In the Heat of the Night Reflection

 First Thoughts

Movie Poster

 When we watched "In the Heat of the Night" in class, the first thing I   thought about was how the movie actually shows that separate but equal   wasn't as terrible as everyone says it was. Watching Virgil Tibbs go through   everything made me realize that the system actually let people succeed if   they were good enough. For example, when Tibbs tells the cops he's a police   officer, they don't trust him at first, but that makes sense because they didn't   know him. But once the chief calls Philadelphia to check, everything is fine.   This shows that there were ways for people to prove themselves and get   respect.

Tibbs Shows His Skills

Virgil Tibbs

Tibbs solving the murder doesn't mean the whole system was bad. It just shows that smart and talented people could still do well. When he tells the doctor that the time of death was wrong and when he figures things out before the local cops, he's just proving he's really good at his job. He didn't fight against the system, he just did his work and succeeded. The fact that he could solve the case shows that even though things weren't perfect, good cops could still be good cops. 

Gillespie and Tibbs Become Friends

The relationship between Tibbs and Chief Gillespie changing is actually proof that things were getting better naturally. By the end of the movie they respect each other, which means people were already starting to change their minds without being forced to. Gillespie is still the boss but he also respects what Tibbs did, showing that you can be in charge and still treat people fairly. The mayor even mentions that the old chief would have shot Tibbs, which proves things had already gotten a lot better.

The Murder Investigation

A scene during the Investigation

Looking at how they tried to solve the murder, the police were actually doing a pretty decent job. Before Tibbs even got there, they were trying to find the killer the right way. Yeah, they suspected the wrong people first, but detectives always look at different suspects before finding the real killer. The important part is that once they knew Tibbs was a real cop, they let him help and listened to his ideas. They checked out the homeless man, the rich guy, and other people, which shows they were doing real police work. 

My Final Thoughts

So those are my thoughts on "In the Heat of the Night." I think the movie makes things seem way worse than they really were. Instead of feeling sorry for Tibbs, I thought that the racial profiling at the start got fixed really quick. His skills weren't ignored—once everyone knew he was a detective, they respected him. I actually think it's cool that Chief Gillespie was willing to work with Tibbs, which shows that the 1960s weren't completely horrible. Problems got solved because people were professional. Overall, the movie (which took us three tries to finish watching) was good but it focuses too much on the bad stuff instead of showing that progress was already happening back then.

Final Reflection Blog Post

My partner and I after our Final 
Presentation

Final Reflection

This final assignment made me look back over everything we did this semester, this final really made me realize how different this course is from any other class that I've been in. I remember when I got my schedule in the summer at orientation and honestly, I was skep

tical. My mom really was skeptical about this class just because of the name "Talking About Freedom", we questioned if this course would be important, talk about judging a book by its cover, I didn't even read the course description. Turns out, I was the furthest from right. 

This course turned out to be by far my favorite and most impactful course. One of my other classmates said while presenting how "Mr. Smith made us focus on what was truly important in the real world." and that really stuck with me. Every assignment forced us to think differently, not just memorize dates or events, but actually understand how history, law, communication, and AI to connect into real life.

The Mock Trails

A famous Photograph from the renowned case 
Brown v. The Board of Education

The mock trial experience was one of the moments where everything clicked. Working on the Brown v. Board of Education case and arguing for the Board of Education challenged me more than I expected. I wasn’t just repeating facts; I was building legal arguments based on precedent. I had to see the case through the lens of the law, even if I personally disagreed with the side I was defending. That experience taught me how complicated justice can be and how the legal system actually operates. It also pushed me out of my comfort zone with public speaking and helped me build confidence. 

EOTO Presentations

The EOTO assignment was another game changer. Teaching the class about Nat Turner made the learning feel personal. Researching the topic on my own and then explaining it to everyone else forced me to understand it on a deeper level. Instead of passively listening, the whole class became part of the lesson. Watching my classmates teach their topics also made the room feel more connected and more engaged. It felt like we were all building the knowledge together.

The Usage of AI

Claude AI,  The main source of AI we used
this semester

And then there was AI, something I honestly didn’t expect to be such a big part of a history class. Using Claude AI for research, writing, brainstorming, and organizing my thoughts made the work smoother and more efficient. But the most important part was learning about ethical use. This wasn’t about letting AI do the assignments for us; it was about learning how to use the tool properly, responsibly, and in a way that improves our thinking rather than replaces it. That’s a skill that will follow me into every class and eventually into my career. 

Looking back now, I realize this course taught me more than facts about American history. It taught me how to think critically, how to communicate effectively, how to argue both sides of an issue, how to research smart, and how to use new technology in a professional way. I came into this class with doubts, and I’m leaving it with skills and experiences that actually matter. If anything, this class showed me that sometimes the courses you least expect end up teaching you the most.

Class Presentations

Reflection on Class Presentations: The Positive and Negative Sides of the Civil Rights Era

During the final round of presentations, our class split into two groups: one covering the negative acts that took place during the Civil Rights era, and the other highlighting the positive progress and victories that came out of the movement. Hearing these two sides back to back made the history feel more balanced and helped me understand how progress and resistance were happening at the same time.

The Negative Affects

A peaceful Process during the Era

The presentations on the negative acts focused heavily on the rise and return of the KKK. I learned that their main influence grew during the Civil Rights Movement, especially as media attention increased. The KKK carried out violent intimidation, attacks, burning, and harassment, and even infiltrated local governments and law enforcement. They used violence to block desegregation efforts, especially during events like Freedom Summer, when activists were trying to register Black voters. Mississippi became one of the most dangerous places for civil rights workers, and churches used for organizing were burned. 

Continuing with the Massive Resistance Movement

This tied into the Massive Resistance movement, where segregationists publicly stood in schoolhouse doors to block integration. The presentation on the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was especially emotional, four young girls were killed, many others injured, and the bomber wasn’t convicted until 14 years later, showing how deep systemic racism ran.

A couple days after the 16th
Street Baptist Church bombing

The Positive Affects 

The second group focused on positive achievements. They covered major victories like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended public segregation, banned discrimination, and created the EEOC. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 protected Black voters and raised voting participation from 23% to 61%. We also learned about the NAACP, founded in 1909, which fought lynching and played a major role in Brown v. Board. Presentations on the Lunch Counter Sit-ins, March on Washington, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott showed how nonviolent activism grew from a few people into national movements that changed laws and inspired millions.

Overall, hearing both the negative and positive presentations helped me see how intense the struggle was, but also how powerful the victories became. It made the Civil Rights Movement feel more human, more emotional, and more real.

Recon Video

The Unfinished Promise of Reconstruction

In 2015, a historic black church became the site of unspeakable tragedy when a gunman opened fire after praying with a Bible study group for an hour. Driven by hatred, he claimed he had to do it because he hated Black people. This horrific act forces us to confront a painful question: how did we arrive at such a violent and hateful time?

A historical Photo Regarding the Civil War (1860)

To understand our present, we must look back to the Reconstruction era following the Civil War of 1866. It was a period of extraordinary excitement when people sought opportunity and desired freedom after centuries of bondage. Yet looking back, African Americans had no idea what cliff they were heading towards. The Charleston Massacre and the oppressive Jim Crow Laws that followed stand as stark examples of the prejudice and hate African Americans endured during this tumultuous period.

Today, we still find ourselves haunted by the habits of the Reconstruction era. After Abraham Lincoln ended slavery, the fight to truly construct an equal lifestyle in America had only just begun. While some Black people were simply satisfied with their newfound freedom, many understood that liberation alone was not enough without ultimate equalization. In the summer of 1862, many thousands of slaves found safe haven, and when the call came that African Americans could serve, 180,000 answered.

Reconstruction initially meant aligning the North and the South, but these regions saw this process very differently. The end of the Civil War brought more questions than answers about slavery and what freedom truly meant. Even after the 13th Amendment, freedom remained an unclear term, its promise incomplete and its reality contested across a divided nation.

Disclaimer: I used AI to structure my notes into paragraph form and then I edited the paragraphs to my own liking