Blog #9- The Contemporary Connection

      While reading one of the connections I made to today's politics and the politics of 1865-1914 was the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment. The Fifteenth Amendment is the third of the Reconstruction Amendments and it prohibits the states and federal government from using a citizens race, color, or previous status as a slave as a voting qualification. In our society today African American's have become a part of our society instead of outcasts. In todays political world the African Americans have come a very long way, the most obvious is our president Barack Obama. President Barack Obama is our country's first African American president and shows the growth of equality for African Americans in politics in the United States. During the time period of 1865-1914 the people of this time would have never believed that an African American male would have ever become the president of the United States, but as a country we have grown since this time period in a very positive direction.
       Another connection that I made would be the social aspects of magazines in today's culture and in the culture of 1865-1914. Magazines grew tremendously during this time period and "readers were attracted by the colorful covers, lavish illustrations, and modest cost." The differences between today's magazines and the older magazines is that magazines today focus on gossip, celebrities, or television shows. Back then magazines published stories that focused great attention on women and their right to vote and their fight for social and political equality. "Magazines also revealed the important tole of women both as consumers and producers of culture in the United States." Today we don't focus on these kinds of topics anymore. Popular magazines in today's society would be Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and People Magazine. In these magazines a reader will never find an article on politics or a certain gender or races inability to vote. Magazines have transformed from political to gossip magazines but the similarity that they still have are the colorful covers, lavish illustrations, and modest costs; that is one thing that has not changed in today's magazines and the magazines from the older time period.