Ms. Sjabel
September 27, 2015
Proposal & Annotated Bib
When a culture does express their traditions and heritage it gets overseen as a privileged idea but that wasn't the case for the African Americans. Due to the their dehumanization as slaves they were unable to express their traditions and heritage. Because of that, it led them on a path through history to start farther behind than the rest of society. The important role that heritage played in the lives of African Americans. The question arises of the fairness of whether or not the slaves had equal opportunity to show their heritage. Although there were many unjust laws that slaves had to follow, one of the detrimental blows to their spirit would have to be that it was …show more content…
illegal for African Americans to learn how to read or write. Not only would this lower the intelligence of the African American community as a whole, but it illustrates the lack of equal opportunity. The quilts were used as a way to communicate and tell stories so that their lack of reading and writing knowledge wouldn't prevent them from communicating. The quilts not only symbolized culture but were used as a code to help African Americans escape slavery. Had the African Americans known how to read and write, perhaps more would have had a chance to escape slavery and reach more equal opportunities. Although a lack of knowledge kept the African Americans from moving forward in a literacy sense, they had other ways of preserving their culture. The African American griots would make sure to learn as much language, heritage, and culture to pass along to the newer generations so as to not lose all signs of their culture when being brought and sold into the new world. They were believed to be favored by the gods and even resorted to using drums for communication. Their jobs were to be the “Keepers of Culture”, and their role helped forge cultural norms into heritage. Once one thinks about what African Americans have been through why is that they are on uneven grounds compared to the rest of society, regarding equal opportunity?
Annotated Bibliography
Tobin, Jacqueline. “Hidden in Plain View”. First Anchor Books Edition (Janurary 2000). Print. In Jacqueline Tobin’s historical nonfiction titled “Hidden in Plain View,” Tobin tries to express her own personal history and knowledge of slavery, especially pertaining to equal opportunity. When Jacqueline is approached by an African American sales woman in the Marketplace, she realizes a very important notation of history. That the quilts that this woman was showing her is the history of African American culture. “She chose one of the quilts from the pile, unrolled it, and while pointing to it said, “Did you know that quilts were used by slaves to communicate”. The quilts became a way to tell stories and help give directions for the Underground Rail Road, because the unjust rules of slaves not being allowed to learn how to read or write. They connected African society through the symbols on them, it gave the African society the ability to communicate their history and experiences. This unjust rule makes society entirely unequal, and Jacqueline gets passed on their history first hand. Jacqueline describes how she experiences and sees fault in history regarding slavery and the African American culture. “I was aware that we were bridging not only a gap of generations but also one of race. We were transcending age, stereotypes, and boundaries.” She writes that Ozella reveals to her a story that had never been shared to anyone outside of her family. It was passed down orally throughout Ozella’s family, as they were committed to preserving their history. At the time, slaves did not have equal opportunity to preserve their traditions and culture as other people of society did. Due to the laws that prohibited slaves from learning to read or write.
Brinkley, Douglas. “The Great Deluge”. HarperCollins Publishers (May 2006). Print. In Douglas Brinkley’s historical nonfiction titled “The Great Deluge”, Douglas points out the faults and errors in our Social equality stance. Douglas uses the catastrophe Katrina as a key example of the lack of effort that the New Orleans Governor had that called for aid. One person describes New Orleans as, “I said that I was never moving back to New Orleans. To me New Orleans was a place you could socialize but not advance”. Douglas uses information like this to argue the importance of implementing equality throughout society. As described, it seems that Kathleen Blanco does not put an importance on the lower class/less privileged in New Orleans. Blanco should be constructing opportunities that are openly available in order to share social equality. A perfect example of Blanco’s mistakes regarding “social equality”, “President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for Federal assistance was for Governor Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid. In addition… Blanco Failed to take charge of the situation”. She blatantly disregards the safety of the people of New Orleans, while President Bush was “vacationing at his 1,583-acre ranch”, he complies with her late request for assistance and sends FEMA. Douglas finds appalling factual evidence, and exploits the truth of what was going on at the time of Katrina in New Orleans. Douglas’ research and knowledge shows me the connections of Social Equality and Katrina.
Diamond, Jared. “Guns, Germs, and Steel”. W.W. Norton & Company Inc. (April 1999). Print. In Jared Diamond’s transdisciplinary nonfiction titled “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, Jared conveys the importance of the demographics and the community is the major effect on where you fall in society. In return, if the society you grow up in does not have access to multiple necessities in order to live, you will not make it out of that class of society and advance. “Still other peoples, such as the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, the Americas, and southernmost Africa, are no longer even masters of their own lands but have been decimated, subjugated, and in some cases even exterminated by European colonialists.” Europeans swept through Africa colonies and took them over due to their lack of resources. Compared to Europe, Africa was at the absolute lowest of the low, Africa didn’t have fertile lands, potable water, nor were able to domesticate animals. These resources that Europe had an abundance of seemed to be a key factor in why they were able to take over much of Africa, when exploring the west. This history is led to belief that we are bound to only make it in society as far as our surroundings allow us. “That’s why psychologists try to understand the minds of murders and rapists… Those investigators do no seek to justify murder, rape, genocide, and illness. Instead they seek to use their understanding of a chain of causes to interrupt the chain.” This gives me the understanding that those whom seek to social justice do not try to justify it but rather “interrupt the chain” in order to advance in society.
Le Mann, Nicholas. “The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration And How It Changed America”. 1st Vintage Books ed Edition (1991). Print Nicholas Le Mann’s historical nonfiction titled “The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration And How It Changed America”, he describes the life of a farming lower class African American family, in the early 1900s.
Around the 1920s America was approaching the Great Depression era, coinciding with “social equality”. The Great Depression caused close to 50% of the population to become unemployed. The steady decline to this was devastating for Uless Carter’s family as Nicholas describes a simple action such as paying the land owner, “Industrious renters they might be, but the planter still kept the books, and if at the end of the year the family owed him money, there was nothing they could do about it.” A situation such as this should not arise if one were to approach it with a mind of “social equality”. The Carter family was treated poorly and not equal, after 3 years of trying to farm at the correct pace, they move to another plantation. Relocating and belittling aren't actions that should be practiced through society. This is only one of the many examples of unjust behavior towards the Carter family. I perceive that the United States as a whole society was entirely out of equilibrium regarding social equality during this era. People tend to overlook what happened exactly to the African American society during this era, but Nicholas lays out a reliable source through Carter’s family’s
history.