The First Amendment

The First Amendment was proposed by James Madison known as the “the father of the
Constitution” and officially adopted in 1791 along with nine other amendments which made up
the bill of rights. The First Amendment is the freedom of religion, speech, press assembly, and
petition.
The First Amendment applies to me in many ways. To start off my ancestors fought hard and
many lost their lives for there to even be a First Amendment that would apply to African
Americans due to the amendment being adopted in 1791 during a time of slavery African and
African Americans had absolutely no rights. It was not until the civil rights era (1950s and
1960s) was many historic decisions that benefited African Americans were produced that are still
in effect to this day. As an African American there was a time that my ancestors could not
practice their own religion. But today I can practice whatever religion I please and do not have to
confine my beliefs to make someone else feel comfortable. There was also a time that they could
not assembly or they would be considered as a danger to society and had to assembly in secrecy.
The next way the First Amendment applies to me is I am not just an African American, but I am
a African American woman so it is hard to speak up because of passion about a cause I am seen
to be aggressive or sometimes even though it has been proven that African American women is
the most educated in country, I am seen to be uneducated and ghetto. So, what I feel is important
as an African American woman is sometimes brushed off or is not at the top of the list of
priorities. But today even if people may still have those thoughts about African American
women it does not discredit our petition or diminish our audience. Another way the First
Amendment apply to me is because it gives me freedom to express what I want on public
platforms, for an example posting what I please on Instagram, Twitter, and/ or Facebook. I can
even create my very own blog that showcase my political and personal views.
The First Amendment applies to my major because I am a communications major, so it is my
duty to inform the public. Without the First Amendment I would not be able to do my job
effectively. I would be very limited on what I could tell the public, the government would have
full control over the content that I produce and try to put out. Due to the First Amendment I am
can put out whatever content to a certain extent that benefits my client. It also applies to my
major because it gives both my client and I the opportunity to speak out against things we do not
agree with and fight against it.
I have used the First Amendment as a student many of times to speak up against a cause. For an
example my freshman year at Clark Atlanta University I participated in a protest the Atlanta
University Center (AUC) rape culture. No, I was not rape but a student from Spelman College
was by a student at Morehouse College and campus security did not do anything about this and
told the girl she should have not dressed the way she did. Students from Spelman and Clark
Atlanta and even some from Morehouse came together to talk about sexual assault and campus
safety. We also protested the campus security for not doing anything. Ultimately it ended up
being a he said she said situation, but this created the conversation that needed to happen, and it
increase the safety on all three campuses so that the students would have a sense of safety.
Without the First Amendment stating the freedom to assembly and petition and freedom of
speech then this could not happen.