Day in Birmingham

Field Trip Experience: 16th Street Baptist Church and Civil Rights Institute

       My favorite part of the trip was going to the 16th Street Baptist Church because of the intenseness that the story behind the church holds. Learning about the bombing of the church and the killing of the three little girls in class was sad but nothing compared to actually standing in the place that it happened. I went into the girls bathroom with my friends before the tour started and didn't think anything of it. Coming out of the tour and thinking back it made me so sad. The fact that these three young girls were simply going to the bathroom and spending time together turned into a deathly experience. This field trip opened my eyes to the horrors that African Americans felt in Birmingham, it was so bad that they even nicknamed it Bombingham. While sitting in the park and thinking how children my age were standing right here getting ready to march for their freedom is something I had trouble comprehending. Then staring down the street and envisioning a child being send down it by a water hose while on another corner a group was running from a ravenous dog. The things that these children had to go to and being in the place that it all happened sent chills through me multiple times during the trip.

      The museum was also cool because of the visual affects that were all around everywhere you looked. From the photographs taken to the videos playing to the exhibits. It was also interesting to read personal things from people and how this time affected their lives. The thing that amazed me most from the museum was the artifacts that they had gathered from one of the girls of the church bombing. The exhibit consisted of the shoes she was wearing and a piece of brick that was found in her skull. To see this really gave me a sense of who she was and the terror that she had gone through.

Site of bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church 

Overall I learned I think that actually going to the places that we were learning so much about in class really made a difference on the way I now look at this era. It allowed us to form opinions for ourself not simply read others and go from their perspective.

Children being sprayed with firehose during the Children's March

Questions about World War I

1. World War I began in late June 1914 because of the assignation of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. During this war two groups of allies were formed the Central Powers and the Allied Powers. Germany, Austria-Hungry, and the Ottoman Empire made up the central powers while Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, and later the United States made up the Allied Powers.

2. The United States entered the war on April 6, 1917 because of the sinking of the British passenger liner the Lusitania by a German submarine. This sinking killed 128 Americans, this sent tensions over the edge.

3. On November 11, 1918 at 11:00 a.m. World War I came to an end because of the signing of the armistice between Germany and the allies to ceasefire.

4. The terms of the armistice are as followed:
-All occupied lands in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France–plus Alsace-Lorraine, held since 1870 by Germany–were to be evacuated within fourteen days. 

-The Allies were to occupy land in Germany to the west of the River Rhine and bridgeheads on the river’s east bank up to a depth of thirty kilometers. 

-German forces had to be withdrawn from Austria-Hungary, Romania, and Turkey.

-Germany was to surrender to neutral or Allied ports 10 battleships, 6 battle cruisers, 8 cruisers, and 160 submarines.

-Germany was also to be stripped of heavy armaments, including 5,000 artillery pieces, 25,000 machine guns, and 2,000 airplanes.

-The naval blockade would continue

-5,000 locomotives, 150,000 railway cars, and 5,000 trucks would be confiscated from Germany.

-Germany would be blamed for the war and reparations would be paid for all damage caused.

The United States did not verify the treaty because they did not want to be a part of the league of nation. 

5. In the United States there was 320,710 casualties throughout WWI, including 204,002 injured; 63,195 diseased; out of 4,743,826 that served. 

Sources 
History Chanel: WWI
Americans Library
History Chanel: WWI Ends
The New York Times:WWI Ends
PBS: Great War Casualties