1. Who are you? (Name, Age)
2. Where are you? (Location in USA)
3. What is the date?(a specific date as well as one contemporary event from the periods to give your narrative historical context)
4. In your experience, does our democratic government establish equality among Americans? (Explain your answer)
5.What are the challenges to equality that you or those around you experience? How are those challenges overcome?
My name is Harriet Jacobs and before I came to the Free States I lived a life of horror and misery. When I was 12 my mother died and then I was shipped to Endenton , North Carolina a few years later to be owned by a disgusting man named Dr. James Norcom in 1828. Because my skin is a darker shade than his I must refer to him as “master” and he refers to me as “my property”. I was subjected to many hard-working endless days living under the same roof as him. Norcom sexually assaulted me on many different occasions and as much as I told him to stop he didn’t care because to him I was just a piece of merchandise. I found it quite amazing that I had to toil in the burning sun for 15-16 hours a day breaking my back in the field for food that would be eaten by the people I despised the most in the world. Norcom would try to break my will everyday by whispering foul words into my ears and telling me how worthless I was, but I would never give up hope. I later hatched an idea to get far away from him, I wouldn’t be free woman, but I figured anywhere was better than here. I started a relationship with an unmarried white lawyer, whom I planned to have a child with so that Norcom would be infuriated and sell both me and my daughter. But when the child was conceived Norcom didn’t have the slightest intention of selling me. He made me work in the fields even while I was pregnant. Norcom harassed me after my first child was born, and continued even after I gave birth to my second child. Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer, I had to leave, and even though I didn’t want to I had no choice but to leave my children behind. I hoped their lives wouldn’t end up anything like mine. In 1835 I started on my incredibly long voyage of hiding and secrecy trying to reach the north through the Underground Railroad, the unofficial organization that helped many fugitive slaves escape their lives in the south reach the Free States up in the north. Luckily, I had many friends and families helping me along the way, hiding all sorts of places with many different people-black and white. Finally, when I made it to my grandmother’s house I was put into hiding in the crawl space above the storeroom. It definitely would not be considered a room. It was seven feet wide, nine feet in length, and the top was ceiling was sloped, with the highest height of three feet at one end. I slept with rats and mice, and I got exercise by crawling side to side and back and forth. My food was passed up to me through the trap door my uncle so skillfully created thanks to his carpentering abilities. Years later, in 1842, after plotting many a plethora of ways to escape I finally left my grandmother’s crawl space. With the help of my friends I made it to Philadelphia by ship assuming my friend’s identity, and then from Philadelphia I traveled to New York City. Although I was very much grateful for reaching the Free States in which I didn’t need to live a life of complete waste and misery, I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed. Even in the north there was still much segregation. When I tried to buy tickets from a carriage driver in New York City he said "I am afraid you will have a disagreeable ride; but I could not procure tickets for the first class cars." I thought I didn’t offer him enough money so I gave him more, and then he said "O, no, they could not be had for any money. They don't allow colored people to go in the first-class cars.” This was the first time my enthusiasm was dampened when I came to the north. -Danny Kuhn Pd.1 Part 1 of 2
The reason why I am so outraged to this moment is not because I tortured as a little girl from an evil man, but that the world just sat back and watched. Our government surely doesn’t mean that “every man is equal” in the Constitution. Does the Bill of Rights not apply to African Americans? Are African Americans not entitled to their natural rights? The state governments and the central government did not fill out their duties, they let injustice happen right in front of their eyes and they didn’t do a thing about it. I am forever grateful though for the Americans who did decide to fight against slavery during the Civil War. Because of their brave actions America is a better place to live in. However, this war is still not completely over. Blacks are still discriminated and do not get as many rights as white do. The government must promote general welfare for the entire country, and not just the white Americans. We are Americans, and we deserve the same rights as one another, and we should be treated as such. If the government creates equal rights than they will be preserving domestic tranquility within the borders. There will be less rebellion, less violence, less anger at the government, and Americans will learn how to take blacks as their equals. -Harriet Jacobs, 1865
Bibliography "Antebellum Slavery: Plantation Slave Life." cghs.dadeschools.net. The National Supercomputing Center at the University of Illinois, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. . "The Horrors of Slavery and England's Duty to Free the Bonds." The Gilder Lehram Center For the Study of Slavery, Resistance&Abolition. Yale University , n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. . "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." Simon & Schuster. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2010. . Jacobs, Harriet. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." PBS. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. . "The Life as a Slave." library.thinkquest.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. . "Slavery in America." misterteacher.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. .
I remember sitting in the vial jail cell, contemplating the events I had seen in the last twenty-four hours. I’m forty-two years old, and living in a cruel time in history. On the first of December, the year being 1955, I was minding my own business after a long day at work on a segregated bus, and a white gentleman came up to me and asked me to give up my seat for him. I refused and was then cruelly punished by being arrested. Alabama is an extremely segregated state, blacks are treated like dirt. I have lived in the capital of the state, Montgomery, most of my life. I have very strong Christian beliefs, and am a secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and a strong activist in Montgomery. Civil rights have a strong part of my heart.
Sadly my actions are viewed as appalling to white people, but luckily have also led to excellent improvements as well. One in particular which I am very proud of is how there was a Supreme Court ruling against segregation after a bus boycott due to my refusing to give up my seat. The boycott lasted three hundred eighty-one days and ninety people were arrested, including Dr. Martin Luther King Junior for conducting the boycott. It is very disappointing that we have to go through this in order for blacks to achieve rights. People are being murdered, arrested, taken from their families left and right, flogged, peonage, and raped.
Back then, (before the boycott), we didn’t have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I had to attend a school only for African-American kids. It had one room, was open only five out of twelve months, and only went up to sixth grade. Ten years later, I was finally able to graduate from high school. Persistence and hope have been the strength through this mess, and somehow, people have been able to muster a lot of it. The Civil Rights Movement is a big part of the survival of democratic principles for blacks, especially since the civil rights act became law in 1964.
Rosa Louise Parks
Albin, Kira. "Rosa Parks the Woman Who Changed a Nation." Grandtimes.com. Reece R. Halpern, 1996. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. .
Parks, Rosa." African American Biographies. Volume 8 ed. 2006. Print.
"Rosa Louise Parks Biography." Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. Rosa and Raymond Parks Inst. for Self Development, 2008. Web. 24 Mar. 2010. .
Rosa Parks Biography Pioneer of Civil Rights." Academy of Achievement. Academy of Achievement, 20 Jan. 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. .
"Rosa Parks: How I Fought for Civil Rights." Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. .
Hello, my name is Richard Allen and today is officially my fourteenth birthday. I am one of the many Africans who were born slaves. I was born in Philadelphia February 14th, 1760 a slave of Benjamin Chew. Slave life, as you could have guessed, was extremely hard work and when I was a child a man named Stokeley Sturgis, a Delaware planter, bought my mother, three siblings, and I. Even though Stokeley was a good master I have long waited my freedom from slavery. If I could describe him I would say that he is "unconverted...but... what the world called a good master." Since I was a boy I have been saving up all the small amounts of pay so that one day I may buy my freedom and live a happy life. As I grew up I gained enough money to buy my own freedom. After enjoying my new freedom I joined the Methodist Society with my brothers. There we learned how to stand up to others and be strong. Now when whites walk up to us and say nasty things to bring us down we can fight back with our words instead of our fists. When I earned my freedom I noticed that many people were not happy that I now was a citizen of America. I felt as if whites had more rights then me, I mean, I’m also a citizen of America and I deserve all the rights that any white in America has. Also one of the reasons why I joined the Methodist group was because I wanted to bring religion to the blacks who also earned there freedom. So to spread religion I went on the Methodist circuit which took me to South Carolina, New York, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania where I preached to blacks and whites. I remember when I was preaching in a town near Philadelphia I was asked by a Methodist Elder to preach to the black congregants at St. George's Methodist Church. I was told that I must preach at 5:00 a.m. so that my services didn’t interfere with the whites. After realizing all the hope that I give to the blacks and slaves I decided to start the Free African Society, a place where blacks can practice religion without being bothered by the whites.
"Absalom Jones's Sermon Celebrating the Ban on Slave Importation." Facts on File. Fact on File, 24 Mar. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2010. .
"Allen, Richard." Facts on File. Facts on File, 24 Mar. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2010. .
Pederson, Jay P., and Jessie Carney Smith. African American Breakthroughs. United Kingdom: International Thomson Publishing Company, 1995. Print.
"Richard Allen." PBS. PBS, 4 Mar. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2010. .
Wright, Dianne Swann. "The A.M.E. Church and Richard Allen." Footsteps African American Heritage Jan. 2004: 10-13. Print
My name is Marshall W. Major Taylor I was born on the year 1878. I’m an African American I’m a cyclist and I was born in Indiana. I come from a time that you have to respect white’s authority. I became world champion in the year of 1899; in 1901 I’m taking place in the tour of Europe. I have been told that I am a true pioneer among black athletes in American sports. The most difficult thing to do is go through the day without getting all the respect I deserve, but I am mostly famous in Europe. Recently I’ve been fighting against the discrimination against blacks with my bike, showing what we Blacks can do and excel in and not be put in society by the color of my and others skin. Recently I’ve Been sprint champion in 1900 breaking numerous of my records witch I’m very excited about. I turned pro at age eight-teen. My first sponsor was with an Indiana bike shop. I recently moved to Worchester Massachusetts it’s really cool there a lot of things to do and see. It seems that people really appreciate me here. People now are calling me a hero for exiling no mater what obstacles they put on my way. I’m really enjoying the fame but people are always expecting too much from me so its kind of stress full. I am also wondering when it’s all going to end. I’m always thinking of retiring but at the same time I don’t know what I will do for money. I finally decided to end my carrier on the year of 1993 and loose the title of the fastest bicycle rider in the world.
My name is Harriet Jacobs and before I came to the Free States I lived a life of horror and misery. When I was 12 my mother died and then I was shipped to Endenton , North Carolina a few years later to be owned by a disgusting man named Dr. James Norcom in 1828. Because my skin is a darker shade than his I must refer to him as “master” and he refers to me as “my property”. I was subjected to many hard-working endless days living under the same roof as him. Norcom sexually assaulted me on many different occasions and as much as I told him to stop he didn’t care because to him I was just a piece of merchandise. I found it quite amazing that I had to toil in the burning sun for 15-16 hours a day breaking my back in the field for food that would be eaten by the people I despised the most in the world. Norcom would try to break my will everyday by whispering foul words into my ears and telling me how worthless I was, but I would never give up hope. I later hatched an idea to get far away from him, I wouldn’t be free woman, but I figured anywhere was better than here. I started a relationship with an unmarried white lawyer, whom I planned to have a child with so that Norcom would be infuriated and sell both me and my daughter. But when the child was conceived Norcom didn’t have the slightest intention of selling me. He made me work in the fields even while I was pregnant. Norcom harassed me after my first child was born, and continued even after I gave birth to my second child. Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer, I had to leave, and even though I didn’t want to I had no choice but to leave my children behind. I hoped their lives wouldn’t end up anything like mine.
ReplyDeleteIn 1835 I started on my incredibly long voyage of hiding and secrecy trying to reach the north through the Underground Railroad, the unofficial organization that helped many fugitive slaves escape their lives in the south reach the Free States up in the north. Luckily, I had many friends and families helping me along the way, hiding all sorts of places with many different people-black and white. Finally, when I made it to my grandmother’s house I was put into hiding in the crawl space above the storeroom. It definitely would not be considered a room. It was seven feet wide, nine feet in length, and the top was ceiling was sloped, with the highest height of three feet at one end. I slept with rats and mice, and I got exercise by crawling side to side and back and forth. My food was passed up to me through the trap door my uncle so skillfully created thanks to his carpentering abilities. Years later, in 1842, after plotting many a plethora of ways to escape I finally left my grandmother’s crawl space. With the help of my friends I made it to Philadelphia by ship assuming my friend’s identity, and then from Philadelphia I traveled to New York City. Although I was very much grateful for reaching the Free States in which I didn’t need to live a life of complete waste and misery, I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed. Even in the north there was still much segregation. When I tried to buy tickets from a carriage driver in New York City he said "I am afraid you will have a disagreeable ride; but I could not procure tickets for the first class cars." I thought I didn’t offer him enough money so I gave him more, and then he said "O, no, they could not be had for any money. They don't allow colored people to go in the first-class cars.” This was the first time my enthusiasm was dampened when I came to the north. -Danny Kuhn Pd.1 Part 1 of 2
The reason why I am so outraged to this moment is not because I tortured as a little girl from an evil man, but that the world just sat back and watched. Our government surely doesn’t mean that “every man is equal” in the Constitution. Does the Bill of Rights not apply to African Americans? Are African Americans not entitled to their natural rights? The state governments and the central government did not fill out their duties, they let injustice happen right in front of their eyes and they didn’t do a thing about it. I am forever grateful though for the Americans who did decide to fight against slavery during the Civil War. Because of their brave actions America is a better place to live in. However, this war is still not completely over. Blacks are still discriminated and do not get as many rights as white do. The government must promote general welfare for the entire country, and not just the white Americans. We are Americans, and we deserve the same rights as one another, and we should be treated as such. If the government creates equal rights than they will be preserving domestic tranquility within the borders. There will be less rebellion, less violence, less anger at the government, and Americans will learn how to take blacks as their equals.
ReplyDelete-Harriet Jacobs, 1865
Bibliography
"Antebellum Slavery: Plantation Slave Life." cghs.dadeschools.net. The National Supercomputing
Center at the University of Illinois, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. .
"The Horrors of Slavery and England's Duty to Free the Bonds." The Gilder Lehram Center For the
Study of Slavery, Resistance&Abolition. Yale University , n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2010.
.
"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." Simon & Schuster. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2010.
.
Jacobs, Harriet. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." PBS. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2010.
.
"The Life as a Slave." library.thinkquest.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2010.
.
"Slavery in America." misterteacher.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2010.
.
Danny Kuhn Pd. 1 Part 2 of 2
December 2, 1955
ReplyDeleteMontgomery, Alabama
I remember sitting in the vial jail cell, contemplating the events I had seen in the last twenty-four hours. I’m forty-two years old, and living in a cruel time in history. On the first of December, the year being 1955, I was minding my own business after a long day at work on a segregated bus, and a white gentleman came up to me and asked me to give up my seat for him. I refused and was then cruelly punished by being arrested. Alabama is an extremely segregated state, blacks are treated like dirt. I have lived in the capital of the state, Montgomery, most of my life. I have very strong Christian beliefs, and am a secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and a strong activist in Montgomery. Civil rights have a strong part of my heart.
Sadly my actions are viewed as appalling to white people, but luckily have also led to excellent improvements as well. One in particular which I am very proud of is how there was a Supreme Court ruling against segregation after a bus boycott due to my refusing to give up my seat. The boycott lasted three hundred eighty-one days and ninety people were arrested, including Dr. Martin Luther King Junior for conducting the boycott. It is very disappointing that we have to go through this in order for blacks to achieve rights. People are being murdered, arrested, taken from their families left and right, flogged, peonage, and raped.
Back then, (before the boycott), we didn’t have any civil rights.
It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I had to attend a school only for African-American kids. It had one room, was open only five out of twelve months, and only went up to sixth grade. Ten years later, I was finally able to graduate from high school. Persistence and hope have been the strength through this mess, and somehow, people have been able to muster a lot of it. The Civil Rights Movement is a big part of the survival of democratic principles for blacks, especially since the civil rights act became law in 1964.
Rosa Louise Parks
Albin, Kira. "Rosa Parks the Woman Who Changed a Nation." Grandtimes.com. Reece
R. Halpern, 1996. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. .
Parks, Rosa." African American Biographies. Volume 8 ed. 2006. Print.
"Rosa Louise Parks Biography." Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self
Development. Rosa and Raymond Parks Inst. for Self Development, 2008.
Web. 24 Mar. 2010. .
Rosa Parks Biography Pioneer of Civil Rights." Academy of Achievement. Academy
of Achievement, 20 Jan. 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2010.
.
"Rosa Parks: How I Fought for Civil Rights." Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic,
n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. .
Jack
ReplyDelete3/24/10
Period 2
February 14th, 1774
Hello, my name is Richard Allen and today is officially my fourteenth birthday. I am one of the many Africans who were born slaves. I was born in Philadelphia February 14th, 1760 a slave of Benjamin Chew. Slave life, as you could have guessed, was extremely hard work and when I was a child a man named Stokeley Sturgis, a Delaware planter, bought my mother, three siblings, and I. Even though Stokeley was a good master I have long waited my freedom from slavery. If I could describe him I would say that he is "unconverted...but... what the world called a good master." Since I was a boy I have been saving up all the small amounts of pay so that one day I may buy my freedom and live a happy life.
As I grew up I gained enough money to buy my own freedom. After enjoying my new freedom I joined the Methodist Society with my brothers. There we learned how to stand up to others and be strong. Now when whites walk up to us and say nasty things to bring us down we can fight back with our words instead of our fists. When I earned my freedom I noticed that many people were not happy that I now was a citizen of America. I felt as if whites had more rights then me, I mean, I’m also a citizen of America and I deserve all the rights that any white in America has.
Also one of the reasons why I joined the Methodist group was because I wanted to bring religion to the blacks who also earned there freedom. So to spread religion I went on the Methodist circuit which took me to South Carolina, New York, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania where I preached to blacks and whites. I remember when I was preaching in a town near Philadelphia I was asked by a Methodist Elder to preach to the black congregants at St. George's Methodist Church. I was told that I must preach at 5:00 a.m. so that my services didn’t interfere with the whites. After realizing all the hope that I give to the blacks and slaves I decided to start the Free African Society, a place where blacks can practice religion without being bothered by the whites.
"Absalom Jones's Sermon Celebrating the Ban on Slave Importation." Facts on
File. Fact on File, 24 Mar. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2010.
.
"Allen, Richard." Facts on File. Facts on File, 24 Mar. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2010.
.
Pederson, Jay P., and Jessie Carney Smith. African American Breakthroughs.
United Kingdom: International Thomson Publishing Company, 1995. Print.
"Richard Allen." PBS. PBS, 4 Mar. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2010.
.
Wright, Dianne Swann. "The A.M.E. Church and Richard Allen." Footsteps African
American Heritage Jan. 2004: 10-13. Print
DILAN
ReplyDeleteMy name is Marshall W. Major Taylor I was born on the year 1878. I’m an African American I’m a cyclist and I was born in Indiana. I come from a time that you have to respect white’s authority. I became world champion in the year of 1899; in 1901 I’m taking place in the tour of Europe. I have been told that I am a true pioneer among black athletes in American sports. The most difficult thing to do is go through the day without getting all the respect I deserve, but I am mostly famous in Europe.
Recently I’ve been fighting against the discrimination against blacks with my bike, showing what we Blacks can do and excel in and not be put in society by the color of my and others skin. Recently I’ve Been sprint champion in 1900 breaking numerous of my records witch I’m very excited about. I turned pro at age eight-teen. My first sponsor was with an Indiana bike shop. I recently moved to Worchester Massachusetts it’s really cool there a lot of things to do and see. It seems that people really appreciate me here.
People now are calling me a hero for exiling no mater what obstacles they put on my way. I’m really enjoying the fame but people are always expecting too much from me so its kind of stress full. I am also wondering when it’s all going to end. I’m always thinking of retiring but at the same time I don’t know what I will do for money. I finally decided to end my carrier on the year of 1993 and loose the title of the fastest bicycle rider in the world.