Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpertive Center and Cycling Company:Wright Brothers To Be Recognized As True Inventors

Kitty Hawk Plans

I’m standing in front of the “Ejection Seat Exhibit”

On May 11, I went to visit “The Wright Brothers Intervention Center” and “The Wright Brothers Cycling Company.” In 1889, two brothers from Dayton, Ohio became two famous historians by introducing aviation to the world. These two Dayton brothers were Orville and Wilbur Wright. They worked in the Gem City repairing bicycles and printers. The Wright brothers were interested in the dynamics of how a simple kite flies through the air. This was the inspiration to build an invention that could transport an individual through the air. The type of aviation technology that was being invented by the Wright Brothers were lightweight engines, functional propellers and used wooden resources to construct the airplane. These resources built into their invention were unresearched by the Wright Brothers trying to figure out how to get the plane off the ground.

            By the end of 1902, the Wright Brothers were ready to test their invention called “Kitty Hawk.” They transported the plane to North Carolina to test the first flight on December 17, 1903. Their successful flight made worldwide headlines. They traveled to Europe to demonstrate their plane in motion and received high honors. I took pictures from the exhibit to show how the Kitty Hawk flew over European citizens a couple pictures. There was a short film demonstration showing the Wright Brothers’ flight in Europe and receiving their medals from the European government. In 1903, the Wright Brothers registered for a patent to protect their famous invention and research. A patent is the exclusive right to a product for a period of time from the date the product is invented. In 1906, the patent was applied to their aviation research to prove true ownership over the “Kitty Hawk.”

            A famous quote from Wilber Wright said, “We honestly think that our work of 1900’s had been civil to  value the world and that world owes us as inventors.” The Wright brothers wanted the recognition for their innovation to invent the first aviation technology in the world. This technology diffused globally to create different aviation models. In 1910, there were two important models to be reconstructed that resembled the Wright Brothers’ plane. The first model was Model B, it was the first mass produced airplane. The second model, Model G, was a flying boat plane used to fly along the Great Miami River to transport goods to other areas. In November, the first flight school was established in the Dayton area for men who wanted to learn about aviation technology and used the Huffman Prairie Field to test different models.

            In 1920, this famous technology invented by the Wright Brothers was advancing to build stronger models to hold more people to transport around the area. There were safety concerns about the plane having faults and crashing on impact. The brand new innovation to relieve safety concerns was the ejection seat with a parachute added to the back of the seat. A lieutenant named Howard Harris was the first individual to test the ejection seat over McCook Field. This demonstration showed people different scenarios about a plane having faults and learning how to use this new technology to save their life.  Aviation technology progressed to the War Worlds to help transport goods, weapons, and other materials to assist military needs.

            After walking around the Wright Brother exhibits, I have learned the accomplishments of the Wright Brothers innovation in the Dayton area that inspired people to believe in different technology to mobilize around the world.

Reference to: 

http://www.nps.gov/daav/planyourvisit/facilitysites.htm

This is model of the Wright Brothers plane but used different material

Wright Brothers Plane flying over European citizens

Wright Brothers Bicycle Company

Wright Brothers office area

Wilberforce Museum: Segregation in the 1950′s

The clothing attire the African American wore in the 1950's.

Mary Church Terrell

Me in front of one my favorite African American paintings. “The Problem We All Live With”

On May 22^nd, I went to visit “The African American Museum” located in Wilberforce, Ohio.  In this museum, it has three main exhibits to observe and learn about the African American Culture. A famous African American painting called “The Problem We All Live With: School Integration” is important to send a message to not live in segregation and to have the equal opportunities as everyone else. In the 1950’s, the African American culture was frowned upon society in society and encouraged to live in separate areas away from the white communities. These communities were divided into their own grocery stores, restrooms, and education.

            The African American culture diffused their own music “Jazz” from the New Orleans areas to spread to the Southern area. There were not many jobs for African Americans during this difficult time. Many African American men and women worked as tailors, gas stations attendants, and lower employment to help the middle class families. The African American cultural realized how “segregation” was degrading their rights as an individual need to take a stand to speak the truth for equal opportunities. For example, in the exhibit, there were African American leaders who made a difference within the Southern communities. One of the leaders was Mary Church Terrell, she was a famous African American leader who fought for her rights to become a true educator, author, and civil rights activist. She was the president of the NAACP who organized the civil rights movement through the Southern region of the United States to speak “the voice” of ending Jim Crow Laws against African Americans.

            The African American painting I addressed at the beginning has significance to the era of segregation.  In the painting, there are two body guards walking by a young African American girl who wanted to attend an all White school and details how the Southern community reacted by rioting against the notion of integration. The young girl who was illustrated in this painting was Ruby Bridges. She had the ambition to make a difference by learning how to read, write, and solve math problems. She attended an all white school that had no rules  to integrate African American students. Ruby wanted to make a difference and sent out a message to all colored students who had the disadvantages in their education to not give up and to take a stand.  In 1965, a famous Supreme Court Case, “Brown vs. School Board of Education”, fought to end all segregation in public schools to give each student the same opportunity to learn the same material and to learn how to be successful to achieve employment opportunities.

            After walking through all the exhibits, I was drawn to the 1950’s exhibit to learn more about how segregation diffused through the African American cultural, not just to the people in the community. The painting is one of my favorites for reading the information about how this young girl made a difference to earn a decent education and influenced others to do the same. I do believe this painting defines the transformation form segregation to integration by speaking the truth and taking a stand for equal opportunities.

Reference to:   

http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/sw13/index.shtml#hours

Painting

Steve Urkel Doll

Shaker Movement (1806-1910)

            On May 5, the Ohio historical topic I learned about was the movement of the Shakers in the Nineteenth century.  The movement of the  Shakers  evolved within the Kentucky valley across the river. This religious movement believed in devoting their labor to God and living in celibacy. The class watched a fifteen-minute video about the Shakers who migrated to Pleasant Hill Kentucky. In 1806, religion was becoming more dominant in men, women, and children. Three missionaries from New Lebanon, New York, migrated to this area to establish a religious covenant which was founded by Mother Ann. Each individual had to make a vow to God to devote his or her labor and give up private property to live in happiness.

            The Shaker families started to build dwelling houses, farms, gardens, and crops. In this community, the men, women, and children lived in their own dwellings. The vow of celibacy is for the families to be married into the community to live in happiness, work together, and keep their promise to God. In 1832, the Shaker movement increased with new members signing the agreement to work among their brother and sisters. The founder of this movement was a young woman named Ann Lee who grew up in a textile mill, married young, and had four children whom died at a young age. She turned to religion after her children’s deaths. She started a religious movement that devoted a promise to God to live in happiness to work among her brothers and sisters. The movement was called, “Shaking Quakers” but renamed the movement “Shakers.”

In 1774, a religious society, United Society of Believers in Christ Second Appearing, was ran out by New Yorkers who didn’t trust these certain individuals who believed in celibacy and vowing their life to God. These individuals ran to the religious land to escape from the real world.  The ideals in the Shaker community were changing due to each member entering having a specific skill to introduce and were valued by having those types of skills. For example, the type of agriculture was changing into commercial leading to industrial to trade along the river by using different transportation. The type of transportation the Shakers used were flatboats and tug boats to take their production of crops up or down river to sell. The community was discovering different types of music to integrate into their happiness to work as a family. 

            At the beginning of the Nineteenth century, the Shaker population started to decline over the years. Their communities were being auctioned to people who were taking advantage of buying their belongings that were devoted to God’s glory. There were only twelve people left who promised their devotion to the Shaker community. In 1960, a new agreement was presented to the Pleasant Hill Shaker area to study and restore the community to preserve the buildings to learn about this religious movement. This religious movement extended from Maine to Kentucky to devote nineteen communities to honor their way of life, labor, and happiness.  

 

Reference to:

(2009). Shake Village of Pleasant Hill. Retrieved May 6, 2009, from The Shaker Movement Web site: http://www.shakervillageky.org/i/downloads/shaker_movement.pdf

The Shaker Movement. Perf. Peter Thomas. Videocassette. American Production, Film.

Primary Documents: Thomas Rotch Letters

On April 30, my Ohio History class was assigned to learn how to find important information from reading primary documents. When you read a primary document, you need to highlight the important information that describes the main points from the source.  These primary documents address  Thomas Rotch, who explored the Ohio valley. He was a Quaker who fought to free slaves from the South by conducting the Underground Railroad. 

          In the book, Ohio: The History of A People, the author Canton wrote about the early Ohioans traveling to the area to transform into a culture of consumerism by using the resources it had to build a buisness to sell goods and services. The land had a variety of soil and good soil to grow crops. Canton wrote, “The key to its success was its location” (Canton, page 21). He described how Ohioans were attracted to the good soil, the variety of land, and the waterways to create settlements through the Ohio valley.

  The first letter was from Thomas Rotch written to William Imlay. This letter described Rotch’s disapproval of the Ohio Valley being a suitable place to settle down with his family and to build his factory to produce wool. He thought Ohio’s climate would affect his wife’s health. He wrote, “These however severe, are evils that will work its own cures for while self denial on the  one hand becomes familiar, the improvement in Arts and Manufactures will on the other relieve the remaining wants, and thus lay a foundation for ‘free and independent people.”’ This information was important to relate to Canton’s information about how  the settlement area in Ohio had its advantages and disadvantages to build an income of the land. 

            The second letter was from Amasa Delano to Thomas Rotch. Amasa lived in Chillicothe, had some land to offer to Thomas to settle his family and raise livestock to build his factory to produce wool. In the letter, she described the qualities of land that had renewable resources for the family to use. For example, she wrote, “The land is sufficiently elevated for the of sheep & as I before mention the soil is strong and good with a beautiful fall.” The dialect of her words was clearer to understand compared to the first letter written by William Imlay. His dialect and the information about settling in the Ohio Valley that he was trying to communicate were difficult to read and to understand.

            William Heald wrote the third letter to Thomas Rotch regarding the settlement in Columbiana County. William Heald described the potential of the land as being more satisfying for his family settle to start his wool business. Rotch’s family was invited to visit their home to observe the area with good grass, coal, herding areas, and water access to run his factory. Thomas wanted to live near running water to use to power his wool factory and increase his production. He wanted to use a different type of power that would be more efficient to increase his business rather than using animal power.  At the end of the letter, his friend explains that this wonderful area won’t be a concern to his wife’s health because of the good resources to improve her condition. This was a reason Thomas hesitated to settle in the Ohio valley because his wife’s health came first.

            After reading these primary documents, these letters were informative to learn about the issues of settlement coming to the Ohio Valley before the War of 1812. These issues addressed how the Ohio valley was transformed by settlements taking over land from Native Americans, building up their business, education, and slavery. 

Reference to:

Delano, Amasa (1811). Agriculture; Climate and Weather. Massillon, Ohio: Roth-Wales Collection.

Heald, William (1811). Geography and Natural Resources: Business and Labor. Massillon, Ohio: Rotch-Wales Collection.

Rotch, Thomas (1811). Daily Life: Busines and Labor. Massillon, Ohio: Rotch-Wales Collection.

Cayton, Andrew. Ohio The History of A People. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2002. Print.