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Levitt Houses
A Brief History of Levittown, New York Few communities in America are as easily recognizable by name as Levittown, New York. In addition to its distinction as the childhood home of world famous singer/songwriter, Billy Joel, (who was actually raised in a Levitt home in nearby Hicksville) Levittown is the model on which scores of post World War II suburban communities were based – a place that started out as an experiment in low-cost, mass-produced housing and became, perhaps, the most famous suburban development in the world. Many volumes have been written which provide comprehensive histories of Levittown, including its “pre-history” as a center of early Long Island aviation and…
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Paris’s Catacombs
Paris, France (CNN) — Beneath the streets of the City of Light lies a world draped in darkness and shrouded in silence. The tunnels are narrow, the ceilings are low and death is on display. The skulls and bones lining the walls, arranged in a macabre fashion, make up what is known as the Empire of the Dead — the Catacombs of Paris. The catacombs snake below the city, a 321-kilometer (200-mile) network of old quarries, caves and tunnels. Some Parisians are drawn to this largely uncharted territory — a hidden network of adventure, discovery and even relaxation. They are known as ‘cataphiles’ and the catacombs are their playground. It…
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United States Women’s Gymnastics Team Wins Gold
“For Jordyn Wieber, the team victory was sweet redemption after she failed to qualify for the all-around final.” For the first time since the Magnificent Seven won in 1996, the U.S. gymnastics team for women, has won a gold medal in the team event. According to the New York Times article for July 31, 2012, they “did it in dominating fashion.” Their performances were solid and led from start to finish with a wide gap between them and the Russian team who won the silver medal. There was an even larger gap between the Romanian team who won the bronze. They stood restrained, not showing a celebratory spirit, until the official score displayed…
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Discrimination Still Occurring in 21st Century America
It has been almost 50 years, since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, yet discrmination is still happening. A black couple seeking to be married in a Mississippi church, First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, were asked to marry elsewhere by Rev. Stan Weatherford. He said that he was honoring a request by some congregants who didn’t want the couple married at the church. Church refuses to marry black couple in Mississippi. Timeline of the events involved in the Civil Rights Movement.
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Civil Rights Movement Events
April 1948 Gladys Noel Bates, a teacher in the Jackson Public School system, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Jackson Public School Board for its refusal to pay black teachers and administrators salaries equal to those paid to whites with similar experience and educational background. May 17, 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The court argued that segregation hurt both black and white students by instilling in each group false feelings of inferiority and superiority, respectively. The court added that the damage segregation did to blacks…
