CAPS #2: Abhi Shome

It is impossible to move forward without looking back. In fact, who we are today and who we will be tomorrow is certainly dependent on who we were yesterday. However, what a number of people do not realize is that a single historical even is also influenced by a wider variety of similar events that happened either before or during the same time as the event we are looking at. In this case, the best example would be the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, an event that kick started the First World War. Now the event itself was important to a certain group of people. However, it was this event combined with a series of other similar events that took place around this time period that all led to war. As such, the significance of of the shift from looking at history to histories is the shift in perspective from looking at not just the importance and effect of that particular event, but the role it played on a larger scale. It is for this reason that I point you to the date of May 17, 2004: the day that Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage in the United States (TIME 2013). 

As reported by CNN, the day in particular marked “a milestone in the gay rights movement, the culmination of more than a decade of legal challenges across the country to laws limiting marriage to couples of the opposite sex” (CNN 2004). However, it also led to 11 other states later recognizing marriage being between “one man and one woman” (TIME 2013). It also had 8 other states proposing a ban on gay marriage. As such, the legalization of gay marriage has been quite the struggle that continues to this day.

But it is for this reason that we look to the past of a cultural group. It shows us the struggles that the cultural group in question has been through and motivates people to change things for their group. As of January 8^th 2014, 16 states along with the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage. Illinois will start licensing gay marriages from June 2014 while 4 more states (Colorado, Nevada, Oregon & Wisconsin) recognize same-sex civil unions. Thus, it is by looking at May 17^th 2004 in the context of other historical events that one can see that it was a rather crucial date for the gay community in the United States. Thus, it is these small events that come together to create the shared histories of a cultural group.

Works Cited:

Arce, Rose. "Same-sex Couples Ready to Make History in Massachusetts." CNN. Cable News Network, 17 May 2004. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

TIME Staff. "Pride and Prejudice: An Interactive Timeline of the Fight for Gay Rights." TIME U.S. TIME, 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.