Jaycee Week #5: Unknown America
Jaycee Week #5: Unknown America
America is well known around the world but only for the largest landmarks. Think about it, whenever you visit another place and you tell them you're from California the first question is always, “do you live near Hollywood?” There are only a few places that are truly known about like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, D.C., and of course Hollywood. But, there are many more areas that played a part in making America into what it is today.
This is a 40’acre historic park in Florida is where the first legally sanctioned free African American settlement was created in 1738. The 100+ African Americans who lived here combined American, Spanish, and Native American cultural customs together to create a new cultural community.
Now a ghost town, Calumet used to be a large copper mining town in the 1880’s. The town was filled with a dense number of immigrants coming to work from all over. This led to an exchange of cultures and customs. The explosion of the immigrant miners also brought a lot of national attention and played a part in the American Labor Movement.
This was the birthplace of the modern Republican Party. It was formed in 1854 by Anti-Slavery activists and they held their first ever meeting as a political party in a little white school house still there today. This party born here in Ripon went on to play a crucial role in the Civil War and more.
America is so much more than just the famous landmarks. Every town, no matter the size, helped shape the country into what we see today. From ghost towns to little school houses every acre of our land has important history if you just dig a little deeper.
Jaycee, I would like to start and say I appreciate your selection of this topic. I feel like I learned new information after reading, so thank you for that. I definitely relate to the "you're from California" part because just recently I was talking to my family friends from India, and when they came to visit, the first thing they told us is how upset they were with the fact they are not going to Los Angeles. It's also interesting because whenever I tell someone I'm from California, and they ask for a more specific area, I tend to say San Francisco, instead of Fremont. More specifically to the content of your blog, I really enjoyed reading it because it felt like historical information. I for one, really enjoy history, and I was thinking of how these specific places are relevant to the content the two of us are currently learning in Ms. V's class. Especially the Fort Mose park, to which I feel is such a "fun fact" kind of thing to know in a history class setting. Would you ever want to visit any of the places you mentioned? Overall, I enjoyed this read. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI really like how you chose to focus on the small but important parts of the U.S. that are often overlooked! The reminder about how there are so many significant places in America that should be remembered that end up overshadowed by other prominent locations was sort of a wake-up call for me, especially since I’ve never been the kind to read up on historical events. I don’t really enjoy history or going to historical landmarks, but I understand that these places matter all the same.
ReplyDeleteYour inclusion of specific little-known historically important places and the added elaboration of why they are important is a great detail to add to highlight just how many key places to America are forgotten and outshone by other landmarks like Hollywood. The links are a really nice added detail for people who might want to know more!
The last paragraph about how every place in America has contributed to the country in one way or another reminds me about this sort of phrase about how it is important to think about the small pieces that make up the whole picture. Every masterpiece consists of thousands of tiny details that make it what it is.
Jaycee, I’m pretty surprised about how people from anywhere other than this state see California! I’ve personally never gotten the question about my proximity to Hollywood, but I find it interesting that you’ve gotten it so many times to the point of this question making it into your blog here. (Honestly, I wish I’d have gotten questions like that…I would definitely lie through my teeth and say yes for the fun of it). The segue into America’s lesser known landmarks is also nice; I didn’t expect to be learning about this country’s historically-significant landmarks through blogging, but I’m glad you’re the one to give the Comb Jellies this opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThe new cultural community created in Fort Mose is interesting, and relevant because I’ve been learning about these groups in my U.S. history class, but I wish you brought in more information about this new culture—perhaps some things that make it so distinct!! I will, though, be supplementing what I’ve learned in my history class with these new key landmarks you’ve named here; they just so happen to be connected with the curriculum. It’s nice to know how the Republican Party came about since, in textbooks, it seems like they were suddenly willed into existence, and I hope that—with the way this political party has come to dominate a large chunk of American politics today—we will continue seeing third-parties develop in this casual, yet (later) impactful manner and eventually shift the extreme political landscape we currently have.