2021 Essay, Video, and Poster Contest - Cherry Hill Public ...

2021 Essay, Video, and Poster Contest

Essays

Andrew Langman, Johnson Elementary School, Mrs. Toscano’s Class Grade 3; 9 years old

       Throughout this nation’s history there has been exclusion of African Americans in voting. This was a particular
problem for African Americans who did not have much money. Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections is
important to the history of voting for African Americans because without this case less wealthy citizens might not be
able to vote today.
               In Virginia in the early 1900s, people had to pay $1.50 every year if they wanted to vote. The Harper v.
Virginia State Board of Elections case started when a woman named Annie Harper filed suit against The Virginia State
Board of Elections because she could not pay the poll tax and was unable to vote. Ms. Harper was 79 and not able to pay
the poll tax because she was living off social security. Thurgood Marshall represented the United States in support of
Ms. Harper. Marshall did such a great job with this case he eventually was named the first African American to be a
Supreme Court Justice. The Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 and declared that the poll tax was unconstitutional.
Bibliography:

Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966)

Johnson, William., 2017. [online] Historicfairfax.org. Available at: 
[Accessed 2 January 2021].

Collin Duck, Cherry Hill High School West, 9th Grade, 14 years old

The Fifteenth Amendment is an amendment in the United States Constitution. It was signed
into law by the 41st Congress after a fierce ratification fight with a majority Republican in both
houses on March 30, 1870. The amendment is the third and last of the reconstructionist
Amendments. Section one of the amendment states “The right of the citizens of the United
States shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race,
color, or previous condition of servitude.” Section two, otherwise known as the “enforcement
clause”, states “The Congress shall have power to enforce the provisions of this article by
appropriate legislation.”

Gavin Manzano, Johnson Elementary School, 5th grade, Mrs. Tavares

The Struggle for Voting Freedom, By: Iris Yuan, Grade 8

        In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War (1861-1865), formerly enslaved men, women, and children found themselves
with a new set of problems. Even though colored people were now free, they had nowhere to go. Many people still supported
slavery, it was hard for colored people to get a job, and usually they would be paid less than the white workers doing the same job.
The 13th amendment of the Constitution states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” In
simpler terms, all blacks, former slaves or not, were now free. No longer were colored folks bound by their masters and work for
them. They had to work for themselves, which proved to be a challenge.
                The 15th amendment granted every citizen of the United States to vote. “The right of citizens of the United States to
vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.” However, exercising that right became a new challenge. White people against the new law always found some way to
exclude colored people from voting. Some blacks still managed to vote, but always had some problems.

Rosa Parks
By Joseph Esposito

Rosa Parks lived from 1913 to
2005 and is best known for the
Montgomery bus boycott, which
took place on December 1st,
1955. She had to endure four
days in jail for protesting and
refusing to give her seat to a
white man. She became a civil
rights activist and a human rights
defender.

Julia Piotrowski, Grade 12,
Cherry Hill High School
East, Ms. Branday

Yul Nam, 8th Grade, Rosa
International Middle School,
Mrs. Aristone

Shira Weiss, Cherry Hill
High School East, 11th
Grade, Mr. Gamel

The Fifteenth Amendment, Ella Ovadia, 7th Grade,Rosa International Middle School,
                                                 Mrs.Alonzo

         “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” What do these words mean? In 1870, the 15th Amendment was passed stating any
male citizen of the United States, black or white, can vote. President Ulysses S. Grant proposed this on March 30th of 1870. I chose
this particular topic because I feel every person, no matter what they look like or believe, should have the right to elect the leaders who
represent us. This Amendment affects everyone in the United States.
                 Even after the 15th Amendment was passed, due to segregation, African American citizens were treated as second class
voters. And this didn't stop here; in the Southern states, not everyone agreed with the new amendment. So they found a way to prevent
African American voters from voting, it would take until 1965 (nearly 100 years after ratification) until African American voters in the
South actually got to live by the words of the 15th amendment! Sadly, Like many other texts, the 15th amendment had a loophole. “It
did not grant suffrage to all men, but only prohibited discrimination on the basis of race and former slave status. States could require
voters to pass literacy tests or pay poll taxes -- difficult tasks for the formerly enslaved, who had little education or money.” At this point
in time, a test of numbers or words at a ballet box, wouldn't be a difficult task. But if you had little or no education, and tried to fill a
test like that in, it would be impossible.

Ava Esposito, 4th Grade, Clara Barton Elementary   Gabriella Miscioscia, 3rd Grade, Stockton Elementary

Laavanya Viswanathan, 7th Grade, Rosa International Middle School, Mr. Farkas

Lily Roach,
Rosa International
Middle School

Max Gaffin – Cherry Hill East

Reese Green, Cherry Hill East
The Inspiring Works of John Lewis
The great historical figure that I chose to write about is John Lewis. John Lewis was a very prominent figure in the civil rights movement. Not only was he
an activist but he was an American politician that served in the house of representatives for Georgia's 5th Congressional district. I selected this person
because he just recently died and his death saddened many African American citizens, especially during the Black Lives Matter Movement protests. John
Lewis grew up in segregated times where legally blacks were not equal to whites. Blacks were treated very poorly and their segregated facilities were in the
poorest conditions. America simply did not care for blacks during this time. Black people had enough of this poor treatment and decided to stand up for
themselves and what is right. John Lewis worked with MLK and the SNCC and was involved in many protests and movements that helped solve many
problems for the African American community. He was a part of the freedom riders movement where they challenged the segregated facilities at bus
terminals. He and other protesters went through horrific beatings by white mobs but that did not stop them from being heard. He participated in the civil
right act in 1964 which helped outlaw all forms of discrimination in the U.S. And that helped change my community because I've been able to participate
in activities and attend school with other races and face little or no discrimination. But the civil rights act did not help with black voter suppression in the
south. Which is why John Lewis, MLK and many other protesters began the famous march from Selma to Montgomery. The march had to start by walking
over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and when they first marched they were met by state troopers. The state troopers on video viciously beat up the protesters
and Lewis was left with a fractured skull. That painful, bloody, tragic day is now known as “bloody Sunday.”

Joshua Gray – Cherry Hill East
         Gomillion v. Lightfoot, 364 U.S. 339 (1960)
         Charles Gomillion, an African American man born in 1900, was a professor at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He
strongly supported voter registration for African American voters after he realized how strenuous it was for him to register
to vote in his hometown. In the 1940s-1950s, he contributed to his community by increasing the number of black people
eligible to vote in Tuskegee over the years.

After more African Americans began to vote, a new law made it harder for Professor Gomillion to vote since he was black.
I chose this case specifically because the whole process of why this case started shows how manipulative the state
governments were in the past and it also interests me on how a person could change so much within a community and for
the rest of America. (In addition, my great grandmother graduated from Tuskegee Institute in 1937. I enjoy looking at her
yearbook.) The obstacles that were put in place for African Americans registering to vote were Poll taxes and Literacy
Tests. These were taxes that African Americans had to pay to register to vote. Accompanied by this was a literacy test
directed only towards black people which was an advanced test that tested their skills in reading and writing. If they got
one answer wrong then they would be unable to register to vote. The white people were not required to do any of these
things.

Mary Church Terrell - By: Hailey Redfearn-4th grade
I believe that the United States is a better place thanks to all the work that Mary Church Terrell accomplished in her lifetime. Mary
Church Terrell was an African American activist who fought for racial equality and women's right to vote. She was born on September
23rd, 1863 in Memphis, Tennessee. Her father was a businessman who became the South’s first black millionaire. Her mother owned a
hair salon. Mary's parents felt as though education was important and Mary was lucky enough to be able to go to college and earn her
Bachelors and Master’s degrees from Oberlin College. She taught at the M Street Colored High School, the first high school in
Washington D.C for black people. In 1892 a friend was lynched because his business was competing with a white owned business. She
began a life-long journey in activism with her focus being on lifting up the black race through education, work and community activism.
Mary believed that one person's success was important to the entire race. Her famous phrase, “Lifting as we climb” became the motto of
the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), a group she founded in 1896. As President of the NACW she fought with white
groups for women’s right to vote. Mary fought for womens suffrage and civil rights because she realized that she belonged “to the only
group in this country that has two such huge obstacles to surmount...both sex and race.” Even at the age of 86 she changed segregation in
public places by protesting the John R. Thompson Restaurant in Washington, DC. This protest was successful because it ended in a
Supreme Court 1953 ruling that segregating restaurants was unconstitutional

Ziv Amsili, Cherry Hill East

Kyra Washington, Cherry Hill West

Posters

Audrey Lange
        Alyssa Lafferty

Conan Poerners
        Brayden Jackson

Dylan Magee    Cullen
Voigtsberger

Kristin Adankon   Kaliope Houtridis

Lydia Brennan   Taylor
Park

About Medgar Evers
                • Born in Mississippi in 1925
                • He walked 12 miles to get to school
                • He joined the army and fought in
                World War 2.
                • He became a target of many death
                threats and then was eventually shot
                in 1963
                • He became the NAACP’s first field
                of officer in Mississippi.
                • He fought to end discrimination
                against African-Americans in white
                only places.

Abagale Flynn
Noah Podbury

Alex Chang   Nora
Rondeau

Eric Yuan
         Ryan Castillo

Sofia King
             Chayse Maynor

Sophia Singer   Peter
Flamini

Xavier Austin   Amira
Austin

Ziva Davis
             William Baker

Emma Burliegh   Eiryn Carino   Ava Chabria

Christian Fulton   Larissa Goldberg   Bennett Harry

Natalie Husenica   Daniel Keokham   Mason Kleckner

Pedro Lopez   Sophia Mendez   Jack Morales

Anella Munar   Samaira Nyla   Owen Schweisig

Braeden Sherlock   Mikah Wright   Vlada Yushkevich

Arden Leslie   Mason Cash   Madison Pidor

Cameron Madriz   Rephael Shohat

Rebekah Gross   Rhyan
Irwin

Videos

Sofia Miscioscia   Terrence Stratton

Sekou Tarrant

Lucas Beccera

▪ Fannie Lou Hamer, was born October 6, 1917,
Montgomery county MS. She was the youngest of
20 children. Her grandmother had been enslaved,
so her parents, like many descendants of enslaved
people, were sharecroppers. A plantation owner
rented them farm land, but only for most of their
crops. But they had to pay him as well for the tools
and other expenses. So that meant they were
constantly in debt, and she has to quit school at 6
years old, to help out on the farm.

Lucas Beccera

Lucas Beccera