#also 1900s onwards is modern right

[ausetkmt]

Most people recognize that there are first names given almost exclusively by black Americans to their children, such as Jamal and Latasha.

While fodder for comedians and social commentary, many have assumed that these distinctively black names are a modern phenomenon. My research shows that’s not true.

Long before there was Jamal and Latasha, there was Booker and Perlie. The names have changed, but mycolleagues and I traced the use of distinctive black names to the earliest history of the United States.

As scholars of history, demographics and economics, we found that there is nothing new about black names.

Black Names Aren’t New

Many scholars believe that distinctively black names emerged from the civil rights movement, perhaps attributable to the Black Power movement and the later black cultural movement of the 1990s as a way to affirm and embrace black culture. Before this time, the argument goes, blacks and whites had similar naming patterns.

Historical evidence does not support this belief.

Until a few years ago, the story of black names depended almost exclusively on data from the 1960s onward. New data, such as the digitization of census and newly available birth and death records from historical periods, allows us to analyze the history of black names in more detail.

We used federal census records and death certificates from the late 1800s in Illinois, Alabama and North Carolina to see if there were names that were held almost exclusively by blacks and not whites in the past. We found that there were indeed.

For example, in the 1920 census, 99 percent of all men with the first name of Booker were black, as were 80 perecent of all men named Perlie or its variations. We found that the fraction of blacks holding a distinctively black name in the early 1900s is comparable to the fraction holding a distinctively black name at the end of the 20th century, around 3 percent.

What Were the Black Names Back Then?

We were interested to learn that the black names of the late 1800s and early 1900s are not the same black names that we recognize today.

The historical names that stand out are largely biblical such as Elijah, Isaac, Isaiah, Moses and Abraham, and names that seem to designate empowerment such as Prince, King and Freeman.

These names are quite different from black names today such as Tyrone, Darnell and Kareem, which grew in popularity during the civil rights movement.

Once we knew black names were used long before the civil rights era, we wondered how black names emerged and what they represented. To find out, we turned to the antebellum era – the time before the Civil War – to see if the historical black names existed before the emancipation of slaves.

Since the census didn’t record the names of enslaved Africans, this led to a search of records of names from slave markets and ship manifests.

Using these new data sources, we found that names like Alonzo, Israel, Presley and Titus were popular both before and after emancipation among blacks. We also learned found that roughly 3 percent of black Americans had black names in the antebellum period – about the same percentage as did in the period after the Civil War.

But what was most striking is the trend over time during enslavement. We found that the share of black Americans with black names increased over the antebellum era while the share of white Americans with these same names declined, from more than 3 percent at the time of the American Revolution to less than 1 percent by 1860.

By the eve of the Civil War, the racial naming pattern we found for the late 1800s was an entrenched feature in the U.S.

Company E was the fourth U.S. Colored Infantry during the Civil War. Credit:  Everett Historical / Shutterstock.com.

Why Is This Important?

Black names tell us something about the development of black culture, and the steps whites were taking to distance themselves from it.

Scholars of African American cultural history, such as Lawrence W. Levine, Herbert Gutman and Ralph Ellison, have long held that the development of African American culture involves both family and social ties among people from various ethnic groups in the African diaspora.

In other words, people from various parts of Africa came together to form black culture as we recognize it today. One way of passing that culture on is through given names, since surnames were stolen during enslavement.

How this culture developed and persisted in a chattel slavery system is a unique historical development. As enslavement continued through the 1800s, African American culture included naming practices that were national in scope by the time of emancipation, and intimately related to the slave trade.

Since none of these black names are of African origin, they are a distinct African American cultural practice which began during enslavement in the U.S.

As the country continues to grapple with the wide-ranging effects of enslavement in the nation’s history, we cannot – and should not – forget that enslavement played a critical role in the development of black culture as we understand it today.

Trevon Logan is the Hazel C. Youngberg Distinguished Professor of Economics at The Ohio State University

[doitinanotherlanguage]

July 2023 Wrap-up: 1960s

(You can read more about the challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, Reading Through the Decades is a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

Super late with the July wrap-up, but here it is at last!

What I Enjoyed This Month

📖 Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967), Joan Lindsay -> In 1900, a group of female students at an Australian girls' boarding school vanish at Hanging Rock while on a Valentine's Day picnic, causing varying effects on the school and local community. -> I watched the fantastic, queer 2018 mini-series (starring Natalie Dormer!) earlier this year and absolutely fell in love! So I knew I had to read the original novel as soon as possible. Since the book is written in the 60s, I decided to read it this month. I might prefer the mini-series (because in it, the themes of queerness are much more explicit and central) but the novel definitely holds its own, too.

🎬 Flickorna (1968; The Girls), dir. Mai Zetterling -> A feminist reinvention of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes: Three actresses prepare to go on the road in a theater production of the classic play about women and war. As the women re-assess and deal with the problems in their respective private lives, they recognize the parallels with the play and begin to realize that it is serious - even tragic - after all. -> Very 60s, very awesome. I love watching older movies that centre women and feminist themes. This is definitely a very inventive and experimental - even surrealist - film.

📖 SCUM Manifesto (1967), Valerie Solanas -> A radical feminist manifesto that argues that men have ruined the world, which women have to fix by forming SCUM, an organization dedicated to overthrowing society and eliminating the male sex. The manifesto was little-known until Solanas attempted to murder Andy Warhol in 1968. -> I don't really know what to say about this. Mostly, the manifesto is filled with absurd bullshit - I don't fuck with violence, I emphatically don't think killing is the solution to anything, and radical feminism is definitely not the brand of feminism for me. That said, the manifesto is also hilarious as fuck: the manifesto totally flips the age-old "women are inferior" dynamic from Western, patriarchal philosophy and theory around, so yielding the manifesto up to an interpretation as a delicious satire. (Unfortunately, it seems that Solanas did not write the manifesto for irony and satire's sake.)

🎬 Victim (1961), dir. Basil Dearden -> A British neo-noir suspense film about a closeted lawyer who risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice. The film is credited as being the first British film to explicitly name homosexuality and deal with it sympathetically. -> I am not the biggest neo-noir fan, but I very much enjoyed this one. I love a good queer classic!

🎬 Midnight Cowboy (1969), dir. John Schlesinger -> A naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, in the process befriending a scrounging, sleazy small-time con man with big dreams. -> Another queer(?) classic! Idk, I really like watching movies about drifters and down-on-their-luck people struggling onwards in life and maybe finding some modicum of companionship in each other.

🎬 Stonewall (1995), dir. Nigel Finch -> A historical comedy-drama film that gives a fictionalized account of the weeks leading up to the Stonewall riots, a seminal event in the modern American gay rights movement. The main story follows a cross-dressing sex worker who meets a young gay man, freshly arrived in NYC. -> There was a horribly disappointing Stonewall movie made more recently in 2015 - forget about that shit and watch this one instead! This film actually centres cross-dressers, trans women, and queer politics while also incorporating humour, a love story, and several lip-synch numbers!

[calacuspr]

Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – World Athletics and Sebastian Coe

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

WORLD ATHLETICS & SEBASTIAN COE

The Olympic Games is considered to be the pinnacle of sporting achievement for most sports.

The opportunity, every four years, to represent your country and compete against the world’s best underlines the importance of Pierre de Coubertin’s vision for the modern Games.

De Coubertin was committed to Olympic athletes being amateurs, with professionalism considered a risk to sport’s integrity.

There have been reports that  athletics and cycling events provided cash prizes as far back as 1900, with Britain’s Edgar Bredin receiving 250 francs  for his victory in the 100m.

Conversely, in 1912, Jim Thorpe was stripped of his track and field medals for taking money for expenses when playing baseball.

It would be a further 60 years before the strict rules on amateurism were relaxed, due in no small part to athletes in the Communist Eastern bloc bypassing the rules through their state-controlled ‘employment’ while training for sport full-time.

By the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, when Team USA fielded NBA all stars that swept to gold in the basketball, any hint at amateurism was over.

Athletes could secure lucrative sponsorships and endorsement deals, with national governing bodies providing financial assistance where they could, with 60% of National Olympic Committees giving bonuses to their athletes too.

But unlike other sporting competitions, the Olympic Games remained free of prize money until World Athletics made their surprise announcement in early April.

Starting at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games this summer, gold medallists in 48 athletic events will walk away with US$50,000 in prize money, with the rewards being extended to podium medallists from Los Angeles 2028 onwards.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “The introduction of prize money for Olympic gold medallists is a pivotal moment for World Athletics and the sport of athletics as a whole, underscoring our commitment to empowering the athletes and recognising the critical role they play in the success of any Olympic Games.

“This is the continuation of a journey we started back in 2015, which sees all the money World Athletics receives from the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games go directly back into our sport.

“We started with the Olympic dividend payments to our Member Federations, which saw us distribute an extra US$5m a year on top of existing grants aimed at athletics growth projects, and we are now in a position to also fund gold medal performances for athletes in Paris, with a commitment to reward all three medallists at the LA28 Olympic Games.

“While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal, or on the commitment and focus it takes to even represent your country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is.”

Sport is nothing without its athletes, so rewarding them financially, when some are not attracting huge sponsorships and endorsement deals, could be seen as a positive step.

But when making such a momentous announcement in the history of the Olympic Games, World Athletics made a basic error which they could and should have avoided: they had not discussed or even informed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or other stakeholders ahead of making their statement.

“The one thing the International Olympic Committee has consistently recognised – and they’re right to – is the primacy of international federations to fashion their own futures,” explained Coe.

“I don’t believe this is remotely at variance with the concept that the International Olympic Committee often talks about, which is recognising the efforts that our competitors make.

“I am hoping the IOC would share in this principle, given their avowed commitment to make sure that revenues raised through the Olympic Movement find their way back onto the front line. I think they make the point that 80 or 90 per cent of that goes back.”

The IOC made a statement of its own, explaining how it spends the $7.6bn it made between 2017 and 2021 in revenues from the Olympic Games.

It has also provided training grants of up to $1500 through an IOC division called Solidarity, awarding over 1800 grants worldwide on an original budget of $32 million ahead of the Tokyo Games.

It said: “The IOC redistributes 90% of all its income, in particular to the National Olympic Committees and International Federations. This means that, every day, the equivalent of $4.2m goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world. It is up to each IF and NOC to determine how to best serve their athletes and the global development of their sport.”

That is where some of the problems lie – track and field is one of the highlights of the Olympic Games, but if other sports cannot afford to match the prize money, it could create conflict between the haves and the have nots.

The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) voiced their concern about the process as well as the context of the announcement.

The stated: “ASOIF was neither informed nor consulted in advance of the announcement, which was made one day after the ASOIF General Assembly and during SportAccord. As a matter of principle, ASOIF respects and defends the autonomy of each and every member federation. However, when a decision of one IF has a direct impact on the collective interests of the Summer Olympic IFs, it is important and fair to discuss the matter at stake with the other federations in advance. This is precisely why ASOIF was created more than 40 years ago, with the mission to unite, promote and support its members, while advocating for their common interests and goals.

“ASOIF has historically taken a close interest in the general issue of athlete compensation, particularly within the context of Olympic Agenda 2020 and vis a vis the professional leagues since 2014.

“During the last days, ASOIF’s membership has expressed several concerns about World Athletics’ announcement. First, for many, this move undermines the values of Olympism and the uniqueness of the Games. One cannot and should not put a price on an Olympic gold medal and, in many cases, Olympic medallists indirectly benefit from commercial endorsements. This disregards the less privileged athletes lower down the final standings.

“Second, not all sports could or should replicate this move, even if they wanted to. Paying prize money in a multi-sport environment goes against the principle of solidarity, reinforces a different set of values across the sports and opens up many questions.

“If the Olympic Games are considered as the pinnacle of each sport, then the prize money should be comparable to, and commensurate with, the prizes given in the respective top competitions of each sport. This is technically and financially unfeasible.

“Furthermore, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the owner and primary rights holder of the Olympic Games. IFs establish and enforce the competition rules at the Games.

“ASOIF fully agrees that athletes are at the centre of the Olympic Movement, and play a critical role in the success of any Olympic Games. However, it appears that World Athletics’ latest initiative opens rather than solves a number of complex issues.

“ASOIF will raise these concerns with World Athletics and will continue to promote dialogue amongst its members and the IOC. Unity and solidarity among ASOIF’s membership will remain crucial to ensure a healthy future of sports governance and the Olympic Movement at large.”

That was a fairly damning response to the news.

The Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) released a statement following consultation with athlete representatives.

“Some athlete representatives expressed concerns about the fairness of the proposal, which would result in only gold medallists from one sport being rewarded for their achievements. Concerns were also raised on the issue of clean sport, as by increasing the incentive to win even more, athletes may be at risk of betting, manipulation or pressure to turn to doping," the organisation said.

"Athletes' representatives welcomed the idea of rewarding athletes for their efforts and achievements as elite athletes, but this should not be at the expense of the solidarity model that supports and develops athletes at all levels of sport."

Coe was Chair of the British Olympic Association until 2016, but its current chief executive, Andy Anson, criticised the announcement.

"What wasn't great about the announcement last week is when one sport goes off and does something on their own, doesn't include the sports, doesn't include the IOC, doesn't include the National Olympic Committees," Anson told Sky News.

"They create a problem because now other sports are clearly going to get some scrutiny or even pressure from athletes saying, 'Well what about us? How can this sport do it and not others?'.

"I don't think it's particularly appropriate or helpful for one sport just to announce that. We've got to look at it holistically and make sure that we don't create a two tier system.”

Head of World Rowing, Jean-Christophe Rolland, was concerned about the lack of consultation before World Athletics made their announcement and commented: “I fully respect the WA decision as long it concerns athletes from their sport but at the Olympic Games it is not about your sport but all sports.

"I would appreciate if we had the discussion between us. This decision impacts not only athletes. It has other implications."

There were some supporters when the news broke, though.

Team GB’s most decorated Olympic swimmer. Duncan Scott, is all in favour of payments for Olympic medals.

He said: “I definitely think it would be welcomed within swimming. It's taxing so much on the body in terms of 20-plus hours a week in the pool and so many gym sessions. It can be really tough being a swimmer in GB but Aquatics GB seem like they're wanting to move it in a positive direction."

Coe is a seasoned politician, having become a Lord after a spell as a Member of Parliament in Britain and helping London win the 2012 Olympic Games before his positions in sports administration.

Putting the athletes at the heart of his strategy appears admirable, and he explained that not all elite athletes are thriving, with their finances often “precarious.”

To make such an aggressive move, without collaborating with the IOC and other stakeholders, might appear naïve and foolhardy but equally could be a shot across the bows amid speculation that he wants to become the next IOC President.

Rather than adhering to the status quo, Coe has proved himself to be an alternative, positioning himself firmly against Russian athletes competing at the Olympic Games as neutrals.

And the prize money issue comes ahead of the Friendship Games, to be held in Russia in September, offering $100m in total prize money and run by Umar Kremlev, head of the International Boxing Association which has been excluded from running Olympic boxing due to governance issues.

The first Friendship Games is expected to attract up to 6,000 athletes from more than 70 nations amid the backdrop of its invasion of Ukraine and punishments for state-sponsored doping.

When launched, the IOC issued a powerful communique which it accused of being a “cynical attempt by the Russian Federation to politicize sport,” noting a “disrespect for the athletes and the integrity of sports competitions.

“The commission even sees the risk of athletes being forced by their governments into participating in such a fully politicized sports event, thereby being exploited as part of a political propaganda campaign.”

With such significant prize money available, despite a lack of sports governance recognition, the Friendship Games represent a real threat to the IOC.

Could the World Athletics announcement be the start of more serious discussions to award all Olympic victors a cash prize, even if it costs up to $100m each Games? And would that see off the threat the Friendship Games poses?

Or should competing for glory be reward enough when the value of winning Olympic gold is so immeasurable?

Coe thinks not and said: “This fits very much with a contemporary template that we should do everything we can to recognise the performance and primacy of athletes.

“As a president who was a double Olympic champion, the largest part of my life has been involved with the Olympic movement. The world has changed. I don’t believe this is at variance with any deeply held philosophical commitment to the Olympic movement which, as a sport, we clearly have.

“It is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes … are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is. And as we grow as a sport I want to increase that pot.

“I have to accept the world has changed. If you had asked me that question 30 or 40 years ago,” whether paying athletes for winning was in line with what Scott called the Olympic ‘ethos, I might have given you a different answer.”

The key learning here is to ensure collaboration and discussion with stakeholders to gain support and understanding.

By blindsiding the IOC, ASOIF and other governing bodies, World Athletics very much set its stall out as a renegade, making a rogue decision regardless of the wider consequences for other sports federations and their athletes.

Coupled with the Friendship Games, the developments threaten the IOC’s authority just ahead of Paris 2024, which will no doubt serve as a reminder of the excellence and inspiration the Olympic Games continue to provide.

[rein-ette]

Hi! Could you give us some modern day German bros hcs?

Yes. Absolutely. Thank you for asking, this is one of my favourite topics ever.

I know canon says that Gilbert lives in Lud’s basement and mooches off of him, but may I assert that Gilbert actually lives in the basement of his own house, which he bequeathed to Ludwig, while he spent time rotting in Soviet prison. The house, along with a significant (but diminishing) majority of Lud’s savings were all originally Gilbert’s fortune, only gathered after saving every penny of his officers commissions for centuries. Now, this isn’t to say that Ludwig mooches off Gilbert either, because Lud does work his sweet muscular ass off and earns a respectable wage from the federal government. And it’s true that legally, Lud did inherit Gilbert’s property in the West. But Gil still has every right to live in a house he bought, and he only chose to take the basement floor because 1) it seemed kinda mean spirited to make Ludwig move out of the master bedroom after living there for 3 decades, and 2) the “basement” floor is a complete flat in and of itself, so he and Ludwig can both have some measure of privacy.

Warning: way more rambling ahead

As for living fees, I hc that Prussia fulfills a role in government as the state of Brandenburg. Others may disagree that Brandenburg should have its own “national” representative, an idea I’ve toyed with myself, but I’ve settled on the interpretation of history where Prussia is Brandenburg for several reasons. The main one is that while Prussia is a geographical expression referring to the area around Königsberg that is now Russian/Polish, Prussia is also a historical, political, and cultural entity. Berlin has been the seat of Prussian power and the symbol of its culture, ideals, and traditions from the very beginning — what we think of when we say Prussia (the historical state) really began as Brandenburg, who’s ruling family (the Hohenzollerns) subsequently acquired Prussia (the Polish territory) and saw an opportunity to crown themselves King, using the Prussian title as a convenient “excuse” (for various political reasons). In short: the name “Prussia” is misleading — the state of Brandenburg-Prussia has always been more Brandenburg than it’s been Prussian.

I DIGRESS. The point is Prussia also earns part of his wages for himself from the Brandenburg state government. He doesn’t work nearly as much with the gov as the others (Arthur, Francis) do though: mostly 'cause the government can function by itself and doesn't need much advice from Prussia, who's wealth of experience is not readily applicable to like, park-building and such anyways. When Lud becomes overwhelmed Gil also helps out with his paperwork, but -- and this is, I believe, rather idiosyncratic to the German gov -- Gil does not often attend functions in an official capacity. Since the war, the new German government has wanted for obvious reasons to distance itself as much from its past as possible, so having too many people know about Gilbert's real identity, or even having him work to closely with the PM just feels...wrong. Officially Prussia may now simply be the state of Brandenburg, but its clear that's not all he is. He has the Old World air, the kind of presence that reminds humans he is the collision of a thousand lifetimes all at once, a breathing monument to history. And so for the modern German state, which has struggled so desperately to throw off the shadows of its past, to associate closely with the embodiment of Prussia is just not great for everyone involved.

This brings me to another dynamic that I've wanted to explore in a fic for a long time: how terribly young Ludwig is compared to the nations he works with. I mean, Germany only became a thing in 1871, less than 200 years ago. While I hc him to have existed for a couple decades before that, slowly growing under Prussia's care, this man is still younger than either Alfred or Matt. And yet he has to work closely and on equal terms with nations that are more than ten times as old as he is. Of course, former colonies like Al and even younger ones like New Zealand also work on equal terms with older countries like England now, but Ludwig has the added disadvantage of needing to protect a legacy. He may be young, but the cultures he now represents are not. He does not get to start afresh. He does not get to revolt against imperialism and forge his own destiny. And unlike former colonies, the day Ludwig truly stepped out of his brother's shadow and became a nation in his own right was not a day of victory but of defeat. All this weighs heavily on him; essentially, Ludwig carries the same two-thousand burden of history his fellow Europeans do, but without the corresponding two thousand years of experience. And do his colleagues go easy on him? Of course they fucking don't. His colleagues are people like England, France, Denmark, Netherlands...they're fucking menaces is what they are, and they don't baby nobody. You can either make it or you can't, and despite being the age of these nation's children, by the simple virtue of being European Lud is expected to be able to play by "their rules" -- to know the ins and outs of ancient relationships, traditions, and beef from the Middle Ages -- the whole shebang. If America fucks up in a world meeting the Europeans will whisper "Well he's still just a child", if Ludwig fucks up in an EU meeting he has simply fucked up, period. No excuses. This is the world they grew up in, and they expect Ludwig to be able to navigate it too.

Of course, this has it perks as well. It means that unlike former colonies, Ludwig doesn't have to deal with as much constant condescension and patronization. Lud is not their child or their friend's child -- at most he is a younger brother, and by taking on the mantle of Prussia and the other German states Ludwig is automatically an equal. But there were still moments where Ludwig felt out of place. In the first few decades after the war, these mostly occurred in more relaxed, social situations -- parties, informal negotiations, the type of diplomacy that takes place over drinks and behind closed doors. This was the gentleman's club, a place where the lingering sense among old European powers that they are members of the most exclusive and desirable social group in the world was strongest. While various forces such as the EU, globalization, decolonization, and Americanization have eroded this kind of gate-keeping, there remains instances where Ludwig is sharply reminded of his age. Its often the small things -- a glance across the meeting room, an old joke, a shared memory. Maybe Ludwig hears through Gilbert that Francis is more stressed than he seems. Maybe Ned succeeds in persuading Arthur of something in private when Ludwig couldn't. Maybe he visits Austria and is surprised to see Spain is also there. Among any group of old friends there is always a sense of "us" and "them", and while Ludwig may have taken his brother's political place in Europe, socially Prussia is a kind of "us" that Ludwig will never quite achieve.

I hate to end this on such an abrupt note, but I'm afraid if I don't I will never stop talking. Thanks cake for enabling me, and if anyone wants a part two hit me up. I haven't even fucking gotten to PruAusHun yet, or all the other German siblings.

[audreydoeskaren]

Abridged history of early 20th century Chinese womenswear (part 1: 1890s)

*Disclaimer: I mostly talk out of my bum so don’t ask me for academic sources, I would love to know where they are but I haven’t found any reliable ones. I only share my own observations so please read me for filth if I’m wrong.

*There are almost no public domain images I could use because this topic is too obscure so I have to use random images that work and link the sources.

Context

I think there’s not enough content about Chinese fashion history on Tumblr and the Internet in general so I’d like to share my personal knowledge (which is not a lot, but more than nothing). I only know about Chinese fashion history 15th century onwards, the more recent the more I know, so I’m gonna start with the early 20th century.

The 1890s were a very underrated decade in Chinese fashion history. The republican 1920s and 30s are usually credited as the beginning of modern Chinese fashion, mostly because people only consider cheongsam to be valid modern Chinese clothing, which is a bogus claim as aoqun and aoku were just as popular and actually endured longer than the cheongsam. The process of women’s emancipation and the simplification of women’s fashion had already began by the 1890s (perhaps even earlier to a smaller extent) when the monarchy was still around. By the 1900s women’s clothing in China had already been much simplified and modernized, so the 1890s acted as an important transitional period for Chinese fashion.

In order to understand early 20th century Chinese fashion we have to go back a bit into the past to have some clue about the context. Since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty in the mid 14th century Chinese women wore 袄裙 aoqun, a two piece ensemble consisting of a robe and a skirt. At first the robe had a y shaped “kimono collar” as the style is commonly known in the West, then in the late 16th century the 立领 or standing collar was invented (this was different to standing collars used in the 20th century and nowadays, I might explain this later). When the Manchus conquered China and established the Qing Dynasty in the mid 17th century, Han Chinese men adopted Manchu style clothing but Han Chinese womenswear remained independent and separate from Manchu womenswear until it started taking inspiration from Manchu fashion in terms of decoration in the late 18th/early 19th century. However, Han Chinese women retained the habit of wearing a two piece ensemble as the outermost layer, unlike Manchu women, who wore a single floor length robe.

In the second half of the 19th century, the aoqun had a very generous and roomy cut, with huge sleeves in the robe and many pleats in the skirt. The collar of the robe is very low, only providing enough space for one button, a style in fashion since the early 19th century. The robe is closed with frog closures, a braided/knotted style of button which is also somehow the closures used on European hussar uniforms? I don’t know the connection so if anyone has an idea please enlighten me. The robe closes at the side, usually at the right side, however examples of robes with closures on the left or both sides also existed. Before the 19th century, Han Chinese women’s robe sleeves were usually very long, longer than the actual arm of the wearer, but since the 19th century sleeves adopted a more practical length, which was at the wrist.

The skirt was usually of a style called 马面 mamian, a long horizontal pleated piece of fabric with four flat sections, which women wore by wrapping it around their waists twice and tying the tie strings at the waistband. This skirt became very decorative in the 19th century, full of embroidery, tassels and elaborate trim, sometimes giving the illusion of a separate apron being attached (I’ve seen this weird stereotype that traditional Chinese womenswear has a separate apron at the front this is complete bogus). The robes were likewise heavily decorated, sometimes so full of embroidery that the original fabric could hardly be seen; this was especially true of wedding dresses or other ceremonial outfits. 

Source: https://www.chinasage.info/women.htm

In addition, pants were also often worn by Chinese women and 袄裤 aoku, the combination of robe and pants, was socially acceptable.

Another noteworthy custom was bound feet, although I don’t know so much about it. The 19th century was the pinnacle of foot binding and fashionable women had incredibly small feet, dubbed “lotus feet”. Women wore baggy stockings underneath their shoes, tied up with garters below the knees. I’m not as knowledgeable about other undergarments of this period unfortunately...

Source: https://www.hpcbristol.net/visual/ch-s03

Silhouette

In the 1890s, the cut of the aoqun began to become more slender and form fitting as a result of increased westernization. The robe was quite long, usually knee length. The sleeves became slimmer and the collar grew taller, being able to accommodate three or more buttons. Pants seem to be very popular in this period, as I have probably seen more contemporary artworks depicting fashionable women wearing pants than skirts. I speculate this may be due to a rising interest in feminism and women wanting more mobility, but that’s just my opinion. The pants were still straight cut but were less roomy than earlier 19th century models. Women began campaigning against bound feet in this period and many drawings depicted women with natural feet. However, if a woman had her feet bound since childhood it’s difficult for them to return to their natural size, so some women who were born in previous decades would still have very small feet, even if they began to reject it at this time. Plain black flats were popular in this time, I have no clue if the construction is Chinese or Western if someone has any idea please enlighten me.

Source: https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/photographs/record-details/d0743ec7-1161-11e3-83d5-0050568939ad (I think this was photographed in Singapore but the fashions were accurate to mainland China of the period as well)

Design details

The 1890s saw the mass disappearing of wide, elaborate trims around the seams, popular throughout the 19th century. Trims became smaller and more toned down, sometimes being of geometric design. Embroidery on the robe and skirt/pants was rare, if it was done it was usually very small and in a diamond pattern, instead of the more freeform patterns of the previous centuries. The fabrics often had woven in, tone on tone decorations, usually tiny floral motifs or geometric shapes. A general air of simplicity and practicality dominated the fashion of this era.

I’ll post part 2 whenever I want.

[lastsonlost]

All this over the Japanese liking a game they don't like...

Ghost of Tsushima opens with a grand wide shot of samurai, adorned with impressively detailed suits of armor, sitting atop their horses. There we find Jin, the protagonist, ruminating on how he will die for his country. As he traverses Tsushima, our hero fights back the invading Mongolian army to protect his people, and wrestles with the tenets of the Bushido code. Standoffs take advantage of perspective and a wide field of view to frame both the samurai and his opponent in something that, more often than not, feels truly cinematic. The artists behind the game have an equally impeccable reference point for the visuals: the works of legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa

“We really wanted to pay respect to the fact that this game is so totally inspired by the work of this master,” director Nate Fox said in a recent interview with IndieWire. At Entertainment Weekly, Fox explained how his team at Sucker Punch Productions suggested that the influence ran broadly, including the playable black-and-white “Kurosawa Mode” and even in picking a title. More specifically, he noted that Seven Samurai, one of Kurosawa’s most well-known works, defined Fox’s “concept of what a samurai is.” All of this work went toward the hope that players would “experience the game in a way as close to the source material as possible.”

But in embracing “Kurosawa” as an eponymous style for samurai adventures, the creatives behind Ghost of Tsushima enter into an arena of identity and cultural understanding that they never grapple with. The conversation surrounding samurai did not begin or end with Kurosawa’s films, as Japan’s current political forces continue to reinterpret history for their own benefit.

Kurosawa earned a reputation for samurai films as he worked steadily from 1943 to 1993. Opinions of the director in Japan are largely mixed; criticism ranges from the discussion of his family background coming from generations of samurai to accusations of pandering to Western audiences. Whether intentional or not, Kurosawa became the face of Japanese film in the critical circles of the 1950s. But he wasn’t just a samurai stylist: Many of the director’s films frame themselves around a central conflict of personal ideology in the face of violence that often goes without answer — and not always through the lives of samurai. In works like Drunken Angel, The Quiet Duel, or his 1944 propaganda film The Most Beautiful, Kurosawa tackles the interpersonal struggles of characters dealing with sickness, alcoholism, and other challenges.

His films endure today, and not just through critical preservation; since breaking through to the West, his visual ideas and themes have become fodder for reinterpretation. You can see this keenly in Western cinema through films like The Magnificent Seven, whose narrative was largely inspired by Seven Samurai. Or even A Fistful of Dollars, a Western epic that cleaved so closely to Kurosawa’s Yojimbo that director Sergio Leone ended up in a lawsuit with Toho Productions over rights issues. George Lucas turned to Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress in preparation for Star Wars; he’d eventually repay Kurosawa by helping to produce his surreal drama Dreams.

Ghost of Tsushima is part of that lineage, packing in action and drama to echo Kurosawa’s legacy. “We will face death and defend our home,” Shimura, the Lord of Tsushima, says within the first few minutes of the game. “Tradition. Courage. Honor. These are what make us.” He rallies his men with this reminder of what comprises the belief of the samurai: They will die for their country, they will die for their people, but doing so will bring them honor. And honor, tradition, and courage, above all else, are what make the samurai.

Except that wasn’t always the belief, it wasn’t what Kurosawa bought whole cloth, and none of the message can be untangled from how center- and alt-right politicians in modern Japan talk about “the code” today.

The “modern” Bushido code — or rather, the interpretation of the Bushido code coined in the 1900s by Inazō Nitobe — was utilized in, and thus deeply ingrained into, Japanese military culture. An easy example of how the code influenced Imperial Japan’s military would be the kamikaze pilots, officially known as the Tokubetsu Kōgekitai. While these extremes (loyalty and honor until death, or capture) aren’t as present in the myth of the samurai that has ingrained itself into modern ultranationalist circles, they manifest in different yet still insidious ways.

In 2019, to celebrate the ushering in of the Reiwa Era, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party commissioned Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano to depict Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a samurai. Though described as being center-right, various members of the LDP have engaged in or have been in full support of historical revisionism, including the editing of textbooks to either soften or completely omit the language surrounding war crimes committed by Imperial Japan. Abe himself has been linked to supporting xenophobic curriculums, with his wife donating $9,000 to set up an ultranationalist school that pushed anti-Korean and anti-Chinese rhetoric. The prime minister is also a member of Japan’s ultraconservative Nippon Kaigi, which a U.S. congressional report on Japan-U.S. relations cited as one of several organizations that believe that “Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia from Western colonial powers, that the 1946-1948 Tokyo War Crimes tribunals were illegitimate, and that the killings by Imperial Japanese troops during the 1937 ‘Nanjing massacre’ were exaggerated or fabricated.” The Nippon Kaigi, like Abe, have also pushed for the revision of Japan’s constitution — specifically, Article 9 — to allow Japan to reinstate its standing military.

This has been a major goal for Abe as his time as prime minister comes to a definite close in 2021. And from 2013 onward, the politician has made yearly trips to the Yasukuni shrine to honor the memory of war criminals, a status of which his own grandfather was accused, that died with the ethos of the modern Bushido code. Abe’s exoneration of these ideals has continued to spark reactionary nationalist sentiment, as illustrated with the Nippon Kaigi and their ultranationalist ideology. These traditionalist values have encouraged xenophobic sentiment in Japan, which was seen in the 2020 Tokyo elections with 178,784 votes going to Makoto Sakurai, leader of the Japan First Party, another ultranationalist group. Sakurai has participated in numerous hate speech demonstrations in Tokyo, often targeting Korean diaspora groups.

The preservation of the Bushido code that was highly popularized and utilized by Imperial Japan lives on through promotion by history revisionists, who elevate samurai to a status similar to that of the chivalric knight seen in Western media. They are portrayed as an honor-bound and noble group of people that cared deeply for the peasantry, when that was often not the case.

The samurai as a concept, versus who the samurai actually were, has become so deeply intertwined with Japanese imperialist beliefs that it has become difficult to separate the two. This is where cultural and historical understanding are important when approaching the mythology of the samurai as replicated in the West. Kurosawa’s later body of work — like the color-saturated Ran, which was a Japanese adaptation of King Lear, and Kagemusha, the story of a lower-class criminal impersonating a feudal lord — deeply criticized the samurai and the class system they enforced. While some films were inspired by Western plays, specifically Shakespeare, these works were critical of the samurai and their role in the Sengoku Period. They dismantled the notion of samurai by showing that they were a group of people capable of the same failings as the lower class, and were not bound to arbitrary notions of honor and chivalry.

Unlike Kurosawa’s blockbusters, his late-career critical message didn’t cross over with as much ease. In Western films like 2003’s The Last Samurai, the audience is presented with the picture of a venerable and noble samurai lord who cares only for his people and wants to preserve traditionalist values and ways of living. The portrait was, again, a highly romanticized and incorrect image of who these people were in feudal Japanese society. Other such works inspired by Kurosawa’s samurai in modern pop culture include Adult Swim’s animated production Samurai Jack and reinterpretations of his work like Seven Samurai 20XX developed by Dimps and Polygon Magic, which had also received the Kurosawa Estate’s blessing but resulted in a massive failure. The narratives of the lone ronin and the sharpshooter in American Westerns, for example, almost run in parallel.

Then there’s Ghost of Tsushima. Kurosawa’s work is littered with close-ups focused on capturing the emotionality of every individual actor’s performance, and panoramic shots showcasing sprawling environments or small feudal villages. Fox and his team recreate that. But after playing through the story of Jin, Ghost of Tsushima is as much of an homage to an Akira Kurosawa film as any general black-and-white film could be. The Kurosawa Mode in the game doesn’t necessarily reflect the director’s signatures, as the narrative hook and tropes found in Kurosawa’s work — and through much of the samurai film genre — are equally as important as the framing of specific shots.

“I don’t think a lot of white Western academics have the context to talk about Japanese national identity,” Tori Huynh, a Vietnamese woman and art director in Los Angeles, said about the Western discussion of Kurosawa’s aesthetic. “Their context for Japanese nationalism will be very different from Japanese and other Asian people. My experience with Orientalism in film itself is, that there is a really weird fascination with Japanese suffering and guilt, which is focused on in academic circles … I don’t think there is anything wrong with referencing his aesthetic. But that’s a very different conversation when referencing his ideology.”

Ghost of Tsushima features beautifully framed shots before duels that illustrate the tension between Jin and whomever he’s about to face off against, usually in areas populated by floating lanterns or vibrant and colorful flowers. The shots clearly draw inspiration from Kurosawa films, but these moments are usually preceded by a misunderstanding on Jin’s part — stumbling into a situation he’d otherwise have no business participating in if it weren’t for laid-out side quests to get mythical sword techniques or armor. Issues like this undermine the visual flair; the duels are repeated over and over in tedium as more of a set-piece than something that should have a component of storytelling and add tension to the narrative.

Fox and Sucker Punch’s game lacks a script that can see the samurai as Japanese society’s violent landlords. Instead of examining the samurai’s role, Ghost of Tsushima lionizes their existence as the true protectors of feudal Japan. Jin must protect and reclaim Tsushima from the foreign invaders. He must defend the peasantry from errant bandits taking advantage of the turmoil currently engulfing the island. Even if that means that the samurai in question must discard his sense of honor, or moral righteousness, to stoop to the level of the invading forces he must defeat.

Jin’s honor and the cost of the lives he must protect are in constant battle, until this struggle no longer becomes important to the story, and his tale whittles down to an inevitable and morally murky end. To what lengths will he go to preserve his own honor, as well as that of those around him? Ghost of Tsushima asks these questions without a truly introspective look at what that entails in relation to the very concept of the samurai and their Bushido code. This manifests in flashbacks to Jin’s uncle, Shimura, reprimanding him for taking the coward’s path when doing his first assassination outside of forced stealth segments. Or in story beats where the Khan of the opposing Mongol force informs Shimura that Jin has been stabbing enemies in the back. Even if you could avoid participating in these systems, the narrative is fixated on Jin’s struggle with maintaining his honor while ultimately trying to serve his people.

I do not believe Ghost of Tsushima was designed to empower a nationalist fantasy. At a glance, and through my time playing the game, however, it feels like it was made by outsiders looking into an otherwise complex culture through the flattening lens of an old black-and-white film. The gameplay is slick and the hero moments are grand, but the game lacks the nuance and understanding of what it ultimately tries to reference. As it stands, being a cool pseudo-historical drama is, indeed, what Ghost of Tsushima’s creators seemingly aimed to accomplish. In an interview with Famitsu, Chris Zimmerman of Sucker Punch said that “if Japanese players think the game is cool, or like a historical drama, then that’s a compliment.” And if there is one thing Ghost of Tsushima did succeed in, it was creating a “cool” aesthetic — encompassed by one-on-one showdowns with a lot of cinematic framing.

In an interview with The Verge, Fox said that “our game is inspired by history, but we’re not strictly historically accurate.” That’s keenly felt throughout the story and in its portrayal of the samurai. The imagery and iconography of the samurai carry a burden that Sucker Punch perhaps did not reckon with during the creation of Ghost of Tsushima. While the game doesn’t have to remain true to the events that transpired in Tsushima, the symbol of the samurai propagates a nationalist message by presenting a glossed-over retelling of that same history. Were, at any point, Ghost of Tsushima to wrestle with the internal conflict between the various class systems that existed in Japan at the time, it might have been truer to the films that it draws deep inspiration from. However, Ghost of Tsushima is what it set out to be: a “cool” period piece that doesn’t dwell on the reasonings or intricacies of the existing period pieces it references.

A game that so heavily carries itself on the laurels of one of the most prolific Japanese filmmakers should investigate and reflect on his work in the same way that the audience engages with other pieces of media like film and literature. What is the intent of the creator versus the work’s broader meaning in relation to current events, or the history of the culture that is ultimately serving as a backdrop to yet another open-world romp? And how do these things intertwine and create something that can flirt on an edge of misunderstanding? Ghost of Tsushima is a surface-level reflection of these questions and quandaries, sporting a lens through which to experience Kurosawa, but not to understand his work. It ultimately doesn’t deal with the politics of the country it uses as a backdrop. For the makers of the game, recreating Kurosawa is just black and white.

[patriotsnet]

Did Democrats Or Republicans Founded The Kkk

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/did-democrats-or-republicans-founded-the-kkk/

Did Democrats Or Republicans Founded The Kkk

The Kkk Was Founded By Democrats But Not The Party

Democrats Founded the KKK.mp4

The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 by ex-Confederate soldiers Frank McCord, Richard Reed, John Lester, John Kennedy, J. Calvin Jones and James Crowe in Pulaski, Tennessee. The group was originally a social club but quickly became a violent white supremacist group.

Its first grand wizard was Nathan Bedford Forrest, an ex-Confederate general and prominent slave trader.

Fact check:

Experts agree the KKK attracted many ex-Confederate soldiers and Southerners who opposed Reconstruction, most of whom were Democrats. Forrest even spoke at the 1868 Democratic National Convention.

The KKK is almost a paramilitary organization thats trying to benefit one party. It syncs up with the Democratic Party, which really was a;racist party openly at the time, Grinspan said. But the KKK isnt the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party isnt the KKK.

Although the KKK did serve the Democratic Partys interests, Grinspan stressed that not all Democrats supported the KKK.

The Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism senior fellow Mark Pitcavage told the Associated Press that many KKK members were Democrats because the Whig Party had died off and Southerners disliked Republicans after the Civil War. Despite KKK members’ primary political affiliation, Pitcavage said it is wrong to say the Democratic Party started the KKK.

Fact check:Yes, historians do teach that first Black members of Congress were Republicans

The Conservative Coalition Vs The New Deal Coalition

Now that we know the basics, the changes in both parties in the 1900s are perhaps best understood by examining;the Conservative Coalition;and the New Deal Coalition.

The Conservative Coalition was a coalition between the anti-Communist Republicans like Nixon and Reagan and conservative Southern Democrats. It arose to oppose FDRs New Deal progressivism, and it blocked a lot of the progressive legislation the New Deal Coalition tried to pass from the 1930s to the 1960s. The socially conservative solid south;was still its own entity. It sometimes voted;with other Democrats, and sometimes broke off into its own factions. See the 1960 election Kennedy v. Nixon v. Harry F. Byrd. The Coalition tellingly dwindled post 64 Civil Rights and ended in the Clinton era as conservative southerners became Republicans and formed;the modern construct of the Red States and the Blue States.

Meanwhile,;the New Deal coalition explains the progressive coalition of Democrats and Republicans the Conservative coalition opposed. Today the two parties largely resemble these coalitions.

A Summary Of The Solid South Switch

To summarize the above claims before we get to the details:

In 1860 the Democratic Party Platforms were about Small Government and States Rights, and the more aristocratic Republican Platform about Federal Power and Collective;Rights, but by;2016, the opposite is;true .

This is because the conservative south and old Republican Progressives can be said to have switched parties in reaction;to events that occurred from the Gilded Age to the Bush and Clinton years. These changes that are well symbolized by the 1968 election, but not explained by that alone.

To understand what changed, we must become familiar with;people like W. J. Bryan, Teddy, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, Henry A. Wallace, Strom Thurmond, FDR, MLK, and Hoover. We must look at the Red Scare, the Dixiecrat States Rights Parties, Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Nixons Southern Strategies, the New Deal Coalition and Conservative Coalition, etc. See;Democrats and Republicans Switched Platforms.

The full story aside, in the early days:

Populist social liberals used to ally with the populist socially conservative solid south .

The social liberal elite like Gouverneur Morris and Alexander Hamilton were in the Federalist party with classical conservative Tory-like figures and factions.

That pairing;of factions is either hopeful or a blight on history, depending on your perspective.

How the South Went Republican: Can Democrats Ever Win There Again? .

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In The Wake Of Trump’s David Duke Controversy Many Republicans Have Tried To Tie The Kkk To Progressivism

Its not news that Donald Trump appeals to white supremacists and his slowness in rebuking former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Dukes support hardly qualifies as surprising at this point. Whats instructive is how right-wing figures react. Earlier this week, political troglodyte Jeffrey Lord attempted to deflect criticism by calling the Klan a leftist terrorist organization perpetuating violence to further the progressive agenda.

That, of course, is entirely wrong. A short lesson in the basics of 20th;century American political history explains why.

White supremacist Southern Democrats were a key part of President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal Coalition. They used their large numbers, unity and seniority to exclude as many black people from as much of the New Deal benefits and protections as possible and to stop the federal government from doing anything about lynching. Then the black freedom movement and white allies insisted on civil rights. In reactionary response, those white southern Democrats left the Democratic Party en masse, as evidenced by Strom Thurmonds Dixiecrat presidential campaign in 1948 and Richard Nixons opposition to school busing and play for segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallaces constituency.

White southern Democrats were explicit about their racism, and its no mystery that they left the party when it yielded to civil rights movement pressure, and as blacks began to make up a larger part of its constituency.

Did The American Political Parties Switch Clarifying The Semantics

People often ask,;did the American political parties switch?, but this question is semantically wrong, and thus we should address it before moving on.

Parties can switch general platforms and ideologies .

Voters can switch parties .

However,;the parties themselves only switch when they hang-up their hat to become a new party;.

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Southernization Urbanization And Big Government Vs Small Government

Today the Republican party doesnt have a notable progressive left-wing and the Democratic Party doesnt have a notable socially conservative right-wing.

Instead both parties have establishment and populist wings and the parties are divided by stances on social issues.

In other words, regional interests and the basic political identities of liberal and conservative didnt change as much as factions changed parties as party platforms changed along with America.

The modern split is expressed well by;the left-right paradigm Big Government Progressivism vs. Small Government Social Conservatism, where;socially conservative and pro-business conservative factions banded together against socially liberal and pro business liberal factions, to push back against an increasingly progressive Democratic Party and America .

This tension largely created the modern parties of our two-party system, resulting in two Big Tents;who disagree on the purposes of government;and social issues. This tension is then magnified by the;current influence of media and lobbyists, and can be understood by examining;what I call;the Sixth Party Strategy and by a tactic called Dog Whistle Politics).

The result is that today the Democratic Party is dominated by liberal Democrats and Progressives.

Meanwhile, most of those who would have been the old;socially conservative Democrats now have a R next to their name.

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Great Depression Shrinks Klan

The Great Depression in the 1930s depleted the Klans membership ranks, and the organization temporarily disbanded in 1944. The civil rights movement of the 1960s saw a surge of local Klan activity across the South, including the bombings, beatings and shootings of Black and white activists. These actions, carried out in secret but apparently the work of local Klansmen, outraged the nation and helped win support for the civil rights cause.;

READ MORE: How Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’ Confronted an Ugly Era of Lynchings

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson delivered a speech publicly condemning the Klan and announcing the arrest of four Klansmen in connection with the murder of a white female civil rights worker in Alabama. The cases of Klan-related violence became more isolated in the decades to come, though fragmented groups became aligned with neo-Nazi or other right-wing extremist organizations from the 1970s onward.;

As of 2016, the Anti-Defamation League estimated Klan membership to be around 3,000, while the Southern Poverty Law Center said there were 6,000 members total.

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Limited Government States Rights And Anti

Had the populist liberals, who agreed with;limited government but did not agree fully on social issues, not aligned, there would have been a Federalist dominance in early America. The;dominant factions would have been northern know-nothing-like nativists, social progressive Roosevelt-like or Hamilton-like elites, and quasi-loyalist Aristocrats like Adams.

The founders were not pro-slavery. However, slavery;was part of the culture and economy of many nations; the South was one such region.

Abolishing slavery meant crippling the Souths votes and industry. This was the;main argument for slavery by the Solid South historically. It;didnt stop the abolitionists like Hamilton from pushing for the abolition of slavery;as;he pushed for a central bank or federal control . However, it did result in many key compromises from the 1770s to mid-1800s.

A Reconstituted Early 20th Century Kkk Attracts Members From Both Sides

The Inconvenient Truth About the Democratic Party

After Reconstruction, and as the Jim Crow period set in during the 1870s, the Klan became obsolete.;Through violence, intimidation and systematic oppression, the KKK had served its purpose to help whites retake Southern governments.

In 1915, Cornell William J. Simmons restarted the KKK. This second KKK was made up of Republicans and Democrats, although Democrats were more widely involved.

The idea that these things overlap in a Venn diagram, the way they did with the first Klan, just isnt as tight with the second Klan, Grinspan said.

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Why It Doesnt Make Sense To Equate Modern Democrats With The Old Southern Democrats

The Democrats, formally the;anti-Federalists,;had an;aversion to aristocracy from the late 1700s to the progressive era.

That truism;led to the southern conservatives of the solid south like;John C. Calhoun and small government liberals like Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and Martin Van Buren allying;in the same party;for most of U.S. history.

However,;that changed;after Civil Rights under LBJ and the rise of Goldwater States Rights Republicans .

Today the solid south, and figures like Jeff Sessions, are in an alliance in the big tent of the Republican Party . This was as much a response to the growing progressiveness of the Democratic Party as anything.

One simple way to confirm this is to look at the factions of;Lincolns time. There were four. They;were:

The Northern liberal Whig/Republicans,

The;Nativist Know-Nothing; allies of the Whig/Republicans,

The Southern Democrats and their Northern allies , and

The;Free Soil;;allies of the Democrats who;took a libertarian like position.

Todays Democrats are more like socially liberal Whig/Republicans , libertarians are like Free Soilers , Trumpians are like Nativist Know-Nothings , and Southern Democrats are like the modern Southern conservative Republicans.

The current parties are thus:

Social Liberals and Neoliberals vs. Social Conservatives and Neoliberal Conservatives AKA Neocons .

Clearly, the country has never been fully polarized, even at its most polarized.

Military Reconstruction And The Birth Of The Kkk

After the Civil War, during Reconstruction, the northern elite Radical Republican Progressives used the military to force the south to reform. At the time the Deep South used things like apprenticeship laws to extend slavery past the end of the War. The KKK took a;stand in defense of the old Southern way of life in a society divided by murder, military occupation, and;mayhem.

To be clear, Military Reconstruction is a term that;describes;the occupation of the South, and the KKK;formed as a response to it.

From that point on the South becomes Redeemed by Southern BourbonsAKA Northern Oligarchs who help the South;replace slave labor with wage labor.

The above might;be viewed less critically;if it wasnt for a notable speed bump:

Before Reconstruction could end naturally, in 1877, the Republican establishment traded the reformation of a few southern states for the Presidency when Tilden beat the Republican Hayes.

At that point, the Gilded Age began.;Gilded Age Republicans Redeemed the South and liked to be seen as putting aside the issue of race to focus on modernization and becoming a superpower.

The Gilded age gave way to the Progressive era. And in those eras, most of the country again minimized;issues of;race to focus on;other minority rights such as womens rights. Then, after that came the World Wars.

Radical Republicans From PBSs Reconstruction: The 2nd Civil War.

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The Rise Of Modern Social Liberalism And Social Conservatism

Later we get a third way with Bill Clintons New Democrats. This third way is an extension;of the;progressive bourbon liberal wing, but mashed-up with the progressive social liberal wing, and Reagan-era;conservatism. These three social liberal ideologies which Clinton embodied can collectively be referred to as an;American liberalism. These factions, which we can today denote as;progressive, neoliberal, and social liberal, can be used to differentiate types of liberals on the political left from the New Deal Coalition and the modern Democratic party of today.

TIP: As noted above in the introduction, there is no one way to understand Americas political ideologies, but each angle we look at things from helps us to better understand;bits of the historic puzzle.

Outside The United States

Aside from the Ku Klux Klan in Canada, there have been various attempts to organize KKK chapters outside the United States.

In Australia in the late 1990s, former One Nation member Peter Coleman established branches throughout the country, and circa 2012 the KKK has attempted to infiltrate other political parties such as Australia First.

Recruitment activity has also been reported in the United Kingdom.

In Germany, a KKK-related group, Ritter des Feurigen Kreuzes , was established in the 1920s. After the Nazis took over Germany, the group disbanded and its members joined the Nazis. Another German KKK-related group, the European White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, has organized and it gained notoriety in 2012 when the German media reported that two police officers who held membership in the organization would be allowed to keep their jobs.

A Ku Klux Klan group was established in Fiji in the early 1870s by white American settlers, although its operations were quickly put to an end by the British who, although not officially yet established as the major authority of Fiji, had played a leading role in establishing a new constitutional monarchy that was being threatened by the activities of the Fijian Klan.

In São Paulo, Brazil, the website of a group called Imperial Klans of Brazil was shut down in 2003, and the group’s leader was arrested.

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The Rise Of America First Nativism: Anti

During the 1830s to 1850s, as tension builds, third parties spring up like the northern nativist Know-Nothings;. This faction;pushed back against immigration in places like NYC and was more likely to be allied with the Whigs than the Democrats.

The conflict between Catholic immigrants and Know-Nothings is;the subject of the movie Gangs of New York.

These Know-Nothings were like a Northern version of the KKK but were notably;more concerned with immigration than slavery.;The soon-to-be KKK and the earlier;Know-Nothings shared an aversion to Catholics, Jews, non-whites, and non-Protestants in general, but much else was different.

The Know-Nothings were accused of being in bed with;Northern abolitionists,;and;their American party really never;caught on in the south due to them being perceived as more elitist and northern.

Thus, although each region breaks into;different groups, one should note that the slavery south is not;the only faction with socially conservative position, and certainly, they arent the only authoritative group. Remember, they are opposing northern elitists who are perpetuating their brand;of economic and political inequality.

Looking To The Classics And Factions For Proof

One good and not-so-divisive way to explain history is to look at the classics, especially those who focus on state-based political factions over political parties.

Classic works of this sort of political history, like V.O. Keys Southern Politics in State and Nation , make it very clear that the Solid South had historically always voted lock-step for the Democratic Party . Of course, the voting map over time, actual recorded history, and so much else tell this story too, but a well respected book like this is a great secondary source!

Today the Solid South is with the Republican Party and today old Socially Progressive Republicans like Teddy arent in the party .

This isnt to say that some of the more progressive Dixies, Bryan followers, and even economically minded Southern;Bourbons arent in the Democratic Party, they obviously are, just look at Carter, Clinton, Gore, and Bernie .

Likewise, the GOP have their constants. The;conservative Federalist pro-business faction, the neocons be they switched Bourbons, Gilded Age post-Reconstruction Republicans, or traditional Federalists, and the Federalist War Hawks are still in the Republican Party, as are the nativists;of the north Know-Nothings.

However, despite what didnt change, a ton did, including the party platforms, key factions, and a large swath of the voter base.

Modern Democrats know this well, they lost the 2016;election and didnt get one state in the Southern Bloc for Hillary .

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A Century Of Jim Crow But Otherwise Lots Of Progress

From 1877 to at least the 1960s, the Solid South KKK-like;Progressively Socially Conservative Democrats remained a formidable faction of the Democratic Party.

This is true even though the party was increasingly dominated by Progressives like William Jennings Bryan. We can see in Wilson that both factions held sway in the party, Wilson was both a progressive liberal and a son of the Confederates.

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow | PBS | ep 1 of 4 Promises Betrayed.

TIP: During the late 1800s and early 1900s Eugenics was a popular theory. In this era, we might find;Margaret Sanger, liberal economists and social scientists, Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Ford, a young Hitler, and the KKK all agreeing on aspects of eugenics. There are many sides;of the eugenics argument, and one must study its history in earnest before making a judgment call. Very;radical right-wing propaganda equated birth control with;genocide, but there was a wide range of beliefs. An espousal of;negative eugenics is part of the dark history of the Democratic party.

[drnikolatesla]

Nikola Tesla’s Thoughts On the Soul and Life After Death

Tesla’s reasoning are the thoughts of a practical man of science, who has not only conducted experiments, but deep mental consideration to the question of immortality. Tesla was destined by his parents at an early age to enter the clergy, but the inventive genius, inherited from his mother, took him into the realm of science. Most of his life was spent in deep meditation to the question of the soul and life after death. His conclusions on the subjects will most definitely not run parallel with most others, but are indeed food for thought.

Here are 6 quotes made by Nikola Tesla:

1. When a child is born, its sense organs are brought in contact with the outer world. The waves of sound, heat and light beat against its feeble body, its sensitive nerve fibres quiver, the muscles contract and relax in obedience—a gasp, a breath, and in this act a wonderful little engine, of structure, is hitched to the wheelwork or the universe. Left to itself the engine stops; it has no power to draw energy from Nature’s inexhaustible store.

“The little engine moves and works, changes size and shape, performs more and more varied operations, becomes sensitive to more and more different influences, and now there begins to manifest itself in it a mysterious force. It becomes capable of responding to stimuli of a more subtle nature and of drawing, for its own use, energy from the environment. Gradually the engine has been transformed into a being possessed of intelligence, which perceives, discerns, does like others of its kind.

“The experiences multiply, the knowledge increases, the discernment becomes keener, the human being responding to the faintest influences, is awakened to the consciousness of Nature and its grandeur, and in its breast there is kindled a desire to imitate Nature, to create, to work itself the wonders it perceives.

”But the exercise of this power does not satisfy the mind, which rises to still higher, undefinable perceptions, not of this world, and inspired by them the artist, the inventor and the man of science give expression to the longing of the soul.

(“Shows How Men Of The Future May Become As Gods.” NEW YORK HERALD . December 30, 1900.)

2. “That an aggregation of impressions, thoughts and feelings having no materiality, and vaguely designated as mind, or soul, should be substance susceptible of quantitative determination is altogether too absurd for discussion.

“The change however, which takes place in the human body during its awful transition from life to death is a great subject for scientific investigation which may possibly lead to important results. If the experiments of Massachusetts physicians are to be at all seriously considered, it is only in this respect.

“I could not help being struck by the fact that men of a scientific caliber sufficiently large to undertake measurements requiring the greatest delicacy and skill, should not be correspondingly resourceful in devising the apparatus for the purpose. A scale responding to the weight of one tenth of an ounce is not a fit instrument for weighing the human soul.

“It is not less astonishing that such trained observer should have overlooked a trivial cause responsible for the seeming lightening of the body. I use this term designedly, for accepting the exudations which have been taken into consideration there was no loss of substance in death.

“When the rigor mortis sets in there is an increase of volume for various reasons. Just to give a rough idea I shall assume that the living body, weighing a hundred and sixty pounds, had filled a space of three cubic feet. The air in a sick room may weigh about fourteen ounces per cubic feet. Half an ounce of the air would consequently occupy a space of sixty-two cubic inches, and that would be only one percent of the original volume of three cubic feet. As will readily be seen, a very slight general deformation of the body, scarcely perceptible, is adequate to explain the puzzling observation. The sudden tipping of the scale demonstrates nothing except the coarseness of the instrument. Had the balance been very sensitive, owing to the resistance of the air, the platform would have ascended slowly.“

–Nikola Tesla

(“Scientists Doubt The Human Soul Was Weighed.” New York World, March 17, 1907.)

3. “Since time immemorial the most profound thinkers have tried to lift the veil that hides the beyond. I have read thousands of volumes of literature and thought for years in the hope that I might get some kind of evidence to show that death is not the end. But all in vain. To me the universe is simply a marvelous mechanism, and the most complex forms of human life, as human beings, are nothing else but automatic engines, controlled by external influence. Through incessant observation I have so convinced myself of the truth of this that I cannot perform any act or even conceive a thought without locating at once the external stimulus that prompted it.

“A forceful argument in support of the existence of a creative agent is made of the law, order and harmony perceptible everywhere. But it must not be forgotten that Kant’s reasoning and conclusion in this respect are irrefutable. According to this philosopher, the conception of fitness has been created in the speculative mind of men, which thus admires a miracle wrought by itself.

“Granted a planetary system, it is absolutely inevitable that in the course of eons such organized beings as we are will evolve. The cooling of the hot masses results in a precipitation of water, and under the influence of the sun’s rays heliotropic action takes place and life is started. Through chemical and other agents and continuous adjustment complex mechanisms come into being, and these ultimately develop into structures of marvelous complexity with capacities of response to the faintest stimulae from the environment.

“When we realize this as a fact we begin to grasp the great idea of Buddha–that self is an illusion. Indeed, we are nothing but waves in space and time which when dissolved exist no more.

“There is this to be said, however, that science without hope is not satisfactory, and unless one has some ideals he cannot achieve happiness. The religious is the most lofty ideal, and it seems that the great reformers who, ages ago, laid down rules of conduct were right in their conclusions that a peaceful existence and a continued onward march of man on this globe is essentially dependent on the conception of a God.

“I have read Mr. Burbank’s statement in which he expresses an opinion shared by most natural philosophers, but one must not be too rash in contradicting the conclusions reached by countless men of genius who spent their lives in endeavors to ascertain the destiny of the human race. A single individual, however well informed and capable, may be partially unaware of if not utterly blind to evidences of a certain kind, which might be quite sufficient for others. This is the reason why I am distrustful of my own findings. Possibly Mr. Ford, who I understand is accepting old traditions, may be closer to the truth than such men as Burbank and myself.

“I have searched during many years for some process or means to test the possibility of future existence by scientific experiment, and I have devised one, which, to my great disappointment, has failed. But perhaps some more skillful experimenter might succeed if I suggest to him the course. To put it briefly, it is this:

“Our bodies are composed of molecules of various elements, harmoniously united. Do these molecules retain any after-effect when the body is dissolved? To ascertain this take, say, two molecules of hydrogen from the body of an individual and also one molecule of oxygen. Furthermore, provide another molecule of oxygen taken from some other body. Now place the two molecules of hydrogen so they can combine with the oxygen, and if they prefer that molecule of oxygen with which they were previously united, then reincarnation is proved. For, though it may take ages and ages, ultimately the molecules which constituted that body will get together again, just as in a vast city individuals from a distant land finally meet and establish close contact.”

(“After Death — WHAT?” Lima News, Lima, Ohio, March 14, 1926.)

4. “We are all automatons obeying external influences. We are entirely under the control of agents that beat on our senses from all directions of the outside world. Being merely receivers from the outside, it is a very important question how good the receivers are—some are sensitive and receive accurately. Others are sluggish and their reception is blurred. The individual who is a better machine has so much greater chance of achieving success and happiness. An individual who is an offender of law is a machine in which one or another organ has been deranged, so that the responses are no longer accurate.

“There is no chance in nature, although the modern theory of indeterminacy attempts to show scientifically that events are governed by chance. I positively deny that. The causes and effects, however complex, are intimately linked, and the result of all inferences must be inevitably fixed as by a mathematical formula.

“I also absolutely deny the existence of individuality. It took me not less than twenty years to develop a faculty to trace every thought or act of mine to an external influence. We are just waves in time and space, changing continuously, and the illusion of individuality is produced through the concatenation of the rapidly succeeding phases of existence. What we define as likeness is merely the result of the symmetrical arrangement of molecules which compose our body.”

“How about the soul - the spirit?” he was asked.

“Ah,” he exclaimed, “but there is no soul or spirit. These are merely expressions of the functions of the body. These life functions cease with death and so do soul and spirit.

“What humanity needs is ideals. Idealism is the force that will free us from material fetters.”

(“Tesla Seeks to Send Power to Planets.” New York Times, July 11, 1931.)

5. “One of the most fundamental and also one of the saddest facts in human life is well brought out in a French proverb which, freely translated, means:

‘If Youth had the knowledge and Old Age the strength of doing.’

Our condition of body and mind in old age is merely a certificate of how we have spent our youth. The secret of my own strength and vitality today is that in my youth I led what you might call a virtuous life.

"I have never dissipated. When I was a young man I understood well the significance of that old French proverb, although I doubt that I had even heard it then. But I seemed to have a clear understanding while still young that I must control my passions and appetites if I wanted to make some of my dreams come true.

(“Tremendous New Power Soon To Be Released.” By Carol Bird. Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston, West Virginia, Page 40. September 10, 1933.)

6. “To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without. Owing to the similarity of our construction and the sameness of our environment, we respond in like manner to similar stimuli, and from the concordance of our reactions, understanding is barn. In the course of ages, mechanisms of infinite complexity are developed, but what we call “soul ” or “spirit,” is nothing more than the sum of the functionings of the body. When this functioning ceases, the “soul” or the “spirit” ceases likewise.“

(“A Machine to End War.” Liberty Magazine, February 9, 1935.)

–Nikola Tesla

[historicheathen]

BLOODY HELL, Murdoch

As you could probably guess, I am a lover of historical dramas, with Murdoch Mysteries being one of my absolute favourites for both its' encapsulating storyline and for being Canadian. When it comes to historical dramas, a lot of times myself along with other historians are known for being very critical in regards to subject matter, costumes, location, even the way characters speak and interact with eachother in these types of shows and films. In my professional opinion, Murdoch Mysteries is probably one of the better series when it comes to both telling a fictional but period (1890s onward) narrative and showing both the progressivism of the early 1900s and the many problems faced in this era.

The show takes place in the bustling metropolis of Toronto Ontario, and as you could have guessed focuses on crimes of murder that occur in the city. Detective William Murdoch works out of station house number 4 and is the Toronto constabulary's best super sleuth. Armed with the assistance of the magnificent coroner Doctor Julia Odgen, his chipper Constable George Crabtree, and his quick tempered Stationmaster Thomas Brackenreid, Murdoch solves any and all mysteries presented to him.

The show is not only entertaining, its' characters are also wonderful representations of both traditional values and changing times. Thomas Brackenreid, a martyr of the old generation often finds himself falling victim to stereotypes of the times such as discriminating against different ethic groups and also refusing to accept new emerging technologies. In contrast, characters such as Doctor Julia Odgen and Constable George Crabtree offer modern ways of thinking. Julia is both a working professional in a male dominated field, obtained an abortion, and is an advocate for birth control and women's rights, all of which of course are seen as taboo for a woman. George Crabtree is often regarded as a simpleton or a day dreamer for his love of modern inventions and trends such as: pizza, hamburgers, Coca-Cola, and of course his insistence on the existence of vampires. George also is critiqued for investing in modern technologies which the rest of the station, including Murdoch finds obsolete. The show also challenges gender and race discrimination by hosting female coroners, one of which being of colour, and another being a homosexual.

Aside from all of the innovation, the show also presents common problems associated with life in the early 1900s. Poverty, lack of hygiene, ethnic and racial segregation and discrimination are all present in the show. The suspects also come from all social classes and are distinguished by their appearance. Lower classes are presented with yellowed teeth and tattered clothes, middle are often cleaner but usually don the same outfit as they may only have two or three, and upper class are presented as being quite bourgeoisie. The difference in language used also indicates social class in the show, with the upper class being more posh and proper and the lower using slang. The show also shows how the police often used racial and ethic discrimination when it came to solving murders and crimes, often assigning blame without full motive. Murdoch of course always steps in and obtains the truth, and attempts to discourage arrests on the basis of ethnicity.

The show however does sometimes become outlandish, Murdoch often finds himself in the company of many historical figures such as Winston Churchill, Henry Ford, Sir Arthur Cohan Doyle, and of course Nikola Tesla. Usually when he works with these individuals, a new innovation is created such as audio recordings. Now of course it is entirely unlikely and even impossible that these people would have ever stepped foot in Toronto let alone desired to work with the police force. However this component of the show also helps push the idea of innovation and progression in both police practices as well as thinking.

Overall, is the show a perfect representation of the Toronto police force in the 1890s- early 1900s? Absolutely not. But no show should be. If it were, the show would have no entertainment value whatsoever. The show is able to both progress as history progresses but also shows how hard life was in the time it is depicting. Its' use of costumes, coloqualisms, and historical context provides a concrete and believable set for a riveting and complex story line.

Murdoch Mysteries will always have a special place in my heart.

Until next time,

The Historic Heathen

[periodsofdisaster]

Victorian Blues

Here we go again, my darlings.

Today we take a journey back to...perhaps, the 1890s? I can’t really tell.

This one is a bit of a doozy, to be honest.

We always start with “expectations” before we move on to grim “reality,” so let’s take a look at a few examples of what I think our seller is going for. What we’re working with, I really can’t even articulate how much of a miss it is...you’ll just have to see it. But first, some examples of things they attempted to translate into a modern reproduction.

In the 1890s and the early 1900s, there were occasionally evening gowns with thin shoulder straps, like the reproduction I will soon present. However, like these examples from the Delineator and this rather simple 1898 Jacques Doucet extant example, none of what I can find simply has the narrow straps without also having something decorative that sits off each shoulder. I include the Doucet specifically to show that simple, sparsely-trimmed gowns did exist in this period, and how they were done in a way that still appears luxurious.

One thing the reproduction (which I promise to show you soon,) does get wrong is the back - it has something of a “bustle” to it. I cannot find any examples of a bustled back and narrow straps coexisting. It seems that, if you want a bustled back, you have to go back at least to the tail end of the 1880s, like this one from Worth, dated c. 1888. This is technically an opera gown, and this seems to be the last year you see slightly bustled backs among higher-end, higher-fashion gowns. Notice the straps on this are quite thick, and don’t even really seem to function as straps, mostly for decoration.

So, onward to today’s disaster.

I don’t really know what to say about this, to be honest. It is over $300 on Etsy, pre-made, not made-to-measure. What’s worse, the seller claims it was featured in a historical fashion exhibit, which, to be perfectly honest, makes me want to throw myself on a fainting couch and sob.

It is made of silk. I sigh, heavily. The kind of people who could afford a fully silk ballgown would’ve had *underwear* with more trimming than this. I honestly feel like I’m looking at a mock-up.

There is a right way to do a thin-strapped, sparsely-trimmed 1890s gown.

This, my chickadees, is not it.

A bonus nitpick: what little trimming exists is short, white fringe. This type of extremely thin, light fringe, made of synthetic fabric, was not a thing until well into the 20th century. In fact, as the article linked to below outlines, it didn’t even exist in by the 1920s the way we today think of it. Fringe in the 1890s would’ve been thicker, much heavier, and longer, designed to help fabric drape a certain way. Not short, light, thin, and purely decorative.

If you can call this decorative.

[sciencespies]

How Much Did Grandmothers Influence Human Evolution?

https://sciencespies.com/nature/how-much-did-grandmothers-influence-human-evolution/

How Much Did Grandmothers Influence Human Evolution?

The seeds of an idea were planted as Kristen Hawkes watched older women collecting vegetables.

Hawkes, a professor of anthropology at the University of Utah, has extensively studied the Hadza, a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania who eat a lot of wild foods such as berries and tubers. While young children can pick berries themselves, older women in the community are the ones pulling up the bulbous root vegetables, which would be difficult for young kids.

Hawkes found a correlation between how well children grew and their mother’s foraging work, until the mother had another kid. Then, their growth correlated with “grandmother’s work,” she says. “There were the data right in front of us.”

These observations, which Hawkes and collaborators began in the 1980s, have helped fuel the Grandmother Hypothesis, the idea that grandmothers step in to feed young children and perform other motherly duties so that mothers can focus their own energy and resources on having more children at shorter intervals. The result is that a grandmother enables the birth of more descendants, leaving more copies of her genes in subsequent generations. In prehistoric times, the theory goes, grandmothering led to the spread of genes corresponding to slower aging in women relative to their predecessors, which increased expected lifespans in general.

Combining those observations with models of variation in life history in other organisms, from mice to elephants, Hawkes and colleagues have become convinced that human grandmothers have played a central role in the life history of Homo sapiens. They argue that grandmothers are a driving force behind the increased longevity of our species compared to other primates.

Longevity is also highly correlated with brain size across the mammalian kingdom—the bigger the brain, the longer the lifespan—and the best predictor of brain size is the duration of brain development. “If you’re going to make a bigger brain, it takes longer to make it,” explains Barbara Finlay, professor emerita of psychology at Cornell University, who has collaborated with Hawkes.

Through a combination of anthropological fieldwork, mathematical modeling and comparative primatology, Hawkes and collaborators make the case that a prehistoric division of labor—in which grandmothers take on responsibilities for nourishing grandchildren while mothers pop out more babies—has led to the long lives and big brains we have today.

“All of these pieces start to be connected to this puzzle of us, coming back to this life history shift to this increasing longevity, with older females subsidizing the fertility of younger ones,” Hawkes says.

It’s heartwarming to think of grandmothers as evolutionary heroines, especially in the face of an alternative narrative: that postmenopausal women merely represent evolution’s failure to sustain fertility throughout a woman’s entire life. But to skeptics, the Grandmother Hypothesis remains a “just so” story, a tidy narrative that can’t truly be proven or disproven, which is the burden of science. Nonetheless, the Grandmother Hypothesis hints at broader mysteries and controversies about the human lifespan, women’s bodies and to what extent health declines as a result of menopause.

Evolutionary biologists and anthropologists have spent decades trying to figure out why female humans outlive their fertile period when few other animals do. (The Grandmother Hypothesis originated with a 1957 paper by the late ecologist George C. Williams, but more recently Hawkes has carried the torch for grandmothers’ role in evolution.) Chimpanzees, our closest mammalian relatives, and other great apes do not typically live past menopause—and most don’t even experience it. The killer whale and pilot whale are rare examples of mammalian species in which females continue living after they can no longer reproduce. A 2019 study shows that grandmother whales increase the survival of their aquatic grandkids; for example, grandmothers can lead the group to food when there are fewer salmon around.

While everyone agrees grandmothers can provide welcome childcare support and resources for their children raising new babies, one debate about the Grandmother Hypothesis surrounds which is a more relevant metric: how long people lived on average or, instead, how long people could live.

Donna Holmes Parks, associate clinical professor of biology at the University of Idaho, argues that long lifespans among humans is a modern phenomenon. Ancient humans rarely lived beyond 50 years, and prior to the industrial revolution most people tended to die by 35, the age at which fertility starts to decline in both sexes, Parks writes in the book The Arc of Life, which she edited with Grazyna Jasienska and Diana Sherry.

Life expectancy from birth in the U.S. in 1900 was 45; over the course of the 20th century, as modern medicine entered the scene, it climbed to 78 to 80 years old, she writes. But Hawkes and others counter that in previous eras, many more babies and juveniles died young, lowering the average age of death. They point to the difference between life expectancy and life span potential, of which the latter is much longer.

And then a related question arises—how old is menopause? If menopause is a recent phenomenon, then scientists have a harder time arguing that postmenopausal grandmothers have so strongly shaped human evolution.

If menopause is ancient, anthropologists expect to find commonalities in the symptoms that women experience regardless of their ethnicity. Given that all humans descended from a single African ancestor, population variations observed today are associated with evolution in more recent eras, more like 5,000 to 50,000 years ago, according to a 2020 study in BMC Women’s Health. And this new study does find modest differences between ethnic groups in both self-reported menopausal symptoms and associated hormones, arguing that menopause is relatively recent in human history.

But Lynette Sievert, biological anthropologist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is skeptical. She has done fieldwork on menopause in many communities worldwide, from Bangladesh to Mexico to Hawaii. Her work has found that while women in some cultures may say that they do not experience hot flashes, monitoring devices on volunteers in those groups show that actually hot flashes are common—these women just don’t talk about them. Sievert says the universalities of the menopausal experience across the world suggest a shared experience of estrogen decline at midlife. Hot flashes may have ancient roots.

While no one can observe the hot flashes of Homo erectus, Sievert and others say humans and their ancestors have gone through menopause for at least 1 million, even up to 1.8 million years—even before anatomically modern Homo sapiens.

Even if menopause is truly ancient, some detractors of the Grandmother Hypothesis point to the health perils of a woman’s post-fertile years to argue that this stage of life is not adaptive—maintaining that postmenopausal womanhood did not result from the selection of inherited beneficial traits over time. Many of the common health problems of aging can be traced to physiological phenomena that are beneficial in younger people, Parks says. Estrogen is essential for fertility, but in later years the decline in estrogen puts women at risk for osteoporosis, on top of the unpleasant and sometimes serious symptoms of menopause itself. Decreases in estrogen may also contribute to the risk of heart disease and dementia. “If grandmas are so important to their relatives, why isn’t health in general stable from menopause onward?” Parks writes in an e-mail.

Sievert agrees that grandmothers have played important roles in helping their children and grandchildren, but for her, it’s not the answer to why women live beyond their fertile years and past menopause. What set up our species to have post-fertile grandmothers around in the first place is that women are born with all the eggs they will ever have. Other animals like fish, amphibians and most reptiles produce eggs throughout their lives, so their females will never experience menopause or live in a postmenopausal state.

Human females start out with about 1 million eggs, of which about 300,000 remain when puberty begins. But these tiny cells aren’t only for reproduction. In concert with hormones circulating during fertile years, eggs also produce estrogen and serve other functions besides combining with sperm.

Looking across species, scientists have found an intriguing correlation between the number of eggs the typical female produces and the expected length of life, Sievert says. Mammals produce all their eggs at once, in a greater quantity than they could possibly use. The number of eggs quickly declines around birth, but drops more slowly before the onset of fertility. Then, eggs die off even more slowly until fertility ends.

Sievert argues that as the human lifespan potential became longer and longer, the female body did not simultaneously evolve to make enough eggs to keep up. The maximum potential lifespan, therefore, grew to outpace egg production.

And so women got to experience older ages, even after their eggs ran out. For mammals, ovaries stop working by age 50, setting the stage for a post-reproductive life that can include grandmotherly childcare duties. “I don’t think that becoming a grandmother selected for menopause and post-reproductive life,” Sievert says. “But I think that having post-reproductive life opened the space for effectiveness of grandmothers.”

And grandmothers aren’t the only potential helpers. Aunts and other relatives and community members can provide the “stuff and knowledge” that grandmothers are known for disseminating, says Finlay, the emerita psychology professor at Cornell. The more ancient communal, multigenerational living situation contrasts with the stereotypical American nuclear family in which parents and kids live apart from other relatives—although in reality, many variations exist in households today.

Grandfathers can provide food resources to offspring and grandchildren, too—something corroborated in the fieldwork of Hillard Kaplan, who was Hawkes’ graduate student, and colleagues studying the Tsimané, an indigenous group in Bolivian Amazonia that lives off of hunting, foraging and cultivation.

That’s not surprising to Hawkes, as local environmental and social factors shape different groups and the way they face tradeoffs involving resources and childrearing, she says. But she maintains the bulk of evidence—the economics of foraging for foods among groups such as the Hadza, and mathematical models of grandmotherly effects on lifespans—supports grandmothers as the ancient secondary providers for kids, which shaped human longevity.

While this idea remains controversial, the general importance of grandmothers in the lives of many families is not. If you can, call yours today.

#Nature

[go-redgirl]

Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065

Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065

Chapter 1: The Nation’s Immigration Laws, 1920 to Today

Fifty years ago, the U.S. enacted a sweeping immigration law, the Immigration and Nationality Act, which replaced longstanding national origin quotas that favored Northern Europe with a new system allocating more visas to people from other countries around the world and giving increased priority to close relatives of U.S. residents.

Just prior to passage of the 1965 law, residents of only three countries—Ireland, Germany and the United Kingdom—were entitled to nearly 70% of the quota visas available to enter the U.S. (U.S. Department of Justice, 1965).4 Today, immigration to the U.S. is dominated by people born in Asia and Latin America, with immigrants from all of Europe accounting for only 10% of recent arrivals.

The 1965 law undid national origin quotas enacted in the 1920s, which were written into laws that imposed the first numerical limits on immigration. Those laws were the culmination of steadily tightening federal restrictions on immigration that began in the late 1800s with prohibitions or restrictions on certain types of immigrants, such as convicts, in addition to a ban on Chinese migrants and later virtually all Asian migrants.

This chapter explores the history of immigration law in the U.S., focusing on provisions of major legislation from the 20th century onward. Accompanying this chapter is an interactive timeline (below) of U.S. immigration legislation since the 1790s.

New Restrictions in the 1920s

The visa arrangement in place when the 1965 law was passed was a legacy from half a century earlier. At that earlier time, a giant wave of immigration that began in the late 1800s had raised the nation’s population of foreign-born residents to a then-record high of 13.9 million in 1920, making up a near-record 13% of the U.S. population (Gibson and Jung, 2006; Passel and Cohn, 2008).5 The first arrivals in this wave were mainly Northern Europeans, but by the early 1900s most new arrivals came from Italy, Poland and elsewhere in Southern and Eastern Europe (Martin, 2011).

Reacting to the change in immigrant origins, laws enacted in the 1920s sought to return U.S. immigration patterns to those that prevailed decades earlier, when Northern Europeans were the largest group of immigrants. A 1921 law imposed the first overall numerical quota on immigration to the U.S.—about 350,000, reduced to 165,000 in 1924 (Martin, 2011). The 1924 law set annual quotas for each European country based on the foreign-born population from that nation living in the U.S. in 1890.

6

The 1921 and 1924 laws exempted from the new quota highly skilled immigrants, domestic servants, specialized workers such as actors and wives or unmarried minor children of U.S. citizens, and the 1924 law also created preferences for quota visas for certain family members and agricultural workers (Martin, 2011).

Nationality quotas were imposed only on Europe, not on countries in the Western Hemisphere. There were no quotas for Asia, because immigration from most countries there already was prohibited through other restrictions imposed in 1875 and expanded in later decades.

These laws were passed against a backdrop of growing federal regulation of immigration, which was mainly controlled by states until a series of Supreme Court rulings in the late 1800s declared that it was a federal responsibility. Aside from country limits, federal laws already in place barred immigration by criminals, those deemed “lunatics” or “idiots,” and people unable to support themselves, among others (U.S. Department of Homeland Security). These laws also required that immigrants older than 16 prove they could read English or some other language. The federal immigration bureaucracy, created in 1891, grew in the 1920s with creation of the Border Patrol and an appeals board for people excluded from the country (U.S. Department of Homeland Security).

Immigration slowed sharply after the 1920s. But there were some exceptions to U.S. immigration restrictions. For example, because of labor shortages during World War II, the U.S. and Mexico signed an agreement in 1942 creating the Bracero program to allow Mexican agricultural workers to enter the U.S. temporarily. The program lasted until 1964.

Longstanding bans on immigration from Asia were lifted in the 1940s and 1950s. A prohibition on Chinese immigration enacted in 1882 was repealed in 1943. The 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act included the first quotas, though small, allowing immigrants from Asian nations, and created a preference system among quota visas that included highly skilled workers for the first time.

President Harry S. Truman, who opposed national origin quotas, appointed a commission to review the nation’s immigration policy after Congress passed the 1952 law over his veto. The commission’s report criticized the national origin quotas for perpetuating racial and national discrimination. The commission recommended that national origin quotas be replaced by higher limits with priority status based on granting asylum, reunifying families and meeting the nation’s labor needs (President’s Commission on Immigration and Naturalization, 1953). Congress did not act on those recommendations, but in 1953 it did approve a commission proposal for separate quotas for refugees (Martin, 2011).

The 1965 Law Brings Major Change

It was not until 1965, when amendments were passed to the Immigration and Naturalization Act, that the old national origins system was abolished.

Instead, the new law emphasized visas for family and employment categories, but exempted spouses, parents and minor children of U.S. citizens from those visa limits. That exemption, and other priority given to family members of U.S. residents, meant that about three-quarters of visas were set aside for relatives of those already in the U.S.—putting the emphasis in U.S. immigration policy on family reunification.

Most remaining visas were for employment purposes, given to people with certain job skills and their family members. The Labor Department was required to certify that an American worker was not available to fill the job of the visa seeker and that U.S. workers would not be harmed if the visa were issued (Martin, 2011).

The 1965 law also included a quota for refugees, who were granted 6% of annual visas, compared with 74% for families; 10% for professionals, scientists and artists; and 10% for workers in short supply in the country (Kritz and Gurak, 2005). Later, the Refugee Act of 1980 separated refugee admissions from the overall quota system, expanded the definition of a refugee and set up comprehensive procedures for handling refugees.

Although the 1920s-era national origins quotas were abolished, the new 1965 law did include total hemisphere and country quotas. Though the hemisphere quotas were dropped in the following decade (Martin, 2011). Importantly, the law imposed the first limits on immigration from Western Hemisphere countries, including Mexico. Those limits, combined with the end of the Bracero program in 1964, are associated with a rise in unauthorized immigration, mostly from Mexico.7

Scholars attribute passage of the 1965 law in part to the era’s civil rights movement, which created a climate for changing laws that allowed racial or ethnic discrimination, as well as to the growing clout of groups whose immigration had been restricted (Martin, 2011). The economy was healthy, allaying concerns that immigrants would compete with U.S.-born workers (Reimers, 1992). Some, however, say that geopolitical factors were more important, especially the image of the U.S. abroad in an era of Cold War competition with Russia (FitzGerald and Cook-Martin, 2015). Labor unions, which had opposed higher immigration levels in the past, supported the 1965 law, though they pushed for changes to tighten employment visas. And political players changed: President Lyndon B. Johnson lobbied hard for the bill, and a new generation of congressional leaders created a friendlier environment for it (Martin, 2011).

Its sponsors praised the law for its fairness but downplayed its potential impact on immigration flows. “This bill that we will sign today is not a revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of millions,” Johnson said in remarks at the signing ceremony. “It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives, or really add importantly to either our wealth or our power.”

Laws Since 1965

In the 1970s and early 1980s, new laws mainly focused on the growing flow of refugees from Southeast Asia. Since then, concerns about unauthorized immigration have guided the nation’s immigration policy agenda. In 1986, Congress addressed the growing issue of unauthorized immigration with the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which offered temporary protection from deportation and legal permanent resident status to millions of people who had lived in the country since the 1980s. Roughly 2.7 million people were given legal status under the law’s general legalization or its special program for farmworkers.

The Immigration Act of 1990 increased the number of visas for legal immigrants coming for family and employment reasons and created a new category of visas for “diversity immigrants.” Among other provisions, it also created a new type of relief from deportation for nationals of countries undergoing armed conflicts, environmental or health disasters, or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions,” known as “temporary protected status,” which has been used mainly by Central American immigrants.

The primary emphasis of more recent immigration legislation has been to reduce government benefits to immigrants, increase border security and provide broader reasoning for excluding immigrants on terrorism grounds (Migration Policy Institute, 2013).

Notable exceptions to that pattern were President Barack Obama’s two recent executive actions on unauthorized immigration—Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012 and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) in 2014. DACA allowed young adults, ages 15 to 30, who had been brought illegally to the U.S. as children to apply for deportation relief and a temporary work permit. In 2014, the president eliminated the age limits for DACA eligibility. Under DAPA, some unauthorized immigrants with U.S.-born children were allowed to apply for deportation relief and a work permit. The 2014 actions are on hold because of a legal challenge filed by 26 states (Lopez and Krogstad, 2015).

OPINION:  Obama did not have the authorization to sign (DACA) it was never approved by Congress.  That's who started this problem in the USA.  It's was Obama himself. 

Here is what Obama could not do without approval from Congress: He couldn't generally give large groups of immigrants permission to remain permanently in the United States, and he couldn't grant them American citizenship. And he couldn't generally make them eligible for federal or state social benefit programs, such as welfare payments, food stamps or the administration's health care plans.

[preciousmetals0]

Gold vs. The Dollar: What Is the Connection?

Gold vs. The Dollar: What Is the Connection?:

While the United States has long been off the gold standard, the relationship between the US dollar and gold remains. The strength of the dollar is one factor that many investors take into account when making their investments, particularly when they decide to make investments in gold.

Special: IRA, 401(k) & TSP Scam

Gold plays an important part in the investment portfolios of millions of investors around the world. Investors in the US pay particularly close attention to the value of gold vs. the dollar, as a weakening dollar means that gold will often increase in price. Keeping track of the relationship between gold and the dollar can be crucial to making the right investment decisions and maximizing the impact of investing in gold.

The Value of Gold: A History

Gold has been used as a currency for thousands of years, although it was often only used for high-level and large sum transactions. The modern gold standard dates back to the United Kingdom in the early 19th century, as the growing British Empire demonstrated the numerous advantages of the gold standard. But it was only in the late 19th century as economic development surged throughout Europe and the Americas that the gold standard really blossomed and gold became more available to the average person.

The United States came to the gold standard relatively late, only formally adopting it in 1900, although the country had been on an informal gold standard since the 1870s. The country remained on the gold standard until 1933, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt nationalized all gold holdings and banned the private ownership of gold, a ban that lasted until 1975.

Because the US dollar was still backed by gold, it became the world’s reserve currency, displacing the British pound. In the aftermath of World War II, the Bretton Woods financial system set up the US dollar as the world’s official reserve currency, as its gold backing meant that the dollar was as good as gold. There was no question of the dollar vs. gold, as they were supposed to be the same thing.

Unfortunately, successive governments took advantage of that trust and printed more dollars than there was gold to back them. That resulted in foreign countries redeeming their dollar holdings for gold, and the market value of gold rising above the US government’s official $35/ounce gold price valuation.

By the early 1970s it looked as though foreign government gold redemption would result in the US Treasury giving away all of its gold. As a result, President Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, thus severing the last official relationship between the dollar and gold. This time when it came to the dollar vs. gold, the government chose the paper dollar and abandoned gold.

Gold vs. the US Dollar

From 1971 onward, gold has been a freely floating market asset, able to rise and fall with supply and demand. But as the gold supply increases only at a very low rate, and demand constantly increases, gold’s price growth has been steadily upward since then.

The gold price is now affected by the value of the dollar, but in an inverse relationship. As the dollar weakens, the gold price increases. And as the dollar strengthens, the gold price decreases. But as the Federal Reserve System continues creating more and more money and credit, the long-term trend for the dollar is expected to weaken, while the long-term trend for gold is to strengthen. As long as a central bank exists that creates money out of thin air, the gold price vs. the dollar will only increase over time.

What Affects the Price of Gold?

Monetary policy isn’t the only factor affecting the price of gold, however. While gold mining gets more expensive every year, mine production does contribute a small amount of extra gold supply each year. Recycling gold from used electronics also contributes to the gold supply, which is crucial for a metal that is in demand not only from investors but also from industry.

Ultimately, industrial demand is not the primary factor affecting overall gold demand. The majority of gold demand comes from the investment sector and from jewelers, with significant overlap between the two. In countries such as India and China, gold jewelry is a popular investment choice, whereas in the West investors generally prefer gold bars or gold coins.

New financial products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also affect gold demand, as these new funds have to purchase and hold gold in order to back the shares they sell to investors. And as the world economy teeters on the brink of a recession, investor demand for gold looks set to increase significantly in the coming years.

International Value of the US Dollar vs. Gold

The dollar’s value versus foreign currencies also plays a role in gold demand and the gold price. As the dollar weakens against other currencies, those other currencies get stronger, and vice versa. A strong dollar means that the dollar buys more of another currency, while a weak dollar buys less of another currency.

As the dollar weakens, it results in the foreign currency price of gold lowering, leading to increased gold demand in foreign countries. As the dollar strengthens, it results in the foreign currency price of gold increasing, thus leading to decreased gold demand in foreign countries.

Consider the example of a fictitious currency called the xebu that trades at 10:1 versus the dollar – that is, one dollar purchases ten xebus. At a gold price of $1,500 per ounce, it would take 15,000 xebus to buy an ounce of gold. If the dollar weakens so that the xebu exchange rate is 8:1, it now only takes 12,000 xebus to buy an ounce of gold. If the dollar strengthens so that the exchange rate is 12:1, it takes 18,000 xebus to buy an ounce of gold.

We see that if the dollar weakens against a foreign currency it can lead to rising foreign gold demand (which can help boost the gold price in dollars), while if the dollar strengthens it can lead to falling foreign gold demand. In particular, the relationship between the dollar and the Chinese yuan and Indian rupee are the most important exchange rates to look at, as China and India are two of the world’s largest markets for gold.

How to Make Smart Gold Investments

It’s important for investors to make the right kind of investments when they decide to invest in gold. Often the right type of gold investment for investors is dependent on how much money they want to invest and how they’re sourcing those funds.

For investors who have less than $25,000 to invest, or whose assets are held in brokerage accounts, savings accounts, or money market funds, they may want to think about investing in physical gold coins or bars that they store themselves. A $5,000 investment, for instance, equals about three one-ounce gold coins. That kind of investment can be stored safely and securely in a home safe.

For investors who have funds stashed away in retirement accounts such as a 401(k), 403(b), or TSP account, a gold IRA is a good option to invest in gold. Investors can perform a gold IRA rollover, allowing them to roll over some or all of their retirement savings into gold without tax consequences. That makes sense for investors who have $25,000 to $50,000 or more that they want to protect from stock market or bond market losses.

Learn More About Gold Investments With Goldco

Special: Congress Is After Your IRA, 401(k) and TSP

If you want to learn more about how you can protect your investment portfolio by investing in gold, contact the experts at Goldco today. Our gold IRA specialists can help you navigate the world of precious metals so that you can make the right decision that will maximize your financial gains and keep your assets safe. Don’t wait any longer, contact Goldco today to find out how you can make gold a vital part of your retirement planning.

[goldira01]

While the United States has long been off the gold standard, the relationship between the US dollar and gold remains. The strength of the dollar is one factor that many investors take into account when making their investments, particularly when they decide to make investments in gold.

Special: IRA, 401(k) & TSP Scam

Gold plays an important part in the investment portfolios of millions of investors around the world. Investors in the US pay particularly close attention to the value of gold vs. the dollar, as a weakening dollar means that gold will often increase in price. Keeping track of the relationship between gold and the dollar can be crucial to making the right investment decisions and maximizing the impact of investing in gold.

The Value of Gold: A History

Gold has been used as a currency for thousands of years, although it was often only used for high-level and large sum transactions. The modern gold standard dates back to the United Kingdom in the early 19th century, as the growing British Empire demonstrated the numerous advantages of the gold standard. But it was only in the late 19th century as economic development surged throughout Europe and the Americas that the gold standard really blossomed and gold became more available to the average person.

The United States came to the gold standard relatively late, only formally adopting it in 1900, although the country had been on an informal gold standard since the 1870s. The country remained on the gold standard until 1933, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt nationalized all gold holdings and banned the private ownership of gold, a ban that lasted until 1975.

Because the US dollar was still backed by gold, it became the world’s reserve currency, displacing the British pound. In the aftermath of World War II, the Bretton Woods financial system set up the US dollar as the world’s official reserve currency, as its gold backing meant that the dollar was as good as gold. There was no question of the dollar vs. gold, as they were supposed to be the same thing.

Unfortunately, successive governments took advantage of that trust and printed more dollars than there was gold to back them. That resulted in foreign countries redeeming their dollar holdings for gold, and the market value of gold rising above the US government’s official $35/ounce gold price valuation.

By the early 1970s it looked as though foreign government gold redemption would result in the US Treasury giving away all of its gold. As a result, President Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, thus severing the last official relationship between the dollar and gold. This time when it came to the dollar vs. gold, the government chose the paper dollar and abandoned gold.

Gold vs. the US Dollar

From 1971 onward, gold has been a freely floating market asset, able to rise and fall with supply and demand. But as the gold supply increases only at a very low rate, and demand constantly increases, gold’s price growth has been steadily upward since then.

The gold price is now affected by the value of the dollar, but in an inverse relationship. As the dollar weakens, the gold price increases. And as the dollar strengthens, the gold price decreases. But as the Federal Reserve System continues creating more and more money and credit, the long-term trend for the dollar is expected to weaken, while the long-term trend for gold is to strengthen. As long as a central bank exists that creates money out of thin air, the gold price vs. the dollar will only increase over time.

What Affects the Price of Gold?

Monetary policy isn’t the only factor affecting the price of gold, however. While gold mining gets more expensive every year, mine production does contribute a small amount of extra gold supply each year. Recycling gold from used electronics also contributes to the gold supply, which is crucial for a metal that is in demand not only from investors but also from industry.

Ultimately, industrial demand is not the primary factor affecting overall gold demand. The majority of gold demand comes from the investment sector and from jewelers, with significant overlap between the two. In countries such as India and China, gold jewelry is a popular investment choice, whereas in the West investors generally prefer gold bars or gold coins.

New financial products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also affect gold demand, as these new funds have to purchase and hold gold in order to back the shares they sell to investors. And as the world economy teeters on the brink of a recession, investor demand for gold looks set to increase significantly in the coming years.

International Value of the US Dollar vs. Gold

The dollar’s value versus foreign currencies also plays a role in gold demand and the gold price. As the dollar weakens against other currencies, those other currencies get stronger, and vice versa. A strong dollar means that the dollar buys more of another currency, while a weak dollar buys less of another currency.

As the dollar weakens, it results in the foreign currency price of gold lowering, leading to increased gold demand in foreign countries. As the dollar strengthens, it results in the foreign currency price of gold increasing, thus leading to decreased gold demand in foreign countries.

Consider the example of a fictitious currency called the xebu that trades at 10:1 versus the dollar – that is, one dollar purchases ten xebus. At a gold price of $1,500 per ounce, it would take 15,000 xebus to buy an ounce of gold. If the dollar weakens so that the xebu exchange rate is 8:1, it now only takes 12,000 xebus to buy an ounce of gold. If the dollar strengthens so that the exchange rate is 12:1, it takes 18,000 xebus to buy an ounce of gold.

We see that if the dollar weakens against a foreign currency it can lead to rising foreign gold demand (which can help boost the gold price in dollars), while if the dollar strengthens it can lead to falling foreign gold demand. In particular, the relationship between the dollar and the Chinese yuan and Indian rupee are the most important exchange rates to look at, as China and India are two of the world’s largest markets for gold.

How to Make Smart Gold Investments

It’s important for investors to make the right kind of investments when they decide to invest in gold. Often the right type of gold investment for investors is dependent on how much money they want to invest and how they’re sourcing those funds.

For investors who have less than $25,000 to invest, or whose assets are held in brokerage accounts, savings accounts, or money market funds, they may want to think about investing in physical gold coins or bars that they store themselves. A $5,000 investment, for instance, equals about three one-ounce gold coins. That kind of investment can be stored safely and securely in a home safe.

For investors who have funds stashed away in retirement accounts such as a 401(k), 403(b), or TSP account, a gold IRA is a good option to invest in gold. Investors can perform a gold IRA rollover, allowing them to roll over some or all of their retirement savings into gold without tax consequences. That makes sense for investors who have $25,000 to $50,000 or more that they want to protect from stock market or bond market losses.

Learn More About Gold Investments With Goldco

Special: Congress Is After Your IRA, 401(k) and TSP

If you want to learn more about how you can protect your investment portfolio by investing in gold, contact the experts at Goldco today. Our gold IRA specialists can help you navigate the world of precious metals so that you can make the right decision that will maximize your financial gains and keep your assets safe. Don’t wait any longer, contact Goldco today to find out how you can make gold a vital part of your retirement planning.

[melodyfywproject]

Research Project Essay

The History of Feminism and its influence on Today’s Society

The concept of feminism started years ago but was most known in the early 1900’s. It took on many different meanings from its inception till today, adapting and changing based off various movements and reactions. However, many people are oblivious to the true meaning of feminism, both historically and presently. This is largely problematic because we are all influenced and affected by feminism to some capacity, some more directly than others. Nonetheless, it is vitally important to understand feminism and such ideals to understand our society, and what can be done to make the quality of life better for women going forward.

Barker et al. “Declaration of Sentiments” document states how women were oppressed, mistreated, and how most men treated women as unequal. “He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice” (Barker et al.). This statement shows how most men deprived women from their rights. In addition, this statement is on the other side of history. Not the side where women were fighting for their rights, but the side where most males were stumbling blocks to feminist women. In the twentieth century feminism started to be more well known. Many male figures used to implement rules that women needed to blindly follow. Most of the time women had no choice but to abide by them. Women were often viewed as individuals with no value, no voice, and no rights.

Since women were viewed as weak and with no voice, they eventually decided to fight back against inequality and the natural rights they were deprived of. This movement became known as Feminism, which is defined as being politically involved with women’s rights. However, throughout history this meaning has evolved and nowadays it means more than being politically engaged. Karen Offen’s “Defining Feminism: A Comparative Historical Approach” proposes a reexamination and reconceptualization of the public understanding of this word “feminism,” based on the history of the word. Many people in society think being a feminist person is engaging in a political movement. Even though this is partly true, being a feminist isn’t just a political factor. There’s more to it, such as encouraging women to voice out their opinions and embrace themselves. Moreover, in history we’ve learned how women become more courageous and proactive. As a society we are affected and influenced by movements and laws that were established in history. For example, gaining the right to vote allowed women in today’s society to vote with no obstacles, which was not always the case.

Understanding women’s history is essential to women’s present. Women in the past fought for rights that exist now, such as the ability to work and vote, and not merely be stuck as housewives. Brave women developed associations and societies to start a feminist revolution. Feminism started long time ago, however in the 1900s women gained what they hoped for: the right to vote. The women’s suffrage movement fought hard to gain the right to vote. In “Women and Social Movements in the United States,1600-2000” it shows a developed timeline of multiple movements regarding women’s history. An example of this is the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CUWS). In 1913 members of the CUWS were engaging in civil disobedience such as going on hunger strikes in jail, and chaining themselves to the White House fence (Women and Social Movements). Furthermore, the 1920s, also known as The Roaring Twenties were a decade of radical change and evolution as women broke from tradition. Women slowly started to break the stereotypical norms placed upon them by men who made sure they were only known as housewives. Many women cut their hair, smoked cigarettes, wore small dresses, went to parties, and started to work outside of home.

According to Women and Social Movements there’s a list of great social movements and associations that women developed. Another example of a specific movement is the birth control movement in 1915 “when reformers Mary Ware Dennett (1872-1947) and Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) took up the ‘birth control’ cause. From 1916 onwards, Sanger and Dennett competed for leadership, each forming different organizations and promoting different solutions to the issue of making birth control accessible and legal” (ibid.). This movement gave women life choices and more freedom of being capable of avoiding unwanted pregnancy. Furthermore, women associations and societies such as The Daughters Of Bilitis in 1955 helped women not feel lonely or abnormal with their gender choice. This was a lesbian social and political organization formed in San Francisco in 1955 by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon (ibid). This organization helped change a bit of the perception of binary gender identification, however there were still inequalities that existed.

The issues of male dominance were still present and most women hesitated to voice their opinion out of fear. Women wanted equality in a more complete way. In the 1920s the equal rights movement proposed a new amendment to promote equal rights for women more generally. Furthermore, starting in the 1960s a feminist movement began “dedicated to greater equality between men and women, reemerged as a central feature of public life in the 1960s, partly inspired by the burgeoning social movements of that decade: the New Left, the civil rights movement, opposition to the war in Vietnam, and gay rights” (Women and Social Movements). This movement also encouraged to end violence against women and to respect all women. Women’s groups protested violence women suffered at the hands of men and the lack of protection offered to women victims by police and the legal system. Alongside providing shelters for battered women, women publicized the issue of violence, holding national conferences, and demanding legislative protections and reforms (ibid). Finally, in 1992 the women’s action coalition in which a group of people advocated women’s rights, highlighted a range of issues including sexual assault against women and women’s under-representation in the art world. (ibid).

These are a couple of key movements that drove us into the world we live in today. There has been much progress in the women’s world such as: voting, working, and having a voice that is respected. However, most women currently experience other issues that affect their lives in today’s society, like inequality in the workplace and not receiving an equal pay. Time has passed and we are thought to have evolved as humans, yet women still experience sexism from men and even from other women. Some women are sexist to one another even though they should stick together. These are issues that still persist in our society. Nowadays, feminism also means encouraging other women to love their bodies and embrace the flaws. 

An example of embracing women’s body is body hair. In modern society this is an issue because most men think women having body hair is disgusting or unpleasant. However, most women are choosing what to do with their own body hair and are embracing it. On the other hand, there are women bashing other women and not encouraging one another or not standing tall against the male figure. Lorin Basden Arnold’s “What is a Feminist? Students description” asks students from Northeastern University to give a definition of feminism. Eighty-eight students provided positive definitions of feminism. “One might expect that the students would describe feminists as people who believed in rights and equality for women in relation to men. In fact, just over one-half of these eighteen individuals defined feminists as people who ‘stand up for’ or ‘fight for’ the rights and equality of women” (Basden Arnold). This shows how most students have a different concept of the feminism and how some of them are quite oblivious to it.

In addition, Bridget Murray Law’s “What Feminism means today” reports how feminism needs more advancement in college and the workplace. Murray Law was interviewing professionals and asking them what feminism means today and one of them answered “It's about doing what you want to do in life, fighting for what you want-not waiting for others to give you what you need. There are still obstacles for women in doing that...” (qtd. in Murray Law). This is still an underlying issue and most people acknowledge what feminism is in their own words, but they don’t do much about it so it could advance and for society to be better.

On the other hand, Mariam Darce Frenier’s “American anti-feminist women: Comparing the rhetoric of opponents of the equal rights amendment with that of opponents of women's suffrage” shows the other side of history, which is the anti feminist. Frenier states “All these antis held only one opinion in common: the sexes were so different from each other that they by nature have different functions and should be treated differently”(Frenier). This gives us an insight of how some people strongly believe that women and men are very different, and there shouldn’t be more advances in the feminist world because of this oddly enough.

In an online survey conducted in November about feminism and how it influences today’s society with 58 responses in total. Most of them were familiar or somewhat familiar with what feminism means. Moreover, 48.3% consider themselves somewhat feminist and 31% of them are feminist. Most importantly, 48.3% have been influenced by feminism in today’s society with their own life choices (ibid.). This demonstrates how society is actively thinking about feminism and revolving their decisions around feminism to some extent. It also shows how most people want feminism to advance and how most of them have a clear understanding regarding the fundamentals of feminism, but some of them don’t want change. In addition, it shows how important it is to understand feminism, women’s history, and to be familiar with the meaning of the term.

Feminism started years ago and the meaning of it has progressed. Though the meaning has changed and become stronger in many ways, the same core principles still exist. The rooted concepts of women being brave and voicing their opinions aloud still holds tremendous value. Standing up for what is fair and equal is not an outdated principle by any means. Additionally, feminism is also about encouraging other women, being confident, and embracing one’s flaws. The events that happened in history influenced our society today so that women are able to work, vote, and be more independent. While, these are great steps up from where we used to be in relatively recent history, should we disregard that women were treated as second class citizens? How can we be satisfied with what we’ve achieved when implicit sexism still occurs in various forms such as the workplace environment? 


[nataliehemstockprojectfour]

Evaluation

1. Briefly describe the process you went through to create your shoot in detail.

What were the requirements of the brief and did you adhere to them?

The requirements of the brief was to create a photobook that was based off a certain theme. I adhered to this by creating a photobook based off the history of my village that I already knew and then adding buildings that were built around the 1900’s and then photographs the were built in the 2000’s.

What was the creative process you followed?

My creative process was to take photographs of the old buildings; within West Hallam, that I knew the history behind and take a photograph of that building with it in monochrome and then take a photograph of the same building. However, after talking to the teachers the idea changed to take the photographs of the old buildings that I planned to take; but not have the two of each, and then buildings that were built from the 1900’s and then from 2000’s onwards. With that, after I had taken the photographs and went to go edit them, I was planning on editing the older photographs into how they might have looked when they were first built and then with the newer building edit them so they looked like photographs that was took today. However, when I began editing I was told that it would be easier to edit if I just put all of them in black and white. So, that is what I did, though I left the modern photos how I was going to edit them in the first place.

 Which sources of inspiration did you use?

The inspiration I looked at was: Christian Richter and Berenice Abbott, because both of these photographers have taken photographs of old buildings, so I thought that it was fitting to look at people who had already taken photographs of old photographs.

What planning did you undertake? Include all evidence

When I had planned to take my photographs, I emailed my old primary school to see if they would allow me to take photographs around the school, so I could have a range of photographs to choose from. However, when I went to take the photographs, the women I spoke to wasn’t there so, I couldn’t go around the old part of the school and take the photographs. After, I was told that she wasn’t there, they told me to email her, so I could rearrange another date, but as I was leaving the school I took a photograph of the main entrance as I wanted to get the photos done and sorted, so I could get my photobook finished. With that, once I had gotten the photographs that I needed sorted in my book, I then I had to plan on how and when I was going to get it printed. I eventually decided to go and get my book printed at Nottingham Trent Print Shop and that I would go and get it printed in the same week that it was supposed to be handed in so it had less chance of being damaged.

What things did you have to think about and account for when arranging and taking your planned shoot/s.

I had to think about if I was going to take all of my photographs on a different day; which I did with a couple of the ones in the 2000-present section because I accidentally got the wrong houses in the wrong decade, or if I was going to do it on the same day; which for the majority of them I did. Alongside that, I also had to think about when was the best day to take the photographs, so I could give Scargill dates, so the women who I was emailing could decide on what was the best date with for her.

What stylistic decisions did you make on how you shot, why?

When I was taking my photographs I tried to get the subject in the middle of my photograph, but with some cases the subject took up the majority of the photograph or wasn’t exactly centre.

What post-production techniques (RAW editing, Photoshop) did you use and why?

The post productions that I was Photoshop to edit my photographs, as it is the only editing software that I semi know how to use. Alongside that, I was also using InDesign to make my book because I that was the best software to create the book.

2. Analyse your final piece in detail.

What is/are your images about? How did you communicate the theme? Is it successful? refer to: techniques; models; composition; lighting; props; signs; symbols etc.

My images are partially about the history that is within West Hallam and how West Hallam in modern times, so you can see the differences between the houses that are located in West Hallam. Throughout my photographs I’ve sort of got different lighting, since when I took the majority of my photographs it had just rained so the clouds where kind of heavy within the sky, and then with a couple of the other photographs the sun broke through, so I had different lighting all together. Alongside that, with the photographs that I had to reshoot the sun was out, so before I edited them they a little overexposed with in the sky, but I managed to bring back the detail.

What made you choose to do what you did? Research? Personal reasons?

I decided to go with what I did because I have loved history ever since I was little; so that is why I was able to remember the information that was given to me when I was about 11 because I was interested in it, and I wanted to do something that was able to keep up my history; as I am no longer doing it.

Do your images go together? Have you told a story?

I think my images do go together because in each photograph that there is a bit of history within each of them, whether or not the history has been made public or not. Alongside that, I think that the story I have told is that no matter what building there is within West Hallam, they have made the building to go to good use whether it is housing, for religious purposes, public purposes or educational purposes.

Annotate each of your final images in detail as you would another photographer’s works. Settings, Composition, narrative, lighting, framing.

I like this photograph because it looks kind of creepy; with the bare tree at the bottom right corner of the photograph and how the monochrome and the clouds make the house look ominous, because of certain elements that all add up to the creepiness. I think that the narrative for this photograph is this is a house that a murderer lives and opens up their door to passers-by; who are looking for a place to stay the night because they are lost and it is the first house they’ve come across, and then the murderer fools them into a false sense of security before killing them. This is because, of the creepy feel you get from the photograph. I also like how the photograph is framed because with that single tree it kind of looks like someone has just walked out of a dark, twisty and mysterious forest and has come to this clearing, which has the old house and the well-kept garden. However, I don’t like this photograph because I think it is a little too dark on the surface of the house. The settings for this photograph were: F/6.3, 1/125, ISO-100 and 20MM.

I like this photograph because of how the light hits the church and you can really see how old the church is from the different colours of the bricks. I think that the narrative for this photograph is a ghost monk or nun doing a service or wandering around the grounds, with like ghost people wandering about in clothing from whatever time period they are from. I also think that the narrative could also have people from the modern day going to visit the dead family members; that are wandering the graveyard and the church, but because the living people don’t have the sight, they cannot see the ghosts. I also like how the photograph is framed because you can see the whole side of the church; minus a little bit of the corner of the church on the right hand side, I also like the fact how there’s also a couple of the gravestones within the photograph. However, I don’t like this photograph because of the tree in the top right corner of the photograph. The settings for this photograph were: F6.3, 1/125, ISO-100 and 18MM.

I like this photograph because of how the light hits the buildings. I think that the narrative behind this building is that there were two families living in these two houses and they either worked in a different bus company or mining company that were rivals and that led to the two works being rivals. However, I don’t like this photograph because I don’t like how the lamppost is in the photograph and how it is set out, so if I were to redo this photograph I would try and get into another position and retake the photograph. The settings that I used for this photograph were set at: F/11, 1/100, ISO-100 and 34MM.

I like this photograph because the road leads you down to the house at the end of the road and I also like the how the sky looks with the clouds and the sun being slightly off camera. I think that the narrative for this photograph is that there was someone, who has been travelling for a long time and they have eventually, been able to come back home. The only problem is, is that the person who has just returned is a time traveller and has ended up in the modern day; as he took too long in the other time periods so they outlived the periods that that person is from and all of the other ones after that, until they managed to come back. I also like how this photograph is framed, with the lines of houses because it sorts of helps lead you down to the building at the end. However, I don’t like this photograph because it’s not exactly in the middle of the road and because I have cars in the photographs so it doesn’t really fit with the buildings as today cars weren’t around when these houses were built, so there are no driveways to fit the cars. The settings that I used for this photograph were: F/20, 1/100, ISO-100 and 43MM.

I like this photo because the photograph shows how the modern buildings have changed from the older buildings due to the difference on technology and the fact that modern day builders and architectures prefer efficiency over style. Alongside that, I think that the narrative of this photograph is that there is a rich family living in this house and one person has gone out to work or to meet up with friends, whilst the other person stays in and does whatever. However, I don’t really like this photograph because you cannot see the full detail of the house because of what angle I was at. The settings for this photograph were set at: F/25, 1/50, ISO-100 and 29MM.

I like this photograph because of how the houses are laid out and because of how the clouds look in the photograph.  With that, I think that the narrative to this photograph is that the families that live in these houses have all come home and lock themselves inside, so they can be protected by the storm that is rolling in. I also like how this photograph is set out, because the houses kind of lead you to look at the sky. Alongside that, the roof on the window on the far end of the photograph is sort of pointing up to the sky as well. However, I don’t like this photograph because of the car, the van and the bins that are out, I think this photograph would have been better if those weren’t in the shot because then the houses would be more symmetrical in the photograph, as you would be able to see the other front doors and bottom windows clearer. The settings used for this photograph were: F/8,1/125, ISO-100 and 25MM.

3. Evaluate your performance and final work for this project.

How satisfied are you with your final piece? Why?

I am satisfied with my final piece, as I like how it looks and how it fits together and flows. Though it is not how I wanted it to look; as originally I had planned to have my photobook printed on A4 and then folded in half and stapled, because it is now a A4 booklet that is binded together with metal rings and a clear plastic wallet on the front and back.

What were your strengths and weaknesses? Evidence.

I think that one of my weaknesses was my spelling because within my book I did spell a couple of things wrong; but then I did have them pointed out to me, though I managed to change them before I got it printed on better quality paper. Another one of my weaknesses would be that after looking through the writing I did see a couple of grammar errors that I was unable to go back and change. I think that one of my strengths is that I used a range of colour and black and white photography so I could so the age difference better with the two different styles. Alongside that, another one of my strengths is that I’ve got a front and back cover because I wanted to have it protected as much as I possibly could, so it didn’t get ruined. Another one of my strengths is that I put some history within my photobook and the history that I have placed in is both what I’ve researched recently and history that I’ve known for about 6 years.

If you were to do this project again, what would you do differently and why?

If I were to do this again I would change some of the orders of the photographs so they are in age order. Alongside that, I would also try and find more history on the other buildings that I have taken photographs of so it’s not just a couple that have the history.