The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was a controversial part of the Compromise of 1850. The 1850 slave law added penalties for officials who did not arrest alleged runaway slaves. It fined them $1,000. Any law enforcement official was required to arrest anyone suspected of being a runaway slave. All that was required was a persons sworn testimony of ownership. As before there was no trial and the suspect could not testify on their own behalf. Anyone who provided food or shelter to any suspected runaway slave was subject to six months in prison and a fine of $1,000. An officer who captured a runaway slave would get a bonus or a promotion. The 1850 law provided for special commissioners to decide if the alleged fugitive was to be returned to slavery. He received $10 if the fugitive was returned, but only $5 if the fugitive was freed. This amounted to a legal form of bribery. This caused a large number of free blacks to be sent into slavery.
The 1850 Fugitive Slave Law caused outrage in the Northern States. It caused thousands of Northerners to be convinced slavery should not be allowed in the western territories. Eight states in the North passed "personal liberty" laws. These prevented any official from helping to return a runaway slave. Southerners regarded these laws as being illegal attempts to prevent the return of their slaves. In the North, free black communities provided runaway slaves with sanctuary and hid them from the hired kidnappers searching for them. About 15,000 free blacks emigrated to Canada, the Caribbean and Africa after the 1850 law was passed. Thousands of others including free blacks were not so lucky and were sent South.
In 1851, a gun battle broke out between abolitionists and slave catchers in Christiana, Pennsylvania. In Wisconsin a fugitive named Joshua Glover was forcibly freed from a jail. In Boston, a mob tried to free a fugitive named Anthony Burns. It took 22 companies of state troopers to stop them. The Southern states were completely convinced the North would not follow the slave laws.
Jack Vettriano
Jack Vettriano, OBE (né Jack Hoggan, born 17 November 1951), is a Scottish painter. His 1992 painting, "The Singing Butler", became a best-selling image in Britain.
Jack Vettriano grew up in the industrial seaside town of Methil, Fife. He was raised in poverty, and lived with his mother, father and older brother in a spartan miner’s cottage, sharing a bed with his brother and wearing hand-me-down clothes. From the age of 10, his father sent him out to earn money. His father took half his earnings. Vettriano left school at 16.
Much of his art education came from studying paintings at the Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery.
It is fair to say that Vettriano is controversial. Professional art critics do not seem to like his work, but the public does. He is one of at least three modern British artists to make a great deal of money from his works.
In 1989 Vettriano had two canvases in the Royal Scottish Academy annual show. Both paintings sold on the first day and Vettriano was approached by several galleries. Further exhibitions followed in Edinburgh, London, Hong Kong and Johannesburg. In November 1999, Vettriano’s work was shown for the first time in New York City, when 21 paintings were displayed at The International 20th Century Arts Fair at The Armory. More than 40 collectors from the UK flew out for the event and 20 paintings were sold on the opening night.
His easel paintings cost between £48,000 and £195,000 new. According to "The Guardian" he earns £500,000 a year in print royalties. Vettriano's 1992 painting, "The Singing Butler", has been the best-selling image in Britain. On 21 April 2004 the original canvas of "The Singing Butler" sold at auction for £744,500. It had been rejected in 1992 by the Royal Academy summer exhibition.
In March 2010, "Days Of Wine And Roses" was opened by Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond at the Kirkcaldy Museum. The exhibition then transferred to Vettriano's gallery in London.
In February 2011, it was announced that Vettriano's self-portrait "The Weight" would be displayed at the re-opened Scottish National Portrait Gallery from November 2011, the first time he had exhibited at a national gallery. Deputy director Nicola Kalinsky said Vettriano was "a figure we have wanted on our wall for a while for obvious reasons". First Minister, Alex Salmond said of Vettriano, "He is a wonderful artist of considerable talent and achievement and this is a magnificent tribute to the special place he holds in the hearts of people in Scotland."
In September 2013, a major retrospective of Vettriano's work opened at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. 'Jack Vettriano: A Retrospective' ran until 23 February 2014 and featured over 100 works.
Devendra Jhajharia
Devendra Jhajharia (born 10 June 1981) is an Indian Paralympic javelin thrower competing in F46 events. The first Indian Paralympian to win two gold medals at the Paralympics, he won his first gold in the javelin throw at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, becoming only the second gold medalist at the Paralympics for his country. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won a second gold medal in the same event, bettering his previous record. Devendra is currently being supported by the GoSports Foundation through the Para Champions Programme.
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania was the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania, from 711 to 788.
The conquest destroyed the Visigothic Kingdom and set up the Emirate of Cordova under Abd ar-Rahman I. This completed al-Andalus, the unification of Muslim-ruled Iberia (756–788). The conquest was the westernmost expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate and Muslim rule into Europe. Charles Martel defeated them in the Battle of Tours, so they did not conquer France.
The conquering army was made up mainly of Berbers (north-western Africa). They had only recently come under Muslim influence. They arrived in early 711 at Gibraltar.
The Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus was overthrown around 750 AD, but continued in al-Andalus until 1031.
The period from 710 to the fall of the last Islamic state in the Battle of Granada in 1492 is called the "Reconquista".
John Brown's Body (epic poem)
John Brown's Body is an epic poem by American poet Stephen Vincent Benét.
In 1925 Stephen Vincent Benét decided to write a long poem. With this proposal he approached the Guggenheim Foundation. He asked for 2 500 dollars and got it. Then he went to France. He settled in Paris and began to write. The poem was published in 1928. At once it became very popular. No American poem gained such popularity earlier. Ever Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's works were not so widely read. 130 000 copies of the book were sold during two years. For this poem the poet received the Pulitzer Prize in 1929. Many years later he got the second Pulitzer Prize for the poem "Western Star".
The poem in written in many measures. The poet employs both regular blank verse, free verse and different stanzas. This fragment is an example of classical blank verse.
From time to time the poet uses alliteration.
John Brown's Body is a poem about Civil War in America. The story begins with John Brown and his deeds. It ends with general Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. In this work historical and fictional persons are presented together. In 1953 Charles Laughton turned the poem into a play. It was performed in many theatres in America.
Slave Power