Final project

What does freedom really mean? That's the question we've been exploring all semester through films, documentaries, mock trials, and more. We ended up breaking down each component of our learning journey.

Movies and Documentaries

Throughout the semester, we watched two major films and four documentaries . The films Gone with the Wind and In the Heat of the Night  provided us with a better understanding of topics we were studying, including women's rights and racial segregation. These movies gave us an opportunity to reflect on the material in a more emotional and visual way. The documentaries were equally impactful. We learned about the Reconstruction era, which represented America's greatest opportunity to truly become a land of freedom and equality. We explored the domestic slave trade and its devastating effects on families and communities. The documentary on the Great Migration showed us how African Americans sought freedom by moving north, only to face continued racial segregation in housing and employment discrimination. 

Blogs

The key things I took away from the blog posts were time management, creative writing skills, and the important use of AI. During the semester I liked how each blog post was a little bit different. Some being fully AI, with some tweeks here and there, and others being all our original words. The ones with all my own words on what I observed from watching the movies helped me get creative with my writing and the ones that were AI helped me get creating using AI. knowing the right way to talk to it to get me the right information. 

Mock trials/ Eoto

When we did the mock trials I felt very engaged when listing and presenting  it gave me a better understanding of the topic. Using Ai to create the script was also very interesting. Also when we had a trial on plessy vs ferguson that was really cool when one group argued for segregation while the other argued against it, which forced us to understand both perspectives deeply. I like that we had to dress in proper attire and speak to class like  we were in an actual court room.This level of professionalism made me take the material seriously and truly understand the legal arguments that shaped American history. When we presented and did the research and talked to the class about the topic helped give us a better understanding about it. It was much more engaging than sitting through a lecture because I was able to teach myself and get an understanding in order to teach everyone else. I also think that by doing an EOTO, it made me more comfortable presenting and talking in front of a larger group of people. 

Use of AI

Using Ai was a big thing that changed how we  presented our work and how more organized it made everything. When making the script it made it really easy with fitting all the information into the certain time frame that I wanted it to be .  It was a really good tool even when we had made videos there were definitely some cons though when we ended up making the videos AI put pictures that didn't relate to the topic at all. Another con with ai was that sometimes it wouldn't give us all the information that we needed.which meant we had to carefully review everything and make corrections.

Looking back on this semester, this course taught us to balance traditional learning with modern technology. AI was a valuable tool for organizing our work and creating scripts, but we learned its limitations too. The moments when AI fell short taught us we had to get creative on how to manipulate it to give us the work that we want. As we leave this course, we take with us not just historical knowledge, but skills in presenting, writing, research, and AI that will serve us well beyond this classroom. Thank you for your time.

Mock trial reaction post

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case asked a fundamental question: Should states be allowed to separate children in schools by race? The arguments on both sides revealed deep divisions in American society.

Arguments Against Segregation

Those challenging segregation built their case on the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, arguing that "all men are created equal" must apply to education. They presented powerful evidence that segregated schools were far from equal. Black students attended schools with broken windows and received poor education while white students enjoyed better facilities and resources. The median income for Black families was significantly lower than white families, perpetuating cycles of poverty through educational inequality.

Beyond physical conditions, opponents of segregation argued it caused psychological damage to children. When you separate students by race, they don't understand the concept of working together or seeing each other as equals. Segregation divides communities and teaches children that some people are inferior based on skin color. Furthermore, they argued that segregated schools divided the entire nation, making true unity impossible. The law established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) claiming "separate but equal" had failed schools were separate but never equal.

School children stand in line at the
Barnard School in Washington, D.C., in May of 1955

Arguments Supporting Segregation

Defenders of segregation relied heavily on precedent and tradition. They cited Plessy v. Ferguson's "separate but equal" doctrine, claiming the Constitution protects equal rights without requiring integration. Some even invoked biblical arguments supporting separation of races.

Parents testified that segregation kept their children safe at school. They warned of practical consequences: wealthy white families would remove their children from integrated schools, and the transition would cause massive job losses, leaving many Black workers unemployed. Justice, they argued, should honor tradition rather than impose sudden social change.

The Verdict's Impact

The Supreme Court ultimately ruled unanimously that segregated schools violated the 14th Amendment, declaring that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. This decision acknowledged that segregation's true harm went beyond physical facilities. It damaged children's hearts and minds, making equal education impossible.

Ai disclousure- used Claude ai to organize the notes I took from the mock trial. put in pictures and added subheadings and links.

Heat of The Night Reaction Post

 

After Watching Heat Of The Night for the first time It surprised me so much because I was expecting it to be a classic movie about crime. But it then turned into a really deep story about racism and injustice.  In the first couple of clips they really showed the true meaning of separate but equal which i found very interesting. The setting was a really big part of the movie because it was very tense and uncomfortable but it was really effective because It showed what the african americans faced at that time.

Virgil Tibbs and His impact

Virgil Tibbs

The character that played the biggest  impression  on me overall was Virgil Tibbs, that was played by the actor Sidney Potier. His detective skills were very smart when he was handling everything. He was overall just a really confident man. But When a lot of the townspeople and police thought he was the suspect just because he was black I wasn't shocked I just thought I was not fair just because of his race. But I really liked how he refused to give up even after he knew what  they thought of him. He stayed really calum and really determined and I liked that he didn't get angry . My opinion on him i was really the same thought the whole movie I liked how he was very professional and stayed that way which showed how capable he was. The acting was so good throughout the movie and how he portrayed himself.

The relationship between the officer tibs and The chief Gillespie was very interesting. I found it a little weird at first Gillespie wanted nothing to do with him at all because he was just annoyed by  his presents. but after when they started working together a little more to solve the murder he starts respecting him more. Another thing that I found very interesting was how the movie showed all the women in the movie and how they portray women's rights with how they suffered so much at this time  like with Mrs Colbert which was wealthy but had absolutely no power, Delores and Mama Caleba.  I didn't like how delores was so judged because of all the men surrounding her.  

One scene that was truly unforgettable was when endicott instantly slapped tibbs in the greenhouse , and he immediately slaps him back. It really showed how bold this sene was. It represented the breaking of a racist power. But how tibbs slaps back because he did not want to be humiliated he wanted to feel respected.

Endicott and Tibbs

Conclusion 

Overall after watching the movie I felt that it was more then just a crime story it was about how much courage these characters had and the justice they got back in the end. Honestly all the characters made the movie that is still very important today. It really show how much segregation harmed everyone at that time. 

Video Reaction Post

The period following the Civil War marked both promise and peril for African Americans. In 1881, Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, emphasizing vocational training, farming trades, and the importance of hard work. Washington believed practical skills would help African Americans gain economic independence and social acceptance.

Booker T. Washington

However, the nation faced dramatic setbacks. Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth on Good Friday 1865 was a single gunshot that changed the nation's trajectory. Booth had changed his plans from kidnapping to assassination, ultimately altering the entire course of Reconstruction. Without Lincoln's vision for compassionate reconciliation, efforts to maintain white supremacy intensified, sparking intense conflicts that would last for generations.

The end of slavery brought four million people into civilian life, but freedom came with brutal challenges. Sharecropping became the new system of exploitation as plantations were divided into small crops. Freedmen had to buy supplies on credit and most sharecroppers ended each season deeply in debt, trapped in a cycle barely different from slavery itself.

Sharecropping 

Despite these obstacles, Black political participation during Reconstruction (1865-1877) was remarkable. The passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865 abolished slavery, and Black men gained the right to vote. They rushed to register and served as city council members, proving their commitment to democratic participation. However, they faced constant violence and systematic efforts to prevent them from electing officials.

The limitations of Reconstruction eventually pushed African Americans to seek freedom elsewhere. The Great Migration, spanning 1916-1970, saw approximately six million African Americans leave the South to move north and west. They found work in factories and transformed entire American society. Cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit saw their African American populations increase dramatically.

The Great Migration

Yet even in the North, migrants faced racial segregation in housing and employment discrimination. The journey proved that African Americans would seek freedom anywhere they could find it, refusing to accept the oppression of Jim Crow. Their determination to build better lives, whether through education at places like Tuskegee or through migration to northern cities, demonstrated an unwavering commitment to claiming the freedom that had been promised but never fully delivered.

ai disclosure- used claud ai to put the notes that I had into a blog post, put pictures from the slides, put links in and adding headings to show the topics that I was talking about.

EOTO Group 1 Reaction Post

Legal Oppression and Broken Promises

The end of the Civil War in 1865 should have marked the beginning of true freedom for African Americans. Instead, the Reconstruction era became a period of systematic oppression where newly freed people faced laws, violence, and intimidation designed to maintain white supremacy.

Black Codes emerged during Reconstruction as Southern states' primary tool for controlling newly freed African Americans. These laws demonstrated that legal freedom without equality is meaningless. Black Codes banned African Americans from voting, owning firearms, and exercising basic civil rights. 

Legal discrimination extended even into personal relationships through anti-miscegenation laws that banned interracial marriage. These laws violated the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection, yet they remained on the books for decades. They represented another way white supremacy attempted to control Black lives by dictating who people could love and marry.

Violence and Terror as Tools of Control

While Black Codes represented legal oppression, the Ku Klux Klan provided the violent enforcement. Founded in 1865 in Tennessee immediately after the Civil War ended, the KKK targeted African Americans and their white supporters. The organization deliberately chose costumes designed to look like ghosts or spirits, exploiting superstitions to maximize fear. This psychological warfare worked—African Americans became terrified to speak publicly or exercise their rights because of KKK threats and violence.

The KKK's most horrific weapon was lynching. Between the 1880s and 1930s, lynching peaked as a tool to terrorize Black Americans throughout the South. Over 4,000 documented Black victims died from lynching, though the actual number was likely higher. These public murders served as brutal reminders that white supremacists would use extreme violence to maintain racial hierarchy.

The KKK

Not all Reconstruction-era developments were negative. Carpetbaggers, Northern opportunists who moved South after the Civil War, played complex roles. While Southerners viewed them negatively and blamed them for various problems, many carpetbaggers actually contributed positively by working with freedmen and Southern Republicans. They helped establish public school systems throughout the South, creating educational opportunities that hadn't existed before. However, anti-carpetbagger sentiment eventually contributed to Reconstruction's end as white Southerners rejected Northern influence.

The Reconstruction era was also marked by significant national tragedy. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, at Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth. Booth fled and evaded capture for twelve days before being found and killed on April 26, 1865. Lincoln's death was devastating because he had advocated for more compassionate Reconstruction policies. His successor, Andrew Johnson, proved far less sympathetic to African American rights.

The Reconstruction era reveals a painful truth: ending slavery was just the first step in a much longer struggle for true equality. Black Codes, the KKK, lynching, and discriminatory laws all worked together to deny African Americans the freedom they had technically been granted. Legal emancipation proved incomplete without economic opportunity, political power, physical safety, and genuine social equality. The violence and oppression of Reconstruction cast long shadows that America continues confronting today.

ai disclosure- used claud ai to put the notes that I had into a blog post, put pictures from the slides, Put links in  and adding headings to show the topics that I was talking about

Reconstruction era video

The Reconstruction era represented America's greatest opportunity to truly become a land of freedom and equality. When Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in 1865, the nation faced fundamental questions: Who is a citizen? What rights would formerly enslaved people have? The answers would shape America for generations.

Over 180,000 Black soldiers had fought for the Union during the Civil War, yet they still had few legal rights after the war ended. The 13th Amendment, which passed Congress in January 1865, abolished slavery, but freedom meant more than just not being enslaved. As Frederick Douglass and others argued, true freedom required land ownership and economic independence. 

 

The plans

President Abraham Lincoln had spoken about reconstruction plans, but his assassination on Good Friday 1865 changed everything. His successor, Andrew Johnson, proved to be no friend to Black Americans. Johnson gave Southern states a free hand in controlling the Black community, leading to the creation of oppressive Black Codes that recognized slavery's end in name only while severely restricting Black people's rights.

White Southern resistance was fierce and violent. The Ku Klux Klan formed to terrorize Black communities and strip away their newfound freedoms through nighttime attacks. White Southerners never believed Black people would become their equals and fought bitterly against change. Southern states even refused to ratify the 14th Amendment for a year, forcing Congress to exclude Southern delegates until they complied.

The period saw both incredible achievement and crushing setbacks. Formerly enslaved people placed ads in newspapers searching for family members torn apart by slavery. The 1866 Civil Rights Bill passed, granting citizenship rights. Yet Edward Pollard's "Lost Cause" narrative began rewriting history, claiming the North had violated Southern rights.

               The Lost Cause(1866)

The three years following the Civil War were simultaneously the most hopeful and most violent period of Reconstruction. One hundred years after emancipation, Black Americans were still fighting for the basic rights that should have been guaranteed during this era. Reconstruction left a complicated legacy one of both inspiring progress and devastating violence that reminds us how difficult true social change can be.

Recent events, like the 2015 Charleston massacre committed by a 21 year old white supremacist, show that the racial tensions from Reconstruction still echo today. The unfinished work of Reconstruction continues.

Reconstruction Video

ai disclosure- used claud ai to put the notes that I had into a blog post

Plessy v Ferguson Economic Destruction

When we talk about segregation , it's usually about the moral arguments and civil rights. But there's another angle that doesn't get talked about as much  segregation was actually terrible for the economy. Looking at the Plessy v. Ferguson case from 1896, you can see how Louisiana's segregation laws didn't just hurt people  they hurt the state's economy too.

Everything Had to Be Built Twice

Think about how expensive it would be if every business had to build two of everything. That's basically what segregation required. Louisiana needed duplicate rail cars, separate waiting rooms, two different schools, different hospitals literally two of everything. All of this cost a ton of money that could have been spent on actually improving things other than duplicating things.

Separate bathrooms for whites and blacks

The railroad companies were especially upset about this. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad actually refused to follow the law at first because it was so crazy  expensive. They had to buy extra train cars, build new facilities, and hire more workers just to keep people separated. When businesses are actively fighting against a law because it's killing their profits, that's a pretty good sign the policy doesn't make economic sense.

Segregation also messed up Louisiana's job market in a major way. Qualified workers couldn't get hired for positions just because of their race, which meant less productivity overall. Black business owners couldn't open shops in good locations, which meant less competition and innovation. The state was basically shooting itself in the foot by limiting an entire group of people from contributing to the economy.

Meanwhile, Northern states that didn't have these laws were doing way better economically. They were growing their industries faster and getting more investment because investors didn't want to deal with all the legal headaches that came with segregation laws.

Louisiana's Image Problem

Segregation also made Louisiana look bad to the rest of the country and the world. Business investors from the North and Europe saw these laws as backwards and didn't want to invest in a state that seemed stuck in the past they were more focused about the present. Talented people both Black and white started leaving Louisiana for states that had better opportunities and fewer discriminatory laws. All those doctors, lawyers, engineers, and entrepreneurs who left took their skills and money with them.

Even tourism took a hit. Cities like New Orleans lost out on conventions and visitors because people didn't want to deal with complicated segregation rules. Those tourists and business travelers went to cities like Chicago and New York instead, taking their money with them.

On top of all the economic damage, the state had to spend extra money enforcing segregation laws. Police, inspectors, and courts all cost taxpayer money. Louisiana was literally spending resources to prosecute people like Homer Plessy for just sitting in a train car. That money could have been used for actual problems like crime, roads, or education. They were just spending money to spend money.

The whole situation shows that segregation wasn't just morally wrong it was economically stupid. It wasted money, hurt productivity, scared away investors, and made the state look bad. Removing these kinds of barriers would have let the economy work better and let everyone contribute. Louisiana might have lost this argument in court in 1896, but looking back, it's pretty clear they were right about the economic costs and the whole situation.

AI Disclosure:  , I used Claude AI, Wikipedia to smooth the text and format it in a readable way. I then edited the Ai generated text a little. I added photos. broke up the text with subheadings and added links to some of the sources I got the information from.