Blogging Assignments!!!!

I believe blogging assignments are much more convent and easier than regular pen and paper work that you have in many other classes. You are able to access websites and the touch of a button while doing your homework, you can also pretty much do it anywhere as long as theres a computer around. Blogging is new, different, and I like it!
            The nice thing about blogging is you can pull up other websites while you are working to back up your facts you are stating. You no longer have the excuse of "I didn't know the history," because it is right in front of your face. 

            Another magnificent thing about blogging is you don't have to carry around your paper to do your work, you can just find any random computer and do it. There are so many options; your house, school, friends, or even the local library. Another plus side to this is you don't have to worry about paper getting torn or wrinkled. No longer can you say "my dog ate my homework."
            In conclusion, Blogging is the best and so is this class! 

Always look up to your elders

In many cases adults tend to tell their children "white lies" to keep them from knowing the scary truth behind it. Where as for history, that is exactly what they do. Younger kids hear these amazing stories such as the native americans and pilgrims celebrating Thanksgiving; they wear their little paper hats and feathers, and have a huge feast. The children believe that the pilgrims and native americans came together, became friends, and had a ginormous dinner. This story is completely and utterly wrong. They were most definitely not friends and the pilgrims killed the native americans. Honestly though, would you want to tell your little five year old daughter that? I believe it is right to not tell little kids the truth because it will most likely haunt them. That does not however mean our history books should lie to us, we should just merely learn about it as we get older and more mature.

Reconstruction vs Civil War

  African Americans had a hard life through out the Reconstruction time period and the United States civil rights movement. After the Civil war the Reconstruction happen. Aferican Americans fought for their freedom during the civil war. During reconstruction they were technically free but there were strict rules they had to follow, such as taking literacy test before they voted. This act was not fair what so ever, since the aferican americans had no education they were not able to pass the test; meaning they could not vote. Even after the Aferican Americans were free there was still a lot of racisim. No one treated them equal.

   Before the Civil War African Americans were slaves. Being a slave was horrible. They were treated like crap and practically were not even counted as human. Slaves made no salary for the hard work they put into their landowners property. If they did not complete a task correctly they would get terribly punished which usually led to physically abuse and even death. During the civil war African Americans actually went and fought for their freedom and won! After the civil war African Americans became free and no longer were used as slaves.
   Instead of being slaves during Reconstruction, the African Americans worked in share cropping. "Sharecroppers were agricultural wage laborers who raised crops on farm plots owned by large landowners in the post–Civil War era. Both landless whites and blacks worked as sharecroppers, although the majority of sharecroppers were African Americans."

Textile Factory Workers

Life for the textile factory workers must have been extremely hard. They rarely ever slept, working day and night. The workers tend to fall asleep as they're sewing and dream. The poor workers were terribly hungry and talk of death, "the phantom of grisly bone." Not to mention, their hands were in pain and in horrible shape, being weary and worn. 

Blogging as to Pen and Paper

Anyone will most likely tell you blogging is ten times better than doing homework with a pen and paper. It's much more convenient to our day and age in time. Usually students are on the computer talking to friends on Facebook, forgetting about their main priorities; homework. With blogging there really is no excuse not to do your work unless you don't understand how to answer the question. My only request with our blogs, is if they could relate a little more directly on what we are learning, even if that means some of our answers come straight through our notes.

All Time Favorite

My favorite blog topic for this quarter definitely has to be the Ellis Island one. I found this topic beyond interesting. After class the day we found out about ellisisland.org I literally looked it up as soon as possible. It was no surprise to see my ancestors were from Russia, but knowing the boat the traveled to the United States on, the day, and not to mention their age; extraordinary! I also felt like I really understood what the blog post was about, the question was easy to comprehend.

The Journey to the United States.

Looking at the pictures from Ellis Island back in the late 1890s and early 1900s, it is easy to tell that the immigrants coming to the United States were expecting a life changing experience. To come to a beautiful new land and have a great life. In most cases this was not true what so ever. Ellis Island was merely a mirage, with it's extraordinary gold featuring, passengers believed they were going to be rich. The journey to the United States was only the first of their troubles, being cramped in a boat with unknown others is no picnic. The poor people were so excited to get to the United States only to find misfortune. 

Erwin E. Smith

    Erwin E. Smith was a talented photographer who liked to take pictures of his friends and family doing daily activities. He enjoyed taking pictures of his two sisters, but his all time favorite model was himself. He used the pictures he took for the cover of brochures advertising his work. Erwin lived in Texas for all of his life, the location he lived at had approximatively 5,000 residents and was a trading hot spot.


   Through Hollywood's ideal vision, cowboys would have perfect teeth, dusty, handsome faces, but un-torn clothing and a perfect physique, but the real deal was nothing like this. Erwin E. Smith states that the cowboys definitely were not perfect, even judging by their clothes. They basically would wear long sleeved cotton or wool shirts and work pants. They would usually wear vests to carry small objects. Cowboys used hats and kerchiefs for many reasons apart from their attire. 


  Hollywood gives the idea that men in the wild west only had one important piece of equipment, and that was his gun. In many cases this is not true, the most important was his horse. By using his horse he can travel great distances. For example in Hollywood hits like "Bedtime Stories" Adam Sandler refers to a horse as a mustang, which back in the wild west wild horses truly were called that. 

Cowhand Equipment

Rocky Racoon

The Beatles very much portray the wild west throughout the song "Rocky Racoon." Not to mention the entire song has a wild west tone to the music. The vocabulary in the song deals with the wild west as well, singing about "saloons and showdown" Now a days, no one would ever go to a saloon and start a showdown, then attempt to shoot someone. This piece is not completely accurate because the chances of someone who plans to shoot someone and missing, without the other person knowing they are coming, are very slim.

Gunsmoke

After watching an episode of Gun-smoke I am somewhat able to analyze the stereotypes in this show. There are the cowboys who are big and bad, not afraid to pull out a gun and fight for what they believe in. Then there are the Indians who people don't care for as much. Such as in the episode "Saloon", the men decide to manhandle the poor girl, after the main character Joe comes to her rescue and threatens the men. 

Oregon Trail

This old game really connects with learning about history because it takes you back in time as you have to play a character that lives in this era. As complicated as this game was to start, once you begin it can really get interesting. I played as a farmer, and I got to see the challenges they come across. Such as, selecting what items to buy and at what times, debating on the right choices to make, stops to take, and who to bring.