Ibelieve,however,thatthewagesIpayhimforhisservicesaremorethananequivalentforanythinghelostbythesaleofthevineyard
I find it funny that Uncle Julius could have made the whole story up to keep the guy from buying the vineyard where he was making his living. At least Julius still got paid to work in the vineyard.
ButIthoughtyousaidalltheoldvinesdied.
Depending on when this was written, even if it was true, the old vines would have died, but the goopher was on the land where the vines stood. So wouldn't that mean that any new vines that came from the same land would also have the goohper?
enrydiedtoo,-deswentoutsorterlikeacannel
This was really sad. I kind of expected Henry to live as long as the vines did.
There is a wide, wide wonder in it all, That from degraded rest and servile toil The fiery spirit of the seer should call These simple children of the sun and soil.
I believe these lines really display the attitude of the songwriter towards the individuals he writes about
What merely living clod, what captive thing, Could up toward God through all its darkness grope, And find within its deadened heart to sing These songs of sorrow, love and faith, and hope? How did it catch that subtle undertone, That note in music heard not with the ears? How sound the elusive reed so seldom blown, Which stirs the soul or melts the heart to tears.
This poem is incredibly powerful. Moves the reader to tears. I can feel the emotion strongly.
HANGED FOR STEALING HOGS
Please tell me I'm reading this right??
Curiosity seekers have carried away already all that was left of the memorable event, even to pieces of charcoal
Reading this makes me sick. Why would you take a souvenir????
While it is intended that the record here presented shall include specially the lynchings of 1893, it will not be amiss to give the record for the year preceding. The facts contended for will always appear manifest—that not one-third of the victims lynched were charged with rape, and further that the charges made embraced a range of offenses from murders to misdemeanors. In 1892 there were 241 persons lynched. The entire number is divided among the following states: Alabama, 22; Arkansas, 25; California, 3; Florida, 11; Georgia, 17; Idaho, 8; Illinois, 1; Kansas, 3; Kentucky, 9; Louisiana, 29; Maryland, 1; Mississippi, 16; Missouri, 6; Montana, 4; New York, 1; North Carolina, 5; North Dakota, 1; Ohio, 3; South Carolina, 5; Tennessee, 28; Texas, 15; Virginia, 7; West Virginia, 5; Wyoming, 9; Arizona Territory, 3; Oklahoma, 2. Of this number 160 were of Negro descent. Four of them were lynched in New York, Ohio and Kansas; the remainder were murdered in the South. Five of this number were females. The charges for which they were lynched cover a wide range. They are as follows: Rape, 46; murder, 58; rioting, 3; race prejudice, 6; no cause given, 4; incendiarism, 6; robbery, 6; assault and battery, 1; attempted rape, 11; suspected robbery, 4; larceny, 1; self-defense, 1; insulting women, 2; desperadoes, 6; fraud, 1; attempted murder, 2; no offense stated, boy and girl, 2. In the case of the boy and girl above referred to, their father, named Hastings, was accused of the murder of a white man; his fourteen-year-old daughter and sixteen-year-old son were hanged and their bodies filled with bullets, then the father was also lynched. This was in November, 1892, at Jonesville, Louisiana.
The more that I read these records, the more I hate the history of the state that I am from. Thank goodness the world is changing.
Among his own people, however, Mr. Washington has encountered the strongest and most lasting opposition, amounting at times to bitterness, and even to-day continuing strong and insistent even though largely silenced in outward expression by the public opinion of the nation
I sympathize with those who opposed Washington. Many thought of him as someone who wished to stay small and please those who were oppressing his people.
They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem?
I feel that even today, black people are seen as a problem. I think this is wrong because people are people. Individuals are all different and should not be seen by their color, but by their personality and contribution to the world.
BUILD A HOUSE IN PARADISE.
This song is my favorite because it is so hopeful of a better life in heaven. It really speaks to the weary soul stuck here on earth whose home may not be the best or the fanciest.
hear these semi-savage performances. With a very little skilful adaptation and instrumentation, I think one or two barbaric chants and choruses might be evoked from them that would make the fortune of an opera
I believe that the slave songs brought the performers together as a family and gave the songs passion as they all sang with their feelings.
The savage efforts to subdue my pride were not the only things that brought me suffering and deep mortification during my residence at Hillsboro'
The struggle to overcome random beatings from someone other than her master while maintaining her pride is a great example of how feminist Keckley was. She showed that through all this pain, that she was a strong woman that was not easily conquered.
When I was quite a child,
The significance that her childhood has is that we now see that even as a young child, she understood the severity and cruelty of slavery, unlike many of the other slave narratives that we have read.
That which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave.
I would say that the author takes on a feminist stance, which is not so different than the previous narratives that we have read. The entire story seems to be centered around the women involved in her life like her grandmother. She seems to see the women in her life as the strongest individuals in the most trying times.
the law prohibited payment. It did not, however, prohibit him from retaining the silver candelabra, which had been purchased with that money. I presume they will be handed down in the family, from generation to generation.
See, the mistress wanted a candelabra so badly she basically lied about repayment and stole the money.
The honor of a slaveholder to a slave!
I would not have trusted the slaveholder whatsoever. Especially since it was my HARD earned money!
Ole umin, look to de Laud! as heam suffishen fah all tings”; both, falling on their knees, breathed in silencetheir desires to God
I assume that the author sees religion as a way of false hope for the slaves. Here Old Joe was comforting his wife Judy after the loss of Maggie, his daughter. Its as if Delany writes so that the reader may see that Christianity was just a false hope for the slaves.
Soon it was found necessary to place herunder the care of a physician
During this age, women who showed great signs of emotion were thought of as mentally ill. I wonder also if Mrs. Franks was placed under the care of a physician because she showed great empathy for those that were seen as property.
Maggie was true to her womanhood
I wonder what exactly the author meant right here by saying that Maggie was "true to her womanhood." Did this mean that her owners allowed to act like a true woman would, that is bearing and rearing children? Was it wearing proper clothing like her mistress or the constant tending to her own appearance? This implies to me that Maggie's owners saw her as a woman, not just a piece of property that they own.
The mother, as soon as she saw that her child was to be left, ran up to Mr. Walker, and falling upon her knees, begged him to let her have her child; she clung around his legs, and crie
I would have died if my child was taken from me simply because I could not comfort its cry. You cannot exactly control an infant. They will cry whenever they feel any sort of discomfort. I am sure it felt the discomfort of its mother.
He took her back to St. Louis, established her as his mistress and housekeeper at his farm, and before I left, he had two children by her. But, mark the end! Since I have been at the North, I have been credibly informed that Walker has been married, and, as a pre
This must have occurred very often. I keep seeing this action taking place throughout many of the slave narratives that we have been reading.
ust as he finished his story, Mr. Broadwell came in, and inquired what I was doing there. I knew not what to say, and while I was thinking what reply to make he struck me over the head with the cowhide,
This is cruel. Brown was simply listening to a story and was punished for it. Perfect example of a cruel person sporting their own power.
"being hanged in England is preferable to dying a natural death in Ireland
Does this saying have any significance today?
He was ambitious enough to be contented with nothing short of the highest rank of overseers, and persevering enough to reach the height of his ambition. He was Page 22 cruel enough to inflict the severest punishment, artful enough to descend to the lowest trickery, and obdurate enough to be insensible to the voice of a reproving conscience
I wonder if this man has always been this cruel and mean. I also would like to ask if Gore was made cruel, stubborn, and sly because of the rarity of his job and the threat of quick replacement.
obdurate
This word just means stubborn. Characteristic of most overseers I would assume.
I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the circle; so that I neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear. They told a tale of woe which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones loud, long, and deep; they breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish
Douglass seems to have a strong opinion of slavery. He has seen its cruelty, heard the misery, and has even questioned himself and his masters. He states here that he did not understand the meaning behind the lyrics of the songs being sung because he felt sheltered, but he says that these words were breathed with the most bitter anguish.
t struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass. It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it.
It can be implied that Douglass was allowed a sort of education because he wrote this piece himself. Who taught him to read and write? Was he really his mater's son?
slaves the double relation of master and father.
Here Douglass defines slavery as something horrible and vile. He describes his master as taking on the role of both a father and a master.
Dare. in the name and fear of God To spread the living truth abroad
Here it seems that Whitfield describes self-reliance as being a strong bond between a man and God. His freedom, hope, joy and everything he needs comes from God and his own two hands.
Till wec1~ old age and fiery youth In freedoms cause their vo1·ces . A db raise n urst the bonds of ever I ' Till, north and south and y save; Th , east and t e wrongs we bear shall b. d wes ' ere ressed
Here, we get a glimpse of how Whitfield really sees America. America was a land of bondage to Whitfield, and until no man was left in chains, he cannot see how it is a land of the free. Does he have strong hopes of his ever becoming reality?
And hopes too bright to be enjoyed, Have passed and left his young heart scared, And all its dreams of bliss destroyed.
Throughout this poem, it seems as if Whitfield has no hope for the future of America. He states here that the hope of the youth is crushed, his dreams will never come true, and anything he hopes for is too good to ever receive.
Den dat little m~n in black dar, he say women can't have as much rights as ~an, cause Chnst want a woman.
Q2. Although her simplistic language caused her speeches to become more powerful, many had a hard time giving her respect because she was uneducated. This is the only disadvantage of her simplistic style.
can't read, but I can hear.
Q2. I believe that her simplistic language is an advantage because it appealed to the mass rather than to only the educated. Here she states that she cannot read, but can still hear and understand those around her and that should be good enough for anyone. Her simplicity made her speeches more inclusive and therefore more powerful.
The president of the convention, Frances Gage, recalled some years later the pressure applied by white women to keep Truth from speaking lest she antagonize the ministers' racial as well as gender prejudices. But Truth spoke nonetheless. Her extemporaneous oration, scarcely more than three hundred words punctuated by homely metaphors and a deceptively simple argument for women's unique role in the liberation struggles of the day, was admiringly reported in the Anti-Slavery Bugle on June 21, 1851
Q1. I believe that she did a very well job at balancing feminism and anti-slavery. Here it states that the white women did not want her to even speak, lest she should persuade the minister to believe in her words about race and gender! How powerful is that?
Liberty or Death. Oh what a sentence was that! It ran from soul to soul like electric fire, and nerved the arm of thou-sands to fight in the holy cause of Freedom
To answer question number two, I do not think that Liberty and Freedom are written in the same context within the work. It seems as if Freedom is a relative position in society whereas the word Liberty is used in a way to describe someones will.
Nearly three millions of your fellow-citizens are prohibited by law and public opinion (which in this country is stronger than law) from reading the Book of Life
Freedom is education according to the author.
o find an unmolested enjoyment of the blessings of this fruitful soi
Call me a nerd if you will, but I thoroughly enjoy the wording here. I greatly appreciate how the phrase "unmolested enjoyment of the blessings of this fruitful soil."I find this phrase fitting as we today seem to "molest" the fruit of the soil today by using up resources and tossing them away as if someone never toiled so that we may receive.
And I do say it, that the black man, or man of colour, who will leave his own colour (provided he can get one, who is good for any thing) and marry a white woman, to be a double slave to her, just because she is white, ought to be treated by her as he surely will be, viz: as a NIGER!!!!
He makes a great statement here, saying that a black man who marries a white woman will just become a double slave. How many men today think they are a slave to their wives?
I am fully aware, in making this appeal to my much afflicted and suffering brethren, that I shall not only be assailed by those whose greatest earthly desires are, to keep us in abject ignorance and wretchedness, and who are of the firm conviction that Heaven has designed us and our children to be slaves and beasts of burden to them and their children
This is a claim made by Walker, using religious beliefs to back up his point. In this quote, he claims that the white man believes that Heaven has created the people of color to remain the underdogs. I believe that Walker desires to see individuals equally.
under this enlightened and Christian nation,
Here, Walker is comparing the American slave situation to that which was written about in the Bible. He also accuses the white Christians of being hypocrites because he himself knows what a true Christian looks like.
V'IC-fOR SEJOUR
Does the term "Mulatto" have any significance today?
. In his writings he expresses concern about the "emotional natures" of his people,
This portion clearly demonstrates how Allen felt about how church music should sound. He desired for the emotion to be heavy and flow from person to person. Must be why Black Church hymns are so powerful today.
This landmark hymnal is of historic importance for reasons other than its primacy among black-church hymnals, which in itself is enough to insure the hymnnbook a secure place in h
Its amazing to think that religion plays such an important role in the history of slavery. I love it even more that music had such an impact on individuals and their church families.
words. But none of the other hymns presents such emendations, so it appears that Cooper's authority carried little weight with A
I applaud Allen for standing up for his work and resisting change in his perfect work.
A crucial point here, however, is that books need not have been the only means of transmitting these texts; oral performance and composi-tion, manuscript copying and exchange, and printed broadsides all were common currency in the revival meetings of the early nineteenth cen-tury.
I find this method of using oral translation and literate translation to be amazing. It is incredible to see the will of individuals to learn and to praise even without formal education. Nowadays we take such small things for granted like being able to read.
While a number of texts appeared for the first time in this collection, it had much more in common with the Watts and Wesley emphasis of the later AME book than it did Allen’s initial collections.
I wonder why he changed his methods? Most authors tend to stay within their styles.
The wandering chorus, a simple, rousing refrain easily memorized and attachable to any text at a camp meeting, makes its hymnbook debut here alongside standard texts by Isaac Watts, John Wesley, John Newton, and other evangelical leaders
I think this makes the hymns contained within the book very special.
terminate in the destruction of the Revolutionists, and, in the final success of the French power in this island
was this a move made by the french to become a world power or was there something valuable that the french wanted that the Haitians had?
The lieutenant, by whom the Frenchwere commanded, observing her attired in the uniform of a French officer, took her for what she so well affected to be -(a captain of the French army)
i wonder if the lieutenant even noticed that she was a woman
he lapse of fifteen minutes brought a cessation, which announced, that on either side, many that were, had ceased to be
I wonder exactly how many men died within this five minutes. If it were a few men, no big deal, but if many men were fighting, than this would be astonishing!
Thee, first in peace and honors—we demand The grace and glory of thy martial band. Fam’d for thy valour, for thy virtues more, Hear every tongue thy guardian aid implore!
I find it interesting that Wheatley can take words and create such passionate meaning. This verse alone is very descriptive. The last sentence makes me want to shout!
How pour her armies through a thousand gates,
Must have been referring to how America seems to always go to war.
Columbia’s scenes of glorious toils I write.
I recall reading in the footnotes in the book that this Wheatley was probably one of the first poets to have referred to America as Columbia.
Adonijah Gillett we do hear Did lose his life which was so dear.
All life is dear, but what about his home life? Is that why his life was so dear? Did he have a family? Wife? Kids?
Eteazer Hawks was killed outright, Before he had time to fight,
These two lines read very powerfully. It says that Eteazer Hawks was killed outright, indicating that he never had a chance to fight back or struggle to live.
The Indians did in ambush lay, Some very valiant men to slay, The names of whom I'll not leave out. Samuel Allen like a hero fout, And though he was so brave and bold, His face no more shalt we behold
What battle is this describing?
The roof is thatched with reeds. Our day-houses are left open at the sides; but those in which we sleep are always covered, and plastered in the inside, with a composition mixed with cowdung, to keep off the different insects,
I thought that any type of dung would attract insects, not repel them. I guess this method worked!
We beat this wood into powder, and mix it with palm oil; with which both men and women perfume themselves.
I wonder if the scent that this gave in any way resembles sandal wood. It sounds very appealing to me.
her parents then deliver her to the bridegroom, accompanied with a number of blessings, and at the same time they tie round her waist a cotton string of the thickness of a goose-quill, which none but married women are permitted to wear:
This is a curious statement. I wonder exactly what was the tradition and meaning behind the goose-quill.
The next summer I again desired he would give me a chance of going out to work. But he refused and answered that he must have my labor this summer, as he did not have it the past winter. I replied that I considered it as hard that I could not have a chance to work out when the season became advantageous, and that I must only be permitted to hire myself out in the poorest season of the year. He asked me after this what I would give him for the privilege per month. I replied that I would leave it wholly with his own generosity to determine what I should return him a month. Well then, said he, if so two pounds a month. I answered him that if that was the least he would take I would be contented.
Maybe this was a different time, but I have noticed that from the past two narratives that we have read that the authors had decent relationships with their masters. In the movies I have seen about slavery and the horror stories I have been told, the slaves were not permitted to even ask permission from their master to go anywhere or do anything other than what their master ordered. What made this change?
At the close of that year I was sold to a Thomas Stanton, and had to be separated from my wife and one daughter, who was about one month old
This was very painful to read. From all the movies on slavery that I have seen, slaves being separated from their families was very common and is very heartbreaking to me.
I WAS born at Dukandarra, in Guinea
I find this funny that Venture was born in Guinea and Equiano was also born in Guinea. I am gathering that slavery was popular in this area during this century.
MymastersentoftentoknowhowIdid
This statement really displayed how much his Master truly cared about him. In other slave narratives, the slaves never mentioned that their Master ever asked about their well-being. In several films I have seen about slavery, the master is almost always cruel towards his slaves and never cared enough to even hold a funeral for one who passed on.
abottleofmixture
The early days of medicine always fascinate me. To think that now we have a pill for every ailment is amazing. This makes me wonder though, what exactly was this mixture and could it really cure being struck by the Holy Ghost?
Ifoundtwomenattendingme,andawomanthrowingwaterinmyface,andholdingasmelling-bottletomynose
I respect how the author did not mention color of skin at all right here. It sparks my curiosity to question what color were his rescuers, but this goes to show that this author did not see color and that he only saw people.
Cutlass,
It is crazy to think how language evolves through the years. I had to look this word up and I wanted a picture. It is just an old word for a sword.
English Colour
This phrase threw me off there for a minute, I had to read it again to finally understand the meaning. It's just the English flag!
or the kind Providence of a good GOD for my Preservation
This statement reminds me of something I read in middle school. It was called The Pilgrim's Progress written by John Bunyan. In the Bible, if I do recall, this statement was made several times by those seeking God's assistance in hopes that He would look favorably upon the individual.