Summary Of Inequality, War, And Captivity

Part of the definition of ethnic identity can often times be the common rejection of other ethnic values for a specific reason. This rejection of influence from other ethnicities seemed to be quite a common theme in all of the novels reviewed in our selection, but most abundant in Coming of Age in Mississippi, by Anne Moody. In this novel there was consistent conflict among black slaves due to the turmoil endured throughout lives in which rich, white plantation owners were served. Many slaves, and freed slaves that maintained the same duties with pay when awarded their freedom, were fed up with working for men that had treated them so poorly in the past. Lack of employment options

The black slaves resisted and tried to run away they wouldn’t give up. Even though there was laws in trying to stop the blacks from running away, they still ran away. There were laws made that if anyone were to find black slave they should do to them what they feel be appropriate. Man slaves were killed or burnt in the book there was a case were a black slave was burnt in a slow fire for 8-10 hours. In some cases both white and black slaves ran way together but the punishment wouldn’t be the same white would only extend there period of serving as slaves and the black salves were hanged or killed. Even then they could see racism how the whites that committed the same crime would get treated differently then the black slaves. The black salves couldn’t do anything besides being slaves, so thought the white people. Even the white servants were treated different, not only were they working for a set period of time, but they were treated as humans and they had rights, and would receive land and pay at the end of their term. The white people justified their own slave trade because in Africa slavery existed too. This was

There has been many historians and theorists who have tackled colonial slavery. One of them is Ira Berlin whose book Many Thousands Gone is his take on slavery diversity in American history and how slavery is at the epicenter of economic production, amongst other things. He separates the book into three generations: charter, plantation and revolutionary, across four geographic areas: Chesapeake, New England, the Lower country and the lower Mississippi valley. In this paper, I will discuss the differences between the charter and plantation generations, the changes in work and living conditions, resistance, free blacks and changes in manumission.

This week’s reading focused on prisons. The Society of Captives was written by Gresham M. Sykes in 1958. He conducted a study on a maximum security prison in New Jersey. Chapter 1 focused on the prison and its settings. The author goes into detail about the size of the cells and what the prison actually looks like. He also writes about how the prisoner is no longer seen as man but as a number. My Sunday school teacher visits prisons to teach about the bible. He has commented to me that is exactly how certain correction officers see the prisoners. They are nothing but a number to some individuals. This can lower their self-image (Sykes, 1958).

War leads to oppression and leaves negative implications on all people and societies by impacting the poor, women, children, and nations as a whole. "War is a state of violent conflict between one or more groups" (Rasenberger 3). Rasenberger defines war as a state of conflict between one group within itself or several groups in combat with each other, what is not mentioned are the after-effects of war. War itself leads to many civilian and military deaths, an estimated 1.5-3.8 million people died during the Vietnam War and an approximate 500,000 people died in the Iraq war. The biggest tragedy of War is that it always results in fatality, but another key, negative, factor to understand is that after the War many adverse implications arise. Post-war ramifications in the nation fall upon the poor, women, and children, making them weaker and less motivated leading to the downfall of a society. Regardless if a nation wins or is defeated in war they have to deal with consequences of war and find solutions to the impacted people and society. It is essential to understand that there is never a true victor in war because regardless of the outcome, fatality and a fall of morale within society on both sides are inevitable. War has often been the solution to situations that required force or violence, but in recent times this has

In my opinion I found it crucial to break away from this way of thinking, by trying to understand race as and social meanings that were constantly being distorted and misrepresented. After completing this reading, I really wanted to understand why some felt that they should be free and that others should be enslaved. Why some people should have rights to land, voting privileges, and employment while others did not. Race and the understanding of racial differences were fundamental influences in the worldview.

Myne Owne Ground by T.H Breen and Stephen Innes was wrote to show people that race and ethnic background was not always a discrepancy in the New world. During the mid-1600s it did not matter what race one was to be a servant, it was based on class and how much money one had. Often merchants would make deals with white or black Englishmen that they would pay for their trip to the New World if the Englishmen would work for them for a servant amount of years in place of their payment. Now it was not always this way, in some cases servants did not get this option of freedom very easily. This book goes on to tell about the challenges of the Free Blacks, white and black Servants, Slaves, and how hard it was to obtain freedom. This book also teaches how much easier it was for a black man to obtain property, freedom, and a family that it would have been after the early 1700s when the slave trade began to really take effect.

The book starts out addressing the problem with the New deal and Great Depression. Black Americans suffered the most because they were mostly in agriculture and would be hit the hardest. Black urban unemployment reached well over 50 percent, more than twice the rate of whites. In my own opinion that wasn’t a coincidence. In southern cities, white workers rallied around such slogan “back to the cotton fields city jobs are for white folks." The most violent times took place on southern railroads, as unionized white workers intimidated, attacked, and murdered black firemen in order to take their jobs. Throughout African Americans lost their jobs in various parts of the South. Ku Klux Klan practices were being resumed and it became more and more dangerous for Blacks to live daily lives.

In addition, Kolchin gives the readers the catalysts for the events in the history of slavery. Economic,

explains how little slaves were thought of. It shows that men and women in charge did

Slave by definition is a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. That about sums up what slavery really is in our mind and is pretty much the definition that we all picture when we think about slaves and slavery. But this is not what slavery truly was within the antebellum time period. Most of the slaves had a whole different outlook on the way they viewed, and acted and while living in their unfortunate circumstances. This is one of the few things that will be discussed further on within this paper. The main concept of this paper will be to discuss slavery in three sections; these sections will be discussing the types of people who were enslaved, and the nature of their bondage in the first section. The

Through out the entire time period of slavery, religion remained a high priority and a way in which to label different social groups. The lack or complete non-existence of religion among Africans led to them being viewed as somewhat inferior. Later in the second chapter Jordan talks about how during the slave era religion distinguished whites from blacks. Also how classification changed once Africans began to enter the Christian church. He himself viewed this type of labeling somewhat ridiculous, in that many of the Africans were baptized before the came to the New World. Thus they in many circles would be identified as Christians. This important information helps show the reader how the justifications for slavery evolved. Jordan captures the utter and blatant hypocrisy that the colonies exuded with regards to the slave situation. Jordan also sees religious injustice within the treatment of Indians and Africans. The English made attempts to convert the Indians and had little desire or intention to do the same for Africans. This again shows to what lengths early Americans went in creating a subculture for the purpose of slavery.

In early America slaves hired by rich white folk did any and all labor. Whether it was plantation work or boat work these slaves were not only working as hard as they could but they were also singing. Whether it was singing to keep the group together, singing to stay positive, or singing for communication there was never a silent moment during work hours. Work songs have traveled through cultures and time for so long that they still exist today in a way that you may not even realize.

The beginning of the book focusing on the Gowrie plantation is the most interesting. Aspects such as the Manigualt family and their genealogical background proved insightful to the aspirations of the South Carolinian upper-class in attaining family legacy and a model of British genteel modes of living. “If one wished to recreate in North America the British system of agricultural capitalism, based on great estates run by gentleman farmers, the only way to do so was to coerce the laborers, and by far the most effective means was slavery” (p.27). In stark contrast, Dusinberre illustrates the structure of slave families, such as Old Ned’s and the Savage Family, broken up through sales and the high mortality rate of slave children. The capitalist

He also presents a complete account of the circumcision celebration. The boys in secluded deep in the woods learned to fight like a Mandinka, becoming proud warriors, never feeling defeated. They learned how to survive alone, hunting and fishing enough for themselves and for their future families. The wilderness also taught them the language of forest, the meaning of bird’s songs and the sounds of the other animals. Haley goes on at length about the facts of Mandinka and its history, religion and finally describes their sexual practices. Apart from this he also defines the different African dialects in respect of their tribes. He differentiates specifically between freedom and slavery, certainly to highlight how the fact of being free before