The Help First Blog: Racial Segregation/Jim Crow Laws

Racial Segregation began with the Jim Crow Laws. These laws mandated separate but equal for African Americans. Jim Crow Laws were ordinances established between 1874 and 1975 to separate the white and black races of the American South. In theory, it was to create "separate but equal" status treatment but in practice Jim Crow Laws condemned black citizens to inferior treatment and facilities.

The most important Jim Crow Laws required that public schools, public facilities, water fountains, toilets, and public transportation, like trains and buses, have separate facilities for whites and blacks. These laws meant that black people were legally required to attend separate schools and churches, use public bathrooms marked "for colored only", eat in a separate section of a restaurant, and sit in the rear of a bus. 

The book, "The Help" takes place around this time period. It goes back to 1962, in Jackson, Mississippi and the characters are Aibileen ( far right) and Minny(next to her on the left). They are both black maids and the story is about what it was like to work for white families and the struggles they had to face in the process. Not only that but also what it was like in the 1960's when racism was going on and how a person was treated for being African American. Minny works for Miss Hilly ( far right) and Miss Hilly never wants Minny to use her bathroom because she looks at African Americans as being full of diseases. There is a bathroom outside that was built for Minny, so that ties in with the racism, separate bathrooms. Also, Aibileen and Minny went to an all black church since back then the churches were separated. Also, they had to ride on separate buses in order to go to work and go home. 

My Sisters Keepers Last Blog Entry

  In the book My Sisters Keeper written by Jodi Picoult, it is told by many different viewpoints from the characters of the story. Kate is one of the characters and she goes through a battle of leukemia throughout the entire book. The other characters are Anna (her sister and her bone marrow donor), Sarah (mother), Jesse ( brother), Brian (father), Campbell ( lawyer) and Julia (child activist). Every chapter is a characters point of view. A character talks about their feelings and emotions and their sides of the story throughout this whole process of Kate having cancer. I think thats the reason why the author wrote the book this way, to show readers the characters sides to the story and how they all deal with this tough situation. I also believe that she wrote this because it relates to real life and what a family goes through when somebody has cancer and how it changes everything. Everybody has their own thoughts when it comes to these situations. 

From left to right; Sarah, Kate, Anna, Jesse, and Brian. While I was reading the book, the characters did kinda change my opinions of them and the situation. Sarah was very supportive of Kate and was always there for her. I felt bad that Kate was going through such a life-threatning disease but I also felt bad for the rest of the characters. From Sarah's perspective, she seemed like she was a good mother and had a nice relationship with her family but when Kate was diagnosed with leukemia, all her attention went to her. From Anna's perspective, Sarah hardly gave any attention to the rest of her family. Also Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate and had to go through so many surgeries to prepare for the transplant. This affected her social life because she never really talked about having friends nor would she have the time to be with friends. Also, this situation had affected Sarah and Brian's marriage. Anna changed my opinion on Sarah because even though she was trying to be a good mother and support Kate, she still should've had time for Anna. It seemed like Sarah only cared if Anna was the donor for Kate and didn't seem to understand how hard a transplant is to get done and what the risks are. She just figured the more medications Anna took, the easier it would've been to get through the transplant.

My Sisters Keeper Second Blog Entry

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003009.htm

This article talks about the procedure of a bone marrow transplant. In the book, My Sisters Keeper, there are two sisters named Anna and Kate. Kate has been battling leukemia since she was little and her sister Anna, is conceived as a bone marrow match for her. There are so many steps to go through with this procedure that its crazy. A bone marrow transplant is a procedures to replace damaged or destroyed bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells. Bone marrow is the soft, fatty tissue inside your bones. Stem cells are immature cells in the bone marrow that give rise to all of your blood cells. Before the transplant chemotherapy, radiation, or both may be given. There are two ways this can be done; ablative treatment and reduced intensity treatment. Ablative treatment is high-dose chemotherapy, radiation, or both are given to kill any cancer cells. This also kills all healthy bone marrow that remains, and allows new stem cells to grow in the bone marrow. Reduced intensity treatment is when patients receive lower doses of chemotherapy and radiation before a transplant. There are a lot of risks that one must be willing to take for this procedure. A bone marrow transplant may cause chest pain, chills, blood pressure may drop, fever, weird taste in the mouth, headaches, hives, nausea, pain, and shortness of breathe. Your healthcare provider will ask about your medical history and will perform a physical exam. You will have many tests before treatment begins. Before someone goes through the transplant, they will have one or two tubes ( catheters), inserted into a blood vessel in their neck or arms. This tube will allow the person to receive treatments, fluids, and sometimes nutrition. The doctor or nurse will then talk about the emotional stress of having a bone marrow transplant. It's good idea to meet with a mental health counselor as well. It is also important for someone to talk to their family to help them understand what to expect. While in the hospital, you may receive medications to prevent or treat infections, you need many blood transfusions, and you will be fed through a vein (IV) until you can eat  by mouth and stomach side effects and mouth sores have gone away.

I personally feel that Anna is too young to be giving a bone marrow transplant. I understand that her sister has cancer but 13 to me is a young age to be going through that process. I think they should ask a different member of the family, someone older. If I was Sarah, I would not make Anna go through that process because its torture. The symptoms after a bone marrow is terrible. I wouldn't want to have Anna to have pains in her chest, or her blood pressure to drop, or nausea, or even shortness of breathe. Its just too risky and what if things go wrong? Why can't Sarah ask someone who's older? I don't mean to sound that way but Anna is too young. The fact that she has gone through blood transfusions and surgeries just bothers me. I know that this is all for her sister and she's helping. She is a strong girl, I just feel bad.