Category: 20th Century

When we think of nationalism today, we typically react to nationalism’s negative connotation pertaining to white supremacy which is inextricably tied to the racist history and fabric of the United States. However, What is black nationalism? It is important that we contextualize what it is especially as it pertains to the 19th and early 20th centuries. Therefore, we use an excerpt from Author Tommie Shelby of Harvard University that posits, “ Black nationalists advocate such things as black self-determination, racial solidarity and group self-reliance, various forms of voluntary racial separation… militant resistance to antiblack racism…and the recognition of Africa as the true homeland of those who are racially black. “ (Shelby). This contextualization is important because it will help us identify what constitutes the ideology of black nationalism and will be used as a categorical basis to tie in the arguments of those not necessarily known as black nationalists in the 19th century and demonstrate that they were in fact at least significant contributors to its ideological elements. For example, we know of Marcus Garvey and Nation of Islam as its most notable influencers but we know little of the contributions of David Walker and Lewis Woodson when it comes to their contributions to black nationalism. Thus I will explain how and when black nationalism grew and spread as both an ideology and political practice then examine the lives of its overlooked proponents and conclude on those who have remained significant and notable to Black Nationalism during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

We began by examining the first critical period of black nationalism which is the early 1800’s, a critical period where scholars such as Alphonso Pinkney assert that Black Nationalism spread as an ideology because African’s weren’t viewed as a people. He posits, “ It is quite conceivable that if the Africans who were brought to America had initially been responded to simply as people, the nationalist sentiment would not have developed among them.” (Pinkney) He argues that whites are the colonizers and blacks are the colonized, thus he says, blacks are aware of their conditions of degradation and says they resent it, thus will always use whatever means necessary to escape these conditions. He asserts that black nationalism was thus a means of escape and a final resort to solving their problems. Hence, this is how the advocacy we see for emigration, forming nations within nations, self-determination, controlling one’s own destiny that remains central to black nationalist ideology is borne and spread.

This brings us into the early 19th century where one important name stands out, his name is David Walker. Although Walker is well known for his Appeal, he is not lauded for his contributions to the black nationalist ideology. Thus, I focus on his work in this particular period because it would provide the initial substratum of black nationalist ideology in the early 19th century. Remember around this time, David Walker is inundated with frustrations on the condition of enslaved African Americans which would eventually influence his most notable work, “David Walker’s Appeal”. An appeal lauded as the “first written assault on slavery”, an assault that would essentially “ask of African American slaves to rise up against their slave masters and oppressors and fight back”. (Stuckley). However, it is also in Walker’s Appeal, where we first see remnants of black nationalist thought and his encouragement of blacks to embody the philosophy of self-governance. To corroborate this assertion, Sterling Stuckley, author of “The Ideological Origins of Black Nationalism” argues that Walker’s first formulation of black nationalist ideology was his call for black nationhood, which is published in Freedom Journal. (Stuckley) He then says one of his most explicit calls for such is in his Appeal when he says, “Our sufferings will come to an end….Then we will want all the learning and talents, and perhaps more, to govern ourselves.’ (Walker). Thus, Stuckley who has written Walker extensively demonstrates that although David Walker is overlooked as a very significant contributor to Black Nationalism, the excerpts from his own work demonstrate that his writings are significant in engendering the ideological underpinnings of Black Nationalism and its ideology, that we know of today.

Additionally one of Walker’s most ardent supporters around 1843 is Henry Highland Garnet which is important because it demonstrates just how influential Walker was to Garnet. According to Stuckey, he says that “Garnett and others found Walker’s focus on the need for black autonomy of particular interest.” (Stuckley) Garnet’s similarly made an appeal to slaves to ultimately redeem their power and overthrow their slave’s masters. Garnet also made a case for racial unity, nationhood, and self-reliance in his “Address to the Slaves” when he posited, “ Brethren, the time has come when you must act for yourselves…you can plead your own cause, and do the work of emancipation better than any others.” (Garnet; Marable, pp 59) However, what is not well known and highlighted when discussing Garnet is the fact that he also believed that blacks should move to separate “settlements [and] form their own settlements” and “determine their own destiny as a prescription to their ills”. (Stuckley) Thus, demonstrating that he advocated explicitly for the ideological elements of black nationalist thought in this period.

In contrast, there are two names often overlooked but that have been responsible for contributing to the ideological foundations of black nationalism around the 1840s. The first name we know little of is, Alexander Crummel who is another firm subscriber to Walker’s call for self-autonomy and self-governance in the 1830s and 40’s. Crummel is known for his writings while in Liberia but is important because he created what is called Pan-Africanism, which is an ideology that calls for the unification of African’s all over the globe. This can be substantiated in his writings in The Future of Africa, where he posits the following,” believing that all men hold some relation to the land of their fathers, I wish to call attention to the sons of Africa in America, to their relations and duty to the land of their fathers.” (Crummel)This is very important to highlight because it demonstrates the ideological elements of Black Nationalism in regards to calling for unity. Arguably one of the most important figures and contributors to black nationalism that we know little of is Lewis Woodson who was most significant in influencing the father of black nationalism, Martin Delany. Lewis Wilson of mixed race was born a slave and garnered his freedom later in life began to analyze “the political and social plight of African Americans… an all-encompassing spiritual and economic program directed toward mitigating their oppression. “(Tate, pp.213) According to Stuckey, “Woodson contributed to the development of black nationalist ideology significantly between 1837 and 1841.”(Stuckey). Lewis Woodson according to Stuckley, was a leading figure that not only comes before Delany but will also eventually go on to influence Martin Delany’s work, yet we know so little of his contributions. One of the reasons may be because he went by a pseudonym called “Augustine” when he published one of his most notable writings entitled, “Moral Work for Colored Men”, where Woodson posits the following, “ So as long as we admit of other’s taking the lead in our moral improvement and elevation we can never expect it to be of our wish and/or desire.” (Stuckley) This demonstrates his focus on self-reliance. Furthermore, the most striking fact about Woodson, is that although Martin Delany is often lauded as the father of black nationalism, historian Floyd Miller considered Lewis Woodson the Father of Black Nationalism because he viewed Woodson as the forerunner of black nationalism while also being Delany’s teacher when he posits the following, “ Martin R. Delany, a recent arrival to the city, was one of Woodson’s first students.” (Miller). The implications here in regards to Woodson and Crummel demonstrate the conflicting nature in regards to whom which scholar viewed as most significant for contributing to the ideology of black nationalism.

Now that we have painted a much more complete picture of those who had an influence on the ideological elements of black nationalism, we move forward into the work of Martin Delany who is lauded as a renaissance man, known for his works in scholarship, medicine, activism, and politics. According to Manning Marable editor of “Let Nobody Turn Us Around”, Martin Delany would also become known as “a major theoretical and political architect of what we call today black nationalism”. (Marable). However the question still remains, why is Martin Delany lauded as the father of black nationalism, when so many significant scholars came before him and influenced him? The answer is vague but it could be because he worked alongside Fredrick Douglas and this could have resulted in his work being distributed on a larger scale. For instance, after Delany becomes convinced that Blacks and Whites cannot co-exist, it compels him to write and publish his most notable work entitled, “The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered” in 1852. In this published work, he holds that” blacks could never achieve equality with whites in the US.” Because he says, “Our elevation must be the result of self-efforts, and work of our own hands. ” (Marable, pp. 72) His notoriety could also be because of his association with the National Emigration Convention where he would ultimately call for emigration from the US to Central America because he posits that if Africans relocate to Central America it would then give them a chance to build new lives. Consequently, one of Delaney’s most stringent opponents would be the American Colonization Society which consisted of a society of abolitionists who focused on buying and freeing slaves and sending them to Liberia. Delaney vehemently opposed their work because he viewed their focus on the deportation of free blacks to Liberia as a way of maintaining the system of slavery and keeping free blacks dependent. Overall, this incredible body of work could speak to why Delany was possibly more known than those before him.

Lastly, transitioning into the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, the work of those aforementioned would all ultimate into the work of Bishop Henry M. Turner of the African Methodist Episcopal church. When Delany died, he became the leading spokesman for the resettlement of blacks to Africa because he was angered about the failure of reconstruction and implementation of Jim Crow laws. Turner thus became a harsh critic of the United States and urged blacks not to join the army or form any allegiance with the country. Turner also supported a bill which was a governmental effort to provide transportation for any African American wanting to become a citizen of a new country because he posited that “it will allow a thousand self-reliant black men to go where they can work out their own destiny.” (Marable pp.31) Which ties him directly to the black nationalist ideology. Turner’s opposition was Booker T Washington because of Washington’s accommodationist leanings he declared in his “Atlanta Compromise” in 1895. Washington asked blacks to tolerate racism and discrimination and opposed Emigration whereas Turner was for Emigration and opposed Washington’s accommodationist worldview.

In summation, now that we have familiarized ourselves with the ideological origins of black nationalism, what its proponents advocated for, the names of those we often overlook when discussing contributions to black nationalism, we get a full picture of all of those who have had a vital and significant role in their contribution to and influence of black nationalists ideology, even down to their opposition. Their contributions, arguments, conflicts, all led to the expansion of the ideological elements of black nationalism during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Looking forward, according to Alphonso Pinkney, he posits that even after the civil war, if the wrongdoings exacted on African Americans in the United States were redressed and attended to, that Black Nationalism wouldn’t have continued to persist but it unfortunately has. Thus, demonstrating that Black Nationalism will continue to exist just as long as the wrongdoings of African Americans in the US and globally are not addressed. It also speaks to how the contributions discussed in this essay were all essential to influencing the work of contributors like Marcus Garvey and the NOI, who are most notable for Black Nationalism today.

Censorship has a long history. Already in church music dating back to the 18th century, which was created to complement worship, it is possible to find evidence of music control. If religious habits were changed, such as in England during the Reformation or in revolutionary France, music that was contrary to the new order disappeared and was no longer played. In a society dominated by a monarch or a strong totalitarian organization, the supreme person also determines which pieces of music will be played and which will not. For example, Karl Heinrich Graun’s operas became very popular in the 18th century as they were sponsored and often co-authored by King Frederick the Great of Prussia himself. However, the above authorities cannot be called a censor who follows a modification of a composition, an ideological and moral tendency, a political belief, and the race of the author of the composition. While the creation of music was encouraged by the monarch or patron, censorship was small. The change began with the era of romanticism, but most powers were given to censorship in the 20th century when totalitarian regimes began to control all aspects of national life. Because of their convictions, composers could even end up in jail or be assassinated, and their compositions were banned. Censorship was systematically applied to music in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). This essay is devoted to the topic of censorship of classical music of the 20th century under this regime.

Music life in the USSR after the revolution in 1917 was very active and progressive, contemporary music was played in concerts and opera houses. Alongside the revolution in society, there was also a revolution in art. The period of complete creativity began, and in the 1920s Russia produced the most daring compositions of that time. A great example is Arseny Avraamov’s ‘Symphony of Factory Sirens’. Contemporary music organizations were established in both St. Petersburg and Moscow. Russian classical music composers were able to get acquainted with the latest trends in the Western world, such as jazz and new composing techniques, as P. Hindemith, A. Berg, D. Milhaud, and others visited the Soviet Union in the 1920s.

To counteract the avant-garde associations, the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians (RAPM) was formed in 1923 to create music that, first and foremost, targets the masses and meets the requirements of revolutionary ideology. The main task of this organization is to cultivate vocal music and to create a new genre – a mass song with a topical theme. The association struggled with any manifestation of innovation and claimed that there was no need for composer education to create music for the nation. Initially in literature, later in music, the concept of socialist realism emerges, which the leader of the Soviet Communist Party and cultural ideologist Andrei Zhdanov sets as the standard and goal in the works of Soviet artists. RAPM gradually became the most influential proletarian art promoter. There was a change in the music life – it was believed that the work of composers like Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Frederic Chopin had become redundant and even detrimental to the upbringing of the Bolshevik listener. It was considered sufficient to produce only mass songs for soldiers, sailors, and laborers, and the avant-garde was banned and declared anti-state. A massive wave of emigration began, with S. Rachmaninov, S. Prokofiev, A. Benois, A. Glazunov, V. Horowitz, J. Heifetz, G. Piatigorsky, and others.

In 1929, Stalin seized all the power in his hands. The new regime was a mechanism based on the cult of the Leader’s personality, the control of the media, and many secret agents. The regime’s ideology of censorship, like RAPM, was based on a collective vocal performance (a mass song) and an attack on the avant-garde – music had to reflect the collective feelings and the wisdom and power of the new proletarian policy, while the avant-garde was intended for a small audience and was therefore declared out of the law.

In the twenties, when capitalism prevailed, classical music composers had to compete with the mass culture spread by the new media. Composers whose existence over the centuries depended on the generosity of the church, the aristocracy, and the rich middle class, were suddenly deprived of secure financial support in the 20th century, and for some composers, the new totalitarian regime was beneficial, so not all the composers were against this regime.

After the collectivization and famine, Stalin promised new amenities in the early 30s to reassure citizens. Artists were instructed to express that life was getting better, and to encourage them to work in this direction, composers were granted healthcare and apartments in Moscow.

The next confrontation between the ruling regime and music dates back to 1936 when the newspaper ‘Pravda’ published an article ‘Muddle Instead of Music: On the Opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District’ about Dmitri Shostakovich’s opera, and in this article, Shostakovich was severely humiliated. This article was initiated by Stalin and it launched censorship attacks on all branches of the arts. The main editor of ‘Pravda’ was asked why Shostakovich was attacked: “We had to begin with somebody, Shostakovich was the most famous, and a blow against him would create immediate repercussions and would make his imitators in music and elsewhere sit up and take notice. We knew that he could stand the shock”. This attack mainly served as a general attempt at a new style of cultural control. Over-independent artists had to be belittled and intimidated, redirected with the threat of censorship, prison, and death. A part of Soviet citizens was publicly exposed and tried as enemies of the Soviet people, others were arrested and killed in secret, others found themselves in concentration camps, and others simply disappeared. Sergei Prokofiev, for example, was deprived of his passport in 1938 and could no longer leave the USSR. The presence of government spies was noticeable with clicks during phone calls and suspicious men in restaurants. This led to a special form of speech that had a dual meaning – direct and hidden. Shostakovich was a master of this style of speech, which he also used in music.

After the Second World War, the Soviet Union again experienced increased intervention by the Communist Party in culture and science. Since the campaign against Shostakovich in 1936, art has not received as much attention in official documents and mass media as in 1946, when a total elimination of the influence of Western culture was demanded. The attacks on cultural workers were officially published in party documents, for example, regarding the opera ‘The Great Friendship’ by V. Muradeli or in articles in the newspaper ‘Pravda’, like ‘Failed Opera’ about the opera ‘From All Our Hearts’ by G. Zhukovsky.

In 1948, a list of composers whose music was accused of formalism was published. Remarkably, this list was compiled by composers. The list included names such as D. Shostakovich, S. Prokofiev, N. Myaskovsky, A. Khachaturian, G. Popov, D. Kabalevsky, V. Shebalin, and Y. Shaporin, and they became victims of various types of attacks.

After J. Stalin’s death in 1953, there were some signs of liberalization in the USSR, but censorship still continued to be effective for many years to come.

In 1958, the Central Committee published an article ‘On the Correction of Errors in the Evaluation of ‘The Great Friendship’, ‘Bogdan Khmelnitsky’ and ‘From All My Heart’’, which acknowledged that composers on the list of 1948 were falsely named as representatives of anti-state formalism.

In the 1960s and 1970s attempts were made to rehabilitate Stalinism, and this time writers such as A. Solzhenitsyn and J. Brodsky suffered more than music-related artists.

The late 1980s – reorganization and openness, leading to the collapse of the USSR and the liberalization of art, and the disappearance of previous prohibitions. This period was also marked by the denial of the musical past, as the compositions featuring symbols of the previous regime were not played. Such a reaction at that time seemed natural.

A big part of the list of Soviet composers’ pieces was ‘forgotten’ – the one part deservedly, because the music gives an impression to the listener that the composer had written the work forcibly or to gain material wealth and a prominent position in the music community, the other part undeservedly, because the music clearly has symbols that are in stark contrast to the regime’s ideology. By ignoring such a musical past, we could lose many examples of high-quality music that could refresh the concert life.

The early 20th century was a time of significant change in domestic Interior spaces. In this period, Britain saw a vast improvement in the standard of living, despite having two great world wars occur and severe recessions. The transition from the Victorian to Edwardian times allowed many changes due to the development of gas and electrics, leading to new appliances becoming accessible for all classes gradually over the period in the 1900s. A space I believe in the 20th century that developed drastically was the kitchen, holding new appliances leading to new roles inside. The domestic kitchen is perceived as a predominantly female domain, being a women’s territory. Due to these changes, women’s roles were affected in the kitchen as the labor of many jobs regarding cooking and cleaning wasn’t needed. In this essay I will explore the development of modern kitchen appliances/fitted kitchens and whether this resulted in less housework for women, considering the theme of modernity. I will explore how this affected the identity of women, and explore the question: ‘Did the role of the housewife become easier?’.

The pace of domestic interior development in the 20th century was unstoppable. During the 1900s, the kitchen adapted to economic and societal changes, which embraced the advancements in technology, as well as style trends and family life. It was once seen as a service area only, separated from the social rooms of the house, becoming a versatile space for families to enjoy together. Before the Second World War, it was a rarity for anyone other than a woman to be seen in the kitchen. As it was considered a functional room, space was often extremely limited, looking utilitarian without aesthetics being the back room. The two world wars had a huge impact on the consumption of food, leading to the introduction of rationing. This only made the kitchen more of a place to functionally ‘fuel’ the family on barely anything, still keeping the design side to a bare minimum. After the war, many advancements were made due to the technology which was obtained through war efforts. Women gradually returned to work in their homes, which led to the desire for a better kitchen design. This is when the idea of the ‘fitted kitchen’ came into place; the idea of appliances becoming integrated within the cabinetry, creating a powerful transformation functionally and aesthetically.

In the early 20th century began to produce everything from cotton to steel, leading to mass-produced appliances for the kitchen finding their way into upper classes homes. Crucially, the cabinetry and the idea of fitted kitchens were produced in greater quantities being more affordable than ever before, allowing most homes to slowly introduce this change in their kitchen. One of the most popular storage units was the Hoosier cabinet, a space-saving unit that was known as a ‘kitchen piano’. The advert’s slogan – ‘Everything at her finger’s ends’ – sells the idea that the equipment and labor in the kitchen are in ‘hands reach’, making it much easier and more accessible for women to do their job. The Hoosier cabinet incorporated space-saving features such as upper and lower cabinetry, and in-cabinet storage spaces, and often featured a pullout work surface. Even though it wasn’t that large, it filled the storage void for the housewife, making jobs in the kitchen that much more efficient which is demonstrated in the image. A similar design to the Hoosier cabinet was the storage unit, which incorporates the storage of individual bins filled with rice, salt, tea, coffee, etc. The workflow within the space became much easier and gave the kitchen a place for a woman to have a sense of pride due to the cleanliness and neater decor. This was the beginning of the evolution of the 20th-century kitchen.

Towards the end of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century, manufacturers and industrialists took an interest in workplace efficiency, such as the kitchen for women. Business leaders were especially interested in increased productivity in the lead-up to the First World War, known as the Industrial Boom. It was said: “The idea of studying workers and their physical actions to assess economic efficiencies gradually filtered its way into the appliance and home design” (Reagan, A., 2015). The link between labor and design and the changes made minimized movement between these major kitchen tasks, meaning that the woman of the house could enjoy domestic work with greater ease. Reducing the number of steps required to move around the kitchen was novel and controversial. Fitted kitchens and the studies behind the structure of the kitchen decreasing movement were the starts of the debate behind whether the development in the kitchen made the job of the housewife easier.

In 1926, Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky designed the Frankfurt kitchen, with the design concept to enable efficient work, as well as being a low-cost build. It was known as a milestone in domestic architecture. The Frankfurt kitchen was a study in ergonomics that aimed to make kitchen tasks take shorter amounts of time. Multiple compartments and upper and lower cabinets created an assembly-line feel. The revolution of laying out the kitchen to make it more ergonomic and efficient for the homemaker eventually gave way to the ‘golden triangle’. The space was so small and accessible appliances and storage were within arms reach. Although this was a turning point in efficiency in the kitchen, the application of these principles made it become a lonely place for women being a ‘one worker’ space, due to the size. Everything was designed within arms reach, just like the Hoosier cabinet’s purpose, reducing steps. This diminished the social aspect and made the room purely for functioning purposes only, which caused controversy on the new designs and whether women actually preferred them like this. This also argued the fact that “the socializing aspect is central to the feeling of ‘homeliness’ in a kitchen” (Lloyd, J., Vasta, E., 2017, p.229). The new design of the kitchen, which was based around function, was a highly gendered project for the ways in which it sought to elevate women’s knowledge and position in society. This was criticized due to standardizing women as one and not taking into consideration the differences in all women, such as working patterns, abilities, and family size, as well as bringing in the generalization that a woman’s natural work was in the kitchen.

Catharine Beecher, best known as a domestic economist, discussed the plans for the model home in the future, creating the theory that servants would be replaced with the most advanced technology. She also speaks on how women could improve domestic efficiency with this. Beecher quoted: “It is impossible for a conscientious woman to secure that peaceful mind and cheerful enjoyment of life which all should seek, who is constantly finding her duties jarring with each other, and much remaining undone, which she feels she ought to do. In consequence of this, there will be a secret uneasiness, which will throw a shade over the whole current of life, never to be removed, till she so efficiently defines and regulates her duties that she can fulfill them” (Beecher, C., 1869, p.175). This touches on the fact that if the housewife continued to carry out the same day-to-day jobs within the house, they would never progress.

Domestic service in the first half of the 20th century had a compelling presence in British economic, cultural, and social life. Employment for women was at its highest of any labor market sector in Britain at the time, being servants working in other people’s houses. This led to relationships being built between the homeowner and servant, as they tended to live under the same roof. It was extremely common for the upper class to have a servant, due to the hard labor of maintenance in the house. This varied from cleaning and cooking to evening nannying – all at the same time. Although this was observed during the First World War, the decline of the servant in Britain was a slow process that was not really evident until after the Second World War, when electricity became present in most people’s homes. The decrease in servants was evident around post-war times, however not having a servant anymore in the home was never celebrated by the middle classes as a symbol of modernity. The servant wasn’t eliminated completely until the later 20th century, due to appliances still simply being non-affordable. The restriction of consumption was a dual problem of having no electricity supply, as well as the price. It was only after the Second World War that servants began to eventually decrease, although appliance companies were aware that until their products could achieve the dual function of fulfilling both practical and social needs, they would not replace the servant (Sparke, P., 1987, p.12).

Electrical appliances were invented with the idea of having your own ‘electrical servant’ being advertised as labor-saving replacements. The appliances weren’t initially intended to get rid of your servant, only to make working conditions easier by providing more efficient equipment. Once the possibility of electricity in the home was recognized, women began to discuss its future, uses arguing the general debate on if labor-saving actually saved time. “Many women were at the forefront of these labor-saving developments, as they were in a position to see the implications of these innovations” (Attfield, J., Kirkham, P., 1989, p.131). Middle-class women were eager to create organizations that debated how these new recourses were used, as well as the concern on how it would affect their economic and social impact. The Inglis advertisement, for instance, sells the idea of allowing women to be free of being the housework and the appliances doing all the work. The woman in the advert’s expression sells the dream of having free time, having a ‘holiday’, whilst still carrying out the housewives’ everyday chores. It also mentions the labor-saving idea of ‘saving steps, end’s ‘standing-by’’, and the fact that ‘you can enjoy the thrill of workless washdays without sacrificing economy and cleanliness’. The advertisements during the breakthrough of new electrical appliances can be seen as a form of propaganda, due to the misleading idea that ‘you’ll have more free time’.

The domestic role of women only became harder, as new expectations became present such as higher standards of cleanliness. This created even more housework, which in a sense kept the housewife in the home, not giving her free time at all. “Saved time should not only be used to educate and improve oneself to take a philanthropic role in the affairs of the community both socially and politically but even when one was already ‘electrically minded’ there was always more that could be learned and achieved” (Kyffin, E., 2011). This meant that women were always expected to be doing something else, as this is what they were ever used to, as a women’s work was always domestic. The hours gained, which were advertised as a time of leisure, were also seen as a time to carry out more domestic tasks, although of a different type to the domestic routines that were usually done day to day. It was suggested that women should spend the hours that were gained by electrification, creating homegrown produce, and cooking this themselves.

In organizations created by many upper-class women, feminist writers claimed that the mechanization of the housewife’s work has turned the role of the housewife into an alienated one (Sparke, P., 1987, p.12). Sparke suggests that the myth of the new woman freed by domestic appliances was essentially created by advertisers in the interwar period as a means of selling new appliances. As an example, an advert from 1952, with the slogan ‘You’ll have more free time with a McClary Kitchen’. It displays two women socializing, once again selling the idea of having free time instead of labor. The opening sentence states that the McClary appliances are designed to reduce work, give you more free time to bring you more beauty and convenience.

The controversy around the ‘labor saving’ myth led to the ideology of domestic labor to return to enclose production, it would be viewed as a waste of time that could be better spent doing something more pleasurable for herself. This means that due to the development in technology, there would be some mass-produced alternatives available for purchase. Some women denied the idea of labor-saving appliances and saw it as an opportunity to reclaim traditional skills lost during industrialization. They also tried to shape the idea that domestic work could be more creative and fulfilling, making the domestic worker more than just a machine minder. The new technology in the home appeared to enhance job satisfaction and task orientation, encouraging creativity through the use of food processors, blenders, and similar appliances in food service. “Due to the qualitative demands on the housewife were increased, and the dual notion of service arrived: the service performed by the machine for the housewife allowed the housewife to be more ready to service the family” (Kyffin, E., 2011). This again shows the ideology that the housewife’s job never became easier, only more expectations were made.

It could be argued that the design of the built-in kitchen was not just about changing the design for efficiency, but also about encouraging women to stay put. Due to the suffragette movement in the early 1900s, it was feared women would begin to find jobs outside the home, thus by changing the kitchen’s design and saving women the labor, they would stay where they ‘belonged’ in the eye of a man. Women’s domestic skills weren’t considered as an acceptance of social authority, instead were taken as an indication of their lack of ability, which affected their lack of ability in other social spheres.

To conclude, this essay has explored the ideology that the kitchen’s function over the 20th century evolved drastically, affecting the social aspect of a woman’s role, evaluating the concept that the housewife in fact did not become easier, only increased the expectations in regards to cleanliness and other tasks in the domestic space. The concept that the kitchen should be used for cooking was only part of the basic principle of modernity and typically the pragmatic approach to domestic management. Domestic service was not an old-fashioned or Victorian establishment, but it should be considered to be relatively modern, constantly redefined, and restructured as an absolutely vital feature of Britain in the 20th century. The kitchen today has been designed as not only functional but considered the main social space in the home. As opposed to kitchens in the early 20th century that were small and hidden, kitchens now have become much more open-planned, strategically placed within proximity to the living spaces, if not connected.

People say that we should never look back at the past because it is a waste of time and you will gain knowledge that you shall not need because it’s the future but they are wrong, these incidences that have happened in the past have now shaped our future and what we have now. There have been a lot of battles that have happened from World War 1 but the worst event was the Battle of Passchendaele, then, during the 20s the worst thing that happened was the Stock Market Crash, after when World War 2 came along the Battle of Hong Kong and Canadian POWs in Japan. These battles that they had to deal with are really incredible, so many lives were lost in Passchendaele, people lost so much money in the Stock Market Crash, and sending inexperienced people going to battle for their country and putting their life on the line.

Passchendaele was also known at the time as the third battle of Ypres, this historical battle took place in the first World War, July 31st to November 10, 1917. This battle was taking place in Belgium, and where the German had been staying there not moving for the past three years with the Allied armies, the specific spot the battle is was on the Ypres salient. On the 31st of July, the British were trying to capture a ridge near the destroyed village in Passchendaele by using a new offense they created to try and break through the German lines. After every troop had launched failed assaults including the countries such as Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, on the 26th of October the Canadian Corps decided to join the battle, 10 days later the Canadians captured the ridge (November 6) even though there was a lot of heavy rain pouring and shelling that had changed the battleground into a Quagmire(A very soft boggy area of land that gives way underfoot). Arthur Currie was the new commander of the Canadian Corps and he was the one that was ordered by Douglas Haig to bring all of his four divisions to Belgium, Currie had objected against bringing his troops because it would cost him about 16,000 men for no reason or no great strategic gain. However, in the end, he had little to say about what was going to happen because he was given orders. What happened now Arthur Currie knew what would happen and he lost almost all of his men for something that was pointless, the battle had so many deaths and injuries around 16,000(4000 killed) Canadians were killed or injured in that battle(over 275,000 British killed and 220,000 Germans killed). This battle did nothing for the allied effort instead it had become an image of the senseless slaughter that had happened on Passchendaele in World War 1.

The Stock Market Crash was really horrible for the people of North America at that time, late in October of 1929, a huge scare impounded the stock exchanges of North America. A party called the Capitalism speculative party, with all of its rising share prices and all of its celebrity millionaires, had just out of nowhere come to a complete stop. It was called The Great Crash or The Stock Market Crash, after this created a horrible event called the Great Depression. The Crash Began on October 24th, 1929, on Black Thursday. The next day on the front page of the Toronto Globe it said that there were stock speculations of the wild day of panic. The recovery was very hard after the crash because on October 29th, 1929, a day called Black Tuesday came around the corner and investors traded 16 million shares on the New York Stock Market Exchange in only one single day of it happening. It was incredible because Billions of dollars were lost because of it, which caused thousands of investors to wipe out. Also, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stocks in great excess of their real value. After Black Tuesday, North America and the rest of the industrialized world went down into the Great Depression, the longest and deepest long-lasting downturn of the Western industrialized world at that time.

In the second World War, the Canadian soldiers had their first engagement in battle while protecting the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong against any Japanese attacks that may come which was in December 1941. The Canadians that were in Hong Kong fought against outstanding odds and showed that they had the heart and courage of people that have been in the army for much longer than they were, they also had very limited to no time to train for this war. They had no chance of victory but they refused to surrender to the enemy until they were surrounded and/or overrun by the enemy. The British Colony surrendered on Christmas Day, December 25 is the day this horrible battle finished. Those who had survived were brought back to the Japanese and became prisoners of war and so many of them had to go through torture and starvation by the Japanese. The battle was only 17 days from December 8 to 25 of 194, Canada sent 2,000 troops to Hong Kong from Winnipeg and Quebec City with basically no training whatsoever. Over 290 Canadians had died in the war while they were on the battleground, but another 264 would have died from the horrendous conditions they went through at the Japanese prisoner of war camps.

Canada has had such a horrible 20th century, so many people lost their lives in the war of Passchendaele over 16,000 which is really hard to think about, and all the billions of dollars lost in the Stock Market Crash, and those people that were held captive and tortured after fighting and the extremely hard war they had just fought. People really take losing their lives for granted but the people that fought for Passchendaele did not care for what happened to them as long as their people are safe which is really inspiring. The Stock Market Crash made people lose so much money, and many people were not able to get a job. The battle of Hong Kong was really interesting because Canada sent over 2000 men over to a foreign country to fight a war they did not even train for. In the end, all of these amazing things that have happened in the past if they had never happened we would have never been where we are today.

Vaccination was hailed as one of the most important medical interventions of the 20th century, preventing up to 3 million pediatric deaths every year ( Diekema DS, 2005). In addition to saving millions of lives from infectious diseases, they prevent certain cancers and save billions of dollars in healthcare costs ( Loria K , September 11, 2014). Yet despite their benefits, a small population of parents refuses to vaccinate their children, believing that some or all of the vaccines are dangerous, resulting in outbreaks of diseases that we have almost eliminated in the United States.

There is a radical difference between families of undervaccinated children and unvaccinated children. A study examining 2001 National Immunization Survey (NIS) data showed that families of undervaccinated children are more likely to be black, with an unmarried younger mother in a household near the poverty level with more than 4 children (Smith PJ, Chu SY, Barker LE, 2004). Then again, groups of unvaccinated children will probably be white, with a wedded school instructed mother in a family surpassing a yearly pay of $75,000 (no information on dads were accumulated in the NIS reviews). Unvaccinated children were additionally more inclined to be male than female and much more probable than undervaccinated kids to originate from a family with in excess of 4 kids. These unvaccinated kids represented 0.3% (17,000) of US children somewhere in the range of 19 and 35 months old in 2001

According to the latest published NIS data, unvaccinated children remain at less than 1% of US population and vaccine coverage on average is high, with over 90% vaccine coverage for MMR, DTaP, polio, and hepatitis B (Figure Depicting Coverage with Individual Vaccines from the Inception of NIS, 1994 Through 2014, Reviewed August 27, 2015). For new routine vaccines like rotavirus and hepatitis A, vaccine coverage has been steadily climbing upward.

That being said, because unvaccinated children tend to be geographically grouped, they are more likely to be the source of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. For instance, in Washington state, county-level nonmedical vaccine exemption levels ranged from 1.2% to 26.9% and similar clustering of exemptions has been found in other states (Omer SB, Salmon DA, Orenstein WA, deHart P, Halsey N, 2009). Clustering has been known to be associated with school policies favorable to exemptions and beliefs of school personnel responsible for ensuring vaccine compliance (Salmon DA, Omer SB, Moulton LH, et al, 2005).

As a result of unvaccinated children living in the same community, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease occur and spread rapidly. For example, the 2003 outbreak of pertussis (a whooping cough) in New York was traced to four children whose parents decided against vaccination. The outbreak spread to a neighboring county in which five out of the first seven cases were of unvaccinated children (Klein M, October 29, 2003). In total, 54 cases of pertussis were recorded. A high number of those cases were of vaccinated children whose conferred immunity for pertussis had 4 naturally waned over time and were more susceptible to acquiring the disease from unvaccinated children.

This small subset of unvaccinated children has increased since the 1990s. Between 1991 to 2004, mean state-level exemptions for personal beliefs have increased from 0.99% to 2.54% while religious exemptions have remained steady at about 1% ( Omer SB, Pan WK, Halsey NA, et al, 2006). In a study of more than 2,000 parents, the most common reason reported for claiming vaccine exemption was concern that vaccines might cause harm (Salmon DA, Moulton LH, Omer SB, et al, 2005). Physicians have also reported that many have had a parent refuse at least one vaccination for their child and once a parent decides to forego vaccination, they are unlikely to change their decision even after learning that the risks of disease versus the risks of vaccination. As more parents claim personal belief exemptions, the clusters of unvaccinated children will continue to expand and increase the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks for both unvaccinated and vaccinated children whose immunity have waned, as seen in the case of the 2003 New York pertussis outbreak.

In summary, compared to parents of undervaccinated children who may have problems with healthcare access, parents who refuse vaccination on behalf of their children are well-educated and have the annual income to afford healthcare for their children, but ultimately decide not to vaccinate their children. Unvaccinated children are a small population (0.3%) compared to undervaccinated children (36.9%) but because they tend to live near one another, children without vaccinations become sites of a potential outbreak that affect populations beyond themselves (Smith PJ, Chu SY, Barker LE, 2004).

Along with the increasing number of families opting out of vaccination, some physicians have begun to turn away families who decline vaccination. In a 2012 survey of 282 pediatricians, 21% stated that they often or always dismissed families who refused at least one vaccination (O’Leary ST, Allison MA, Fisher A, et al, 2015). According to a national survey of members of the American Academy of Pediatrics, over 25% of physicians said they would choose to discontinue their provider relationship if parents refused permission for some vaccines (Flanagan-Klygis EA, Sharp L, Frader JE, 2005).

Because the current vaccine safety debate appears to offer two seemingly legitimate options for parents – one to vaccinate and one to not – vaccination becomes one of many 12 choices a parent must make regarding their child’s health. Their final decision to vaccinate, delay vaccination, or refuse vaccination is formed by exposure to public discourse on vaccine safety and of weighing the risks and benefits of possibly skewed evidence. The following two conversations are excerpted from Kaufmann’s parent interviews (Kaufmann SR, 2010). They illustrate the pervasive nature of vaccine safety talk and the resulting responsibility parents feel in making the ‘right’ choice about vaccines.

‘It’s hard to read about autism without coming across stuff on vaccines. My faith in mainstream medicine began to be significantly eroded when I started reading and through the parent networks. Ninety person of the information that is useful to me has come from parents… Again, I’m a very establishment person. Not on the left. So, for me to be converted says something… So, I’m mad at the pediatrician. I feel she didn’t give me accurate information, based on my own research.

‘I feel guilty that I didn’t do more research on vaccines. You can’t get away from the guilt, because you always need to do more reading, research. It goes on and on; it doesn’t end. The pressure to interview the doctor, to ask the doctor questions and more questions are always there. Because you have the responsibility, not just of minimizing risk, but also of optimizing the physical, social, and cognitive development of your child.” (mother of a child without developmental problems)

Once a parent has decided not to vaccinate their child, social mechanisms can reinforce like-minded ideas about vaccine refusal (Sobo EJ, 2015). In a 2015 ethnography conducted of California Waldorf private school parents, anthropologist Elisa Sobo shows that increased post-enrollment vaccine refusal was likely linked to the school culture, which embraced alternative views of health and education. After interviewing the primary caregivers of 17 families, Sobo noticed that some families with more than one child showed a drop-off in vaccination for each younger child. When questioned about vaccination, these parents and parents from her focus groups said that as they learned more about vaccines from the Waldorf community, they decided to stop vaccinating their children. Similar social networks like this particular school community may contribute to the geographic clustering of vaccine refusal, as these networks strengthen parents’ opinions and ultimately their decisions about vaccine safety.

In conclusion, a combination of effective public health communication, early and empathetic provider interventions, and restricted personal belief exemption policies may hold the answer to vaccine anxiety. Eliminating personal belief exemptions alone does not address the pervasive underlying vaccine anxiety that many parents have. Much of the work is on the provider to alleviate this anxiety and strengthen the provider-family relationship for future medical decisions. By understanding that vaccine anxious parents are making vaccination decisions based on conflicting information and that their decisions are likely reinforced by peer connections, providers can begin to see that a vaccine anxious parent’s perspective is not unreasonable or illogical. Lastly, by diagnosing the specific worries parents have, providers can start the conversation toward viewing vaccination positively.

References

1. Diekema DS. (2005). Responding to Parental Refusals of Immunization of Children. Pediatrics, 115(5): 1428-1431.
2. Loria K. (September 11, 2014). 7 Undeniable Reasons Opposition To Vaccines Is Deadly And Backwards. . . Business Insider.
3. Omer SB, Pan WK, Halsey NA, et al. (2006). Nonmedical exemptions to school immunization requirements: secular trends and association of state policies with pertussis incidence. JAMA, 296: 1757-63.
4. Figure Depicting Coverage with Individual Vaccines from the Inception of NIS, 1994 Through 2014. (Reviewed August 27, 2015). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
5. Flanagan-Klygis EA, Sharp L, Frader JE. (2005). Dismissing the family who refuses vaccines: a study of pediatrician attitudes. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, 159: 929-34.
6. Kaufmann SR. ( 2010). Regarding the rise in autism: vaccine safety doubt, conditions of inquiry, and the shape of freedom. Ethos, 38(1): 8-32.
7. Klein M. ( October 29, 2003). Whooping cough outbreak. Journal News.
8. O’Leary ST, Allison MA, Fisher A, et al. (2015). Characteristics of Physicians Who Dismiss Families for Refusing Vaccines. Pediatrics, 136(6): 1-9.
9. Omer SB, Salmon DA, Orenstein WA, deHart P, Halsey N. (2009). Vaccine Refusal, Mandatory Immunization, and the Risks of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases. N Engl J Med. , 360(19): 1981-1987.
10. Salmon DA, Moulton LH, Omer SB, et al. (2005). Factors associated with refusal of childhood vaccines among parents of school-aged children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, 159(5)470-6.
11. Salmon DA, Omer SB, Moulton LH, et al. (2005). Exemptions to school immunization requirements: the role of school-level requirements, policies, and procedures. Am J Public Health, 95: 436-40.
12. Smith PJ, Chu SY, Barker LE. (2004). Children Who Have Received No Vaccines: Who Are They and Where Do They Live? Pediatrics, 114(1): 187-195.
13. Sobo EJ. (2015). Social cultivation of vaccine refusal and delay among Waldorf (Steiner) school parents. Med Anthropol Q, 29(3): 381-399.

MTV was 1st launched on a weekday, August 1, 1981, with the phrase, “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll”, and therefore The 1st music video vie on MTV was “Video Killed and since terribly starting, MTV was designed as a platform for music videos. Before MTV, what the radio stations were taking part in nearly utterly settled that music was well-liked. MTV is additionally attributable with serving to create the Second British Invasion by including music videos from British artists United Nations agency was, at the time, manufacturing since then, MTV has been at the spearhead of youth and music culture. The channel introduced the Video Music Awards (VMAs), helped black artists break through the “color barrier” that had been holding several of them back, and has hosted music events as well as performances on New Year’s Eve.

With the increase of the Digital Age, today’s youth area unit is much more seemingly to see a music video on YouTube than they’re to attend for it to survive, MTV has touched far from taking part in music videos, relying instead on original comedies and reality shows, although the channel did recently announce that they might begin taking part in a lot of music videos once more on the series MTV Unplugged. Regardless of the recent decline in MTV’s quality, the footprint they need left behind on the music world and our culture at Giant is simple. Over the years, the MTV brand the primary MTV brand was designed in the Manhattan style in 1980. This original brand featured a rather abstract style of the letters “MTV” complete with a gloved hand holding a musical notation.

This logo, however, solely lasted for a year and was never truly around once MTV finally launched.mIn 1981, the channel switched its brand to a style a lot of kind of like the one we tend to area unit currently accustomed to. This was the brand employed by the station till 2010 the MTV began its transition far from taking part in music videos. At this time, the channel selected to get rid of the words “Music Television” from very cheap of the brand, although not abundant else concerning the brand modified aside from the very fact that the peak of the brand was pressed during a very little. The design of the MTV brand appearance is very like the look components you see in graffiti art.

This likeness to graffiti isn’t any coincidence, as each MTV graffiti faucet into several constant ideas of freedom and rebellion and each area unit is geared toward constant, another vital style part of the MTV brand is that the size and prominence of the “M” within the brand compared to the opposite 2 letters within the starting of MTV, the complete focus was on the music. It comes as no surprise, then, that the designers of the MTV brand selected to form the “M” within the brand rather more outstanding than the “TV”. The bottom brand is intended to exploit solely black text, although the channel has featured the brand in the form of colors throughout the years in numerous promos. This ability to vary the color theme of their brand can serve as a valuable selling tool for the channel, permitting them to remain as numerous because of the music they spotlight.MTV has long relied on its recognizable brand and therefore the channel it represents to maneuver music up and down the charts.

The MTV brand has been featured in a large form of products, starting from wear to duffel luggage to notebooks. MTV’s ability to launch product lines based nearly entirely on the recognition of their brand is in no way unusual; Aside from showing on product, though, verity testament to the recognition of the MTV brand is the impact that it’s helped leave on the music world. The MTV brand has been the quality channel that has been introducing North American countries to new artists and breaking barriers since 1981 During this manner, the MTV brand can forever be memorialized as one of the foremost necessary and well-liked symbols in popular culture.

A few days ago, I visited the V&A museum. What impressed me is this Evening’s trouser suit and blouse by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel (1883-1971). The trousers are made of net with sequins and the blouse is made from silk chiffon with lace and mother-of-pearl. It is worth mentioning that this object is worn and given by Mrs. Diana Vreeland who was a noted columnist and editor in the field of fashion. She worked for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. In 1964, she was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.

The reason why this suit impressed me is that: A trouser suit was a very daring choice for a woman in the 1930s. Chanel worked the pajama suit, first fashionable in the 1920s, and combined it with elements of a man’s tuxedo and a woman’s sequinned evening dress. She found the perfect wearer in the fearless fashion editor Diana Vreeland.

Actually, the 1920s and 1930s saw new freedom for women in dressing for sport and leisure. For example, the Vogue cover Harriet Meserole June 1927, shows the liberation of women’s sportswear. Many designers introduced ‘resort’ collections for the smart set, using innovative fabrics and even created a deluxe evening version in shimmering sequins, while Elsa Schiaparelli challenged the grand couture houses of Paris with her dramatic and witty collections.

But in fact, seeking freedom and liberation of womenswear in that generation was not as easy as we think. It’s a long and tough fight. Tons of avant-garde designers and film stars join this “war”. As an advocate of rational dressing, Amelia Bloomer sought social acceptance for a version of trousers for women at the end of the 19th century. However, they only achieved widespread tolerance in the 1920s, when Coco Chanel introduced beach pajamas into her collections. Wide-legged trousers were also worn for informal occasions in the evening; known as loungewear, they were constructed from soft, fluid fabrics that draped around the body, thus highlighting feminine curves. These garments were far removed in both intention and effect from the male-style suits worn by film star Marlene Dietrich in the 1930s. Not only did Dietrich wear trousers on screen, but she also wore them in publicity shots and her private life, thus creating a trend for women’s ‘slacks’, which nevertheless remained acceptable only as informal wear. A practical garment worn for outdoor activities, slacks were soft tailored wide-legged cuffed trousers in study fabrics such as lightweight tweed, moleskin, and corduroy. Worn informally with a soft cotton blouse or simply styled sweater, slacks became an inherent part of the modern women’s wardrobe, confirmed with the onset of World War II, when practical clouting became a priority.

With the developing society, feminism became a fashionable topic among the public. And it is reflected in the fashion industry. Nowadays, more and more brands and designers choose unisex as their main products. We shouldn’t be restricted by gender. A chef does not care for whether the food will be eaten by a person of a specific gender”. So why should we care about whether we wear ‘male’ or ‘female’ clothing? If you like a piece of clothing and it fits in the way you intended, buy it – gender shouldn’t come into it. The only thing we should care about gender is just the cutting and tailoring, but not the design. This is respect for human differences.

The problem that we face in America today is homelessness, homelessness has paved its way through society since the early 20th century and is still present today. As a society, not only have we neglected the care of our people but we have neglected our community as well. With that being said, I am here to shed light on a problem our community faces which is homelessness. Although many factors contribute to the issue; I will discuss how economic problems play a big role in homelessness. Upon that, I will discuss the types of policies enacted in California to address the problem, to its effectiveness alongside state and local legislation in California that is currently trying to be proposed to decrease homelessness rates.

As mentioned before, homelessness has become a big issue in the United States; it has become persistent and complex as it’s been occurring more frequently than before due to Economic change. From Housing, low-income rates, employment, and overpopulation; these outcomes have become the focal point of an increased population of homelessness. In fact, the effects of rising rents, Globalization and Urbanization shed light on the issue. According to a 2017 Annual Homelessness report, about “553,742 people experience homelessness on a given night, where Two Thirds represent individuals, and the remaining represent families” and it doesn’t stop there; researchers state that it’s a “chronic pattern” meaning that a lot of these individuals/families are in and out of the system and it could potentially be permanent because as urbanization gets larger there becomes a cultural and economic change between ethnic groups. in fact, due to Globalization and Urbanization, it allowed for industrial change; innovations like “technology, cultural fusion, and global trade benefits with larger populations” has brought “positive” and tremendous growth; but, not to the less fortunate but more so to the wealthy. These economic changes have brought forth “financial hubs” alongside with establishing a “Housing Crisis” within small communities and rural cities like “New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles” which allowed the rise in rent and an increase of income inequality as cities are getting larger and industries are beginning to grow at a rapid paste.

For this reason, policies have been enacted to stop and target these-problems, to demonstrate; one example was The Housing Act of 1937 (The Wagner-Steagall Act) provided for “subsidies to be paid from the U.S. government to local public housing agencies” which was able to improve the living conditions for any low-income families. It also created the “United States Housing Authority within the US Department of the interior.” Another accomplished act was the P.L. 100-77: The Major Homeless Aid Bill of the 100th congress, H.R. 558, the Stewart B. McKinney Homelessness Assistance Act of 1987 signed into law on July 23, 1987, alongside with a supplemental appropriations bill authorizing most of the funds to establish a “supportive housing program of at least $20 million which would assist projects that serve homeless families and at least $15 million projects for permanent housing for the handicapped’ and it doesn’t stop there. Although we are in a constant battle whether or not to enact certain policies we have managed to propose different types of aid for instance, the S. 1106- Rent Relief Act of 2019 and S. 787- American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2019 which is an aim to address the affordable housing crisis in order to help low income individuals.

Furthermore; we still have managed to accomplish some legislative efforts and propose new ones each year like The House Financial Services Committee which introduced four draft bills that aimed in addressing both homelessness and affordable housing that would allow to make new investments within the “federal housing program and expand eligibility for US department of veterans affairs (VA) services which would promote coordination of homelessness programs across federal agencies.” Amongst this, it would target the problem (homelessness and affordable housing) and address it throughout the communities and legislation which could then establish efforts within the county and evidently coincide with additional federal programs like the “U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH)” which could help counties that have individuals who are at risk of homelessness. Overall, it is clear to state that some initiatives have been effective but not to a full extent as some policies have been enacted but not fully proposed we are still trying to find solutions to aid the homelessness crisis.

In regards to out of the state initiatives towards homelessness, the government of Canada has taken-action to address the cause of homelessness in rural areas in a different manner. tactics like the promotion of corporations between government, communities, private sectors, and non-profit-organization allow solutions by providing initiatives with local and private funding as various organizations are providing a hand. In fact, in my opinion, it is interesting to see how the problem is being tackled, the community itself feeds off of the community; more so, Hulchanski (2009) it’s a tactic done to diminish homelessness rates since the problem submerged not long ago. to continue, Individuals also established a “Pivot organization” that mandates and takes “strategic approach to social change” by using laws implemented to address root causes of issues (Dives 2016) for example, “Canada recognizes the right to an adequate standard of living for homeless people and the right to adequate housing.” “Canada ensures close cooperation’s among all relevant stakeholders, including social, health, law enforcement and justice professionals at all levels.” And lastly “Canada amends the Canadian Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on homelessness and social conditions and work with subnational governments to incorporate similar amendments into provincial and territorial human rights legislation.” With this in mind, it reiterates how committees and government officials address homeless and housing programs, they manage to institute laws to improve anti-discrimination legislation in both sectors and so far, have been succeeding as adequate support services are being initiated.

In conclusion, the Homelessness crisis will always be fluctuating from current laws that have been enacted to others trying to be proposed, it’s a problem that we have dealt with for decades. We have managed to see the success and failures not just within California but with other countries as well as to try to decrease homelessness rates and for the most part, have been successful to some extent. Homelessness will always be a topic talked about, as new laws emerge we hope for a simple solution but as of right now and with community efforts we have managed to serve the less fortunate by providing shelter units, food drives and many more operations for they too can sustain a fairly good living in the time being.

In the novella Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck focuses on key social problems in the 1930s depression through the migrant workers The writer uses the characterization of Curley’s wife and Crooks to represent the sexism between men and women as well as racism between white people and colored people.

Steinbeck uses Crooks to embody racism in the 1930s. A whole chapter is dedicated to Crooks, in chapter 4, to emphasize the fact that black men were always isolated and discriminated against. The writer imparts this to the reader by shaping Crooks as a pointless character as he had a crooked back, “rubbing his back’’ which highlights his fragility. This reinforces the 1930s when black men were weak and mentally powerless as well as being physically uncared for. Steinback includes a description of Crooks’s bunk at the beginning of the chapter where he shows the standards of living Crooks. The writer does this by putting Crooks and the horses on the same status by describing Crooks’s bunk being a ‘’harness room’’ and shack which is the same as where the horses live this suggests that Crooks is nothing to the men and doesn’t need to be treated properly. Crooks was treated that way because he wasn’t high on the hierarchy and was constantly discriminated against due to him being black therefore his status is just like the animals; if not lower. The writer also includes the description ‘’long box filled with straw’’ as Crooks’s bed, whereas the other white ranch worker’s beds are described as ‘’ made up with blankets’’ which represents the act of prejudice between the workers based on their race. By Crooks being treated this way, it makes the reader feel sympathetic towards him because he hasn’t done anything wrong to the men and the only reason to him being treated differently on the ranch is because of his race and color.

The writer shapes Crooks’ chapter as a cycle suggesting that his life is like a routine and wouldn’t change just like the lives of black men in the 1930s. He does this by beginning the chapter with Crooks being alone in his bunk and rubbing his back and ends the chapter in the same way. However, in between, Steinbeck includes Crooks and Lennie having a conversation about being locked up if George wasn’t there to take care of him because in that period it was all about survival of the fittest and taking care of yourself and yourself only so Crooks is telling him that he would’ve been in a ‘’booby hatch’’ if it wasn’t for George. This symbolizes a glimpse of hope for Crooks by having the conversation but still being in his unbreakable cycle of endless hope. During Crook’s conversation with Lennie, the writer makes Crooks sound innocent and unworthy of listening to. He shows this by constantly making Crooks say “This is just a nigger talking” which suggests that Crooks feels as if his opinion is irrelevant and doesn’t need to be heard or acknowledged. What does this say about black men in the 1930s As well as that Steinback seems to be normalizing the word “nigger” and making it seem normal to call black men “niggers” in the 1930s.

Curley’s Wife is introduced in the novella without a name and just by the label of Curley’s Wife. The writer doesn’t give her a name to exhibit the discrimination of women and how they were seen as not having a purpose as well as serving as an objects. This is transmitted to the reader by the men talking about her and saying ‘’Ranch with a bunch of guys ain’t no place for a girl, especially like her’’. This expresses a lack of respect towards her. The writer also mentions that before marrying Curley, She wanted to be an actress ‘’. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it…I never got that letter.’ This suggests how the man used Curley’s wife and lied to her about becoming famous and raised her hopes to flirt with her which links back to the 1930s when men used women as objects either to flirt with or to show off just as Curley did to his wife.

Furthermore, sexism and inequality were another main social issue in the 1930s. Steinbeck portrayed this through the character of Curley’s wife and how she was treated on the ranch. We first hear about her through Candy when he calls her ‘jailbait’- warning the men to stay away from her because she is in trouble. The men also say that she ‘’got the eye’’. Sexism is portrayed here due to the men assuming that she got the ‘’eye’’ for every man on the ranch because she was the only woman there. She is introduced to us as being flirtatious ‘’ heavily made up. ‘I’m lookin’ for Curley,’ she said. her voice had a nasal, brittle quality’’ This implies how she is always teasing the men by being flirtatious with them to try and have a conversation with someone as she is the only woman on the ranch and can’t express her emotions to a female who might have the same issues as her, so instead she unfolds her emotions by flirting. The only reason she does that is that she doesn’t have anyone to talk to other than her husband, who has only married her for the label of ‘’ my wife’’, so she is constantly going to the men to say ‘’I’m lookin’ for Curley’’ which really emphasizes on her loneliness which was also a main social issue in “The Great Depression.’’ .Curley’s wife wasn’t the only women causing trouble, there was also a woman in weed who Lennie tugged her dress and she reported to the police saying he “raped” her which emphasizes on how women, in general, were portrayed as danger in the 1930s America. Steinback chose to only include one female role in the novella to portray how female roles were very limited and minor in the 1930s.

Steinback structures the novella in order of hierarchy. He does this by introducing Crooks and Curley’s wife after all the characters were introduced, placing them at the bottom of the hierarchy making them the least significant members of society. Crooks and Curley’s wife are represented as being at the bottom of the hierarchy by the writer by making their voice seem unimportant “I’m just a nigger doesn’t matter what I say’’ which shows how Crooks knows that his opinion doesn’t matter. However, Curley’s wife is described as being at the bottom of the hierarchy by the writer isolating her and making her the only female role introduced in the novella.

Throughout the novella, Of Mice and Men, many different social issues are presented through characterization which shows how life in the 1930s wasn’t easy at all it was quite challenging to overcome social issues and problems such as racism and inequality in the time of the great depression.

Introduction

For nearly half of the 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union were embroiled in an ideological and diplomatic conflict known as the Cold War. By definition, a Cold War falls short of open warfare however threats and propaganda contribute to a state of political hostility between nations. Despite disagreements between historians, the Cold War is often believed to have begun with the Truman Doctrine in March 1947 and ended with the Dissolution of the Soviet Unio in December 1991.

This essay will argue that the United States did not win the Cold War, rather the overriding tension between themselves and the Soviet Union fizzled out following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Furthermore, while the Cold War certainly did calm down during the 1990s, there is an argument to be made that the Cold War never really ended but rather became a less aggressive form of combat between the United States and Russia. Unlike other major wars in the 20th Century, the Cold War was not a military battle but rather an ideological battle, this factor alone spikes my interest.

The following essay will consist of the critical analysis of several pieces of existing literature. That critical analysis will be utilised to back my arguments stated in the introduction in the previous paragraph. These literature reviews will include discussions from both sides of the main argument and my job is to identify the strengths and weaknesses within the literature to help form my argument. At the end of the essay, I will return to the aims set out in the introduction and judge how I have argued those points throughout the essay.

Definition of a Cold War

The idea of the term Cold War was first coined by Don Juan Manuel in the fourteenth century when he described the outcome of conflict between Christianity and Islam as tepid. (McCauley, 1998, p. 1) Manuel stated that a hotâ war ended in either peace or death whereas a tepid war resulted in neither side engaged in the war gaining any peace or honour. Following Manuel’s original definition of a tepid war, neither side can be judged to have won the Cold War. Due to the popularisation of the term Cold War by both George Orwell and Walter Lippmann in the 1940’s, it can be understood that neither country could have won the Cold War.

The Cold War was often fought at the expense of poorer countries going through transitional and political changes.

The Vietnam War

Throughout the course of the Cold War, much of the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was fought out on the political stage. The Vietnam War was the second big conflict of the Cold War following the Korean War in the early 1950s. Due to the duration of the Vietnam War and the controversy of the United States involvement, it became the defining conflict of the Cold War. McCarthyism, the Red Scare and the Domino Effect theory drove the United States to interfere in Vietnam as early as 1950 when they assisted the French in their war against the Viet Minh. From that point the United States interfered more in Vietnam, gradually escalating U.S. involvement to full-scale war. (Herring, 2004, p. 19)

The Dissolution of the Soviet Union

Debate is often had as to when the dissolution of the Soviet Union actually happened as it was a gradual process of the Soviets relinquishing power in the Eastern bloc following unrest in several countries. As McCauley states, many people would say 1990, when Gorbachev declared it to be over. (McCauley, 1998, p. 7) Ultimately, the debate as to when the Cold War ended is a result of the type of war that was waged as it did not require an American victory to end but instead the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Cold War’s end was a baby that arrived unexpectedly, but a long like for those claiming paternity has quickly formed.