Community

           Starting in Elementary School, as a child, I was taught the difference between good and bad people. Adolf Hitler was a bad person. President Woodrow Wilson was a good person. We learned about different people including Helen Keller, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Abraham Lincoln. What about your average white, protestant, American male? Early in life it was instilled in my head that average people don’t make history and are not in textbooks.

            Citizens make history based on their struggles and accomplishments. Helen Keller was profoundly known for her accomplishments regarding her breaking the barrier restraining her from daily life of being blind and deaf. She is famous for being a political activist, lecturer, and an American author. She was the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Textbooks often leave out important details of history. I was never taught that Helen Keller was a Socialist and a member of the Wobblies. It was through these organizations where her outspoken nature pertaining to war came out. Her leftist actions were never spoken about in 3^rd grade.

            When attending Hebrew School throughout Elementary and Middle School I was taught about the malicious actions of Adolf Hitler. Textbooks and teachers never taught me that his father beat Hitler and that his mother died of breast cancer at age 47. Textbooks focus on the important factual evidence of history but tend to leave out key details that often help to explain history.

            Learning about slavery and the Holocaust opened my eyes to the horrible conditions of the world and more specifically of the United States. However, what was everyday life like for your typical white, protestant, American male? History read through textbooks strongly shape our understanding of our nationality by guiding us to associate actions with individuals being good or bad people; I was never taught of the idea that good people sometimes do bad things or that bad people sometimes do good things. Textbooks have shaped my opinion of my responsibility as a United States citizen that individuals have to be extraordinary in order to make history.

            As an American, based on historical discourses, I view myself as a minority. As a white, Jewish, female from Long Island, New York outside of where I am from there are very few people like myself. Based on community discourses that I learned about at a young age, I have to be anomalous and exceptional to make a difference in the world. No one ever learned about the typical lawyer from New York City unless he successfully conquered a huge case regarding a topic such as racism or child labor. As a student, based on community discourses, I learned that textbooks often leave out important details that have greatly influenced society today. I have learned that if one is truly interested in something, he or she has to go above and beyond to find out information regarding that topic. This is because one will not find all the information they curiously want to find out from just one book. As a community member I have learned that unique individuals change the world.