LaCai LaNai Emma and Jocelyn

Four students introduce themselves and the historical figures they will be presenting: Emily Dickinson, Abraham Lincoln, Eli Whitney, and Herman Melville. Emily Dickinson faced setbacks due to her gender and secluded lifestyle, while Abraham Lincoln's biggest setback was the loss of his children. Eli Whitney faced obstacles related to lack of capital and piracy of his invention, the cotton gin. Herman Melville experienced financial ruin. Emily Dickinson had a seven-year education at Amherst Academy and fell in love with literature. Abraham Lincoln attended school for one year and self-educated afterward. Eli Whitney attended local schools and worked as an apprentice. Emily Dickinson came from a wealthy family and lived in Amherst, Massachusetts. Abraham Lincoln grew up in Kentucky, worked on a farm, and had four children. Eli Whitney was born in Massachusetts and enjoyed inventing. Emily Dickinson's poems, characterized by unconventional style and themes, were mostly unknown during her out, guys. I need a new class for her. Okay, it's recording. I can cut anything out, you two go. Okay. Hi, so I'm Eva, and I'm going to be presenting Emily Dickinson. I'm Lenaya, and I'm going to be representing Abraham Lincoln. Hi, I'm Jocelyn. I'll be presenting Eva Whitney. Hi, I'm Lakai, and I'll be talking about Herman Melville. All right, so just to introduce Emily Dickinson a little bit, she was an extremely impactful poet who influenced a lot of the future generations of poets. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, and he helped free the slaves. Eli Whitney was an American inventor widely known for the cotton gin. Herman Melville joined a mutiny that landed the missionaries in a detention jail from which he escaped without divorce. So a few major setbacks for Emily Dickinson was mostly for the fact that she was obviously a woman, LOL, and the fact that she led such a secluded life where she didn't leave the house. Like, girl had her own quarantine before COVID. So anyway, so I'm gonna cut that out. Because she led such a secluded life, that definitely set her back. And also, any of her poems before her death were only published anonymously. Yeah. Abraham Lincoln's biggest setback was lost Eli Whitney's obstacles were that a lack of capital and the ease with which the cotton gin could be pirated, conspired against him. Melville's biggest problem was that it was financially ruined. So he was basically having money problems. So a little bit about Emily Dickinson's education. Her education was built at her time at Amherst Academy, an impressive school where she lived in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was at school and was getting her education from 1840 to 1847, where she left with an impressive level of education, which was really, it didn't really happen to people during her time. And that really just set her back a lot because she didn't have a lot of the education or the or the Yeah, she didn't have any of the opportunities a lot of people did. So the fact that she had a seven year education was extremely impressive. And through her time in school, she fell in love with literature and immersed herself in the writing of established writers and read a ton, wrote a ton. But she did not go to any colleging. She taught herself after she graduated. Okay, um, Abraham Lincoln, he attended school for one year of his life. But he has, but he attended three schools by the time he was 15. His first school was in the cabin. But after that, he self educated himself. Eli Whitney attended local schools before briefly studying at Leicester Academy. And he also worked as an apprentice for a variety of trades. Herman attended the Avani Academy. Okay, that's fine. So about that, about Emily Dickinson's early wife, wife. So about Emily Dickinson's early life, she came from early, came from an extremely wealthy family, not extremely, it was just, you know, kind of like higher middle class. She came from Amherst, Massachusetts, obviously. And she was the daughter of Edward and Emily Dickinson. She was named after her mom. Her family was about a five people family with her and her two siblings and her parents, and obviously some staff. And about Abraham Lincoln's early life, he was from Kentucky. He was always working on a farm, splitting rails for fences and keeping a store at New Salem. His wife was Mary Todd, and they have four children. All his kids died except for his eldest. And he was the most successful. Eli Whitney was born on December 8, the same, we have the same birthday. That's so cool. In 1765 in Westborough, Massachusetts. And then it was filled with like a lot of inventions. And then he also enjoyed taking things apart and then putting them back together. Most of Dickinson's achievements... Okay, Melville was born in New York, and he was also the third child of a prosperous merchant. So some of Emily Dickinson's achievements were obviously her poems, but most of... Hold on, I'm gonna have to cut that out. So Emily Dickinson's career as a poet was defined by her remarkable accomplishments in the realm of American literature. Despite leading such a recluse and alone life, like she was very alone. She didn't leave her house. She had over 1000 poems, which were characterized by their style, by their themes, and her work was definitely challenged by more conventional poetic norms, featuring unconventional punctuation and psych capitalization. It explored so many different topics like death and nature, and obviously the human psyche. During her lifetime, though, she remained relatively unknown. She was very... only a few of her poems were actually published, but they were only published anonymously. But after her death, her sister Lavinia discovered her extensive work, like thousands of poems, obviously, and then released them all, published all of them for her. And now obviously, she is Emily Dickinson. Everybody knows her. Abraham Lincoln was elected two times, one in 1860 and then in 1868, I guess. He built a Republican Party and he guided by the Declaration of Independence, and he has a statue in Washington. Eva Whitney's major accomplishment was just a cotton gin that he invented in 1793 or 1794. Helena Melva received a National Book Award for nonfiction. Some historical context involving Emily Dickinson was the major shift in economy, politics, and society during her life. In the 1800s, when Emily Dickinson lived, the economy was shifting, there were more factories and new technologies changed, and that changed how people were working. Politics got really intense as the country argued about important things like slavery leading up to the Civil War. Society was changing too, specifically for women who started fighting for more rights. These unique times shaped Emily Dickinson's life and obviously the way she wrote those poems, as you can see through a lot of her poems, it showed her emotions on the war, on slavery, and obviously being a woman. About analyzing how the historical context shapes the perspective of your historical figure, I said not much more could have been said about Abraham Lincoln even a year later when Lincoln thought he would lose his bid for re-election. It would take Lee's surrender at Procter and Mall's courthouse and his own death a week later to propel Lincoln into the pentacon of presidential greatness. For Eli Whitney, some of his major shifts in the economy and politics was that the labor-saving device, aka the cotton gin, Whitney created, effectively rejuvenated the institution of slavery in the South, split American society, and this was a significant factor leading to the dissolution and the Civil War. At a young age Melville had an advantage because his father was also really successful. He had multiple jobs because he had to also provide for his family because they didn't have money. To further analyze the historical context about Emily Dickinson, growing up in the 1800s definitely had big changes on her emotionally and for her literature. Obviously the big changes in America during that time, Emily Dickinson's perspective was shaped by the shifting of the world around her. The debates about slavery and the Civil War influenced her thoughts on society and politics. Even though she lived an extremely secluded life, the evolving roles of women and the transcendentalist ideas of the time also shaped her unique perspective as a poet in general. I have nothing else to say and my computer is dying and it's over 12 minutes. Can we wrap it up? Are we done? Have you all said everything? Yeah.