Myne Own Ground by T.H. Breen Essay example

People are judged through their actions and characteristics, but racism can easily blur a person’s perspective. In Almost Free: A Story About Family and Race in Antebellum Virginia, Samuel Johnson, a former slave, fights for his freedom with the help of influential white friends he made throughout his life. Eventually he buys his freedom and petitions the court to stay in Virginia, where his family resides. Even after emancipated, he works hard to free his family and petitions the court in their cause. Despite his relationships, family values, and law abiding, Samuel Johnson’s skin color ultimately acts as boundary in his Virginia society.

The article “The Negro Digs Up His Past’’ by Arthur schomburg on 1925, elaborates more on the struggles of slavery as well as how history tend to be in great need of restoration through mindfully exploring on the past. The article, however started with an interesting sentence which caught my attention, especially when the writer says ‘’The American Negro must remark his past in order to make his future’’ (670). This statement according the writer, explains how slavery took away the great deal freedom from people of African descendant, through emancipation and also increase in diversity. The writer (Arthur Schomburg) however, asserts that “the negro has been throughout the centuries of controversy an active collaborator, and often a pioneer, in the struggle for his own freedom and advancement” (670).

Slavery was abolished after the Civil War, but the Negro race still was not accepted as equals into American society. To attain a better understanding of the events and struggles faced during this period, one must take a look at its' literature. James Weldon Johnson does an excellent job of vividly depicting an accurate portrait of the adversities faced before the Civil Rights Movement by the black community in his novel “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.” One does not only read this book, but instead one takes a journey alongside a burdened mulatto man as he struggles to claim one race as his own.

The autobiography of Nate Shaw while hard to read due to what I would call old southern slang was interesting but saddening as well. Emancipation was intended to give the black man his freedom, but this was not accomplished with the mere passing of a law. It would take many years and many lives lost before progress would be made that would make a difference.

T.H. Breen's and Stephen Innes’s book "Myne Owne Ground" does and outstanding job of pointing out the difference in perspectives when it came to living in the south and being black was like. It goes in depth and shows how a black person was competent and was capable to acquire a wealth that was comparable to a wealthy white man, but it is never recognized by the general white population. The authors make an argument that in early colonial Virginia blacks that owned property were able to live semi-normal, if not prosperous, racism free lives. Breen and Innes argue that before the Virginia slave codes were passed, property owning blacks had a chance to be viewed as

I see when I look at the history of Anthony Johnson that the hope for freedom of black people at the time wasn’t as grave as I would have thought. Anthony Johnson was

T.H. Breen’s and Stephen Innes’s book “Myne Owne Ground” did an outstanding job of showing readers the differences in perspectives of African people living in Virginia, one of the thirteen original colonies. It went in depth and showed how an indentured African person was competent and was capable of acquiring a wealth comparable to what a wealthy white person has. However, it would never be recognized by the general white population. There are two main themes in this book, whether the society, which was introduced in this book, was color blind or not. On one hand, the authors made an argument that the African people was able to live normally and be viewed as relatively equal to white if they were rich and owned plenty properties. On the

Meanwhile, in the south, Free blacks were still at risk and lived under the shadow of slavery.Free blacks were at risk of being captured and sold as a slave to wealthy plantation owners. Their

“Anthony Johnson was a negro from modern-day Angola. He was brought to the US to work on a tobacco farm in 1619. In 1622 he was almost killed when powhatan Indians attacked the farm-fifty-two out of fifty-seven people on the farm perished in the attack. He married a female black servant while working on the farm. When Anthony was realesd he was legally recognized as a “free Negro” and ran a successful farm in 1651 he held 250 acres and five black indentured servants” . When I first read this I was confused because I thought that there was no such thing as an African American owner/master,

As a book that focuses on early America from both the white and the black perspective, the authors’ purpose is rather quite different than that of others writing the same type of book. They are not writing this so that people in the modern era feel sorry and ashamed of how black people were treated when this country originated but rather will see that there was equality and black people were able to succeed just as much as—sometimes even more than—their white equals. Many books have been written that make everyone feel like we are to blame for modern day racism, but the authors are here to argue against that and show that there was equality in early America.

Throughout history, African Americans both free and enslaved were not treated equally nor permitted with the same rights as white men. African Americans were enslaved and not allowed to vote or hold public office. Since the 15th century, African Americans have been treated less than human, some even experienced brutal punished for justifiable mistakes. The use of African American slave labor was an enormous contribution to agriculture and labor. It became a part of southern state’s economy within America. Additionally, African Americans were forced or born into slavery where they endured harsh working conditions with zero pay and often times were punished by their masters. Even slaves that became emancipated or paid for their freedom were also treated differently than whites. Notably, blacks did not have the same privileges as whites and were forced to carry a “freedom card” wherever they went. Failing to do so would lead to severe consequences, such as being forced back into slavery. Once African Americans were considered free, they faced additional discriminations such as not being able to vote or serve as a figure in public office. Due to this and additional factors, African Americans were almost entirely incapable of defending themselves against whites. Since the start of the 17th century, African Americans, free and enslaved were punished for their skin color and were considered the lowest scale by not being allowed to the same opportunities and rights and white men.

Per ushistory.org, the type of life the slaves could expect to live depended first on whether they lived on farms or in towns. Large plantation farms might have household slaves too. These slaves prepared meals, cleaned house and sometimes took care of the children. Slaves that lived on small farms usually had closer relations with their master than plantation slaves. Slaves that lived in town had more freedom and met people. According to ushistory.org some people tried to escape slavery. There were a few ways African Americans could achieve their freedom. Some of these were earning enough money to purchase their freedom and the voluntary freeing of a slave by their master. Slavery was and still is a very sad part of American

Even though freedom has been our nation’s identity for its entire existence, our nation has suffered “dark ages” when the freedoms of African Americans were repressed. During the period of slavery, African Americans were forced to labor under often cruel and gruesome conditions, for their white masters. Solomon Northup, a free man forcefully made a slave, describes his thoughts on slavery in his 12 Years a Slave:

The African-American authors of this time period wrote stories describing life during and after slavery. Real life issues that these authors lived through and experienced through the world around them. The excerpts that we read of Booker T. Washington’s “Up From Slavery,” told a compelling tale of his life of being born into

Samuel Johnson was an African American man born into slavery, but refused to let his situation determine the rest of his life. For numerous years, he went through all the proper channels such as, coming to an agreement with his owner, and then issuing a deed of manumission to gain freedom. He eventually earned enough money to buy himself from his owner to be considered a free man. Over his entire life, he petitioned eleven times to the state legislature regarding his freedom. Samuel Johnson worked vigorously to attain his freedom, but the fight to fully be free of the chains of slavery was just beginning.