It is not right, but it is the truth. That is the hardest part of learning about black history, I think. Final Journal think that taking this class has given me a much broader idea of African-American history and what the black people have had to do to get along in America. Their ancestors did not ask to come here, and they did not ask to become enslaved. Blacks did not wake up one day and choose the color of their skin. It should not matter what color a person's skin is, but it does. This class has helped me understand that blacks have had to struggle for an eternity, and that their struggle is not over yet.

Probably the biggest thing I got out of this class was the black heritage, and how proud blacks should be of their history. They have risen up from despair and they have created better lives and hope for their children. There has been so many black entrepreneurs, inventors, patriots, politicians, and historians, and there will be many more. I think it is sad that more black history is not taught in schools, and that part of the Civil War and the fight for civil rights is usually glossed right over. It is an important part of the country's history, and I think it needs more attention.

Before taking this class, I think I thought that minorities did not have that much to complain about today - but now I know that is not true. Blacks have come a long way in America, but they are not done fighting for rights and equality, and I understand more of that, too. I also know that blacks around the world are still fighting, that the African-Americans in our country understand what they are going through, and some try to help them in their own fight for rights and freedom. This is not just an American issue, it is a world issue, and it shows that the people of the world are more alike than maybe they care to admit. I mean, there is a general hatred of people who are "different" in a culture, whether it is their skin color, their...

This is worldwide, and it is frightening I think. So much is based on how a person looks, rather than who that person is, and it does not seem to be the right way to make decisions and impact lives.
A lot of the reading in this class was difficult. Not because the words were difficult, but because the subject matter was difficult. It is embarrassing to me that the country has treated blacks so badly for so long, and that racial hatred still exists. It is a sad part of our history, and that is why I think that it needs to be much more apparent in history teaching. A person shouldn't have to take African-American history to learn about much of this, they should just take American history, or Civil War history. It seems like we have not done enough to show that the country was wrong, and the people were wrong, and that there are better ways to deal with anger and differences. I think this class has made me sad, and made me realize a lot more about American history, but it has also opened my eyes to injustices that still exist. Blacks may have gained freedoms, but other minorities are now being treated a lot like blacks have been in the past (like Hispanics, for instance), and so it seems that we as a people keep repeating the same mistakes and we do not learn from our past and our history.

I hope that taking this class has given me more tolerance. I know that every person has some kind of prejudice in them; it just seems to be who we are as human beings. However, I hope that understanding more about the black American experience will give me a deeper understanding of what all ethnic minorities face, and it will make me a little more tolerant of other people and other races. We as a society, and as a world culture, have much more in common than we have differences, it seems to me. This class has taught me to look for the commonalities more than the differences, and I think that is a good thing.