Today's blog post will be our final one for the school year. I have so enjoyed reading your weekly responses. Thank you for being so consistent with these weekly assignments. I hope you've enjoyed learning new things in a different format.
This blog actually has two parts. Each part must be at least 200 words and labeled separately in your comment section. Each part is worth 50 points, which means this blog assignment is worth double.
Part One: Select an American history event between 1970-2019 (don't pick 9/11 attacks because we are all familiar with that.) Write 200 words about the event you chose and why you think it is significant. (200 words total)
Part Two: Reflect on our year together. What have you most enjoyed learning about this year? What topic/activity/assignment meant the most to you? (200 words total)
Boston Marathon Bombing:
ReplyDeleteThe Boston Marathon Bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on April 15, 2013, when two bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three spectators and wounding more than 260 other people. April 15, 2013, marked the 117th running of the Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest annual marathon. At approximately 2:49 that afternoon, with more than 5,600 runners still in the race, two bombs packed with shrapnel and hidden in backpacks among crowds of marathon watchers exploded within seconds of each other near the finish line along Boylston Street. The two bombers were brothers and did this as a terrorist attack. That night at around 10:30, Sean Collier, a police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was shot dead in his patrol car on the school’s Cambridge campus. Authorities later would link the murder to the Tsarnaev brothers, who allegedly attempted to steal the officer’s service weapon. Soon after Collier was killed, Tamerlan Tsarnaev carjacked a Mercedes SUV at gunpoint, taking the driver hostage and telling him he was one of the Boston Marathon bombers. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev followed behind in a Honda Civic before joining his older brother and the hostage in the SUV. Later on one of the brothers were killed by authorities and the other one was taken into custody. (Word Count:221)
The thing I enjoyed learning about the most this year is industrialization. The industrialization revolution was my favorite because technology took over during this time. Another reason is that the U.S. was the leading industrial nation in the whole world during this time. New inventions and technology were very important to the U.S. because it made everything easier in the world. For Example, technology and inventions made transportation and communication much easier for society then and even for society today. This time period probably was the best time period of inventors because there were so many good things being created to try to benefit the world. The most famous inventor of this time probably was Thomas Edison with his invention of the phonograph and the electric light bulb. The biggest transportation of this time period was Rail Roads, the United States had about 200,000 miles of railroad track by 1900. Railroads were considered to be the thing that linked the nation after the Civil War. Another reason why I enjoyed this is because business took over and began to dominate the economy. My favorite assignment of the year was doing the 54321 o the Harlem Renaissance because it affected society so much and one of the reasons the U.S. is the way it is today. (Word Count:219)
For my blog I choose Ronald Reagan being elected president in 1981. Ronald Reagan was formerly known as this big movie star. No one expected him to ever run for president at all being he had no background in the political area, but he’s chocked the world. Reagan established himself as the conservative candidate with support for organizations like the American Conservative Union which they played a key factor in the beginning of political beginning. Reagan's campaign stressed some of his fundamental principles: lower taxes to stimulate the economy, less government interference in people's lives, states rights, and a strong national defense. Reagan launched his campaign by declaring "I believe in states' rights.". His relaxed and confident appearance during the televised Reagan-Carter debate on October 28, boosted his popularity, and helped to widen his lead in the polls. On November 4, Reagan won a decisive victory over Carter. During his presidency, Reagan pursued policies that reflected his personal belief in individual freedom; brought changes domestically, both to the U.S. economy and expanded military; and contributed to the end of the Cold War. Reagan fixed the economy that Ford and Carter had messed up, he almost singlehandedly ended the crushing reign of Communism, one of the worst plagues to ever hit mankind. I think Reagan was a great president in the end and actually helped to make America great again. (231)
ReplyDeleteIn our history class this year we learned many new and exciting things and we also had a lot of fun while doing them. I honestly can not tell you what I think would be my favorite. But I did enjoy a lot about learning of many things that happened to our country. Learning about the women trying to take a stand for themselves and the racism that was overtaking our country was very near. I loved learning about how strong we the people really are and that we fight back and take a stand for the things that really matter to us. Women would not be who they are today without those women who helped get us to where we are now. They changed the whole game for us giving us a better way of life and letting us girls know that we are stronger than we think we are and can do anything we put our minds too. During this time a lot of African Americans took a stand for themselves also and it was truly remarkable. They knew they deserved more than what they were getting and fought for not only them but for their future and the future generations. Learning about these things were amazing and I enjoyed it so much. (216)
An American history event I chose was the Oklahoma City bombing in April of 1995. The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The bombing left 168 people dead including 19 children, and hundreds more injured. The blast was set off by an anti-government militant, Timothy McVeigh, who later was executed in 2001 for his crimes. His partner, Terry Nichols, was sentenced to life in prison. The federal buildings entire north wall was blown off and more than 300 surrounding buildings were damaged. There are some conspiracy theorists that claim that the bombing was actually planned/carried out by the United States government. The building was later on razed and a park was built on the site. I think this american event is important and significant because this bombing remained and was known as the deadliest terrorist attack/assault in the United States up until the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Also, both of the men that did this bombing were former American soldiers in the Army. Timothy McVeigh was the first person to be executed for a federal crime in the United States since 1963. (200 words)
ReplyDeleteThere are way too many things I have enjoyed this year in our history class. I honestly cannot pick which was my favorite out of all of the activities we have done this year. My few favorite things I learned this year in class was learning all about the presidents and their lives and songs we recently studied and went over in the past week of class. I did not know a lot about any of the presidents we studied and it stuck out of me because every single president’s presidency was not easy and studying what each of them went through stuck out to me and caught my eye a lot. I’m glad we went over the rest of the presidents this year in class because I had been wanting to learn about every single president since I last had this class. Secondly, the songs that we listened to, read, and studied stuck out to me a whole lot. It showed me what growing up back the was like and what everyone was going through and suffering through just to fight for their freedom. All of the songs we listened to contained the topics of racism, police brutality, hippies, protests, and movements. These songs helped me realize what it was like in the South, what living was like, and the society around the people. (225 words)
The event that I chose to talk about was The Christmas bombing of Hanoi in North Vietnam. I chose this event because I thought that it would be very very interesting to learn about. The Christmas bombing occurred on December 25 1972. This was the biggest bombing campaign by the U.S B-52 aircraft that has ever occurred. On December 18th in the evening there was 129 B-52 bombing airplanes in the sky of Hanoi North Vietnam. There was a little 10 year old Vietnamese girl named Ha Mi who was with her family when these bomb planes were over head. The bombing mission was very risky for American airmen. On December 26 their was a break in the bombings and it gave the Vietnamese a chance to regroup. Over 2000 homes were destroyed in these bombings. Also approximately 280 people were killed in these bombings. Most of the houses that were destroyed were still standing but were just rubble. On one of the nights of the bombings the U.S Air Force had lost 2 B-52 bomb planes out of the 15 they had. There were about 1,600 Vietnamese killed. About 30 U.S airmen died. (200)
ReplyDeleteI had many favorite things that i enjoyed learning about that we have learned about this year and I can not really choose one thing that I found very interesting that I have learned in U.S history this year. One of the many things that I enjoyed learning about this year was all of the presidents I thought that all of the presidents were interesting. Another thing that was my favorite that I have learned about this year is all of the wars and battles and things like that I enjoyed learning about. Another thing that was very interesting to me from this year was the Mai Lai massacre. I thought that was very interesting and I had no idea what this event was and how bad and unfortunate it really was before learning about it in U.S history this year. And the very last thing that I found interesting and that I enjoyed learning about this year in U.S history this year was the songs we listened to about a week or two ago. A lot of the songs we listened to I had never heard before and some of them I thought were a little different and strange. (203)
Hurricane Katrina took place on August 23, 2005 and then lasted until the 31 of August. There were a total of 1,833 people found dead. The hurricane made its appearance in several areas of the United states and surrounding terrains, such as: New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Cuba, the Bahamas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, Ontario, Kentucky, Florida, West Virginia, New York, and Eastern Canada. That’s a lot of places! Ultimately, the cost of damage from the hurricane averages up to $125.0 billion dollars. Fun fact, Katrina was the most expensive hurricane that the Atlantic has faced [wiki]. The hurricane rated at a category 3 on the scale, had winds at 100-140 mph, and was 400 miles wide. However, the hurricane did more than just leave damage, it caused flooding and people being left without homes. Hearts were damaged with anger, fear, and grief. Several states and counties had to evacuate. The people believed that the government reacted too slowly to the problem at hand. Truth be told, before there was any sign of a hurricane it was raining. [history.com] Many people swarmed to their attics and roofs for safety. Lastly, this event is one of the biggest events in history due to its impact. Several lives were changed and taken. (213)
ReplyDeleteI’m very thankful for this year and for this history class. This class bettered my understanding of the past. How have I grown? I remember the majority I've been taught the way I receive. I truly have an understanding of what America and its people have faced, who we’ve crossed, what we’ve ignored, our accomplishments, our failures, our many different presidents, our times of war, our times of celebration, our times of sadness, our times of going against each other, and our times of being a family. We’re not perfect. We even hate one another from time to time. Why? Because we’re human and as human beings in a fallen world we make mistakes. Sometimes we make up for it with growth and sometimes we don’t, but that’s okay. Are we trying our best? I surely hope so. We need to. Honestly, it’s a blessing to call myself an American citizen. Are there times where i’m not proud of what America has chosen to do? Of course, but it’s still my home. We're on a continuous journey that's just began. Let's not be left behind with what's next. To conclude, this history class has led me to appreciate the home I've been given. (203)
A big event that has happened recently is surprisingly local. Mohammed Yusuf AbdulAziz killed 4 marines and a member of the navy at a recruiting center right here in Chattanooga, on July 16 2015. The shooter had graduated from Red Bank and knew about our area. His peers said that he was a normal guy and that they would definitely not expect something like that to come from him. He rented a silver Ford mustang for his crime and had a rifle. He traveled to the middle east to visit family and had been influenced to do this from there. ISIS did not claim his crime. He started shooting around 10:30 am and the shooting lasted for about 30 minutes before law enforcement got him. There is now a memorial for the shooting out in front of the recruitment center on Lee highway. This is effective to me because there is always constant threat everywhere at any time. People might make up scenarios that change how he was armed, he still would have gotten a gun to himself no matter what. So the fact that this happened in our own backyard tells me that it can happen literally anywhere. That means as people, we should always keep an eye out even for small threats everywhere we go. (218)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite subject to talk about this year was the 1920s. I enjoyed learning about the flappers and all of the things that the people experienced. Times have changed so much and it was really interesting to learn about how things were then versus how they are now. I would say the 1920s are my favorite time period. Taking your class made learning so much more interesting. Reading the book Anything Goes was extremely fun for me. I would say that was my favorite project that I did this year in your class. The book really dove deep into the 1920s. I learned so much more about that time period. The only thing that would’ve made it better is if I could’ve time traveled back into it. It made me gain a new respect for the things that we have now. I am so thankful that we have the rights that we do. Im also so thankful that we have a great leadership and equality in the United States. Everything that we learned this year was interesting. I definitely think that I had favorites. But everything that we learned was enjoyable. I’m so thankful that we had an interesting class. History had never been a favorite subject until this year. (210)