Slavery and Freedom

I wanted to blog not only on my portion of this presentation, but also on the project as a whole. I was inspired by David Walker’s Appeal in a number of ways. What struck me (and enticed me) to educate the class on this material was Walker’s way of bluntly “telling it like it is.” There are many different literary forms that were produced during this time such as songs, novels, poetry, etc. Of all the readings assigned for this period, I believe that Walker’s was the most revealing. He had a way of showing the flaws of white “theories” on slavery through religious and historical examples. Walker wrote, “…and who (whites) are of the firm conviction that Heaven has designed us and our children to be slaves and beast of burden to them and their children.” This quote shows the pure ignorance of slaveholders during this time. No writer before Walker had the courage or the audacity to just put it out there in such a violent, up front manner.

I also wanted to comment on this project as a whole. While extremely work intensive, I learned and grew from this experience. The slavery and freedom period (1746-1865) was a very violent, biased, socially unjust time. Writers such as Walker, Douglass, Wheatley, and Harper had the courage to start a movement to abolish slavery which I can only view with admiration. I personally have never been in a situation that called for such a dire need of bravery. The manner in which these literary works had to be dispersed to the slave population also intrigued me. These individuals risked their lives to spread the knowledge and will of freedom to those which needed it most – the enslaved. This project has helped me to have a broader understanding of our nation’s history and to realize the magnitude of the social injustices.

I Have a Dream

I would like to accept the challenge of choosing three words that I found particularly significant in Martin Luther King Junior’s speech “I Have a Dream.” This monumental speech has been used time and time again and until today, I had not read this speech in its entirety. My three words are taken from the line, “This note was the promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Every human being in America has the right to a life of their choosing. Our time here on Earth is precious and can not be taken for granted. A “life” also includes the promise of a free life – one that can be defined personally by each individual’s hopes and desires. I wonder what King would say today after discovering our newly elected African American president. America has struggled to close the gap between cultures – and has managed this with leaps and bounds in the past few decades.

Liberty can be defined as the quality or state of being free; the power to do as one pleases. The whole concept of a “free” America can be summed up by this definition. When our forefathers set the laws and grounds for the future, African Americans (forced to relocate to this country) were denied this right.

The pursuit of happiness is one that never ceases. America was supposed to offer everyone the choice and opportunity to prosper. This freedom was kept from a large population of citizens. King discusses the fierce urgency to act NOW. Granted, this speech was written many years ago… but even today there are still injustices in society that are hindering every person the chance to find their happiness.

Is there an answer?

When it comes to politicians discussing the delicate issue of race, is the perfect solution or the “right” answer ever feasible? Regardless of my personal opinion and beliefs about the (then) candidate in question, this speech touched on issues that no politician has ever had the courage to approach before. There is no disputing the fact that Barak Obama has the ability to captivate and intrigue an audience both intellectually and emotionally. But when he spoke of “the past few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country…a part of our union that we have not yet made perfect” I can’t help but wonder what perfect would be? I feel as though huge strides have been made in America in the past 50 years that reflect a joining together of the different cultural backgrounds that make up this country. Where is the invisible line in the sand that must be crossed in order to have racial impartiality in America? What will be the measuring stick that determines the end of racial discrimination now that Obama has set the standard by achieving one of the most difficult jobs in America?
Slight change of pace, but another interesting part of Obama’s speech was when he referenced back to the old saying that “the most segregated hour of American life occurs on Sunday morning.” This brought back a memory of my father’s relationship with the African American community in South Carolina. My father has been an elected official for as long as I can remember, fighting for equal distribution of resources to the less fortunate. Through his leadership and dedication he gained favor of many local churches and we were invited to attend worship service at Boyd Hill Baptist which is predominately African American. What an exciting and new way to spend our Sunday morning! I still to this day haven’t experienced anything quite like that animated, enthusiastic sermon that was given that Sunday morning.

I would like my first blog response to be dedicated to a passage in the introduction of our reading. This passage not only invoked a second reading, but also an intense examination of the implications of this material. James Johnson wrote in 1922, “The world does not know that a people is great until that people produces great literature and art. No people that has produced great literature and art has ever been looked upon by the world as distinctly inferior.”
There are a number of ideas that I took from this excerpt. I realized that I have taken the civil liberties given to me for granted. It never occurred to me that the freedom to write and express oneself through art is something that can be held as a standard of a culture’s status. Growing up in a humanities dominated household, I always considered these things a way of life. However, literature in my schools always included the dominant white, male authors such as Chaucer and Shakespeare. I am excited to begin exploring the African American side of literature.
The standard set by Johnson undoubtedly gave the African American community motivation to prove equality through the form of literature and art. The timeline in the back of our text showed time and time again African Americans struggling to make their voices heard and their writing published. Culture (not necessarily speaking of African Americans) includes everything about that society – its way of life, its music, art, literature, customs, etc. African Americans were not given the opportunity to really define and mold their culture. Even in my home state of South Carolina, slaves and their masters were punished if reading and writing were taught. How is a culture supposed to grow and define itself when others are crippling it?