"No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck."--from an Address at a Civil Rights meeting, 1883Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born in February of 1818 on the Holme Hill Farm in Talbot County, Maryland. His father was an unnamed white man, his mother, Harriet Bailey (1792-c1825) a slave owned by Aaron Anthony. Soon after he was born Frederick was separated from his mother to live with other children not old enough to work yet. Harriet worked hard in a nearby plantation's fields by day, and a few times, at her peril, ventured into the night to visit her son. Thus began Fredericks' life as a slave. He suffered all the deprivations of his fellow slaves; constant hunger, sleeping on the ground, and barefoot, dressed only in a long shirt. He knew no familial affection, being estranged even from his three siblings. So, when he learned around the age of seven that he was to go to Hugh and Sophia Auld's home in Baltimore, Maryland, he was overjoyed at the prospect of seeing the fabled city.
"Going to live at Baltimore laid the foundation, and opened the gateway, to all my subsequent prosperity."--Ch. 5, A NarrativeIt was here, under the instruction of Mrs. Auld that young Frederick first learned the alphabet. However it did not last long, for when Mr. Auld discovered these lessons he strictly forbade it in words that left a profound impression on young Frederick; that while knowledge and learning of the world around him could bring him great unhappiness, it could also give him great power over his enslavers who preferred their chattel to remain ignorant and unthinking. "He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right;"--Ch. 10, ibid. Frederick earnestly set forth a plan to continue to learn to read and write on the sly, aided by the white children he met on the streets and among the shipyards and docks. A book that especially left an impression on him was Caleb Bingham's The Columbian Orator (1797) which contains a poignant conversation between a master and his slave, who successfully argues for his freedom. In the city Frederick witnessed a kinder, gentler slave owner, averse to the public, severe, and humiliating treatments of slaves he had so often witnessed on the plantations.
After Anthony's death in 1826 Frederick was inherited by his brother Thomas Auld, and in 1832 he left Baltimore to go live with him in nearby St. Michael's. Frederick was plummeted back into the harsh reality of a slave's life; the constant feeling of hunger and being controlled by the hand of an inhumane master. When he did not prove to suit Thomas's purpose he was sent "to be broken" by Edward Covey, working in his fields for a year, and for the first six months was beaten and whipped severely many times.
"Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!"--Ch. 10, ibidAround the age of sixteen, while working for his next master, a Mr. Freeman, Frederick resolved to escape. He had been teaching some of his fellow slaves to read, and formed close friendships with many of them. With four others they planned their escape under the pretense of travelling up the Chesapeake Bay to go to Baltimore for the Easter holiday; but before they even attempted they were arrested and sent to jail. Hugh Auld had him released and arranged for Frederick to work in the shipyards. After being beaten mercilessly by a group of white carpenters and finding no avenue of redress, Hugh and Sophie took Frederick to stay with them again. Hugh arranged his employment with another ship-builder, and he became very adept at the art of calking ships. He earned good wages for his master and became re-acquainted with the feeling of self-esteem that would carry him through the next stage of his struggle for freedom.
While Hugh and Sophie Auld had bestowed some small merciful kindnesses on Frederick that many other slaves did not even know was a possibility in their wretched lives, Frederick grew increasingly discontented with his situation. He resolved to escape again, and out of respect to the many who would in future use the Underground Railroad and similar escape tactics, he provides no details as to his success in his Narrative. However, almost forty years later in his essay "My Escape from Slavery" (1881) he does explain how he obtained the forged free man's papers of a black sailor, a perfect ruse for travel. In September of 1838 Frederick arrived in the free state of New York after a tense twenty-four hour journey by train and boat, having finally slipped the bonds of his master;
"A new world had opened upon me. If life is more than breath and the "quick round of blood," I lived more in that one day than in a year of my slave life. It was a time of joyous excitement which words can but tamely describe."Frederick's initial elation soon turned to one of constant vigilance and distrust of his fellow man, black and white, for anybody in the busy city could betray his status and turn him in as a fugitive, which was a lucrative business. He met a Mr. David Ruggles, then secretary of the New York Vigilance Committee, who brought him to his boarding house, and under his wing, for he had aided many fugitive slaves on their way to freedom. Ruggles also arranged the marriage ceremony for Frederick and Anna Murray, a free black woman with whom Frederick would have five children. Under the advisement of Ruggles that New York was yet too unsafe for them to stay, the couple set sail for the bustling port town of New Bedford, Massachusetts. With the aid of a Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Johnson the Douglass's were able to get settled and Frederick his first taste of being his own master. He had long dropped the two middle names his mother had given him, and changed his surname a few times, but it was by the suggestion of Johnson that he adopt "Douglass" inspired by Sir Walter Scott's poem "The Lady of the Lake".
Douglass was astonished by the mostly unsegregated and hospitable society of New Bedford; he learned of the State freedoms available to him and slowly adjusted to life as a free man, with no worry of bounty hunters capturing him in the night. Although there was still prejudice among some men which prevented him from plying his trade as calker, he found plenty of work as a labourer; his heart swelled when he put his money in his own pocket, instead of handing it off to a master. He worked hard and earnestly at a brass foundry, but continued his religious and philosophical inquiry into the plight of slaves. Fueling his quest for answers was Issac Knapp and William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist newspaper The Liberator;
"The paper became my meat and my drink. My soul was set all on fire. Its sympathy for my brethren in bonds--its scathing denunciations of slaveholders--its faithful exposures of slavery--and its powerful attacks upon the upholders of the institution--sent a thrill of joy through my soul, such as I had never felt before!"--Ch. 11, A Narrative"His paper took its place with me next to the bible."--Ch. 22, My Bondage, My Freedom. While Douglass had witnesses the corruption of pious men in the name of religion, here he found an honest man dedicated to the compassion and equal treatment of all.
"Prejudice against color was rebellion against God. Of all men beneath the sky, the slaves, because most neglected and despised, were nearest and dearest to his great heart. Those ministers who defended slavery from the bible, were of their "father the devil"; and those churches which fellowshiped slaveholders as Christians, were synagogues of Satan, and our nation was a nation of liars."--Ch. 22, ibidDouglass was now faithfully attending the American Anti-Slavery Society's meetings in New Bedford. It was at one of their conventions in Nantucket in 1841 that he first heard the influential and eloquent speaker Garrison. It was also time for Douglass to enter his career as lecturer, for he was invited by abolitionist William C. Coffin to stand and give a talk about his own experiences; his nervousness did not seem to negatively affect his audience, for he was promptly approached and asked to formally become a public advocate for the society. His new role caused some controversy among other slaves in hiding, but also added to the urgency of their plight. He did not reveal names or get into the facts of his situation while the fear of being caught still lurked, he simply narrated his life, but over time it became rote and some accused him of being an imposter. So Douglass penned his Narrative, to great danger of being re-enslaved. That same year, and through the support of his good friends in the Society including Garrison, Douglass sailed from Boston to England to continue, in safe haven, to speak publicly.
Douglass's arrival created a sensation of controversy; there were prejudiced groups outraged by his walking among them and being treated equally, but moreso those who were drawn to this Southern American slave and his fight for freedom. For the next two years Douglass toured Great Britain and gained the esteem and affection of numerous public and literary figures. Prompted by the revised Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and Douglass's imminent return to America, it was by the efforts of his many new-found friends that his freedom was purchased for one-hundred fifty pounds sterling--on 5 December 1846, Douglass was legally freed from enslavement by the delivery of his manumission papers from Baltimore County court. Also through his friend's generosity Douglass started his newspaper the North Star to be "devoted to the cause of liberty and progress"--Ch. 25, My Bondage, My Freedom. He would also publish Frederick Douglass's Paper, Douglass's Monthly, and the New National Era.
Settling in Rochester, New York, Douglass was kept busy with the publication of his newspapers, penning his second autobiography, and continuing to travel and lecture. While now legally a free man, he continued to be subject to systemic racism in all aspects of life--from the 'Jim Crow' cars in trains to everyday comments and attitudes, even from his esteemed white colleagues that perpetuated the 'evil' black man stereotype. While he continued to be a controversial figure, Douglass stood before many national institutions to deliver his speeches including "The Church and Prejudice" (1841), "The Nature of Slavery", "The Inhumanity of Slavery" (1850), "The Internal Slave Trade", (1852), "The Anti-Slavery Movement" (1855), and "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" (5 July, 1852), "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn."
Douglass became a Station Master for the Underground Railroad in Rochester and assisted many fugitives on their way through the State. During the Civil War he joined the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, the first black unit to be formed for the Union. He assisted in recruitment and met with President Abraham Lincoln to discuss the poor conditions for the men and advocate changes to their discriminatory treatment. It was the start of many further associations with political and public institutions and causes that Douglass devoted so much of his time to including the Equal Rights Party; he was named president of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company in 1874; appointed US Marshall for the District of Columbia in 1877; and served as Consul General to Haiti in 1888-91. Douglass was now living at his home Cedar Hill in Anacostia, Washington, D.C. It was there that he penned his third and final autobiography Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881).
On 4 August 1882 Douglass's wife Anna died. Two years later he married his white secretary; editor, feminist, and lecturer Helen Pitts (1838-1903). Further controversy surrounded Douglass but the pair were well-suited intellectually, for while Anna had never expressed much interest in matters political, Helen was an avid proponent of the women's rights movement. On 20 February 1895 Frederick Douglass died suddenly at Cedar Hill; he now rests in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York beside Helen. She worked hard after his death to establish a Memorial and Historical Association in his honour; their home is now a National Historic Site.
"I may be deemed superstitious, and even egotistical, in regarding this event as a special interposition of divine Providence in my favor. But I should be false to the earliest sentiments of my soul, if I suppressed the opinion. I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence. From my earliest recollection, I date the entertainment of a deep conviction that slavery would not always be able to hold me within its foul embrace; and in the darkest hours of my career in slavery, this living word of faith and spirit of hope departed not from me, but remained like ministering angels to cheer me through the gloom. This good spirit was from God, and to him I offer thanksgiving and praise." Ch. 5--A Narrative.
Sensation:Earthquake in Japan 2011
An earthquake of the east coast of Honshu island in Japan happened on 11th of March at 14:46 with magnitude(according to current estimates) from 9.0 to 9.1.
This is the strongest earthquake in the known history of Japan and the seventh on the force in the history of seismic observations in the world.However by the amount of victims and scale of destructions it trails the earthquake in Japan in 1896 and 1923.
The earthquake happened over a distance 70km from the nearest point of coast of Japan.Original calculation showed that the waves of tsunami needed from 10 to 30 minutes to reach the first ingured regions of Japan. In 69 minute after the earthquake tsunami flooded the airport of Sendai.
By the scientists' forecast during the month after the first stroke in Japan the earthquake can happen with magnitude higher than 7.
History of American television
Television first became commercialized in the U.S. in the early 1940s, initially by RCA (through NBC, which it owned) and CBS. A number of different broadcast systems had been developed through the end of the 1930s. The National Television System Committee (NTSC) standardized on a 525-line broadcast in 1941 that would provide the basis for TV across the country through the end of the century. Television development halted with the onset of World War II, but pioneers returned to the airwaves when that conflict ended.There were only a few dozen stations operating at the end of the decade, concentrated on the East and West coasts. The FCC began handing out broadcasting licenses to communities of all sizes in the early 1950s, spurring an explosion of growth in the medium. A brief debacle over the system to use for color broadcasts occurred at this time, but was soon settled. Half of all U.S. households had TV sets by 1955, though color was a premium feature for many years (most households able to purchase TV sets could only afford black-and-white models, and few programs were broadcast in color until the mid-1960s).
Many of the earliest TV programs were modified versions of well-established radio shows. The '50s saw the first flowering of the genres that would distinguish TV from movies and radio: talk shows like The Jack Paar Show and sitcoms like I Love Lucy. Stations across the country also produced their own local programs.
Usually carried live, they ranged from simple advertisements to game shows and children's shows that often featured clowns and other offbeat characters. Local shows could often be popular and profitable, but concerns about product promotion and other issues led them to almost completely disappear by the mid-1970s.
Subscription television (such as cable and satellite) became popular in the early 1980s, and has been growing in significance since then- spurring the emergence of multinational conglomerates such as Fox
The U.S. has now moved to digital television. A law passed in 2006 required over-the-air stations to cease analog broadcasting by February 2009, but was delayed to June 12.
In 2008, there were an estimated 327 million television sets in the US.
On Sunday, February, 6, 2011, 111 million viewers tuned in to watch the Green Bay Packers defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 45, making it the largest television audience ever for a U.S. TV program. The previous record was set at last year's Super Bowl when the New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts (106.5 million viewers)
London 2012 Celebrates 500 Days To Go As Tickets Go On Sale
London 2012 began its 500-days-to-go celebrations yesterday with the unveiling of the OMEGA countdown clock in Trafalgar Square. As official timekeeper for the London 2012 Games, OMEGA has provided a large countdown clock that will allow Londoners to see the days, hours, minutes and seconds until London’s big day on 27 July 2012 – the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. In addition, Olympic tickets have also gone on sale around the world, with sports and Olympic fans now able to apply to see the world’s best athletes compete at the Games.
The Greatest Tickets on Earth
Described by London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) Chairman Sebastian Coe as the “greatest tickets on earth”, now is your chance to apply for tickets to the London 2012 Olympic Games. UK and residents of designated European countries can apply through London 2012’s ticketing website at any time during the 42-day application period. It is not a first-come, first-served system within the UK, so take your time and decide which events you want to try and attend with your family and friends. Fans living outside the UK (including in the designated European countries) will be able to apply for tickets through their local National Olympic Committee (NOC) and/or its Authorised Ticket Reseller (ATR). Sales processes may vary according to territory, so fans are encouraged to contact their NOC and/or local ATR for more details. We are proud to work with Worldwide TOP Partner Visa as the exclusive payment services provider.
Be There
Summing up what fans can expect in 2012, LOCOG Chairman Coe said, “London will be a fantastic place to be in the summer of 2012, with a unique atmosphere, and we look forward to welcoming the world to our city and to the UK. There is a huge range of tickets available, to see the best athletes in the world competing. My message is simple – be there.”
Counting Down
The OMEGA countdown clock was unveiled by four Olympic gold medallists from Team GB - rowers Pete Reed and Andy Hodge and sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson. It stands 6.5 metres high, is 5 metres long and weighs around 4 tonnes. Its design reflects the look of the Games, with the beams of light on the clock being inspired by London and its connection with the Meridian Line in Greenwich, the home of time. The final countdown has now well and truly begun for those athletes looking to be at the London Games in 500 days’ time.
LONDON 2012
London was elected as the host city for the Games of the XXX Olympiad on 6 July 2005 at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. London eventually succeeded in the fourth round of voting, taking 54 votes from a possible 104. London faced stiff opposition during the vote from the other four candidate cities: Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid. There will be 26 sports on the Olympic programme in London in 2012 and around 10,500 athletes.
Oxford-The city of my dream
Oxford, The City of Dreaming Spires, is famous the world over for its glorious University and place in history. For over 800 years, it has been a home to royalty and scholars, and since the 9th century an established town, although people are known to have lived in the area for thousands of years.
Nowadays, the city is a bustling cosmopolitan town. Still with its charming ancient University, but home also to a growing hi-tech community. Many businesses are located in and around the town, whether on one of the Science and Business Parks or within one of a number of residential areas.
Nowadays, the city is a bustling cosmopolitan town. Still with its charming ancient University, but home also to a growing hi-tech community. Many businesses are located in and around the town, whether on one of the Science and Business Parks or within one of a number of residential areas.
With its mix of ancient and modern, there is plenty for both the tourist and resident to do. Whether its visiting one of the many historic buildings, colleges or museums, going out for a drink or a meal, taking in a show or shopping till you drop, Oxford has it all.
There are always things to do in and around Oxford, whether it be visiting some of the local tourist attractions / historical places of interest, dining out in one of Oxford's quality restaurants, enjoying the local music scene, seeing a film at a nearby cinema, or visiting one of the local pubs, bars or cafes.
I think that Oxford is a shiny and a gorgeous city. It’s a place for the young and as for me it’s an encouraging town because looking at such magnificent buildings as there you can feel like in Middle Ages.
I think that Oxford is a shiny and a gorgeous city. It’s a place for the young and as for me it’s an encouraging town because looking at such magnificent buildings as there you can feel like in Middle Ages.
First of all you’ll probably want to check out the historic city. If you’ve seen the “Harry Potter” movie The Christ Church dinning hall and other enchanting places may see familiar to you. These buildings used for the filming appearing as The Hogwarts School. If you are a big fan of “Harry Potter” you can feel like you’re inside this movie.
Of course like the other glamorous cities of England Oxford is very spotless and lively. And it can make the person be poised and feel vivacious, I think so.
And to finish I wanted to say that I wish I would come here and maybe if I have an opportunity I’d like to live in Oxford in future.
Here is the video which I think can give you more information about this amazing city
Here is the video which I think can give you more information about this amazing city
Wedding of Prince William & Keith
