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Hancock International College
April 2014
Volume 2, Issue 4
HIC UPDATES
April 2nd – Start of the Spring Quarter!
April 7th – Tutoring will begin this week, Monday & Wednesdays for IESL 101-103;
Tuesdays & Thursdays for IESL 103 – TOEFL
American History Corner – The Pony Express
The Pony Express was founded by William H. Russell, William B.
Waddell, and Alexander Majors. Plans for the Pony Express were
spurred by the threat of the Civil War and the need for faster
communication with the West. The Pony Express consisted of
relays of men riding horses carrying saddlebags of mail across a
2,000-mile trail. The service opened officially on April 3, 1860,
when riders left simultaneously from St. Joseph, Missouri, and
Sacramento, California. The first westbound trip was made in 9
days and 23 hours and the eastbound journey in 11 days and 12
hours. The pony riders covered 250 miles in a 24-hour day.
(Source: www.ponyexpress.org/history)
All About Earth Day
The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated
20 million Americans from all walks of life and
is widely credited with launching the modern
environmental movement.
By the early 1960s Americans were becoming aware of the effects
of pollution on the environment. Later in the decade, a 1969 fire on
Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River shed light on the problem of chemical
waste disposal. Until that time, protecting the planet’s natural
resources was not part of the national political agenda, and the
number of activists devoted to large-scale issues such as industrial
pollution was minimal. Factories pumped pollutants into the air, lakes
and rivers with few legal consequences. Big, gas-guzzling cars were
considered a sign of prosperity. Only a small portion of the American
population was familiar with–let alone practiced–recycling.
Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson, a
Democrat from Wisconsin, was determined to convince the federal
government that the planet was at risk. In 1969, Nelson, considered
one of the leaders of the modern environmental movement,
developed the idea for Earth Day after being inspired by the antiVietnam War “teach-ins” that were taking place on college
campuses around the United States. According to Nelson, he
envisioned a large-scale, grassroots environmental demonstration
“to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the
national agenda.”
Nelson announced the Earth Day concept at a conference in
Seattle in the fall of 1969 and invited the entire nation to get
involved. The first Earth Day was effective at raising awareness
about environmental issues and transforming public attitudes.
During the 1970s, a number of important pieces of environmental
legislation were passed, among them the Clean Air Act, the Water
Quality Improvement Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Toxic
Substances Control Act and the Surface Mining Control and
Reclamation Act. Another key development was the establishment
in December 1970 of the Environmental Protection Agency, which
was tasked with protecting human health and safeguarding the
natural environment—air, water and land.
(Source: www.history.com/topics/holidays/earth-day)
Historical Dates of Note in
April:
April 1st – April Fool’s Day
April 2nd, 1792 – Congress
established the first US Mint
(where US coins are created)
April 3rd, 1860 – the first Pony
Express ride took place,
delivering a letter on
horseback from Missouri to
California in 10 days
April 4th, 1949 – NATO (North
Atlantic Treaty Organization
was created, 12 nations signed
the treaty
April 6th, 1896 – The first Olympics
of the Modern Era were held in
Athens, Greece
April 12th, 1861 – The American
Civil War began
April 14th, 1865 – President
Abraham Lincoln was shot
while attending a
performance at Ford’s Theater
in Washington
April 22nd – Earth Day
April 2014
Volume 2, Issue 4
The American Civil War
The bloodiest four years in American history begin when
Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard open
fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay.
During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars
launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On
April 13, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days
later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling
for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to quell the Southern "insurrection."
As early as 1858, the ongoing conflict between North and South over
the issue of slavery had led Southern leadership to discuss a unified
separation from the United States. By 1860, the majority of the slave
states were publicly threatening secession if the Republicans, the
anti-slavery party, won the presidency. Following Republican
Abraham Lincoln's victory over the divided Democratic Party in
November 1860, South Carolina immediately initiated secession
proceedings. On December 20, the South Carolina legislature
passed the "Ordinance of Secession," which declared that "the Union
now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the
name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved." After the
declaration, South Carolina set about seizing forts, arsenals, and
other strategic locations within the state. Within six weeks, five more
Southern states--Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and
Louisiana--had followed South Carolina's lead.
In February 1861, delegates from those states convened to establish
a unified government. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was subsequently
elected the first president of the Confederate States of America.
When Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, a total of
seven states (Texas had joined the pack) had seceded from the
Union, and federal troops held only Fort Sumter in South Carolina,
Fort Pickens off the Florida coast, and a handful of minor outposts in
the South. Four years after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter,
the Confederacy was defeated at the total cost of 620,000 Union
and Confederate soldiers dead.
(Source: www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-civil-war-begins)
Civil War images above from www.archives.gov
All About Easter
Easter, which celebrates Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the
dead, is Christianity’s most important holiday. It has been called
a moveable feast because it doesn’t fall on a set date every
year, as most holidays do. Instead, Christian churches in the
West celebrate Easter on the first Sunday following the full moon
after the vernal equinox on March 21. Therefore, Easter is
observed anywhere between March 22 and April 25 every year.
Orthodox Christians use the Julian calendar to calculate when
Easter will occur and typically celebrate the holiday a week or
two after the Western churches, which follow the Gregorian
calendar.
In addition to Easter’s religious significance, it also has a
commercial side, as evidenced by the mounds of jelly beans
and marshmallow chicks that appear in stores each spring. As
with Christmas, over the centuries various folk customs and
pagan traditions, including Easter eggs, bunnies, baskets and
candy, have become a standard part of this holy holiday.
(Source: www.history.com/topics/holidays/history-of-easter)
Local April Events:
Newport Landing Whale
Watching
Newport Beach
April 1st – 30th
www.newportwhales.com
Mamma Mia!
April 8th – 13th
Segerstrom Center for the Arts
600 Town Center Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Bolsa Chica Conservancy’s
Earth Day
April 12th
10:00am
Huntington Beach, CA
Newport Beach Film Festival
April 24th – May 1st
Newport Beach, CA
www.newportbeachfilmfest.com
Every Friday
& Saturday Night
Improv City
(at Irvine Lanes)
www.improvcityonline.com
Go to
www.DestinationIrvine.com
for more information