Process Paper
Finally, 6th grade. We’re old enough to do History Fair. We anxiously waited for this year's theme to be announced. When it was announced, we had two big problems. Not only did none of our topics fit the theme, but we also had no clue what diplomacy meant. We looked up diplomacy and found out what it meant- negotiations between two or more different parties. Then, we started looking for topics and found the Skokie case.
At our city library we found some magazine articles on Frank Collin, the ACLU, and Skokie. We checked out books through inter-library loans. After reading the books, we researched the First Amendment, neo-Nazism, the Holocaust, the ACLU, and the JDL. We contacted the Director of Special Projects at the Skokie Holocaust Museum, Ms. Gerstner, who helped us access the Illinois Digital Archives and recommended additional resources. Ms. Mortensen, from the Skokie Public Library, sent us a digitized version of a film in the library’s collection. We contacted Mr. Van Dusen, the current mayor of Skokie, and David Goldberger, the ACLU attorney who argued the case! We were able to interview both of them by phone.
We thought that it would be both fun as well as a good experience to make our own website. We both love working with computers and were anxious to try Weebly. We were excited that friends and family around the world could easily view our project. We used Weebly to download pictures and videos, create hyperlinks, and add rollover captions. By experimentation, we found we could edit the HTML/CSS and, by doing so, change things on the themes offered by Weebly.
Our topic fits this years’ theme perfectly since it has both debate and diplomacy. The debate is about defining the First Amendment- Is even the most hateful, obnoxious, anti-Semitic speech allowed in a village with a mostly Jewish population including seven thousand Holocaust survivors? Some people believe that debate is more effective in preventing hateful ideas from spreading than censorship, while others believe that freedom of speech should not protect the Neo-Nazis hateful speech, because this was an assault on the Holocaust survivors. Close to the end, when it was obvious that the Neo-Nazis were going to get their First Amendment rights, the Justice Department worked behind the scenes to find an alternative to the Skokie march. This diplomatic intervention succeeded in convincing the Neo-Nazis to call off the march. After all, no one wanted the march to occur in Skokie- not even the Neo-Nazis.
After fifteen months of court challenges, the Neo-Nazis were successful in winning their right to march. But, because of the large counter demonstrations planned and fear of violence, the Neo-Nazis marched in Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago and later, Marquette Park instead. The residents of Skokie were successful in keeping the Neo-Nazis out of their village. The Skokie case further defined the First Amendment, making America’s freedom of speech unique, even among democracies.
At our city library we found some magazine articles on Frank Collin, the ACLU, and Skokie. We checked out books through inter-library loans. After reading the books, we researched the First Amendment, neo-Nazism, the Holocaust, the ACLU, and the JDL. We contacted the Director of Special Projects at the Skokie Holocaust Museum, Ms. Gerstner, who helped us access the Illinois Digital Archives and recommended additional resources. Ms. Mortensen, from the Skokie Public Library, sent us a digitized version of a film in the library’s collection. We contacted Mr. Van Dusen, the current mayor of Skokie, and David Goldberger, the ACLU attorney who argued the case! We were able to interview both of them by phone.
We thought that it would be both fun as well as a good experience to make our own website. We both love working with computers and were anxious to try Weebly. We were excited that friends and family around the world could easily view our project. We used Weebly to download pictures and videos, create hyperlinks, and add rollover captions. By experimentation, we found we could edit the HTML/CSS and, by doing so, change things on the themes offered by Weebly.
Our topic fits this years’ theme perfectly since it has both debate and diplomacy. The debate is about defining the First Amendment- Is even the most hateful, obnoxious, anti-Semitic speech allowed in a village with a mostly Jewish population including seven thousand Holocaust survivors? Some people believe that debate is more effective in preventing hateful ideas from spreading than censorship, while others believe that freedom of speech should not protect the Neo-Nazis hateful speech, because this was an assault on the Holocaust survivors. Close to the end, when it was obvious that the Neo-Nazis were going to get their First Amendment rights, the Justice Department worked behind the scenes to find an alternative to the Skokie march. This diplomatic intervention succeeded in convincing the Neo-Nazis to call off the march. After all, no one wanted the march to occur in Skokie- not even the Neo-Nazis.
After fifteen months of court challenges, the Neo-Nazis were successful in winning their right to march. But, because of the large counter demonstrations planned and fear of violence, the Neo-Nazis marched in Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago and later, Marquette Park instead. The residents of Skokie were successful in keeping the Neo-Nazis out of their village. The Skokie case further defined the First Amendment, making America’s freedom of speech unique, even among democracies.