U.S. Civil War – Causes, Aftermath and Effects
The USA Melting Pot club will hold its tenth meeting at the Troy Public Library Monday, February 25, 2013, from 7-9 p.m.
Civil War History Theme – Panel Discussion
2013 is the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation & Gettysburg, the turning point of the Civil War. Since February 12 was Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and last month’s theme was African American culture, we’re planning a panel discussion on the Civil War, including its causes, aftermath, and effect on today’s America.
If you’re not available Monday night or if your interest is aroused to learn more, Maureen Esther will present Wednesday on the Civil War – highlighting a Union drummer boy’s life and the Michigan 22nd Infantry Regiment. Location is the same: Troy Public Library’s meeting room from 7:00-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 27.
African American Culture and Skiing
Mrs. Joya Shepard, Personnel Director of Orion Assembly and Pontiac Metal Fabricating at General Motors, spoke January 17 on African American culture, history, food, and traditions, including their contributions to education, science, literature and music.
Some of her excellent presentation slides will be shown at the February 25 meeting before the panel discussion. Pictures from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC and Charleston, South Carolina, site of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the Civil War, will also be shown.
The January hobby topic was cross-country and downhill skiing, with input from members of a local ski club. We learned techniques for both sports and where to ski locally, in northern Michigan and elsewhere in North America.
Website Updates
Marcus Chen has updated our club website. You can view and print our travel spreadsheet with common phrases in several languages.
Both January presentations can be found there, as well as the other Culture & Country presentations from previous meetings: Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Korea, and Mexico. Teachers may find this a good reference for their students.
Under Hobbies & Fun, you will find Bicycling, Camping, Canoeing & Kayaking as well as skiing.
Even if you can’t come to the meetings, everyone is invited to join our club by clicking on the Register button, write a blog article or post a community event.
We appreciate miindia.com posting our meeting notices on their website and invite them and other ethnic communities to post their events. We hope the USA Melting Pot website will become a clearinghouse for all ethnic groups to interact with each other.
Building and Crossing Bridges – Everyone is Welcome
The new USA Melting Pot club is unique in building and crossing bridges between ethnic groups, which already have their own individual clubs. In the past, we’ve had meetings on Chinese culture and bicycle touring, India’s culture and canoeing, Korean culture and camping, German culture, Brazilian culture and held a potluck picnic at the Troy Historic Village.
Club Purpose:
- To help newcomers assimilate into the USA and mingle with all ethnic groups
- To celebrate ethnic background & cultural identity, including American culture
- To provide a forum for conversational English
- To encourage face to face dialogue in our increasingly technology-dependent world
Please pass the word
Attached is a meeting notice. Please print copies and post them on bulletin boards at work, place of worship, grocery stores etc. You can also help us out by emailing links to this article to interested friends.
Future meetings at the Troy Public Library Meeting Room
- March 23* 12:30-2:30 p.m., Ireland
- April: Japan, Turkey or Bangladesh
*tentative date
More Information
For more information, visit our club website for posts of past presentations. Check back often as new information is added.
Contact: Weilou Gao at weilou@USAmeltingpot.org or 248-978-7904
Timothy Rath
1:23 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
Thanks for the post, Dale, this seems like a valuable organization to the Troy community for the cultural education it offers on top of all of the other purposes you mentioned.
Dale Murrish
9:31 pm on Sunday, February 24, 2013
Everyone is invited to the meeting to ask questions in person. All viewpoints will be discussed by the panel, including Zoltan's question.
Presentations will be posted on the USA Melting Pot website eventually, but part of our purpose is face-to-face interaction. Especially on topics where there is controversy.
There were devout Christians fighting on both sides. My own views are the same as Abraham Lincoln. Come to the meeting and participate in the discussion!
Dale Murrish
5:32 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Those who missed the Civil War discussion at the USA Melting Pot meeting February 25 can view the meeting agenda (with general info about the club) and both Intro to the Civil War presentations. They are posted on our website on the main page and in Archives under February 2013 and United States.
http://usameltingpot.org/
We also had an excellent Table Time conversation on current issues stemming from the Civil War panel discussion. Thanks to everyone who came and participated.
Please make plans to see Philip Mitchell’s slides from Ireland at our next meeting Saturday March 23, 12:30-2:30 p.m. We’re also hoping to get input from Paul Jennings of Ardee, County Louth, 75 km north of Dublin.