American History, Period 2, 02/05

[shiroi_tiger]

When students filed into the classroom today, they might notice that Algren wasn't wearing his usual brown duster coat. Instead, he was clad in a blue military uniform, carefully clean and highly decorated but with his coat left unbuttoned, with his hands clasped behind his back. He wasn't pacing the front of the room today, either. Instead, he was simply standing, not quite at attention, not quite at ease, observing the faces of the people passing through the doorway.

Today, he took a deeper breath than usual before he began to speak.

"The American Civil War," he said, "was also known by names such as The War Between The States, The War of the Rebellion, The War of Northern Aggression, The Slaveholder's War, Mr. Lincoln's War, and The Second American Revolution. Even today, nearly a century and a half after the fact, people find themselves of split opinions regarding the actions made in this war, which spanned from 1861 through to 1865. I'm not going to go on today about every name and date that influenced the actions taken in this conflict. Today I'm more interested in gauging the effects that it had on all of the people involved, North and South. I never was a fan of politics."

"That would be because Mr. Algren is intelligent," Tyler chimed in, after a quick adjustment to his hat of great fierceness. "But, for those of you who aren't from this world or this time, I'll do the run-down on the nitty-gritty. The main cause behind the war was an ongoing debate over slavery. You'll hear about States Rights, and about a conflict between the industrial north and the agricultural south -- and that's in your handouts -- but in the end it all bouled down to whether people should be allowed to own other people or not. Anyhow, eleven Southern Slave States declared their secession from the US when Lincoln's Republican party, which had campaigned against slavery, won the election. Both the outgoing and incoming administrations rejected the secession, considering it to be rebellion. And then all hell broke lose."

He stepped back and pointed at Algren. "I'll let him fill you in on the rest of it."

"How kind of you, Mr. Durden," Algren noted, a wry smile on his lips. "The Southern States felt that their right to choose their own laws was being compromised. The Northern States didn't want to see the country broken into smaller pieces. And on either side, armies were formed. The Confederate Forces, the South, made the first move on April 12, 1861, when they attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Volunteer armies were formed at Lincoln's request, but his desire to have one from each state led to four more Southern States choosing to seceed. What followed was what is to this day still easily the bloodiest war in American history, with over 620,000 soldiers dead, over 1,100,000 injured, and an indeterminate number of civilian casualties..." He tapered off for a moment, frowning. "Brother fought against brother, bodies littered the battlefield, and a march led by Union General William Sherman devastated the South. Far too many men learned the benefit of a doctor who was fast with a saw. Far too many men didn't live long enough to find out..."

Another moment of silence. More thoughtful frowning. And then he snapped back into speaking as though he hadn't actually missed a beat.

"Confederate resistance ended on April 9th, 1865, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, who later became the 18th President of the United States, at The Battle of Appomatox Courthouse. Grant's conditions were presented to Lee; The names of those officers who fought against the North for the Confederate Army, assurance that those men would not take up arms against the United States again, and the arms, artillery, and public property to be turned over to men appointed by Grant. The men who fought would be allowed to return to their homes and live in peace, so long as they continued to seek peace. The war had ended, and all of America could focus on the long task of rebuilding our home." A beat. "I hear that the reconstruction era lasted until 1877. I look forward to seeing what difference a half a year can make, should I ever be able to return to my own time."

Tyler watched Algren finish talking, letting silence reign in the classroom for a few moments. "Your assignment for today," he said, once the moment had passed, "is to think about civil rights, and to name a time in your life when you fought for either your own rights or somebody else's. Could be taking down an unjust government, could be bugging your mom for a later bedtime. Just tell us what happened. Starting with," he pointed randomly, "you. You look good in the hat."

Comments

Sign In [02/05]

[shiroi_tiger]

Show off your fierce hats!

Re: Sign In [02/05]

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal Stephanides

Re: Sign In [02/05]

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katina Choovanski

Lecture [02/05]

[shiroi_tiger]

Snooze, civilly. Or pass notes. Or stare. Or whatever it is you do during a lecture.

Re: Lecture [02/05]

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo was only half listening; she figured this whole civil rights thing was all well and good in concept, but in practice . . . she wasn't so sure it'd work out as well as it sounded.

Re: Lecture [02/05]

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

Gavin found himself paying rapt attention to this lecture. His own galaxy had been stuck in one of these for years now so it was sort of frightening to see what he might look forward to as an endgame.

Re: Lecture [02/05]

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal was trying to take decent notes. But he kept getting distracted by that damn bow.

Re: Lecture [02/05]

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Fantastic. Civil wars.

Anemone wasn't really taking very good notes today; she was already familiar with their causes, and the stomping of civil liberties that tended to happen when ideologies clashed.

After all, she was the one created to do the stomping.

Re: Lecture [02/05]

[endsthegame]

Ender's face supported a weird little smile throughout the lecture. He didn't speak up during the discussion; his own experience was too questionable to bring up right now. It did bring him food for thought, though. Had he? Had he had the chance? He tried to think back across the line of his life, and it occurred to him that winning the war had meant that for the humans who now spread out across the universe.

Not for the buggers, though, and he wasn't about to talk about it.

Re: Lecture [02/05]

[likethegun]

Sam was all about his notes, but he stopped when other people started to talk for the assignment. It was kind of amazing how he'd spent years hunting with his family, and felt boring compared to some people.

Re: Lecture [02/05]

[iruinenglish.livejournal.com]

Buffy was kind of doing the stare into space thing. She tried to listen, but it all just went right zoom whoosh over her head.

Discussion [02/05]

[shiroi_tiger]

Name an instance where you've stood up for a person's civil rights, be it liberating a nation or telling off that bully at the drinking fountain at lunchtime.

Re: Discussion [02/05]

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

"My home's fighting in a war similar to this right now," Gavin said after a moment's pause. "The other side wants absolute power, we're fighting for democracy. Before I came here, we were dealing with an intentionally spread virus that killed many non humanoids. I was on a team that went home to home to check on those that might still be alive and then had to convince doctors and medical establishments that don't agree with our side to give them the medical treatment they deserved as citizens of the planet."

Re: Discussion [02/05]

[shiroi_tiger]

Algren managed to look only slightly troubled at Gavin's account of the war he was currently fighting in.

It took effort.

"This class must be hitting close to home for you so far, Mr. Darklighter," he noted. "Wanting the extermination of an entire people different from one's own brings to mind the way America seemed to prefer dealing with the natives, around and before my own time, as well." He took a long breath, carefully choosing his words before pressing on. "It seems an unfortunate truth that people often refuse to acknowledge people as equals unless they happen to be exactly the same."

Re: Discussion [02/05]

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I don't know if it's really me standing up for civil rights at all," Cal said, thinking carefully, "but I have been in a race riot. I was only seven, though. It was really bad, tanks and everything all down 12th, a lot of people setting things on fire, breaking windows, looting shops. My family's diner was on that street; I went to make sure my dad was okay. It went on for, like, five days, and a lot of people died, and we were right there in the middle of it..."

There was a slight pause. "We moved out of that area after that, thanks to insurance money. I'll never forget how, just a few months before it happened, I was talking to a man who always hung out on that street, Marius Wyxzewixard Challouehliczilczese Grimes. Quite a handle, yeah? Anyway, I remember my dad telling me not to talk to him anymore, to stay away from 'people like that. I didn't understand him then, but now..."

"Even moving was hard for us; they didn't want us to move into Grosse Pointe because we're Greek. And this was in 1967, like, about a hundred years after the Civil War and civil rights were still hard."

"It's weird thinking of how hard that progress was in a hundred years and how, now, less than fifty years after that, there's a black president. If you would have asked me back in my time if I thought it was likely in less than fifty years, I'd have looked at you like you were crazy."

There was a pause.

"Sorry; I'll stop talking now."

He hadn't meant to go on for so long.

Re: Discussion [02/05]

[tyler_gone]

"No, no, keep going if you want," Tyler said. "I didn't know anybody in class would have that kind of history. Detroit, right? I might talk to you again when we get to the '60s."

Just to make Cal feel old.

He scratched his chin. "How did the riots make you feel? I mean, I know you were seven, you couldn't have understood everything. But what was it like to look out your window and see that, and then the aftermath?"

Re: Discussion [02/05]

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice hesitated a moment. "The Red Queen ruled all with an iron fist," she said calmly. "She forced many into slavery, and destroyed any who stood against her. I desired my freedom. And so, I killed her."

And now, to see if the class would look at her with horror.

Re: Discussion [02/05]

[shiroi_tiger]

Algren nodded as he listened to Alice's account of her own fight, letting his hands drop to his sides as she finished.

"I'm certain those she oppressed were very thankful for the actions that you took, Miss Liddell, even if you were taking them with your own freedom in mind." A pause as he tilted his head thoughtfully. "I'm curious, and I hope that my curiosity isn't too intrusive, but what came after the fall of the queen?"

The downfall of a monarchy had the potential to nose-dive into anarchy quickly enough.

Re: Discussion [02/05]

[carsexual]

"Uh, I stood up for humanity's right to, like, exist, and the freedom of sentient beings and all, this one time? But it's classified. I'm not actually supposed to talk about it. I know that sounds incredibly lame, but it's true."

Talk To The Teachers [02/05]

[shiroi_tiger]

They're there to talk to, civilly or otherwise.

Re: Talk To The Teachers [02/05]

[tyler_gone]

Tyler was there and be-hatted.

OOC [02/05]

[shiroi_tiger]

Very randomly, I have the Monty Python Lumberjack Song stuck in my head.

And now you do, too. Mwahah.

Re: OOC [02/05]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

...*curses you for that song*

*WITH FIERCENESS*

Re: OOC [02/05]

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

OMG, that kinda goes with the earworm of "The Logdriver's Waltz" that's been in my head for FIVE DAYS NOW.

Re: OOC [02/05]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

And randomly, the Cal & Tyler thread rocks hard-core.

*uses hat for extra-fiercenes of this*