Essay Exposing American Myths Today

He describes that “Eastern Indians had observed autumnal harvest celebrations for centuries” (Loewen 90). This fact makes more sense considering students have always been taught that the Pilgrims feasted as a celebration, but they actually learned these new traditions from the Indians. Loewen informs the reader that the Pilgrims were not even included in the Thanksgiving tradition until the 1890s. He also includes that the Pilgrims were not even called “Pilgrims” until the 1870s.

Over the past few weeks of class, we have covered the first five chapters of our textbook, written by George Brown Tindell and David Emory Shi called, “America, A Narrative History.” Each chapter told the reader a narration of the history of America, as opposed to an expository version of America’s history. Each chapter had its own main idea over a portion of history, along with many details that cover the importance of the main idea. As a reader, one may obtain a deeper appreciation for the country 's history, prior to entering the class on the first day. The most important aspect of history, besides the battles that are fought, is the different cultures that make up today’s modern America.

The notion of the “First Thanksgiving” often taught to students have little to no historical merit. More often than not, theories that offer a plausible explanation to what occurred are often ignore because they desecrate the emotional attachments we have to our story of

The physical side is at one time they did love each other because kids were born. The shared activities are the fact they have children and they still do things as a family.

The “American dream,” a promise of the ability to turn your life from rags to riches if you try hard in the United States of America, has been the definition of what it means to be an American. But over time it the American dream has changed and its pledge perhaps more viable than ever. This is due to the simple fact that America as a nation has evolved over time and the core values which its people encompass are a reflection of the times. So as an American how do we define ourselves and our nation outside of the American dream? America has been known over time as a “big brother”- protector of mankind. Yet many of our citizens did not have equal rights until the 1960’s and it took the fourteenth amendment to guarantee equal protection

A question most fascinating to me is where in history does the first hint of American ideals and identities originate from? If we were to look at where the fiery passions of an American identity first arise we have to look to where the colonists first fought for their right to be a recognized citizen of America. American colonists formed their identity through the ideas of liberty, resistance to unfair British jurisdiction, and cultural diversity. Their identities formed between the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War as these two events deeply brought out what the colonist’s ideals were and what they fought for so passionately. Between these years 1763 and 1775 we see the first American ideals being born in the colonies. An example of such ideals is the want and need for Liberty. A reason for wanting liberty was that British control suppressed the lives of the people living in America and over time grew harder for colonists to live with. Americans are revered to have a passionate patriotic view of their country and this is true as it is seen throughout history but in my research I will try to explain where these ideals first arose.

When I think of America I think of the term ‘freedom’. In America, we have the freedom to believe in what we want to. We can choose our religion as long as we believe in

Patriotism is a way in which we can strongly express our pride of for our nation and simply a way to honor our homeland. A feeling that has been spreading throughout the world for thousands of years. Patriotism has been such an influential aspect of literature, it has changed the historical ways of writing. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry expressed their ideas of patriotism in very different ways, but they all one idea in common, to share their powerful writing throughout the world. In many pieces of literature patriotism was shown repeatedly through the writing. For example, The Crisis No. 1, The Speech of Virginia Convention, and The Declaration of Independence all thoroughly conveyed patriotism and a revolutionary pride.

All Americans should find their opinion on patriotism and voice that opinion. There are many different views of patriotism and many will clash, but if we continue to talk and use our minds instead of our fists or guns, we can eventually come to a compromise of both ideas, which will best represent everyone’s opinions on patriotism. Through more clearly and fairly defined ideas of patriotism we can better understand the actions of our fellow Americans and avoid more unnecessary conflicts caused by extremist ideas being the only ideas heard.

Shelters may be the final safety net, but that net scrapes perilously close to the ground. To be in a shelter is to be homeless, and the more shelters we build, the more resources we divert from the only real solution to homelessness: permanent housing.

Rereading America begins by discussing the obstacles that students will face when entering college, and how cultural myths play a significant role in the way we think, and how we react to situations in our environment. In order to be a successful, intellectually-minded college student, one must engage in critical thinking in their academic work. Critical thinking involves the examination or consideration of various perspectives, realizing that what is commonly appeared to be “normal” or “crystal clear” is not from analysis, but rather from the cultural myths unconsciously embedded in our lives. While it can be argued that cultural myths provide social order in society, they also discourage individuals from forming their own beliefs after thinking

The truth of the matter is, when the Pilgrims arrived, they found an abandoned Wampanoag village and moved right in. In 1618, a massive epidemic of an unknown disease left by English explorers swept across Wampanoag country and decimated many of the villages. This epidemic caused the death of ten to thirty percent of the total population and all but a few of the 2,000 people of the village of Patuxet. When the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, they landed at Patuxet with no idea of what had occurred. At this point, there were only about 2,000 members left in the Wampanoag tribe, down from 12,000 in 1600. Despite the incredible losses to his people, Wampanoag leader Massasoit and 90 of his men sat down for a harvest celebration offered by the white men. For three days the Wampanoag and Pilgrims feasted on deer, wild turkey, fish, beans, squash, corn and other foods native to North America. Although the celebration was good-natured, this event truly signifies the beginning of a drastic decline of native culture and Thanksgiving would be more fittingly observed as a day of mourning rather than a celebration. In the years that followed, skirmishes occurred and more Native Americans were killed. In 1637, English soldiers massacred 700 Pequot men, women and children as an example of the English way of war, yet we still celebrate Thanksgiving as a joyful event. So, as we sit down for our Thanksgiving dinner,

American identity has been created by many events throughout the course of history. This country was founded on the clashing and mixing of many different cultures and lifestyles. One of the most important periods of time for this country was during the period of conflict between Americans and Native Americans over land rights. Americans had an idea of manifest destiny and that this land was theirs for the taking. The Americans were going to walk through anyone who opposed them in this quest for land. The treatment of the Indians during this time period was harsh, cruel, and violent to say the least. It is in this treatment that Americans came to view the Indians as a ?racialized other? and

PC culture. The staple of the average American psyche! We hate it when it 's inconvenient, but we love it when it 's on OUR side. Americans on the left and right of the political spectrum will disagree, but it 's only because they 're too embarrassed and prideful to accept such a reality. Conservatives will refer to opposers of their views as "SJW" (social justice warrior), "libtard", "retard", "cuck", "PC libtard-cuck", and other variations of the terms combined. Especially when they deal with backlash for racially-charged or apathetic comments that tend to ignore history or specific amendments listed within our Bill of Rights. It 's intriguing since they 've developed the habit of criticizing people on the left for using so-called "buzzwords" such as "racist", "sexist", etc. The KKK protested in front of the NAACP for "White rights"? "Get over it, you PC cucks!" is how they respond to the uproar from people who are social liberals, or anyone who might understand the irony of doing such a thing since the NAACP was founded BY Caucasian-Americans, and the laws they fought for in this country are not exclusive to the racial minority. Furthermore, White people like Jon Everheart, a teacher in Maryland who was forced from his job by his racist African-American boss, have successfully utilized civil rights laws for their own protection from discrimination. He was awarded $350k by a jury in early August of 2014. His former boss, Angelique Simpson-Marcus, was forced to

United States, 2006: a nation with a history of a mere 230 years, yet it stands as one of the most powerful nations in the world. Yet many of us know little about the history and cultural changes that led to the birth of this nation. We only know the bits and pieces that are taught as we sit daydreaming in our fifth grade classroom. The Puritans, the Pilgrims, Christopher Columbus, the Mayflower, we know about these people and things, yet what aspects of their lives created the change in America? The answer to this question can be found by observing the changes in religion, women's role, and colonial law as it brought about the change in the Puritan's cultural values.