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The historical event of world war one is widely talked about in history and is covered in all U.S. textbooks. On the other hand, the topic of imperialism, in my experience, is not as widely talked about. Imperialism is when one country extends its control over the territory, political system, more economic life of another country. Imperialism in the U.S. began after the victory of the Spanish-American war in 1898. America gained the Spanish colonies of Guam, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Cuba. Up until middle school, I did not even know Puerto Rico was a United States territory. Following the Spanish-American war, the United States soon entered another war with the Philippines. The Filipinos strongly resisted American colonization, and the war was much longer and had many more casualties than the Spanish-American war. The U.S. won due to superior weaponry and inspired debates over imperialism in America. Economic, strategic, and moral/racial discussions all sparked from the rise of...

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I honestly have a lot to say about the topic for this week. The fact that the U.S. was able to ban an entire country of people from entering America was not very surprising because we do the same thing today. White Americans were able to immigrate to the United States for better opportunities, but those rights denied to people that do not look like them. They see anyone that has a different skin color and automatically sees them as a threat, but why is this? And now they exclude the Chinese from even entering the country for over 60 years. Since the Chinese exclusion act got repealed in 1943, it hasn't even been 100 years since they banned them from entering the country. After reading "The Life of a Chinese Immigrant," it showed me how difficult it was to be a Chinese immigrant. The Chinese immigrant, Lee Chew, would only make about $35 a month doing servant work and constructing railroads. In the 1920s, growth in nativism arises. Nativism is the fear that minoritie...

The topic for this week is a pivotal part of American history that is often over-looked when we learn this in school. Following the civil war era, many Americans began to move westward in search of gold. When we talk about westward expansion, we typically think of the American manifest destiny and not the removal of Native Americans. Westward expansion was facilitated by the government and came with a history of colonization. For those who don't know what colonization is, it's the process where another group takes charge of land initially occupied by another group by force. Yes, conquest was already present before this when the pilgrims came and took over the eastern United States, but now it's happening on a national scale. The government viewed "Indians" as a threat to white settlement, so they created designated space for them called reservations. When the Homestead Act passed in 1862, Native Americans got their land stolen from them and forced to live on the l...

This week's topic is something I enjoy learning about. I learned about the rise of capitalism and the corrupted gilded age in AP US history in high school. This was one of my favorite topics that we touched own because it is interesting to see how modern capitalism came to be, and the trials and tribulations we had to face to create a more just system. Capitalism is an economic system that encourages private enterprise; in this case, capitalism grew alongside industrialization in the United States. The free market began to emerge, and people began to start businesses without the involvement of the government. The free market began to develop due to the passing of the laws of incorporation. The government passed these laws to encourage investment and the growth of companies. Because of this, the number of corporations and businesses skyrocketed. Although the idea seems nice in theory, the government did not think about the consequences. These laws made it possible to eliminate compe...

The reconstruction era lasted from 1865 to 1877 following the civil war in the south. It was a time for  rebuilding the nation following the turmoil of the war. Reconstruction focused on integrating African Americans into society with the passing of the 14th and the 15th amendment. Before 14th and 15th amendments were passed, Blacks were violently discriminated against and treated as non-citizens. Right after the war,  all-whit legislatures in the south passed the black codes. The black codes denied Black citizens the right to purchase or rent land and basically keep them into slavery. These amendments allowed  African Americans to be equally protected under the law and forbid states to deny suffrage to anyone based on race. Although these amendments were passed, they were difficult to enforce because of terrorists groups like the Klu Klux Klan. This led to segregation and Jim Crow laws in the south. These laws limited African American citizens and create them as second c...

Hello! My name is Aleena Oakley, and I am a 19-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina. I am a sophomore currently currently enrolled as an international business major. I chose this as my major because I love to travel. I have been playing tennis for 14 years, and I love the sport. I am enrolled at Johnson C. Smith because I was apart of the Women's tennis team here, but I gave that up to focus on my academics and maintain my academic scholarship. Last semester I had a 4.0 GPA, so I hope to keep that up. I like to listen to good music and dance  Some of my favorite music genres are Hip-Hop, R&B, Pop, and alternative. One of my favorite hobbies besides listening to music is editing  and creating Youtube videos. I recently started Youtube in late November and I post every week. When I'm not making videos, I like to watch tv shows and movies on Hulu and Netflix. Some of my favorite shows are Good Girls, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Orange is the new Black and Broad City. On...