...The writers of the book Stolen Into Slavery: The True Story of Solomon Northup, Free Black Man, are not new to the world of writing. On the contrary, they are veteran authors who have researched and written numerous books. Judith and Dennis Fradin recognized that investigating and writing about the fascinating life of Solomon Northup would result in an inspiring book. Before the beginning of the Civil War Solomon Northup lived as a free black man in New York State with his wife and three children, which makes his narrative of being kidnapped and enslaved all the more incomprehensible. Solomon was an educated black man; therefore he was able to compile a narrative of his years as being a stolen “free” black man on the Louisiana cotton and sugar cane plantations. After Solomon was rescued from a Louisiana plantation and reunited with his family, he published his autobiography entitled, 12 Years a Slave. This autobiography led to the creation of a movie by the same name as well as a book for which this summary was written. What an individual remembers and what actually occurred can at times be hard to prove, yet the Fradins were able to verify many of Solomon’s accounts by acquiring actual bills of sale and court records. Any author can write about facts, but with the help of Solomon’s memoirs the Fradins were able to produce a...
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...Reparations for Former Slaves Shaylee McCammon COM-150 January 17, 2010 Julia L.G. Kressig Throughout history there have been a number of instances in which people of a different race, religion, or cultural background were discriminated against, and it is time that the government repays those who have suffered. When someone makes public the belief that his or her race or beliefs are of more importance, he or she makes those who are of another race or have other beliefs think they are not important themselves. Those of the mistreated cultures, including former slaves and the aboriginal children of the stolen generation, are entitled to reparations for their mistreatment. These people were not only forced to believe they were not important but also that they could not believe in what their culture suggests they should. These people were forced to leave their homes and brought to strange environments, treated as if they were similar to the dirt on the ground, and forced to serve others for the extent of their lives. The treatment these cultures suffered entitles them to reparations for their mistreatment and removal from their homes and cultural beliefs. African Americans were taking from their homes around the world and brought to America to serve the white population as slaves. Slave traders often brought ships full of hundreds of slaves to this country by keeping them in such close quarters, they could hardly move around. They would put 150 to 200...
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...learned the cruelty of enslavers, how Douglass felt about slavery, and why he wished to be an animal. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818, and he wrote a book called “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” which was written about his unutterable experiences as a slave. I learned on a personal account of how he felt, and the thoughts soaring through his mind. In the excerpt, Douglass recalled reading was important to him. Douglass learned how to read from Auld’s wife (Hugh Auld was his slaveowner), but said that reading would make him unfit for slavery. According to Douglass, his documents “gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own...
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...The article Black People in a White People's Country by Gary B. Nash was one of the most interesting articles about slavery I have ever read. Throughout this article Nash talks about why the Africans were enslaved and not the white people, how much different the Africans were than what is taught in text books, and much more. According to Nash, "the Africans had been stolen from richly complex and highly developed cultures." I tend to disagree with this statement. Reading further into his article, he mentioned that the African kings would sell people in exchange for trades with the European countries. I do not believe that the Africans were stolen. I believe that the African kings did not care about the country as a whole, but more about themselves and what would give them more money or better goods. As long as Europeans kept giving the African kings bar iron and textiles, the kings would continue to produce out slaves....
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...never knew a ton of things about slavery. Before reading the excerpt, I only knew how cruel slavery was, what happened to the slaves, and how it was stopped. Now, I know what slaves like Douglass thought about slavery. After reading the excerpt from the Narrative of Frederick Douglass, I understand how Douglass learned about the cruel nature of slavery and why he thinks of his enslavers as criminals. I also understand why he wanted to be an animal and why he began to think of reading as a curse instead of a blessing. Douglass learned about slavery by reading a book called “The Columbian Orator”. In this book, he reads some of Sheridan’s speeches over and over again with great interest. After reading, he learns about the nature of slavery and human rights. This is what Douglass says in the excerpt: “What I got from slavery was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights.” However, later in the excerpt, Douglass begins to regret reading these speeches as they begin to make him think about his enslavers and freedom....
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...what is actually happening in the reality of black people is going to traumatize the journalist’ and wake them up from their “gorgeous dream”, their world which they imagine to be perfect and completely fine. I chose this quote because I found it interesting how a host of a news show would ask such question, also because I really liked how he explained the effect of her doing something like that. This quote relates to our discussion we had on Thursday because we talked about race inequality and the way he reacted to her question shows how his own race has gone through a rough time with inequality and unfair treatment. At the onset of the Civil War, our stolen bodies were worth $4 billion, more than all of American industry, all of American railroads, workshops, and factories combined, and the prime product rendered by our stolen bodies-cotton- was America’s primary export. (Pg17) This quote was brought up in the section of “they made us into a race. We made ourselves into a people.” This quote was mentioned because Ta-Nehisis Coastes was obsessed with the Civil War due to the fact that 600,000 people died in it. During his time, this issue was glossed over in his education and therefore he is very passionate about it. What this quote says is basically that the 600,000 people who had died had their bodies taken away from their families to be sold and their worth was calculated to $4 billion and this price was higher than many things combined. They had transfigured these innocent...
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...this paper while expanding and discovering another culture from an inside perspective (emic) which shows how even though customs are different within various cultures a different viewpoint can illuminate the entire picture and bridge the gap between both cultures – the Aboriginals and African Americans. Part I – Religion and the African American Culture among Other Things Religion and the Black Church in African American society, in regards to the socio-cultural, economic and political issues of the 20th century, has branched the African American experience of mere individual survival into one of prosperity and a sense of community. According to Editors of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature (1997), from the days of slavery, Africans have struggled to survive in America due to the unfair treatment based on the color of their skin; despite the fact that they were granted their freedom in 1865, they were still not seen on treated as equals. Since...
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...American Solomon Northup a free man, is kidnapped and forced into slavery under the name 'Platt' for 12 years. Based on a true an incredible true story of one man's fight for survival and freedom, “12 Years a Slave” is a historical movie explaining a picture perfect definition of Slave Culture in Pre-Civil War United States. A freeman in upstate Saratoga Springs, New York in the antebellum era, Solomon Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his family live an exceedingly regular kind of life – they have jobs, their own home, plenty of friends (both black and white) – and while the emerging specter of slavery is occasionally present, it’s not something that appears to impact Solomon’s individual sense of freedom on a daily basis. Until he was tricked into journeying down to Washington, D.C. to play the violin for a pair of glorified circus tramps, Solomon is drugged and sold into slavery – he literally wakes up one morning in shackles. Waking up in chains and shackles after being kidnapped Solomon was taken to the slave dealer James H. Birch (Pronounced as Bruch in movie), where he tried to convince Bruch that he was a free man but dealer denied to take his shackles off instead called other guy who brutally whipped him with a paddle until it broke and then with a cat-o'-nine tails, delivering a severe number of lashes. Often when we think in terms of slavery, we tend to romanticize that Black People were only kidnapped, stolen and whisked away from the shores of Africa. But for the first...
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...was the start of discrimination (Slavery in America, 2012. Sugar, rice and wheat are some of the crops that slaves tend to under the control of their slave owners. From dusk until dawn, enslaved African Americans worked to tend crops (Slavery in America, 2012). African Americans were enlisted and were forced to join the Army when Civil War came but refused to because of a law that was being upheld to keep them from enlisting. This was changed when President Lincoln submitted the Final Proclamation. There were still discrimination and segregation even though African Americans were already allowed to enlist in the army (The Civil War and Emancipation, 2012). There have been many concerns regarding African Americans participating in political causes throughout the years. There was an instance that a literacy test was done in the State of Mississippi to prevent Blacks from voting. The result was the state adopted a grandpa clause because the test caused whites from being able to vote as well. Before 1870, regardless of literacy or tax qualifications, everyone has the right to vote. The Black community was stopped to vote while whites were able to vote under grandpa clause. Several laws that supported slavery were made in the 1700s and 1800s. It is illegal to teach slaves about reading and writing under the South Carolina Act of 1740. Keeping slaves in control and not rebelling were also responsibilities of slave owners as per the law (Slavery in America, 2012). In 1739, the South...
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...During the nineteenth century, slavery was often told from the perspective of white slave owners, who portrayed it as a daily necessity. The plantation owners perceived their slaves as naturally inferior, and destined to be treated as properties. However in 1845, with the publication of the autobiography of a former slave, Frederick Douglass, the time has come when the slaves were able to tell their own stories. In his inspiring narrative, Douglass describes the corruption of slavery and highlights the essence of freedom: what it means to be freed. According to Frederick Douglass there is not only physical freedom but also intellectual freedom. Therefore in order to live truly freely, one must have both physical freedom and intellectual freedom. The slave owners constrain slaves’ physical freedom by forcing the slaves to submit to the will of their masters. The slave owners also constrain the slaves’ intellectual freedom by keeping the slaves ignorant and illiterate. When Douglass’ mistress Sophia Auld starts to teach him how to read and write, Mr. Auld becomes infuriated. He says, “A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master -- to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world” (78). To the slave owners, they want the slaves to be nothing but laboring machines. They want the slaves to know nothing but the will of their masters. And in that way, the slaves would not recognize slavery as an inhumane institution but accept it as the natural...
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...was bewitched. Jim was a black slave that was uneducated and had not grown up in a free life. But we see both of them having almost similar belief system. Both being from the South, it was a depiction of their superstitions as influenced by culture and region (Twain, 1990). In the Mississippi, we see when Pap is drunk in chapter 5 and in his orgy expresses the attitude of the people from the South about slavery and talks about voting rights of black people. This indicates that those in Free State in the North were more liberal. Later, Jim is found to have stolen a dress and the people want to kill him to scare away black people from attempting to escape. Still we meet people in the same region as Pap but who have the blacks and support slavery. Huck and Jim drift southwards in the Mississippi because at first, the river seemed a happy haven as it gave them freedom. From chapter 16, they get into one problem after another. Solving the problems get them involuntarily moving southwards and losing focus of their destination. It is symbolic of the difficulty in escaping the slavery in the south (Twain, 1990). References Twain, M. (1990). The adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade). Champaign, IL: Project...
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...Baffled, everyone in the class looked at each other. “Because they hate us” one student said, as the class looked to the teacher for confirmation. “No” the teacher replied, “White people do not hate us, they hate the idea that we have stolen from them.” The teacher’s statement stuck with me, because what could African Americans have stolen from white people when the country was built on the backs of our ancestors? The answer that the teacher shared put it all into perspective; Jobs. During slavery, blacks were used for economic advancement for white people, but “freedom” led to more people of color being employed, which ultimately meant less jobs, opportunities and money for white people. This goes back to the idea that there is “nothing uniquely evil in these destroyers.” America holds an identity of “white democracy”, according to Coates. If anyone takes away from that “white democracy, then they are seen as an enemy and a threat to America, itself. I appreciated Coates’ including this in his novel, because he makes it evident that the black identity itself is seen as a threat to the white identity. As...
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...Fredrick Douglass was a man that changed the way many viewed and saw slavery in the 19th century. Frederick Douglass, who is seen in source A, was born in February 1817 although his exact date of birth remains unknown. He was born on the eastern shore of Maryland to his mother, Harriet Bailey was already a slave when she gave birth to Fredrick Douglass, making him be born into slavery. He was separated from her at the early age of 7 years old. As a slave, Douglass was not allowed to have much of a as he became a slave so young. He was separated from his parents, and forced to work hard and suffered harsh treatment while working for Captain Aaron Anthony. Although he was then shipped off to work for a man named Hugh Auld and his family. Mrs. Auld was a northerner, and in that time slaveholders were generally known to not treat their slaves badly unlike the South. This lead her to give Douglass somewhat of an education as she taught her the basics of reading and writing, until her husband stopped her....
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...Poetry Essay, Thesis, and Outline of William Blake “The Chimney Sweeper” COURSE # and TITLE___ENGL 102 Literature and Composition_____ SEMESTER OF ENROLLMENT___Summer 2011____________ NAME__Tammy Boylan______________ID #__L23926585_ WRITING STYLE USED_____APA_____________________ In William Blakes, “The Chimney Sweeper”, this poem is told by a chimney sweep who tells of a younger sweep that is sold into slavery by his father, after his mother dies. The main theme of the poem is that of the loss of innocence of these children, who are depicted in the poem under harsh and abusive treatment in the 1800’s. With their innocence stolen by their parents and their owners these children were forced into confined areas filled with comb webs, and dirty sooty conditions, where their lives were sacrificed to their life of cleaning these chimneys, of which they died of young ages. The narrator tells of the young Tom Dacre’s dream of the only way out of this life of misery. 1. Introduction- William Blake writes of his concern for these children’s well being 2. Body Section – The Poem Overview: 1. The boy’s mother dies at young age (Stanza 1) 2. Sold - Loss of Innocence (Stanza 2) 3. Dream (Stanza 3) 4. Angel (Stanza 4) 5. Hope of a Father (Stanza 5) 6. Their duty (Stanza 6) ...
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...school, or even in college, we all got a sense of that history and happened during that time frame. From what I learned, the impression that I got from what these history books were explaining was that, first, white people went to Africa and gathered hundreds and thousands of people, took them on boats to and turned them into slaves. Then after years have passed, good ol’ President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and blacks and whites lived equally ever after. Although these events did happen, textbooks still managed to “sugarcoat” the situation and keep out some of the major key factors, like how Africans were still mistreated and dehumanized by the white man, out. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendment were created so that slavery would stay abolished, defined a citizen, and allowed African American men to vote, white people still had a way to go around these amendments and make the black man feel inferior to them. Violence struck everywhere (especially in the south), and colts, such as the KKK, were created so that they will be feared by colored people. A lot of public buildings and schools were made off limits to African Americans and only educated those who were white. So why is it that we were taught in our textbooks that white and black men were equal when they clearly were not? In Lalita Tademy’s novel, Red River, she tells the story of the struggle the Tademy and the Smith family had to go through for many generations. The year was 1873 in Colfax, Louisiana;...
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