The author explores the value of the artistic potential found in the black people and the manner that it has been absorbed into the American culture. The position of the black race has always faced series of criticisms and often been considered feeble.3 The author suggests that the only remedy to the matter is to behave as if there is no color difference between human races. After many years of holding back the true Negro
Slavery is the smudge that cannot be forgotten in the American history. The slaves were brought from their native Africa and forced to work in the plantations in the South. They stripped out from their human rights because they were considered as properties to their owners. In this paper, I'll try to name some female writers who contributed in the abolitionist movement and how their works raised an awareness around people about the savagery of slavery. The writers are Lydia Maria Child, Angelina and Sarah Grimké, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
African Americans could still be treated like slaves and not treated like human beings. America would still be a very segregated place. Freedom Summer was a very dark time in American history but all in all, America has turned out pretty good. It’s no doubt that America was not the most favorable place during this time period for most, if not all African Americans. But without all the events that occurred then, we might not be where we are
Shipler in his essay “Jefferson Is America and America Is Jefferson,” Jefferson represents the most powerful contradiction of American society, because his declaration of individual liberty showed the brilliance of his extraordinary mind but also he claims that black people are inferior. Shipler considers that Jefferson had a deep understanding but at the same time he was such an ignorant person about what was happen, at that time concerning liberty and slavery. Slavery was a contradictory subject in Jefferson’s life. Although he was a defender for individual freedom and at one point he was against of slavery in America, but he owned slaves throughout his life. He was a politician that would speak out about slavery but would still employ slaves for his own use.
The slave era can be agreed it was a terrible atrocity upon our fellow man, and it cannot be brought into a light of just, but it did give birth to some true characters who we can look up to and live alike. The characters in both Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass are ideal examples of true characters as they pushed through slavery and gained freedom but did not stop there. Jacobs’ spent her freedom getting her families’ freedom and Douglass went on to help others escape and spread knowledge on the cruelty of slavery. The last thing, and most powerful thing this book left me with is that each slave was an individual unalike any other, and these individuals were in fact an individual, individuals who lived their life for the betterment of others and accomplished an impossible
Discrimination of Our Own In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are many accounts of racism. This novel takes place in the 1930’s, a time where racism was at an all time high. Harper Lee shows us how colored people and white people were segregated in many ways. Even though a majority of the discrimination was towards the colored, there were times where the poverty stricken families were seen less worthy than the richer families. Racism is one of the main motifs the book is based on.
The article “Life on a Plantation Before the Civil War (late 1850’s)“ by Frederick Olmsted shares an interesting, yet gruesome look into the darker side of American History. Olmsted, a writer for the New York Daily Times (soon to be the New York Times), is obviously disturbed by the way that slaves are treated on this particular plantation. One account of a malicious slave beating is particularly disturbing.” The girl knelt on the ground,… he struck her thirty or forty blows across the shoulder with his tough, flexible, ‘raw-hide’ whip.” While Olmsted was upset and disturbed by the manner in which the slaves were treated, he still commented on the agricultural effectiveness of the slaves. I think that Olmsted opposed
The act of slavery also caused other tensions. Of course the north and south showed austere relations (hence the civil war), as well as abolitionists and slave owners clashing out over whether slavery should be legal or eliminated. Frederick Douglass’ narrative helps demonstrate how throughout the whole nineteenth century, the relations in America could be thought of as austere because of the hostile remedies concerning the black race. -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave (Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2003), 69.
For example, in the online article “Eleanor Roosevelt and Civil Rights” it notes that back in the 1930’s racism was a controversial issue. Many were still felt that blacks and white should be separated. Eleanor became a key advocate for assimilation of races. Though, she wasn’t against segregation until she came to the White House. After Eleanor became aware of the inequities for African Americans with regard to their rights, she gave it the much deserved attention it required.
As African Americans we should know the history of the civil War and what he has really done for us. Abraham Lincoln is a great part of our history because without his leadership and his belief of how slavery was wrong a lot of the equal rights we have now wouldn’t be