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  1. Sep 2020
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    Huey P. Long, “Every Man a King” and “Share our Wealth” (1934) | The American Yawp Reader
    4
    1. jotachi 17 Sep 2020
      Now, my friends, if you were off on an island where there were 100 lunches, you could not let one man eat up the hundred lunches, or take the hundred lunches and not let anybody else eat any of them. If you did, there would not be anything else for the balance of the people to consume

      In this context, Huey is suggesting that everyone should have close to the same amount if not the same amount of wealth so the people can live comfortably. For " Every man a king", it means everyone will live whereby they won't need or depend on anybody for anything because their need will be met.

    2. jotachi 16 Sep 2020
      Nor was it the meaning of the Declaration of Independence when it said that they held that there were certain rights that were inalienable—the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Is that right of life, my friends, when the young children of this country are being reared into a sphere which is more owned by 12 men than it by 120,000,000 people?

      In this context, Long is expressing that America conflicts with its ideals of equal rights and opportunity. Even though there is a belief of equality, some people are born or live in extreme wealth while others are struggling in poverty. He expresses that children are born to a country that is owned by a few individuals rather than the majority. In his view, the independence declaration was not intended to have a society of two extremes who are the very rich and the extremely poor.

    3. jotachi 13 Sep 2020
      We have to limit fortunes. Our present plan is that we will allow no one man to own more that $50,000,000. We think that with that limit we will be able to carry out the balance of the program. It may be necessary that we limit it to less than $50,000,000. It may be necessary, in working out of the plans that no man’s fortune would be more than $10,000,000 or $15,000,000. But be that as it may, it will still be more than any one man, or any one man and his children and their children, will be able to spend in their lifetimes; and it is not necessary or reasonable to have wealth piled up beyond that point where we cannot prevent poverty among the masses

      This was part of Huey P. Long's plan of sharing the wealth in America. He was suggesting a plan to limit the amount of money an individual had to have. Setting a cap would have enabled the distribution of wealth among people by taking money from the rich and distributing. He believed that the few rich people had accumulated a lot of wealth piled up while the majority of Americans were living in poverty.

    4. jotachi 13 Sep 2020
      Now, what did they mean by that? Did they mean, my friends, to say that all men are created equal and that that meant that any one man was born to inherit $10,000,000,000 and that another child was to be born to inherit nothing?

      To express inequality, Huey reflected on one of the United States foundational principles that all men are created equal, and after that, he followed it with a contradictory statement about wealth and inheritance. By using this example, he was showing how the structure of society was set up with the rich and the poor. The rich will remain rich, while the poor will remain poor. By giving this example, he showed how contradicting the foundational principle was to real life.

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    Booker T. Washington & W.E.B. DuBois on Black Progress (1895, 1903) | The American Yawp Reader
    2
    1. jotachi 07 Sep 2020
      Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions. And in this connection it is well to bear in mind that whatever other sins the South may be called to bear, when it comes to business, pure and simple, it is in the South that the Negro is given a man’s chance in the commercial world, and in nothing is this Exposition more eloquent than in emphasizing this chance

      In this context, Booker T. Washington was urging African Americans to be opportunistic people. He wanted them to expand their thinking, their skills, and seize the opportunities at hand. He offered examples such as mechanics, agriculture, commerce, and domestic services because he believed they had the potential and were better of if they expanded to various fields. His sentiments also urged the African Americans that even though there was the existence of social discrimination and inequality, his goal was for them to work hard and be productive.

    2. jotachi 07 Sep 2020
      . To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next-door neighbour, I would say: “Cast down your bucket where you are” — cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded.

      In this context, I believe Booker T. Washington was urging the African Americans to start developing healthy relationships with the southern white man and consider settling on where they were at that time. He considered that African Americans had a chance, opportunities, and the potential but they had to try and put the grudges aside and start a better relationship with the whites in order to succeed in moving forward.

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