History of Multicultural America - Assignment Example

? of the Question Who were the original servants in the Virginia colony? The original servants in the Virginia Colony were indentured African servants and indentured White servants who came to the colony intentionally for earning money. However, the African servants that came to the colony were war captives or from enemy tribes (Takaki). Question 2: What is the difference between being an indentured servant and being a slave? Indentured servants were quite different from slaves as they were paid for their work and they worked as free workers bound under some agreement between them and the company for an agreed time period. The slaves were deprived of any rights and salary that were approved for indentured servants (Takaki). Question 3: What angered black American soldiers about the roles that were assigned to them during WWII? During WWII, the Black American soldiers were assigned different roles as compared to White American soldiers, which angered them. The roles were related to labor and non-combating positions. They were regarded unfit for combating due to which, they were assigned labor roles and other odd jobs to perform. Considering discrimination and inequality, they were angered. Even after the war, their testimonies were not collected as they were recorded from White soldiers (Takaki). Question 4: What was the major result of Bacon's Rebellion for blacks? The major result of Bacon’s Rebellion for blacks was increase in black slavery as the farm owners in fear of another rebellion and its aftereffects, started investing in acquiring slaves in place of indentured servants to get rid of any similar issue at all. They turned to Africa for slaves who became their primary source of labor (Takaki). Question 5: What was Thomas Jefferson's attitude toward slavery? How did he treat his own slaves? What did he believe should happen to blacks if they were freed from slavery? Jefferson’s attitude towards slavery was incongruous as condemned slavery openly and also had hundreds of slaves working on his plantation. He became the richest person on his land based on the expansion of his cultivated land, buying, and selling of slaves. He had appointed overseers for observing the slaves, their work, and these overseers were allowed to make use of physical violence for making them work. His treatment was cruel that can be noticed in his treatment of Hubbard, his slave who tried to escape. According to Jefferson, black slaves would not be able to feed themselves and take care of themselves if they were freed. He also proposed of deporting the blacks back to Africa after freeing them from slavery considering them inappropriate as free citizens in a White man’s society. Jefferson regarded blacks inferior to white population (Takaki). Question 6: Who was Phillis Wheatley, and what were the arguments that she put forward about blacks and slavery? Phillis Wheatley was a female poet and she was a slave brought from Africa. She had her own experience of ‘slave trade’, ‘forced separation from parents’ and ‘bondage in America’. She regarded slavery as a tyrannical institution depriving blacks of their rights and lives. She emphasized equality of blacks and informed that blacks were religiously equal to whites (Takaki). Question 7: Who was Benjamin Banneker? What stereotype about blacks did he work to dispel? What were his arguments? Benjamin Banneker was a black mathematician. He was also a slave like Wheatley. He dismissed Jefferson’s views about inferiority of intellect in blacks. He dispelled the stereotype about blacks that they were intellectually inferior to whites. He regarded Jefferson as a hypocrite. Banneker explained liberty as a ‘natural right’ for blacks. He talked about abolition of slavery. He rejected the very notion of black inferiority (Takaki). Question 8: What were some of the ways slaves were managed by their masters? Overseers were appointed for black slaves that supervised them for work and threatened people for working by use of physical punishments. The masters were usually cruel and the slaves were whipped mercilessly for their acts of escaping or denial for work. They were required to work from dawn to dusk with a short break for meals. They faced harsh conditions of survival (Takaki). Question 9: What was life like for Blacks in the north before the Civil War? Before the Civil War, the blacks residing in north were deprived of their rights as human beings. They continued to work like beasts and were denied to have any kind of liberty. In some plantations, slaves were given their slave cabins where they were able to keep their families and have children, but this act was allowed to increase the number of slaves, as the ones born in slavery were slaves too. In addition, they were sold and bought due to which, they were separated from their children and families without any concern of humanity (Takaki). Question 10: What did the "Sambo" type of personality represent to Whites? According to White people’s perceptions, “Sambo” type of personality depicted those black slaves who were happy in their slave-master relationship. They were unassuming and subservient and regarded slavery as a blessing for them. They were happy that their masters cared for them and their food. The faithful and submissive slave was a “Sambo” type slave for Whites (Takaki). Question 11: What were some of the effects of the "hiring out" system? The “hiring out” system was beneficial for slave owners as they were able to earn from their slaves’ labor without investing a penny. Their slaves were hired out to earn for them and were not properly sold out. Due to the hiring out system, strife started between the owner and hirer of slaves. Hirers showed interest to gain more by hiring for a short duration while the slave owners liked to have a long duration contract for continued profits. The hirer was to bear the load of clothing, refuge and food of the slaves as per the signed contracts. Slaves had their own experiences and the hirer’s power over the slaves weakened with time. Owners were unable to practice control over their slaves because of their being hired out and hirers had low control over the owner’s slaves because of their incomplete control over the workers. Hiring out system gave black slaves better chances of survival for the blacks (Takaki). Question 12: List some of the differences between Frederick Douglass's and Martin Delany's view of the future of Blacks in America. Frederick Douglass talked about American Revolution while Delany thought that the future of blacks in America is slavery again due to which, they should leave America to go back to their native land, Africa. Delany viewed Blacks as heroes and soldiers while Douglass categorized them as peacemakers and rational people. According to Douglass, oppression keeps the eligibility of making people mad, but blacks became restive. Delany stood as the father of ‘Black Nationalism’. He advocated Blacks as nationals of America and not as a blended breed of survivors, but Douglass informed that Blacks could survive with freedom and equality when they are able to blend themselves in the society in which, they wish to reside as nationals. Douglass was against emigration and colonization, as he did not want the blacks to leave the place that has become a part of their lives while Delany thought emigration as a fruitful notion for the full liberty of blacks. Douglass worked for freeing blacks from slavery and providing them with equal rights and chances in America while Delany offered to form colonies of black population as a sort of making a separated nation of blacks for the provision of equality (Takaki; Perkins & Perkins). Question 13: What did Blacks believe would lead them from freedom to equality after the Civil War? The Blacks participated whole-heartedly in the Civil War in order to save the Union. With their participation, they believed in the abolition of slavery. They gained their freedom themselves. The blacks regarded their liberty as their rights towards attainment of equality. They ran from their slave owners and contributed in the battle. Even after the proclamation of emancipation, the white slave owners continued their control over their owned slaves and the slaves after the proclamation, considering it their right fled from the slavery of their slave owners. They thought that they would become equal to the white man in having property, land, shelter, medical and other rights of being human (Takaki; Perkins & Perkins). Question 14: What did Booker T. Washington mean when he said to blacks and whites to "cast down your buckets where they are"? Washington said the quote "cast down your buckets where they are" to blacks and whites giving them different messages. He meant by his quote that white Americans should assist the blacks in acquirement of knowledge related to agriculture and technology and they should be supportive in letting the blacks gain employment. As a return of their good deed, he asked the blacks to terminate their struggle for voting rights and societal impartiality (Takaki). Question 15: What were the results of Plessy v. Ferguson? Plessy v. Ferguson case settled the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’. The notion of separate but equal expanded in the society and affected daily lives of people in the South. In the South, isolation of blacks became an establishment and blacks were deprived of any equal rights altogether. African Americans were separated from white Americans in all places such as hotels, schools, working places and so on and they were denied any facilities that were provided to the white population (Takaki). Question 16: What were some of the factors that pulled Blacks to the north at the beginning of the twentieth century? What two northern cities were their prime destination? The factors that pulled Blacks to the north were economic depression because of decline in cotton industry, the prices of products became less and implementation of Jim Crow law in South deprived Blacks from their rights to vote and get equal rights as Whites. Due to the Jim Crow law, African Americans faced the issues of segregation. Blacks were asked to pay or give a literacy test for voting while Whites were exempted from any kind of test. Northern American was economically stable, offered better salaries, needed workers and better opportunities were provided to the blacks. The two prime northern destinations where Blacks moved were Omaha and Northern Carolina (Perkins & Perkins). Question 17: What were some of the ideas preached by Marcus Garvey? Marcus Garvey was responsible for unifying and strengthening Black people around the globe. He scrutinized the living and working standards of Black people. He was criticizing towards unequal treatment of Black people. He made the disapprove their previously tolerated racism and oppressiveness. He started a movement related to African Americans return to Africa. He claimed that Blacks should have a civilization of their own. Overall, he worked for Blacks and unjust attitudes towards them in the whole world (Perkins & Perkins). Question 18: What was the Harlem Renaissance? How did Langston Hughes participate? Harlem Renaissance was the commemoration of cultural traditions of African Black in which, the Blacks participated by starting new commercialized setups, introducing their art forms, composing literature and music of their own and by introducing dance. The renaissance had positive effects on overall African American population as they added to the American society with their intellectual, societal and financial development. Langton Hughes was a well-known poet of the movement and he participated by introducing a different and inspirational style of poetry that was well liked among the masses (Takaki; Perkins & Perkins). Question 19: Why do you think slaves in the U.S. were not allowed to read or write? The slaves were not allowed to read or write because they were not given any rights and people with rights used to read or write. The whites also thought that educated slaves could become resistant to slavery. The slaves did not have time to study, as they were busy in their labor from dawn to dusk (Takaki). Question 20: How does Martin Luther King justify non-violent civil disobedience? According to King, everyone should contravene unfair laws. He says that injustice threatens justice. He says that Blacks should use the power of non-violence to fight democracy. Civil disobedience is essential when it does not favor justice and it is not illegal to disobey what is wrong. The laws that are unjust should be denied (Perkins & Perkins). Question 21: What are the main purposes of the "I Have a Dream" speech? The main purposes of the “I Have a Dream” speech are to facilitate African Americans with the liberty that is right for them and to give them an equal treatment. The speaker also talks about abolition of discrimination and prejudice towards the Black community (Takaki). Question 22: In "No More Peck O'Corn," Frederick Douglass considers his father, a white slaveholder, "a victim of the circumstances of birth, education, and custom." Do you agree that whites were victims of their circumstances? Give an example. According to Douglas, the white slaveholders were victims of their own doings because they were brought up in racial and slave holding environment and they internalized their environment. For them, keeping slaves and their actions with the slaves were not criminal as they always witnessed the same. They learned about different black stereotypes and bigoted attitudes from their elders and practiced the same. For example, Jefferson was brought up in a society that kept slaves and after gaining adulthood, he continued to do the same. Even he expanded his business (Takaki). Question 23: In "Black Boy" by Richard Wright, he writes about a hunger awakening within him after he begins to read more. In your opinion, what is that hunger? Please use a direct quote from the story to justify your response. The hunger about which, Wright talks is the hunger for unquenchable knowledge. The Black boy has always endured hunger for food, comprehension of the world, love and acceptance, but the hunger of knowledge acquirement is the most haunting. Wright says, “Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books” (Wright 282). He found a solution to his hunger in the books he used to read (Takaki). Question 24: The opening in Frederick Douglass' "The Heroic Slave" depicts a character that yields a huge and unlimited amount of potential; if not Madison, who could Douglas be depicting? Could it have been the common slave? Please explain. The leading character of the work, “The Heroic Slave” is Madison Washington, a slave who was responsible for bringing about an insurgency on Creole, a ship that carried slaves for slave trade for transportation. Douglas depicted that a common slave can gain freedom with his undying realization of his free self. Madison was a common slave who conspired for rebellion and became free because of his effort along with other supporters (Takaki). Works Cited Perkins, B. & Perkins, G. (Ed.). Kaleidoscope: Stories of the American Experience. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Takaki, R. A different mirror: A history of multicultural America. (First Revised edition). New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2008. Read More