Monday, December 15, 2014

US History- First Semester Summary Activity

Grant Armstrong
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Mrs. Lawson
First Semester Summary Speech
In United States History class this semester, I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the resilience of people in hard times. Whether through the oppression of slavery before the Civil and segregation during Reconstruction, or the fight of Native Americans to keep their culture and homelands during Western Expansion, Americans were constantly fighting adversity. The American dream of hope and triumph was created by these figures of the past, and today, I can look at the obstacles in my life and conquer them.  Just as workers in the Age of the City fought against the corruption of immerging business ideals, I can push through the challenges in my life and succeed. Although these heroes of the past are long gone, their legacy is timeless and their lesson remains: greatness is achievable.
However, I was unpleasantly surprised to learn about the hatred and brutality that was shown towards blacks after the Civil War. The history of the United States was arguably at its worst during Reconstruction. Despite hundreds of thousands of soldiers dying to eventually achieve victory, the ideas that helped start the war would plague the country for decades. Groups such as the KKK actively and violently sought ways to intimidate and scare blacks. Jim Crow laws enforced segregation, and African-Americans were treated as unequal. Racism is the scar of our nations past, as I learned.
Ten years form now, I will likely remember the power of movies in the class room. Simply by exercising the skill of empathy, valuable information can be learned from a historically accurate film. I really enjoyed watching Glory and 12 Years a Slave. Although these films did not match the events of history completely, they provided information in a memorable format. I will surely remember the ideology taught by Glory and 12 Years a Slave for years to come.
During the emergence of industrial supremacy in the nineteenth century, native-born Americans struggled to be accepting of immigrants from across the globe. This remains a problem today. Just as immigrants from Europe and Asia were condemned and hated in the past, immigration to the United States today is occasionally looked down upon. Although some may support immigration, there are still opinions that it should cease and even be reversed. Immigrants in modern day society are stereotyped and judged as inadequate, just as in the Age of the City. Even if immigrants have nothing to hide, Americans may suspect the worst. Some Americans today hold the opinion that immigrants cause crime, take jobs, or even illegally enter the United States even though it is not always true. Hopefully this issue disappears in the years to come.

I would name the period of United States History from 1865 to 1920 the “Great Advancement”. On all levels, economic, social, and geographic, the United States advanced in the world. Reconstruction marked the end of the war and the first step towards equality. The settlement of the west made hundreds of thousands of square miles usable, and the Industrial Revolution brought America cities, groundbreaking technologies, and its modern corporation that produced the wealthiest men in history. Child labor and working conditions dramatically changed due to the efforts of worker’s unions and protestors. Despite the many difficulties and obstacles that troubled America during these years, the United States advanced to become a world superpower and a place of progress. 

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