Course Reflection

 Hi everyone! The overall main intake from this class is that I realized I did not know as much about Florida as I thought I did. It was extremely interesting to learn about the history of the state I grew up in. Florida was named a state in 1845 and various wars have affected how we (as in Florida) got to where we are now. The first Seminole War began in 1817 when Seminoles brought black slaves to fight American settlers who were going south leading into Seminole territory. The further into the stories we got, the more exciting it got to dig deeper and gain more knowledge of the history of Florida.

    Race, gender, and class all had a huge role in how Florida progressed. To begin, race was a factor in almost everything. For example, the blacks were chosen as slaves and had to work, while the whites had the nicest things. The whites had more advantages than the blacks. Continuing, gender also played a main role in society back then. Men were usually the ones doing the labor work and the women were supposed to be in the kitchen and cleaning. The classes in Florida played a part in who got the “better thing.” For example, the higher class (rich) were able to eat at the more expensive restaurants whereas the lower class (poor) could not. These are the three main factors that contributed to Florida’s history and have changed so much since then.

    Lastly, I would like to express how much the textbook, readings, and discussions provided helped further my knowledge and understanding of the history of Florida. The novel read in this course helped give examples of a real-life situation that occurred which helped put into perspective. If I had to give the student a piece of advice while going through this course is to read the novels because you have the opportunity to know more than just the “facts.” The last path I took that I found extremely helpful was participating in the blogs because I was able to dig deeper into the study, explore historical sites, and add our personality into it. This course was definitely one of my favorites! Thank you so much for an amazing semester. :)