My Journey to America Free Essays

My excursion to America is one life-changing experience. I state this not on the grounds that I had the option to head out to the place where there is my fantasies yet mostly in light of the fact that the excursion had improved my viewpoint in life through the numerous exercises and bits of knowledge it had educated. My nation of source is Kenya, situated in Eastern Africa. We will compose a custom article test on My Journey to America or on the other hand any comparable subject just for you Request Now Isolating these two nations is the Pacific Ocean,â â an enormous waterway that appeared to connote the difficulty of my coming here (Crofton, 1994, p. 434). In any case, luckily, this colossal impediment was survived, and now I am appreciating the fun and openings offered by a nation that had just once been a fantasy. You just can't envision the fervor I had felt when I discovered that I will make a trip to America. For most of Africans, America is a place where there is brilliant chance, a spot that one can better himself. It offers an uncommon involvement with progression in innovation, a basic factor to a person’s twentieth century learning. Or more all, America had a ton of fun, energizing and recorded spots to visit. Equipped in view of such grand contemplations, experiencing the issue of petitioning for movement papers at the US Embassy made no difference to me. Iâ â bade farewell to Kenya last __________. My agenda was from Nairobi, Kenya to ______, USA. It would take around ______ hours to arrive at the US.  On the plane I attempted to contain my fervor albeit hovering over the wide Pacific Ocean was both exciting and nerve-wracking. Looking down beneath from the window of the plane, I can see a wide span of blue water, extending miles and miles past as though it could never end. In spite of the fact that the sight was delightful to view, I can't hold on to see land for by then I out of nowhere felt a marvelous dread of being in a spot absolutely obscure, as though I was lost in no place. I understood then that evacuating oneself from natural spots isn't unreasonably simple, all things considered. As the plane advanced over the earth,  my mind was loaded up with considerations of what I will going to do in America, the companions that I will meet, the spots I will visit and the things that I will have. The considerations all came to me on the double, both exciting and charming me simultaneously. Amidstâ these contemplations, my mindâ hustled back to the spot I simply left behind, the friends and family that I won't seeâ for at some point andâ the spots that shockingly I will miss, and afterward out of the blue I felt nostalgic and on the off chance that I was not strongâ enough tears would have tumbled from my eyes. It was agonizing to understand that for me to encounter something new, I needed to relinquish something that I hold dear. In any case, I am happy to believe that sometime I will be back. At long last, after some time I moved toward the spot that for over a century had drawn a wide range of races and nationalities to its shores like a magnet. I expected the view from above to be such a great amount of unique in relation to the flying perspective on the nation and mainland I simply left behind. Genuine enough it was way, way unique. While the spot I had quite recently left was ruled by woods and desert that was spotted with human homes and structures, the perspective on America from the air was only amazing to me. A huge range of structures interminably jam-packed themselves underneath, tall high rises and the Statue of Liberty appeared to connect with me in welcome. I could hardly imagine how the famousâ â America was directly before me!   I felt a wonderful feeling of self-satisfaction at that point, maybe on the grounds that America had this mystical method of making an individual imagine that at last he had seen this present reality. Normally I was unable to stand by to set my feet in the America soil.  For the first run through in my life I was encircled with individuals who appear to be unique from me. In the air terminal were white individuals, earthy colored cleaned individuals and dim ones like me. I was entranced with the nearness of various nationalities that were caught up with conversing with each other in a language I don't comprehend and rushing past me to places God knows where. I understood later that I will regularly run over these various sorts of individuals in simply any road in America. I wonder much about them, the spots that they originated from and the friends and family that they abandoned in a nation far away. I realize that the vast majority of them come to America to gain more cash, and I wonder on the off chance that they satisfied that objective. Settling here for _________ (months or years) presently, I can say with power that outsiders here as a rule experienced physical, enthusiastic and mental affliction. A large number of them are achy to visit the family.  There is no spot, all things considered, that man will be immaculate by the negative encounters of life. Such acknowledgment had created in  me a more profound regard for individuals who  left their country to secure positions in different shores. For the numerous fruitful individuals who pass my direction day by day, I can say that to be sure America is a place where there is brilliant chance, yet just for the individuals who buckle down. In life regardless of where we will be we just can't anticipate that a brilliant egg should fall on our lap. Here there are likewise numerous needy individuals. I don't have the foggiest idea why they experienced that way yet one thing America instructed me is that on the off chance that you need something great to occur in your life, at that point you should be eager to forfeit, to let numerous sweats tumble from your temple.   A individual ought not hang tight for circumstance, he should search for it and whenever he found that open door he should snatch it with two hands. The rundown of excellent spots to visit and energizing activities in America is interminable. There are numerous enormous parks embellished with wonderful blossoms and housed various types of creatures (a large number of these creatures are local to my country like tigers and elephants).  When I look a these confined creatures I can't resist the opportunity to contrast them with their family members back home who wandered  freely in the African wild. America isn't a position of opportunity for them however despite what might be expected, America is a snare, a jail. I felt pitiful yet these are the costs that should be paid if individuals of America are to see a live African natural life. Besides, America had numerous huge strip malls loaded up with a wide range of stuff. They are extremely welcoming to contact, look and on the off chance that I have the cash, to purchase. There are simply numerous things to look over, every one of them excellent. The facts demonstrate that America has bunches of things to offer particularly for a Kenyan like me. Being encircled by all these lovely things make me take a gander at life all the more decidedly. I do have pessimistic encounters in America however I would refer to one in particular that I know is experienced by most outside individuals like me and it is the revolting essence of racial separation. I realize that racial segregation is available when the individuals of different races I partner with treat me with doubt without reason. I know some of them didn't really needed the inclination to come however it automatically jumped up some place. Racial segregation is a major issue here.â This fair shows incredible America, similar to some other nation on the planet, had its own issues to comprehend. Clearly, there are numerous contrasts among America and my nation of origin yet there is one distinction that I might want to share here. I couldn't help suspecting that the individuals who live in America are consistently in a rush. It appeared that they have such a large number of activities however don't have the opportunity to do it. That is the reason most Americans (counting the individuals who are not however lived here) are consistently in a ceaseless condition of pressure. They are occupied with pursuing â€Å"something† so they don't have the opportunity â€Å"to smell the flowers†. This is so much not at all like Kenya. There it appeared we have a lot of time to rest, to reflect. Maybe in light of the fact that our lives are less muddled, our fantasies are less complex. For most Kenyan families giving every day food on the table is a major achievement. My excursion to America is an undertaking of a lifetime. I will always remember the numerous new  experiences that came alongâ  and the exercises it had instructed me. To be sure I can say that my excursion to America had opened entryways throughout my life that were once shut. Reference Crofton, Ian (editorial manager). (1994). The Guinness Compact Encyclopedia. London: Guinness Publishing Limited. The most effective method to refer to My Journey to America, Essay models

Sustained Silent Reading Essay -- Education

Supported Silent Reading Most heads and teachers, whenever asked what is the region that needs the most improvement in schools today, would answer perusing. Kids appear to fight with perusing at pretty much every evaluation level. As announced by Trelease (2006) understudies don't peruse without a doubt. In one announced investigation, 90% of the understudies considered dedicated just 1 percent of their spare time to perusing and 30% to sitting in front of the TV. 50% of the understudies read for a normal of four minutes or less every day, 30% read two minutes out of each day, and 10% read nothing by any means (p. 1). These insights just serve to intensify the dread of understudies low understanding capacities. Instructors have built up a bunch of projects to improve students’ understanding, maintenance, and more elevated level reasoning abilities. These abilities are particularly significant in the improvement of scores on the state commanded evaluations. Among these projects is Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), which guarantees that understudies can improve cognizance, appreciate perusing for joy, and become long lasting perusers in fifteen to twenty minutes every day. Continued Silent Reading is where understudies read any kind of literature for a continuous, explicit measure of time. Gardiner (2001) states there are a wide range of names for SSR, for example, Drop Everything and Read (DEAR), Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading (USSR), and Providing Opportunities with Everyday Reading (POWER) to give some examples (p. 32). Each program shifts a little from the others, yet they share similar rules. Understudies read quietly consistently, pick their own materials, read for a continuous measure of time, don't need to complete a book or other material, notice the educator perusing too, and don't need to tak... ...his article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19388070309558400 DEAR me: What does it take to get youngsters perusing? By: Lee-Daniels, Sonya L., Murray, Bruce A., Reading Teacher, 00340561, Oct2000, Vol. 54, Issue 2 Educating of English Language and Literature (TELL) Journal Volume 15, Number 2, November 1999 Anthony Seow The Read resoundingly Handbook Jim Trelease's 2006 Penguin Books http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr038.shtml Continued Silent Reading Helps Develop Independent Readers (and Writers) Article by Gary Hopkins Instruction Worldâ ® Copyright  © 1997 Education World Initially distributed 11/19/1997 Refreshed 10/15/2007 Why Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) Doesn’t Work June 25th, 2011 | Mark Pennington, MA Reading Specialist Pennington Publishing Blog http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/perusing/why-continued quiet perusing ssr-doesn%E2%80%99t-work

College students share their experiences with Khan Academy

College students share their experiences with Khan Academy This spring, Stanford Consulting - a nonprofit, student-run organization - ran a survey to learn about the impact that Khan Academy has had on the educations of current college students. These students were asked whether they “found Khan Academy meaningful to their education” and whether they were the first in their family to go to college. The results are in, and today we’re excited to share some of the key findings.Of the students who responded to the survey- 65% of Stanford students found KA meaningful to their education (out of 504 surveyed)- 57% of students in other top schools* found KA meaningful to their education (out of 159 surveyed)- 64% of first-generation college students (the first in their family to go to college) at these schools found KA meaningful to their education (out of 164 surveyed)*Surveyed schools include Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley, Caltech, Notre Dame, MIT, Vanderbilt, and Yale.We’re thrilled to see how many colle ge students have benefited from Khan Academy and to hear their stories. One first-generation student from Stanford shared the following note with us:For all the times I couldn’t turn to my parents for homework help, I had Khan Academy videos to help me. Khan Academy was the private tutor that my family could not afford. For all the times I wanted to learn for the sake of learning, I would pick from the hundreds of Khan Academy videos.Have you found Khan Academy meaningful to your education? Tell us your story in the comments below!

Medical Intake / History Review - 2160 Words

Life Care Plan for Mr. Robert Vince Date of Report: December 12, 2014 Source of referral: Department of Veterans Affairs Client: Mr. Robert Vince Date of Birth 11/17/1957 Age: 57 Social security number: 123-45-6789 Date of Injury: May 15, 2014 Medical Intake/History Review Mr. Vince is a 57 year old African American male referred by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The referral is in reference to the development of a Life Care Plan and required home modifications that addresses the patient’s lifetime disability medical needs secondary to a motorcycle accident that resulted in paraplegia due to T7 thoracic injury. Mr. Vince has prior military experience, but was not service connected to any†¦show more content†¦Unfortunately, the room is too small for a clinitron bed to fit in it and other medical equipment needed to care for the patient. There is only a half bath downstairs; therefore, the spouse has to use a basin to give her husband a bed bath. Her desire is for her husband (patient) to be able to maneuver in the house utilizing his wheelchair. Chief Complaint and Subjective History by Patient Patient incurred a T7 thoracic injury and has no lower extremity functional ability. At present the patient has a stage two sacral decubitus, urinary tract infection, and muscle spasms in his lower extremities. The sacral ulcer was caused from the lack of frequent position changes while in bed and improper seating in the wheelchair. The wound requires daily dressing changes and more frequent if soiled from urinary and fecal contamination. The urinary tract occurred from the patient intermittently cauterizing himself with a straight catheter every four hours. The patient has also been experiencing spontaneous uncontrolled spasticity in the lower extremities. Mr. Vince states he was 56 years old on the date of his motorcycle accident; he lost control of the motorcycle when a vehicle cut in front of him. The patient was pinned between his motorcycle and the guard rail on the highway. When EMS arrived, the patient was reported to need

Differences Between Men And Women, And The Classism And...

Destiny, a black girl, always talks about how much trouble she got into during high school. She received many detentions and suspensions just because she likes to speak what is on her mind. She admits that she may have gone a little too far at times, but sometimes it just was not fair for the things she was being punished for. During middle school, she found a program called Whyld Girls. This program helps girls in poverty to be more aware of their surroundings. Destiny learned about birth control, how to survive high school, and how to apply and get into college. After joining this program, Destiny started getting better grades in school and receiving fewer detentions. Black girls do tend to have more of an outspoken attitude but that does not mean they should be suspended from learning. This essay will be discussing the sexism between men and women, and the classism and privileges between white and black people. The lives of black girls do matter and more people within our societi es need to be aware and take a stance on how these girls are being treated on a daily basis. Black girls are treated worse than white girls, white boys, and even black boys. Crenshaw includes in her article studies from the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) that show that 3 times more black boys are suspended compared to white boys nationwide, while black girls are 6 times more likely to be suspended than white girls. This shows that in today’s world, black boys are treated better than blackShow MoreRelatedMovies Control: Sex and Violence1436 Words   |  6 Pagesbelieves and accepts. Research shows that the amount and realism of violence and sex in movies has skyrocketed, influencing the views of our generation. However, little to no attention is placed on the effects of movies on our views of racism, sexism, classism, and heteronormativity. 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The capitalists sell the products produced by the workers at a proportional value as related to the labour involved. Surplus value is the difference between what the worker is paid and the price for which the product is sold. The increasing of the proletariat occurs as the result of economic decline. These recessions happen because the working class is unable to buy the full product of theirRead MoreAudre Lorde Essay2130 Words   |  9 Pagesgroups such as blacks, feminists, women, and lesbians. She uses both feminist and cultural theories in her work to help describe the ways in which gender inequality and racism present themselves in our society and the reasons why we should fight for cultural and social change. The idea of feminist criticism began in the 1960s, right around the time Lorde wrote and published much of her work. She used feminist theory as a way to undermine traditional patriarchal systems and unite women in a struggle

Beautiful Tragic Love (Creative Writing) Free Essays

g Beautiful Tragic Love I never asked my life to be a FAIRY TALE or PERFECT, all I wanted was a normal life, and I didn’t have a very happy childhood living with my parents as an only child. As I was growing up all my life it revolved around men, every time I would fall in love with one, they would leave me after 3 months. I was beginning to feel like a hopeless romantic just like my mum when my dad had left her when I was beginning to experiment with love. We will write a custom essay sample on Beautiful Tragic Love (Creative Writing) or any similar topic only for you Order Now I felt cursed. I kept asking myself â€Å"WHY, WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME All men are dogs! I am almost twenty one and I don’t know if the problem lies with me or my family, all I know is that I have given my parents so much problems and so much  pain, I guess my life is a long journey and am finding myself in it everyday. My story began last summer of 2009; I could feel that there was something in the air that day. Birds were chirping, the wind was blowing leaving me shivers down my spine and everything felt so alive. I had been  depressed  for about a year before that day. I was  walking  along  the beach  with my bare feet buried in the sand and the waves of the sea crushing into my feet when my life started to take a turn for the best†¦ From a distance I saw a handsome young man admiring me from far. Our eyes met and it was like nothing I had ever felt before with any of the men I had been with. It was something special. We began  walking  closer together like something out of a movie. I felt on  top of the world for once, my eyes were sparkling and my  stomach  was fluttering with butterflies, as we walked closer and closer to each other. When we became close enough to talk about our personal lives, Will would get on his knee and speak my fluent language, French and say the most  romantic  things. At that point I knew he had my heart. We talked until 2. 00 a. m. The next  morning it turned out that he lives only about ten minutes from where I was living. We started seeing more of each other, Will begin to get serious about us. I fought the depression  that I had and soon I was glowing with life and he was the world to me, he became my anything and everything. We had been going out for about six months when he met my mother. My mother disapproved of Will mainly because she thought I was too young to be in a serious relationship and that I wasn’t ready because this relationship might end up like the rest of my other terrible relationship. Just like any mother she was worried about me but I kept reassuring her that this time it was something different. She soon banned me from seeing him. For a while we went out against her will and had four more months of endless happiness. I had finally met someone whom I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with. One day when I finished from work he had texted me to meet him at the same beach we met a year ago. When I got there I saw him standing on one of the big rocks beside the sea, he waved from far and yelled my name â€Å"LAKE, AM OVER HERE! † my heart was beating so fast as if I was in a race. When I got on the rock with him, it was nearly sunset time; he took both of my hands (Oh My God) I screamed quietly inside with excitement hoping that he would say something along the lines of marrying him. He looked at me straight in the eye to show that he was serious, and started saying â€Å"Lake ever since I have laid eyes on you, it’s like you have awaked me from my soul, and I don’t see life without you. He moved on from saying â€Å"Would you like to move in with me? † All I could feel was special, wanted, happy, in love, and emotional all at the same time. Few tears dropped down my cheeks without realizing because I kept repeating what he had just said. No boy had ever said anything like what Will had said. Holding me closer to him I looked him deep in thos e amazing emerald green eyes and answered â€Å"YES!!! † as I fall in to kiss him. Life couldn’t have got any better; we were so madly in love that we couldn’t wait so we got married a few months later. It has been two years since we got married and it feels like it was just yesterday. On our two year  anniversary, I was 4 months pregnant with our first child, so that night he had planned to take me out to a fancy  French Restaurant. As we were leaving we both looked up at the big beautiful moon, it was shinning like a bight, bright light, it was just the perfect moment in my life where I could hold pause forever. When suddenly a man came out of the shadows with a gun, he came took my purse and Will’s wallet. Someone saw the crime taking place and screamed â€Å"STOP† at the man. Everything became a blur as Will threw himself in front of me as the gun went off. I couldn’t believe my eyes, what I hadn’t envisioned in a million years seemed to become a reality. The robber ran off into the night and left Will to die in my arms. I looked down at him and tears started to explode down my cheeks as I screamed â€Å"HELP! † â€Å"SOMEONE CALL THE AMBALANCE! † I held him closely for the longest time as he bled to his death. Right before he died he told me â€Å"We will be  together again†¦ I promise†¦ I love you and the baby†¦and both of you will be always in y heart. † He looked so peaceful and handsome just like the first day I had met him; my heart was torn into pieces as he drew his last breath. He lay there dead in my arms staring at me with his emerald green eyes. I felt helpless as I held him even closer and kept screaming and crying â€Å"NO†¦ NO THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING†¦NOT TO ME†¦NOT AGAIN!! † He will always be in my heart; whenever the wind blows I can still hear him whispering sweet things in my ear. Sometimes when you find happiness again in your life, it turns into your worst nightmare. How to cite Beautiful Tragic Love (Creative Writing), Essay examples

Why, despite the victory of the Union in the Civil War, did former slaves fail to secure full civil rights 1865 77 Essay Example

Why, despite the victory of the Union in the Civil War, did former slaves fail to secure full civil rights 1865 77 Essay The end of the Civil War provided America with the perfect opportunity to start again as a united and democratic country. The Northern victory had put an end to the threat of a rupture in the Union, and the future of the country had been established. However, there was also the far more significant chance to unite the country under the flag of liberty and equality, for which the North had won their devastating success. Surely victory would be useless if it was not pursued by a radical change in the situation and status of the African Americans, who, after all, had played a significant part in the war effort. Unfortunately, there were several obstacles in the way of true racial equality, which were destined to remain insurmountable for nearly one hundred years.At the end of the war, the challenge for the Northern leaders seemed intricate and thorny, but not necessarily impossible. The most important question still to be answered was what to do with the rebel states. Should they be tre ated leniently and allowed back into the union relatively easily, or should they be punished and reformed in order to ensure that Northern values and principles were extended to the South. Lincoln believed in the former view, so proposed the ten-percent plan, under which ten percent of the white voters in a state had to pledge their allegiance to the union before the state was readmitted. Congress, which was mostly composed of Radical Republican Northerners, disagreed, and felt that the South should be punished. In 1863 Thaddeus Stevens said, We have the right to treat them as we would any other province that we might conquer. However, they were partly mollified by the fact that Lincoln had eventually endorsed emancipation of the slaves.Five days after the end of the war, the problem became far more difficult, as Lincoln was assassinated and replaced as President by Andrew Johnson. An adroit, politically sensitive and discerning President, with a skill for compromise and concession was replaced by a rash, obdurate man with a talent for disagreement. In murdering Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth did more damage to the South than any other man, because the consensus seems to be that Lincoln, although he might not have had the perfect solution, could not have done any worse than Johnson. Along with the question of what was to happen to the South came the question of who was to decide what happened to the South. Johnson, a Southern democrat, was always at odds with Congress. Like Lincoln, he supported the ten-percent plan, and was willing to bypass Congress in order to implement it. However, unlike Lincoln, he did not understand the fundamental problems in the South. He believed that Congress could not legislate on issues affecting the South unless representatives from the South were present. In effect, he was saying that the issue of Southern blacks could not be decided until the Southern whites had regained most of their power.At first, Johnson seemed anxious to punis h the ex-confederates: he was disappointed that he could not hang Jefferson Davies. Then he started issuing pardons to everyone he could find, which meant that the confederate leaders soon found themselves back in government. The old confederate vice president, Alexander Stephens, was elected to Congress in 1865. In the same year Johnson signed a proclamation which insisted that all land confiscated during the war and given to the freedmen should be returned to its former owners. The blacks belief that they were each to receive 40 acres and a mule was sadly mistaken.One of Johnsons biggest mistakes was not to give the South any direction with regard to the freedmen. He believed, and often said, that as long as the Southern states accepted the constitution, ratified the Thirteenth Amendment and repudiated their debts, he would not interfere with their all important states rights. Consequently they began to do whatever they wanted to deal with the problem of the freedmen. Firstly, org anised violence, under the auspices of organisations like the Ku Klux Klan began to take hold. Secondly, states began to impose black codes, which were laws intended to supervise the lives of the freedmen. Although no longer slaves, they were being treated almost as such. In the South this was widely accepted. An editorial in a Georgia paper said, There is such a radical difference in the mental and moral [nature] of the white and black race, that it would be impossible to secure order in a mixed community by the same [law].However, in the North it was greeted with outrage. As Johnson failed spectacularly to do anything about them, Congress, under the leadership of Thaddeus Stevens, took over as leaders of the Reconstruction movement. The Fourteenth Amendment, the Civil Rights Act and the extension in the power of the Freedmans Bureau were passed with the opposition of Johnson. These guaranteed blacks the rights of citizenship, the right to vote and the support of a powerful body wo rking in their interest. For a few years, it looked as though equality might become more of a reality. In the elections of 1867 and 68 the blacks had the right to vote, and several reached positions of unprecedented seniority and by 1868 most states had repealed the Black Codes. For a brief period there were even two black senators, (the next to be elected was in 1966). Also in 1868 Johnson, after surviving impeachment charges the year before, was replaced as President by Ulysses Grant. Although equally as inept as Johnson, Grant did not try and obstruct Congress in the same way as Johnson had, and the huge republican majority in Congress had almost a free reign to carry on with Reconstruction. Why, then, as civil rights were starting to improve, and Reconstruction could at last carry on unhindered, did it prove such an abject failure? Seven years later it was effectively over, and the situation had almost reverted to that before the war.It seems that by and large the aim of the Rad ical Republicans was to create a South in the image of the North before the war, with some improvements such as black suffrage. Perhaps this aim was too simplistic; certainly it was unlikely to succeed. Not only had both the North and South changed considerably since before the war, but they were also very different entities economically, socially and structurally.For the South the end of the war had brought about a social upheaval. The abolition of slavery had destroyed a way of life, and an economy. In the North very little had changed; the war had been about ideals not practicalities. One of the first things to suffer in the South was the economy, which before the war had been based almost entirely on cotton and slavery. After the war, cotton prices fell sharply, as competition from India had a sharp felt effect, while the loss of such a cheap and readily available labour force was even more devastating. The blacks, who as slaves had been an important part of the economy themselv es, were determined not to assume the same role in society as before the war, and would only work reasonable length days for reasonable pay. One solution, proposed by Thaddeus Stevens, would have been the redistribution of some of the land to the blacks, which would probably have revived the economy to some extent, but this was far too radical a suggestion for the time. Instead, after very unsuccessful attempts to recreate the old plantation system (the Black Codes were one such attempt), the estates were divided up into small farms and let to farmers, either black or white. Unfortunately, the entire system was based on debt, and was impossible to sustain. The poor whites simply became worse off, and were joined in poverty by the blacks, who were in almost the same position.Fortunately for the planters, who were still the richest and most influential, the natural alliance never came about, and instead the whites blamed their troubles on the blacks, along with the scalawags and the c arpetbaggers. Organisations such as the Ku Klux Klan benefited from this, and even began to achieve a modicum of respectability in the South, as they were supported by large numbers of Southerners. The Southern leaders became involved to a lesser extent, mostly through propaganda. They spread rumours of corruption within the reconstruction governments and especially the Freedmans Bureau, which succumbed in 1872.These divisions amongst people in the South even extended to divisions among the blacks. There was a small but influential middle class of blacks, who did not really cooperate with the majority. The blacks created their own society, which was separate to that of the whites. It could be said that one of the advantages of the American way of life is that communities can be set up and stay almost entirely unconnected to any other. However, in this case the lack of integration did not serve the blacks well at all, mostly because they had very little political power to support the ir community. At first they saw education as a vital tool to self improvement, but as it became clear that it was not working, they lost interest. In 1890 64% of blacks were still illiterate, although this had risen from 95% in 1865. Religion became very important, but again it was confined to the black community.Probably the most important reason why reconstruction failed was simply that the North lost interest in the issue. There were very few blacks in the North, so the issue rarely entered the consciousness of the people. Moreover, the idea of actively doing something to promote the rights of the blacks was unfamiliar: many people thought that having their rights enshrined in the Constitution was sufficient. Politics, which could have kept the issue at the forefront of public opinion, lost interest. During the war politics had been something of vital importance, with the interests of the Union above those of parties or personalities, but by 1870 it had returned to the more munda ne issues of attracting votes and being re-elected. Republicans realised they had to pander to the views of the Southern whites, while Northern Democrats realised the importance of the black vote. All the radical campaigners such as Stevens retired or lost their enthusiasm, and the government decided that it would be easier to cooperate with the Southern leaders.In 1877 Hayes was elected President, on the condition that he brought about the end of Reconstruction. In fact, it was already at an end. The Northern political will had died out, to be replaced by apathy in the North and continued and renewed discrimination in the South. Reconstruction had been tried, and it had failed. Some might say that it had been destined to fail from the very beginning, and that the South could not deal with such a radical change in such a short space of time. Whatever the reason for its failure, it left the American South backward and unenlightened for the next eighty years.