coleman began restoration efforts to honor her daughter
So far as the record shows, restoration efforts in Williamsburg began in 1884 when Cynthia Beverley Tucker Coleman organized a group of children into the Catherine Memorial Society. The name honored her daughter, who had died at age 12 the year before. On April 7, 1887, the society requested permission of the vestry "to repair the old monuments in the Church Yard and to otherwise put in order the yard, as their means may justify."
The society repaired broken headstones and put brick foundations beneath some tablets resting on the ground. The society is credited with stimulating the interest in restoration that grew into establishment of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, an organization that Mrs.Coleman cofounded. Mrs. Coleman was the owner of the St. George Tucker house and a descendant of its namesake. She was also responsible for saving the crumbling Williamsburg Magazine.
Since Halloween is coming up, I just want to post something sacry on here this time^^
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning Assignments
In my Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning class,
Dr. Lee gave two assignments to us two weeks ago.
The first one was to make a brief summary of the main points of an article, edited in Newsweek, September 11, 2009 issue which was a cover story entitled, ‘Is your baby racist?’, and add my own reflection: what I learned, what I thought about, what I can do to help my students understand concerning ‘bias’ issues clearly and issue that I can raise to talk about.
The second was the discussion on ‘racism,’ ‘bias,’ ‘stereotyping,’ ‘racial profiling’ after I watch
Harold & Kumar go to White Castle.
, and how I would like handle such issues when similar things occur in my ‘classroom’ setting; how I can prevent bias and stereotyping.
Here's the specification of this assignment,
1. Define ‘racism,’ ‘bias,’ ‘stereotyping’ and ‘racial profiling’ in one paragraph.
2. Discuss examples of racial stereotyping and racial profiling that you found from this movie within more than two paragraphs.
3. Did you find any ‘bilingual issue’ in this film? If yes, please discuss it in more than one paragraph.
4. Discuss how you are going to handle problem situation related with racism or bilingualism in your future class as a professional TESOL member in more than one paragraph.
I would like to post this assignment on m blog so that other classmates can look and share their thoughts with me.
TSL 504 Culture Assignment ① 10/04/09 Eunice Kim
Summary
In 2006, Birgitte Virrtrup at The Children’s Research Lab at the University of Texas conducted a project about if typical children’s video with multicultural storylines has any beneficial effect on children’s racial attitudes. It revealed that the tree groups of children had very budged very much in their racial attitudes. Talking about the race was a clear key to the research. For decades, we’ve assumed that children will see race only when society points it out them; however, children see racial differences as much as they see the difference between pink and blue.
The spontaneous tendency to assume one’s group shares characteristic-such as niceness, or smarts is called essentialism. Phyllis Katz, a professor at the University of Colorado, points out that when the period of our children’s lives, when we imagine it’s most important to not talk about race, is the very developmental period when children’s minds are forming their first conclusions about race. Several studies point to the possibility of developmental windows-stages when children’s attitude might be most amenable to change. The Divers Environment Theory is about if parents raise a child with a fair amount of exposure to people of other races and cultures, the environment becomes the message. Researchers have found that the more diverse the environment, the more kids self-segregate by race and ethnicity. Shushing children when they make an improper remark is an instinctive reflex, but often the wrong move, and to be effective, conversations about race need to be explicit, in unmistakable terms children can understand. Minority children who are repeatedly told of discrimination are less likely to see a connection between hard work and success. Black children who hear messages of ethnic pride are more engaged in school and more likely to attribute their successes to effort and ability.
I had no experience being around minority people, and I was young idealistic believed that everyone was equal and had no real prejudices. However, as I become a grown up, honestly, I’ve only thought that we human beings tend to discriminate towards anything that is different than ourselves, so we want to be around others like us by nature. We know skin color makes no difference in the person; however, it’s different in reality. I think it naturally becomes a corrupted world when those who achieve are made to feel inferior, and those who have not and cannot achieve are made to feel superior. So far, I thought everyone is prejudice, and what matters is whether we can put our prejudice.
While I was reading the article, it’s interesting to know that there is the possibility of developmental windows-stages when children’s attitudes might be most amenable to change. I changed my concept of racism and bias that children should be taught that all citizens are equal and must be treated so despite personal feelings. As a future educator, what I can do in class with my students is that I do my best to instill their pride in those minority children and make them feel proud of the positive accomplishments of their own people, giving lots of examples throughout the world history. Also, I develop my own material to teach intercultural class combining both minority and majority children and have majority groups simply learn what minorities are like by interacting with them regardless of what integration programs they impose, for example, having them a positive comment on every single members of each group.
TSL 504 Culture Assignment ② 10/04/09 Eunice Kim
1. Define ‘racism’ ‘bias’ ‘stereotyping’ and ‘racial profiling’ in one paragraph.
Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics.
Bias is a term used to describe a tendency or preference towards a particular perspective, ideology or result, especially when the tendency interferes with the ability to be impartial, unprejudiced, or objective. A stereotype is a type of logical oversimplification in which all the members of a class or set are considered to be definable by an easily distinguishable set of characteristics. Racial profiling is the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime or an illegal act or to behave in a "predictable" manner.
I found several racial stereotyping or racial profiling in the movie. Harold got stuck with somebody else's work because he's "good with numbers," and “a nerdy little Asian guy.” Harold and Kumar see themselves as big shots who know how to party better than the more traditional, passive Princeton Asians, but it turns out those people have the craziest parties. Also, Harold and Kumar are viewed stereotypical children of Asian immigrants, bright young men who work hard. The group of "extreme guys" tell Harold, "this is America, dude, learn how to drive" and keep flicking him off. Harold winds up in jail, where he and Kumar meet a polite African-American gentleman who has been arrested for being black.
It’s nice to get an idea about how other cultures see whites. As an Asian, I feel bad about the social convention that we made. On the other hand, I’m glad that it breaks racial barriers. While I was watching the movie, I hardly think about their race.
3. Did you find any ‘bilingual issue’ in this film? If yes, please discuss it more than one paragraph.
4. Discuss how you are going to handle problem situation related with racism or bilingualism in your future class as a professional TESOL member in more than one paragraph.
As a TESOL member, I think we should teach both multicultural history of the U.S. to students and our common values. At the same time, students have to learn about a "common heritage," and they need to strengthen their own cultural identities and ethnic pride. Also, we must help our students acknowledge and respect the important differences that result from our various cultural heritages and experiences, and encourage students to re-examine what it means to be an American or to live in America. Personally, one of good way to prepare students for diverse societies is to have some kind of “an Exchanging student program” that students experience about what the real other culture will be like. I think students begin to help and value each other and learn to get along that way through the program.
Dr. Lee gave two assignments to us two weeks ago.
The first one was to make a brief summary of the main points of an article, edited in Newsweek, September 11, 2009 issue which was a cover story entitled, ‘Is your baby racist?’, and add my own reflection: what I learned, what I thought about, what I can do to help my students understand concerning ‘bias’ issues clearly and issue that I can raise to talk about.
The second was the discussion on ‘racism,’ ‘bias,’ ‘stereotyping,’ ‘racial profiling’ after I watch
Harold & Kumar go to White Castle.
, and how I would like handle such issues when similar things occur in my ‘classroom’ setting; how I can prevent bias and stereotyping.
Here's the specification of this assignment,
1. Define ‘racism,’ ‘bias,’ ‘stereotyping’ and ‘racial profiling’ in one paragraph.
2. Discuss examples of racial stereotyping and racial profiling that you found from this movie within more than two paragraphs.
3. Did you find any ‘bilingual issue’ in this film? If yes, please discuss it in more than one paragraph.
4. Discuss how you are going to handle problem situation related with racism or bilingualism in your future class as a professional TESOL member in more than one paragraph.
I would like to post this assignment on m blog so that other classmates can look and share their thoughts with me.
TSL 504 Culture Assignment ① 10/04/09 Eunice Kim
Summary
In 2006, Birgitte Virrtrup at The Children’s Research Lab at the University of Texas conducted a project about if typical children’s video with multicultural storylines has any beneficial effect on children’s racial attitudes. It revealed that the tree groups of children had very budged very much in their racial attitudes. Talking about the race was a clear key to the research. For decades, we’ve assumed that children will see race only when society points it out them; however, children see racial differences as much as they see the difference between pink and blue.
The spontaneous tendency to assume one’s group shares characteristic-such as niceness, or smarts is called essentialism. Phyllis Katz, a professor at the University of Colorado, points out that when the period of our children’s lives, when we imagine it’s most important to not talk about race, is the very developmental period when children’s minds are forming their first conclusions about race. Several studies point to the possibility of developmental windows-stages when children’s attitude might be most amenable to change. The Divers Environment Theory is about if parents raise a child with a fair amount of exposure to people of other races and cultures, the environment becomes the message. Researchers have found that the more diverse the environment, the more kids self-segregate by race and ethnicity. Shushing children when they make an improper remark is an instinctive reflex, but often the wrong move, and to be effective, conversations about race need to be explicit, in unmistakable terms children can understand. Minority children who are repeatedly told of discrimination are less likely to see a connection between hard work and success. Black children who hear messages of ethnic pride are more engaged in school and more likely to attribute their successes to effort and ability.
I had no experience being around minority people, and I was young idealistic believed that everyone was equal and had no real prejudices. However, as I become a grown up, honestly, I’ve only thought that we human beings tend to discriminate towards anything that is different than ourselves, so we want to be around others like us by nature. We know skin color makes no difference in the person; however, it’s different in reality. I think it naturally becomes a corrupted world when those who achieve are made to feel inferior, and those who have not and cannot achieve are made to feel superior. So far, I thought everyone is prejudice, and what matters is whether we can put our prejudice.
While I was reading the article, it’s interesting to know that there is the possibility of developmental windows-stages when children’s attitudes might be most amenable to change. I changed my concept of racism and bias that children should be taught that all citizens are equal and must be treated so despite personal feelings. As a future educator, what I can do in class with my students is that I do my best to instill their pride in those minority children and make them feel proud of the positive accomplishments of their own people, giving lots of examples throughout the world history. Also, I develop my own material to teach intercultural class combining both minority and majority children and have majority groups simply learn what minorities are like by interacting with them regardless of what integration programs they impose, for example, having them a positive comment on every single members of each group.
TSL 504 Culture Assignment ② 10/04/09 Eunice Kim
1. Define ‘racism’ ‘bias’ ‘stereotyping’ and ‘racial profiling’ in one paragraph.
Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics.
Bias is a term used to describe a tendency or preference towards a particular perspective, ideology or result, especially when the tendency interferes with the ability to be impartial, unprejudiced, or objective. A stereotype is a type of logical oversimplification in which all the members of a class or set are considered to be definable by an easily distinguishable set of characteristics. Racial profiling is the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime or an illegal act or to behave in a "predictable" manner.
2. Discuss examples of racial stereotyping and racial profiling that you found from this movie within more than two paragraphs.
I found several racial stereotyping or racial profiling in the movie. Harold got stuck with somebody else's work because he's "good with numbers," and “a nerdy little Asian guy.” Harold and Kumar see themselves as big shots who know how to party better than the more traditional, passive Princeton Asians, but it turns out those people have the craziest parties. Also, Harold and Kumar are viewed stereotypical children of Asian immigrants, bright young men who work hard. The group of "extreme guys" tell Harold, "this is America, dude, learn how to drive" and keep flicking him off. Harold winds up in jail, where he and Kumar meet a polite African-American gentleman who has been arrested for being black.
It’s nice to get an idea about how other cultures see whites. As an Asian, I feel bad about the social convention that we made. On the other hand, I’m glad that it breaks racial barriers. While I was watching the movie, I hardly think about their race.
3. Did you find any ‘bilingual issue’ in this film? If yes, please discuss it more than one paragraph.
In the movie, there was a scene that Harold and Kumar had to ask a CVS worker about how to get to the White Castle. He was Indian and seemed that he didn’t understand what Harold said to him. Kumar had a conversation with the worker in Hindustani to help them. Like Kumar did, I saw societal benefits of bilingualism. Bilinguals engage in wider communication across generation, regions and cultural groups fostering a sympathetic understanding of difference of each other. We don’t know how Kumar learned his native language, but it seems clear that being a bilingual is better than not.
4. Discuss how you are going to handle problem situation related with racism or bilingualism in your future class as a professional TESOL member in more than one paragraph.
As a TESOL member, I think we should teach both multicultural history of the U.S. to students and our common values. At the same time, students have to learn about a "common heritage," and they need to strengthen their own cultural identities and ethnic pride. Also, we must help our students acknowledge and respect the important differences that result from our various cultural heritages and experiences, and encourage students to re-examine what it means to be an American or to live in America. Personally, one of good way to prepare students for diverse societies is to have some kind of “an Exchanging student program” that students experience about what the real other culture will be like. I think students begin to help and value each other and learn to get along that way through the program.
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