Research

**__ Links __** Documenting the American South website **__ [] __**  __** Articles **__  Source: Britannica Elementary Online ( [] ) **Mary McLeod Bethune**  Throughout her life **Mary** **McLeod** **Bethune** worked to improve the lives of [|African Americans]. She served as an adviser to President [|Franklin Roosevelt] on the problems of minority groups. She also led several African American organizations.  **Mary** **McLeod** was born on July 10, 1875, on a small farm near Mayesville, South Carolina. Her parents were former slaves. She was not able to go to school until 1885, when missionaries opened a school for black children. She went on to college in North Carolina and Illinois. In 1898 she married Albertus **Bethune**. She taught school in the South and in 1904 opened a school for black girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. It later merged with a school for boys called Cookman Institute and became **Bethune**-Cookman College.  **Bethune** later entered national affairs. In 1936 Roosevelt appointed her to the National Youth Administration. The year before that she had founded the National Council of Negro Women. She also served as vice president of the [|National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)] from 1940 to 1955. She died on May 18, 1955.

 Source: Britannica Elementary Online ( [] )  **African Americans** African Americans are people in the United States who have ancestors from Africa. Many African Americans have non-African ancestors as well. African Americans are also known as black Americans.  Most African Americans have ancestors who were [|slaves]. Slaves were people taken from their African homelands and shipped to the Americas. There, white people forced them to work without pay and in harsh conditions. English settlers brought the first African slaves to the colony of Virginia in the early 1600s. By 1790 black people made up nearly one fifth of the population of the United States. Most slaves lived and worked on plantations, or large farms, in the South.  Many people called abolitionists worked to end slavery. These included black people as well as white people. [|Harriet Tubman], a black abolitionist, organized the Underground Railroad, which was a way for slaves to escape to the North.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">**American Civil War**
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The American Civil War broke out in 1861. This was a war between the Northern and Southern states, partly over the issue of slavery. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the [|Emancipation Proclamation]. This document freed the slaves in the Southern states. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The North won the Civil War in 1865. That year, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ended slavery throughout the United States. In 1868 the 14th Amendment gave African Americans U.S. citizenship. In 1870 the 15th Amendment guaranteed them the right to vote.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">**Reconstruction**
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The period following the war was known as Reconstruction. African Americans were finally free, but most of them lived in terrible poverty. In the South many worked as sharecroppers. This meant that they farmed a piece of land owned by someone else. Their pay was a share of the crops they produced. <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">In addition, African Americans continued to suffer from discrimination (unfair treatment) and violence. Schools and other public places were often segregated. This meant that blacks and whites could not mix in those places. Violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan kept most blacks from voting in the South. These groups also hurt or killed many blacks.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> In the late 1800s an ex-slave named [|Booker T. Washington] became a powerful voice for African Americans. He believed in training African Americans to do certain jobs so that they could find work. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Other African American leaders disagreed with Washington. W.E.B. Du Bois thought that the government should guarantee to blacks the same rights that whites had. These rights—such as the right to vote or the right to go to a public school—are called civil rights. Du Bois and others formed the [|National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] (NAACP) to help African Americans to gain full civil rights.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> During World War I (1914–18) large numbers of African Americans began to leave the South. They moved to cities in the North and West. There they hoped to find jobs and to escape discrimination. However, many were forced to live in poor, segregated areas. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> This movement from the south, called the Great Migration, continued through the 1960s. By 1970 about 6 million African Americans had left the South.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Great Migration﻿ **

=
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> By the 1950s the NAACP had begun to use the court system to fight for civil rights for African Americans. One major success came in 1954. In that year the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public schools. ===== <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> These efforts soon turned into an organized fight for equal rights. This was called the [|civil rights movement]. A Baptist minister named [|Martin] [| Luther King, Jr.], became the leader of the movement. In 1963 he led a major protest called the March on Washington. <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">In 1964 the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. This law banned discrimination based on race in schools, jobs, and many other areas.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">**Black Power Movement**
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Despite these successes, some African Americans grew impatient with the slow pace of change. They began a more extreme movement called the black power movement. [|Malcolm X] and a group called the Black Panthers were among the movement's leaders. They believed that blacks should use violence, if necessary, to get power and justice. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> During the 1960s violent riots did break out in black neighborhoods in many cities. The African Americans who rioted were angry about violent treatment by police, a lack of jobs, and poor housing.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> After the 1960s the civil rights movement broke into many separate groups. Still, African American leaders continued their work to end discrimination. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> In addition, many African Americans gained positions of power. In 1967 [|Thurgood Marshall] became the first African American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman elected to Congress. In 2001 [|Colin Powell] became the first black U.S. secretary of state, and in 2008 Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected president of the United States.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> In 2000 there were about 36 million Americans with African roots. They made up about 13 percent of the total U.S. population. One quarter of African Americans lived in poverty, and discrimination against African Americans remains a problem today. Nevertheless, African Americans have made great gains since the end of slavery more than 140 years ago.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Source: Britannica Elementary Online ( [] ) <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">**NAACP** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the oldest civil rights organization in the United States. It was created in 1909 to work for equal rights for [|African Americans] and other minority groups. The NAACP has fought discrimination in schools, the workplace, and public places. Its goal is to end racism—the belief that one group of people is better than other groups. <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Members of the NAACP try to make sure that everyone is treated equally under the law. They ask the U.S. Congress to pass new laws to guarantee that equal treatment. In this way they act to ensure the civil rights of all citizens. Civil rights are those that are granted by the laws of the country. These include the right to vote and to own property. <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">The NAACP's most famous success is the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Brown //vs.// Board of Education of Topeka. In 1954 lawyers for the NAACP argued that segregation in public schools should end. The justices of the Court agreed and ruled that segregation was illegal. As a result black children could attend the same schools as white children. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The NAACP played an important role during the [|civil rights movement] of the 1960s. Its members helped to organize the March on Washington, a large demonstration for civil rights, in 1963. The NAACP also asked Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Source: Britannica Elementary Online ( [] ) <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">**Democracy** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The word **democracy** describes a form of [|government]. The word comes from two Greek words that mean “rule by the people.” In a **democracy** the people have a say in how the government is run. They do this by [|voting], though there are usually rules about who can vote. Democracies are different from dictatorships. In a dictatorship one person called a dictator makes all the rules.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> There are two main forms of **democracy**. In a direct **democracy** all the voters come together in one place to make laws and decisions. Often there are too many people for a direct **democracy** to work. In those cases the people elect representatives, or other people to speak for them. This is called a representative **democracy**. The elected representatives make the laws and decisions.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The first democracies were in ancient Greece more than 2,000 years ago. Those did not last long, however. After that kings and other rulers had all the power in their countries. In about the 1200s, however, some rulers began to allow certain citizens to be part of the government. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> By the 1600s and 1700s some people began to think that all people had certain rights. These included the right to participate in their government. In the British colonies of North America the colonists felt that the king did not allow them to participate enough. They fought a war to gain their freedom. When they won the war they established the United States as a republic. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> A republic is a form of **democracy** in which the citizens vote for the people who make the laws. They also vote for the leader of the country, who is often a president. Many other countries became republics as well. Other countries kept their kings or queens but still became democracies. Monarchies with **democracy** are called constitutional monarchies. In such countries the people vote for representatives. The king or queen is the head of the country, but they have little real power.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> Source: Britannica Elementary Online ( [] ) <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">**Education** <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">**Education** is the process of gathering information about the world and oneself. Formal **education** is learning that takes place in schools or with private teachers. People also learn from their families, with friends, while traveling, and in many other places. This is called informal **education**.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Many children around the world go to free, public schools. Others go to private schools, which charge tuition, or fees. Some study at home with parents, which is called home schooling. Some have tutors, or private teachers. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Different countries provide different levels of formal **education**. In the United States formal **education** starts with preschool and kindergarten. At about age 6, children begin primary school, which is also called grade school or elementary school. Some communities have middle schools or junior high schools for students between 11 and 14 years old. High school, or secondary school, lasts from about age 14 until about age 18. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Many students continue their **education** after high school. Some attend trade schools or community colleges. Others go to state colleges and universities. Some go to private colleges and universities. <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Adults who have finished their formal **education** can continue their **education** at night or on weekends. The courses they take are known as continuing **education** or adult **education** classes.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> In the earliest times children got their **education** directly from parents and other adults. They learned mainly skills for survival. Adults passed down this knowledge through spoken language. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Eventually cultures around the world began inventing [|writing]. As societies developed they set up schools to teach reading, writing, [|arithmetic], and other subjects. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The first schools were usually just for boys. Most of the students came from rich and powerful families. Often the purpose of their **education** was religious training. In many cultures the religious leaders formed the highest level of society. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Some schools had other purposes as well. Many schools focused on military training. Sometimes youths attended special schools to learn the art of public speaking. These skills were meant to help them become future leaders. <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Most girls received their **education** at home. They learned cooking, sewing, and other useful skills. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Over time **education** became available to more people, not just the rich and powerful. The governments of some countries set up public systems of **education** in the 1800s. More schools opened to girls. <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">In the United States many early schools had only a single room and one teacher. Children of every age learned together. In 1751 Benjamin Franklin founded a secondary school—the first of many. Students studied such subjects as history, mathematics, navigation, and modern languages. In the 1800s free elementary and secondary schools opened across the United States. <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">During the 1900s grades became a new measure of learning. Testing became a regular part of formal **education**. As **education** became more important to people, teachers colleges opened. The requirements for becoming a teacher became stricter. Teaching became a highly respected profession.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> Source: Britannica Elementary Online ( [] ) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">**Map and Globe** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> A **map** is a drawing of all or part of [|Earth's surface]. Its basic purpose is to show where things are. **Maps** may show visible features, such as rivers and lakes, forests, buildings, and roads. They may also show things that cannot be seen, such as boundaries and temperatures. Most **map**s are drawn on a flat surface. A **map** displayed on a round surface is called a globe.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The most familiar kinds of **map**s are topographic and political **map**s. Topographic **map**s show the location and shape of features on Earth's surface. These often include natural features, such as mountains and lakes. They can also include things that humans have built, such as roads and railroads. Political **map**s show the boundaries of countries, states, provinces, counties, and cities. Most **map**s combine features of both topographic and political **map**s. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Globes provide the same kinds of information that flat **map**s do. Because Earth is almost round, a globe represents it best. A globe shows Earth as it looks when seen from outer space.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">**Scale**
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> A **map** is always smaller than the area it represents. Most **map**s include something called a scale to show how much smaller the **map** is. The scale shows how distances on the **map** are related to the actual distances. <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">**Map** scale can be shown in a number of ways. The simplest way is a graphic scale. A graphic scale is a ruled line or bar that is usually marked off in miles or kilometers. Such a scale can be used to measure distances on the **map**. <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Some **map**s have a verbal scale. A verbal scale uses words such as “one inch equals 60 miles.” <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">A third kind of **map** scale uses a mathematical expression called a ratio. For example, the scale ratio 1:50,000 states that one unit of measurement on the **map** is equal to 50,000 such units on the ground. If the unit of measurement is a centimeter, then one centimeter on the **map** equals 50,000 centimeters (500 meters) on the ground.

=
<span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Any place on Earth can be located using a system called [|latitude and longitude]. Latitude and longitude are sets of imaginary lines that circle Earth. Lines of latitude run east and west. Lines of longitude run north and south. They are often printed on **map**s. Any place can be found on a **map** using its measurements of both latitude and longitude. ===== <span class="elementaryartcopy" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Some **map**s are divided into sections that are like squares on a checkerboard. Rows across may be lettered “A,” “B,” “C,” and so on. Rows that go up and down may be numbered “1,” “2,” “3,” and so on. These **map**s often have an index that tells where to find a place by using the letters and numbers. If the index says a place is located at “B 2,” for example, it can be found on the **map** in the area where the “B” and “2” rows cross. Road **map**s commonly use this system.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">**Map Symbols**
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> In the past **map**makers used drawings to show where things such as castles and mountains were located. The drawings were large so they could be clearly seen. Such artwork was nice to look at and easy to understand. However, it produced **map**s that were cluttered and not very detailed. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Over time **map**s were made more simple. **Map**makers replaced pictures with symbols. Each symbol represents one particular thing. A **map** may have different symbols for cities, rivers, lakes, roads, railroad tracks, and so on. **Mapmakers** usually show the most important information using symbols that stand out. For example, a main road may be shown by double black lines with red between them. A legend is a list that describes the symbols used on a **map**.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> Source: Britannica Elementary Online ( [] ) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">**Latitude and Longitude** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Latitude and longitude are a system of lines used to describe the location of any place on Earth. Lines of latitude run in an east-west direction across Earth. Lines of longitude run in a north-south direction. Although these are only imaginary lines, they appear on [|maps] and globes as if they actually existed.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Lines of latitude (also called parallels) circle the Earth parallel to the [|equator]. The equator is an imaginary line that lies halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole. It runs east-west all the way around Earth. Lines of latitude describe positions north and south of the equator. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Lines of latitude are measured in degrees (°). Degrees may be broken down into smaller units called minutes (¢) and seconds (²). The equator is 0°. The North Pole is 90° north (N), and the South Pole is 90° south (S). Lines of latitude north of the equator are numbered from 1° to 89° N. Lines of latitude south of the equator are numbered from 1° to 89° S. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> There are other important lines of latitude besides the equator. For example, the Arctic Circle (66° 30¢ N) and the Antarctic Circle (66° 30¢ S) surround the cold regions around the North and South poles. The area between the Tropic of Cancer (23° 27¢ N) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23° 27¢ S) is called the tropical zone or the tropics. It is known for its generally hot weather.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Lines of longitude run between the North Pole and the South Pole. These lines are also called meridians. Like lines of latitude, meridians are measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The north-south line that marks 0° longitude passes through Greenwich, England. This is called the Greenwich, or prime, meridian. Greenwich was chosen for the prime meridian because when the system of latitude and longitude was established Great Britain was a world leader in exploration and map making. Greenwich was the home of Britain's royal observatory. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Other lines of longitude describe positions east and west of the prime meridian. Lines of longitude east of the prime meridian are numbered from 1° to 179° east (E). Lines of longitude west of the prime meridian are numbered from 1° to 179° west (W). The 180th meridian, or 180°, is the line of longitude exactly opposite the prime meridian.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Latitude and longitude together can describe the exact location of any place on Earth. For example, Washington, D.C., lies 39 degrees north of the equator and 77 degrees west of the prime meridian. Its position is 39° N, 77° W. These two numbers together are called coordinates.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Source: Britannica Elementary Online ( [] ) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">**Geography** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> **Geography** is a science that deals with [|Earth] 's surface. People who study **geography** are called geographers. Geographers are interested in Earth's physical features, such as mountains, deserts, rivers, and oceans. They are also interested in the ways that people affect and are affected by the natural world.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> **Geography** can be divided into two branches: physical **geography** and human **geography**. Physical geographers observe, measure, and describe Earth's surface. They study how landforms develop and how they change. They look at how different landforms affect [|climate]. They also study how people change the land through such activities as building cities, digging mines, and clearing forests. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Human **geography** focuses on where people live, what they do, and how they use the land. Human geographers might study why cities and towns develop in certain places. Others study the cultures of different peoples, including their customs, languages, and religions.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: auto 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Geographers use a number of methods and tools in their work. The simplest method is going out to a place to observe and gather information. This is called fieldwork. Geographers use photographs taken from the air to see things that they cannot see from the ground. They also depend on spacecraft called satellites to take photographs and collect information from far above Earth. Geographers use computers to help them make sense of the information they receive. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The main tool used by geographers is the [|map]. People who make maps are called cartographers. Geographers use maps to display the information they have gathered. Topographic maps show natural land formations, such as the huge landmasses called [|continents]. Geographers also use maps to show how people have divided the land. Political maps show the boundaries of countries and other divisions.