Recovering a Lost Story Using Oral History: The United States Supreme Court\u27s Historic Green v. New Kent County, Virginia, Decision

In 1965, New Kent County, located just east of Richmond, Virginia, became the setting for the one of the most important school desegregation cases since Brown v. Board of Education. Ten years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared separate but equal unconstitutional, both public schools in New Kent, the George W. Watkins School for blacks and the New Kent School for whites, remained segregated. In 1965, however, local blacks and the Virginia State NAACP initiated a legal challenge to segregated schools, hoping to initiate desegregation where the process had yet to begin and to accelerate the process in areas where token desegregation was the norm. In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court decision inCharles C. Green v. the School Board of New Kent County forced New Kent County and localities across the state and nation to fulfill the promise of Brown. While the case has been part of the court records since it was decided in 1968, it has remained largely unknown to the general public and many scholars of the era. This article is an attempt to use the tool of oral history to present the people and the story behind Green v. New Kent County and to add another piece to the puzzle that was school desegregation in this country

Historical Overview of Africans and African Americans in Yorktown, at the Moore House, and on Battlefield Property, 1635-1867 Colonial National Historical Park (Vol. 2)

The situation for African Americans in Yorktown did not improve much during the antebellum period. The possibility of being willed, sold, or mortgaged by a slaveholder remained. William Vail is one example. Vail had over thirty slaves and mongaged some or all of them at some point. When Vail died in 1834, he owned several lots in Yorktown but gave permission in his will to sell Ambrose, Caesar, Lucy, Bob, and Tom Bailey, if necessary to pay his debts. He left his wife, Louisa, William, Alfred, Molly, Carlia, Charlotte, Alice and her three children, as well as his man Tom, his old woman Sue, and the future increase of the female slaves.20 The fate of Vail\u27s slaves is not clear. Again, control of the black population, whether enslaved or free, remained the goal for whites. Free blacks were required to register their presence at the county courthouse. From a twenty first century perspective, this law appears intrusive, but in the nineteenth century, it was also a way for free blacks to protect themselves if their status ever came into question. York County\u27s registry of free blacks provides an interesting picture of blacks in this period. The registry provided names, physical descriptions, the name of the person who freed the individual, unless born free, and often the surname of the former slave.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/asbook/1041/thumbnail.jp

Charles C. Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, U.S. Supreme Court decision

Lesson plan and historical background for the 1968 Charles C. Green et al., v, County School board of New Kent County, Virginia, et al (391 U.S. 430) Supreme Court decision which defined the standards by which federal courts would judge whether a violation of U.S. constitution existed in school desegregation cases

OpenET : filling a critical data gap in water management for the western United States.

The lack of consistent, accurate information on evapotranspiration (ET) and consumptive use of water by irrigated agriculture is one of the most important data gaps for water managers in the western United States (U.S.) and other arid agricultural regions globally. The ability to easily access information on ET is central to improving water budgets across the West, advancing the use of data-driven irrigation management strategies, and expanding incentive-driven conservation programs. Recent advances in remote sensing of ET have led to the development of multiple approaches for field-scale ET mapping that have been used for local and regional water resource management applications by U.S. state and federal agencies. The OpenET project is a community-driven effort that is building upon these advances to develop an operational system for generating and distributing ET data at a field scale using an ensemble of six well-established satellite-based approaches for mapping ET. Key objectives of OpenET include: Increasing access to remotely sensed ET data through a web-based data explorer and data services; supporting the use of ET data for a range of water resource management applications; and development of use cases and training resources for agricultural producers and water resource managers. Here we describe the OpenET framework, including the models used in the ensemble, the satellite, meteorological, and ancillary data inputs to the system, and the OpenET data visualization and access tools. We also summarize an extensive intercomparison and accuracy assessment conducted using ground measurements of ET from 139 flux tower sites instrumented with open path eddy covariance systems. Results calculated for 24 cropland sites from Phase I of the intercomparison and accuracy assessment demonstrate strong agreement between the satellite-driven ET models and the flux tower ET data. For the six models that have been evaluated to date (ALEXI/DisALEXI, eeMETRIC, geeSEBAL, PT-JPL, SIMS, and SSEBop) and the ensemble mean, the weighted average mean absolute error (MAE) values across all sites range from 13.6 to 21.6 mm/month at a monthly timestep, and 0.74 to 1.07 mm/day at a daily timestep. At seasonal time scales, for all but one of the models the weighted mean total ET is within ±8% of both the ensemble mean and the weighted mean total ET calculated from the flux tower data. Overall, the ensemble mean performs as well as any individual model across nearly all accuracy statistics for croplands, though some individual models may perform better for specific sites and regions. We conclude with three brief use cases to illustrate current applications and benefits of increased access to ET data, and discuss key lessons learned from the development of OpenET

Better Regional Ocean Observing Through Cross-National Cooperation: A Case Study From the Northeast Pacific

The ocean knows no political borders. Ocean processes, like summertime wind-driven upwelling, stretch thousands of kilometers along the Northeast Pacific (NEP) coast. This upwelling drives marine ecosystem productivity and is modulated by weather systems and seasonal to interdecadal ocean-atmosphere variability. Major ocean currents in the NEP transport water properties such as heat, fresh water, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, pCO2, and pH close to the shore. The eastward North Pacific Current bifurcates offshore in the NEP, delivering open-ocean signals south into the California Current and north into the Gulf of Alaska. There is a large and growing number of NEP ocean observing elements operated by government agencies, Native American Tribes, First Nations groups, not-for-profit organizations, and private entities. Observing elements include moored and mobile platforms, shipboard repeat cruises, as well as land-based and estuarine stations. A wide range of multidisciplinary ocean sensors are deployed to track, for example, upwelling, downwelling, ocean productivity, harmful algal blooms, ocean acidification and hypoxia, seismic activity and tsunami wave propagation. Data delivery to shore and observatory controls are done through satellite and cell phone communication, and via seafloor cables. Remote sensing from satellites and land-based coastal radar provide broader spatial coverage, while numerical circulation and biogeochemical modeling complement ocean observing efforts. Models span from the deep ocean into the inland Salish Sea and estuaries. NEP ocean observing systems are used to understand regional processes and, together with numerical models, provide ocean forecasts. By sharing data, experiences and lessons learned, the regional ocean observatory is better than the sum of its parts

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Local Peroxynitrite Formation Contributes to Early Control of Cryptosporidium parvum Infection

In intestinal inflammation, mucosal injury is often exacerbated by the reaction of NO with neutrophil-derived superoxide to form the potent oxidant peroxynitrite. Peroxynitrite also has antimicrobial properties that aid in the killing mechanism of macrophages and neutrophils. Cryptosporidium parvum parasitizes intestinal epithelium, resulting in loss of epithelial cells and mucosal inflammation. Synthesis of NO is significantly increased and arises from the induced expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) by the infected epithelium. Inhibition of iNOS results in intensified epithelial parasitism and oocyst excretion. We hypothesized that formation of peroxynitrite is restricted to sites of iNOS expression by the epithelium and contributes to host defense in C. parvum infection. Accordingly, the location and biological effects of peroxynitrite formation were examined in neonatal piglets infected with C. parvum. Infected piglets were treated daily with a selective iNOS inhibitor [L-N6-(1-iminoethyl)-lysine] or one of two peroxynitrite scavengers [5,10,15,20-tetrakis(N-methyl-4′-pyridyl)porphyrinato iron(III) or uric acid] or received vehicle. At peak infection, peroxynitrite formation was restricted to sites of iNOS expression by parasitized epithelium and lamina propria of the apical villi. Peroxynitrite formation was dependent on iNOS activity and was inhibited by treatment with peroxynitrite scavengers. Scavengers increased the number of intracellular parasites and the number of infected epithelial cells present per villus and significantly exacerbated oocyst excretion. Recovery from infection was not delayed by ongoing treatment with scavenger. The present results are the first to demonstrate an in vivo role for peroxynitrite formation in acute mucosal defense against a noninvasive intestinal epithelial pathogen