I visited the African Burial Ground for the extra credit assignment. In the exhibit, it also talks about the lifestyle the African Americans had. They were usually born into slavery and work at a very young age. Common causes for their deaths are diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever. Other cases usually are from the lack of nutrition they had. This is covered in the material of how Africans Americans usually were mistreated and lived in horrible conditions.

The sacred burial ground was closed in 1974 in order to be divided and sold. It was in 1991 when the government wanted to build a federal office that led to the finding of this area. They found a total of 419 coffins and bodies under the ground. There is expected to be much more bodies under the ground as the area is much bigger than what the federal building occupied.

I found this museum very interesting because I felt it was very meaningful. It allows us to learn a great deal of early American history. I enjoyed the monument and the burial ground. I think they did a great job redesigning and reburying the place.  I thought it was a great idea for them to continue to preserve a historic national area.

Ellis Island (known by its English name) is a small island in the port of New York, in the upper bay next to New Jersey. Ellis has had many names as diverse functions throughout its history. At first the local Indian tribes referred to it as “Kioshk” or “Gull Island.” During the stage of colonization, it became known as the “Oyster Island” (“Ostery Island”). His current name goes back to the decade of 1770, when Samuel Ellis became its owner. In 1808 the Federal Government bought the Ellis Island, mainly destined for military use during this period and especially during the War of 1812 against the British, when it was converted into a fort. Later, under the provision of President Benjamin Harrison in 1890, Ellis became the principal office of the city. Between 1892 and 1954 approximately 12 million passengers who arrived in the United States through the port of New York, were inspected, both legally and medically there. Arrivals were asked 29 questions including name, occupation, and the amount of money carried. Those with visible health problems or diseases were sent home or held in the island’s hospital facilities for long periods of time. More than three thousand would-be immigrants died on Ellis Island while being held in the hospital facilities. Some unskilled workers were rejected because they were considered “likely to become a public charge.” About two percent were denied admission to the U.S. and sent back to their countries of origin for reasons such as having a chronic contagious disease, criminal background, or insanity. Ellis Island was sometimes known as “The Island of Tears” or “Heartbreak Island” because of those 2% who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage.
Nowadays, Ellis remains the property of the federal states of New York and New Jersey, although its use is limited to functions solely for tourists.

HIS 1005: Modern American History Final Exam Study Guide (exam is May 23, 2011)

Section I – Identifications

All identifications on the exam will be drawn from the list below. For each term, in 2-3 sentences identify the historical importance of the person, place, or event. Include at least mention of when and where he/she/it took place.

1) Iwo Jima – Iwo Jima refers to the Battle of Iwo Jima. In this battle the United States captured the island of Iwo Jima from Japan. It was part of the Pacific Campaign during WWII and took place in 1945.

2) NATO – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military alliance that combined for mutual defense. It is still around today, but was created in 1949. It began with 10 countries, among them the United States. NATO was created because the Berlin blockade provided evidence that in order to stop the Soviets an alliance was needed.

3) Arms Race – The Arms Race describes a competition between two or more parties for the best armed forces. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation. A nuclear arms race developed during the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union. On both sides, perceived advantages of the adversary led to large spending on armaments and the stockpiling of vast nuclear arsenals. This took place during the 1940’s even up until the 1990’s.

4) Containment – Containment was a United States policy using military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to stall the spread of communism, enhance America’s security and influence abroad, and prevent a “domino effect”. A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to expand communist influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam. This policy was created in 1946.

5) Marshall Plan – The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to Europe where the United States sent them monetary support to help rebuild European economies in order to combat the spread of communism. The goals of the United States were to rebuild a war-devastated region, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, and make Europe prosperous again. This plan was created in 1948.

6) Age of Affluence – The Age of Affluence was a nickname to the 1950’s in America. It was named so because of the prosperity from the wartime economy, the rise of suburbia, mass consumerism, the TV, credit cards, and the expansion of the car industry. Advertising was also a major contribution to this age.

7) McCarthyism – McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by heightened fears of communist influence on American institutions and espionage by Soviet agents. Originally coined to criticize the anti-communist pursuits of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, “McCarthyism” soon took on a broader meaning, describing the excesses of similar efforts.

8) Domino theory – The domino theory was a theory during the 1950s to 1980s, promoted at times by the government of the United States, which speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. The domino theory was used by successive United States administrations during the Cold War to clarify the need for American intervention around the world.

9) Rosa Parks – Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called “the first lady of civil rights”, and “the mother of the freedom movement.” On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks, refused to obey bus driver’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. While her action was not the first of its kind to impact the civil rights issue, Parks’ individual action of civil disobedience created further impact by sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

10) Little Rock Nine – The Little Rock Nine were a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by the Arkansas governor, and then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower, is considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. On their first day of school, troops from the Arkansas National Guard would not let them enter the school and they were followed by mobs making threats to lynch them.

11) Greensboro Sit-in – The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests which led to the Woolworth’s department store chain reversing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. They occurred in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960. A group of black students began sitting in on the store’s lunch counter, and as many more students joined the movement, the store changed its policy.

12) Silent majority – The silent majority is an unspecified large majority of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly. President Richard Nixon popularized the term in a 1969 speech. He appealed to the American people, calling on the “great silent majority” for their support as he worked for “peace with honor” in Vietnam.

13) Gulf of Tonkin incident – The Gulf of Tonkin Incident is the name given to two incidents, one disputed, involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964. The outcome of these two incidents was the passage by Congress of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by “communist aggression,” and served as Johnson’s legal justification for opening warfare against North Vietnam.

14) Tet Offensive – The Tet Offensive was a military campaign during the Vietnam War that began in 1968. Regular and irregular forces of the North Vietnamese Army fought against the forces of South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. The purpose of the offensive was to spark a general uprising among the population that would then topple the Saigon government, thus ending the war in a single blow.

15) Watergate – The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Effects of the scandal eventually led to the resignation of the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, on August 9, 1974, the first and only resignation of any U.S. President. It also resulted in the indictment, trial, conviction and incarceration of several Nixon administration officials.

16) Jimmy Carter – Jimmy Carter served as the 39th President of the United States (1977–1981). As president, Carter created two new cabinet-level departments: the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. In foreign affairs, Carter pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II), and returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama.

17) Ronald Reagan – Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989). As president, Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives such as his supply-side economic policies, dubbed “Reaganomics.” His second term was primarily marked by foreign matters, such as the ending of the Cold War, the 1986 bombing of Libya, and the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair.

18) Berlin Wall – It was a wall to separate East Berlin from West Berlin, erected in 1961 and dismantled in 1989. It was the embodiment of what Churchill called The Iron Curtain, separating the Free Western sector of Berlin from the Communist sector. In 1948 the Soviets cut all road and rail links from West Berlin and all supplies had to be flown in around the clock for more than a year.

19) September 11 – The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C., to target either the Capitol Building or the White House. There were no survivors from any of the flights.

Arguments made by individuals like McCain highlight the powers of the government to regulate. McCain approached the idea of regulation, as to not being limited to federal regulation. In fact, it is interesting the approach McCain took when it came to internet. He decided to deregulate, yes this is no typo. He decided to deregulate internet broadband, because interference with market forces is not limited.

McCain as senator worked for almosta decade to deregulate the marketplace to give it he freedom to grow and flourish, examples of this are rules to deregulate insurance and banking industries. His reasoning for this was that it would lead to a healthier and stronger economy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091603732.html

On February 17th 2009, President Barack Obama signed his first law.  He passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment act.  This was a bill passed to provide relief to low income families, open up jobs,  and help pay for medicare, so that no one is left without it health insurance.  This was a major problem in America, however many people were and still are against it, believing that it will not help fix the issue of urban poverty.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton was just elected to his second term in office.  He had strived for universal health care before it was shut down, in 1994.  In 1997 his wife started a universal health care for children, which became very popular.  He was never able to achieve universal health care for everyone throughout his 8 years in presidency.  Clinton had  a similar goal as obama when he strived for universal health care to bring relief to the needy.

http://www.recovery.gov/About/Pages/The_Act.aspx

Multiculturalism is a strong part of American society today, but this identity has been a part of American history since the 1900’s. Considering the facts, yes America did have its share on racism, but today proudly considers itself the land of equal opportunity irrespective of culture and place. Immigrant culture, minority groups and different languages, metaphorically speaking makes the U.S. a “melting pot.” An influx of Hispanics and Asians led to increasing demands from other minority groups already staying in the nation, thus leading to the period of civil rights movements.

The start of multiculturalism goes as far back to the 1950’s. This movement entertained issues like discrimination, inequality and oppression. Social recognition further encouraged the idea of America being a plural society, with many different cultures and people from different socio-economic backgrounds. Multiculturalism, was not however always welcomed with open arms. Earlier on critics did not allow it to become official policy, but today it seems as if we are working to maintain or better this policy to look outward to other cultures by supporting and welcoming people from other countries to come get an education and work  in the U.S.