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xviiContextualizing features weave together American history%u00a0and American literature. Illustrated Introductions contextualize every chapter. These brief overviews cover the major events and social forces that define each time period, and they also draw connections to specific pieces within the chapter. 1435Redefining America 2001 to the Present PREVIEWING THE CHAPTER Introduction 2001 to the Present 143 %u2013 147Writing Workshop Analysis of Theme in Fiction 147 %u2013 164Chronological Anthology 164 %u2013 319Conversation What Is the Future of Higher Education? 320 %u2013 329 Suggestions for Writing 330 %u2013 331 Entering the twenty-first century, America experienced perhaps its greatest tragedy and challenge: 9/11 was the defining event of that decade. On the morning of September 11, 2001, members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes, crashing two into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, resulting in the collapse of both Towers. Terrorists crashed a third plane into the Pentagon, headquarters for the United States Department of Defense. On the fourth plane, passengers and crew members fought back, and the plane crashed in Pennsylvania during the struggle. All told, nearly 3,000 people were killed, including everyone aboard all four planes and over 400 first responders to the attacks, and more than 6,000 people were injured. The wars that the attacks of 9/11 spawned and the impact this tragedy had on American culture continue to be felt two decades later. The third decade of the twenty-first century began with events on a par with its first decade: a worldwide pandemic shut down the United States, and much of the world, as its citizens quarantined and the race for a vaccine began. In the midst of this pandemic, the death of a Black man, George Floyd, at the hands of the police 1445 Redefining Americain Minneapolis gave rise to renewed nationwide protests against police brutality. Protesters asked the world to %u201csay their names%u201d in remembrance of African Americans who had lost their lives to police violence. Wars in other parts of the world %u2014 Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine %u2014 as well as climate-related catastrophes have tested America%u2019s loyalties and commitments. Divergent opinions on these events, as well as on domestic concerns such as the pandemic and the role of the police, have led to what may seem to be a coarsening of public discourse. And yet, despite an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, America remains a democratic society still committed to free speech. Now, we must ask ourselves what America means as a nation: Are we the economic and moral leader of the world? To what extent are we living up to the vision of the Founding Fathers? Are we still the land of the free, the home of the brave? What is our national identity %u2014 or is our country too big and too diverse to have a coherent one? Are we still the land of opportunity? Is the United States still a beacon of hope and shelter for immigrants seeking to make a new life? Have we made progress toward the goal of liberty and justice for all, and how much progress must we make to achieve it? Are we effective stewards of the environment, and what are the global consequences if we are not? At their core, many of these questions relate to some aspect of the American Dream. What does that dream mean, and is it still alive? New York City firefighters walk through the rubble at the World Trade Center, the ruins of the Twin Towers behind them. How does this photograph capture the scale of the tragedy? Does it remind you of any images, artwork, or other forms of media you have seen? Porter Gifford/Getty ImagesKey Context notes frame every%u00a0reading. We include historical and cultural information to help students navigate texts from other time periods and appreciate the bigger picture. This support helps all students, especially English Language Learners and developing readers, make the most of every reading. 5 Jesmyn Ward Ulf Andersen/Getty Images Entertainment/ Getty Images My True South: Why I Decided to Return Home Jesmyn Ward Jesmyn Ward (b. 1977) was born in California but her family moved to DeLisle, Mississippi, on the Gulf Coast, when she was three. She has a BA and an MA in media studies and communications from Stanford University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan. She teaches at Tulane University. Ward has published a memoir and four novels and is the first woman to win two National Book Awards, for Salvage the Bones (2011) and Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017). She is also the editor of The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race (2016) and Navigate Your Stars(2020), an illustrated book based on the commencement speech she delivered at Tulane in 2018. In 2022 Ward received the U.S. Library of Congress%u2019s Prize for American Fiction. KEY CONTEXT In this essay, first published in Time magazine in 2018, Ward addresses her conflicted feelings about her hometown of DeLisle, Mississippi, and considers how Mississippi%u2019s troubled history of race relations affects her experience of it in the present and her hopes for it in the future. This reading includes a racial slur, which we have chosen to reprint in this textbook to accurately reflect Ward%u2019s original intent. We encourage you to be mindful of context, both Ward%u2019s and your own, as you read. KEY CONTEXT In this essay, first published in When I moved home in 2010, I packed my two-door car nearly to the roof and drove for three days from California%u2019s Bay Area to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I took my preferred route, avoiding long, blistered I-10 through Phoenix and the very bottom of New Mexico and Texas in favor of I-40 across northern Arizona right on Kiln DeLisle Road, driving past my grandmother%u2019s house, my grandaunt%u2019s house, my uncles%u2019 houses and my sister%u2019s house, where my uncles were fixing the roof on the pump shed and my aunt waved from her porch, another exhalation. When I pulled into my mother%u2019s rocky driveway and cut my car off, another; and Guided TourCopyright %u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.