Abstract: In July 1839, captive West Africans rebelled and took over the Spanish slaveship Amistad . They ordered the owners to Africa but, instead, the Amistad was taken on a meandering course, finally waylaid by a U.S. Navy brig. The Africans were charged with the murder of the captain and jailed in New Haven, Connecticut. Abolitionists came to their support; ex-President John Quincy Adams represented them in court. After a long legal battle, the Supreme Court freed the "mutineers" in 1841. The following year they returned to Africa.
Abstract: On February 15, 1898, an explosion ripped through the American battleship Maine , anchored in Havana harbor, sinking the ship and killing 260 sailors. Americans responded with outrage, assuming that Spain, which controlled Cuba as a colony, had sunk the ship. Two months later, the slogan "Remember the Maine " carried the U.S. into war with Spain. In the midst of the hysteria, few Americans paid much attention to the report issued two weeks before the U.S. entry into the war by a Court of Inquiry appointed by President McKinley. The report stated that the committee could not definitively assign blame to Spain for the sinking of the Maine . Publishers such as William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer used their many newspapers to stir public opinion over the sinking of the Maine into a frenzy, hastenening U.S. entry into the conflict. This February 17, 1898, front page story from Pulitzer's New York World suggested, on the basis of little evidence, the hand of the enemy in the destruction of the Maine.
Abstract: In 1909, the predominantly immigrant and female workers in New York City's garment industry staged a series of job walkouts that led to a massive general strike involving more than 20,000 workers. Fifteen-year-old shirtwaist worker Clara Lemlich, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, emerged as a key organizer and speaker. An unprovoked attack on Lemlich and her fellow female strikers by anti-union thugs was recorded by New York Sun correspondent McAlister Coleman. He retold the story years later in his article, "All of Which I Saw," published in the Progressive in 1950.
Abstract: The 1883 adoption of four standard time zones did not come easily. Many Americans, particularly those who continued to mark the passage of time by the natural rhythms of the sun, resisted the efforts of railroad officials and scientists to impose standard time on the nation. William F. Allen, the first secretary of the railroad companies' General Time Convention (GTC), wrote and spoke tirelessly in his efforts to secure time standardization. To minimize opposition, the GTC's proposed new time zones deviated very little from existing norms: most changes were kept to half an hour or less. Sunday, November 18, 1883--known as the "day of two noons" because people were required to stop what they were doing and reset their clocks anywhere from two to thirty minutes--was remarkably orderly. This New York Times article described the scene in the nation's largest city. Local and state laws soon ratified the new standard, but as late as 1915, citizen challenges to the time standard were still being considered by the courts.
Abstract: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, stunned virtually everyone in the United States military. Japan's carrier-launched bombers found Pearl Harbor totally unprepared. President Franklin Roosevelt quickly addressed Congress to ask for a declaration of war. In the wake of the attack and Roosevelt's speech, folklorists employed by the Library of Congress rushed out to the streets of Washington, D. C., to record public reaction. The selection of "man on the street" interviews showed a wide range of public responses to the attack and to FDR's speech. Young servicemen seemed most concerned about canceled furloughs, while a Polish immigrant swore his undying loyalty to the United States. African Americans in a poolhall insisted on their people's contribution to American history.
Abstract: In the early 20th century, new household technology was both accomplished and inspired by the tremendous increase in American industrial production. As in industry, mechanization and scientific management were part of a larger reorganization of work. And as in industry, efficient housekeeping was partially a response to labor unrest--both the "servant problem" and the growing disquiet of middle-class wives. A major proponent of the new housekeeping, Christine Frederick was consulting household editor for Ladies Home Journal from 1912 to 1919 and the author of numerous books and pamphlets on scientific management in the home. Frederick's pamphlet, You and Your Laundry (1922), instructed women in the daunting complexities of washing clothes--a process comprising fifteen different steps. You and Your Laundry also illustrated the close alliance between scientific housework and consumption. Written under the sponsorship of the Hurley Machine Company, Frederick's pamphlet frequently invoked its brand name and products. The pamphlet ended with a pitch for buying on installment, a payment plan that helped to spur consumption.
Abstract: Organized temperance movements have been part of the American political landscape since the early 19th century. Reform groups, dominated at various times by clergy, social elites, workingmen, and clubwomen, tried alternately to convince individuals to take a pledge against drinking alcohol, to promote drinking only in moderation, and to enact laws prohibiting the production and sale of liquor. Prior to the ratification in 1919 of the 18th Amendment banning liquor nationwide, two-thirds of the states had passed similar legislation. After rampant noncompliance with the Amendment led to its repeal in 1933, anti-liquor advocates focused protests against liquor advertising on the radio. While the Federal Communications Commission did not have the authority to ban liquor ads, their threats to hold license renewal hearings for offending stations induced broadcasters to self-impose a ban. Similarly, in 1948, the television industry voluntarily decided to restrict alcoholic beverage advertising to beer and wine commercials. Congress, nevertheless, proposed legislation in the 1950s to prohibit all liquor ads from radio, TV, and in interstate commerce. In the following testimony, an attorney for an advertising association argued that a proposed House bill would interfere with the "right to sell," while a police sergeant and member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union contended in a Senate hearing that children should be protected from televised liquor ads in their homes. No legislation was enacted, and in November 1996 due to a sharp decrease in sales of hard liquor, the Distilled Spirits Council voted to allow advertising of its products on TV. In December 2001, NBC became the first network since 1948 to broadcast hard liquor ads.
Abstract: After two decades watching atmospheric oxygen levels drop, a Scripps researcher's conclusions about climate could leave one feeling light-headed.
Abstract: This event took place on February 24, 2004 in Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley. A town hall featuring a panel of The Atlantic Monthly writers who produced the special January/February 2004 Atlantic Monthly issue. The panel will include writer Jim Fallows, one of founders of the New America Foundation think tank, who wrote the lead article, and a few other Atlantic writers. Michael Kinsley, of Slate, will moderate. Introduced by Orville Schell, Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism. The event is sponsored by The UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and "The Atlantic Monthly" magazine. For more information, please visit the Journalism School's website for this event.
Abstract: Father Charles Coughlin occupied both a strange and a familiar place in American politics during the 1930s. Politically radical, a passionate democrat, he nevertheless was a bigot who freely vented angry, irrational charges and assertions. A Catholic priest, he broadcast weekly radio sermons that by 1930 drew as many as forty-five million listeners. By the mid-1930s, Coughlin's growing extremism, his increasing determination to cast political problems in terms of free-floating conspiracy, and his persistent attacks on a popular president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, made many of his fellow Catholics nervous. John Ryan, a fellow Catholic priest, had long been active as a social reformer and university educator. In a September 1936 radio speech, he denounced Coughlin for his attacks on FDR. Ryan's address provoked a host of letters; these three typical letters to Ryan reflected the character of Coughlin's devoted support and the capitulation to hatred that characterized Coughlin's movement in the late 1930s.
Abstract: This video is part of CARLINK PROJECT simulation videos. It presents the performance of communications in Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) using the IEEE 802.11b standard in the transmission of files.- Jamal Toutouh -
Abstract: This video is part of CARLINK PROJECT simulation videos. It presents the performance of communications in Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) using the IEEE 802.11b standard in the transmission of files.- Jamal Toutouh -
Abstract: In 1927, responding to the seemingly overpowering claims of advertisers and mass marketers, engineer Frederick Schlink and economist Stuart Chase published Your Money's Worth , which argued for an "extension of the principle of buying goods according to impartial scientific tests rather than according to the fanfare and triumphs of higher salesmanship." Your Money's Worth became an instant best-seller, and the authors organized Consumers' Research, a testing bureau that provided information and published product tests in a new magazine, Consumers' Research Bulletin . The 1929 stock market crash heightened suspicion of consumer capitalism, and the magazine had 42,000 subscribers by 1932. In 1933, Schlink and Arthur Kallet (executive secretary of Consumers' Research) published 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs, and Cosmetics . The book struck a responsive chord in depression-era America--it went through thirteen printings in its first six months and became one of the best-selling books of the decade. The book's first chapter ("The Great American Guinea Pig"), gave a flavor of their vigorous arguments.
Abstract: The deadly lung disease silicosis is caused when miners, sandblasters, and foundry and tunnel workers inhale fine particles of silica dust--a mineral found in sand, quartz, and granite. In 1935, approximately 1,500 workers--largely African Americans who had come north to find work--were killed by exposure to silica dust while building a tunnel in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. Ordinarily, silicosis takes a several years to develop, but these West Virginia tunnel workers were falling ill in a matter of months because of exposure to unusually high concentrations of silica dust. The crisis over silicosis suddenly became a national issue, as seen in this article in the radical newspaper Peoples' Press . In 1936 congressional hearings on the Gauley Bridge disaster, it was revealed that company officials and engineers wore masks to protect themselves when they visited the tunnel, but they failed to provide masks for the tunnelers themselves, even when the workers requested them.
Abstract: The 2006 Computer Science Commencement Ceremony was held Sunday, May 21, 2006, at 2:00 pm in Zellerbach Auditorium. The Commencement address was delivered by Dr. Peter Norvig, Director of Research at Google, Inc.
Abstract: Friday, January 19, 2007 The Primary Election: November 2005 June 2006
Campaign managers, media experts and other top officials for all three major candidates discuss the campaign, from the underlying structure of the electorate to the day-to-day strategy to the outcome. Moderators: Scott Shafer , KQED Public Broadcasting; Randy Shandobil , KTVU News watch webcast: Schwarzenegger Laying the Groundwork Opening Remarks: Bruce Cain , Director, Institute of Governmental Studies Panelists: Matthew Dowd; Susan Kennedy; Reed Galen; Adam Mendelsohn; Steve Schmidt
watch webcast: The Westly Candidacy Panelists: Jude Barry; David Doak; Garry South watch webcast: The Angelides Candidacy Panelists: Cathy Calfo; Paul Maslin; Katie Merrill; Bob Mulholland watch webcast: Roundtable and Q&A with All Three Campaigns
Saturday, January 20, 2007 watch webcast: California: Blue, Red or Purple? Scholars, journalists, and others analyze the nature of the California electorate the battlefield on which the governor's campaign was fought. Democrats control the Legislature and carry the state easily in presidential elections, yet Republicans have held the governorship for 19 of the last 24 years. Are we as blue as our reputation, secretly red, or some purple shade in between? Panelists: Bruce Cain , Director, Institute of Governmental Studies; Morris Fiorina (Professor of Political Science, Stanford University); Thad Kousser (Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California at San Diego); Ted Lascher (Professor of Political Science, California State University, Sacramento)
watch webcast: The Polls: What Were Voters Thinking? The state's leading pollsters describe the status of public opinion before, during and after the campaign. Moderator: Susan Rasky , Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley Panelists: Mark Baldassare , Director of Research, Public Policy Institute of California; Mark DiCamillo , Director, Field Poll; Susan Pinkus , Director, Los Angeles Times Poll; Phil Trounstine , Director, Survey and Policy Research Institute, San Jose State University
The General Election: June 2006 November 2006 Campaign managers, media experts and other top officials for both major candidates discuss the campaign, from the underlying structure of the electorate to the day-to-day strategy to the outcome. Moderators: Mark Barabak , Los Angeles Times ; Carla Marinucci , San Francisco Chronicle
watch webcast: The Angelides Candidacy Panelists: Cathy Calfo; Bill Carrick; Paul Maslin; Katie Merrill watch webcast: The Schwarzenegger Candidacy Panelists: Matthew Dowd; Susan Kennedy; Reed Galen; Adam Mendelsohn; Steve Schmidt watch webcast: Roundtable and Q&A with Both Campaigns
Abstract: In the Tradition of Innovation at Berkeley Engineering... The College of Engineering is hosting the 3rd Annual Technology Breakthrough Competition to recognize the University's technology and scientific research that could make the world a substantially better place. PROGRAM:
Dean Richard Newton in conversation with Steve Domenik, General Partner, Sevin Rosen Funds, and Lip-Bu Tan, Founder & Chairman, Walden International
Technology Breakthrough Winners Ceremony and presentation of $25,000 in prizes