90 Celebratory Years!! 1920-2010

The Sewell Belmont House

  The other day, a visitor came to our history class to talk to us about Alice Paul. Her name was Ms. Krum, and she wanted to help us learn more in depth about our class namesake. We also ran over to the Sewell- Belmont house.

This is the pin that Ms. Crum showed us

  We learned a lot more about Alice. For instance, she spent some years abroad in England helping suffragettes there. Also,on November 14, 1917, while Alice was in jail at Occaquan, many police officers beat and did much worse things to the women of all ages in the jail. That night was henceforth considered the Night of Terror.Another thing that interested us was that Alice Paul and many of her fellow suffragettes stayed in the Sewell Belmont House even after women got the vote and worked towards a higher level of equality.


You would wonder why did women or anyone in that matter go through  being thrown in inhumane facilities, beaten or worse, force fed, critiqued etc. just to vote. It makes you wonder what life was like for women before the right of suffrage came to be. Well actually it wasn't that hard. Women in that time were seen fragile, therefore not fit to participate in manual labor, that would be up to the men of the house. If you put yourself in place of a women before the suffragette movement your day would be bland. You would probably clean the house and help the children with whatever they need, and maybe run a few errands. Men always ran the house, so anything they'd say goes. You could conclude that women were sort of figure heads or even trophies in that day in time. Well of course women got the right to vote (thanks Alice Paul and others). Although Alice Paul had a few cheat sheets up her sleeve. Her hunger strike in America was actually a strategy picked up while in London. Also while in London she learned how to publicly deliver a speech, and while she didn't do much speaking in London that was sure to help when she returned to the states.


  Alice Paul was chosen for our class name because of her hard work, dedication, perseverance, her being stubborn etc. With our further knowledge I believe Alice Paul is a good name because of her uppity ways (word they would use in her time) and leadership. I think she was uppity because anyone who would lead a picket on the white house, or anyone to speak up on something that many people disapproved is uppity. With so many men that didn't approve of what she was doing, I think we could all take a lesson form that. Just becuase veryone thinks what you're doing is just wrongs or stupid or crazy doesn't mean you shoudl stop. Also her ability to lead is another thing. With our class going off to high school I believe this is an important trait. Leadership is what makes us stand out in a crowd which will become important in high school. Besides her good qualities I'd like to recognize her shyness. As mentioned above Paul didn't like public speaking very much, but with her improvement and bravery she made a voice so loud that swept the nation, and got women the right to vote. This is the kind of work that we should want to put in, and while the final product may not be perfect (which in Paul's case it was!), it shows great improvement. =)


   The Sewell-Belmont house has always been there, just not as noticeable. It doesn't have a grand staircase or anything to make it stand out much. Although if someone told you the history behind it, well then you'd be intrigued. I've walked past the building before and I've never given it a thought. If I had to guess what it was I'd say some kind of historical building but I'd only know that because of the old fashioned red brick. To conclude the Bellmont house isn't very eye popping, or noticeable, but when you are privy to what took place there and who was there, it would be very interesting and exciting to go inside.

Sandra Day O'Conner... Here and in Person!

Justice Sandra Day O' Conner

Sandra Day O'Conner recently retired from one of the most prestigious jobs you can have... She was a Justice on the Supreme Court! Not only that, but she was the first ever woman to be one. Before she joined the Judiciary Branch she was active in the Executive Branch, while serving in the Legislative Branch as a state senator in AZ. She decided to stray from her dream of ranching to become a lawyer. Unfortunately, she was turned down from certain law firms because of her gender. She didn't let that deter her, and later was elected as Justice by President Ronald Reagan. In 2001, Ladies Home Journal ranked Justice O'Conner as the 2nd most powerful woman in America. In 2004 she was ranked the sixth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine. Although these accomplishments would last anyone a lifetime and more (much like the job of Justice in the Supreme Court) she decided to retire.


The reason that we wanted to brief you on Justice O'Conner is that she was actually here in the flesh! It was fun, and we tested out some of the games that are featured on iCivics.com. The games are very fun, some addicting, and they still teach you about the government and how it runs. After we tried some of the games she sat down with us to answer some of our questions. Anna asked two questions. To her question about which of the presidents she had met was her favorite, she replied that Ronald Reagan was, because he was funny and had great stories. The case that was the hardest for her to decide was the one concerning taxes, because it didn't interest her and she hadn't previously known much concerning them. Terrina asked what her proudest moment was. She answered the day she got sworn in. All her family was there, and she was indeed proud to be sworn in as a Justice. Contrary to what we might think, she hadn't immediately agreed to be Justice. She was honored and excited about being the first woman, but was concerned that she might also make a bad name for women following her, and therefore also the last woman to serve. We really enjoyed the time that she spent with us, answering our questions and watching us play the games. She was so full of energy. Terrina thinks that she was much like her description of Reagen, easy to talk to and funny. This was an excellent experience. Thank you Justice O'Conner for your time, and please know we enjoyed learning about you, and your conversation! :)


One of the things that she had stressed was education. She said that she studied very hard in school, and when she was Justice working on those cases. One of the things she said that got our attention was that we should all strive to be something that was important to us personally. The main ideas that we got out of this wonderful experience was to use your education to your advantage to get where you want to be, doing what you want to do! =)

Bella Coola Tribe- Terrina's Post!!!

The Bella Coola Tribe (Nuxtalk People) lived in British, Columbia (NW). They were called  "The Salmon People". They worshipped Tatau, the creator of all things.

Kwakiutl Tribe- Anna's Post!!

The Northwest Coast's geography affected their lifestyle. Living by the ocean, they ate mostly fish. Tribes used cedar plank longhouses, because cedar trees were available.