Latin American Revolutions

Essential Question: Why is it essential to acknowledge human value regardless of race? How are the events in the Latin American Revolutions evidence of this social imperative?

           The essential question asks, why is it essential to acknowledge human value regardless of race? How are the events in the Latin American Revolutions evidence of this social imperative? To learn more about this topic, we first completed a pie chart of the different race percentages of Latin America. Then, as a class we divided into 3 groups (Mexico, Gran Columbia, and Brazil), analyzed documents, and made a timeline of events for our document topic. Lastly, we formed jigsaw groups, where a person from each revolution group formed a group of 3 with 2 other students, so that there was a representative for each revolution group, and shared information to answer questions.
         

During the jigsaw, we discussed 2 commonalities and 2 differences between the 3 

Revolutions. In my group, the 2 commonalities between the revolutions that we discussed were that the countries revolting all declared independence in some sort of way, and that all of the revolutions ended around the same time. The 2 differences between the 3 revolutions were that all of the countries fought different people, and they all fought in different places. Upon sharing information, we learned that race was clearly an issue in all of the revolutions. In all of the revolutions, people did not like their leaders being of another descent. They thought that their leaders would not be loyal to their country due to their nationality. Some thought that their leaders would secretly be helping their home country.

           Race still manages to play a big role in society today. It would be nice if race didn't matter, but unfortunately it does. People stick together based on similarities, such as race, and make judgments based on race. Currently, race is a popular topic in the news. There have been issues arising in Ferguson, Missouri lately. A black boy was killed by a police officer, and there have been huge race riots as a direct result of it. The topic of race is a very sensitive and controversial one. Race is a very important issue and is not to be taken lightly. Outbreaks are starting to erupt, but soon the floodgates will give way to the overwhelming pressure surrounding race issues in our society today.