Pre-Trip Assignment:
- Take a look at the blog considerations below before proceeding to task 2.
- Predict what you might learn about the past and present from this visit and develop a few questions you’d like to explore during your visit. Do some preliminary exploration of the historical theme/era and the location online. Record, in writing, your predictions/questions. (2-3 sentences). Preview the various sites that we will visit here. Also on this link is important information about the day. You should include these questions/predictions at the top of your blog post.
What to consider for your blog entry:
- What was / is the intended narrative of the sites you visited? Or, what historical memory do they convey?
- How might the intended narrative of the places visited influence the memory of the historical event, person, movement, etc. being depicted or memorialized?
- In what ways do the various sites represent American identity, intentionally or not, and what do they about it? Consider class, culture, economics, ethnicity, gender, geography, history, politics, race, religion, and values.
- On the topic of values, which ones were present at your site and in what ways?
***Note please do not attempt to answer all of these questions in your blog. Also, you should not attempt to cover every site that we visit. I do want to see connections between the sites made but don’t feel the need to cover every question and every detail of every site. I am more interested in the depth of your thoughts than your ability to cover everything.
As you address the above questions use our discussions from the year about memory, perception, ideals, and identity to help you formulate your thoughts. Also, be sure to cite any sources that you use beyond the site itself. You are free to choose how you organize your essay, as you will be graded on how well you reflect on the questions and how well you support your assertions with examples.
Also, devote some of your essay to addressing the ways in which your pre-trip questions were answered or your pre-trip predictions accurate?
Plan to include a photo or two taken on the trip.
Over the course of your entry, raise two addional questions/curiosities provoked or left unanswered by the visit?
Here is a link to the assignment RUBRIC.
500 words.
LC Public History Blog 
US history Blog 9/11
By: David Paluch
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I felt that the 9/11-museum trip was very eye-opening. Being a Canadian resident we never went into truth depth on the attack that happened that day on September 11th, 2001. I felt the main two themes of the museum where unity and individualism. Although these two themes contrast each other the museum did an exceptional job meshing the two themes that resulted in a powerful message throughout the museum. The two most powerful exhibits I felt were the Memorial exhibit and the history exhibit. I was not too sure why photos were not allowed to be taken in those exhibits at first, however, as soon as I stepped in I immediately realized why. There was a certain dark ora as the tragedy from the horrible attack hit you like a train.
The Memorial exhibit was the place where I felt individualism was most present. Walking into the exhibit to 2,983 faces staring down at you was breathtaking. I felt it gave me a true sense of the effects of terrorism and violence, especially the 9/11 attack. Each and every face had their own stories. The exhibit had a voice in which had relatives of the victims describe each victim through life stories. This really hit me hard, it was easy to individually connect to each victim through their life stories. In all the exhibit did a great job portraying the fatalities and destruction of terrorism.
The History exhibit was the place where I felt unity was most present. The first thing you walking are videos of past newscast all over the world documenting the attack. It really gave off the sense that the whole world was feeling for the United States during this tragic attack. Moving were more videos of thousands of firefighters storming into the twin towers to rescue the citizens. In the background were numerous calls from citizens requesting immediate medal, correctional, fire, units to report to the twins towers. Moving on was a wall of quotes from the victims on the plane. This struck me the hardest as reading real-life words from the victims of the hijackers broadened my perspective on life. Near the end of the exhibit, you could see videos of workers and even civilians working together to move the degree in search of somebody still alive. The whole world was struck by this vicious attack, however, the country did not fall like the terrorist group Al-Qaeda intended. The quote in which I believed really summed up the aftermath was from President Bush preaching, “in unity there is strength.”
My pre-trip question was, why did Al-Qaeda attack the twin towers and the Pentagon and attempt to attack the white house. My question was answered when I watched a short documentary in the History exhibit. The attack was tragically put into place to attack infrastructure that symbolically represented USA’s economy, military, and government. Al-Qaeda hoped that the destruction of these building would result in the US folding and be making way for Islamic principles.
Two Questions
Where the deaths of the hijackers counted towards the death count of the tragedy? I would find it interesting if they were not counted.
Why were the tiles around Virgil’s quote blue? Was there a message/resemblance behind the decision or was it mainly for appearance.
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