My name is Christian Ruiz. I am from Santa Ana, California. I enjoy playing soccer, rock climbing, and watching movies with friends. Currently I am attending Verde Valley School in Sedona, Arizona.
I am also currently taking a U.S History class. In class we have studied about several topics including: the Revolutionary War, Women's Rights, the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, Slavery, Westward Expansion, the Mexican-American War, and more. We are now beginning to work on a research project. We were assigned to find one area of post-Civil War United States History that interested us and learn more about that certain topic. Our topic must be after 1865, but we are free to do almost anything that relates to United States History and/or culture. Instead of writing one large research paper we will construct an online blog to document our research this semester. We will also be doin other projects such as art projects, powerpoint presentations, etc. We hope to learn more about US History by reading each other's blogs and sharing special information with the class in presentations.
I have chosen the topics of the Chicano Student Movement and the Cold War. The Chicano Student Movement began in the 1940s with the goal of achieving empowerment for Mexican-Americans. The word Chicano was origianlly used to label sons and daughters of Mexican migrants in a deragoatory form. However, some Chicanos used this label to turn it into as a symobl of self-determination and ethnic pride. This new generation of Mexican Americans were singled out by both sides. They were not considered american nor mexican. For this reason Chicanos began to fight for their rights as American while also accepting their mexican culture.The Chicano Movement also addressed public discrimination and discrimination in private institutions. For example, schools. Due to this discrimination Mexican Americans formed the League of United Latin American Citizens (1929) in order to proctect themselves from discrimination. This organization is still active today.
I chose this topic because it is about my Mexican heritage and I dont know very much about this topic. I am interested in learning more about this topic and the integration of Mexican Americans in American Society.
The second topic I chose was the Cold War. The Cold War was the continuning state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition after World War II. This war was between the communist super power of the Soviet Union and its allies against the Western World especially the US and its allies. Although, the Cold War is considered a war the two armies never clashed direclty. Instead it was expressed through proxy wars, espionage, propaganda, appeals to neutral nations, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions.
I chose this topic because it sounds interesting due to the proxy warfare and nuclear fear. Also, I don't know much about the subject and it sounds interesting to learn/research about it.
