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Sojourner Truth

  Isabella Baumfree was born a slave in 1797 in Ulster County, New York. She managed to run away when she was older, then changed her name to Sojourner Truth. She lived a great life and helped many people as a Women's rights activist. She died on November 26, 1883, in Battle Creek, MI.  Sojourner was born into slavery. Her parents were Elizabeth Baumfree and James Baumfree. By the age of thirteen, she had been sold twice and ended up at West Park, New York. Sojourner had five kids with another slave named Thomas. In 1826 Sojourner escaped from her owner with her infant daughter Sofia but had to leave her son behind. He was sold illegally in Alabama.   Because Sojourner’s son was illegally sold, she filed a lawsuit to get him back. Sojourner won and she got her son back. She was the first female to file a lawsuit and win. This was a big deal for Sojourner. After that, she started to work on slavery. She hoped that slavery would be abolished and she worked hard to ge...

Should we get rid of paper money?

  “ Should we get rid of paper money?” is a question that a lot of people have been asking. If we did decide to replace paper money, there would be a lot of pros and cons. These days a lot of people already shop online. They use money directly from their bank accounts to pay for these things. We also use our bank accounts for our credit and debit cards. Susan Crawford, a technology expert at Harvard University say s , " Within ten years, cash will seem old-fashioned." This quote means that paper money is outdated now that we have other forms of payment. A lot of countries in the world have gone cashless, such as Sweden. Sweden is going to be the first country to go completely cashless by 2023. In 2023 paper money will not be accepted at any stores. Although there are many great things about going cashless, there is also a lot of bad things. Paper money is very germy. It has more germs than a toilet seat! Money gets passed around daily no one knows where it has been. Cash ...

The Spanish Flu

  The Spanish Flu was a very deadly influenza. It lasted from February 1918 to April 1920. Doctors were not as advanced as we are today, medicine-wise. The Flu infected over five hundred million people. There was no cure, and people were scared. No drugs or antivirals helped with stopping the Flu. Vaccines didn't work either. They decided to try using aspirin. At first, it seemed to work. Then it started poisoning people instead of helping them. This was because the dosages doctors were prescribing were too high.  The Flu started in the United States. It spread quickly. Soon it was all over the world, but the United States got hit the worse. It is assumed the Flu came from Haskell Country, Kansas, but no one knows for sure.   Even though there wasn't a cure, the Flu eventually died down. This was because everyone who got the virus either died or became immune.  Businesses closed down because more and more workers became sick. Some did not earn enough money...

Medicine Before the 1800s

Medicine before the 1800s was not as advanced as it is today. Medicine originated out of parts of Asia and Egypt. They used what we call folklore medicine. Folklore medicine was made of vegetables and herbs. This was used to cure colds and fevers. This seemed to work for them.      When someone got a disabling disease they thought this came from a supernatural source such as a witch. They believed that the witch cast a spell or curse on them. When someone had a broken bone or wound they would bandage it up. Kind of like we do today. For disease, they would send them on their way with a position made with herbs or plants.   As for surgery, most people probably died. The doctors at the time were called "Medicine Men". They only did surgery for things like tumors, abscesses, etc.      When a patient died, on the table, they would cut the surgeon's hands off. But if the patient was a slave and they died on the table, then the surgeon would own the owne...