Birth of a Nation Essay -- essays research papers

On March 3, 1915 the movie The Birth of a Nation was released at the Liberty Theatre in New York City. This film was financed, filmed, and released by the Epoch Producing Corporation of D.W. Griffith and Harry T. Aitken. It was one of the first films to ever use deep-focus shots, night photography, and to be explicitly controversial with the derogatory view of blacks.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the movie, the film justified the need of the KKK in order to keep social harmony among society after the Civil War. In the beginning, the Cameron family was depicted as loving family and the slaves were depicted as sensible and content beings during the slave period. The chaos and madness started after the civil war during the Reconstruction period. Blacks were then portrayed as animalistic savages that were oppressing the rights of the white people in the community and threatened their livelihood. So, African Americans could only be placed into two categories in this movie. They were either the faithful servant or the renegade whose objective was to intimidate and terrorize white people. The black slaves are shown as noble beings that defended their masters against other black people. However, the black people in congress are shown as arrogant and ignorant with no manners. This sort of subtly suggest that blacks proper role is to tend to the land and that they lack the sense and morals to be given them the same equality as a white person. If blacks were on the same le...

The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Thirty

â€Å"Cappuccino and a croissant?† the waitress said, and, at Elena's nod, set them down on the table. Elena pushed her notebooks aside to make room. Midterms were coming up, on top of everything else that was happening. Elena had tried studying in her room but was too distracted by the sight of Bonnie's empty bed. She and Meredith were al wrong without Bonnie. She hadn't gotten much done here at the cafe, either, despite getting one of the prime big outdoor tables that she could spread her books out on. She'd tried, but her mind kept circling back to Samantha's death. Samantha was such a nice girl, Elena thought. Elena remembered how her eyes lit up when she laughed and the way she bounced on the bal s of her feet as if she was bursting to move, run, dance, too ful of energy to sit stil . Meredith didn't make new friends that easily, but the wary coolness she usual y wore with strangers had relaxed around Samantha. When Elena had left the dorm, Meredith was on the phone with Alaric. Maybe he would know what to say, how to comfort her. Unwil ing to break into their conversation, Elena left her a note indicating where she would be if Meredith needed her. Stirring her coffee, Elena looked up to see Meredith coming toward her. The tal er girl sat down across from Elena and fixed her with her serious gray eyes. â€Å"Alaric says Dalcrest is a hot spot for paranormal activity,† she said. â€Å"Black magic, vampires, werewolves, the whole package.† Elena nodded and added more sugar to her cup. â€Å"Just as Professor Campbel hinted,† she said thoughtful y. â€Å"I get the feeling he knows more than he's saying.† â€Å"You need to push him,† Meredith said tightly. â€Å"If he liked your parents so much, he'l feel like he has to tel you the truth. We don't have time to waste.† She reached out and broke off a piece of Elena's croissant. â€Å"Can I have this? I haven't had anything to eat today, and I'm starting to feel dizzy.† Looking at the strained lines on Meredith's face, the dark shadows under her eyes, Elena felt a sharp stab of sympathy. â€Å"Of course,† she said, pushing the plate toward her. â€Å"I just cal ed Damon to come meet me.† She watched as Meredith decimated the croissant, stirring stil more sugar into her coffee. Elena felt in need of comfort. It wasn't long before they saw Damon sauntering down the street toward them, his hair sleek and perfect, his al – black clothes casual y elegant, sunglasses on. Heads turned as he walked by, and Elena distinctly saw one girl miss her footing and fal off the curb. â€Å"That was fast,† Elena said, as Damon pul ed out a chair and sat down. â€Å"I'm fast,† Damon answered, â€Å"and you said it was important.† â€Å"It is,† Elena said. â€Å"Our friend Samantha is dead.† Damon jerked his head in acknowledgment. â€Å"I know. The police are al over campus. As if they'l be able to do anything.† â€Å"What do you mean?† asked Meredith, glaring at him. â€Å"Well, these killings don't exactly fal under the police's agency, do they?† Damon reached out and plucked Elena's coffee cup from her hand. He took a sip, then made a smal moue of distaste. â€Å"Darling, this is far too sweet.† Meredith's hands were bal ing into fists, and Elena thought she had better speed things up. â€Å"Damon, if you know something about this, please tel us.† Damon handed her back her cappuccino and signaled the waitress to bring him one of his own. â€Å"To tel you the truth, darling, I don't know much about Samantha's death, or that of Mutt's roommate, whatever his name was. I couldn't get close enough to the bodies to have any real information. But I've found definite evidence that there are other vampires on campus. Sloppy ones.† His face twisted into the same expression he'd made after tasting Elena's coffee. â€Å"Probably newly made, I'd guess. No technique at al .† â€Å"What kind of evidence?† Meredith asked. Damon looked surprised. â€Å"Bodies of course. Very poorly disposed of bodies. Shal ow graves, bonfires, that kind of thing.† Elena frowned. â€Å"So the people who have disappeared were kil ed by vampires?† Damon wagged a finger at her teasingly. â€Å"I didn't say that. The bodies I examined – and let me tel you, digging up a shal ow grave was real y a first for me – were not the same ones that vanished from campus. I don't know if your missing students were kil ed by vampires or not, but somebody else was. Several somebodies. I've been trying to find these vampires, but I haven't had any luck. Yet.† Meredith, who normal y would have jumped on Damon's comment about this being his first time digging up a grave, looked thoughtful. â€Å"I saw Samantha's body,† she said hesitantly. â€Å"It didn't look like a typical vampire attack to me. And from the way Matt described Christopher's body, I don't think his did, either. They were† – she took a deep breath – â€Å"mauled. Torn apart.† â€Å"It could be a pack of real y angry vampires, or messy ones,† Damon said. â€Å"Or werewolves might be vicious like that. It's more their style.† The waitress appeared with his cappuccino, and he thanked her graciously. She retreated, blushing. â€Å"There's another thing,† Elena said once the waitress was out of hearing range. She glanced inquiringly at Meredith, who nodded at her. â€Å"We're worried about Bonnie and her new boyfriend.† Quickly, she outlined the reasons they had for being suspicious of Zander and Bonnie's reaction to their concerns. Damon raised one eyebrow as he finished his drink. â€Å"So you think the little redbird's suitor might be dangerous?† He smiled. â€Å"I'l look into it, princess. Don't worry.† Dropping a few dol ars on the table, he rose and sauntered across the street, disappearing into a grove of maples. A few minutes later, a large black crow with shining iridescent feathers rose above the trees, flapping its wings powerful y. It gave a raucous caw and flew away. â€Å"That was surprisingly helpful of him,† Meredith said. Her face was stil tired and drawn, but her voice was interested. Elena didn't have to look up to know that her friend was watching her speculatively. Eyes demurely downward, feeling her cheeks flush pink, she took another sip of her cappuccino. Damon was right. It was much too sweet.

Executive Leadership And Strategic Decisions - 2840 Words

Executive Leadership and Strategic Decisions (Good Bad) Literature Review Bibliography and Outline Module 5 Jeffery Barlow BMAL 501 Liberty University 8/16/2015 Abstract Leaders of organizations are expected to make decisions that positively impact the organization. Not all decisions of leaders are made with the best interests of the organization at hand and not all decisions are beneficial for an organization or the organizations’ employees. Decisions are made in organizations based on attribution, gender bias and in crisis situations. Conversely, there are good decisions made in organizations and those decisions are more likely to benefit an organization and the organizations employees in a positive manner.†¦show more content†¦33). A study was conducted to review the effects of internal and external factors of attribution theory in organizations. The goal was to see how and why attribution had an effect on decisions made within organizations. Of course the internal factors are within the person and the external factors are factors in our environment. â€Å"Autocratic leaders are arbitrary, controlling, power-oriented, coercive, punitive and closed-minded† (Lopez, Ensari, 2014, p. 21). They have a negative impact on employee job satisfaction as well because they are so structured and are not concerned with how employees feel in the work place. Employees want to feel that their leaders have some c are and concern about their and their families’ well-being and the employees’ success with the organization. While employees see autocratic leaders as the so-called mean leader they have a total different view of the so-called charismatic leader. â€Å"The charismatic leader is viewed as a leader with strong qualities such as strategic vision, inspiration and unconventionality that lead the followers to strongly identify them† (Lopez, Ensari, 2014, p. 21). It is almost like employees believe that an organization with autocratic leaders is doomed to failure because the leader has no personality and does not properly care for their employees feelings and emotions– which we know is not true – and conversely