Brady Lowery                                                  Texas Tower Shooting

            I am doing my project on the shooting that happened in Austin Texas on August 1, 1966. This event changed history especially in Texas. It caused the tower to be a symbol of fear instead of showing the beauty of the city. I wanted to do my project on this topic because I find it really interesting that a person can go up in a tower and shoot at innocent unsuspecting people in the city. I also wanted to know what provoked the shooter who was Charles Whitman to do something this drastic.

            At first I began trying to find info on Charles Whitman the shooter from the tower. I used AVL to find out an actual account on what Charles actually did during this time.  In his early life Charles was a good student, Eagle Scout, and appeared to have a good home life. Once he turned eighteen troubles began to arise between him and his father. Charles came home drunk one night and his father beat him. A few days later he applied to enlist in the army, which is where he learned how to be a very talented sharpshooter. He was honorable discharged from the army and then attended the University of Texas. His grades were very low and he eventually failed out of college and went from small jobs just to make as much money as he could.

            I learned that Charles Whitman had prepared a lot for August 1^st 1966. On July 31^st he purchased binoculars and a bowie knife. His first actions were calling his mother to see if they could meet at her apartment. He met her in the lobby walked upstairs. He then strangled and beat her to death. Then he left a note saying why he did this to his mother, he arrived home later that night and stabbed his sleeping wife five times in the chest.

           
            Earlier during the day of July 31stCharles had purchased a radio, three gallons of water, gasoline, notebook, multiple hunting rifles one having a scope, sawed off shotgun, and at least two smaller pistols. Once inside the tower I learned that Charles had hit the receptionist in the tower with the butt of the rifle until she was knocked unconscious. Then Charles barricaded the stairway so it would be difficult to come up to him. One unsuspecting family opened the doorway to see what was going on and Charles grabbed his shotgun and began firing through the stairwell and killed two of the family members.

          

         After going on AVL and making sure the information I had just found a True Crimes.com was true I began finding out what Charles Whitman actually did when he got up to the tower. His first victim was an eighteen year old pregnant women and his bullet penetrated through her stomach, which fractured the skull of her baby. When she cried out for help a man named Thomas Eckman turned to her asking what happened and immediately after this happened he was shot in the chest and died on the spot. I also learned that at first while Whitman was laying down fire victims were helpless because they didn’t want to be shot again. Everyone was scared to move. At first no one was really sure what was going on the once the police and Texas law enforcement got involved it became much more difficult for Whitman to pick off unsuspecting targets. Then many civilians went and brought in the firearms shooting up at the tower to make sure Whitman couldn’t get a clear shot at anyone. While this was going on three officers made their way to the top of the tower on Whitman. Officer McCoy crawled through friendly fire coming from below and as Whitman popped up to return fire at him he shot Charles Whitman point blank twice with his shotgun killing him on the spot. Then I found a website with a video someone took on the day it was happening and captured Whitman shooting from the top of the tower. 

            

        After I found out these terrible details on what actually happened when Whitman was up on top of the tower I researched about what was the aftermath effect. Charles Whitman killed fourteen people and injured dozens more. He shot fifty people which could have easily all been killed instead of just fourteen. Another effect of the shooting was that the tower was closed until 1999 because of suicides and the killings. Then it was reopened and guard rails were put up top to prevent anyone somehow falling off the edge. After finding these facts I went to CBS.com and read how this shooting was the first shooting involving many victims on a college campus. Then after that I went to a website called Dallas News.com and had a interview with officer Martinez about the tragic day in August 1st 1966. This shooting inspired others such as the Virginia Tech massacre and was monumental during this time because nothing like the Texas tower shooting had happened during this time before.

            

http://lawsonsrandolphhistory.wikispaces.com/US+History+Research+Project

http://lawsonsrandolphhistory.wikispaces.com/file/view/USH+final+research+project+contract.pdf/325443178/USH%20final%20research%20project%20contract.pdf

Walker Evans (1938) New York, New York. 61st Street between 1st and 3rd Avenues. Children playing in the street.


In this picture the author is showing a group of kids p;laying in the street. The expression on their faces is a look of hopelessness and depression. The main kid standing on the stairs seems to be the only one with a remote since of hope. Also he seems to be the oldest one so he probably has a better understanding of the situation.

Chicago Race Riots 1919

We have been learning about WWI and events that have taken place post WWI and my topic is the Chicago race riots. I learned that by 1919 Chicago had already developed a reputation as center for racial conflict during this era. What caused these tensions were the determination of whites to deny black equal  opportunities in employment, housing, and political equality. All these unfair treatments resulted in violent clashes especially during this time of postwar tension. Another reason that caused the tension during this time was the Great Migration which was the reason the population of blacks had expanded so much in these northern cities such as Chicago. It cause blacks that were already living in these areas to fear that whites would become more racist towards them, which turns out that's exactly what happened.



(Racial tension)

I also found out what caused the most famous riot in the history of Chicago which happened between July 27 August 3rd 1919. What started the riot was the drowning of a black teenager who had crossed the imaginary line on 29th street. I also learned that this event caused a " seven-day orgy of shootings, arsons, and beatings that resulted in the deaths of 15 whites and 23 blacks with an additional 537 injured (342 black, 195 white)." 

(violence)

One of the most horrifying things I found was a article from 1919 about one of the days during the seven days of conflict. Under the title of the article it says "Man Riddles Negro's Body with 16 Bullets,
Covers it with Gasoline, and Sets it Afire" 
This shows how bad these riots actually were during these seven days. Also I learned that during these seven days
4,000 troops were sent in to try and stop the riots along with the entire police force being assigned to the riots
.

(clashing)

I also found a website on the white gangs in Chicago which is a part of the riots that is rarely known about and a newspaper article from the Chicago Tribune in 1919.
These white gangs would molest blacks, beat them, and even kill some. In almost all these cases the authorities
would choose to look the other way. This shows how blacks had almost no fair chance in any of these incidents, because
if they would fight back they could be charged with crimes, but if they decide to not defend themselves they could be killed.
A example I found was when the black man was drowned there was a witness who saw the white man who did it
and the authorities knew about it and decided not to charge the man with any crime.

(No chance)

I also found another interesting event that happened during the "seven day orgy" which was when 1500 blacks challenged 100 armed police officers. After the two days of violence had ended neighborhoods had been burned and more then 6,000 militia had been called in. On the third day 12 to 1500 blacks returned to their work in the stockyards under a cover of machine guns. The only officer killed during the riot was a black man named John Simpson.

 (rebelling)

Overall I learned that the Chicago Race Riots were a terrible thing that happened in our country and probably could have been avoided. If whites wouldn't have seen the presence of more blacks as a threat in the workplace and life in the city then these riots would have been avoided. Also the post war stress of WWI cause for some problems also. The police force also didn't help much because of the unfair treatment blacks received during this time, like when the black teenage was drowned by the white man just because he crossed into the white section of the beach. It shows the inequality because the policemen knew the white man who did it, but never charged him with any crime.

(non stop fighting)

Chicago Race Riots 1919

By 1919 Chicago had already developed a reputation as center for racial conflict during this era. What caused these tensions were the determination of whites to deny black equal  opportunities in employment, housing, and political representation. All these unfair treatments resulted in violent clashes especially during this time of postwar tension. Another reason that caused the tension during this time was the Great Migration which was the reason the population of blacks had expanded so much in these northern cities such as Chicago. It cause blacks that were already living in these areas to fear that whites would become more racist towards them, which turns out that's exactly what happened.

(Racial tension)

WWI

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa/item/8445?CISOROOT=%2Fgwa&CISOPTR=8445&DMSCALE=50&DMWIDTH=600&DMHEIGHT=600&DMMODE=viewer&DMFULL=0&DMX=100&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&DMTHUMB=1&REC=8&DMROTATE=0&x=302&y=253

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghCScFcEp0szGb9DefhvH5XY6NlEJ4lppbMLARI2_mIuTkH1uh8QXVIk5l22PTTa_qMT7BPC2BdldqVqVFEiS5TKzzusIef5NjToe6nQ6nUy-PY3OVKDTO6V1539Nj3NKlUanLm1wBsILR/s1600/U1l.jpg

In the first picture I looked at was a group of soldier posed together and from the picture it was easy to see how miserable they were and how tough he conditions were. From the second picture it shows one of the first early U-Boats.It was 238 tons and had 1 torpedo tube.

Postcards

http://greatwhitefleet.info/Great_White_Fleet_Cruise.html

http://web.ebscohost.com/hrc/detail?sid=b40898c1-4101-40e6-8c05-d5d99812cd35%40sessionmgr11&vid=1&hid=18&bdata=JnNpdGU9aHJjLWxpdmU%3d#db=khh&AN=27523189

http://web.ebscohost.com/hrc/detail?sid=d361afa9-8806-4b18-8e74-0d3c13ef9847%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=18&bdata=JnNpdGU9aHJjLWxpdmU%3d#db=khh&AN=19668043

In my research I learned about how almost every place the great white fleet went they were welcomed by every country and the people there.