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Connor Philpot
History 1700
Alexandria Waltz

Timeline Final Chapter Project

A lot of events have shaped America into the country that it is today. We are a nation that

is built on change. A cultural hot pot that is full of diverse people. Many recent events have been

shaping the foundation of America as we know it. The six main events that I have chosen that

have shaped America are as follows. The assassination of Osama Bin Laden, Hurricane Sandy,

Sandy Hook, Same Sex Marriage being legalized, Covid 19, and most recently the Black Lives

Matter movement. These events have shaped not only the country, but it’s policies and its

people. These events all lead into the theme of change and how tragedy and rights shape

America into the country that it is. These are some of the biggest cultural events that have

impacted America in recent years, and I will be going over how and why these events are

considered so important.

The Assassination of Osama Bin Laden is one of the ones I want to go over first. Osama

Bin Laden was the leader of the terrorist group al-Qaida, who infamously arranged the

September 11th attack on the twin towers. That event was in itself one of the biggest things to

shape how America viewed terrorism, and public airlines were forever changed by these events.

(Lepien Jack Seaman, Fall of a Tyrant: The Death of Osama bin Laden, dvids) When a team of

American Navy Seals finally found his location, the mission was carried out to take him out.

This was a victory for America, given all the terrorist actions he masterminded. It gave the
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American people hope, and ushered in a new era in a post 9/11 world. With this out of the way,

America could shift it’s focus on the many other things to come in the future for this country. A

lot was in store for America, and people had to be ready to shift their focus on all the other

events that were going to be happening.

Even though a victory had been won on the war on terror, other tragedies were happening

in America. Natural Disasters are something that have affected the American people and the

world over since the beginning of civilization. However, one of the most infamous natural

disasters occurred in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. It was one of the strongest storms of 2012,

and led to a number of casualties and losses. (Martin-Barton Richard, Hurricane Sandy,

StratusDeck) Hurricane Sandy was one of the first times the common people had to take in the

effects of a natural disaster and global warming firsthand. It changed the people’s perspective on

tragedy and how it can come from more then just terrorism. The effects of Hurricane Sandy were

lasting, as many people lost homes and family. It was a show of strength, how people rallied

together for a relief effort of this magnitude. This event changed the way we viewed natural

disasters, and gave us the knowledge of how to combat and deal with such issues. Events like

these are nothing to scoff at, and should be handled with care. The sad truth is, the way we learn

to deal with such events is by experiencing them firsthand. That’s why Hurricane Sandy was

such and important event to the American people.

More events would come along to change the view of how things are handled in America.

One of the most infamous type of event that have become more common in recent years is

School Shootings. Columbine was one of the first times America was faced with the horrible

reality of such actions. School Shootings became prominent among students and high schools,

but Sandy Hook showed America how it’s not always going to be students in a high school.
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Sandy Hook showed the horror of how far these tragedies go. This was one of the first times an

elementary school of defenseless children were the target of a school shooting. This wasn’t a

planned attempt from an inner party, but a criminal shooter breaking into a school. (Shultz M

James, The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as tipping point, Taylor & Francis Online)

Sandy Hook changed the way all schools view public safety and how to handle a school shooter.

School shootings have become such a problem, that most public schools in America have shooter

drills because of such events. Sandy Hook even changed the way that the public viewed not only

public education, but the way we viewed the protection of our students in such an environment.

Schooling in America was fundamentally changed by these events.

Tragedies weren’t the only thing changing America around this time. The fight for rights

was also a constant at this time. The fight for same sex marriage has been going on for decades.

However, it wasn’t until 2015 that the battle was won and same sex marriage was legalized

everywhere in the United States. (A Timeline of the Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage in the

U.S., Georgetown Law Library) This event fundamentally changed everything in the United

States. The fight for equality is something that still goes on to this very day, and this was a win

for a lot of people. This event showed that America isn’t a perfect country and still has room to

improve. Tragedy isn’t the only thing that can affect America on a deeper level, sometimes

positive changes and improvements can help to change the status quo. The people of the nation

are the most important part of any place, and the rights of those people is what matters most.

Same sex marriage being legalized was the first step to true equality in our nation. However, we

still have a long way to go in order to achieve that equality for all people.

The recent struggles of police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement is

something that has truly shown we haven’t reached true equality in this country. A
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fundamentally lack of understanding between each other has led to fighting and violence. The

Black Lives Matter movement has been around since 2013, but it wasn’t until recent events that

happened this year that the movement grew in traction. (Thomsen Ian, HOW DID THE BLACK

LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT GET TO WHERE IT IS TODAY?, News@Northeastern) All the

events this year have shown that the fight for equality still goes on, and even the landscape of

America today can still change. We often forget that things in our country can still change, even

if there isn’t anything big going on. The reason an event like this is so important is because it

shows just how united and diverse the American people can be, and how in events like these they

can rally together to show what truly matters. Everyone’s rights are important, that fact is the

foundation on which America is built on. That’s why it’s so important to so many people.

The most recent event I want to go over, is the Covid 19 pandemic that has affected

people the world over. There isn’t a single person who hasn’t been affected by this pandemic, but

I want to focus on how this has changed things from and American perspective. We have never

had to deal with a wide spread pandemic with this kind of magnitude in many years. To say we

were unprepared would be an understatement. We did our best to adapt to the situation we were

put in, and tried to adjust accordingly. This whole ordeal has changed a lot of how we handle big

events like these. While everything we have had to go through has been a struggle, we have

learned a lot on how to deal with a situation like this if it ever happens again. (Coronavirus

(COVID 19), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) I believe that even though this

pandemic has been hard for everyone, we’ve grown stronger as a people because of it as well.

This event will go down in history as something that affected not only the world and America,

but the people as well. We now have the knowledge and strength to press on through uncertain

events like these.

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I chose these events because of the impact they had on American culture and its history.

Each of these events be it either about tragedy, rights, or the overall impact on American culture;

have had an impact in some way. They have shaped the way we view our country and its morals.

They’ve asked a question of what it means to live in this country, and what principles and

standards we should live by. I believe the true principles of America rely on the freedom and

acceptance of other people, no matter who they are or where they are from. America is

considered the mixing pot of cultures and people from all around the world, and that’s what

makes us truly different from other countries. Our country is built on the differences of others

and coexisting together. That is an ideal that should be strived for in our daily lives. It’s the true

meaning of the American dream and what that means for the average citizen. These events have

shown us we still have a long way to go in shaping America to reach the ideals it was founded

on, but I believe with enough work and effort we can reach those ideals someday.

Works Cited:

(Lepien Jack Seaman, Fall of a Tyrant: The Death of Osama bin Laden, dvids)

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/319926/fall-tyrant-death-osama-bin-laden

(Martin-Barton Richard, Hurricane Sandy, StratusDeck)

https://stratusdeck.myfreesites.net/hurricane-sandy

(Shultz M James, The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as tipping point, Taylor &

Francis Online)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/dish.27113
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(A Timeline of the Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage in the U.S., Georgetown Law Library)

https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=592919&p=4182201

(Thomsen Ian, HOW DID THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT GET TO WHERE IT IS

TODAY?, News@Northeastern)

https://news.northeastern.edu/2020/08/06/you-see-how-activism-is-done/

(Coronavirus (COVID 19), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html