Semester Speech

Zoey Davis

History Speech

I Pledge

From learning the cruel truths of slavery in the United States, to the “Age Of The City,” I have learned more in this first semester of US history than I thought was even possible. From learning the disgusting truth of the way slaves were treated through pictures and films, I learned the truth in a way that was heartbreaking. Learning this truth about the cruelty of slavery, was an unpleasant truth to learn about the US, but it helped me better understand the history of the US. I learned about slavery in a way that intrigued me, and it will be a topic I will remember far from now. Watching the films 12 Years a Slave and Glory, helped me visualize the harshness of slavery, and I never thought I could learn so much from a movie but I was pleasantly surprised that I could learn more from a movie than from a lecture in my past history classes. During the first few weeks of school, I thought Mrs. Lawson was crazy letting us watch movies so early on in the year, but now I understand the method to her madness and the topic of the cruelty of slavery is something I will be able to hold conversations about in the future.

The topic of reconstruction was also a topic I was eager to learn more about. Learning that the Civil War was devastating to south was a sad truth, but learning of the variety of ways they reconstructed homes and towns in the south, was a cool topic to learn about. Hearing of gutted towns, burned plantations, neglected fields, bridges and railroads destroyed, was a sad circumstance for the South in post civil war times. After the abolishment of slavery, there were many problems in creating peace between old slaves and their former masters. When slave masters lost their slaves through emancipation, they lost virtually all of their property in which they had invested almost all of their wealth. Although slavery is among the worst parts of US history, slave masters and their families experienced a world of hurt through losing their wealth. White southern families faced starvation and homelessness after the war, and they were as low on the social food chain as former slaves were. Although slavery was abolished, I learned that prejudice continued, throughout the commencement of the KKK and the harassment colored people experienced. Although white southern families had it pretty hard after the civil war, former slaves had it much worse. Former slaves were without families, and without any source of wealth to try to find their long lost family members. Former slaves had never experienced freedom, but after slavery was abolished, former slaves may have had freedom but they still lived with the injustice, harassment and prejudice that continued from white southerners. In the past, the United States has struggled with equality through all races, and I believe that is something that the US still faces today. One of my favorite topics to learn about this semester was about the Freedman’s Bureau and their goal to give the basic essential needs to freed slaves. This was a promising thing to learn about, a beginning to a more peaceful and normal life for freed slaves.

            If I could rename history from 1865-1920, I would name this time period the “Age of Progression” because throughout this time period America was progressing to become an equal work place for colored people, as well as fighting for equal rights for women. Throughout this era, fighting for equality was a major theme, as well as progression from a young country to a more established place to live for US citizens.