Myths and heroes : How a hero can be an ordinary person who inspire people in the US ?

 MYTHS & HEROES  Introduction : I'm going to talk about the notion of Myths & Heroes. Definition of "Heroes" :  There are different types of heroes. It can be a fictional/imaginary hero who has superpowers and is in charge of waving the planet and the people in danger, like Superman, the Flash. It can also be an ordinary person that is standing up/has a role to make a difference in this world through their acts.  Lien entre notion et le sujet : Now, I'm going to talk about African-American heroes because they have an impact on the American Population.  Problématique : How a hero can be an ordinary person who inspire people in the US?  First of all, we will focus on Heroes through Art and then we'll see some African-American people who took the lead and fought for their rights.   I) Heroes through Art: There are a lot of African-American artists from the Harlem Renaissance (it's a cultural and revolutionary artistic movement which took place in the 1920s and 1930s) that become a heroe by way of Art (painting, music and book), such as Landston Hugues, William. Johnson, Douglas, Lois Maïlou Jones...   Then, I'll introduce you to one of the most famous painting of Lois Mailou Jones, "Les fétiches", 1938, she was part of the Harlem Renaissance and she portrays a few masks from African Culture to protests against racial prejudices.   Besides Lois Mailou Jones, We'll now talk about Harriet Beecher Stowe, an American writer. Her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin"  tackles a slave owner teaching to a slave. She describes the African stereotypes in her book to criticize slavery.  Transition : Indeed, a lot of participants took part in the change of African-American history and eventually one movement really takes our attention is the Civil Rights Movement.  II) Civil Rights Movements Heroes First, the Civil Rights Movement is a movement to improve the life of African-American in the US which we can find the pioneer of the movement. To start with Rosa Parks, a black woman who was arrested by the police because she refused to give up her seat to a white person at time when buses were segregated. This incident changes the history. Indeed, she was known as a famous activist of the rebellion against the segregation, alongside some other African-American heroes, like MLK. Furthermore, MLK was the leader of the Civil Rights Movements. His actions and other activists granted to African-American, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Conclusion : So, we saw that a lot of heroes influence or have an impact in the USA. Lincoln is a figure not because he was the President of the US but thanks to him, he abolished slavery and made the Emancipation Proclamation, possible > there is also the Lincoln Memorial dedicated to him. Moreover, there is a day off dedicated to MLK, "MLK Day" because it celebrates MLK's achievements.  

IDEA OF PROGRESS  Introduction :  I would like to give a definition of "Progress" : The idea of progress can be defined as an improvement of a situation. It can be scientific, social and cultural.  Lien entre notion et le sujet : We'll deal with the evolution of the black community in the USA.  Problématique : Can we say that the black community in the USA has evolved today ?//What can we do to improve black people’s rights/situation ?   Firstly, we will focus on American laws contradiction and secondly we'll talk about the Civil Rights.  I)American Laws contradiction After the abolition of slavery, African-American people thought that they will have a better life in the US but no. Eventually, there was the American Civil War in 1961 which opposed the North and the South, the North won. Then, we also wanted to criticize 2 laws. Indeed, we noticed that there is a paradox between the Black Codes Mississippi and the Declaration of Independence because the BCM (1865) was written after the Declaration of Independence which was written in 1776 and this law guaranteed liberty and equality to everyone  Transition fin 1ère partie : Indeed after the Abolition of slavery, Jim Crow Law was declared to split Black and White people and which is also known as racial segregation.  II)The Civil Rights First, the Civil Rights Movements which African-American people fought for their rights. Indeed, There are a lot of figures who contributed to African American history: there is MLK's famous speech "I have a dream", it was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. Then, he delivered it to unify the nation and today it still has an international impact. To start with Rosa Parks, she is a black woman who was arrested by the police because she refused to give up her seat to a white person at time when buses where segregated. This incident changes the history. Indeed, she was known as a famous activist of the rebellion against the segregation. Then, the Harlem Renaissance movement protested against racial prejudices through Art such as Lois Mailou Jones, Langston Hughes, ... Eventually, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was adopted by the President Johnson to end segregation and discrimination in public places.  Conclusion : To conclude, we saw that the society evolved. Despite the fact that, social inequality still persists in the US with the government of Donald Trump, composed of mostly white men.  Today, there is the Black Lives Matter movement that clearly show Black people are still suffering from injustice but at the legal scale everyone is equal, even Barack Obama was the President of the US.  PLACES AND FORMS OF POWER  Introduction : I'm going to talk about the notion of Places and forms of power. I would like to give a definition of Places, it could be important buildings or institutions which represent a certain form of power or a symbol of power. The power is also an ability or a capacity to do something, to influence the behavior of others.  Lien entre le notion et le sujet : To illustrate the notion, we'll deal with the Power of Detroit, more precisely a city in Michigan, in the US. Problématique : To what extent (in what way) is Detroit a central place of power in the USA?  First, we’ll focus on a successful city to a dead city and then we’ll talk about the Rebirth of Detroit I)A successful city to a dead city First of all, the city was home of lot of successful businesses in Detroit such as the car industries (the big three : Ford, Chrysler and General Motors) that made a lot of money and developed many activities to the city. By the way, It was also called the Motor city and was also known thanks to Motown, is a record company and style of music in Detroit funded by Berry Gordy in which we could find many famous artists such as the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations…   On the other hand, from a day like any other day, the city was unable to pay its debts and was declared itself bankrupt, most of the inhabitants of Detroit were unemployed and this increased the rate of criminal activities (violence, drugs…) into the city. Furthermore, a lot of the inhabitants of the neighborhood moved out of Detroit because Detroit was dying and it’s also due to the fallout from the economical crisis.   II) The Rebirth, also known as "America’s Comeback City » A lot of factors show us the rebirth of Detroit. First, in class we saw an advertisement of Chrysler car, the ambassador was Eminem a famous a rapper who comes from Detroit. Moreover, It shows a lot attractives spots such as museums, monuments, theaters which are the symbol of Detroit.   Secondly, we could also find the Heidelberg project, a non profit organization to improve people’s lives by decorating abandoned houses with old items, toys, cd’s. Eventually, it is an artistic way to heal people and to attract people to the city because the US government can’t really help the inhabitants with public services since they don’t have money after the crisis but the population makes a difference to show to others that the city isn’t the city they used to be.   Also, the Gentrification really helped Detroit to renovate deteriorated houses, buildings. Actually, thanks to private sector investments in collaboration with the public sector, the city is rebuilding slowly but surely and the revitalization is coming faster since the economical crisis.  Conclusion : Detroit is today a central place of powers in the US. Indeed, the city is coming back to life because of the revitalization of Detroit and also the city has a lot of attractive spots to attracts people.  

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