PORTFOLIO: FINAL EXAM

“Why [consider history]? Simply because I am interested in the past? No, if one means by that […] a history of the past in terms of the present. Yes, if one means […] the history of the present.” – Michel Foucault

There are always those quotes that attempt to make you think, but instead do the opposite and confuse you. This was considered one to many of my peers. It isn’t that confusing once analyzed thoughtfully. When looked at in a logical manner, it makes perfect sense. Everything in the present is influenced by something that has happened in the past.

Michel Foucault is not interested in history just to learn about the past. He is more interested in the past to see how it influenced current situations in society today. Everything in the present is based upon something that happened in the past, which is somehow connected to it. Everything is connected to history, there is no one thing that just happened out of nowhere with no influence of something that has happened in the past. The statement, “the history of the present,” gives a new approach to look at history. This statement demonstrates how history connects to and explains what is going on now in the present. To be able to understand the present, you have to take into consideration the past.

Studying history enables people to understand the present and see where situations stem from. If I never consider history, I will never be able to comprehend the present. Grasping history makes the realization of the present much clearer. Just knowing the present isn’t enough. Knowing the history, as well as the present creates a well rounded person and enhances intelligence.

Major events in American history, such as slavery, can be further examined to understand this concept. The creation of slavery created a separation and hierarchy amongst the races. Even though slavery was abolished, the spirit was still carried on through the generations, showing even in present day American society. Especially in the south, which was the origin of slavery in the United States.

The perfect example is the Jena 6. When last fall, “two Black high school students sat under the ‘white’ tree on their campus, white students responded by hanging nooses from the tree. When Black students protested the light punishment for the students who hung the nooses, District Attorney Reed Walters came to the school and told the students he could ‘take [their] lives away with a stroke of [his] pen.’ Racial tension continued to mount in Jena, and the District Attorney did nothing in response to several egregious cases of violence and threats against black students. But when a white student--who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses--taunted a black student, allegedly called several black students ‘nigger’, and was beaten up by black students, six black students were charged with second-degree attempted murder. Last month, the first young man to be tried, Mychal Bell, was convicted. He faces up to 22 years in prison for a school fight.” - http://www.freethejena6.org/

History has a huge impact on the present, and in some cases such as segregation that stemmed from slavery, was never fully resolved in the past, which is why they are displaying and being uncovered now. People chose to think that an issue such as segregation doesn’t exist anymore and are astonished when hearing of situations such as the Jena 6. In the north, even when looking at the past, slavery wasn’t a necessity to survival, which is why it was so easily outlawed. But in the southern states where slavery and segregation were associated with the means to survive, it is still very much a part of society. With the instance of the Jena 6, yes, slavery was abolished, but some still agreed with the superiority and segregation, which is portraying now, generations later. To fully understand the Jena 6, one has to look at the aspects of how southerners felt about the abolishing of slavery in 1865 and African Americans speaking out about segregation in the 1960s.

With a negative answer to Foucault’s question, learning would be different. The history and the present would be examined as two different aspects, and the understanding of how they interconnect would never be reached. It could even be taken to the extent that I, myself could say there is no point in considering history because it is in the past and has nothing to do with the future. This would be the easy way to get out of making an effort to actually understand how they are connected, and in the end would only hinder myself from reaching my full potential of realization and knowledge.

In essence, everything is interconnected, including history and present because at some point in time all history was the present.