Self-Reflective Essay
Throughout the semester, we learned about the history of America from a different perspective. The groups that suffered through the timeline take the center role of telling and narrating the events from their perspective. One of the videos’ primary strengths is that they focus on different groups who discuss their history from an open-ended viewpoint, allowing the narrators to address the issues in depth. For example, Module 2 was about the relationship between the natives and the first settlers, and Module 5 narrated about the systematic discrimination and suppression in America. The other strength of the videos is that the stories are told from the victims’ perspective, and this enables one to develop insight into the events as they narrate the issues from their view allowing the viewers to understand the context better. The only disadvantage with the videos is that they needed to integrate the group that instigated the oppression to capture the cause and effect aspect of history.
The version of the United States history presented by adding these diverse perspectives is that it captures a nation that has to go through various changes in fighting for rights to become the democratic nation today. The multiple perspectives also show that the United States is a rich history country where everyone has fought for their rights to be recognized as Americans as they are in the present. There are various struggles between different groups that have been evident throughout the history of the nation, and this has enabled the government the need to recognize every culture as significant. Through the different perspectives offered in the videos, one gets to learn the need to appreciate the diversity of culture in the United States.
The films managed to balance showing the challenges faced by the diverse groups in American history and the strategies used in affirming their identity because every documentary narrated about the issues faced by the groups followed by the strategies used in fighting for their rights. However, videos like that of Module 9 solely focused on the issues faced by the African Americans hence creating a platform for discussions evident in Module 13. Therefore, the videos are well-balanced in telling the stories of discrimination versus that of the agency.