This source is important to us because it gives us a deeper knowledge and understanding of what restorative justice is and each component of these steps. It also goes deeper into ways to incorporate restorative justice in our local neighboring community. The audience for this source could vary but I think the intended audience for this source was not only people who deal with adolescents and juveniles in the Saint Louis area but also those who reside in other states other than Saint Louis. They really talked about solutions pertaining to Saint Louis, but you can apply these things in areas greater than Saint Louis as well. No, the creator is not trying to prove anything, rather the author is more so trying to just inform the reader about restorative justice and its impacts on the victim and community. They are also going into depth about the programs they have implemented in schools and the community.
Month: February 2024 (Page 2 of 2)
During the visit to the MOBOT archives, my group and I thoroughly examined an archival document of the Business Papers/ a letter to John Berry Meachum written by Henry Shaw. The document consisted of significant dates, prices, and information about the loan. Also, in the document my group and I noticed that in the document there were dashes used instead in parenthesis. In the document, Henry Shaw was extending the loan for two years because the Meachum’s were doing very well on their payments. Soon, they were unable to pay the actual house payments, so they paid the interest accrued. In result of the Meachum’s defaulting on their loan, Henry Shaw takes the house as equity. This leads to Meachum’s filing for bankruptcy. Shaw’s voice is the loudest being that he is taking from the disadvantaged. The Meachum’s are not the only individuals who have suffered from the exploitation of Henry Shaw. Not only is Meachum’s voice being silenced, but also others in the community that have encountered this issue with Shaw. Something we can learn from the voices that are being silenced is that there are gaps that we must fill. Keeping an open mind and knowing that not all voices are present is something to keep present. One way we can fill the gaps of silence is when telling this story, we can keep an open mind and acknowledge the Meachum’s voice/story was not told. Telling the story of humanity and handling it with compassion is essential. It is critical we tell the story with intent. Also, not to mention during this period, setting the house payments was very irrational. I feel as if Henry Shaw almost knew what he was doing and had a premeditated intent of exploitation. These are black individuals and obtaining money is not easy being that they are minorities.
This source provides podcasts and other materials that pertain to the subject of American slavery. The website has many aspects to it, having lesson plans for teachers so they can teach their studens about American slavery. Also, the plans vary by grade, so they are able to teach younger people effeciently as well as older people. The podcast also deals with how to go about teaching about hard subjects, like slavery. Overall, the source seems very reliable and has some great points.
Being at the archives again was a great experience. Being able to go through more things and physically touch them was both helpful and scary. It was helpful in the sense that I could take a better look at some of the documents. It was scary because of the constant fear of them crumbling in my hand, though that would never happen.
The documents overall were mostly statements of the amount of money that Henry Shaw owed. These were usually in the form of a receipt for purchases. One of the letters was one from Henry Shaw’s sister, Caroline. This document was just a general report of what had happened at the house and gardens, and how much money he owed. While Shaw was gone, his sister was to look over the garden. Other documents consisted of newspaper clippings of John and Mary Meachum’s houses being auctioned off.
The voices that were the loudest inside of these documents were the newspaper companies publishing these stories about the Meachum’s, and Caroline. Although Caroline only had one letter from what I saw in the collection, it still shows a lot of depth. The silence of the Meachum’s was something that I noticed, all of this talk about them but not one word from them in the newspapers. Maybe the newspaper companies just didn’t want to have their statement on their house being auctioned, or they just didn’t want their input at all. I’m not sure how we would be able to fill the silence since the documents are so old and outdated. I’m not sure if It wants us to put what should be in the newspaper from a couple hundred years ago or how we would change it today. If it were today, I would add what happened to the Meachum’s and how they ended up living in the future.