American Identity - 1566 Words

My American Identity The five key values that were studied and learned about in class were civic engagement, freedom, equality, patriotism and democracy. I do not believe that one of these values is more American than the other though three of these mean more to me personally than others. Patriotism, freedom, and equality. Together they make the United States of America unique from any other country. Yes, some countries have freedom, but no other country in the world is like ours because we hold these values nearest and dearest to us; at least most of us do. These five values are the values that we strive for in perfecting to make us so great. Some are more rounded than others but they are all what makes the United States so unique.†¦show more content†¦I very so agree with this because it is an example of what has happened in the past in America. People have fought for their freedom and died over it at the same time because they chose not sit around like prisoners. People in the past have foug ht and died for the freedoms that I have today so that I would not have to. With me being a black, female, it is almost exact opposite of what you needed to be to have freedoms in the past, it would be unthinkable for me to be treated to same as a white man in the past but because blacks and women have fought for freedom, I do not have to do it myself. The last value that I have chosen to do was equality. I chose this one because equality in America is big. America to me is like a big mixing pot. We have the people who were born here in America, and the ones who live here from that are from other countries. In 2010, there was a record breaking 40 million immigrants in the United States, legal and illegal. The total population in the United States was about 308.7 million people in 2010. America is a place filled with different people who believe in different things, a land of absolute diversity. So who is to say that only one group of people should be given certain privileges because of the color of their skin, who they pray to, or where they were born. Here in America equality is probably one of the most important things we try to pursue as a nation. In the past people have fought to be treated equal and even today inShow MoreRelatedNative American Identity Essay1363 Words   |  6 Pages Cornell University Professor Clinton Rossiter explains identity as, â€Å"an intangible feeling. It is something that is felt†¦ An identity is not static. Feelings change with time and therefore, so can identity.†(http://ushistorythemes.weebly.com/american-identity.html). When colonists first arrived to North America, some people wanted to establish an identity unique to themselves and their new colonies. In the beginning, this proved challenging as they were constantly succumbing to Britain s authorityRead MoreErikson and Goffman on American Identity Essay1241 Words   |  5 Pages they think of McDonald’s, the Statue of Liberty, Hollywood film stars, and the list goes on. In terms of Americans, people associate Texans with cowboy boats, Californians with surfboards, and New Yorkers with a snobbish grin on their face. It is true that all these things represent America in one way or another, but what exactly is American identity? Erikson’s analysis on Amer ican identity has drawn attention to four topics: Mom, adolescent, boss, and machine. He links all four topics togetherRead MoreAsian American Identity Development Model886 Words   |  4 PagesRCIDM and Multiculturalism Having knowledge of the Racial/Cultural Identity Development Model will help counselors to become more culturally competent. Although we know these phases, one must be aware of the cultures that counselors will be working with and how one’s beliefs can hinder the process. The five stages of the Asian-American Identity Development Model, developed by Sue and Sue, are: The ethnic awareness stage, White identification stage, the awakening to the social political consciousnessRead More Diversity and the American National Identity Essays1637 Words   |  7 PagesDiversity and the American National Identity Greed is good, get get get, I want what you have, dont touch mine. This is what a friend of mine said when I asked for his conception of the American national identity is.1 Although this statement seems informal and absurd, it accurately reflects the dog-eat-dog world many people believe to be the American capitalist culture.2 Whether my friend said this with the intent of comic relief is inconsequential. Whether he knew it, the informant reflectsRead MoreThe Identity Of The American Revolution1527 Words   |  7 PagesThe identity of the American colonists prior to the American Revolution was still work in progress because there were certain events that helped shape their identity and led to the American Revolution. The American colonies were trying to break away from the British control because they wanted to become independent and be their own nation. Once the British began to realize the intentions of the colonists, they began to create laws, acts, and other forms things to keep the colonists under their controlRead MoreAfrican American Identity2425 Words   |  10 Pagessources of African American identity? The Discovery of African American Identity In the 1900s African American have slowly started to gain their rights after the end of slavery. It was a difficult and tedious process; however, they never gave up on what they believed in, which is â€Å"racial equality†. African American stood together in organizations, marches, and unions because they had something that united them which wasn’t just skin color; it was inequality and slavery. African Americans came togetherRead MoreAfrican Americans And Identity Of African American1169 Words   |  5 PagesIn the year of 1619, the largest oppressive legal structure in American History came about, the institution of slavery. Although slavery was abolished in the year of 1865, African Americans are still enslaved by intuitional racism. There are systems in place to keep minorities at a disadvantage. This system of oppression is carried by a number of factors such as; the segregation of black people in urban areas referred to as ghettos, mass incarceration rate for peo ple of color, large educational gapsRead MoreAsian American Identities Of Asian Americans Essay1380 Words   |  6 Pagesthat Asian Americans have been in Hollywood for decades, there are very few positive representations of them in film. More often than not, they’ve been depicted as stereotypical caricatures, and more specifically, as foreigners who can’t speak grammatically correct English. Moreover, the negative representations of Asian Americans in film has perpetuated certain misconceptions about their culture. Chan is Missing (1982) calls for more genuine representations of Asian American identities through itsRead MoreThe American Psychological Association Defines Gender Identity1301 Words   |  6 PagesJanuary 12, 2015 Professor Cormier English 101 The American Psychological Association defines gender identity as â€Å"one’s sense of oneself as male, female, or transgender† (â€Å"Definition of Terms: Sex, Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation† 1). Our culture greatly affects our gender identity, and this can be seen through how our media displays men, women, and transgenders. The media is a reflection of the values that are held in American culture and can be used to enact social reform, or toRead MoreThe Identity Of African Americans1758 Words   |  8 PagesRace was a primary factor used to shape the identity of African Americans which was seen through their culture. Race is portrayed through the narratives such as The life of Frederick Douglas by Frederick Douglass and the Autobiography of an Ex-colored man by James Weldon Johnson. In both the narratives, they state they are slaves due their race. First, this idea is supported in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass when he states in the preface, â€Å"he was a slave â€Å"too (Douglass 325).