"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal (Abraham Lincoln: The Gettysburg Address)." Abraham Lincoln said this on November 19, 1863 on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. "All men are created equal." This statement seems obvious now, but by reading many different novels, short stories, and some films I have seen that this was not obvious for a very long time, and still today some people don't believe the statement that "All men are created equal."
"What are you knotting there, my man?"
"The knot," was the brief reply without looking up.
"So it seems, but what is it for?"
"For someone else to undo," muttered the old man, plying his fingers harder than ever,
the knot being now completed. (Melville "Benito Cereno" 66)
This passage is referring to the "knot" that is slavery, in which we have been trying to undo for centuries. Has it been undone? Have we finally untied the knot of slavery? It's pretty obvious by reading these novels and short stories that the answer is no.
In Herman Melville?s short story ?Benito Cereno,? (which was written in 1855) there are numerous scenes to show Melville?s view on slavery. One is the scene with the knot, (the passage shown above) where Melville is saying that slavery is an impossible problem to solve, and most likely never will be solved unless some sort of bold, unexpected action takes place. This idea is very similar to the myth about Alexander the Great, and the Gordian Knot. The myth says that an oracle told everyone that whoever could untie this knot would rule all of Asia. After many people tried to untie it and all of them fail...
... middle of paper ...
...to a shed and beat him until his face was unidentifiable and then shot him in the head. They wrapped a fan around his neck using barbed wire and tossed him in Tallahatchie River near Glendora, Mississippi. This happened in 1955, the same year Sugar ``Ray'' Robinson won the world boxing championship over Carl ``Bobo'' Olson. The same year that Rosa Parks refused to move on the bus, and the same year that Jackie Robinson helped lead his Brooklyn Dodgers to a World Series win. There were many positive movements in 1955 for blacks, but the murder of Emmett Till made us realized how far away we were, and still are from getting rid of racism.
The knot of slavery, and racism will never be completely untied. It is something we will always have to live with and we have to remember the past, and try to move on from it no matter how cruel, harsh, and wrong it may have been.
At first glance, the book “my bondage and my freedom by Frederick Douglass appeared to be extremely dull and frustrating to read. After rereading the book for a second time and paying closer attention to the little details I have realized this is one of the most impressive autobiographies I have read recently. This book possesses one of the most touching stories that I have ever read, and what astonishes me the most about the whole subject is that it's a true story of Douglass' life. “ Douglass does a masterful job of using his own experience to expose the injustice of slavery to the world. As the protagonist he is able to keep the reader interested in himself, and tell the true story of his life. As a narrator he is able to link those experiences to the wider experiences of the nation and all society, exposing the corrupting nature of slavery to the entire nation.”[1] Although this book contributes a great amount of information on the subject of slavery and it is an extremely valuable book, its strengths are overpowered by its flaws. The book is loaded with unnecessary details, flowery metaphors and intense introductory information but this is what makes “My Bondage and My Freedom” unique.
“[Emmett Till's murder was] one of the most brutal and inhuman crimes of the 20th century,” according to Martin Luther King Jr. On August 28, 1955 in Money, Mississippi, a 14 year old boy named Emmett Till from Chicago was beaten and mercilessly murdered by two white men for flirting with a white woman. The death of this unknowing child shocked the nation and was undeniably an important catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Although slavery was abolished over 200 years ago, these brutal techniques and methods still plague the minds and emotions of blacks today.
Imagine that it is the year 1841 in Saratoga, New York and blossoms of the dogwood tree are swirling around your face as the wind gently tousles your hair. All seems well in the world, and, to Solomon Northup, great opportunities are coming his way. Two men, by the names of Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton, had offered a dream job to Solomon. They had asked him to join them in a circus, playing the fiddle, an instrument Solomon had mastered. However, these men were not as honest as they seemed. Brown and Hamilton later drugged and kidnapped Solomon at a hotel one night during the tour. These men successfully forced Solomon into twelve years of slavery.
I found that, to make a contented slave it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision,and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right, and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.* (315)
The author, Peter Kolchin, tried to interpret the true history of slavery. He wants the readers to understand the depth to which the slaves lived under bondage. In the book, he describes the history of the Colonial era and how slavery began. He shows us how the eighteenth century progressed and how American slavery developed. Then it moves onto the American Revolution, and how the American slaves were born into class. It was this time that slave population was more than twice it had been. The Revolutionary War had a major impact on slavery and on the slaves.
Despite the fact the 1800s was two centuries ago, racism is still persistent in the 21st century. Even with the election of the first black president, Obama is biracial, yet he is still recognized as black. Many black Americans thought racism would cease to exist with Obama in office. The color of skin and race still lives on, after all the United States is multicultural. As in the 1800s, racism had astronomically effects on society; nonetheless American citizens have more laws and agencies to safeguard against racism. Remember, slavery is a part of America’s history and it can’t be erased like an error. Harriet Jacobs wrote, “There are wrongs which even the grave does not bury.” Despite the abolishment of slavery, racism has simply adapted to the changes within society.
The effects of slavery linger in this country even today. After the Civil War and even the Reconstruction period, racial inequality and
As a struggling country, America’s south discovered slavery as a way to gain financial stability. Except, slavery grew into much more than a need for money. It became a social thing and also a controversial topic among politicians, especially with the emergence of abolitionism. Even after slavery, it became a great learning opportunity to ensure that it never happens again.
It is rare for a victim of a hate crime to get the justice they deserve. During the 1950s, the establishment of Jim Crow Laws in the South were extremely fixated on racial disenfranchising African-Americans. Mississippi was no exception, in that they glorified the Old South more than any of their fellow southern states. Young and independent Emmett Louis Till went to Mississippi to visit some relatives over the summer. 14-year-old Emmett Till was kidnapped, tormented, and murdered, after he reportedly flirted with a white woman who went by the name of Carolyn Bryant. The death of Emmett Till at the hands of his racially motivated killers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, was brought to light in their confessions. Even with the undisputable incriminating
To make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision and as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when deceases to be a man.
Slavery has grown into something greater than we could ever imagine. Agriculture slave 150 years ago would of costed 50,000 dollars in today money. Today an entire family could be enslaved for a debt a low as 18 dollars. (Ted Talks slavery By: Lisa Kristine)
I come to conclude slavery is the product of humanfs avarice, conceit and selfish. Because of the benefit, we can destroy a personfs life without feeling any guilty. It is really disappointed and disgusted to look back the history of slavery. It let me see the evil part of human being. But I think it is right to do so. It is a good lesson for us, because it tells us that we should learn from the past, in order to prevent it from happening again. It also reminds us everyone should have been treated equally no matter what their race, creed, or color are. Today, freedom and equality are weakening day by day. The African American story is still replaying on every part of the world, not only between black and white people, but people of many different nationalities. Stories will never end, until equality is created in the heart of each person.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson). Thomas Jefferson, a white, Christian, political southern slave owner, wrote these words in 1776, a period in United States history when slavery thrived. The writer of the Declaration of Independence contradicts himself when he states that all men are created equal, when in actuality, his slaves were denied all that humans were meant to cherish.
Douglass's narrative is, on one surface, intended to show the barbarity and injustice of slavery. However, the underlying argument is that freedom is not simply attained through a physical escape from forced labor, but through a mental liberation from the attitude created by Southern slavery. The slaves of the South were psychologically oppressed by the slaveholders' disrespect for a slave’s family and for their education, as well as by the slaves' acceptance of their own subordination. Additionally, the slaveholders were trapped by a mentality that allowed them to justify behavior towards human beings that would normally not be acceptable. In this manner, both slaveholder and slave are corrupted by slavery.