In class this past week, we engaged in many activities including presenting our Harlem Renaissance monuments, thinking about Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, analyzing historical documents, and reading a poem called “Worst Day Ever?” by Chanie Gorkin.
After designing my own Harlem Renaissance monument highlighting the iconic Harlem Renaissance painter Aaron Douglas, I was excited to see the creations of my classmates. We spent nearly an entire class block presenting our monuments and explaining the symbolism behind them. Sometimes giving a presentation can make me feel a bit nervous. It was a relatively stress-free environment, and I felt comfortable and proud sharing my hard work with the class. Some of my classmates presented about people whom I had never heard of before that day. I enjoyed hearing about the symbolism of each monument, and I could tell that they were carefully thought out and skillfully included within the monument.
When we looked at Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, we kept in mind that Martin Luther was not trying to separate from the Catholic Church when he publicized his theses in 1517. Most of his theses expressed views that were different from many others who were part of the Catholic Church at that time. Martin Luther made sure to talk about indulgences and the limits of the pope’s power as well as the importance of the Bible. He wanted to make it clear that he was not pleased with how members of the Catholic Church were acting, but he did not try to start the Protestant Reformation.
Analyzing documents as historians requires a certain thought process when trying to identify the author of an unknown document. We had to take into account where the excerpts are from in terms of larger documents they may be parts of, the historical events that took place during the time when the documents were written, and the authors’ purpose. One of three documents that we analyzed did not list the author, and it was our job to identify the author. It turned out that the author of the mystery document was Machiavelli, the author of The Prince that we learned about during our unit on the Renaissance. Also notable from one of the three documents we analyzed was how Martin Luther’s tone when talking about the Catholic Church changed drastically between 1517 when he posted his 95 Theses and in 1522 in a letter that he wrote. In the theses, Martin Luther showed disapproval of the Catholic Church, but he did not seem to have a strong sense of resentment. In the letter, resentment is all throughout, and Martin Luther clearly and directly called out the negative ways the Catholic Church treated him.
Lastly, I was pleasantly surprised by the poem “Worst Day Ever?” by Chanie Gorkin. When I first read the poem, I read it top to bottom like I would any other poem. I try to be optimistic, and I was shocked how someone could have such a negative outlook on life and happiness. Then when I read the poem the other way and saw how it completely changed the meaning, it made me smile. I remember being in awe about how the poem made sense when read both ways and thinking something along the lines of “There’s the optimism I was waiting for!” I read the poem backwards again, and I smiled even more.