Black History

For the FIRST TIME EVER Miss Universe, Miss USA, Miss America & Miss Teen USA are all black women. 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 🇺🇸 🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/pVIDcxhjK0

— Amaka Ubaka (@AmakaUbakaTV) December 9, 2019

 If you saw this tweet, how would you comment it?

1. 😍
2. Do you like how these women look?
3. Why do you think this type of appearance wasn't considered as beautiful?
4. What do you know about the history of African Americans?
5. Is racial tension a recent problem, or have racial conflicts existed in previous centuries?
6. What's the difference between prejudice and discrimination?
7. Back History Month
   
8. 
   
   
   

1 - Who are these people?

Carter G. Woodson

Abraham Lincoln

Frederick Douglass

Gerald Ford

2 - When is American history month?

3 - Who started American history month?

4 - Why did he decide to start it?

5 - What was the year?

6 - How long did it take for a black history month to be recognized?

Answer key

🔎 Read and answer these questions:

1. What kind of document was the Emancipation Proclamation?
2. What ended slavery across the United States?
3. Where did the freed slaves move?
4. What was Freedman's Village like?
5. Who were the Syphaxes?
6. Who was Julia Ward Howe? Why is she important in American history?
7. What do we learn about the history of slavery in the USA?
8. What can old cemeteries tell us about history?

United States Observes Black History Month

February is Black History Month in the United States. It is a time when Americans remember people and events that shaped the story of African-Americans. One of those events was the Emancipation Proclamation, a document signed 150 years ago by President Abraham Lincoln. The Emancipation Proclamation began the process of freeing an estimated four million slaves. Later, the 13th amendment to the Constitution ended slavery across the United States.

Many freed slaves moved away from areas where slavery had been permitted. Some came to the nation’s capital, Washington, DC, in search of a better life.

Arlington National Cemetery is just outside Washington. The cemetery is the final resting place for many former armed forces members. Years ago, the grounds were home to slaves and then former slaves.

Craig Syphax has been working on his family’s history for the past 15 years. He discovered the Syphaxes were an influential slave family in Arlington. He also learned that his great-great-great grandfather, Charles Syphax, belonged to the nation’s first president, George Washington. Charles Syphax lived at the Washingtons’ home in Mount Vernon. He was one of 57 slaves who moved to Arlington House with George Washington’s adopted grandson.

“Every time I research a certain aspect of the Syphax family, I find more exciting things that spark my interest to want to keep going and delve into that.”

In 1863, thousands of newly freed slaves moved to Washington, DC. The government set up a camp for former slaves on land in Arlington, Virginia. The camp was known as Freedman’s Village.

Tens of thousands of former slaves lived in Freedman’s Village for nearly 40 years. The community had schools, hospitals, religious centers and even a home for children whose parents were dead.

Craig Syphax says his ancestor Charles became a leader in Freedman’s Village.

“The Syphaxes became people that could read and write. So they freely taught people how to read and write without charge or anything because we knew that was how you would succeed here in America.”

Syphax is working on a documentary about his family and on a new history museum next to Arlington Cemetery. Talmadge Williams is a leader of that effort.

“History not taught could be history repeating itself, and we don’t want history to be repeated. We don’t need slavery again.”\

Former slaves are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Some people say they are as much a part of history as the soldiers buried there.

The “Battle Hymn of the Republic” is one of the most recognized pieces of music in American history. It is often called the great Civil War anthem. And it was the favorite song of President Abraham Lincoln.

Poet and anti-slavery activist Julia Ward Howe wrote those words during the early years of the Civil War. The words came to her after she met with President Lincoln at the White House and saw soldiers fighting near Washington, DC.

Chris Coover is a specialist in American historical documents.

“That evening, she had a dream where this set of lyrics was presented to her, inspired by things she’d seen in the day. And she woke up in the middle of the night with these visions of Lincoln and battles and marching troops and wrote this rather remarkable series of verses.”

Julia Ward Howe wrote those words to the folk song “John Brown’s Body.” Her work quickly became a success with the Union soldiers and even President Lincoln himself.

“Lincoln loved this piece and asked for it to be performed on many occasions.”

In the years since the Civil War, the song has become an iconic musical work. It is often played at major political events.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. used parts of the Battle Hymn in several of his speeches. He read some of the words at the close of a 1968 speech on the night before he was shot and killed.

Source:https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/1610474.html

Do you know this monument?
What is Abraham Lincoln famous for?
What do you know about the Civil War in the USA?
Who won the war?
Who was John Wilkes Booth?
What do you know about how Lincoln died?

• 🤔🤔

• 
  
• What do you think life was like for African Americans in the time of Martin Luther King?
• What other black Americans (politicians, musicians, artists, actors) do you know?
• Do you believe the government could do anything to promote racial harmony?

• Is there a great leader from your country that is remembered for changing society forever?
• Has your country ever had a civil war?
• Has anybody well-known from your country ever been assassinated? Do you know why?

✍

Change the verbs in brackets to the correct form :

Barack Obama (inaugurate) as the 44th president of the United States—(become) the first African American to serve in that office—on January 20, 2009.

The son of a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, Obama (grow up) in Hawaii. (Leave) the state to attend college, he (earn) degrees from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. Obama (elect) to the Illinois state senate in 1996 and (serve) there for eight years. In 2004, he (elect) by a record majority to the US Senate from Illinois and, in February 2007, (announce) his candidacy for president. After (win) a closely fought contest against New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, Obama handily (defeat) Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee for president, in the general election.

When President Obama (take office), he (face) very significant challenges. The economy was officially in a recession, and the outgoing administration of George W. Bush (begin) to implement a controversial "bail-out" package to try to help struggling financial institutions. In foreign affairs, the United States still (have) troops deployed in difficult conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During the first two years of his first term, President Obama (be) able to work with the Democratic-controlled Congress to improve the economy, pass health-care reform legislation, and withdraw most US troops from Iraq. After the Republicans (win) control of the House of Representatives in 2010, the president (spend) significant time and political effort negotiating, for the most part unsuccessfully, with congressional Republicans about taxes, budgets, and the deficit. After winning reelection in 2012, Obama (begin) his second term focused on securing legislation on immigration reform and gun control, neither of which he (be) able to achieve. When the Republicans (win) the Senate in 2014, Obama (refocuse) on actions that he (can) take, invoking his executive authority as president. In foreign policy, Obama (concentrate) during the second term on the Middle East and climate change.

Obama (leave) the presidency, at age fifty-five, after his constitutionally limited two terms (end) on January 20, 2017. He (announce) plans to remain in Washington, DC, until his younger daughter (finish) high school and, as a former president, to play a restrained but active role in public affairs. He also devoted energy to (raise) money and (plan) for the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Answer key 

📚

a - Kamala Harris got elected America's vice president, becoming the first black female in that position.

b - Voted by millions of people, he was elected a president.

c - Not wanting to repeat Obama's mistakes, Biden will try to break more obstacles.

d - Having served as California's attorney general, she has become a vice president.

Find participle clauses.

Name: 2 present participles, 1 past participle, 1 perfect participle.

Explain: how to use participle clauses to say information in a more economical way.

Where do we use a participle clause to

• add some information?
• give the reason for an action?
• give the result of an action?

Change the sentences into sentences with participle clauses:

1. You should decide who you support before you vote.
2. In Goodbye, Lenine! a Berliner is worried about his mother's health, so he hides the truth from her.
3. By 1992, communism had collapsed and was replaced by a new market economy.
4. People believed his slogans and voted for him.
5. We hope for a better future and we are doing our best to bring it closer.
6. She was the first black woman to win a beauty contest and she felt really amazed.
7. The film was directed by a Polish producer and it shows a political divide in his country.
8. In the 18th century slavery was taken for granted. In the 19th century it was abolished.
9. The new president inherited a country in turmoil and is facing big challenges.
10. The predecessor /ˈpriːdɪˌsesə(r)/ couldn't put up with his own defeat and accused his rival of rigging the election.

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍