Historical Reflections: Sunday, June 13th

Of all of the historical figures we have studied this year, including—but definitely not limited to—Presidents, philosophers, politicians, leaders, social movement-ers, and the many everyday people that have contributed to American history & culture, who would you most like to run into in college?

Write a thoughtful, narrative blog entry in which you do all of the following:

1. Describe specifically how you would interact with this person—is he/she a professor at your university? a fellow student? a leader? visiting campus?

2. Include specific quotes from the actual person—you can creatively use these as you wish, though. For example, you might love to have Martin Luther King, Jr. as a professor, and you might use a quote from his famous letter from a Birmingham jail as a quote he might say in class one day.

3. Explain why you have chosen this person.

4. Cite at least three relevant primary sources for your quotes. If you are unsure what a primary source is, please check with me!

This blog entry is due at 11:59:59 pm on Tuesday, June 15. For honors students, this counts as an honors blog.

I would pick two people to run into on my journey through college. One would be earlier in my college experience, and it would be Martin Luther King Jr. himself. He would be my professor for my Speech class.

“Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and non-violence, when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weakness of our own condition, and if we are mature,we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition,”

He would teach us the simple, yet effective ways to make our language penetrate the confides of the human mind.

Martin Luther King Jr., Address at Riverside Church, New York, April

4 1967.

My own Ampersand Article.