January 20, 2009
What does today mean to America?
By Laura Jensen
Obama won the election on
November 4, 2008
Americans felt strong emotions.
Election Day, November 4, 2008
It was exciting!
The Obamas:
November 4, 2008
It was historic.
The Obamas & the Bidens
(By the way, Jill Biden is a community college English teacher.)
There were ten weeks between the election on
November 4 and the inauguration--the day
Obama officially becomes President.
Today: The Inauguration of
Barack Obama,
our first African-American President!
Our History:
Why is this such a big deal?
What is the US Constitution?
History of voting rights in the United States:
Who elects our Presidents?
US Constitution
(1787: gave voting rights to some white men)
15th Amendment to the Constitution
(1870: gave voting rights to black men)
19th Amendment to the Constitution
(1920: gave voting rights to women)
Civil Rights Movement
(1965: Voting Rights Act)
Slavery
was legal in parts of the United States
until the Civil War (1861-1865)
The Civil War: 1861-1865
• Slavery was legal in the South, but many people
in the North wanted it to end.
• After the 1860 election, the South decided to
leave the United States and start a new country.
• President Abraham Lincoln wanted all the states
to stay in one country.
• The North and the South fought each other in a
bloody civil war.
Abraham Lincoln
US President, 1861-1865
Can you find President Lincoln in your wallet?
The Civil War: Free States & Slave States
Before the Civil War, the United States consisted of 19 free states,
15 slave states, and several territories.
Eleven slave states left the Union and made up the Confederate States of America.
The remaining 23 states and the territories fought for the Union.
The Civil War:
“A Harvest of Death”
More than 600,000 people were killed.
Sometimes brothers fought against brothers.
It was a terrible time, but finally the North won.
The Civil War ended slavery…
…but not discrimination.
So…almost 100 years later,
the Civil Rights Movement began.
People fought for equality for all Americans.
People wanted to end the tricks that stopped
some Americans from voting.
One question on the “literacy” test: How many bubbles in a bar of soap?
People often sang the song,
“We Shall Overcome.”
What does it mean to overcome?
What were these Americans trying to overcome?
shall = will
President Johnson used these words in a speech
to help pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
"It is wrong—deadly wrong—
to deny any of your fellow
Americans the right to vote . .
. We have already waited
100 years and more, and the
time for waiting is gone . . .
We Shall Overcome! "
This law helped all citizens vote.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
listened to that speech with tears in his eyes.
President Johnson surprised many people that night. As a young man,
Johnson taught the children of migrant workers in Texas. However, after
that time, he had not always worked very hard for civil rights.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
is a hero of the Civil Rights Movement.
Dr. King was a
minister. He was
killed in 1968.
We celebrated his
birthday yesterday.
That is why you had
no school!
Dr. King gave many famous speeches that
made people think about justice.
1963
Dr. King is standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC
The Washington Mall
Washington, DC
•The Capitol
Building
•The Washington
Monument
•The Lincoln
Memorial
“I Have A Dream”
is his most famous speech.
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of
Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former
slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of
brotherhood.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day
live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of
their skin but by the content of their character.”
1963
Most Americans know at least part of this speech.
They say that…
Rosa sat so
Martin could walk.
Rosa Parks
Montgomery Bus Boycott
1955-1956
Martin Luther King
March on Washington
1963
Martin walked so
Obama could run.
Civil Rights March
1968
Obama campaigning at a
community college in 2008
Obama ran so
our children could fly...
Yes We Can!
When Barack Obama takes the oath of office
today, he will use the same Bible Lincoln used.
He will be the first
President to use it
since 1861.
Civil rights organizers at the Lincoln
Memorial, 1963
Michelle Obama’s family has traveled through history
from this white house…
Michelle Obama’s great-great-grandfather once lived in one
of these slave cabins that are still on this South Carolina farm.
…to this White House!
This will be Barack, Michelle, Malia, and
Sasha Obama’s home for the next four years.
(By the way, slaves helped to build the White House in the 1700s.)
It is a time for Americans to think about both
the past and the future of our nation.
1963
2009
To many Americans, it seems like Dr. King’s
dream is finally coming true.
future tense
present perfect tense
Americans are proud of this progress.
Today is a day to CELEBRATE!!!
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=26525811