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Summary Of ' Thirty Years A Slave ' By William Wells Essay

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America is like a small child that has still yet to learn the rules of its’ common house. Discovered in the late 1400’s, America has taken centuries to develop into the standing country it is today. The great nation has overcome much in the last 600 years. Among many things vanquished throughout time, slavery has arguably taken the most consideration amount of time to overcome. Slavery was introduced to the fresh ground of America, specifically Virginia, in 1619. European land owners used Africans for labor and eventually pleasure. Masters mistreated slaves and lacked respect for the African race because of their skin color. This was the beginning of the the long dispute of slavery and racism. Elizabeth Keckley, author of “Thirty Years a Slave”, tells the story of her life as a slave and the strengths and struggles of moving on from captivity. William Wells Brown begins “Clotel” with the brief story of how he escaped slavery. As the writing progresses, Brown tells the story of Clotel, one of the alleged children of Thomas Jefferson that lived in slavery for most her life. Both writings give insight of living in slavery during 19th century America, and the difficulty in a country that is in the middle of overcoming enslavement. To some degree, citizens of America still feel the shackles of past bondage today. In the late 1700’s, the Second Continental Congress met, announcing that the thirteen colonies were at war against Great Britain for independence. During this time, the

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