Hillsboro, West Virginia Essays

  • Pearl Buck: The Bridge Builder

    2391 Words  | 5 Pages

    “bridge” across the Pacific Ocean to China from America and broke down many walls through her writings, doing a great service to many. Biographical Information Pearl Sydenstricker Buck started her eventful life as Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker in Hillsboro, Virginia on June 26, 1892. Important events took place before this that made her birth even more special than a normal birth. Theodore Harris says that Buck’s mother Carie married a man named Andrew Sydenstricker, a Presbyterian missionary in China.

  • An Author of Two Worlds: Pearl S. Buck

    1742 Words  | 4 Pages

    Pearl S. Buck was the “Link between China and America.” (Spurling, 109.) Her rich childhood, filled to the brim with inspiration, led her to a career writing books about her homeland of China to her fellow Americans. After large success, she also became an active member of the civil rights movement and also had her own adoption agency. Persevering through opposition from Christians and Communists alike, the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winner Pearl S. Buck was one of the most influential women in

  • Mohamed Ali

    2511 Words  | 6 Pages

    greatest" and "I'm young, I'm pretty, I'm fast, and no one can beat me." In Louisville on October 29, 1960 Cassius Clay won his first professional fight. He won a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker, who was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia. From 1960 to 1963, the young fighter amassed a record of 19-0 with 15 knockouts. He defeated such boxers as Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Duke Sabedong, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, and Lamar Clark (who had won

  • Coal and West Virginia: Where Do I Stand?

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    West Virginia is a land of natural beauty. Often described as “wild and wonderful,” the state’s fall foliage, scenic rivers, and abundant wildlife inspired the composition of a ballad. The song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” portrays West Virginia as “almost Heaven,” and the phrase is difficult to refute (Danoff, Denver, & Nivert, 1971). According to the West Virginia Department of Commerce (2009), the state ranks among the lowest in the nation for the cost of living, the employee turnover rate

  • Basketball: A Communication Game

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    High school basketball is not only a mental sport, but, also, a communication game. You must be able to communicate very well to play in Morgantown, West Virginia, especially at University High School. To make the team, you have to be basketball knowledgeable, talented, physically fit, and vocal. After four years of playing varsity basketball, the vocal part of the sport has helped me out in the long run. There are five positions in basketball: point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power

  • Cockroaches in the College Dorms

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    by their shape and size, and are most common any place they can find a warm wet place with food (Arnett 145-6). There are about 4,000 different types of these pests throughout the world (Blattodea 1). According to a professor of entomology at West Virginia University, "The American roach is considerably larger than any of the others" (Peairs 477). The do... ... middle of paper ... ...this pest. If these suggestions are not heeded to before the problem gets too out of control, the roach population

  • My Philosophy of Teaching

    501 Words  | 2 Pages

    mom continued to tell me everyday that I needed to re enroll and complete my teaching degree. I feel that as minority it is very important for me to complete my teaching degree, there is a small percentage of minority teachers in the state of West Virginia. I feel that I will be a role model for children of my nationality and for all nationalities, by making a difference in their lives and showing them on a daily basis how important a good education is for all, and especially for minorities. From

  • Matewan

    1253 Words  | 3 Pages

    Matewan In the film, Matewan, director John Sayles paints a 1920’s picture of a small, West Virginia coal-mining town. Over the course of the film, this seemingly American Township reveals itself as the site of feudal hardship for its citizens. The Stone Mountain Coal Company was the sole employer in Matewan. The company’s laborers struggled for autonomy and for freedom from the company’s grasp. The ideal method for this achieving such autonomy was organization of a union. This idea of union

  • Matewan

    1710 Words  | 4 Pages

    Matewan The citizens of Matewan, a coal -mining town in West Virginia lived amidst a feudalistic class process. One may think of medieval times in connection with feudalism, but the film “Matewan” directed by John Sayles was based on historical events that took place in 1920. The feudal lord was not a European king, and the serfs were not farming his land. Nevertheless, feudalism existed in this southern town, as the workers did not have the ability to choose their employer. Unlike Capitalism

  • Matewan: A 20th-century Form of Feudalism

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    Matewan: A 20th-century Form of Feudalism Matewan, in which the action takes place in the 1920s in West Virginia, gives a clear and realistic picture of the economical situation of the given place and time. This has been a purpose and an idea which the director of the film, John Sales, has paid a particular attention to. The film elucidates a 20th-century conflict between two economical systems: feudalism and capitalism, with feudalism clearly dominating the economical status of the small town

  • Internet - A Blessing or a Curse?

    1701 Words  | 4 Pages

    easy to read conspiracies and invasion plots into every new computer advancement. It’s also easy to feel that we’re caught in a dangerous tug-of-war, and that the machines are winning. My father, Vernon, is the head of the chemistry department at West Virginia State College, and he refuses to use computers any more than the bare minimum his job requires. While the rest of his department (and the rest of the world) fire off quick e-mail notes and memos to one another, he still writes with pencil and paper

  • The South could NOT Win the American Civil War

    565 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American antebellum South, though rich in pride and raised in military tradition, was to be no match for the promising superiority of the rapidly developing North in the coming Civil War. Their lack of readily trained men, in conjunction with social and economical issues, made the Civil War a joke for the North, and a disaster for the South. The paramount reason the South fell well short of a victory was the obvious difference in population between the South and the North. The North at the time

  • Why The South Killed Reconstruction

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    The end of Reconstruction During the civil war both north and south have separated. The north was against slavery while the south was for slavery. The north was able to stay together as a country but the south needed help to come together. In the 1870s both the North and the South killed reconstruction by the KKK attack in the south and the corruption of president Grant in the north. The north also killed reconstruction because of racism still happening saying that blacks aren't well educated

  • Southern Appalachian Mothers

    2256 Words  | 5 Pages

    Breath-taking views, towering mountains, thick, green forests, and flowing rivers, disguise a life of extreme poverty in Southern Appalachia. Although Southern Appalachia is one of the most beautiful regions in the United States, it is also one of the most poverty-ridden (Dalton, 2012). The people of Appalachia face countless hardships everyday: poverty, mining disasters, pollution, poor living conditions, poor healthcare, drug abuse, and crime. These unfortunate conditions have a vast effect specifically

  • Hidden America Children Of The Mountains Sociology

    1574 Words  | 4 Pages

    Would you want to be considered under the poverty line? For the people of Appalachia, Kentucky most do not have a choice when it comes to being under the poverty line. Most are unlucky and were born into the social class they are in today. Many theories pertain to poverty and social classes the Appalachian people face. They are also shown through the elements of structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. The main point of the video is to show how others live in poverty and

  • Homer Hickam's Character In The Film October Sky

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    October sky essay Recently in class we have been studying October sky set in a town called Coalwood, West Virginia in the 1950’s and at the end of the rock and roll era. Singers such as Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran were famous at the time and were featured in this movie. Coalwood is a very small town in which the main character called Homer Hickam lives, where almost every boy apart from a select few of scholarship winners escape the main occupation of mining until they are unfit to work. Homer

  • Teaching: A Priceless Profession

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    unimportant by other people, they can still accomplish great things. I have found these principles to be very true after watching the life of my grandfather. He was not a doctor or a great business man, instead, he was a coal miner. In all of the movies, West Virginia’s coal miners are portrayed as leading uneducated and unhappy lifestyles. My grandpa proved that this certainly was not the case. He was one of the smartest men I have ever known and although his job may not have appeared to be of any great

  • Compare And Contrast The Civil War

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    Though debated by many historians, the Civil War is often referred to as a “total war,” meaning that the conflict permeated every aspect of life in the United States. The home front of both the Union and the Confederacy played crucial aspects in supporting their armies; however, there were many issues that both sides faced. On both sides the respective home fronts faced a failing economy and inflation as well as shortages of material and labor. There was the controversial question of slavery and

  • What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Civil War

    858 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American Civil War, a war between the North and South, Union and Confederacy. During the Civil War, the North and the South fought with their own advantages and disadvantages, though one 's advantage would be mainly the other’s disadvantage. So instead of thinking it as strengths and weakness, there were aspects that were either good or bad for the regions during the war. The main factors between the North and South were their morale, the type of society each had, the location of the war, their

  • Analysis Of Edward Ayers's In The Presence Of Mine Enemies

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    University of Virginia students. The Valley of the Shadow Project is full of documents like letters, diaries, newspapers, records, etc. from the Civil War period. These are first-hand accounts of the events from Americans living in Augusta County, Virginia and Franklin, Pennsylvania from John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry leading up to the Civil War that Ayers uses in order to prove his claim that the North and South weren’t as different as believed. The archives show how Augusta, Virginia and Franklin