The Clackety Clack Sound Of Horse Hooves

Living distinct lives in the New World, two American authors present striking pictures of their struggles in the land of opportunity. Samuel Sewall’s and William Byrd II’s diaries provide a glimpse into the everyday routines of early American settlers. An accomplished judge, businessman, and printer of Massachusetts Bay, Sewall writes about the developments around him. Likewise, Byrd, a successful planter, slave-owner, and author from Charles City County, Virginia, leaves valuable information concerning his routines in his diary. Even though these two men share the same nation, coastland, and English heritage, their stories are remarkably unique.

Melton McLaurin, in his book, “Separate Pasts,” recalls memories of growing up in his hometown of Wade, North Carolina. During this time, McLaurin works in his grandfather’s store in the segregated South. McLaurin writes of his interactions with the black community and observes the segregated lifestyle of black and whites. In his book “Separate Pasts,” McLaurin describes the black citizens of Wade that have influenced and changed his views of segregation and racism.

One thing you probably don’t know about me is that I am super into genealogy. The stories and the history are not only fascinating to me but downright strange.

“I don’t know if I was happy that day – those tense and edgy feelings were getting stronger and stronger – but I do know I’ve never been happy since.”

As I embarked on this assignment I was unsure how to begin and what stories to tell. I did not know if I should commence with how my family came to America, my family tree, or a fascinating story about how my grandparents met. In order to complete this assignment I convened with my grandfather, Earl W. Stafford Sr., who knows a lot about our family history, to learn as much as I could.

In Mary Norcott Bryan’s A Grandmothers Recollection of Dixie, the author included a quote which demonstrated the progressive nature of her family in terms of racial relations. The quote was a will from her grandfather which staggered out the release of his slaves. “I will that Owen and Lillie be made free the first court after January…the year 1847; then I most earnestly wish that all shall be free.”1 In this fashion Bryan attempts to distinguish herself and family above other whites. This reflects Bryan’s Antebellum upbringing which held more pronounced ideas of what it meant to be a white southerner from a

As I researched and talked to relatives concerning my background, heritage and culture, it made me want to know more about my family and where it all began. I had fun putting

In conclusion, Susie King and her husband returned to Savannah after the Civil War was over. Life was difficult and “prejudice against his race” was still “too strong to insure him much work at his trade” (p.54, Taylor). Susie had opened a school in her home and taught children, until the free public schools drew all her students away. Edward died in 1866

Fox Butterfield’s book, All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence, tells the story of the Bosket family from the time of slavery to the time the book was published in 1995. It focuses on the male members of the family, all of whom seemed to exhibit incredibly violent tendencies: commonly getting into fights, committing several acts of murder between family members, and engaging in domestic abuse. Butterfield attempts to show that the causation of such violence has a long and deep history and that, in terms of the Bosket family, it begins in Edgefield County, South Carolina even before their arrival there.

In the detailed story of an impoverished family during the late 1900’s, Jeannette Walls describes her experience from the young age of 3, up until adulthood. The family of 6, with Rex Walls as the father, Rose Mary as the mother, and her three siblings, Lori, Brian and Maureen, were constantly moving throughout the country with little to no food or cash. The memoir shows how dysfunctional the family was, but never seemed to force the reader to condemn the parents. In a life of poverty, the have to move for own to town, and often lived in various mining towns. Although they each found something they learned to love (like Jeannette’s rock collection) in the desert, they had to leave them behind once Rex’s alcoholism only worsened, and they ran

Jim Williams, the owner of a Savannah antiques store, was a self-made millionaire known for both his loving restorations of local houses and his grand parties. Williams never really felt the embrace of Savannah’s wealthy constituency. Although his bank account certainly qualified him for entry into their circle, he was nouveau riche, and hence, an outsider. Old money and aristocracy hold a lot of weight in the South. Williams answered their snobbery with “It’s the riche that counts” (Berendt, p.7). Williams lived in a mansion known as Mercer House, it was built in 1861 and stands at the west end of Monterey Square. Mercer House is the center stage for much of the book. It is also where his well-known Christmas parties were held and its study was the site of the shooting of Danny Hansford. While we’re on the subject, Danny Hansford was a part-time employee and houseguest of Williams. Hansford was a young man that had quite a reputation in Savannah for his violent temper and his sexual proclivity to service both men and women. Not to mention his abusive use of drugs and alcohol, which helps explain why he had been in and out of jail so many times.

I received the opportunity to interview one of my father's close friends and business partners, Mr. Joseph E. Hutchison Sr., for the purposes of exploring how he perceived the Detroit riots of 1697. Mr. Hutchison is an African American man, which has lived in multiple neighborhoods throughout Detroit all his life, and has raised a family in the city as well. Furthermore, Mr. Hutchison has a funeral home on Detroit's East Side, which has been thriving for more than forty-years. Moreover, he has a love for the city, no matter what condition the city is in. Pursuing this idea further, Hutchison has experienced about three race riots throughout his life, in which he

Years of rumors and stories of Delaney were that he was the man who traveled with Scott to Natchez. Family members found that this duty of slave selection an embarrassment and for years would only whisper of this disgrace to other family members. His daughter-in-law who knew him told the story of Delaney’s duties to his great grandchild explaining that this was a black mark on the family. Though her grandmother told the story of slave selection she admonished his great grandchild to not speak of this openly as it would be a negative measure of the character of the entire family. One might say that in “polite company” Delaney’s job of slave selection would not be spoken of and that rule was followed. Many years later the story of this disgraceful experience of slave selection as told to me came with an equal admonishment to not reveal my source, but to tell the story without authorship.

“The Delany sisters recall the beginning of Jim Crow in North Carolina as ‘the day that everything changed.’”

The Lives of African Americans in America’s South Disturbing, haunting, and strange, these photographs are a vivid reminder of how rough the lives of African Americans were in the South. These photographs give the viewer a much more detailed idea of how African Americans were treated in the South than any story could ever convey. These photographs show the pain, loneliness, and poverty that these Americans lived through every single day of their lives. Richard Wright crafted this book by organizing each part into similar groups to add emphasis to the main struggles of everyday life for African Americans. Richard Wright begins 12 Million Black Voices with part one, Our Strange Birth, a collection of stories and photographs of the work that African Americans were