Revision of Week 2 Post

This week’s class meeting discussed the assigned reading Slave and Citizen written by Frank Tannenbaum. The book gave a different perspective on slavery. In early history classes, I was usually taught about American slavery and brutal things done to slaves. Slave and Citizen showed Latin American slavery to different from American slavery, in that it was more humane and slaves had rights. Slaves in Latin America could not be treated poorly because there were laws protecting them. Slaves could also buy their freedom. To this, outside of working for their owners, they could for example, use their weekends to work for another person and collect money to buy their freedom.

In class this week we watched The Trail of Tears which showed the history of the Cherokee Indians. When the white man came, the Indians were given the choice to rebel or assimilate. Many Indians fought the white man but with superior weaponry combined with the diseases brought over by the white man, many Indians tribes lost and died. The Cherokees believed they could share the land with the white man so they chose not to rebel but attempt to live peacefully with them.

However, the white man’s greed let to many coveting the luxurious homes the Cherokee owned. The Cherokee were falsely committed of crimes and removed from their homes. The white man would simple walk into the abandoned homes and called it their own. The president, Andrew Jackon, also did nothing to help the Cherokee when the Cherokee chief met with the president to plead his case. Andrew Jackson had aspirations for a political future after the presidency and to accomplish this he would need the support of white men.

The video Trail of Tears is comparable to Tannenbaum’s account of slavery in America. In class and in texts we read, if a black man was rich or in a better standing than a white man, they would usually be lynched and/or framed for a crime. In doing so, their family would be forced to leave their homes and business allowing the white man to simply walk in and declare it as their own. Slavery was a cruel and dark practice where white men could take what they wanted and do what they wanted because there were no laws protecting the rights of black men.

This week in class we discussed the assigned readings “The Lynching of Jube Benson: Paul Lawrence Dunbar" and The Sport of the Gods. Both of these works of literature described life of African Americans who were falsely accused of crimes and unjustly punished. In The Lynching of Jube Benson, the character Jube is accused of murdering a white woman and possibly raping her before murdering her. The white female’s dying words were “…The black.” Everyone’s first thought was an African American had done the deed and lynched Jube. However, at the end a white man was found to be the real killer. In class, we briefly discussed how it was common during this time for white men to put dirt on their face and pretend to be black as to cause blame on them.

                The Sport of the Gods was an interest book to read in that it reminded me of television program I saw but can’t remember the name. The novel told of a former slave who now worked for a white family and while working their met his wife and had two children. One day the white husband’s brother visits. During his stay, he loses a large sum of money and accuses the male African American for stealing. He is sent to prison leaving his family to fend for themselves. His daughter becomes an actress/singer and pushes her mother to remarry. Evidence is found to prove the African American’s innocence and if brought to the attention of the white employers. To prevent their shame and accusation, they try to hide this but the truth is brought forward and the former slave freed. The released former slave finds out his wife was remarry and planned to kill this other man but realizes he does not need to be because this “new” man was killed by the men he owned money to. The story ends with the two African Americans together and the white employers begging them to come and work for them.

                Peer reviews on our first essay draft went fairly well today. I learned some a few new techniques to implement into my essay after reading everyone In my group’s essay and a few suggestions for intros and endings.