MV Maersk Alabama

Many people in the world tend to live a much finer life when they are taught valuable lessons by their family and friends. Written by Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird is set in the 1930’s, and focuses on the Finch family in a small fictional town of Maycomb County. Scout is a stand-out character in the main events of this story. A black father is convicted for an illegal act he did not commit, and the children continue grow up learning about the effects of racism and stereotyping. Many…

To Kill A Mockingbird: Jem’s Maturation Jem has a childlike innocence like scout, but as the story progresses he grows as a person and starts to see a new point of view toward Maycomb. As Jem matures, he’s faced with different situations where he acts maturely even though his friends might look down on him. In chapter 3, Scout beats up Walter Cunningham in the school yard in a way to get back at him for getting her in trouble. Jem sees what Scout is…

On January 17th, St. Martinville, Louisiana’s 3rd oldest town, celebrated its bicentennial, beginning a yearlong commemoration of the small city’s storied history. St. Martinville is representative of many of Louisiana’s distinct cultural and geographic histories. Seated on the Bayou Teche, the water highway of over 100 miles has been an essential part of the settlement and commercial development of St. Martinville. The word “teche” may be derived from the Chitimacha word for “snake”, and some…

“Our Auntie Rosa” is a non-fiction biography written by Sheila McCauley Keys with Eddie B. Allen Jr.. Our Auntie Rosa is the remembrance of Rosa Parks and her accomplishments throughout her lifetime not only as the mother of the civil rights movements, but also the mother figure she had towards her loved ones. Keys who is Parks seven of the thirteen nieces and nephews took the initiative to document the family’s history and the most memorable memories of her aunt. While refusing her seat in the…

Miss Evers’ Boys is a movie set in 1932 Macon County, Alabama, when federal government began a medical study called The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Blacks with Syphilis. The aim of the study was to determine if African-American men reacted differently to whites to the overall effects of Syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection. 412 rural black men carrying the disease were selected for the study, being told that they would get free long-term treatments when really they were only given placebos…

The Tuskegee syphilis experiments are perhaps the most well-known example of the unethical treatment of black individuals in medical testing. In 1932, a study was organized involving 600 black men, 399 of them had syphilis (CDC). The goal of the study was to see if no treatment was better than the treatments at the time, which were ineffective and occasionally toxic (Schwartz). The men involved were told they were being treated for “bad blood”, and while the participants were volunteers and were…

Being a New Orleanian, it was a right of passage to go to your first parade. For many, you were barely out of your mother’s womb. Your mom or dad holding you in one arm and using the other to catch/deflect beads. If this sounds crazy to you, chances are, you haven’t been to Mardi Gras! It's Mardi Gras Y'all!! The parades may start in January/February, but the preparation is year-round. The minute that last float rolls by, the magic for the next year begins. You see, Mardi Gras isn’t just about…

1972, the United States Public Health Service conducted an awful experiment with the Tuskegee Institute involving over 500 black male sharecroppers who were infected with syphilis. The earliest phase of the experiment was in 1932 in Macon County, Alabama. They wanted to observe the effects of the disease and trace it back to its evolution. Sadly, these men were placebos. They were not told they had syphilis; they were not warned about the consequences of the disease; and, they were giving…

To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, shows the growth and maturity of brother and sister Jem and Scout. Jem, being the older and more responsible sibling, changes and adapts much faster than Scout. Jem starts off as a playful, naive 10 year old boy, and under the good parenting of Atticus, re-emerges at the end as a mature and responsible young man. One aspect Jem changes is his view on bravery, starting off with a childish concept of courage, and evolving to having a different form of…

times in the novel, a quote said by Atticus; “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” The novel is set in Maycomb County, a tiny town located in Alabama. The series of events in the book leading up to how her brother, Jem, broke his arm are narrated by Scout. The novel teaches that empathy has to be developed as you grow and people who haven’t learned to be empathetic, usually can be prejudice…