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Period: to
New Deal - Fair Deal - New Frontier - Great Society
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Alfedo Mathew Jr.
My dad was born in New York City, in Spanish Harlem, during the Great Depression. He was the second of eight children. His parents immigrated from Puerto Rico in the late 1920s, because they were U.S. citizens and life was hard on the island. I love the stories my grandma would share with me about those early days in NY, the challenge of paying rent and fighting for respect on the city streets. My father grew up poor, but proud because he had great parents. -
Rosa Parks- Montgomery Bus Boycott
In the South, Jim Crow laws segregated Black Americans from White Americans and placed them in an inferior position in society. In schools, restaurants, water fountains and other public places Blacks were kept separate. In 1955, Rosa Parks, a secretary for the NAACP, refused to give up her seat and helped to launch a boycott of the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama. Women would play a leading role in the mass movement to overturn Jim Crow and create equal Civil Rights for all Americans. -
Kennedy's Assassination
President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas during a parade through the downtown. His death was a shock to the nation, because of the public violence and wasted youth of the idealistic Kennedy family. Many conspiracy theories blamed his death on the Mafia, the Cubans, or the U.S. military. He was a Democratic President who was a proponent of Civil Rights, the modernization of the U.S. economy and he followed the policy of Containment against the Soviet Union. -
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Conservative Backlash- Nixon / Reagan / Bush / Bush
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Roe V. Wade
In 1973, the year I was born, the Supreme Court overturned state laws that limited the rights of women to get an abortion. The courts beleived that these laws limited a woman's right to privacy. The debate over abortion was not settled in 1973. It continues to be a decisive social issue between pro-life and pro-choice advocates. Many conservative people are pro-life and believe life begins at conception. Other, more liberal people are pro-choice and believe it is a woman's decision. -
Alfredo Mathew III Born
I was born at New York hospital to Alfredo and Cheryl Mathew. My parents met at Hunter College, where my dad was teaching a graduate education course. My mom was the star student. Two years later they were married, my sister was born and I was on my way. I loved growing up in NYC as a child. -
Ronald Reagan Cut Taxes
Ronald Reagan was a Republican president from 1981 through 1989 that restored American confidence after the recession and loss of Vietnam in the 1970s. He believed in supply side economics, and wanted to shrink the size of government. He cut taxes, which mainly benefited wealthier Americans, and began a conservative shift to reduce business regulations. At the same time, he increased military spending and the overall federal budget grew. -
Ardsley High School Graduation
At 17 I graduated from Ardsley High School. I loved history and poetry. I had no idea what I wanted to do in this world, but I knew I wanted to get out of Ardsley. I dreamed of travelling the world and writing. I attended Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania were I majored in History and Anthropolgy. I graduated in 1995. Here is a picture of me and my family in front of the White House on a family trip when I was 19. -
Father's Death
My dad died when I was 19. I was a Sophomore in college, and it was very unexpected. My family was very hurt, and we still miss him dearly. It forced me to grow up and take more responsiblity for my actions. As a yound man, and now as a soon to be parent, I wish I had my father with me so he could see the person I have become. Still, his spirit and his lessons, not to mention his genetic code live in. Thank you pops! -
Attack
4 Airplanes were hijacked by Al Qaeda and used as human missiles. They destroyed the Twin Towers in Manhattan, symbols of U.S. financial strength. One may have hit the Pentagon and the other crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Because of this terror attack the U.S. launched too wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that would last over a decade and cost trillions of dollars. -
Gradualtion for Lafayette College
