Food Stops

Not only were we exposed to some of the most historical sites and artifacts as well as immersed in years of knowledge but we also were able to eat at a few places that were awesome. As we drove up to what looked almost to be an old fishing village we were given the opportunity to immerse ourselves in a fresh fish market right on the Potomac, where the fish,crab, and shrimp is cooked right before your eyes. This Market shows the diversity of the city, not only can one eat at a nice restaurant but you can get fresh things as well. Our next stop was Ben's Chili bowl which is an old chili parlour that boasts some of the best chili in the nation. Patrons of Ben's chili bowl include Bill Cosby and Our own President Barrack Obama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDWquLZzNTs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrg2S-cJWKw

Newseum

One of the coolest and most interesting places to visit in DC is the Newseum. The Newseum is just what it sounds like, a museum with news. Offering many hands on exhibits, interactive software, and even a 4-D movie which was very fun. There are 7 floors of exhibits so it is hard to see everything in one day that is why you have a 2 day pass. The bottom floor offers prize winning pictures as well as weapons and stories from mobsters and a piece of the berlin wall ( by piece I mean tower and 20 feet of wall). Working your way up each level offers something new. The building itself boasts modern day architecture and the view of the capital from the top balcony is on of the best in DC. Besides the layout of the museum some of the more interesting exhibits are dogs of the presidents, front page headlines and the 9/11 section dealing with movies clipings and the radio transmitter of one the world trade center. In the dogs of the presidents exhibit dogs are shown with their respective presidents. It shows how news has covered many different aspects of peoples life and just how intimate the relationship of media and people go together. A president does not have a lot of time but the fact that someone was able to article this and tell a story with it shows a lot about news. The next exhibit I really enjoyed was the front page headlines, In this exhibit rows of papers showing the front page of certain newsworthy days. For Instance Katrina and 9/11 were shown alot. This was interesting to me because you get to see how different papers write differently about the news but all have the same basic point to get across. The last exhibit I visited was very interesting as well as sad. It was the 9/11 exhibit offering pictures letters and movies about the victims their families and even the one reporter who died trying to cover the story. For a Journalist the Newseum is our history, the past and the present, It lets us know that even if sometimes a story is not as big as another there is someone out there who really appreciates it.News tells our history and keeps records of it and the Newseum is a great way for young students as well as adults to learn more about the great profession of journalism
and Journalists.

National African American Civil War Museum

When First getting of the subway stop to go to the National African American Civil War Museum you are met with a magnificent memorial dedicated to African Americans who fought in the civil war. The statue shows emotion and is very detailed almost giving the impression of real people. A few hundred feet from the memorial in a back alley is where you will find the museum. Although some might agree that the tour guide was a little bias towards his views it was a very interesting museum. Filled with memorabilia from the Civil War and it showed the history of how African Americans came to be in America. I learned that African American troops in the Union army were very disciplined and good soldiers, they had a feeling of belonging for the first time in some of their lives. Being a part of something and being free to fight for their beliefs is one of the early stepping stones in African American history. The views of the Union army are also expressed in this museum, General Ulysses S. Grant believed the African American fighting force was a powerful ally to have.

4 Little Girls-Birmingham Bombing

Birmingham Alabama was known for its civil rights violence, bombings and strong "southern tradition" it was also one of the battle fields of the civil rights movements. On a Sunday Morning in 1963 four little African American girls would attend their last church service. The sixteenth street Baptist church was a church known for housing civil rights leaders and many racist whites knew this. On the morning of september 15, 1963 reports came in of a white man getting out of his car and being seen wandering around the church soon after at 10:22 am a bomb went off killing four little girls. Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair all young girls were killed in the blast. The case was unsolved for sometime until Attorney General Bill Baxley reopened the case presenting evidence that was not used in the first case and found Robert Chambliss guilty and sentenced to life in prison. ALthough the families will never fully heal many of the the parents in the movie seemed to be a little better off knowing that Chambliss was found guilty.

(I wrote this blog post on my commercial appeal blog see that page for video)

Arlington National Cemetery

The Arlington National Cemetery located in Washington D.C. is one of the most famous cemeteries in the nation. It is the resting place of many past presidents, war heroes and many other national heroes as well as iconic people. When first arriving you notice that the newer graves are all neatly alligned and all the same size but the further you get in some of the graves are more boisterous and bigger. When the cemetery was first built there was not really a plan the government at the time wanted to take away General Robert E. Lee's home and not give the Confederates a key strategic location overlooking D.C. so they decided to make his back yard a cemetery.
The grave of the unmarked soldier is also here. Every 30 minutes the guard changes in a routine that is very precise and must be done right. Being one of the guards is also a very big honor.

A Civil Rights activist is also burried in the cemetery but not because his work as a civil rights activist rather he served in the military. Medger Evers was murdered in front of his home in Jackson Mississippi because he believed in the rights of African Americans. I read that he knew that he might be killed and that he did not think he would live past 50 but he still did the things he did because he believed in them. His grave is covered with rocks from people showing respect for him.

Lincoln Memorial

The lincoln Memorial is a National Monument honoring Abraham Lincoln. Set at the top of a hill overlooking the city, the monument models itself after a greek palace holding the almost godlike statue of Abraham Lincoln inside. Not only is this monument important because it is a memorial to the man who freed the slaves but it is also a very important site for many early protesters. The water in front of the monument has been the site of many protests as well being seen in movies such as forrest gump and many famous pictures shoe people in the water during protests. One such protest and speech goes down in history as a very famous day. Martin Luther King visited many places but on August 28 1963 MLK delivered a speech that would go down as history as one of the most famous speeches of all times. Although the speech is very long I picked out the last part of the speech because I believe it is very powerful. Just imagine thousands of supportive people with the backdrop of the nations capital and that is what MLK was seeing that day."When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

This video depicts not only the importance of his speech but the location. Being in the nations capital where 100 years earlier African Americans gained their "freedom" from the man seated in his monument silently and motionlessly listening to what he had set into motion.

National Archives

Many people dont know just how important the National Archives in Washington D.C. really are. Not only do they boast a vast array of books and trinkets from the past but also host a library that registered library goers can access. Archives link the past and future and without them we would not get the full story. Researchers in the videos I watched explained that throughout history when records have not been written down stories tend to change, offering a story with to many endings (meaning a story that is told in many different ways.) The National Archives has many historical records but out of everything in the museum only 1-3 % of it is kept forver. These documents that are kept forever are the most important to the Federal Government as well as for we the people to be able to access them. I enjoyed the early maps and artifacts of the early crusaders to America, This exhibit kept very good records of how the spaniards landed and where they set up camps in early America also the portraits of battles fought are depicted very well, as if the artist had read archived information and then draw what he saw.