Discussion Question

2-1 Discussion: Historical Context and Your Topic

This week we considered a topic in the reading and considered how topic exploration helps with historical inquiry. Respond to your peers by describing what you would like to learn about their selected topics. Explain what questions you have about the topic and consider what additional information would you need in order to understand the historical context.

Pierre Taylor - I chose to research The Voting Rights Act of 1956for my paper. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 put an end to discriminatory voting practices implemented in a lot of southern states after the civil war. This act also made racial, sex and religious discrimination by employers’ agents the law. I will attempt to answer this research question: How did Lyndon B. Johnson and his administration affect the passing of The Voting Rights Act of 1965?

If I were researching the Quebecois immigration, I would like to know more about the child labor. How many kids were hurt or died from this labor? Also were their laws against child labor at the time? What were the Americans gaining from using this immigrant child labor?

Response –

Jennifer De Jesus Sanchez - Hello everyone, I decided to look at the Equal Rights Amendment more in-depth from a Cultural and Social standpoint and maybe include Religious Historical lenses (depending, if I cannot find multiple and reliable resources). As I would like to understand the way most of the women in said time thought about their future and their view of equal employment or treatment. Apart from understanding how views differ from the state that approved and those who don't by looking more into their cultural and social structure (as many thoughts that women would not follow certain rules or affect the social and religious view of said timeline {reason why I might find some religion history connected with the equal right amendment}).

And one thing that brought me to wonder if women from the Québécois immigration were treated differently from men when overworking in the factories. Women and children would work over 10 hours, not being treated with decency as they would eat very few meals, almost none. Or they were treated as such for being discriminated against like the Irish for being different (as the Ku Klux Klan did try getting rid of them) in the way they spoke (language), believe (religion), and act (by the culture they brought with them). And if that was the case that for being different, one would revolt at least know that having those thoughts has lessened. Those differences or any other have made people around the world be proud of their identity as many differences make a person's own unique identity from others.

By exploring historical topics, we can learn how people from the past thought and what made them think the way they did by finance, social norms, culture, belief. And a way to find and deepen one's understanding of their surroundings and themselves is by being more open-minded and trying to find the unexplored or looking at the other side of our biases. Along with making sure we know how to look for reliable information and know-how to search for key ideas or terms to make one's investigation or project go faster and have the audience understand what they will be learning or be talking about in the essay or presentation. That will be important in any career choice one goes after.