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1) Why do you think Wilson felt inspired to create a play cycle that portrays the African American experience throughout the entire 20th Century?

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1) Why do you think Wilson felt inspired to create a play cycle that portrays the African American experience throughout the entire 20th Century?

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Wilson was inspired to create a play revolving the experiences that African Americans go through in life because of his childhood. He wanted to create a story explaining the obstacles black people face in America. Since not everyone in the U.S is an African American, many people haven't experienced the things they have. He wanted to give them an inside look on how things work.

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Pittsburgh's Finest

By Caroline Coniglio (Marketing, Class of 2024)

August Wilson was an American Playwright who taught himself everything and worked his way into the theatre industry. Growing up Wilson had to face racism, which made racisms worth fighting for Wilson. "That is simply that I believe race matters - that is the largest, most identifiable and most important part of our personality." (Wilson 3) Wilson won two Pulitzer prizes from his original play , and The Piano Lesson , that both involve detailed African American characters. Wilson 's most recognized achievement is the Century Cycle, which consists of ten plays on African American history in the 20 th century. The Century Cycle gained August Wilson attention and made him important to us today because he reveals racism through playwright with a different point of view. Wilson was able to make racism in playwright understandable for audiences who potentially never went through racism.

Wilson faced constant backlash and racism towards his family, and at just fifteen, Wilson dropped out of school and began self-teaching himself education outside of the school system. At a young age Wilson turned to poetry and soon after theatre, he began to write plays that gained attention. In 1968, August Wilson became the cofounder and director of Black Horizon Theatre. Being black in Pittsburgh wasn't easy. Wilson said, "Pittsburgh is a very hard city, especially if you're black." (Wilson) Wilson's humble beginnings can remind people that someone always has it worse, and at the end of the day we are all human, even despite our different histories. Wilson's plays at Black Horizon Theatre as well as outside Black Horizon Theatre showed characters struggle with racism, and opened the audience's eyes to the constant judgment African Americans face.

August Wilson made a big impact in African American theatre. In 1968 Black Horizons theatre began and August Wilson didn't hesitate to be a helping co-founder. Wilson co-founded the theatre with his close friend Rob Penny. Wilson's play tickets for his first play were only 50 cents. Wilson's plays gained attention of high-class audiences who really started to appreciate African American history. Before August Wilson, people still were very closeminded to coming to terms with real African American struggles in everyday life. If it didn't apply to the audience, then it wasn't something they had to worry about, but Wilson changed that perspective. "...I founded Black Horizons Theatre in Pittsburgh with the idea of using the theatre to politicize the community or, as we said in those days, to raise the consciousness of the people." (Wilson) His detailed characters made audiences fall in love and Wilson even went on to win two Pulitzer Prizes because of his talent to captivate an audience. Wilson one his first Pulitzer prize in 1987 for his Broadway show, . And later won his second Pulitzer prize in 1990 for another Broadway show, The Piano Lesson .

Wilson embraced the Black Art Movement back in 1965, which was a movement based on black pride and through activism and art they tried to get their message across. This movement was when Wilson was still getting started in the theatre industry. The movement greatly impacted theatre and poetry, two things Wilson loved, and that made him want to be a part of such a great movement. It inspired Wilson to work harder when it comes to his work. The Black Arts Movement continued until 1975, this movement allowed African Americans to have a voice in mass media. It spurred political activism and use of speech throughout all African American communities.

In conclusion, August Wilson truly did so much for the African American community and paved the way for many future activists and playwrights. If it wasn't for Wilson's plays, audiences wouldn't have known or truly understood what it was like being treated differently for the color of one's skin.

Works Cited

Bigsby, Christopher. The Cambridge Companion to August Wilson . Cambridge-United Kingdom, United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Wilson, August. "The Ground on Which I Stand." AMERICAN THEATRE , 6 Jan. 2017, www.americantheatre.org/2016/06/20/the-ground-on-which-i-stand .

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By Caroline Coniglio (Marketing, Class of 2024) August Wilson was an American Playwright who taught himself everything and worked his way into the theatre industry. Growing up Wilson had to face racism, which made racisms worth fighting for Wilson. "That is simply that I believe race matters - that is the largest, most identifiable and most important part of our personality."

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2a) Research and summarize 3 historical events to impact the lives of African Americans in 1950s Pennsylvania.

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2a) Research and summarize 3 historical events to impact the lives of African Americans in 1950s Pennsylvania.

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During 1957, black people were fleeing their home towns because of the racial issues that were going on. Things like the Jim-Crow laws and segregation played a big role in their actions. Many of them moved into Pittsburgh where they made local communities within themselves. The city then took over the land that they were living in,, leaving thousands of black people with nowhere to go and no home to live in.

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For the huge numbers of African Americans fleeing the South in the post-Civil War 1880s, few destinations held as much promise as the booming city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hoping for jobs in the steel and railroad industries and escape from the Jim Crow segregationist laws of the Reconstruction-era South, blacks flocked to Pittsburgh and specifically to the Hill District, a neighborhood close to downtown but up against steep hills that made it an undesirable living location for the city's upper classes. Though Pittsburgh was by no means free of racial prejudice, African Americans formed tight communities in the Hill District, a city-within-a-city nationally recognized by the 1930s as a mecca of black culture and business. It was home to one of the country's most vibrant jazz scenes and one of the finest teams in baseball, the Negro League Pittsburgh Crawfords, who played in Greenlee Field, the first black-owned and black-built baseball park in America.

But as the century moved forward, deteriorating infrastructure hung as a shadow over the neighborhood. In 1943, City Councilman George E. Evans wrote that "approximately 90 per cent of the buildings in the area are sub-standard... and so there would be no social loss if these were all destroyed." Regardless of whether the Hill's buildings were in need of repair, the city was really in search of a place to build the new Civic Arena, and chose to demolish the Lower Hill District in 1956 to create a building site. This led to the displacement of 8,000 residents over the next five years, creating even more over-crowding in the Middle and Upper Hill neighborhoods. This caused the demise of much of the city's cultural vibrancy, and effectively altered the character of the Hill to the present day.

Furthermore, after World War II, Pittsburgh as a whole entered a period of economic decline as the city lost increasing numbers of jobs and people to the suburbs and to overseas manufacturing. During this time, Pittsburgh's African-American population actually grew and gained a larger share of the city's total - reaching about 12% in 1950 - but continued to face unfair employment practices and barriers to where they could live. From the early 1950s through the 1960s, the unemployment rate of blacks was more than double that of whites, and income discrepancies were rampant. Although the city passed a municipal fair employment practices ordinance in 1953, the Pittsburgh area office accounted for nearly 25% of all discrimination complaint cases statewide.

August Wilson's Fences is set in 1957, a landmark year in the early Civil Rights Movement: it was the year that Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "Give Us the Ballot" speech during the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, and Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act since Reconstruction. Wilson's play focuses on the daily African-American experience rather than the important events of the era, reminding us how slowly the effects of the Civil Rights Movement were felt by the average citizen.

Top: Josh Gibson, who was known as "The Black Babe Ruth," surrounded by fans of one of Pittsburgh's two Negro League baseball teams, the Homestead Grays

Bottom: Pittsburgh's Hill District circa 1956, after the demolition for, and beginning of construction of, the Civic Arena (top right)

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Pittsburgh, 1957: A Mecca of Black Culture and Business Destroyed (From the Playbill)

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For the huge numbers of African Americans fleeing the South in the post-Civil War 1880s, few destinations held as much promise as the booming city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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2b)Research and summarize 3 historical events to impact the lives of African Americans in 1950s Pennsylvania.

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2b)Research and summarize 3 historical events to impact the lives of African Americans in 1950s Pennsylvania.

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The Freedom House Ambulance service was founded in the Hill District where most black people moved to. When they got there, police officers would be the ones to respond to every call. People would be thrown into the back of the car and driven off to the hospital with little sympathy. When this group started they were able to make a difference in their community.

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How Pittsburgh’s Freedom House Pioneered Paramedic Treatment

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The groundbreaking ambulance service was created in the 1960s as the city struggled with racial tensions and poor medical transport. It trained African-American men to provide crucial emergency care.

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2c) Research and summarize 3 historical events to impact the lives of African Americans in 1950s Pennsylvania.

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2c) Research and summarize 3 historical events to impact the lives of African Americans in 1950s Pennsylvania.

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This group of people back in the 1950's came together to create opera. It was their passion and it helped connect the women in their community. They were later dispatched when one of their group members had died.

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The National Negro Opera Company was managed and directed by its founder, Mary Cardwell Dawson (1894-1962). The company was founded in 1941. In the late 1940s, Mrs. Dawson moved to Washington, D.C., which then became the center of company activities. There were active chapters in Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Pittsburgh, and Red Bank, New Jersey. In 1950, the National Negro Opera Foundation was incorporated to help raise funds to sustain the company. The company ceased operations with Mrs. Dawson's death in 1962.

From the description of National Negro Opera Company collection, 1931-1989 (bulk 1941-1962). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71129911

The National Negro Opera Company was founded in 1941 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Mary Cardwell Dawson, musician and founder of the Cardwell School of Music. The companion National Negro Opera Foundation was established in 1950 in Washington, DC.

From the description of National Negro Opera Company collection, 1940-1961. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702150751

From the description of National Negro Opera Company collection, 1940-1961. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81538858

Agency Sketch

The National Negro Opera Company, the first African-American opera company in the United States, was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1941, by Mary Cardwell Dawson (born February 14, 1894, in Madison, North Carolina; died March 19, 1962). Ms. Dawson graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in June 1925, then did post-graduate work at the Chicago Musical College, and in New York and Boston. She began her professional career giving private voice lessons at the Cardwell School of Music, in Homestead, Pennsylvania, which she founded in 1927. She staged and directed the opera Romeo and Juliet at Carnegie Music Hall, in Pittsburgh (1926-1927) followed by the operetta The Merry Milk Maids, which she staged at nearby Schenley High School, in 1930. Mary Cardwell Dawson appeared as a soloist at the Century of Progress (World's Fair), Chicago, in 1933. That same year she organized the Cardwell Dawson Choir, made up of students at her school. The ensemble began a series of annual concerts in 1934, gradually developing into a prize-winning ensemble in the late 1930s. They won the Sun-Telegraph (Harvey Gaul) Award for Musical Excellance in both 1937 and 1938. The Cardwell Dawson Choir accepted invitations to appear at the Chicago and New York World's Fairs in the late 1930s. Seven years later, on May 27, 1944, the Choir received a first place award in the Nationalist Class of the Western Pennsylvania Choral Festival. Ms. Dawson served as president of the National Association of Negro Musicians (hereafter referred to as the NANM) from 1939 to 1941, and was chairman of the association's opera committee.

Ms. Dawson launched the National Negro Opera Company (hereafter referred to as the NNOC) at the NANM annual convention, in August 1941. The NNOC was incorporated in the state of Illinois in 1942 with the stated purpose of "affording for the Negro the opportunity for the fullest expression in cultural development." The first operatic production was a performance of Verdi's Aida, presented at Pittsburgh's Syria Masque, on August 29, 1941. The stars in the first production included La Julia Rhea (as Aida), Minto Cato, Carol Brice, Robert McFerrin, and Lillian Evanti. After two years of various struggles and disappointments, the NNOC began to experience more consistant success, beginning with the August 29, 1943 performance of Verdi's La Traviata, performed at the Watergate, in Washington, D.C. - the stage being an anchored floating barge. The next year, on March 29, 1944, after successful performances in Chicago and Pittsburgh, the company staged La Traviata at New York City's Madison Square Garden, to enthusiastic crowds. The NNOC presented several musical spectaculars and operatic performances at Carnegie Hall and at Town Hall in New York, including such programs as "A Music and Dance Festival" (October 5, 1947), "An Afternoon of Stars" (April 3, 1948), and a performance of R. Nathaniel Dett's The Ordering of Moses, presented on June 15, 1951. In addition to regular offerings of operatic productions and occasional large-scale New York concerts, there were many solo recitals that featured Mary Cardwell Dawson or prominant soloists of the NNOC--concerts that were often billed as benefit concerts for the NNOC. The NNOC also sponsored nine annual music festivals between July 19, 1947 and August 27, 1955 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. These annual events consisted of bands, drill teams, dance groups, choruses, instrumental and vocal soloists - with appearances by well-known celebrities such as Noble Sissle and W. C. Handy, both of whom appeared at the August 7, 1948 event. Clark Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators baseball team, donated use of Griffith Stadium for these annual events without charging any fees.

The NNOC was active between 1941 and 1962 (the year of Dawson's death), producing operas in several cities, such as Washington, D.C., New York City and Chicago, in addition to productions staged in Pittsburgh. In the early 1940s, Ms. Dawson moved to Washington, D.C., which then became the center of the NNOC's activities. Active Opera Guilds (city chapters) were established in Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Pittsburgh, Red Bank, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. The National Negro Opera Foundation (hereafter NNOF) was incorporated in Washington, D.C. on March 31, 1950 to help raise funds to sustain the NNOC. Ms. Dawson served as director and general manager of the company from the founding of the company until her death on March 19, 1962.

The NNOC's repertoire during the years 1941-1960 consisted mainly of six operas and one oratorio ( The Ordering of Moses, arranged in operatic format by Ms. Dawson for operatic presentation). In addition to The Ordering of Moses, the operatic repertoire included Carmen (Bizet), Faust (Gounod), Aida (Verdi), La Traviata (Verdi), Il Trovatore (Verdi), and Ouanga (Clarence Cameron White).

The company reached its peak with performances of Clarence Cameron White's opera Ouanga presented in a concert version with ballet, at the Metropolitan Opera House, on May 27, 1956. The Met performance actually represented four premieres. It was the first time that the opera Ouanga had been staged in New York. Secondly, it was the first time an outside company had staged an operatic production using the Met's stage and facilities. Thirdly, it was the first opera ever presented at the Met by an African-American opera company, and lastly, it was the first time that an opera by an African-American composer (White) and librettist (John Frederick Matheus) had been performed at the Met. Four months later, on September 29, 1956, the NNOC gave another successful performance of Ouanga at New York City's Carnegie Hall.

The NNOC remained active through 1960, but the number of events gradually diminished, ceasing with Ms. Dawson's death in 1962.

The following section presents a chronological list of selected musical events and productions by the National Negro Opera Company and earlier events performed by ensembles in which Mary Cardwell Dawson was involved.

: Mary L. Cardwell gave pianoforte and voice recital at Bethleham Baptist Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Cardwell Dawson accompanied tenor Claudius James Broadfield at a recital at Wilmerding Christian Association, Wilmerding, Pa.

: Cardwell Dawson and her Concert Company gave a recital at Schenley High School, Pittsburgh Pa.

: Pupils of Mary Cardwell Dawson gave the sixth annual recital at Rodman Street Baptist Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: The Merry Milkmaids, an operetta in two acts by C. H. Gabriel, performed at Schenley High School (Mary Cardwell Dawson directed)

: The Merry Milkmaids performed at Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, Pa. (Mary Cardwell Dawson directed)

: Cardwell School of Music concert at Herron Hill Junior High School Auditorium, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: "The Heavenly Road: A beautiful religious pageant sermon in song" staged and directed by Dawson at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Artist Programme at Carron Street Baptist Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Saengerfest, presented by the Pittsburgh branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians, at Irene Kaufmann Settlement, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Cardwell School of Music Choir and Clairton Community Choral recital, Clairton High School, Clairton, Pa.

: Third annual concert of the Cardwell Dawson Choir, Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: All Star Recital given by the Outstanding Artists of the Cardwell School of Music, Carron Street Baptist Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Fourth annual concert of the Cardwell Dawson Choir, Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Cardwell Dawson Choir performed at Greenburg High School Auditorium

: Mary Cardwell Dawson recital, John Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Fifth annual concert of the Cardwell Dawson Choir, Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Benefit concert by the Cardwell Dawson Choir, Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Sixth annual concert of the Cardwell Dawson Choir, Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Cardwell Dawson Choir performed R. Nathaniel Dett's The Ordering of Moses at seventh annual spring concert, Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Cardwell Dawson Choir performed R. Nathaniel Dett's The Ordering of Moses, Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Night of Opera at Wendell Phillips High School Auditorium (Chicago Campaign Committee of the National Negro Opera Company)

: Night of Opera at Wendell Phillips High School Auditorium (Chicago Campaign Committee of the National Negro Opera Company)

: Cardwell Dawson School of Music and Pittsburgh Branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians presented Aida, Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Mary Cardwell Dawson presented Aida, Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Mary Cardwell Dawson, soprano and her Special Octette gave recital, Senior High School Auditorium, Uniontown, Pa.

: Inaugural program, Wendell Phillips High School, Chicago

: Benefit midnight show, presented stars and artists of the cast of Porgy and Bess, Leo Weil School, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: National Negro Opera Company, Inc. Official mass meeting, Schenley High School, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: La Traviata, Watergate, Washington, D.C.

: La Traviata, Civic Opera House, Chicago

: La Traviata, Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: La Traviata, Madison Square Garden, New York City

: Faust, Watergate, Washington, D.C.

: Aida, Coliseum, Chicago

: Aida, Uline Arena, Washington, D.C. (rescheduled from July 30 and then Sept. 17)

: New York Campaign Committee of the National Negro Opera Company sponsored third of a series of "pleasant Sunday afternoon musicals," Church of Christ, New York

: New York Campaign Committee of the National Negro Opera Company sponsored fourth of a series of "pleasant Sunday afternoon musicals," Salem M.E. Church, New York

: New York chapter of the National Negro Opera Company presented Grand Concert, St. Marks M.E. Church, New York

: National Negro Opera Company sponsored Battle of Song: a Citywide Vocal Contest, Salem M.E. Church, New York

: Chicago Opera Guild presented The Ordering of Moses, Eighth Street Theatre

: Mary Cardwell Dawson singers with augmented chorus of over 100 performed The Ordering of Moses, Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Mary Cardwell Dawson recital, Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C.

: First Annual Music and Dance Festival, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.

: New York Opera Guild of the National Negro Opera Company sponsored First Annual Music and Dance Festival, Carnegie Hall, New York

: Chicago Opera Guild presented Mary Cardwell Dawson recital, Wendell Phillips High School

: Mary Cardwell Dawson recital, Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa. (benefit for National Negro Opera Company)

: New York, Newark and Washington Guilds of the National Negro Opera Company sponsored "An Afternoon of Stars," Carnegie Hall, New York

: Mary Cardwell Dawson recital, Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C.

: The Chicago Negro Opera Guild in concert, New Friendship Baptist Church, Chicago

: Second Annual Spectacular Music Festival, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.

: John Anglin, tenor in concert with Mary Cardwell Dawson, piano, Asbury Methodist Church, Washington, D.C. (Benefit Opera Fund)

: Washington Opera Guild sponsored Pre-Valentine Benefit Dance, Lincoln Colonnade, Washington, D.C.

: Aida, National Guard Armory, Washington, D.C.

: Third Annual Gala Music Festival, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.

: "Mary Cardwell Dawson Presents her Program of Musical Gems," Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C.

: Bertha M. Bragg, soprano and Mary Cardwell Dawson, piano, John Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church, Washington, D.C. (Benefit Recital)

: National Negro Opera Foundation received charter and incorporated in the District of Columbia

: First Annual Easter Fashion Parade and Symposium, John Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church, Washington, D.C.

: A Night at the Opera, Howard Theatre, Washington, D.C.

: The Ordering of Moses, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C. (fourth annual presentation)

: Chicago Negro Opera Guild presented Opera Festival, Kimball Hall, Chicago

: The Ordering of Moses, Shiloh Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.

: The Ordering of Moses, Allegany High School Auditorium, Cumberland, Maryland

: Second Annual Easter Fashion Parade, Washington, D.C.

: The Ordering of Moses, Carnegie Hall, New York

: Fifth Annual Music festival, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.

: National Negro Opera Company and Chicago Negro Opera Guild sponsored Galaxy of Stars - an afternoon of opera (pre-opera benefit), Metropolitian Community Church, Chicago

: National Negro Opera Company and Chicago Negro Opera Guild sponsored Faust, Civic Opera, Chicago

: Sixth Annual Music Festival presented Faust, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.

: Aida, Convention Hall, 178th Armory, Chicago

: National Negro Opera Foundation and the Washington Opera Guild presented Court of Famous Characters (excerpts from Aida, Faust, Naughty Marietta, Il Trovatore and The Ordering of Moses), Turner Memorial A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C.

: National Negro Opera Foundation and the Washington Opera Guild sponsored Pre-Thanksgiving Dance (benefit), Convention Hall, 178th Armory, Chicago

: Court of Famous Characters (excerpts from Aida, Faust, Naughty Marietta, Il Trovatore and The Ordering of Moses), Turner Memorial A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C.

: Court of Famous Characters: Parade of Kings and Queens, excerpts from the great operas, and biblical scenes from The Ordering of Moses, Metropolitan Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.

: Seventh Annual Gala Music Festival, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.

: National Negro Opera Foundation provided music for the Tuesday Evening Club of Social Workers, Inc. in celebration of Negro History Week, Dunbar Hotel, Washington, D.C.

: Pittsburgh Opera Guild presented Pre-opera benefit, with Ben Mitchell Morris, tenor, Mass Ballet ensemble, and fashion display of the National Negro Opera Company's European costumes, Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Ben Morris, in concert, Metropolitian A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C.

: National Negro Opera Foundation, honoring the National Association of Colored Women, sponsored Eighth Annual Gala Music Festival, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.

: Aida, Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Pittsburgh Opera Guild Benefit, Follies of 1954, Schenley High School, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Chicago Negro Opera Guild presented scenes from Carmen, Aida, Faust and La Traviata, Wendell Phillips High School, Chicago

: National Negro Opera Foundation sponsored First Annual Benefit Banquet Ball, Hotel New Yorker, New York

: Court of Famous Characters, Ninth Annual Music Festival, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.

: New York Guild of National Negro Opera Foundation presented first concert of a new series: "Series of Concerts of Thrilling Voices," Salem Methodist Church, Social Hall, New York

: Mass meeting, National Negro Opera Foundation presented its Cleveland Opera Guild, Cory Methodist Church

: National Negro Opera Foundation, in cooperation with the New York Opera Guild presented Ouanga, Haitian opera, in English, Metropolitan Opera House, New York

: The Chicago Opera Guild honored Mme. Mary Cardwell Dawson, Chicago

: National Negro Opera Foundation presented Evelyn Greene, in concert, Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C.

: The Ordering of Moses, Union Congregational Church, New York

: The Ordering of Moses, Parent-Teacher Association of Abyssinian Baptist Church of New York City

: First annual historical & musical tea, dedicated to celebrated Negro composers, National Federation of Colored Women's Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

: The Ordering of Moses, Faith Temple Church of God in Christ, Main Auditorium, New York

: Spring Operama and Easter Parade, Bethel A.M.E. Church, Chicago

: The Ordering of Moses, Hillhouse High School, New Haven, Conn.

: New York Opera Guild presented A Sunday Night Musical, Theresa Hotel, Skyline Room, New York

: Chicago Opera Guild sponsored Evelyn Greene concert, Olivet Baptist Church, Chicago

: Washington Opera Guild Benefit "An Evening on the Lawn," 1256 Kearny Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.

: Georgia Club of the Metropolitan Baptist Church sponsored The Ordering of Moses, Metropolitan Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.

: The Ordering of Moses, Lawson Religious and Civic Center, New York

: The Ordering of Moses, Convent Avenue Baptist Church, New York

: A Historical & Musical Tea, in observance of National Brotherhood Week, National Federation of Colored Women's Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

: Calvary Baptist Church Sunday School sponsored The Ordering of Moses, River Street School Auditorium, Red Bank, New Jersey

: Bethesda Baptist Church sponsored The Ordering of Moses, Concord Baptist Church, Brooklyn, New York

: Friends of the New York Opera Guild Committee sponsored The Ordering of Moses, Bedford Avenue YMCA, Brooklyn, New York

: Grand Lodge Convention Committee of the Elks I.B.O.E. of W. sponsored The Ordering of Moses, Metropolitan Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.

: The Washington D.C. Women's Committee, Mary Cardwell Dawson, and the National Negro Opera Foundation presented "An Informal Afternoon Gathering," 1601 R Street, N.W., Washington, D.C

: G. Dewey Robinson Boosters Club sponsored "Fashions Aboard the Luxury Liner," Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C.

: Washington Opera Guild sponsored "Fashions Aboard the Luxury Liner," Casino Royal, Washington, D.C.

: Board of Governors of the National Negro Opera Foundation sponsored "An Opera Luncheon," Sheraton-Park Hotel, Washington, D.C.

: Chicago Opera Guild presented Grand Opera Interlude, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Gentry, Chicago

: Benefit dinner, 2610 3rd Street N.E., Washington, D.C. (private residence)

: National Negro Opera Foundation presented The Ordering of Moses, in cooperation with the Association of Negro Life and History, Lisner Auditorium, Washington, D.C.

: Chicago Negro Opera Guild presented Opera Festival, Dunbar High School Auditorium, Chicago

: Evelyn Greene, in concert, Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C. (sponsored by the Metropolitian A.M.E. Church's Pastor's Aid and Hospitality Clubs)

: National Negro Opera Foundation and Washington Guild presented 1960 Spectacular Fashions in Couturere Parisienne, Metropolitian A.M.E. Church, Washington, D.C.

: National Negro Opera Foundation and Chicago Opera Guild held reception honoring Mary Cardwell Dawson, and presented Chicago Sustaining Committee, Palmer House, Chicago

: Washington Youth Opera Guild held "Talented Tots to Teens" fashion musicale and dance show, Jewish Community Center, Washington, D.C.

: The Ordering of Moses performed at a benefit performance for National Negro Opera Company and Chicago Opera Guild, Dunbar High School Auditorium, Chicago

: Mary Cardwell Dawson died, Washington, D.C.

: New York Guild Opera Workshop performed The Bohemian Girl, Beulah Wesleyan Auditorium, New York

: Chicago Negro Opera Guild performed in Opera Festival, Dunbar High School Auditorium

: Chicago Opera Guild performed concertized excerpts from Aida, Faust, Il Travatore and Masked Ball, McCormack Place, Chicago (in memory of Mary Cardwell Dawson)

: Dedication of an official historical marker commemorating the National Negro Opera Company at the site of the old Cardwell School of Music, 7101 Apple Street, Pittsburgh, Pa.

: Tribute to Madame Mary Cardwell Dawson and the National Negro Opera Company, Carnegie Library of Homestead Music Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa.

From the guide to the National Negro Opera Company Collection, 1879-1997, (bulk 1930-1962), (Music Division Library of Congress)

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National Negro Opera Company (U.S.) - Social Networks and Archival Context

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The National Negro Opera Company was managed and directed by its founder, Mary Cardwell Dawson (1894-1962). The company was founded in 1941. In the late 1940s, Mrs. Dawson moved to Washington, D.C., which then became the center of company activities. There were active chapters in Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Pittsburgh, and Red Bank, New Jersey.

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3) Based on the title of the play and the knowledge of the social & historical context of the play, what predictions can you make about the characters and plot?

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3) Based on the title of the play and the knowledge of the social & historical context of the play, what predictions can you make about the characters and plot?

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Based on the title of the book I can tell that it will mainly be based around events that happen in a specific neighborhood. Based on the pages we've read in class, the characters seem to have constant arguments with one another. This affects their behavior towards them in the future and the events that will take place.

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4) Research why Wilson designed this fictional neighborhood, examine the images below, as the setting for 9 of his plays. 

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4) Research why Wilson designed this fictional neighborhood, examine the images below, as the setting for 9 of his plays. 

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Wilson didn't grow up in such a great neighborhood. However, this inconvenience made him use his creativity and use it as the neighborhood in his books. This special touch allows him to connect deeper with his books than he did before.

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August Wilson, original name Frederick August Kittel, (born April 27, 1945, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.-died October 2, 2005, Seattle, Washington), American playwright, author of a cycle of plays, each set in a different decade of the 20th century, about black American life. He won Pulitzer Prizes for two of them: Fences and The Piano Lesson.

Wilson grew up in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, a lively poor neighbourhood that became the setting for most of his plays. Together with five siblings, he was raised by his mother, Daisy Wilson, after his father, Frederick August Kittel, left her and their children. Daisy Wilson later remarried, and in 1958 the family moved to a suburb of Pittsburgh.

The complexity of Wilson's experience of race while growing up would be expressed in his plays. His mother was black, his father white, and his stepfather, David Bedford, black. The Hill District was mostly black, and the suburb, Hazelwood, was predominately white. Wilson and his family were the target of racial threats in Hazelwood, and he quit school at age 15 after being accused of having plagiarized a paper. He turned to self-education, reading intensively in a public library and returning to the Hill District to learn from residents there. He changed his last name from Kittel to Wilson, and in the late 1960s he embraced the Black Arts movement. In 1968 he became the cofounder and director of Black Horizons Theatre in Pittsburgh. He also published poetry in such journals as Black World (1971) and Black Lines (1972).

In 1978 Wilson moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and in the early 1980s he wrote several plays, including Jitney, which was first produced in 1982. Focused on cab drivers in the 1970s, it underwent subsequent revisions as part of his historical cycle; it was published in 2000. His first major play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, opened on Broadway in 1984 and was a critical and financial success. Set in Chicago in 1927, the play centres on a verbally abusive blues singer, her fellow black musicians, and their white manager. Fences, first produced in 1985 and published in 1986, is about a conflict between a father and son in the 1950s; it received a Tony Award for best play, and a film adaptation was released in 2016.

Viola Davis and Denzel Washington in Fences Sara Krulwich-The New York Times/Redux

Wilson's chronicle of the black American experience continued with Joe Turner's Come and Gone, first produced in 1986, a play about the lives of residents of a boardinghouse in 1911, and The Piano Lesson, first produced in 1987, which is set in the 1930s and explores a family's ambivalence about selling an heirloom; it was adapted for television in 1995. The action of Two Trains Running, first produced in 1990, takes place in a coffeehouse in the 1960s. Seven Guitars, first produced in 1995 as the seventh play of the cycle, is set among a group of friends who reunite in 1948 following the death of a local blues guitarist.

Subsequent plays in the series are King Hedley II, first produced in 1999, an account of an ex-con's efforts to rebuild his life in the 1980s, and Gem of the Ocean, first produced in 2003, which takes place in 1904 and centres on Aunt Ester, a 287-year-old spiritual healer mentioned in previous plays, and a man who seeks her help. Wilson completed the cycle with Radio Golf, first produced in 2005. Set in the 1990s, the play concerns the fate of Aunt Ester's house, which is slated to be torn down by real-estate developers. Music, particularly jazz and blues, is a recurrent theme in Wilson's works, and its cadence is echoed in the lyrical, vernacular nature of his dialogue.

Wilson received numerous honours during his career, including seven New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for best play. He also held Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships. Shortly after his death, the Virginia Theater on Broadway was renamed in his honour. The August Wilson Center for African American Culture opened in Pittsburgh in 2009.

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August Wilson | Biography, Plays, & Facts

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August Wilson, original name Frederick August Kittel, (born April 27, 1945, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.-died October 2, 2005, Seattle, Washington), American playwright, author of a cycle of plays, each set in a different decade of the 20th century, about black American life. He won Pulitzer Prizes for two of them: Fences and The Piano Lesson .

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5) Research August Wilson’s life. Then read or listen to at least two interviews. Then, determine why Wilson desired to write about the difficulties African Americans families face.

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5) Research August Wilson’s life. Then read or listen to at least two interviews. Then, determine why Wilson desired to write about the difficulties African Americans families face.

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Wilson grew up in a rough neighborhood where there were a lot of racial issues that he had to deal with. Since many black people were being forced upon in many ways, Wilson wanted to bring light on it. He even went to the extent to use his neighborhood in the books that he was writing, with the characters who go through the same problems he faced. It shows people out there that if you keep pushing ahead, things will get better and work out for you.

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1)How do you predict these different symbols may relate to the play? How do fences empower? How do fences oppress? What cultural, social or political messages do they convey?

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1)How do you predict these different symbols may relate to the play? How do fences empower? How do fences oppress? What cultural, social or political messages do they convey?

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These symbols may relate to the play the fences by giving us a deeper understanding of not only the book title but, how it might affect the tone. I think later on in the book we will see a race conflict where African Americans can't fully spread their culture so the term fences come into play. Fences empower because it makes someone feel as if they are protected and nothing can get through to them. Usually if you have a fence it is around your house. We consider our houses to be our everything and having something to protect that makes us feel stronger. This might also imply that there are barriers to their American dream. For example, when Troy mentions he can't get the higher status of a truck driver in his job because of his race. Implying the fences are keeping him from accessing a better life. On the other hand, fences can also oppress too because it keeps people out. Having a metaphorical fence up might mean that you are basically ignorant and you won't let anything break you or your opinions. The social message that fences have is have something to protect yourself but don't be ignorant when ti comes to learning

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2) If you hear the term “fence” what image comes to mind? What thoughts or feelings do you associate with fences? How does the meaning of “fence” change depending on the context? 

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2) If you hear the term “fence” what image comes to mind? What thoughts or feelings do you associate with fences? How does the meaning of “fence” change depending on the context? 

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If I were to hear the term fence the first thing image I would think about is a protective fence. Mainly because that's the way I look at my fence around my house blocking off other people away from my "everything". Some feelings that I associate with the word fence is power, confidence, and satisfied because like I already stated a fence should provide you with protection. Depending on the context the word fence may change from keeping others out from you or keeping yourself away from others.

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3) Research the character types that Wilson crafted. Wilson wrote about the intimate details in African American life, and included characters who could be judged as anti-heroes. Explain why this takes courage to expose the intimate and negative aspects of one’s culture.

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3) Research the character types that Wilson crafted. Wilson wrote about the intimate details in African American life, and included characters who could be judged as anti-heroes. Explain why this takes courage to expose the intimate and negative aspects of one’s culture.

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August Wilson once had dreams to become a pro-baseball player but those dreams soon came to an end because of racism. So he built this fence to protect his property and family away from the discrimination. Though it does not say how he tried to write his characters, we can infer he wanted to make his characters face societal problems with racism just like his family did. Wilsons portrayal of African American anti heroes can take courage because it might make people judge you with the cost of knowledge of one's culture. These white people already thought of the African Americans as negative so making a book with black anti heroes which portrays them as the bad guys as well will only further prove their opinion on why Blacks are bad. A good example of an anti hero is Fences is Troy Maxson because he is rude to his family and feels the need to control everyone but, he also fought for equality and never backed down from our fight.

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Storytelling: August Wilson and the building of Fences

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Back in the '50s, I grew up in a very different Pittsburgh than one of America's greatest playwrights.

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4- “What I saw was black life presented on its 4) 4) What I saw was black life presented on its own terms, on a grand and epic scale, with all its richness and fullness, in a language that was vibrant and which, made attendant to everyday life, ennobled it, affirmed its value, and exalted its presence.” ~ August Wilson on Romare Bearden’s Art (Fishman 134) Analyze the following art pieces by Romare Bearden. Determine their symbolic meaning. Infer a potential thematic topic that connects to the depiction in each piece. Explain how the pieces connect to one another.

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4- “What I saw was black life presented on its 4) 4) What I saw was black life presented on its own terms, on a grand and epic scale, with all its richness and fullness, in a language that was vibrant and which, made attendant to everyday life, ennobled it, affirmed its value, and exalted its presence.” ~ August Wilson on Romare Bearden’s Art (Fishman 134) Analyze the following art pieces by Romare Bearden. Determine their symbolic meaning. Infer a potential thematic topic that connects to the depiction in each piece. Explain how the pieces connect to one another.

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In art piece one it seems to be three African Americans sitting down doing their thing. This may symbolize the fact that they want to remain unbothered, and they are protected. In the context of the book August Wilson wanted to give us a interpretation of the fences, which was trying to keep away from the outside discrimination. In image two it depicts what seems to be a typical black household that would be in the movie. I think this image was placed here just to give us an idea about what may go on when they are behind the fence.

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What were the Negro Leagues? What was the color line in relation to the Negro Leagues?

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What were the Negro Leagues? What was the color line in relation to the Negro Leagues?

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The Negro Leagues were leagues of professional African American baseball teams in the 1920's to the 1940's, when non-whites were not allowed in the major leagues. These leagues were entirely organized by non whites, predominantly African Americans. The National Negro League was established in a meeting in Chicago, 1920, "Nevertheless, the Negro National League (NNL) was established during the two-day meeting... A few weeks later the Negro Southern League", the NNL and the NSL were the first real Negro Leagues. The Negro Leagues consisted of mostly Latinos, African American, and Black athletes in the 1920's, until Latinos slowly were accepted in the 1930's into the major leagues, until the 1940's when African American and Black athletes slowly trickled into the major leagues.

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Table of Contents

Negro league, any of the associations of African American baseball teams active largely between 1920 and the late 1940s, when Black players were at last contracted to play major and minor league baseball. The principal Negro leagues were the Negro National League (1920-31, 1933-48), the Eastern Colored League (1923-28), and the Negro American League (1937-60). A "gentleman's agreement" among the leaders of what was then called "Organized Baseball" (the major and minor leagues) erected a colour bar against Black players from the last years of the 19th century until 1946, although these leaders rarely admitted its existence.

Early Negro leagues

There were two attempts to establish leagues for Black teams in the early years of the 20th century. The first was in 1906 when the International League of Independent Base Ball Clubs was formed in the Philadelphia area. It had two white teams and four Black. The championship game pitted two Black teams against each other and attracted 10,000 fans to the stadium of the Philadelphia (now Oakland) Athletics. (This was the first time Black clubs performed in a major league park, though later most of the top Black clubs played in stadiums of major league or top minor league teams.) The league folded after its first season.

Four years later there was an attempt to start a Black major league with teams in Chicago; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; St. Louis, Missouri; Columbus, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri; and Kansas City, Kansas. The league died aborning without sanctioning a game.

The first viable Black league was formed in 1920 under the leadership of Rube Foster, manager of the Chicago American Giants. Foster had been Negro baseball's best pitcher in the early years of the 20th century and then its best-known manager and promoter. His barnstorming American Giants were known all over the country through their winter tours to California and Florida and traveled big-league style in private railroad cars.

Foster was a visionary who dreamed that the champion of his Black major league would play the best of the white league clubs in an interracial world series. His original plan called for a Black major league in the Midwest with teams in Chicago; Indianapolis, Indiana; Detroit, Michigan; Cincinnati, Ohio; St. Louis, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri. It also called for another league in the East with clubs in New York City; Philadelphia; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Cleveland, Ohio. Only one eastern owner showed up for the organizational meeting in Kansas City in February 1920, so the eastern league did not materialize.

Nevertheless, the Negro National League (NNL) was established during the two-day meeting. Its teams were Foster's Chicago American Giants, the Indianapolis ABCs, Chicago Giants, Kansas City (Missouri) Monarchs, Detroit Stars, St. Louis Giants, Dayton (Ohio) Marcos, and the Cuban Stars, who had no home city. A few weeks later the Negro Southern League was organized with clubs in the large cities of the South; however, it was regarded as a minor circuit during its on-again, off-again life over the next 30 years.

In December 1923 another Black major league with six teams was established in eastern cities. Officially named the Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Baseball Clubs, it was known more familiarly as the Eastern Colored League (ECL). Members were the Brooklyn (New York) Royal Giants, Bacharach Giants of Atlantic City, New Jersey, Baltimore Black Sox, Hilldale Club of Philadelphia, and the Cuban Stars (no relation to the Cuban Stars of the NNL) and Lincoln Giants of New York City.

All these early leagues were financially shaky. They also had difficulty making up a schedule because few of the clubs owned ballparks or had contracts giving them exclusive use. Many were tenants of teams in the major and minor leagues and were obligated to use the parks when the owners were playing out of town and to vacate them when their hosts returned.

Another debilitating factor was that sometimes a league team would refuse to play a scheduled game if a nonleague opponent promised a bigger payday. Umpiring of league games was sometimes erratic because umpires were hired by the home team. Another handicap was the wide disparity in the quality of the teams; two or three clubs would dominate and earn far more money than their weaker brethren.

From 1924 through 1927, the NNL and ECL champions met in a Negro World Series. The NNL's Chicago American Giants won two championships and the Kansas City Monarchs won one, as did the Hilldale Club, representing the ECL. The ECL succumbed to financial weakness in the spring of 1928. The NNL, bereft of the management acumen and foresight of Foster, who was hospitalized for mental illness in 1926, stumbled on until 1931 before disbanding as the Great Depression deepened and left most fans with empty pockets. Two of its solvent franchises, Chicago and Indianapolis, joined the Negro Southern League for 1932. That year another Black circuit, called the East-West League, was started for eastern teams by Cumberland W. Posey, veteran manager of the Homestead Grays, a ball club based in Pittsburgh. The new league barely made it off the ground. By early June its Detroit team had dropped out, the schedule was curtailed, and salaries were slashed. The league did not last the summer.

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Negro league | Overview, History, Players, & Facts

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Negro league, any of the associations of African American baseball teams active largely between 1920 and the late 1940s, when Black players were at last contracted to play major and minor league baseball. The principal Negro leagues were the Negro National League (1920-31, 1933-48), the Eastern Colored League (1923-28), and the Negro American League (1937-60).

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1. Research the tools a parent/guardian must pass on to their children. Why may it be difficult for a parent/guardian to provide these tools?

Speaking from experience my mom would say the only im supposed to provide travon is food, clothing , a roof over your head , and to make sure you are in good health . In this article it says that parents only need to provide to their children three key thing is to practice knowledge , attitudes , and other life practices .

It may be hard for some parents to provide this for their kids as they didn't grow up that way and might live a certain way the child dosen't wanna grow up in . Cause some parents suffer from homelessness , addiction , and past abuse .

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This chapter responds to the first part of the committee's charge-to identify core parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices that are associated with positive parent-child interactions and the healthy development of children ages birth to 8. The chapter also describes findings from research regarding how core parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices may differ by specific characteristics of children and parents, as well as by context. The chapter begins by defining desired outcomes for children that appear frequently in the research literature and inform efforts by agencies at the federal, state, and local levels to promote child health and well-being. It then reviews the knowledge, attitudes, and practices identified in the literature as core-those most strongly associated with healthy child development-drawing primarily on correlational and experimental studies. This is followed by brief discussion of the family system as a key source of additional determinants of parenting. The chapter concludes with a summary. The core knowledge, attitudes, and practices identified in this chapter serve as a foundation, along with contextual factors that affect parenting, for the committee's review of the effectiveness of strategies for strengthening parenting capacity in subsequent chapters of this report.

DESIRED OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN

To determine the salient features of core parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices, the committee first identified desired outcomes for children. Identifying these outcomes grounds the discussion of core parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices and helps researchers, practitioners, and policy makers establish priorities for investment, develop policies that provide optimal conditions for success, advocate for the adoption and implementation of appropriate evidence-based interventions, and utilize data to assess and improve the effectiveness of specific policies and programs.

Child outcomes are interconnected within and across diverse domains of development. They result from and are enhanced by early positive and supportive interactions with parents and other caregivers. These early interactions can have a long-lasting ripple effect on development across the life course, whereby the function of one domain of development influences another domain over time. In the words of Masten and Cicchetti (2010, p. 492), "effectiveness in one domain of competence in one period of life becomes the scaffold on which later competence in newly emerging domains develops . . . competence begets competence." From the literature, the committee identified the following four outcomes as fundamental to children's well-being. While the committee focused on young children (ages 0-8), these outcomes are important for children of all ages.

Physical Health and Safety

Children need to be cared for in a way that promotes their ability to thrive and ensures their survival and protection from injury and physical and sexual maltreatment. While such safety needs are important for all children, they are especially critical for young children, who typically lack the individual resources required to avoid dangers ( National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2000). Rather, young children rely on parents and other primary caregivers, inside and outside the home, to act on their behalf to protect their safety and healthy development ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2015). At the most basic level, children must receive the care, as reflected in a number of emotional and physiological protections, necessary to meet normative standards for growth and physical development, such as guidelines for healthy weight and receipt of recommended vaccinations ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2015). Physical health and safety are fundamental for achieving all of the other outcomes described below.

Emotional and Behavioral Competence

Children need care that promotes positive emotional health and well-being and that supports their overall mental health, including a positive sense of self, as well as the ability to cope with stressful situations, temper emotional arousal, overcome fears, and accept disappointments and frustrations. Parents and other caregivers are essential resources for children in managing emotional arousal, coping, and managing behavior. They serve in this role by providing positive affirmations, conveying love and respect and engendering a sense of security. Provision of support by parents helps minimize the risk of internalizing behaviors, such as those associated with anxiety and depression, which can impair children's adjustment and ability to function well at home, at school, and in the community ( Osofsky and Fitzgerald, 2000). Such symptoms as extreme fearfulness, helplessness, hopelessness, apathy, depression, and withdrawal are indicators of emotional difficulty that have been observed among very young children who experience inadequate parental care ( Osofsky and Fitzgerald, 2000).

Social Competence

Cognitive Competence

Cognitive competence encompasses the skills and capacities needed at each age and stage of development to succeed in school and in the world at large. Children's cognitive competence is defined by skills in language and communication, as well as reading, writing, mathematics, and problem solving. Children benefit from stimulating, challenging, and supportive environments in which to develop these skills, which serve as a foundation for healthy self-regulatory practices and modes of persistence required for academic success ( Gottfried, 2013).

PARENTING KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, AND PRACTICES

The child outcomes described above provide the context for considering the range of parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices and identifying those that research supports as core. As noted in Chapter 1, the term "knowledge" for the purposes of this report refers to facts, information, and skills gained through experience or education and understanding of an issue or phenomenon. "Attitudes" refers to viewpoints, perspectives, reactions, or settled ways of thinking about aspects of parenting or child development, including parents' roles and responsibilities. Attitudes may be related to cultural beliefs founded in common experience. And "practices" refers to parenting behaviors or approaches to childrearing that can shape how a child develops. Generally speaking, knowledge relates to cognition, attitudes relate to motivation, and practices relate to ways of engaging or behavior, but all three may emanate from a common source.

These three components are reciprocal and intertwined theoretically, empirically, and bidirectionally, informing one another. For example, practices are related to knowledge and attitudes, and often involve the application of knowledge. According to behavior modification theory ( Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein et al., 2001), a person's attitude often determines whether he or she will use knowledge and transform it into practice. In short, if one does not believe in or value knowledge, one is less likely to act upon it. What parents learn through the practice of parenting can also be a source of knowledge and can shape parents' attitudes. Parenting attitudes are influenced as well by parenting self-efficacy, which has been broadly defined as the level of parents' self-belief about their ability to succeed in the parenting role ( Jones and Prinz, 2005).

Parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices are shaped not only by each other but also by a number of contextual factors, including children's characteristics (e.g., gender, temperament); parents' own experiences (e.g., those from their own childhood) and circumstances; expectations learned from others, such as family, friends, and other social networks; and cultural systems. Of particular relevance to this study, the contextual factors that influence parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices also include the supports available within the larger community and provided by institutions, as well as by policies that affect the nature and availability of supportive services.

In response to the study charge ( Box 1-2 in Chapter 1), this chapter presents the evidence on core parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices separately. However, it should be noted that in the research literature, the distinctions among these concepts, especially knowledge and attitudes, are not well-delineated and that the applications of these concepts to parenting often are equally informed by professional wisdom and historical observation.

Parenting Knowledge

Parenting is multidimensional. To respond to the varied needs of their children, parents must develop both depth and breadth of knowledge, ranging from being aware of developmental milestones and norms that help in keeping children safe and healthy to understanding the role of professionals (e.g., educators, child care workers, health care providers, social workers) and social systems (e.g., institutions, laws, policies) that interact with families and support parenting. This section describes these areas of knowledge, as well as others, identified by the available empirical evidence as supporting core parenting practices and child outcomes. It is worth noting that the research base regarding the association between parental knowledge and child outcomes is much smaller than that on parenting practices and child outcomes ( Winter et al., 2012). Where data exist, they are based largely on correlational rather than experimental studies.

Knowledge of Child Development

Parent Voices

[Some parents recognized the need for education related to providing care for young children.]

"I am a new parent and even though I have a bachelor's degree from India, I do not have a particular education in child care. Just because I have a degree, it does not mean it is a degree on how to take care of a child."

-Father from Omaha, Nebraska

Parent Voices

[Some parents recognized the need for comprehensive parenting education.]

"I always prefer education for the parents, from the beginning to the end. From pregnancy, some don't know when to go to the doctor, and after birth, when to go to the hospital or the doctor. So we need education from the beginning to the end."

-Mother from Omaha, Nebraska

Stronger evidence of the role of knowledge of child development in supporting parenting outcomes comes from intervention research. Randomized controlled trial interventions have found that parents of young children showed increases in knowledge about children's development and practices pertaining to early childhood care and feeding ( Alkon et al., 2014; Yousafzai et al., 2015).

Experimental studies of parent education interventions support these associational findings. In an experimental study of parent education for first-time fathers, fathers, along with home visitors, reviewed examples of parental sensitivity and responsiveness from videos of themselves playing with their children ( Magill-Evans et al., 2007). These fathers showed a significant increase in parenting competence and skills in fostering their children's cognitive growth as well as sensitivity to infant cues 2 months after the program, compared with fathers in the control group, who discussed age-appropriate toys with the home visitor ( Magill-Evans et al., 2007). Another experimental study examined a 13-week population-level behavioral parenting program and found intervention effects on parenting knowledge for mothers and, among the highest-risk families, increased involvement in children's early learning and improved behavior management practices. Lower rates of conduct problems for boys at high risk of problem behavior also were found ( Dawson-McClure et al., 2015).

Knowledge of Parenting Practices

Still, knowledge alone may not be sufficient in some cases. For example, knowing about the importance of using car seats does not always translate into good car seat practices ( Yanchar et al., 2012, 2015), and knowledge about the advantages of vaccines may not result in parents choosing to vaccinate their children. Some findings suggest that using multiple modes of delivery is important to advancing parents' knowledge. In an experimental study, for example, Dunn and colleagues (1998) found that parents who received educational information about child vaccinations via videotape as well as in written form showed greater gains in understanding about vaccinations than parents who received the information in written form alone.

Knowledge of Supports, Services, and Systems

Little is known about parents' knowledge of various supports-such as educators, social workers, health care providers, and extended family-and the relationship between their conceptions of the roles of these supports and their use of them.

Taking another example, limited studies have looked at parental awareness of services for children with special needs. A study that utilized a survey and qualitative interviews with parents of children with autism indicated that parents' autism spectrum disorder service knowledge partially mediates the relationship between socioeconomic status and use of services for their children ( Pickard and Ingersoll, 2015).

Parenting Attitudes

Although considerable discussion has focused on attitudes and beliefs broadly, less research attention has been paid to the effects of parenting attitudes on parents' interactions with young children or on parenting practices. Few causal analyses are available to test whether parenting attitudes actually affect parenting practices, positive parent-child interaction, and child development. Even less research exists on fathers' attitudes about parenting. Given this limited evidence base, the committee drew primarily on correlational and qualitative studies in examining parenting attitudes.

Parents' attitudes toward parenting are a product of their knowledge of parenting and the values and goals (or expectations) they have for their children's development, which in turn are informed by cultural, social, and societal images, as well as parents' experiences and their overall values and goals ( Cabrera et al., 2000; Cheah and Chirkov, 2008; Iruka et al., 2015; Okagaki and Bingham, 2005; Rogoff, 2003; Rosenthal and Roer-Strier, 2006; Whiting and Whiting, 1975). People in the United States hold several universal, or near universal, beliefs about the types of parental behaviors that promote or impair child development. For example, there is general agreement that striking a child in a manner that can cause severe injury, engaging in sexual activity with a child, and failing to provide adequate food for and supervision of young children (such as leaving toddlers unattended) pose threats to children's health and safety and are unacceptable. At the same time, some studies identify differences in parents' goals for child development, which may influence attitudes regarding the roles of parents and have implications for efforts to promote particular parenting practices.

While there is variability within demographic groups in parenting attitudes and practices, some research shows differences in attitudes and practices among subpopulations. For example, qualitative research provides some evidence of variation by culture in parents' goals for their children's socialization. In one interview study, mothers who were first-generation immigrants to the United States from Central America emphasized long-term socialization goals related to proper demeanor for their children, while European American mothers emphasized self-maximization ( Leyendecker et al., 2002). In another interview study, Anglo American mothers stressed the importance of their young children developing a balance between autonomy and relatedness, whereas Puerto Rican mothers focused on appropriate levels of relatedness, including courtesy and respectful attentiveness ( Harwood et al., 1997). Other ethnographic and qualitative research shows that parents from different cultural groups select cultural values and norms from their country of origin as well as from their host country, and that their goal is for their children to adapt and succeed in the United States ( Rogoff, 2003).

Similarly, whereas the larger U.S. society has historically viewed individual freedom as an important value, some communities place more emphasis on interdependence ( Elmore and Gaylord-Harden, 2013; Sarche and Spicer, 2008). The importance of intergenerational connections (e.g., extended family members serving as primary caregivers for young children) also varies among and within cultural communities ( Bertera and Crewe, 2013; Mutchler et al., 2007). The values and traditions of cultural communities may be expressed as differences in parents' views regarding gender roles, in parents' goals for children, and in their attitudes related to childrearing.

Parent Voices

[One parent described differences between men and women in parenting roles.]

"Mothers play the main role as parents in [certain cultures]. Culturally men aren't that involved. The dad is the outer worker; the mother is the inner worker. If you are talking about the mom, they are the ones who care about the kids. They aren't typically working outside the home. But now, in the United States, the mothers are working outside the home."

-Father from Omaha, Nebraska

Although slowly changing, attitudes about the roles of men and women in the raising of young children often differ between men and women and among various communities in the United States. Longitudinal research on mothers' attitudes toward fathers' involvement in childrearing has made reference to the "gatekeeping" role of mothers of children with nonresidential fathers ( Fagan and Barnett, 2003; Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2008). Research has shown that fathers of young children participate in child caregiving activities in increasing numbers ( Cabrera et al., 2011), but has not examined the specific attitudes that fathers bring to particular parenting behaviors across the life span. Parents' values and goals related to childrearing, both overall and for specific demographic groups, also may shift from one generation to the next in the United States based on changing norms and viewpoints within social networks and cultural communities, as well as parents' knowledge of and access to new research and information provided by educators, health care providers, and others who work with families.

Relatively little research has been conducted on parents' attitudes toward specific parenting-related practices. Much of the extant research focuses on practices related to promoting children's physical health and safety. Studies of varying designs indicate that parental attitudes and beliefs about the need for and safety of vaccination influence vaccination practices ( Mergler et al., 2013; Salathé and Bonhoeffer, 2008; Vannice et al., 2011; Yaqub et al., 2014). Maternal attitudes and beliefs about breastfeeding (e.g., views about breastfeeding in public, the belief that it will be uncomfortable) are associated with initiation and continuation of breastfeeding and appear to factor into differences in breastfeeding rates and practices observed across cultural and other demographic groups in cross-sectional survey and qualitative research ( Vaaler et al., 2010; Wojcicki et al., 2010). Other studies have found differences among parents (e.g., those living in rural versus urban areas) in attitudes about the importance of monitoring children's activities and whereabouts ( Armistead et al., 2002; Jones et al., 2003) and parents' beliefs about young children's literacy development ( Lynch et al., 2006).

Parental involvement in children's education has been linked to academic readiness ( Fan and Chen, 2001). However, parents differ in their attitudes about the role of parents in children's learning and education ( Hammer et al., 2007). Some see parents as having a central role, while others view the school as the primary facilitator of children's education and see parents as having less of a role ( Hammer et al., 2007). These attitudinal differences may be related to cultural expectations or parents' own education or comfort with teaching their children certain skills. Some parents, for example, may have lower involvement in their children's education because of insecurity about their own skills and past negative experiences in school ( Lareau, 1989; Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2003). And as discussed above, some parents view math skills as less important for their children relative to other types of skills and therefore are less likely to teach them in the home.

Parents within and across different communities vary in their opinions and practices with respect to the role and significance of discipline. Some of the parenting literature notes that some parents use control to discipline children, while others aim to correct but not to control children ( Nieman and Shea, 2004). In a small cross-cultural ethnographic study, Mosier and Rogoff (2003) found that some parents regard rules and punishment as inappropriate for infants and toddlers. The approach valued by these parents to help children understand what is expected of them is to cooperate with them, perhaps distracting them but not forcing their compliance. In contrast, many middle-class U.S. parents display a preference for applying the same rules to infants and toddlers that older children are expected to follow, although with some lenience ( Mosier and Rogoff, 2003). And ethnographic research provides some evidence of differences in African American and European American mothers' beliefs about spoiling and infant intentionality (whether infants can intentionally misbehave) related to the use of physical punishment with young children ( Burchinal et al., 2010).

Parents' attitudes not only toward parenting but also toward providers in societal agencies-such as educators, social service personnel, health care providers, and police-which can be shaped by a variety of factors, including discrimination, are important determinants of parents' access to and ability to obtain support. Studies show a relationship between parents' distrust of agencies and their likelihood of rejecting participation in an intervention. For example, in systematic reviews of studies of various types, parents who distrust the medical community and government health agencies are less likely to have their children vaccinated ( Brown et al., 2010; Mills et al., 2005). Racial and ethnic minority parents whose attitudes about appropriate remedies for young children vary from those of the Western medical establishment often distrust and avoid treatment by Western medical practitioners ( Hannan, 2015). While not specific to parents, studies using various methodologies show that individuals who have experienced racial and other forms of discrimination, both within and outside of health care settings, are less likely to utilize various health services or to engage in other health-promoting behaviors ( Gonzales et al., 2013; Institute of Medicine, 2003; Pascoe and Smart Richman, 2009; Shavers et al., 2012). In a survey study, African American parents' racism awareness was negatively associated with involvement in activities at their children's school ( McKay et al., 2003). Longitudinal studies, mostly involving families with older children, indicate that, like other sources of stress, parents' experience of discrimination can have a detrimental effect on parenting and the quality of the parent-child relationship ( Murray et al., 2001; Sanders-Phillips et al., 2009). Adverse outcomes for youth associated with their own experience of discrimination may be weakened by more nurturing/involved parenting ( Brody et al., 2006; Gibbons et al., 2010; Simons et al., 2006).

Parenting Practices

Parenting practices have been studied extensively, with some research showing strong associations between certain practices and positive child outcomes. This section describes parenting practices that research indicates are central to helping children achieve basic outcomes in the areas discussed at the beginning of the chapter: physical health and safety, emotional and behavioral competence, social competence, and cognitive competence. While these outcomes are used as a partial organizing framework for this section, several specific practices-contingent responsiveness of parents, organization of the home environment and the importance of routines, and behavioral discipline practices-that have been found to influence child well-being in more than one of these four outcome areas are discussed separately.

Practices to Promote Physical Health and Safety

Parents influence the health and safety of their children in many ways. However, the difficulty of using random assignment designs to examine parenting practices that promote children's health and safety has resulted in a largely observational literature. This section reviews the available evidence on a range of practices in which parents engage to ensure the health and safety of their children. It begins with breastfeeding-a subject about which there has historically been considerable discussion in light of generational shifts and commercial practices that have affected children in poor families.

Breastfeeding Breastfeeding has myriad well-established short- and long-term benefits for both babies and mothers. Breast milk bolsters babies' immunity to infectious disease, regulates healthy bacteria in the intestines, and overall is the best source of nutrients to help babies grow and develop. Breastfeeding also supports bonding between mothers and their babies. According to a meta-analysis by the WHO ( Horta and Victora, 2013), breastfeeding is associated with a small increase in performance on intelligence tests in children and adolescents, reduced risk for the development of type 2 diabetes and overweight/obesity later in life, and a potential decreased risk for the development of cardiovascular disease. Breastfeeding may benefit mothers' health as well by lowering risk for postpartum depression, certain cancers, and chronic diseases such as diabetes ( U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). Current guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (2012) and the WHO (2011) recommend mothers breastfeed exclusively until infants are 6 months old. Thereafter and until the child is either age 1 year ( American Academy of Pediatrics, 2012) or 2 years ( World Health Organization, 2011), it is recommended that children continue to be breastfed while slowly being introduced to other foods.

According to 2011 data from the CDC (2015a), about 80 percent of babies born in the United States are breastfed (including fed breast milk) for some duration, and about 50 percent and 27 percent are breastfed (to any extent with or without the addition of complementary liquids or solids) at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Forty percent and 19 percent are exclusively breastfed through 3 and 6 months, respectively.

Nutrition and physical activity Parents play an important role in shaping their young children's nutrition and physical activity levels ( Institute of Medicine, 2011; Sussner et al., 2006). Among toddlers and preschool-age children, parents' feeding practices are associated with their children's ability to regulate food intake, which can affect weight status ( Faith et al., 2004; Farrow et al., 2015). Parents' modeling of healthful eating habits for their children and offering of healthful foods, particularly during toddlerhood, when children are often reluctant to try new foods, may result in children being more apt to like and eat such foods ( Hill, 2002; Natale et al., 2014; Sussner et al., 2006). The extant observational research generally shows that children's dietary intake (particularly fruit and vegetable consumption) is associated with food options available in the home and at school, and that parents are important role models for their children's dietary behaviors ( Cullen et al., 2003; Pearson et al., 2009; Wolnicka et al., 2015). Conversely, the presence of less nutritious food and beverage items in the home may increase children's risk of becoming overweight. For example, Dennison and colleagues (1997) and Welsh and colleagues (2005) found positive associations between overweight in children and their consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. On the other hand, there are some indications that overly strict diets may increase children's preferences for high-fat, energy-dense foods, perhaps causing an imbalance in children's self-regulation of hunger and satiety and increasing the risk that they will become overweight ( Birch and Fisher, 1998; Farrow et al., 2015).

A few cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, coupled with conventional wisdom, suggest that eating dinner together as a family is associated with increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and reduced consumption of fats and soda ( Gillman et al., 2000), as well as with reduced risk for overweight and obesity ( Gable et al., 2007; Taveras et al., 2005). However, these studies involved primarily older children and adolescents.

Vaccination Parents protect their own and other children from potentially serious diseases by making sure they receive recommended vaccines. Among children born in a given year in the United States, childhood vaccination is estimated to prevent about 42,000 deaths and 20 million cases of disease ( Zhou et al., 2014). In 2013, 82 percent of children ages 19-35 months received combined-series vaccines (for diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis [DTP]; polio; measles, mumps, and rubella [MMR]; and Haemophilus influenzae type b [Hib]), up from 69 percent in 1994 ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b). Vaccination rates are lower among low-income children; 71 percent of children ages 19-35 months living below the poverty level received the combined-series vaccines listed above in 2014 ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b). Although much of the media coverage on this subject has focused on middle-income parents averse to having their children vaccinated, it is in fact poverty that is thought to account for much of the disparity in vaccination rates by race and ethnicity ( Hill et al., 2015). As discussed earlier in this chapter, parental practices around vaccination may be influenced by parents' knowledge and interpretation of information on and their attitudes about vaccination.

Preconception and prenatal care The steps women take with their health care providers before becoming pregnant can promote healthy pregnancy and birth outcomes for both mothers and babies. These include initiating certain supplements (e.g., folic acid, which reduces the risk of birth defects), quitting smoking, attaining healthy weight for women who are obese, and treating preexisting physical and mental health conditions ( Aune et al., 2014; Gold and Marcus, 2008; Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2009).

During pregnancy, receipt of recommended prenatal care can help parents reduce the risk of pregnancy complications and poor birth outcomes by promoting healthy behaviors (e.g., smoking cessation, adequate rest and nutrition), as well as identifying and managing any complications that do arise. Prior to the birth of a child, health care providers also can educate parents on the importance of breastfeeding, infant injury and illness prevention, and other practices.

Injury prevention Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among children ages 1-9 ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015c) and a leading cause of disability for both younger and older children in the United States. In addition to motor vehicle-related injuries, children sustain unintentional injuries (due, for example, to suffocation, falls, poisoning, and drowning) in the home environment. About 1,700 children under age 9 in the United States die each year from injuries in the home ( Mack et al., 2013).

Evidence that families' home safety practices affect child safety comes from intervention research. A large meta-analysis of randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials of home safety education interventions for families ( Kendrick et al., 2013) showed that the education was generally effective in increasing the proportion of families that stored medicines and cleaning products out of reach and that had fitted stair gates, covers on unused electrical sockets, safe hot tap water temperatures, functional smoke alarms, and a fire escape system. There was also some evidence for reduced injury rates among children. As discussed in Chapter 4, helping parents reduce hazards in the home is a component of some home visiting programs.

Parents also protect their children's safety by monitoring their whereabouts and activities to prevent them from both physical and psychological harm. The type of supervision may vary based on a child's needs and age as well as parents' values and economic circumstances. For all young children, monitoring for the purposes of preventing exposure to hazards is an important practice. As children grow older, knowing their friends and where the children are when they are not at home or in school also becomes important. As noted previously, research suggests the importance of monitoring screen time to children's well-being. And monitoring of children's Internet usage may prevent them from being exposed to online predators ( Finkelhor et al., 2000).

Practices to Promote Emotional and Behavioral Competence and Social Competence

Fundamental to children's positive development is the opportunity to grow up in an environment that responds to their emotional needs ( Bretherton, 1985) and that enables them to develop skills needed to cope with basic anxieties, fears, and environmental challenges. Parents' ability to foster a sense of belonging and self-worth in their children is vital to the children's early development. In much the same way, parents contribute to children's emerging social competence by teaching them skills-such as self-control, cooperation, and taking the perspective of others-that prepare them to develop and maintain positive relationships with peers and adults. Parents can promote the learning and acquisition of social skills by establishing strong relationships with their children. The importance of early parent-child interactions for children's social competence is embedded in many theoretical frameworks, such as attachment ( Ainsworth and Bowlby, 1991), family system theories ( Cox and Paley, 1997), and ecocultural theories ( Weisner, 2002). Parents socialize their children to adopt culturally appropriate values and behaviors that enable them to be socially competent and act as members of a social group.

Another important aspect of parent-supported social development pertains to parents aiding their children in acquiring executive function skills needed to adapt to changing needs of the environment and regulate their impulses and responses to distressing situations ( Blair and Raver, 2012; Malin et al., 2014; Thompson, 1994). Evidence, primarily from correlational research, suggests that parents who help their children regulate the difficulty of tasks and who model mature performance during joint participation in activities are likely to have socially competent children ( Eisenberg et al., 1998). Parents also facilitate their children's development of friendships by engaging in positive social interaction with them and by creating opportunities for them to be social with peers ( McCollum and Ostrosky, 2008). In one correlational study, children whose parents initiated peer contacts had more playmates and more consistent play companions in their preschool peer networks ( Ladd et al., 2002). Research also shows that children who have increased opportunities for playing or interacting with children from diverse backgrounds are likely to develop less prejudice and more empathy toward others ( Bernstein et al., 2000; Perkins and Mebert, 2005; Pettigrew and Tropp, 2000).

Findings from experimental studies on parent training provide evidence of the types of parental practices that are associated with child emotional and behavioral health (i.e., fewer internalizing and externalizing problems) and social competence (i.e., relationship building skills, moral dispositions, and prosocial behaviors such as altruism). In one study for example, parent training designed to decrease the use of harsh discipline and increase supportive parenting reduced mother-reported child behavior problems in children ages 3-9 ( Bjørknes and Manger, 2013). In another randomized study, mothers who received parent training to improve their empathy toward their children became less permissive with their 2- to 3-year-olds, who became less aggressive ( Christopher et al., 2013).

These relationships have been found to hold in experimental studies involving diverse samples. Brotman and colleagues (2005) found that a program designed to reduce parents' use of negative parenting and increase their provision of stimulation for child learning increased social competence with peers in young African American and Latino children who had a sibling who had been involved in the juvenile justice system. In a European study, Berkovits and colleagues (2010) studied ethnically diverse parents participating in an abbreviated parent skills training delivered in pediatric primary care aimed at encouraging children's prosocial behavior. The findings show significant increases in effective parenting strategies and in parents' beliefs about personal controls, as well as declines in child behavior problems. Improvements in child behavior as a consequence of parent training have been found not only for programs emphasizing better and more consistent discipline and contingency management, but also for those providing training that led to parents' greater emotional support for their children ( McCarty et al., 2005). In addition, Stormshak and colleagues (2000) found that punitive interactions between parents and children were associated with higher rates of child disruptive behavior problems, and that low levels of warm involvement were characteristic of parents of children who showed oppositional behaviors.

With respect to social competence, a number of studies point to a relationship with parenting practices and suggest that parent training may have an impact on both parenting practices related to and children's development of social competence. An experimental evaluation of the Incredible Years Program (discussed further in Chapter 5), for instance, found that parent training contributed to improved parenting practices, defined as lower negative parenting and increased parental stimulation for learning ( Brotman et al., 2005), which, in turn, are related to children's social competence. Gagnon and colleagues (2014) found that preschool children with a combination of reactive temperament and authoritarian parents demonstrated low social competence (high levels of disruptive play and low levels of interactive play). In a community trial by Havighurst and colleagues (2010), training focused on helping parents tune in to their own and their children's emotions resulted in significant improvement in the parents' emotion awareness and regulation, as well as the practice of emotion coping. The intervention decreased emotionally dismissive beliefs and behaviors among parents, who also used emotion labels and discussed the causes and consequences of emotions with their children more often than was the case prior to the training. The program improved parental beliefs and relationships with their children, and these improvements were related to reductions in child behavior problems ( Havighurst et al., 2010).

Practices to Stimulate Cognitive Development

As explained in the National Research Council (2000) report How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, individuals learn by actively encountering events, objects, actions, and concepts in their environments. For an individual to become an expert in any particular knowledge or skill area, he or she must have substantial experience in that area which is usually guided ( Dweck and Leggett, 2000; National Research Council, 2000). As children's first teachers, parents play an important role in their cognitive development, including their acquisition of such competencies as language, literacy, and numerical/math skills that are related to future success in school and society more generally. Enriching and stimulating sets of experiences for children can help develop these skills.

Frequency of shared book reading by mothers and fathers is linked to young children's acquisition of skills and knowledge that affect their later success in reading, writing, and other areas ( Baker, 2014; Duursma et al., 2008; Malin et al., 2014). Studies demonstrate that through shared book reading, young children learn, among other skills, to recognize letters and words and develop understanding that print is a visual representation of spoken language, develop phonological awareness (the ability to manipulate the sounds of spoken language), begin to understand syntax and grammar, and learn concepts and story structures ( Duursma et al., 2008; Malin et al., 2014). Shared literacy activities such as book reading also expose children to new words and words they may not encounter in spoken language, stimulating vocabulary development beyond what might be obtained through toy-play or other parent-child interactions ( Isbell et al., 2004; Ninio, 1983; Whitehurst et al., 1988). Regular book reading also may play a role in establishing routines for children and shaping wake and sleep patterns, as well as provide them with knowledge about relationships and coping that can be applied in the real world ( Duursma et al., 2008).

Early numeracy and math skills also are building blocks for young children's academic achievement ( Claessens and Engel, 2013). To instill early math skills in young children, parents sometimes employ such strategies as playing with blocks, puzzles, and legos; assisting with measuring ingredients for recipes; solving riddles and number games; and playing with fake money ( Benigno and Ellis, 2008; Hensen, 2005). Such experiences may facilitate children's math-related competencies, but compared with the research on strategies to foster children's language development, the evidence base on how parenting practices promote math skills in young children is small.

A growing literature identifies general aspects of home-based parental involvement in children's early learning-such as parents' expectations and goals for their children, parent-child communication, and support for learning-that appear to be associated with greater academic achievement, including in math ( Fan and Chen, 2001; Galindo and Sonnenschein, 2015; Ginsburg et al., 2010; Jeynes, 2003, 2005). More work is needed, however, to distill specific actions parents can take to promote math-related skills in their young children. At the same time, as noted earlier, some parents appear to be reluctant to engage their children in math learning-some because they lack knowledge about early math and may engage in few math-related activities in the home relative to activities related to language, and some because they view math skills as less important than other skills for their children ( Blevins-Knabe et al., 2000; Cannon and Ginsburg, 2008; Vukovic and Lesaux, 2013). Given the demonstrated importance of early math skills for future academic achievement and the persistent gap in math knowledge related to socioeconomic status ( Galindo and Sonnenschein, 2015), additional research is needed to elucidate how parents can and do promote young children's math skills and how they can better be supported in providing their children with these skills.

Finally, there is some evidence for differences across demographic groups in the United States with respect to parents' use of practices to promote children's cognitive development. Barbarin and Jean-Baptiste (2013), for example, found that poor and African American parents employed dialogic practices less often than nonpoor and European American parents in a study that utilized in-home interviews and structured observations of parent-child interactions.

Contingent Responsiveness of Parents

Broadly defined, contingent responsiveness denotes an adult's behavior that occurs immediately after and in response to a child's behavior and is related to the child's focus of attention ( Roth, 1987). Dunst and colleagues (1990) argue that every time two or more people are together, there is a communicative exchange in which the behavior (nonverbal or verbal) affects the other person, is interpreted, and is responded to with a "discernible outcome" (p. 1). Such communication exchanges between parents and their children are considered foundational for building healthy relationships between parents and children, as well as between parents ( Cabrera et al., 2014).

As described in Chapter 1, securely attached infants develop basic trust in their caregivers and seek the caregiver's comfort and love when alarmed because they expect to receive protection and emotional support. Infants who trust their caregivers to respond to their needs in a sensitive and timely manner are able to explore and learn freely because they can return to their "safe base" if they encounter unfamiliar things and events ( Bowlby, 2008; Cassidy, 2002). In the face of the demands of daily life, with parents being unable to offer individualized responsiveness and synchronized, attuned interactions all of the time, sensitive caregiving makes it possible to manage and repair disruptions that inevitably occur in day-to-day parenting.

These and other interventions that successfully promote positive parent-child interactions, secure attachment, and healthy child development have been developed for parents of both infants ( Armstrong and Morris, 2000) and preschoolers ( Bagner and Eyberg, 2007). Some research shows that such an intervention provided first in infancy, followed by a second dose during the toddler/preschool years, is most effective at improving maternal behaviors and child outcomes ( Landry et al., 2008). However, the success of preventive interventions in improving the quality of parent-infant attachment, a parent's relationship with her or his child, and the resulting child mental and physical outcomes depends upon the quality of the intervention ( Chaffin et al., 2004), the number of sessions (a moderate number may be better than either more or less) ( Moss et al., 2011), and the degree to which other parts of the parent-child system (e.g., separation due to parental incarceration or other reasons) are considered ( Barr et al., 2011). Although much of the literature has focused on non-Hispanic white and black families, and mainly on mothers, preventive interventions with successful maternal and child outcomes have also been developed for Hispanic and Asian families ( Ho et al., 2012; McCabe and Yeh, 2009) and can be designed to include fathers ( Barr et al., 2011).

Organization of the Home Environment and the Importance of Routines

Although family routines vary widely across time and populations, studies have associated such routines with children's developmental outcomes ( Fiese et al., 2002; Spagnola and Fiese, 2007). It is particularly difficult, however, to infer causal effects of routines on child outcomes in correlational studies because of the many contextual factors (e.g., parental depression or substance abuse, erratic work schedules) or factors related to economic strain (e.g., homelessness, poverty) that may make keeping routines difficult and at the same time adversely affect child development in other ways.

In some cases, however, routines are difficult to establish because of demands on parents, such as the nonstandard work schedules some parents are forced to keep. Reviewing the cross-sectional and longitudinal literature on nonstandard work schedules, for example, Li and colleagues (2014) found that 21 of the 23 studies reviewed reported associations between nonstandard work schedules and adverse child developmental outcomes. They found that while parents working nonstandard schedules, particularly those who work night or evening shifts, may be afforded more parent-child time during the day, such schedules can lead to fatigue and stress, with detrimental effects on the parent's physical and psychological capacity to provide quality parenting.

Household chaos has strong negative associations with children's abilities to regulate attention and arousal ( Evans and Wachs, 2010). Children raised in chaotic environments may adapt to these contexts by shifting their attention away from overstimulating and unpredictable stimuli, essentially "tuning out" from their environment ( Evans, 2006). In the short term, this may be an adaptive solution to reduce overarousal. In the long term, however, it may also lessen children's exposure to important aspects of socialization and, in turn, negatively affect their cognitive and social-emotional development.

In addition, household chaos likely serves as a physiological stressor that undermines higher-order executive processes. Theoretical and empirical work indicates that direct physiological networks link the inner ear with the myelinated vagus of the 10th cranial nerve-a key regulator of parasympathetic stress response ( Porges, 1995). Very high or very low frequencies of auditory stimuli such as those present in ambient and unpredictable noise directly trigger vagal responses indicative of parasympathetic stress modulation ( Porges et al., 2013). In the same way, novel unpredictable and uncontrollable experiences can activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis ( Dickerson and Kemeny, 2004). General levels of chaos play a role in children's autonomic nervous system and HPA axis functioning ( Blair et al., 2011; Evans and English, 2002) in ways that may negatively affect executive functioning ( Berry et al., 2012; Oei et al., 2006).

Behavioral Discipline Practices

Parental guidance or discipline is an essential component of parenting. When parents discipline their children, they are not simply punishing the children's bad behavior but aiming to support and nurture them for self-control, self-direction, and their ability to care for others ( Howard, 1996). Effective discipline is thought to require a strong parent-child bond; an approach for teaching and strengthening desired behaviors; and a strategy for decreasing or eliminating undesired or ineffective behaviors ( American Academy of Pediatrics, 1998).

Effective discipline entails some of the parenting practices discussed earlier. In children's earliest years, for example, discipline includes parents' use of routines that not only teach children about the behaviors in which people typically engage but also help them feel secure in their relationship with their parent because they can anticipate those daily activities. As infants become more mobile and begin to explore, parents need to create safe environments for them. Beginning in early childhood and continuing as children get older, positive child behavior may be facilitated through parents' clear communication of expectations, modeling of desired behaviors, and positive reinforcement for positive behaviors ( American Academy of Pediatrics, 2006). Over time, children internalize the attitudes and expectations of their caregivers and learn to self-regulate their behavior.

Although physical punishment often results in immediate cessation of behavior that parents view as undesirable in young children, the longer-term consequences for child outcomes are mixed, with research showing a relationship with later behavioral problems. In a systematic review of studies using randomized controlled, longitudinal, cross-sectional, and other design types, Larzelere and Kuhn (2005) found that, compared with other disciplinary strategies, physical punishment was either the primary means of discipline or was severe was associated with less favorable child outcomes. In particular, children who were spanked regularly were more likely than children who were not to be aggressive as children as well as during adulthood.

Some have proposed that the circumstances in which physical discipline takes place (e.g., whether it is accompanied by parental warmth) may influence the meaning of the discipline for the child as well as its effects on child outcomes ( Landsford et al., 2004). Using data from a large longitudinal survey, McLoyd and Smith (2002) found that spanking was associated with an increase in problem behaviors in African American, white, and Hispanic children when mothers exhibited low levels of emotional support but not when emotional support from mothers was high.

PARENTING WITHIN FAMILY SYSTEMS

As discussed in Chapter 1, while focusing on the parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices that can help children develop successfully, the committee recognized that "human development is too complicated, nuanced, and dynamic to assert that children's parents alone determine the course and outcome of their ontogeny" ( Bornstein and Leventhal, 2015, p. 107). Parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices are embedded in various ecologies that include family composition, social class, ethnicity, and culture, all of which are related to how parents treat their children and what they believe about their children as they grow, and all of which affect child outcomes.

Family systems theory offers a useful perspective from which to view parenting behavior, to understand what shapes it, and to explain its complex relation to child outcomes. As a system, the family operates according to an evolving set of implicit rules that establish routines, regulate behavior, legitimate emotional support and expression, provide for communication, establish an organized power structure or hierarchy, and provide for negotiating and problem solving so that family tasks can be carried out effectively ( Goldenberg and Goldenberg, 2013). Families as systems also create a climate or internal environment with features that shape parenting behavior and influence child outcomes. Family climates can be characterized along various dimensions, such as cohesive-conflictual, supportive-dismissive, tightly or loosely controlled, orderly-chaotic, oriented toward academic achievement or not, expressive of positive or negative emotions, hierarchical-democratic, fostering autonomy versus dependence, promoting stereotypical gender roles or not, and fostering strong ethnic and cultural identity or not.

Roles are defined within the family system in ways that may influence parenting. Family members may operate with a division of labor based on their own personal resources, mental health, skills, and education, in which one member specializes in and is responsible for one set of functions, such as garnering economic resources needed by the family, and another takes responsibility for educating the children. When these differences work well, family members complement and compensate for one another in ways that may soften the rough edges of one and make up for the inadequacies of another.

As discussed in this chapter and throughout the report, children do best when they develop sustaining and supportive relationships with parents. Yet while attachment theory has been useful in understanding mainly how mothers form relationships with children, it has been less useful at guiding research with fathers ( Grossmann et al., 2002), and relatively little research has examined other relations of the family system and microsystems where family members spend time (e.g., school, church, work). As systems, however, families are interdependent with the broader world and thus are susceptible to influences and inputs from their environments. Actions occurring in one system can result in reactions in another. For example, children who have not developed healthy relationships with their parents may have difficulty developing positive relationships with teachers.

In short, family systems are influenced by the evolving cultural, political, economic, and geographic conditions in which they are embedded. Members of a cultural group share a common identity, heritage, and values, which also reflect the broad economic and political circumstances in which they live. An understanding of salient macrolevel societal shifts (e.g., rates of cohabitation or divorce), along with microsystem influences (e.g., attachments with multiple caregivers and shifts in attachment patterns across childhood into adulthood) that are the subject of more recent research, can be helpful for rethinking parenting processes, what influences them, and how they matter for children. This rethinking in turn highlights the need to understand how complex living systems function and how they reorganize to accommodate changes in their environments ( Wachs, 2000).

SUMMARY

The following key points emerged from the committee's examination of core parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices:

Parental knowledge of child development is positively associated with quality parent-child interactions and the likelihood of parents' engagement in practices that promote their children's healthy development. Research also indicates that parents with knowledge of evidence-based parenting practices, especially those related to promoting children's physical health and safety, are more likely than those without such knowledge to engage in those practices. Although there is currently limited empirical evidence on how parents' knowledge of available services affects uptake of those services, parenting, and child outcomes, parents with this knowledge are likely better equipped to access services for their families.

As mediators of the relationship between knowledge and practice, parental attitudes about the roles of parents and others in the raising of young children, as well as about specific practices (e.g., breastfeeding, immunization), can contribute to some variation in practices and in the uptake of services among individuals and subpopulations. The committee found that empirical studies on parenting attitudes do not allow for the identification of core parenting attitudes consistently associated with positive child outcomes. However, the available evidence points to a need for taking parents' attitudes and beliefs into consideration in the design and implementation of programs and services in order to improve their reach.

The committee identified several parenting practices that are associated with improvements in the four domains introduced at the beginning of this chapter (physical health and safety, emotional and behavioral competence, social competence, and cognitive competence):

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contingent responsiveness (serve and return);

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showing warmth and sensitivity;

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routines and reduced household chaos;

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shared book reading and talking to children;

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practices related to promoting children's health and safety-in particular, receipt of prenatal care, breastfeeding, vaccination, ensuring children's adequate nutrition and physical activity, monitoring, and household/vehicle safety; and

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use of appropriate (less harsh) discipline.

Much of the existing research is focused on mothers. A lack of research exists on how parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices may differ for fathers and other caregivers (e.g., grandparents). Studies suggest some variation in parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices among racial/ethnic, cultural, and other demographic groups, but more attention is needed to whether and how these differences matter for child outcomes.

With regard to practices that promote children's cognitive skills, research to date has examined primarily the effect of parenting on children's language and literacy skills. Research on how parenting affects other cognitive domains, such as math and problem-solving skills, would deepen understanding of the relationship between parenting and children's cognitive development.

REFERENCES

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Ajzen I, Fishbein M. Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1980.

American Academy of Pediatrics. Practice Guide: Effective Discipline, Child Development. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics; 2006.

American Psychological Association Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice with Children and Adolescents. Disseminating Evidence-Based Practice for Children and Adolescents. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2008.

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The HPA axis "regulates the release of cortisol, an important hormone associated with psychological, physiological, and physical health functioning" (Dickerson and Kemeny, 2004, p. 355).

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Parenting Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices

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This chapter responds to the first part of the committee's charge-to identify core parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices that are associated with positive parent-child interactions and the healthy development of children ages birth to 8. The chapter also describes findings from research regarding how core parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices may differ by specific characteristics of children and parents, as well as by context.

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The the 1950's in the USA, "playing numbers", means to play an illegal betting game. The numbers game was a the most played lottery game before the lottery was legalized. Numbers game patrons usually came from the lower class. The game consisted of patrons choosing a number 0-999, and betting an amount usually between 0 and 1 dollar, a 10 cent bet would have a return of 54 dollars.

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2. Research and explain how the habits or past of a parent/guardian can impact the development of a child. 

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2. Research and explain how the habits or past of a parent/guardian can impact the development of a child. 

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The past habits of an adults life can impact the way their child grows up as the way the adult grew up can stick with them for their rest of their lives . In the document children's bureau they state that " Child development starts physically , emotionally , socially , and intellectually . If the parents themselves didn't grow up with these key characteristics how are they supposed to help their kids get better with these skills . This is why it's important for parents to grow up and learn these things cause it can effect their kids in many ways you couldn't think of.

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Child Abuse Prevention, Treatment & Welfare Services | Children's Bureau

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Humans rely heavily on learning for child development. Because we are not born knowing how to behave in society, we have to learn many of the behaviors from the environment around us growing up. For most of us, this learning starts with the family at home.

Learning comes in many forms. Sometimes children learn by being told something directly. However, the most common way children learn is by observation of everyday life. A child's learning and socialization are most influenced by their family since the family is the child's primary social group.

Child development happens physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually during this time. To make an analogy, if you were constructing a large building, you have to make sure that it has a solid foundation so that the rest of the building can stand tall and strong for many years to come. If the foundation is not strong, the building will have trouble standing on its own. Just like people, if our foundations are not solid, we find it more difficult to be successful in our relationships with others, work, health, and ourselves. So, it cannot be stressed enough how important the family is in development of a child.

Ultimately, the family will be responsible for shaping a child and influencing their values, skills, socialization, and security during these childhood development stages.

Values

We generally understand values to mean an understanding between what is right and what is wrong. As a society, we have norms and values, and these function in conjunction with personal values and norms.

One way to see what a society values is to look at whom a society respects. Usually, people show more respect to people and to things that they value highly. Whenever you treat people with disrespect, your child will certainly notice. Children are sponges that soak up everything around them, and many times we forget that they are watching us.

However, as a whole, many of us agree and desire to share with our children values of respect, compassion, fairness, and responsibility to name a few.

A good way to teach your child values is to discuss with them the importance of healthy and unhealthy values. Even when your child is little, giving them some responsibilities, such as cleaning the table or helping to cheer up a friend or sibling when they're sick, will begin to teach them the importance of these values. Additionally, explaining the importance of values will help your child understand consequences.

Within the world we live in today, where media is a dominant, it may be appropriate to block some forms of media from your child. For example, a 4 year old may not be learning the best values from watching rated-R movies. As adults, we can more easily separate right from wrong, whereas little children are still trying to understand where the line is.

So, as the family, it is your job to teach your children about the values that they will use to guide their own lives. This requires a lot of work for you because not only do you have to directly teach these values to your children, such as through explaining and tasks as mentioned above, but your children will look to you as a role model. Your child will notice if you do behave in the same way that you expect of them. Your child watches your behaviors to gauge how to behave themselves. When something goes awry, having a level-headed response is very important.

Trying to always exhibit your values is important more than ever with a family because a child's presence must then always be taken into consideration.

Skills

Once your child is born, they start learning motor skills, language skills, cognitive skills, and emotional skills.

Regarding motor skills, it is largely the family's responsibility for teaching these skills. Even if your child is in daycare, the work that parents put in at home to teach these skills is much more effective than in the few hours your child is under someone else's care. Your child will learn how to sit up, walk, run, climb, hold a spoon, and so on. These seem so natural to us as adults, but they are skills that have to be fine-tuned at a very young age, and they also reinforce your child's independence which is essential for their development.

Language skills are another essential component of the role of family in child development. If you do not speak to your child and teach them your language, they will never learn. One infamous example of this occurring is with Genie, a child who was locked in a dark room with extremely little human contact until she was rescued at age 13. She was never able to develop language fluency because it was never taught to her. So, teaching your children language skills from a young age is also essential to child development.

Another skill that is very important for child development is emotion. Emotional skills are important throughout your child's entire life as they teach them when to have sympathy and compassion for others as well as teach them how to deal with the highs and lows that come with life. If your child does not have proper emotional skills, they will not be able to deal with bad outcomes. If they lack emotional skills, it could lead to destructive choices when they are older.

To help develop your child's emotional skills, teaching them to smile and wave when they are babies is a good place to start. When they get a bit older, teaching them to share is very important. In a family, because there are multiple people, the family can be very helpful in developing a child's skills with the multiple perspectives.

To bring this more to foundational building blocks, while your child is very young, something very helpful for family members to do is to teach children basic emotions. When a child is feeling a certain way, naming emotions and describing them are important ways for your child to understand how they are feeling. Once this foundation is set, children can learn how to respond to their feelings and move forward.

Socialization

When you bring your child home for the first time, your family will become their social group. Parents are the first teachers for children.

What your child learns through the interactions between you and them is what they will carry for the rest of their life in regards to how to treat others. Through this socialization with family, your child will learn how to trust, seek friendships from others, and find comfort with others as well.

Generally, we have to learn how to make and sustain relationships. These skills are started and strengthened with the family. Additionally, giving your child the tools for interpersonal development before they learn the skills of technology is vital. These skills can ultimately help your child avoid some of the common effects of technology on children.

Learning how to have face-to-face interactions is critical in a child's development. Face-to-face interactions require immediate responses, facial expressions, cues, certain tones of voice, and much more that we do not receive through texting or other online message systems. This is exactly what your child is looking to you and their family to learn. By making sure family members are putting away their smartphones and spending at least a portion of the day "off the grid," it will ensure that interpersonal connection is happening with your child. Simply talking to your child during dinner about their day does a lot more to reinforce person-to-person skills than you may think!

Security

Your child gets their primary sense of security from their family. They rely on you to make sure their basic needs, such as shelter, food, and clothing, are met.

More than that, there is emotional security at home that your child will not find in any other place. Once your child goes to school, they will learn more of public and social skills. But, when they are at home is when your child really learns how to be themselves and express themselves fully. Creating a safe, open home environment is vital so that they can grow.

As a parent, giving your child consistency and structure helps them to develop feelings of security. This can be achieved through schedules. Your child will know that everyday around a certain time, they will eat, bathe, sleep, etc. Therefore, with a schedule, your child will be able to feel comfort knowing their needs will be met.

When your child feels secure, they are able to develop many more skills. Like the mention of Genie above, she was never able to have security before she was rescued. Because of that, she was not able to grow (properly) emotionally, cognitively, or physically.

Security within your child is a lifelong positive attribute. This also happens with building trust between family members and child. When your child feels that they can trust others around them, then they will be more comfortable to be themselves. Trust happens through secure attachment when a child's basic and emotional needs are met.

Imagine what it would be like growing up without trust, attachment, or security. Key qualities that ensure your child's security are dependability, consistency, respectfulness, and responsiveness.

As a parent, recognizing your child's needs is very important. Additionally, knowing how they ask for their needs is essential. Everyone expresses themselves in different ways, and children are no different (especially young children).

Final Thoughts

Raising children can be very difficult, but it can also be extremely rewarding. Remember to not only teach your child, but make sure that you act in the way that you expect your child to act. It's impossible to be perfect all the time, but you can always strive to be your best when it comes to your role in child development. No one is perfect and no family is perfect.

However, knowing how important the role of family is in the development of children is crucial. As parents, you are your child's first teachers. More than day care or other caregivers, most of your child's learning happens at home with their family. Creating an environment where your child can learn the appropriate skills and values as well as learn how to socialize and be secure creates a solid foundation upon which your child can grow.

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Role of Family in Child Development-Children's Bureau

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Check out our blog post The Role of Family in Child Development from Children's Bureau of Southern California. Read it today to learn more!

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1- Research the following Blues 1- 1a) Research the following Blues songs. Summarize each song, analyze and conclude the overall message, cite 2-3 stylistic lines that help t o build the theme and predict why each song may be referenced in this text. For the prediction, be sure to justify your inference. 

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1- Research the following Blues 1- 1a) Research the following Blues songs. Summarize each song, analyze and conclude the overall message, cite 2-3 stylistic lines that help t o build the theme and predict why each song may be referenced in this text. For the prediction, be sure to justify your inference. 

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In this song the singer is talking about his dog blue essentially stating to us all the things he did like get opossums, and be there for the owner. The owner loves this dog very much and he hopes to see Blue in heaven. I feel like he overall message of the song is that you need to do everything to its complete power until you die, which is exactly what Blur did. He was mourned after and maybe it's referring to fighting for the rights to equality in the work place. The song states "Ol' Blue he died and he died so hard
That he graveled little holes all over the yard" the theme is never giving up and maybe the holes in the yard surrounded by a fence I assume mean something.

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Our systems have detected unusual activity from your IP address (computer network). This page checks to see if it’s really you sending the requests, and not a robot.

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Identify and summarize 5 historical events that impacted the lives of African Americans during the 1950s

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Identify and summarize 5 historical events that impacted the lives of African Americans during the 1950s

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On July 10th, 1951, the first black family to move to Chicago was harassed out of moving in by a white riot crowd. The husband was beaten and the family had to get an order from a federal judge granting permission to move in and police protection while doing so. This harassment was a message that the African American and Black population were still not welcome with white people.
On April 30th, 1953, racial segregation was made unconstitutional in Washington D.C. The SCOTUS ruled refusal of service in stores because of skin color.
On August 28, 1955, two white men kill a 14 year old black boy, Emmett Till, for allegedly whistling at a white woman on the street. This murder has gone down as one of the most horrific hate crimes of all time. Till's body was found mutilated.
On December 20th, 1956, the Montgomery Bus Boycott ended. On this day, the supreme court ruled segregation on public transportation unconstitutional. Busses were ordered to desegregate immediately.
On September 3rd, 1958, President D. Eisenhower signed executive order 10730, which ordered National Guard troops to enforce desegregation of Central High School, in Little Rock, Arkansas. The troops had to escort nine black students and protect them from a white angry mob.

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"Jesus be a Fence all Around me Everyday" by Gloria Bailey - Sam Cooke

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"Jesus be a Fence all Around me Everyday" by Gloria Bailey - Sam Cooke

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This singer is stating that he wants Jesus to be her fence, basically protecting her and keeping her a way from the discrimination while he fights her battles. He can be a fence to everyone that might feel unprotected by the prejudice people in the society. Some lines that help build the theme of protection is "Jesus be a fence all around me everyday
Jesus I want you to protect me as I travel along the way" depicting her reliance on the fact that he can protect her, she can put her faith in him, he is her "fence". I think this song is referenced because it talks about fences and protecting. In this case the fence in the book is keeping troy out from being able to find a better job so it's ironic that these two different meanings contrast from eachother.

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Essential saying the same thing as the first song with a little more direction this song talks more about the obedience of the Dog representing mans bestfriend. This can connect to the theme because Troy had two befriends that are ride or die mush like Blue is. Some lines that show this theme is "I'm goin' back to where I'm come - I'm goin' back to Giles County" exemplifying the connection he may have towards his home, a place where him and Blue once were free.

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[Verse 1]
I'm going back where I come
I'm going back where I come
I'm going back to Giles county
My wife died and left me a bounty
With them pretty girl gangs around
Thats the reason I'm going to Giles county
Had an old dog, his name was Blue
You know Blue was mighty true

[Chorus]
You know Blue was a good old dog
Blue treed a possum in a hollow log
You know from that he was a good old dog

[Verse 2]
Blue treed a possum out on a limb
Blue looked at me and I looked at him
Grabbed that possum put him in sack
Dont move Blue till I get back
Hear it ring, hear it ring, yeah!
Hear it ring, hear it ring, yeah!
Who been here since I been gone?
Little pretty girl with the red dress on
Who been here since I been gone?
Little pretty girl with the red dress on
Old Blue's feets was big and round
Old Blue's feets was big and round
Never allowed a possum to touch the ground
Me and Blue went out on a hunt
Blue treed a possum in a hollow stump

[Chorus]
You know Blue was a good old dog
Blue treed a possum in a hollow log
You know from that he was a good old dog

[Verse 3]
But old Blue died and I dug his grave
I dug his grave with a silver spade
I let him down with a golden chain
And every link I called his name
Woah, Blue, you good dog you!
Woah, Blue, you good dog you!
Blue laid down and died like a man
Blue laid down and died like a man
Now he's treeing possum in the promissed land
I'm gonna tell you this to let you know
Old Blue's gone where good dogs go
When I hear old Blue's bark
When I hear old Blue's bark
Blue treed a possum in Noah's ark
Blue treed a possum in Noah's ark

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Old Dog Blue Lyrics: I'm going back where I come / I'm going back where I come / I'm going back to Giles county / My wife died and left me a bounty / With them pretty girl gangs around / Thats the

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 Research and read at least 2 critiques of Wilson’s writing. His plays were widely read and seen by people of all backgrounds. How might his plays have shaped the way non-black Americans  look at the African American experience? How does embedding blues music connect to the messages he portrays?

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 Research and read at least 2 critiques of Wilson’s writing. His plays were widely read and seen by people of all backgrounds. How might his plays have shaped the way non-black Americans  look at the African American experience? How does embedding blues music connect to the messages he portrays?

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In a piece called Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom he created, Frank Rich rated it as and said “This play is a searing inside account of what white racism does to its victims — and it floats on the same authentic artistry as the blues music it celebrates. Harrowing as ‘Ma Rainey’s’ can be, it is also funny, salty, carnal and lyrical. Like his real-life heroine, the legendary singer Gertrude (Ma) Rainey, Mr. Wilson articulates a legacy of unspeakable agony and rage in a spellbinding voice.”  Frank once said again about Fences that, “Fences leaves no doubt that Mr. Wilson is a major writer, combining a poet’s ear for vernacular with a robust sense of humor (political and sexual), a sure instinct for crackling dramatic incident and a passionate commitment to a great subject.” The way he influenced non black readers was significant because he gave a new insight and lense for people that dont live that life or experience those experiences to get an idea of what living life as someone that has to deal with those problems in that era.

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The Hill District in 1957 was a Pittsburgh, PA, predominantly black community that was growing in success as African Americans and Black citizens. It was also home to the first ever black built and owned Negro Baseball league. The hill district was destroyed in 1950's and over 8000 people were displaced with no accomodation.

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Institutional racism is racism that is embedded into a nation's public systems to disclude a specific group of people from such systems. Institutionalized racism often results in poverty and homelessness, starvation, wrongful convictions, illiteracy, and mass illness. Institutionalized racism can destroy families. From not making enough money, to not being able to read or write, institutionalized racism is actually meant for this purpose. Someone who is trying to define themselves will be shut down by this racism. They simply will not be able to receive the education and opportunities that other groups have access to.