What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me

Facing History and Ourselves is definitely one of the most influential classes that I have ever taken in my high school career. The things that it teaches you are things that cannot be taught in any other course. It puts you in the minds of people that were persecuted against in the holocaust and in Nazi Germany and other situations such as America before the civil rights movement. Even though there are no quizzes or tests in this course, they are really not necessary to make students learn or to get something out of the course. The Facing History and Ourselves course has successfully opened my eyes to the reality of prejudice, racism, anti-Semitism, and the pure value of human life.

It all starts with the film that we watched about the civil rights movement called The Children’s March. This film was about how African Americans peacefully protested against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama and they were hit with a violent response by the police force which was all white. Martin Luther King had organized multiple peaceful protests in the city of Birmingham and he even invited all the children to come as well. So at some point in the middle of the day, everyone was ordered to meet at a church in the middle of the city. All of the kids were in school at this point so they started sneaking out of windows and back doors and, eventually there were so many kids leaving that the teachers just let them leave. But, when they got to the church, they were met with violence from the Birmingham police. They were told to move and they refused so they hooked up the fire hose and started to spray them with water. The water was so powerful that it was knocking grown men on their feet and sliding them around on the asphalt like blowing leaves with a leaf blower. They even shot the kids with the hose. But, eventually the protesters began to just play in the water. This film showed me the great courage that the blacks had to have in order to stand up to the police and have a successful peaceful protest.

One of my personal favorite films from the class was Twelve Angry Men. Even though I had already seen it a couple of times outside of class before, it never gets old. Although this film doesn’t really relate to racial prejudice, it teaches the students a very valuable lesson and that is to have your own opinion and base your conclusions not on stereotypes but instead on facts and logic. In the beginning of the film, there was a preliminary vote to see where all the jurors stood. There were eleven votes for guilty and one vote for not guilty. As soon as the jury heard that there was one vote of not guilty, they were all enraged. With his back against the wall, the lone juror that voted not guilty decides not to give in to the pressure that the other jurors are putting on him to change his vote to guilty. He even says that he is not sure if he is not guilty but he just wants to give the system a chance to work how it is supposed to work. Throughout the rest of the movie, this lone juror presents facts that nobody else thought of or even cared to think of because they reached straight for stereotypes and prejudice. Most of the jurors that voted guilty were saying that he was a poor kid and he lives in a bad neighborhood so he must be prone to violence and they automatically write him off. This film taught me that even though you might be alone in your conclusion, it does not mean that you are wrong. It also taught me that you can’t look at a person’s race, social status, or style of dress and determine guilt or innocence. In the bigger picture, I learned that you should not pre-judge someone based on race and apply stereotypes to him or her because they are not true.

Lastly, I have always been interested in how the hatred of the Jews even started. We watched a film called The Longest Hatred, which outlines the origins of the hatred of the Jews. A long time ago when Jesus was around, he lived in a place that was predominantly Jewish. The leaders of the country that he was living in were Jewish and they felt threatened by Jesus. After they saw that he was starting a new faith and talking about what he called the “Kingdom of God,” the leaders felt they had to protect their leadership. This led to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Immediately after they killed him, the Christians began their dislike for the Jews. This hatred was taken all the way through the middle ages. There was even genocide committed against the Jews before the holocaust. Later on, in Nazi Germany, the Nazi party was looking for someone to blame for their extreme economic crisis and their loss of the World War One. They began to blame the Jews for their problems. This film taught me that the hatred of the Jews did not originate in Germany. I’m not saying that makes it right, I’m just saying that I did not know that there was almost a tradition of hating Jews in world history.

In conclusion, I have left this course with knowledge that others may not have the privilege to have. I learned that there is no good outcome when people pre-judge others. In the Civil Rights movement example, Martin Luther King and his protesters showed the world that determination and non-violent protests can affect change very effectively. Also, Twelve Angry Men is one example of a film that was shown to us that taught me to be confident in my opinion and don’t stereotype people and go with the crowd because it is wrong. Another example of not going with the crowd would be The Longest Hatred film. Not everybody had to hate the Jews and not everybody did. That taught me to not go with the crowd and to see other people as human beings, not as a race. In all, I enjoyed this class very much and I am glad that I took it.