Bailey Goldberg

Digital Portfolio Reflection

History 153
Professor Lark
13 December 2015

While taking a history class, students consistently wonder the importance of the subject. They
ask, Why is this even important, and Why do we need to know this, the past is the past. But,
this is far from the truth. Everything that has happened in the past has made significant changes
that still affect us today. So while people think the past will always stay in the past, they are
unaware of all the events and changes it has led to today. We use the past to help us make the
right choices. If we cannot live from our mistakes, we have no hope. We as a country need to
realize how important it is to reflect on history, not just say Whats done is done. I believe that
there has been an endless list of things that we can learn and apply from the history of our
ancestors, to be responsible and contribute to the betterment of our society. One subject stands
out to me, though. The laws and ethics that had been made in the past, and rules we still follow
today for the most part. The laws that were made by our founding fathers are still the rules we
follow and live our lives by. Laws like the right to bear arms, womens voting rights, and race
equality were all made laws many years ago. While we have made a ton of progress, we still just
havent reached the society we could all wish for. I believe every single one of us can use these
laws to act responsibly and contribute towards society.
The first law that was established on August 26, 1920, was a womans right to vote. This was
a huge step forward for women. It started to become the norm for women to do things on her
own, work full time, and fully support herself. A well-known womens rights leader one said, "A
woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle (Module 12). This was meant to say that women
do not need any men to help her be successful, she can do it on her own. While this was a great
time for women, we still have not finished fighting the battle. Women still deal with things like
unequal pay and not being qualified for a man job, just because she is a woman. While in
recent years we have seen a lot of feminist movements and we seem to be making some progress,

I would like to see more. I believe we can all learn from the past, and realize that separating men
from women gets us nowhere. If every single one of us took this seriously in our own lives, we
could make a huge impact. The sooner everybody realizes this, the faster we can all begin
contributing great things to our society. I know that because of the things that have happened, I
will continue to act responsibly and push through the glass ceiling that still exists.
The next law that continues to contribute to society is race equality. No matter what laws
exist, the battle still has not ended. We still fight every day for race equality. As awareness was
being raised across America about civil rights for African Americans, it was only natural that
other groups who felt marginalized by the American mainstream to make demands of their own.
Not since the drive for suffrage had a drive for women's rights met with much success. A new
feminist movement emerged in the 1960s pressing for modern reforms (Module 12). Is was a
domino effect. The more quality other groups of people got, the more equality was expected. I
believe this was a great thing. It forced people to fight, it gave them a place to start. This is
something that we can learn from and use today. You do not need a reason to fight for your
rights, you just have to take that first step. If we all took this seriously, it would have a huge
impact on our society. One could only imagine a life where everybody is looked at the same way,
everybody had equal rights, and we are all treated the same way; like human beings. If we all
reflected on our history and used the information to create a better society, we would all be much
better off. But, I am not that nave to know that it is not easy. Everybody will have to swallow
their pride and realize that fighting against this race war, will get us nowhere. While acts of
terrorism are happening still today, why not stand as Americans, and fight together? If we could
all educate ourselves and see that fighting each other has gotten us nowhere but war and fights,
we would see that we are much better off standing together. Because of the information I have

learned this past semester, I am much more aware of the things I can do to contribute to my
society. I know that I will take all of this information and act as responsibly as I can, and
continue to fight for not only my own rights, but for the rights of the others around me.
The last law that I will talk about that I believe is as important, even to this day, is the right to
bear arms. This was a law that was made and meant to give people the freedom to carry a
weapon. This is a topic that is still extremely debated upon. Whether or not this law should still
be in affect is something that, especially more recently, has been argued. This law has been
blamed for acts of terrorism, hate crimes, and any other act of violence. In an essay written by
William H. McNeill in module one, he states that historical knowledge is no more and no less
than carefully and critically constructed collective memory (Why Study History?). While this is
still completely true, I believe this law is different in a sense. When the founding fathers wrote
the second amendment, times were different. When they wrote this law, technology was
different. The weapons they carried around were swords and smaller weapons. Now, we have AK
47s and AR 15s, which are much bigger weapons. While I am somebody that supports the right
to bear arms, I believe this is a law that might need to be updated. This is a great example of
reflecting on the past to help us with todays society. We can reflect on the second amendment
and realize that changes need to be made. With a topic so controversial, a decision has to be
made. If we can all be responsible with the weapons that are legal to carry, imagine the
difference that would make. We can all only talk about making a different so much, until it is
time to take action. For me, it starts today.
Events since 2000 underscore the utter unpredictability of the future (Overview of the 21st
Century). This statement is so frighteningly accurate. We cannot predict anything that happens,
which is what makes reflecting on history so important. How would we know how to react to

these ever-changing events, if we hadnt learned from them in the past? Trick question, we would
not know how to react. We would be forced to relive all the same mistakes, living in a hell on
earth. This is why I am going to continue to use all of this information to be responsible and
contribute to the betterment of my society. If we all do not start living this way, we will not like
living on this earth. It is so important to start focusing on the betterment of society, not trying to
get even with the wars of the world.

Bailey Goldberg
Online Contemporary History
13 December 2015
Notes

"Module 12- Shaping a New America." HIST 153. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
https://bb.schoolcraft.edu/addins/hist153/etext/m12_intro.html

"Why Study History? (1985)." Why Study History? (1985). Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
http://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/archives/whystudy-history-%281985%29

Overview of the 21st Century. "Digital History." Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=20&smtid=1

Annotated Bibliography

"Module 12- Shaping a New America." HIST 153. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. I used this module for the
quote is used about womens rights. It was a quote that tried to get the point across that
women do not need men to be successful. This quote really helped me explain about
womens rights and showed an example of what women did to break through the glass
ceiling.
Why Study History? (1985)." Why Study History? (1985). Web. 13 Dec. 2015. I used this article
while talking about the importance of studying history. This article was written by
William H. McNeil. He did a great job at explaining why reflecting on history is so
important, so I knew he would be a great source to use for my explanation.
Overview of the 21st Century. "Digital History." Web. 13 Dec. 2015. This source I used in my
last paragraph, for the quote explaining that the future is very unpredictable. It explains
that events in the recent past have proved how unpredictable the future is.