So I won’t lie, I went to my transcript to remember all the old classes I took over my 2 and half years here. They weren’t all great nor do all of them have to do with American Studies, although Freshman year registration periods were before I saw the light. During this past semester, we touched on all the different minorities at the turn of the 20th century. The first big surprise being the idea that there was a different idea of what is white. So how does that relate to my past classes?
So I saw the first class that really made me think of American Studies and “inbetweenness” in America, would be Religion in America. It was a basic theology class, one that fulfilled my requirements but touched on a subject that hits my interests. Thinking back on that class I realize that it fits in perfectly with, although more in the modern day, the idea of projecting those without a say. As I have brought up in some side discussion during class what caught me was the idea that people who have no religion at all or who do not believe in any sort of higher power. Atheists, then and now, are still in a position of inbetweenness. They have no real formal say and any suggestions or desires are usually met with little care. Just as the civil rights movement has, atheists have a strong constitutional claim but are met with plenty of resistance. In the political spectrum of being a religious zealot versus a compassionate conservative versus just being religious is necessary to have a say in politics. Atheists are inbetween being recognized while also searching for recognition and gaining access to their rights.
Finally, looking back on the semester and my final project I have to say I am more and more interested in how African Americans have had to deal with the constant disregard for their rights. But what gets me, going all the way back to Bederman, is the use of the language. When I have to write African American, out of laziness I always want to write Black. But I never know if that is acceptable. In my Twain class I pointed out the use of the word Colored, or some alternative, instead of the N-word. Language is powerful and understanding the history of what is White has helped me understand what is Black, religious, or class.