Kennedy V. Meredith Research Paper

　　　　Slavery was at the root of the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford. Dred Scott sued his master to obtain freedom for himself and his family. His argument was that he had lived in a territory where slavery was illegal; therefore he should be considered a free man. Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia around 1800. Scott and his family were slaves owned by Peter Blow and his family. He moved to St. Louis with them in 1830 and was sold to John Emerson, a military doctor. They went to Illinois and the Wisconsin territory where the Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibited slavery. Dred Scott married and had two

Throughout the first two books of March, by John Lewis, a lot of major events like sit-ins, stand- ins, and marches took place. These events were being led by either Lewis himself, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or other members of peaceful organizations (SNCC, Freedom Riders, etc.). Although there were many marches that contributed to the overall effect in the end, four main events stood out to me; The Nashville Student Movements’ first sit-in in Nashville, TN. (1960), standing in line to try and buy tickets to get into segregated movie theatres in Nashville, TN. (1961), the march led by Dr. King in Birmingham, AL. against a court order (1963), and the march on Washington (1963).

because his views were aligned with that of most whites, and Clyde Kennard, who hoped that school officials would be moved by his service in the military, proved to Meredith that “to hope that white Mississippians would voluntarily desegregate their schools...was wishful thinking”. In 1956 Meredith read about Eisenhower’s decision to send federal troops to Little Rock Arkansas to enforce the Brown decision. This news made him confident in his existing belief that if he wanted to be admitted to Ole Miss he would need backing from the federal government.6

This march was to help with how the laws against blacks were taken down for good and how it affected their future. This is probably one of my favorite stories ever.

The Supreme Court has deemed it acceptable to use the death penalty in certain situations. Many states have a problem with this punishment although it was upheld as fair application in some instances by a court that is above theirs. In applying this punishment, there is due process to ensure that no innocent citizen should be wrongfully accused for a crime that they didn’t commit. As in any court case that ends up punishing someone, due process is an important and death penalty is a viable punishment as any other.

Following the death of Dr. Emerson, Dred Scott sued Mrs. Emerson in Missouri court because he desired his freedom. Under Dr. Emerson in Illinois, Dred had been a slave, but since him and his family currently lived in a state where slavery was banned, he rightfully deserved his freedom. Although the jury declared Scott free in 1850, Missouri reversed the law, claiming him as a slave under the law that Missouri governed, which remained a slave state at the time.

Dred Scott was born a slave in the state of Virginia around the 1800's. Around 1833 he was purchased from his original owner, Peter Blow, by John Emerson, an officer in the United States Army. Dr. Emerson took Dred Scott to the free state of Illinois to live, and under it's constitution, he was eligible to be free. In around 1836, Dred Scott and his owner moved to Wisconsin territory, a territory that was free under the Missouri compromise. It was in Wisconsin that Dred Scott met and married Harriet Robinson. John Emerson was transferred in 1837 to Ft. Jessup, Louisiana, were he met and married Irene Sandford. Dred Scott and his wife followed Dr. Emerson and his wife from duty station to duty station;

In the case of Kennedy V. Louisiana Patrick Kennedy was found guilty in raping and sodomizing his eight-year-old stepdaughter in a Louisiana courtroom. Mr. Kennedy refused to plead guilty and stated the crime was committed by two young boys from the neighborhood. He was convicted sentenced to death 2003. On March 2nd 1988 the victim sustained severe injuries; the injuries required emergency surgery because the rape was so brutal. Louisiana law authorized capital punishment for the rape of a child twelve years and younger. Mr. Patrick Kennedy challenged his sentence under the eighteen amendments as cruel and unusual punishment. The Louisiana Supreme Court declined the challenged that the death penalty was not too harsh for such a wicked crime. In a Supreme Court decision Coker v. Georgia 1977 the United States Supreme Court concluded that capital punishment for rape of an adult women was not applicable if the victim is a child and if it did not result or contemplated in result of a death. The court discussed a number of Supreme Court case related to child vulnerability and the death penalty. In the case of Roper V. Simmons the court ruled that the death penalty could not be applied to a person if the crime was committed when they were under the age of eighteen. In another case, Atkins V. Virginia the death penalty could not be placed on a mentally ill person. The petitioner Kennedy argued that in all these cases they do not establish conformity.

Mrs. King and dozens of national figures lead a peaceful memorial march through downtown in tribute to Dr.King in remembrance of what he has down and also in support of the strike

June 5,1966 he began a walk to Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson to protest racism and

Then in 1965, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. And though this was passed into legislation the voting process were still rigged against African Americans. A young man James Meredith began to walk along the south to spread awareness of the challenges African Americans faced to vote. He was shot two days into his cause. The walk was continued by Martin Luther King, and current SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael. This was the beginning of a decline in nonviolent protest by Martin Luther King, and a more result driven tactics by Stokely.

Bernard was a very simple and low profile individual throughout most of his life. Bernard was never considered to be apart of the popular crowd at school but always excelled in academics and was considered to be in the top rankings in his class. Later in life Bernard grew up to be a very successful lawyer. This paper is a biography about the life of Bernard and the events that shaped him into the man he was (Roberts).

The 1963 March on Washington further exemplified the political significance of King. Due to its peaceful nature, President Kennedy, who preferred to agree with them protesting in an amicable manner, rather than rioting, did not prove to be an opposition to the march. The physical representation of what they desired – desegregation, showed unity between the predominantly middle

Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech sparked the nation across America to drastic measures. In the era where discrimination and oppression was prominent towards people of color, Dr. King made a revolution in hope of his aspirations that there will be harmony among black and white people. On August 28, 1963 King led a march of 200,000 persons, black and white, from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial.

Hippocrates, directed his fellow physicians “to help and do no harm” (McCormick, 2013) which basically brought to the bare the fact that, considerations of respect for persons and for justice have been present in the development of societies from the earliest times.