Ten Generations of Bondage - Book Report/Review Example

Ten generations of bondage 1. Discuss three (3) specific characters, which best capture, your interests throughout the book. There are three main characters reflected in this book starting with violet who is a freeborn Negro who sews her employee for the unjust servitude done to her. There is also kitty who is a proud slave who was brought in America from Africa.tom is also a character caught up in slavery as an attempt to save his wife from it. 2. Why did Kitty believe that the 1857 Dred Scott decision affect how Whites viewed Blacks, even years after the end of slavery? Dred Scott decision saw that whites were superior to the blacks. The picture that the whites were superior to them, which also angered the black community hence it, also promoted co existing hatred between the blacks and the whites. The white children injected with the thoughts that the blacks were minor to them and not surprisingly, most of them viewed blacks as monkeys. Since the black community had a lot of crime. Decision made by Dred Scott did have a great impression about how the whites viewed blacks even until the time slavery had ended. This was by deciding that the blacks had no rights at all. This meant that all the black had no freedom of movement meaning the black could not move at any place (Ade 76). Moving from one place to another, the black’s would punish and if one tried to escape the blacks arrested taken to court then returned their masters. It also meant that black lacked the freedom of expression meaning they had nowhere to express their complaints but only work under the conditions prevailed on to them by their masters. It also meant that the black child had no right to education as compared to the white child. The black child subjected to labor ones he or she is ready for hard work and unlike the white child, they had no time to enjoy their childhood. Dred Scott’s decision led to the whites practicing racial segregation even after the blacks attained their freedom. The main cause for this was that whites saw themselves a superior race compared to the blacks who they saw and treated as animals. To the slaves they never had time for leisure as compared to the white’s lifestyle. During the morning, most of the blacks woke up early and they had no time to socialize as their ruthless caretakers whose main job was to ore see the work done by the slaves waked them up early in the morning (Ade 85). Back from their homeland where they captured they were immediately put in chain b the raiders and denied food for days in the slave ships. After arriving in America, the masters sold the blacks. 3. Why did “Huey” feel that the salves had only “twenty minutes of freedom”? The twenty minutes Huey was talking about was the time they were waiting to be sold as slaves to their masters .before being sold they were given food by their raiders for them to look strong before being sold off to their masters. After blacks sold out, they immediately put in chains. At their masters place there on a time schedule, which saw them have no free time, or the taste of freedom, which was the most of it, the blacks denied. According to Huey, the whites giving the only time she remembers having the taste of freedom to her. Hence, the blacks had no freedom they only enjoyed limited freedom during the time the masters sold the blacks (Ade 89). From the time of their birth, the blacks subjected to animosity. Since they were babies they were never given free time with their mothers. 4. According to the author, Denver public schools still maintgained a level of segregation even after the “1954 Brown V Board of Education” Supreme Court decision. Explain. Racial segregation continued to take place in the Denver public schools even after the Supreme Court had put a stop in it because the whites still were in control and the law enforcers that was the police and the civil servants whites. The whites had also brought into blacks and drug abuse, which was brought by growth of slum, and limited resources, the white children were made to believe that the blacks had no morals at all (Ade 97). On the other hand the blacks also had bad thoughts about the whites which was brought to them by the circumstances under which they live in. they believed that the whites had control of everything and they were rich because they exploited them. 5. In “Ten Generation of Bondage”, how did the black church serve as a community resource after the slaves were emancipated? The whites during that time had formed secret cults, made to kill the black society. The whites especially the one from the south even made their children to believe that blacks were evil hence widening the rift between the blacks and the white. Back in the nineteenth century the whites believed that, the blacks had no freedom at all hence this idea remained in the southern parts of America lifting the level of racial segregation to another level. Hence, it was not strange for the idea to remain among the blacks and blacks about the racial segregation in public schools, the blacks denied many things starting with their rights. The freedom of expression denied to the blacks. They could not freely stand and express themselves, as the white minority, which controlled most parts of the country, did not usually have them (Ade 132). Most of them who tried were assassinated for instance, Malcolm x and martin Luther king. This made most black youth resort to violence in order to make their grievances heard by the authorities and to make they feel superior to the whites. It also made the whites to fear the blacks. 6. According to the author, the gang problem of the 1980s and 1990s took its toll on the entire Black community. Explain The blacks also had limited access to education, as their schools were full of children making it have insufficient resources for their schools to run properly. This made most of the gangs to evolve in schools and it made it easier for most blacks to resort to violence. Having experienced poverty, most black resorted to drug dealing in order to become rich quickly. Formation of gangs by the increasing rate of racial segregation experienced by the blacks while carrying out their duties that is while in their jobs and in the allocation of their businesses hence promoting formation gangs during that time (Ade 109). 7. After the author’s trip to Greece Island, she states that African Americans had fallen victim to obvious “brainwashing”. What leads her to this conclusion? African Americans were victims of brainwashing because most of them after slavery they ended up forgetting their culture and became victims of the culture of the whites, which was rather seen as not immoral. Most of them were brainwashed into thinking that the white were superior race to them compared to other races. Most of them ended up forgetting that they had rights, which they ought to fight for in vain in order to free from slavery, which was the most limiting to them the belief made most of develop reversed hatred toward the whites because of the ill done to them while still in slavery. Africans were brainwashed into believing that they had no rights at all and in order for them to attract attention, they only resorted to violence, which they saw as the only mean under which they can hold properly. They believe that they were born as servants whose main agenda in life was to serve the whites (Ade 128). They believe that all the whites were racists this made the gap between the whites and the blacks continue to widen. 8. A common theme throughout “ten generation of Bondage” was that racism has a significant impact on each generation. How does racism in the 1800s differ from racism in the 1900s, from the perspective of the book? Racism in the 1800 differed from the one in 1900 in many different ways. During the 1800, whites seen as amore superior community hence they did practice racism by using slavery as a way off depressing the blacks they saw blacks as a minor race. Since the blacks did not have any education and rights they resorted to war which saw many of them being killed in an attempt to fight for freedom. During this time, the whites did exploit the blacks by using their numerous resources in order to make them rich and to make them more feared. In the 1900 the blacks were more exposed and they not only can they fight for their rights but also can they fight the whites themselves and defeat them without using any violence (Ade 123). During this time, racism took mostly by means of segregation. This was by making blacks run their own facilities differently from the blacks hence making them see blacks as minorities to them. Many blacks resorted to use non-violence, which made it easier for most of them since it was the most appropriate way to struggle for freedom of oppression during the time they were many places over which they could freely express themselves. Hence, during nineteenth century there was use of slavery and violence as compared to the twentieth century. 9. Discuss the reasons why the author stated that it was important to make a pilgrimage to Africa. Africa observed as a pilgrimage to the blacks because it is the origin of the blacks. The blacks were born in the land of the ancestors in which the black people were born. It was also the best place they could have stayed in harmony and succeeded in living in peace without racial segregation. Africa as pilgrimage as the history of the blacks is based their and their freedom would be enjoyed in their motherland rather than in America where they faced oppression. Works cited Ade, Johari. Ten Generations of Bondage: Eleven Generations of Faith : the Lewis and Green Family History. Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2008. Print. Read More