Today, I had the opportunity to sit down with GRF Seema on a talk about how America came to be. While I was not very familiar with the topic at first, I was immediately intrigued. Through the talk, I understood how opportunities for urban expansion opened up in the North at an early stage in time, even before the United States became an independent nation. It is interesting how prominent cities today like Boston and New York were given its prominence from such an early stage, which explains (but does not justify) how Southern states needed to rely on slavery in turn to maintain their level of economic prosperity. While slavery is obviously an inhumane practice, decoding these events under another lens gives a new explanation to the rise of historical events.

When we are taught history in high school, the emphasis is on memorizing dates and years instead of the background behind these significant events. One point from Seema’s talk that stood out was how the development of automobiles in the United States was propelled by complaints of animal excretion on the roads, creating discomfort for local citizens. These little details are what give context for why certain events occurred, and emphasizing this flow in information may boost the amount of history that students retain. Through today’s discussion, I am now curious to learn more about urban planning and how specific cities in the United States came to be.