Tracing your roots

Use your sociological imagination to make sense of events in your family in the past 50 years. Draw a time line that begins in the 1950s (or earlier of necessary) and ends in 2014. Above the line, list in chronological order significant events in the history of the US since the 1950s (like the Cold War, Korean War, Civil Rights' movement, Women's Rights Movement. Vietnam War, recession of the 1980s etc).

Below the line, in chronological order identify significant events and transitions in your life and that of your family members (transitions like births, deaths, marriages, divorces, employment changes, migrations, coming out stories).

Talk to your parents and grandparents. This exercise is primarily to help you discover the connections between the history, society and your personal biography. Try and find insightful connections and not very obvious ones (US goes to war, my brother/father/sister joins the military).

Think about more subtle life decisions that could have been influenced by the economy, the politics, the culture of that time ( for example, US goes to war, my grandfather goes to war, my grandmother starts to work outside the house, war ends, my grandparents get divorced...etc) For non US students, do a similar exercise but with history of your country.