"What's the point in telling a
story if we could not actually tell the story?" Chiwetel Ejiofor said
after being the main character of Solomon during the movie 12 Years a Slave.
This is a quote from my very first sentence of writing a paper in this class,
and a quote from my favorite part of the semester. It was really cool to
compare the movies to realistic events. For example, sometimes texts often
forget to mention there were free black men, and some of those free black men
were kidnapped and sold into slavery, which is exactly what happened to Solomon
in the movie 12 Years a Slave, and I had no idea similar situations like that
happened throughout the world.
I have to say my least favorite
part of the year was in the beginning. When I did not do so well on the quiz we
took applying to the rules of the classroom, I had no idea what to expect after
that. It wasn't even on material and I got a 70, how did I expect to do well on
material we actually had to learn? History has never been the most interesting
subject for me but it turns out that quiz was just a scare and I enjoy coming
to this class every day.
Something I will never forget about
and always be able to discuss is the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, the banning
of the Chinese from coming to the United States. People were intimidated and
scared of the Chinese taking their jobs. It seems as if no one in history has
ever loved competition.
To this day I believe America still
struggles with the issue of women being stereotyped as their only work place
being the kitchen. Throughout the 19th century men were against
women working with them and continued to believe they were only made to be a
man’s companion. In the history text it claims women were paid equally but
people always were trying to get them to seem less attractive to factories. I understand some jobs are for men, and some
jobs are for women but I also believe anyone can do anything they put their
mind to.
Many events happened in history
throughout 1865 to 1920. If I had to name this period of time I would name it
the “Coming of Age Era.” This name applies to this period because the south
began to incorporate equality as far as African American’s into society, such
as the 15th amendment that allowed African American men the right to
vote. America began to progress the economy in the area of developing
department stores and the command for goods. Leisure time was also a very
important time throughout history because it allowed people who normally did
not have time away from work to have less hours of work and more time to spend with their
families and friends. Last but not least, the making of factories and machinery
within the factories. The machines were able to speed up the process of making
products. I name this time the “Coming of Age Era” because it seems as if
America was coming to their senses.
