Another difference I noticed was the way in which the stories are told. The narrative form makes the book seem almost like a novel. The details and struggles that the slaves experienced were not just listed there but were told in a way that you feel as though you sat and watched this experience occur. Any other form of slave writing leaves the reader understanding, but not feeling the experiences the slaves went through. Overall, these two books were the most interesting and captivating that I have read for this class and I feel as though I could talk on and on about them.

I am astonished at the savage treatment of female slaves. Almost every story is about the difficulty of working in the fields and being a black man; yet the women were almost treated worse. Although this treatment wasn’t usually physical, it was emotional, something that impacts the lives of women even greater. The perseverance shown by this brave woman is astounding. To be able to push through sexual tension and to be ripped from those you love is no easy feat and is unbelievable that women were able to withstand this and continue to go on every day never hesitating to move forward. The religious references serve as a wake-up call to the reader and just gives the reader one more example of the bias towards slaves. The fact that a man can call himself a Christian yet treat human beings with such cruelty is a sin in itself.

 This biggest thing that I noticed, is the difference of city slaves and plantation slaves. It amazes me how different the two are and yet how similar they are. The plantation slaves are treated like animals, or even worse. On the other side the city slaves are given great freedom to find a job and help provide for themselves. This is almost worse, though, because then the slaves are seeing the freedom that is denied to them and only long for it even more. I believe this is what  Douglass meant by wishing he were stupid like his fellow-slaves. Overall this reading only brought me greater sympathy for the enslaved and hate for those doing the enslaving.

In my opinion, these petitions took a very different approach towards ending the institution of slavery. Rather than presenting the horrible truths to slavery, they appealed more to the independence of women. The Grimke sisters encouraged women to step outside their boxes and speak up not only for themselves but for their fellow impressed. The chose to focus on the relationship between the slaves and women rather than the slaves themselves. One can infer that the intentions of these sisters was only to gain a political following that can help support the abolitionist cause. I feel like had they pointed out the actual details of the wrong-doing in slavery, they would have appealed more to women’s emotions and thus been able to gain an even stronger following. Overall there is a very distant representation of the slaves.

This was a very challenging piece to read. The language is very advanced which says  a lot for the supposedly “unintelligent” slaves in society. I was struck most by the main argument in the declaration, the desire for equal rights. The society presents a very meaningful argument. The Declaration of Sentiments is written is almost identical to the Declaration of Independence; I see this as a strong rebuttal to the founders of our country. Ironically, the men that began this horrible institution of slavery are the same men who wrote those very powerful words to gain their own freedom. Overall, the entire declaration stirs up my own sympathy for the enslaved and I can see the powerful effect they must have had on those who received it.

In my opinion, a plantation museum is supposed to teach the visitors about the history of their location. When a docent fails to mention a vital piece of our nations history, that is not okay. It is as if the caretakers or owners of these sites are still unwilling to accept the facts of what took place in our history. In reference to symbolic annihilism, it seems to me as though it’s a nice way to say that the museums are blatanly leaving out chunks of history. I personally think that something needs to be done to correct the mis-representation of our history. When children go visit these sites, they are not being told the truth. If children don’t know the truth, or if we continue to act as though it didn’t happen, our country could revert back to that terrible state and our nation as we know it could fall apart.

The thing that struck me most about this article, is the facts that Blight discovered that we never knew. I have never heard that particular story about the origins of memorial day. The fact that former slaves went and built a graveyard around the burial grounds of white men that had fought for their slavery, is just incredible to me. Especially the fact, that I never knew before this. I am shocked at how much of our history is hidden from the knowledge of society. I can only hope that filmmakers continue to tell the truth and inform or nation of our history.

Both of these articles demonstrate the ignorance of society to our nation’s history. How a historical society can create any model of the past and completely disregard slavery is beyond me. This is the case with the Liberty Bell house. It makes no sense that an object that is supposed to represent the freedom of our nation would not even reference the freedom of the enslaved portion of our population. A simple panel should not be sufficient to cover one of the most important parts of our history. The other article reminded me of the ignorance and naivety of our society. According tho Karen Sutton, many people to this day refuse to believe and accept the accounts of what really happened. I am appalled that so many can’t accept the reality and admit to our country’s errors and move on to make our nation a better place.

 This essay makes very valid points about the racist ideologies in society today. I had never taken a moment to really see the racism that is in media all around us. Nearly every movie and novel has a character to which Stuart Hall refers to. When reading this, I was very intrigued at how much of what Stuart Hall says is real. He allows you to think about things that begin socially acceptable until you look at the deeper meaning. I now will not be able to look at a movie or book in the same light. I will forever notice the ideologies that have been created in my mind by society and the media.