The Owne Ground Book Analysis

African American individuals still faced inhumane discrimination and were often not looked at as people, let alone cared for or acknowledged. To anyone else, their opinions did not matter and their lives were not valued. The 1930?s was also a time in which America was being rebuilt after the detrimental effects of the Great Depression. Furthermore, there was a greater presence of African Americans in northern states, which brought about racial tension from powerful white figures who did not want African Americans in what they believed to be ?their cities?. The struggle to find jobs was present all over, and African Americans found it even more difficult to support themselves. The narrator faced all these obstacles throughout the course of this novel.

According to Matthew Mason’s academic journal “A Missed Opportunity? The Founding, Postcolonial Realities, And The Abolition Of Slavery,” African Americans have been enslaved in America since the early 17th century.” The first slaves were brought by the Dutch to the colony of Jamestown, Virginia to help harvest tobacco. The institution of slavery was practiced in America through the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Slavery helped to build the economic foundation of the United States. When the Emancipation Proclamation was passed by Abraham Lincoln in the year 1893 it changed the lives of over three million slaves who were reclassified as “slave” to “free.” Former slaves struggled to find their place within this new world of freedom which they had not yet known before. However, African Americans still faced problems such as discrimination, lack of opportunity, stereotyping, and mortality. Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois both confronted these issues. These two men advocated for the advancement of Black people within society, however in this essay I argue that Du Bois was more effective than Booker T. Washington because of his idea that African Americans should have the same possibility to achieve the same rights as any other race in the United States.

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.

(CL) These indentured servants were not only white but also black and regardless of race they were treated equally poor by their masters on the large plantation. (CL) Although it was unlikely for an indentured servant to survive the time of their contract due to malnutrition or poor housing, of those that did, a black man was equally qualified to attain land as a white man. (CL) One black man, Anthony Johnson, even owned indentured servants of his own. (CL) As the situation was in the early to mid 1600's the large gap in society existed not amongst black and white people, but rather between the rich and the poor. (CL) There was in fact a feeling of commonality or perhaps camaraderie between the poor at this point in history regardless of race because they were united by a common experience.

The Hortons utilizes several pieces of work from African Americans history throughout the text. Not only does the information draw from historical research’s but from excellent sources. Some of the great primary and secondary sources mention in the text includes, autobiographies, diaries, records, sermon text, newspapers, correspondences, novels and several different other pieces of literature and materials (Hortons pg. V). It is through the use of the many resources that enable readers to have a better understanding of American History and the position blacks within that history. It is the beginning of the first chapter that the first signs of slavery being introduced to the Northerner occurred during the mid-seventeenth century (Hortons pg.

White over Black: American attitudes toward Negro 1550-1812 is a book written by Winthrop D. Jordan, who was a historian in the subject of the history of slavery in the Americas.

In America, the lives of Africans did not get any easier. Once the demand for labor began increasing dramatically, more and more Africans were imported to America. Originally, white people and black people worked together in the plantations. As a result of the increase in Africans in these British colonies, less white people took jobs on plantations. Eventually, enslavement became based on race. Numerous slave codes were developed, which included denying slaves the right to be out past sunset and denying slaves the right to meet in groups of three or more. These Africans forced to live enslaved in America were treated as if they were inferior to white people. It is discouraging to think about the fact that this country, though it was long ago, once accepted this kind of social injustice.

Breen, T.H.. "Looking Out for Number One: Conflicting Cultural Values in Early Seventeent-Century Virginia."Butler, Nathaniel. "Virginia, A Troubled Colony, 1622."Frethorne, Richard. "The Experiences of an Indentured Servant,1623." April 2 & 3, 1623.

Woody Holton. Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.

The time has come again to celebrate the achievements of all black men and women who have chipped in to form the Black society. There are television programs about the African Queens and Kings who never set sail for America, but are acknowledged as the pillars of our identity. In addition, our black school children finally get to hear about the history of their ancestors instead of hearing about Columbus and the founding of America. The great founding of America briefly includes the slavery period and the Antebellum south, but readily excludes both black men and women, such as George Washington Carver, Langston Hughes, and Mary Bethune. These men and women have contributed greatly to American society.

Prior to the publication of any slave narrative, African Americans had been represented by early historians’ interpretations of their race, culture, and situation along with contemporary authors’ fictionalized depictions. Their persona was often “characterized as infantile, incompetent, and...incapable of achievement” (Hunter-Willis 11) while the actions of slaveholders were justified with the arguments that slavery would maintain a cheap labor force and a guarantee that their suffering did not differ to the toils of the rest of the “struggling world” (Hunter-Willis 12). The emergence of the slave narratives created a new voice that discredited all former allegations of inferiority and produced a new perception of resilience and ingenuity.

Nearly every aspect of American history involves white supremacy. Upon the discovery of the Americas, the Europeans believed they entered into a land inhabited by savages (Boyer 20). According to President Jackson, the mistreatment of the Indians was to “kill the Indian, but save the man” (Williams) in order to purify America. They were forced to adapt to the dominate society or be killed. According to Wiethaus, “the Trail of Tears is a story of tragedy far overshadows the longer term economic consequences of Indian land for the United States economy and the disruption of individual lives for those dispossessed of their homes” (29). The Columbian Exchange involved the slavery of Africans which later became an issue during the 1800’s once the colonies formed into states. African-Americans did not receive emancipation until after the civil war. Before then, slavery was at the heart of the Commercial Revolution which set the stage for the modern era of economic growth (Wright 14). During the 1800’s, states became divided upon the issue of being a Slave or Free State. After the Civil War, Johnson approved of the emancipation of slaves (Boyer 497). However, during the Reconstruction, “black codes” were constructed to prevent African-American to be considered worthy citizens. Many Acts were passed to give them equality, but they still received inhuman treatment (Boyer 509-511). It took years of marches, protest, and riots

In the book titled The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South, author John Blassingame’s theme, focused on the history of African slave experience throughout the American South. After much research, the author said in the preface that most historians focused more on the planter instead of the slave. He also pointed out that most of the research on slaves by previous historians was based on stereotypes, and do not tell the real history of slave life and a slave’s inner self. Most of these historians, who focused on antebellum southern history, left out the African-American slave experience on purpose. Through much gathering of research, Blassingame hoped to correct this injustice to the history of African-American slaves, and show how slavery affected slaves, but also American life, culture, and thought.

The book showed that African Americans were given the worst, and most dangerous jobs, for a subpar paycheck. There were many direct quotes from the novel that showcased this. For instance, it was said that there was a fair in Langdon that week, and the event was “a day for mill hands and for a lot of poor farmers with mules and their families"(qtd. in Esplugas). It goes on to say that when the black community attended the fair on Saturday, the rest of the town had “attended earlier that week” (qtd. in Esplugas). This is directly showing that even though the poor, uneducated whites were faced with hardships, African Americans were still subjected to a lower social status. The Saturday the black community was at the fair was described as “It was niggers ' day.... The niggers kept pretty much off to themselves.... There were separate stands for them to eat at" (qtd. in Esplugas). This point is very important because it shows how African Americans knew that they were subordinate to the white population, and could do nothing about it, so they kept to themselves. Also, even when no other people were in attendance, black people were still assigned to seating in segregated eating areas. Anderson’s use of this theme was an attempt to bring the ugly issue to light: the inequality and mistreatment of blacks, not only in the south, but in America as a whole.

African Americans were not the only ones to be severely oppressed in Early America. Women needed to be shipped into the colonies, for they were almost entirely made up of men. When the women arrived and were married, the became inferior to their husbands: “Under the law, when a woman married, her husband became