DNA and How to Extract It

DNA and How to Extract It This past March, a few days after my birthday, I spent a Saturday teaching three iterations of a three-hour-long class called Hands-on Introduction to DNA! to seventh through ninth graders at Spark, a day-long assortment of classes for middle and high school students organized by the MIT student group ESP (Educational Studies Program) and taught by MIT students and community members. ESP seems to contain most of my Random Hall friends as well as the wonderful Anna H. ’14, who has blogged about teaching ESP classes here and here. This year’s 266 Spark classes included classes you might expect, such as Computational Language Theory and Extreme Math, and classes you might not expect, such as How to Plan and Execute Covert Operations in Deep Cover and The Game Mechanics of Pokémon. There was Synthetic Biology, Projective Geometry, Chocolate Tasting, and Slide Rules. There was Crayfish: Take It Apart!, Sea Urchin: Take It Apart!, and their antithesis, Put Together the Pile of Junk! My Spark class revolved around a DNA extraction protocol that my little brother Max tried as a science fair project. We started out with a short introductory lecture about DNA and then we isolated the genetic material from peas, corn, and strawberries, which was an awesome, colorful, goopy mess. If DNA is nothing new, feel free to skip to the video and the extraction protocol, or just the extraction protocol. From the beginningâ€" Our bodies are an ecosystem of hundreds of trillions of tiny bacteria and tens of trillions of our own cells, small bags of stuff that do a lot of work to keep us alive. We are interested in the nucleus of the cell, which encloses the DNA. Your DNA is a story, uniquely yours, that you read out as you live and eventually pass on to your children. Instead of paper, it is written on a long string using only four letters. Each word in the story is three letters long. The words form sentences called genes, which, alone or in groups, determine the traits you start with, for example your hair color, your eye color, and your blood type. Though your cells have diverse specializations, your DNA is identical in every cell of your body. It contains all the information needed to build you up and then maintain you; it determines how you will grow and develop within your environment and to a potentially large extent it dictates how and when you will eventually break apart and die. A priority in current research is deciphering our DNA and the DNA of other species for use in medicine, agriculture, and history. The hope is that by learning how to read our DNA, we will be able to better understand genetic disorders and detect them before they appear, improve crop yield, and understand how we got to be human. Genomics is a new and quickly evolving field with a huge capacity to extend and improve human life. For the most part, DNA carries out its action through proteins. A gene is first transcribed into less stable messenger RNA. Interrupting, or intronic, information is cut out of the messenger RNA and the remaining RNA molecule is sent out of the nucleus and into the endoplasmic reticulum. In the endoplasmic reticulum the messenger RNA is copied again, this time into protein. This final translation is done by transfer molecules, which contain the code for translation, and ribosomes, which line up the messenger RNA and the transfer molecules so that they can interact. The transfer molecules, called tRNAs, are like three-pronged forks. On one end are three letters from the original DNA sequence, a word, written in RNA. The other end holds the corresponding protein monomer, the amino acid. The amino acid that corresponds to each word varies depending on the species. The ribosome lines up the transfer molecule forks with the attached protein monomers along the RNA. The amino acids are conn ected to form a protein, after which the transfer molecules are reused and the messenger RNA is degraded. The cell sends the completed protein product to the Golgi apparatus, the cell’s post office, and the Golgi packages the protein and sends it to its destination inside or outside the cell. The protein then carries out the function prescribed by its encoding DNA, whether it is the keratin in your hair or an antibody in your immune system. Meanwhile the original DNA is safe in the nucleus, in two copies. It never leaves, and it is split apart and replicated only when the entire cell is replicated. The human genome is written in about 3 billion base pairs, or letters. If you stretch out the DNA from one nonreplicating cell, it will be about two meters long (3 billion base pairs in 23 chromosomes · two of each chromosome in the cell · 0.34 nanometers between consecutive base pairs). If you concatenate the DNA from all of your cells and stretch it out as one string, it will reach the sun and back 67 to 333 times, or the moon and back 25,000 to 125,000 times (2 meters of DNA in each cell · about 10 to 50 trillion cells in the human body ÷ 300 million kilometers from the Earth to the sun and back, or 800,000 kilometers from the Earth to the moon and back). In the cell, the DNA is wound tightly around proteins called histones, and for this reason, even though we will try to degrade the proteins, the DNA will precipitate in clumps rather than clean strings when we extract it from a vegetable or fruit. Here’s all that in vivid, computer animated action: This video is from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia. They have other equally mesmerizing and informative animations in high definition on their web site, and you should go watch them, too, if you enjoyed this one. While we watched this video we set up the first steps of the DNA extraction protocol, which contains a convenient 10-minute break. Below is the protocol we used. The students wanted to know what each step does to the DNA, so I’ll try to explain it here as well. Materials: A blender. A mesh strainer with very small holes. If you are alone: A clear cup. It looks really cool if you use a champagne glass. A wooden BBQ skewer or something else with which to stir. One eighth teaspoon table salt. About one cup of cold water. A pinch of meat tenderizer or contact lens solution. (We used meat tenderizer.) Two tablespoons liquid laundry detergent. Use clear laundry detergent. Colored laundry detergent will overpower the color of the fruit or vegetable. About half a cup of something that was once alive. It’s okay if it’s frozen. We tried strawberries, split peas, and corn. The kids were most excited about the strawberries. I thought the peas looked coolest. The frozen corn was not very exciting for anybody. A small jug of rubbing alcohol with at least 95% alcohol content. If you are with 10-20 friends: A bag of small, clear, disposable cups. The more translucent cups are worth the extra money. A bag of wooden BBQ skewers or something else with which to stir. One container of table salt from your kitchen. Gallon jug of cold water, which you brought to school empty and filled with cold tap water in the bathroom before class. Two small shakers of meat tenderizer. You won’t use much of this, but it’s better to have two so that they can both be passed around at the same time. A small bottle of clear liquid laundry detergent. A bag or two or three of something that was once alive, like a fruit or a vegetable. It’s okay if it’s frozen. Several jugs of rubbing alcohol with about 95% alcohol content. You’ll need about as much rubbing alcohol as vegetable or fruit, which might be a lot. (Weird looks at the check-out line come with the vast, yellow and green polka-dotted territory of being awesome.) Leave time to potentially stop by multiple CVSes. Among the materials, rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) can cause irritation to eyes, skin, or the respiratory system. Isopropyl alcohol vapors can irritate the eyes and the respiratory system, contact with eyes can cause damage and burns, and ingestion or inhalation can cause vomiting, drowsiness, and death. The lethal dose is about one cup. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to drink very much, but if you do you will die. You also don’t want to eat the laundry detergent or get it in your eyes. Procedure: Combine in the blender one part vegetable or fruit, two parts cold water, and the salt. If you’re doing this alone, it’ll be half a cup of vegetable or fruit, one cup water, and one eighth teaspoon salt. If you’re doing this with a group you’ll want to fill the blender and scale up the salt appropriately. Blend on high for 15 to 25 seconds.  It is not important that the water be cold, but it is helpful. Most things, including DNA, tend to be less soluble at lower temperatures. (The exception is proteins, which start denaturing, or losing their structure, at higher temperatures, exposing their hydrophobic parts and forcing them to clump together to avoid surrounding water.) The salt, NaCl, dissolves in the water, separating into the charged ions Na+ and Cl. The Na+ neutralizes the negatively charged DNA, allowing the DNA strands to clump together rather than be repelled by each other’s negative charge. Balance your mesh strainer over a clear cup and pour the liquid contents of the blender through the strainer and into the cup. The cup should be at most half full. If you’re doing this with a group you should divide the contents of the blender equally among the group and line the cups up on the table for the next step. Keep in mind that the goop that comes out of the blender earlier has more DNA in it than the goop that comes out of the blender later. Add two tablespoons of clear liquid laundry detergent to each cup of vegetable goop. If you’re doing this with a group you can use the bottommost line in one of the plastic cups to measure out a very approximate two tablespoons.  The laundry detergent disrupts the membrane enclosing the cell and potentially the nuclear membrane enclosing the DNA. Distribute a vegetable goop cup and a BBQ skewer to each person. Everyone should stir gently and then let the solution stand for 10 minutes. Now is a good time to watch the above 7-minute video. Pass around the meat tenderizer and the rubbing alcohol. Each person should add a pinch of meat tenderizer to their cup and stir gently again, and then add about as much rubbing alcohol as there is vegetable mixture. The rubbing alcohol makes the DNA clump together, since the DNA is less soluble in rubbing alcohol (or any other alcohol) than in water. The meat tenderizer contains protease, an enzyme that degrades the proteins that accompany the DNA. The DNA will appear as white goop on the surface of the green or red goop. You can spin it onto the BBQ skewer like cotton candy, but I think it looks prettier and much less gross if it’s left in the cup.  Here are some photos my students took at the end of the process. The fruits and vegetables used, clockwise from the top left, are strawberries, peas, corn, and mixed berry, all frozen. That no one photographed the DNA extracted from the corn is, I think, additional testament to frozen corn not being very interesting.       Afterwards, I opened the floor to questions and short chalk talks and we ended up going in very interesting directions. I almost wish I’d had an older class so that students could teach each other more than I talked at them, but at the same time it seems like younger people ask more questions and their questions are often more interesting. Some of the things we talked about were transposons, viruses, cancer, stem cells, ribosomes and the RNA world, DNA sequencing technologies, sex chromosomes and their evolution, alternative splice sites, and the evolutionary benefits of aging and death. I got some emails in the following days expressing interest in biology and asking about things we talked about in class, which was such a wonderful feeling. If you have time and a presentation at your local elementary school seems like something you would enjoy, you should ask about trying it. A few weeks ago my mom repeated the presentation and the DNA extraction with my little brother’s fifth grade class, and apparently they asked even more interesting questions. It seems like elementary school teachers are usually thrilled to have alumni or parents present about what theyve been up to in high school and college and beyond. If you are in middle or high school and youd like to learn more about genomics and DNA, there are free resources online that you should check out: edx.org Free online courses from MIT, Harvard, and other excellent schools that mirror actual undergraduate courses, with labs, graded tests, online real-human interaction, and the possibility of earning a certificate. In particular, you might be interested in: 7.00x  Introduction to Biology: The Secret of Life,  taught by Dr. Eric Lander, from the Human Genome Project 6.00x  Introduction to Computer Science and Programming ocw.mit.edu Free material from many, many MIT classes, including video lectures. In particular, you might be interested in: Biology highlights for high school 7.01SC Fundamentals of Biology, also taught by Dr. Eric Lander, along with Dr. Robert Weinberg, who made huge contributions to cancer research (both won 3 million dollars this past February for their research) 6.00SC Introduction to Computer Science and Programming codecademy.com Free interactive programming classes online. wikipedia.org/wiki/genomics Excellent introductory information. Follow the links! If you have questions, if you do a presentation, or if you try a DNA extraction, alone or with a class, and you comment or email me about what happened it would make me very happyâ€"especially if you are adventurous and try a DNA extraction from something new. (Somewhat relatedly, today is the 161st birthday of Julius Petri, who invented the petri dish. Check out his  Google doodle.)

DNA and How to Extract It

DNA and How to Extract It This past March, a few days after my birthday, I spent a Saturday teaching three iterations of a three-hour-long class called Hands-on Introduction to DNA! to seventh through ninth graders at Spark, a day-long assortment of classes for middle and high school students organized by the MIT student group ESP (Educational Studies Program) and taught by MIT students and community members. ESP seems to contain most of my Random Hall friends as well as the wonderful Anna H. ’14, who has blogged about teaching ESP classes here and here. This year’s 266 Spark classes included classes you might expect, such as Computational Language Theory and Extreme Math, and classes you might not expect, such as How to Plan and Execute Covert Operations in Deep Cover and The Game Mechanics of Pokémon. There was Synthetic Biology, Projective Geometry, Chocolate Tasting, and Slide Rules. There was Crayfish: Take It Apart!, Sea Urchin: Take It Apart!, and their antithesis, Put Together the Pile of Junk! My Spark class revolved around a DNA extraction protocol that my little brother Max tried as a science fair project. We started out with a short introductory lecture about DNA and then we isolated the genetic material from peas, corn, and strawberries, which was an awesome, colorful, goopy mess. If DNA is nothing new, feel free to skip to the video and the extraction protocol, or just the extraction protocol. From the beginningâ€" Our bodies are an ecosystem of hundreds of trillions of tiny bacteria and tens of trillions of our own cells, small bags of stuff that do a lot of work to keep us alive. We are interested in the nucleus of the cell, which encloses the DNA. Your DNA is a story, uniquely yours, that you read out as you live and eventually pass on to your children. Instead of paper, it is written on a long string using only four letters. Each word in the story is three letters long. The words form sentences called genes, which, alone or in groups, determine the traits you start with, for example your hair color, your eye color, and your blood type. Though your cells have diverse specializations, your DNA is identical in every cell of your body. It contains all the information needed to build you up and then maintain you; it determines how you will grow and develop within your environment and to a potentially large extent it dictates how and when you will eventually break apart and die. A priority in current research is deciphering our DNA and the DNA of other species for use in medicine, agriculture, and history. The hope is that by learning how to read our DNA, we will be able to better understand genetic disorders and detect them before they appear, improve crop yield, and understand how we got to be human. Genomics is a new and quickly evolving field with a huge capacity to extend and improve human life. For the most part, DNA carries out its action through proteins. A gene is first transcribed into less stable messenger RNA. Interrupting, or intronic, information is cut out of the messenger RNA and the remaining RNA molecule is sent out of the nucleus and into the endoplasmic reticulum. In the endoplasmic reticulum the messenger RNA is copied again, this time into protein. This final translation is done by transfer molecules, which contain the code for translation, and ribosomes, which line up the messenger RNA and the transfer molecules so that they can interact. The transfer molecules, called tRNAs, are like three-pronged forks. On one end are three letters from the original DNA sequence, a word, written in RNA. The other end holds the corresponding protein monomer, the amino acid. The amino acid that corresponds to each word varies depending on the species. The ribosome lines up the transfer molecule forks with the attached protein monomers along the RNA. The amino acids are conn ected to form a protein, after which the transfer molecules are reused and the messenger RNA is degraded. The cell sends the completed protein product to the Golgi apparatus, the cell’s post office, and the Golgi packages the protein and sends it to its destination inside or outside the cell. The protein then carries out the function prescribed by its encoding DNA, whether it is the keratin in your hair or an antibody in your immune system. Meanwhile the original DNA is safe in the nucleus, in two copies. It never leaves, and it is split apart and replicated only when the entire cell is replicated. The human genome is written in about 3 billion base pairs, or letters. If you stretch out the DNA from one nonreplicating cell, it will be about two meters long (3 billion base pairs in 23 chromosomes · two of each chromosome in the cell · 0.34 nanometers between consecutive base pairs). If you concatenate the DNA from all of your cells and stretch it out as one string, it will reach the sun and back 67 to 333 times, or the moon and back 25,000 to 125,000 times (2 meters of DNA in each cell · about 10 to 50 trillion cells in the human body ÷ 300 million kilometers from the Earth to the sun and back, or 800,000 kilometers from the Earth to the moon and back). In the cell, the DNA is wound tightly around proteins called histones, and for this reason, even though we will try to degrade the proteins, the DNA will precipitate in clumps rather than clean strings when we extract it from a vegetable or fruit. Here’s all that in vivid, computer animated action: This video is from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia. They have other equally mesmerizing and informative animations in high definition on their web site, and you should go watch them, too, if you enjoyed this one. While we watched this video we set up the first steps of the DNA extraction protocol, which contains a convenient 10-minute break. Below is the protocol we used. The students wanted to know what each step does to the DNA, so I’ll try to explain it here as well. Materials: A blender. A mesh strainer with very small holes. If you are alone: A clear cup. It looks really cool if you use a champagne glass. A wooden BBQ skewer or something else with which to stir. One eighth teaspoon table salt. About one cup of cold water. A pinch of meat tenderizer or contact lens solution. (We used meat tenderizer.) Two tablespoons liquid laundry detergent. Use clear laundry detergent. Colored laundry detergent will overpower the color of the fruit or vegetable. About half a cup of something that was once alive. It’s okay if it’s frozen. We tried strawberries, split peas, and corn. The kids were most excited about the strawberries. I thought the peas looked coolest. The frozen corn was not very exciting for anybody. A small jug of rubbing alcohol with at least 95% alcohol content. If you are with 10-20 friends: A bag of small, clear, disposable cups. The more translucent cups are worth the extra money. A bag of wooden BBQ skewers or something else with which to stir. One container of table salt from your kitchen. Gallon jug of cold water, which you brought to school empty and filled with cold tap water in the bathroom before class. Two small shakers of meat tenderizer. You won’t use much of this, but it’s better to have two so that they can both be passed around at the same time. A small bottle of clear liquid laundry detergent. A bag or two or three of something that was once alive, like a fruit or a vegetable. It’s okay if it’s frozen. Several jugs of rubbing alcohol with about 95% alcohol content. You’ll need about as much rubbing alcohol as vegetable or fruit, which might be a lot. (Weird looks at the check-out line come with the vast, yellow and green polka-dotted territory of being awesome.) Leave time to potentially stop by multiple CVSes. Among the materials, rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) can cause irritation to eyes, skin, or the respiratory system. Isopropyl alcohol vapors can irritate the eyes and the respiratory system, contact with eyes can cause damage and burns, and ingestion or inhalation can cause vomiting, drowsiness, and death. The lethal dose is about one cup. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to drink very much, but if you do you will die. You also don’t want to eat the laundry detergent or get it in your eyes. Procedure: Combine in the blender one part vegetable or fruit, two parts cold water, and the salt. If you’re doing this alone, it’ll be half a cup of vegetable or fruit, one cup water, and one eighth teaspoon salt. If you’re doing this with a group you’ll want to fill the blender and scale up the salt appropriately. Blend on high for 15 to 25 seconds.  It is not important that the water be cold, but it is helpful. Most things, including DNA, tend to be less soluble at lower temperatures. (The exception is proteins, which start denaturing, or losing their structure, at higher temperatures, exposing their hydrophobic parts and forcing them to clump together to avoid surrounding water.) The salt, NaCl, dissolves in the water, separating into the charged ions Na+ and Cl. The Na+ neutralizes the negatively charged DNA, allowing the DNA strands to clump together rather than be repelled by each other’s negative charge. Balance your mesh strainer over a clear cup and pour the liquid contents of the blender through the strainer and into the cup. The cup should be at most half full. If you’re doing this with a group you should divide the contents of the blender equally among the group and line the cups up on the table for the next step. Keep in mind that the goop that comes out of the blender earlier has more DNA in it than the goop that comes out of the blender later. Add two tablespoons of clear liquid laundry detergent to each cup of vegetable goop. If you’re doing this with a group you can use the bottommost line in one of the plastic cups to measure out a very approximate two tablespoons.  The laundry detergent disrupts the membrane enclosing the cell and potentially the nuclear membrane enclosing the DNA. Distribute a vegetable goop cup and a BBQ skewer to each person. Everyone should stir gently and then let the solution stand for 10 minutes. Now is a good time to watch the above 7-minute video. Pass around the meat tenderizer and the rubbing alcohol. Each person should add a pinch of meat tenderizer to their cup and stir gently again, and then add about as much rubbing alcohol as there is vegetable mixture. The rubbing alcohol makes the DNA clump together, since the DNA is less soluble in rubbing alcohol (or any other alcohol) than in water. The meat tenderizer contains protease, an enzyme that degrades the proteins that accompany the DNA. The DNA will appear as white goop on the surface of the green or red goop. You can spin it onto the BBQ skewer like cotton candy, but I think it looks prettier and much less gross if it’s left in the cup.  Here are some photos my students took at the end of the process. The fruits and vegetables used, clockwise from the top left, are strawberries, peas, corn, and mixed berry, all frozen. That no one photographed the DNA extracted from the corn is, I think, additional testament to frozen corn not being very interesting.       Afterwards, I opened the floor to questions and short chalk talks and we ended up going in very interesting directions. I almost wish I’d had an older class so that students could teach each other more than I talked at them, but at the same time it seems like younger people ask more questions and their questions are often more interesting. Some of the things we talked about were transposons, viruses, cancer, stem cells, ribosomes and the RNA world, DNA sequencing technologies, sex chromosomes and their evolution, alternative splice sites, and the evolutionary benefits of aging and death. I got some emails in the following days expressing interest in biology and asking about things we talked about in class, which was such a wonderful feeling. If you have time and a presentation at your local elementary school seems like something you would enjoy, you should ask about trying it. A few weeks ago my mom repeated the presentation and the DNA extraction with my little brother’s fifth grade class, and apparently they asked even more interesting questions. It seems like elementary school teachers are usually thrilled to have alumni or parents present about what theyve been up to in high school and college and beyond. If you are in middle or high school and youd like to learn more about genomics and DNA, there are free resources online that you should check out: edx.org Free online courses from MIT, Harvard, and other excellent schools that mirror actual undergraduate courses, with labs, graded tests, online real-human interaction, and the possibility of earning a certificate. In particular, you might be interested in: 7.00x  Introduction to Biology: The Secret of Life,  taught by Dr. Eric Lander, from the Human Genome Project 6.00x  Introduction to Computer Science and Programming ocw.mit.edu Free material from many, many MIT classes, including video lectures. In particular, you might be interested in: Biology highlights for high school 7.01SC Fundamentals of Biology, also taught by Dr. Eric Lander, along with Dr. Robert Weinberg, who made huge contributions to cancer research (both won 3 million dollars this past February for their research) 6.00SC Introduction to Computer Science and Programming codecademy.com Free interactive programming classes online. wikipedia.org/wiki/genomics Excellent introductory information. Follow the links! If you have questions, if you do a presentation, or if you try a DNA extraction, alone or with a class, and you comment or email me about what happened it would make me very happyâ€"especially if you are adventurous and try a DNA extraction from something new. (Somewhat relatedly, today is the 161st birthday of Julius Petri, who invented the petri dish. Check out his  Google doodle.)

The Differences Between Latin America - 924 Words

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Due to such variation it is impossible to claim that Latin America as a whole aligns with one attitude concerning family p lanning and abortion. Additionally, both systems are simultaneously present in countries creating a complex and intriguing system of reproductive health. Due to this variety, this paper focuses on Chile and Cuba as examples of two opposing extremes. In Cuba abortion is legal under all circumstances as compared to Chile, where abortion was historically criminalized. These two country s situations ask the question of how family planning programs and abortion rates connect with and influence oneShow MoreRelatedDifferences Between Latin And North America1279 Words   |  6 PagesThe Americas were conquered not discovered. Although Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, the continent was already inhabited by its indigenous people. Once Europe realized that this continent existed, the race to inhabit land had begun. 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Essay on Cracking the Genome of Genetically Modified Foods

Cracking the Genome of Genetically Modified Foods. From prehistoric times crop plants and animals have been improved by selective breeding, a process by which humans breed other animals and plants for certain traits, but the modern marvels of GMOs and transgenic plants have come to light in just the last few decades. Selection procedures have achieved huge differences in form and genetics of a single species for instance the mule, a cross between a male donkey and a mare has been used in Europe for more than 3,000 years (GM Education). Modern genetic engineering started back in 1973 when Stanley Cohen, Annie Chang and Herbert Boyer created the first genetically modified DNA organism. In terms of food, genetic engineering simply means†¦show more content†¦A research conducted by World Health Organization (WHO) in 2000, new varieties of food crops, other than those produced using rDNA technology, are rarely subjected to toxicological assessments (The National research Council, 39). This could give a rise to medical emergenci es in the United States and requires people with allergies to pay very close to attention to what they’re trying to consume. This could also introduce humans to new varieties of diseases and health conditions. Opponents of GMF argue that genetic engineering of plants and animals for food and medicine is expensive and impractical and that they are not labeled as such in the United States. This raises concern that US consumers are not fully aware of what they are buying (Forman, 13). US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only makes sure that the food consumers consume is wholesome. It doesn’t consider whether or not the food’s genetically modified (UC Santa Cruz). This could possibly make people think that there’s something that they’re not aware of and eventually give rise to resentment. In 1994, FDA approved injection of cows with a genetically modified growth hormone called rBGH despite a study that suggested doing so might increase the risk for disease in humans (Forman). Consumers with allergies, vegetarians and people who follow religious dietary rules are not only having a hard time avoiding food that might containShow MoreRelatedGp Essay Mainpoints24643 W ords   |  99 Pagesimproved†, or â€Å"part of a complete meal† for fast food when it is actually only healthy when eaten in extreme moderation †¢ E.g. Before and after photos for slimming advertisements. In the ‘before’ photos, the person usually slouches, is pictured in full view and is clad in unsuitable clothing. In the ‘after’ photos, pictured in half view with more attractive clothing. Increased attractiveness is thus attributed to weight loss. †¢ E.g. Fast food usually photographed in warm light so that it looks

Slavery Life On The Plantations Essay Example For Students

Slavery Life On The Plantations Essay Slave Life The warm climate, boundless fields of fertile soil, long growing seasons, and numerous waterways provided favorable conditions for farming plantations in the South (Foster). The richness of the South depended on the productivity of the plantations (Katz 3-5). With the invention of the cotton gin, expansion of the country occurred. This called for the spread of slavery (Foster). Slaves, owned by one in four families, were controlled from birth to death by their white owners. Black men, women, and children toiled in the fields and houses under horrible conditions (Katz 3-5). The slave system attempted to destroy black family structure and take away human dignity (Starobin 101). Slaves led a hard life on the Southern plantations. Most slaves were brought from Africa, either kidnapped or sold by their tribes to slave catchers for violating a tribal command. Some were even traded for tobacco, sugar, and other useful products (Cowan and Maguire 5:18). Those not killed or lucky e nough to escape the slave-catching raids were chained together (Foster). The slaves had no understanding of what was happening to them. They were from different tribes and of different speaking languages. Most captured blacks had never seen the white skinned foreigners who came on long, strange boats to journey them across the ocean. They would never see their families or native lands again. These unfortunate people were shackled and crammed tightly into the holds of ships for weeks. Some refused to eat and others committed suicide by jumping overboard (Foster). When the ships reached American ports, slaves were unloaded into pens to be sold at auctions to the highest bidder. One high-priced slave compared auction prices with another, saying, quot;You wouldnt fetch bout fifty dollas, but Im wuth a thousandquot; (qtd. in Foster). At the auctions, potential buyers would examine the captives muscles and teeth. Mens and womens bodies were exposed to look for lash marks. No marks on a bo dy meant that he or she was an obedient person. The slaves were required to dance or jump around to prove their limberness. Young, fair-skinned muttaloes, barely clothed and ready to be sold to brothel owners, were kept in private rooms (Foster). It was profitable to teach the slaves skills so that during the crop off-season they could be hired out to work. Although they were not being paid, some were doing more skilled work than poor whites were. The better behaved slaves were allowed to be carpenters, masons, bricklayers, or iron workers. The construction of bridges, streets, canals, railroad lines, public buildings, and private homes was made possible by using slave labor (Cowan and Maguire 5:44). Slaves had no rights. This was done to keep them from revolting against their masters or attaining too much power (Katz 3-5). They were not allowed to communicate with each other or have meetings of any sort. To leave the plantation, a worker was required to have a pass signed by the ma ster and overseer. Slaves could not own property, although some masters authorized it. Knives, guns, or any kind of weapon was not allowed. Forced separation of family members was a constant, dreadful threat (Foster). ;quot;It was de saddes thing dat ever happen to me,quot; one slave recalls of the sale of her sister, whom she never saw again (qtd. in Foster). Blacks received harsher criminal sentencing than whites, regardless of the crime (Cowan and Maguire 5:17). Marriage between slaves was not legally recognized, but owners encouraged it because a more stable environment was created. Married couples with children were less likely to attempt escape. Unfortunately, there usually was not a suitable mate choice among the slaves, so most remained single (Starobin 7). Rebel slaves would recruit Indians, poor whites, and anti-slavery persons to attack all white men, women, and children (Starobin 123-26). These uprisings occurred with at least one major revolt per generation (Starobin 98 ). Most rebellions were led by skilled artisans and industrial workers. The slaves depended on midnight surprise attacks and support from many (Starobin 124). They would set fire to buildings; while the whites were extinguishing the flames, angry slaves would assault them from behind (Starobin 123-26). Owners were forced to quot;sleep with one eye openquot; in case the large masses of slaves decided to uprise (qtd. in Foster). On a much smaller scale, slaves expressed their hate by refusing their duties, performing slow and sloppy work, stealing goods, fighting with overseers, sabotaging machinery and tools, and resisting the white culture forced upon them (Starobin 98-99). Some attempted to run away. They sought refuge in mountains and swamps. Professional slave catchers used bloodhound dogs to track down runaways. Sometimes handbills with the description of the slave were printed and distributed through several communities. In some cases, after a few days or weeks in the wildernes s, a slave would give up hope and return to his master. Very few runaways escaped to freedom. Captured slaves would be beaten, burned, or killed as an example to other slaves (Foster). Whipping was the most commonly used form of punishment for disorderly slaves (David et al. 63-68). Rewards were handed out to the fastest and most productive cotton pickers. One might receive extra food rations or a new set of clothing. Some earned assignment to tasks of choice. Permission to visit a neighboring plantation might be given or a trip to town might be planned. Some overseers gave out small amounts of money to buy tobacco, jewelry, or trinkets from peddlers (David et al. 69-70). Overwork pay was another favorable prize, but few slaveowners used this method (Starobin 7). A slave was considered lucky if he got to be a house servant. House servants were considered the quot;aristocrats of slaveryquot; (qtd. in Ploski and Williams 1438). They were the best behaved and most submissive, occasiona lly even the mixed offspring of the master himself. The house servants were raised in belief that they were superior to other slaves in status and importance (Starobin 63). Intimate friendships often formed between master and messenger (Ploski and Williams 1438). Young black boys and girls were sometimes adopted into the family (Katz 4-5). House slaves were allowed to practice trades such as tailoring and masonry. Some were permitted to study music and teach. Duties of the housekeeper were managing the house, caring for the children, and driving the buggy; they basically catered to the masters requests (Ploski and Williams 1438). A slaveowner might enlist the help of his servant to spy on overseers and tattle on other slaves (Starobin 63). Most house slaves lived in the same house as the master (Ploski and Williams 1438). The majority of house servants were women; therefore, they were open and vulnerable to sexual abuse. They were unsafe from lusty masters and overseers, even fellow slave men, who ignored state laws against rape. Powerless women were forced into prostitution. The slave woman suffered most by the white ;quot;fiends who bear the shape of men.;quot; (qtd. in Foster). Fortunately this seldomly occurred (Foster). Sometimes a willing relationship between master and slave evolved (Ploski and Williams 1438). Field hands met a much harsher fate. ;quot;Unrelieved horror and vicious cruelty;quot; described the day-to-day life of a field hand (qtd. in Katz 3). They were in charge of sowing, reaping, and planting commercial crops like cotton and tobacco under the watchful eye of unmerciful overseers (Ploski and Williams 1437). They worked in all weather conditions from sunup to sundown every day. Slaves were rarely used to grow grains such as wheat, rye, and barley because they were considered unsuitable to handle it (Katz 4-5). Field laborers cared for equipment and kept gardens in shape (Ploski and Williams 1437). When the need for soldiers arose during war, some blacks enlisted into the militia, either willingly or by force from the master (Cowan and Maguire 5: 17). Masters kept food, clothing, and shelter at bare minimum to reduce costs (Starobin 7). Often workers were given a small shack with no windows, a bare dirt floor, and a leaky roof. Several families might live in one crowded room. They were allowed corn or rice, maybe a bucket a week, and rarely received meat as a food staple. The field slaves were very malnourished. The slaves were given one set of clothing to wear for years, and most did not have shoes (Ploski and Williams 1439). As a result of the poor living conditions, disease and death rates were kept high (Starobin 7). Most adult slaves were worked to death in eight to ten years (Ploski and Williams 1437). Slavery was a terrible institution. It took peoples lives and tore them apart. Many black people suffered for decades. Slaves were exposed to prejudice and inhuman treatment. They lived in unthinkable conditions , stripped of their dignity and rights as human beings. Slavery changed the path of history forever. Works Cited Cowan, Tom, and Jack Maguire. Timelines in American History. New York: Perigee Books, 1994. David, Paul, et al. Reckoning with Slavery. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. Foster, Stephen T. The Civil War Collection. New York: New Viewpoints, 1974. Katz, William Loren, ed. Slavery to Civil War. Vol 2. New York: Franklin Watts, 1974. Ploski, Harry A., and James Williams. Reference Library of Black America. Vol 5. New York: Gale Research, 1990. Starobin, Robert S., Blacks in Bondage. New York: New Viewpoints, 1974. .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f , .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f .postImageUrl , .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f , .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f:hover , .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f:visited , .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f:active { border:0!important; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f:active , .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u20699f44bcac3e9ef236f7b47072614f:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: A nail, with some name engraved on it, suddenly appeared in the man`s hand Essay

Gender Stratification in Education, Work, and Family

Introduction After class and race, the most important dimensions of inequality in modern societies are gender and age. Gender refers to a set of culturally conditioned traits associated with maleness or femaleness (Kornblum 328). There are two sexes, male and female which are biologically determined statuses and two genders, masculine and feminine which are socially constructed ways of being a man or a woman.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Gender Stratification in Education, Work, and Family specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A gender role is a set of behaviors considered appropriate for individuals of a particular gender. Controversies over whether women in the armed forces can serve in combat or whether men with children ought to be eligible for family leave from work are examples of issues arising out of the definition of gender roles. All human societies are stratified by gender, meaning that males and females are channeled into specific statuses and roles. Comments such as, be a man or she is a real lady, often serve to remind us that our behavior is or is not conforming to the role expectations associated with our particular gender. When women’s roles are thought to require male direction, as is the case in many households and organizations, the unequal treatment of men and women is directly related to gender roles. The roles assigned to men and women are accorded differing amounts of income, power, or prestige, and these forms of inequality contribute to the society’s system of stratification. According to Kornblum, recent research has expanded the understanding of gender in society by demonstrating that gender stratification is a feature of organizations of all kinds, and not merely an attribute of individuals and their roles (329). The advantages of the male gender role in American society have long been noted. Men earn higher salaries and often command more respect th an women do. One reason traditionally male occupations are attractive to women, for example, is that they are more positively valued than women’s occupations. Closely related to the perceived higher status of the male role is the power that accompanies this more valued position. The higher status of the male gender role has been offered as a reason why women’s gender role violation is viewed more positively than men’s similar violations (Unger 224). Gender as Social Construction and Social Structure To sociologists, gender is not simply something that individuals have. It is something that is constantly recreated in individual socialization, in medical and cultural practices, and in social interaction. Similarly, sociologists describe gender as an attribute not only of individuals but also of social structures.Advertising Looking for essay on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More From the time th ey are born, girls are treated in one way and boys in another. They are, for example, wrapped in blue blankets or pink, encouraged to take up sports or sewing, and described as cute or as strong before they are old enough to truly exhibit individual personalities (Brinkerhoff et al. 202). In this way, children are made to learn their gender and gender roles from a very early age. Studies have, however indicated that when parents do not exhibit gender stereotype behavior or punish their children for cross gender behavior, we end up with a more civilized society. As a result of this learning process, boy and girls develop strong ideas about what is appropriate for girls and what is appropriate for boys. However, since boys are punished more than girls for exhibiting cross gender behavior, they tend to be especially rigid in their ideas of what girls and boys ought to do. Girls are freer to engage in cross gender behavior than boys. Improvement of Gender Relations over the Years Accord ing to Howe, men are these days living in less gender traditional families unlike in the past (93). In general, men are becoming less gender biased and are looking for something more than what traditional gender expectations can provide for them. The feminist movements have not only benefitted the lives of women, but have changed many men’s lives as well. For example, men no longer think that it is acceptable to beat or rape their wives, actions which were accepted as men’s rights in previous generations. Unfortunately, men are still growing up in a world that expects them to be aggressive, assertive, and accomplished. In addition, men are also expected to be tender, emotional, and open with their partners. The society expects them to be physically strong yet not dominate in the work place. They are expected to play well with others in work teams and listen to their partners at home. However, boys are generally not socialized to practice these skills as they grow up (H owe 94). Over the years, several laws and policies have been created to enhance gender relations. They include Policy on Gender and Development by the African Development Bank, requiring that gender be mainstreamed in all of the Bank’s operations, and Social Protection Strategy that seeks to eliminate any form of discrimination. Predictions about the Future of Gender Relations To improve gender relations even further, organizations such as Promise Keepers bring thousands of men together in large stadiums to discuss how they have let their important role in their families to disintegrate. The goal of these organizations is to help men reclaim their spiritual responsibility as servant leaders in the home.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Gender Stratification in Education, Work, and Family specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Even though Promise Keepers is a conservative Christian movement, it stemmed from the N ew Age, leftist liberal men’s movement of the 1970s and 1980s when scores of men would go into the woods, beat drums, and openly share about the pain and isolation they felt as boys and men trying to conform to rigid gender role expectations. The liberal men’s movement sought to free men from narrowly defined gender stereotypes and stilted emotional lives. They built a brotherhood of open, caring, sensitive men who wanted to connect emotionally with their families. In a similar vein, the Promise Keepers group attempts to create a brotherhood of men working toward restoring wives’ and children’s love and faith in men as the religious and moral leaders of the home. Promise Keepers seek to tear down the commercialization of masculinity, through belittling macho exploits that objectify sex and violence. They want their members to reject the need for power and money, stop starving for a capitalist dream, and start striving for family harmony and strong marriag es. They encourage men to turn off their television sets and talk to their families. In this brotherhood, men feel safe sharing their fears and deepest feelings, their sense of failure over not achieving high powered careers, and their sense of disconnection from their wives. They aspire to lead but also to serve their wives. As men strive to maintain traditional conservative gender roles, they are also seeking to redefine masculinity and create a sensitive, open, and economically connected modern patriarch. Women often have the responsibility for the spiritual and moral upbringing of the next generation. Some conservative scholars, however, feel that we can not put these important goals in the hands of the government by increasing our use of day care centers for children. They argue that women have high levels of role strain due partly to the media and the public disparaging traditional women’s work and the roles of their stay at home as wife and mother. As noted by Klein, g ender relations may also be enriched through an educational process (539). Feminist Movements within the United States To appreciate the historic significance of the woman suffrage movement, it is necessary to understand the degree to which women expected the vote to lead to a total transformation of their lives. Apparently, this had to do with changes taking place in the family, its relation to society, and woman’s role within it.Advertising Looking for essay on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Historically, the woman’s role has been shaped by her position in the family. Because the traditional family was the site of production and closely integrated with all forms of community life, women were recognized as participants in the larger world of the society. However, the family’s central importance in social organization meant that the patriarchal relations between men and women that characterized family life were carried into all other aspects of society as well. Until the development of women’s rights and woman suffrage politics, the major approach to improving women’s status came from domestic reformers, such as Catharine Beecher. To retrieve some of the social recognition that women were losing as production and other aspects of social life moved away from the home, domestic reformers called for an elevation of women’s status in the family, and for increased recognition of the contribution that domestic relations made to community life in general. They did not challenge the relegation of women to the domestic sphere, but only the relationship between that sphere and the rest of the society. The demand for suffrage represented a much more advanced program for improving women’s position. Suffragists recognized that the locus of community life had shifted away from the family and that women’s aspirations for a greater voice in the conduct of community affairs could be satisfied only by their moving into the public realm. Moreover, the demand for woman suffrage raised the prospect of sex equality in a way that proposals for domestic reforms never could. Gender in Education, Work, and Family At the work place, being a woman results in lower pay and being left out of important decision making arenas. Women have to fight the assumption that they would rather spend more time with their children than in moving up the career ladder. Women are seen as not taking their jobs as seriously as men while men are expe cted to concentrate on their jobs at the expense of their families. In the same way, gender determines the courses taken during a learning process. Approximately 95 per cent of all domestic violence victims are women. Violent attacks on women occur in almost every area of their daily lives. They are assaulted in their homes, on the streets, in the workplace, and in schools. According to the United Nations, however, all human beings are born equal and qualify to enjoy every right or freedom. Conclusion If gender relations are to be improved in the society, the discussion of cultural roles must be encouraged at different levels in society. Organizations such as Promise Keepers must be empowered to extend their services and spread messages that will drive the society to generational changes regarding gender relations. This study has allowed me to understand that gender stratification often begins from the early days of one’s life and keeps on taking different forms as time goes by. Works Cited Brinkerhoff, David, Lynn White and Suzanne Ortega. Essentials of Sociology, Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2007. Print. Howe, Tasha. Marriages and Families in the 21st Century: A Bioecological Approach, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons, 2011. Print. Kornblum, William. Sociology in a Changing World, Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Unger, Rhoda. Handbook of the Psychology of Women and Gender, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons, 2004. Print. 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