History 222 had us view historical events from a social perspective rather than as a string of major events led by major figures of history. We looked at how life was like for African Americans, Native Americans, Women, LGBT peoples, and the working poor during almost 150 years of history.

Oftentimes, the daily lives of normal people get overlooked in history, this class specifically focuses on the normal aspects of life from the reconstruction period to globalization. This class also exposes how cruel injustices on minority groups in America were quite normal throughout this period. This class helped me understand what civic enfranchisement looked like when World War 2 soldiers received affordable housing in Levittown and access to secondary education. We also got to see what disenfranchisement looked like as land rights for land owned by Native Americans were sold and traded without the Native Americans understanding.

It is important to take time to narrow the scope of your view of history, to look back at how the world looked like for average people. It lets you understand more about your own life and of others because what you may think is normal or a human right to you, may not have been available to many before. Reading the actual words of these people through letters and interviews was especially enlightening.

I enjoyed the class a lot. I had to restrain myself from class discussion each week because I always wanted to add something to the conversation. Below is my final project for the class. I wrote in a blog format about the industrial revolution and how that changed US culture.