United States History Student Edition

“ . . . [H]istory has shown us that courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own.” — Michelle Obama; Lawyer, writer, first African American First Lady of the United States

“ If understanding is impossible, knowing is imperative [necessary], because what happened could happen again . . . For this reason, it is everyone’s duty to reflect on what happened.” — Primo Levi; Italian Jewish author, Holocaust survivor

“ Still, I am convinced that, in good times or bad, critical [serious] ones, transitional [changing] ones, or normal ones, history can help human beings think better, live more richly, and act more wisely.” — Joyce Appleby, American historian

“ We are not merely passive pawns of

historical forces; nor are we victims of the past. We can shape and direct history.” — Daisaku Ikeda; Japanese author, Buddhist philosopher, educator

“ . . . [I]deas, cultures, and histories cannot seriously be understood or studied without their force, or more precisely their configurations [arrangements] of power, also being studied.” — Edward Said; American professor, political activist, literary critic

HT3 Historian's Toolkit PHOTO: (tl)Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; (cl)The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images; (cr)Agence Opale/Alamy Stock Photo; (c)courtesy of Joyce Appleby; (b)Leonardo Cendamo/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; TEXT: (1)Obama, Michelle. “Remarks by The First Lady During Keynote Address at Young African Women Leaders Forum.” Speech, Regina Mundi Church, Soweto, South Africa, June 22, 2011. Washington, D.C.: The White House - Office of the First Lady; (2)Levi, Primo. “Auschwitz and Survival.” In The Voice of Memory: Interviews 1961-1987. Edited by Marco Belpoliti and Robert Gordon. Translated by Robert Gordon. New York: The New Press, 2001; (3)Ikeda, Daisaku. “’People’s Diplomacy’: A Power to Resist the Currents of History.” The Japan Times (Tokyo), May 11, 2006. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2006/05/11/ commentary/world-commentary/a-power-to-resist-the-currents-of-history/; (4)Appleby, Joyce. “The Power of History.” The American Historical Review 103, no. 1 (1998): 1-14. Accessed January 26, 2021. doi:10.2307/2650771; (5)Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Vintage Books Edition. New York: Random House, Inc.1979.