Blog 11

I’ve been curious to know how and why America was still able to attract immigrants when there was so much hostility among the citizens. Didn’t people in Europe have an idea as to the amount of killings and suffering in the colored community there was? If I were an immigrant coming to America, being white, I would think I would be more readily accepted if I knew about everything going on. But I would still be reluctant to come here if I knew the amount of hate crimes. At the same time looking back in history, most white people followed the actions of the rest of the white community in order to not be discriminated in that community; so I would also be reluctant not to follow along with the crowd in favor of protecting my reputation. Which does sadden me, I would hope I would have still have the same attitude I do now about lynching and hate crimes, that I don’t agree with them, but again I just simply don’t know because I didn’t live in those times. But, then reflecting back to McKay’s poems, he was a world traveler, always seeking a way to come back to America despite the hate. He was a black man and to think about his life experience and what it bought him, if people did come here to the states at this time of hate, life would bring them more trials, but more rewards. McKay’s poem “America” explains my thought process perfectly when he writes:

“Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, and sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth, stealing my breath of life, I will confess I love this cultured hell that tests me soul.”

Its so endearing to here him say such a thing, despite being treated the way he was. It goes to show that life is not easy and challenges will always be present, but if you have a will to fight for what you believe in, you will succeed and in the end be grateful for the time of pain because it brought you so much pleasure in the end.

Journal #10: The Aha! Moment

I am a little confused on where to find this realization of enlightenment on the about The Wife of his Youth. I do understand that the woman he had been talking about the whole time at the party was the one he told the story about. As I start to think about Mr. Ryder’s age and Ms. Dixon’s age, he said he did want her because she was young and youthful. Now that he has realized that the woman that just appeared is her he can see the youth that she still has I her and then hope of finding her love one day. Just because he had been waiting so long doesn’t mean he wasn’t going to fin true love. In the long paragraph where I think he’s realizing what he should do he makes this comment

 “Suppose, too, that, as the years went by, this man's memory of the past grew more and more indistinct, until at last it was rarely, except in his dreams, that any image of this bygone period rose before his mind. And then suppose that accident should bring to his knowledge the fact that the wife of his youth, the wife he had left behind him, -- not one who had walked by his side and kept pace with him in his upward struggle, but one upon whom advancing years and a laborious life had set their mark, -- was alive and seeking him, but that he was absolutely safe from recognition or discovery, unless he chose to reveal himself.”

 I think here he recognizes himself that this is the woman he knew has as a youth and he is remembering her and seeing her devotion throughout her years in search of him. He realizes that this is true love; one that is endearing through time and surpasses any age.

(At the beginning of this entry I was confused about how to find that aha! moment, but as I started to type and think, I too had an aha! moment and was able to find the texts).

In “Learning to Read” I loved this significant insight that Harper addresses:

“Our masters always tried to hide

   Book learning from our eyes;

Knowledge did’nt agree with slavery—

   ’Twould make us all too wise.” (Harper)

I think what is so significant to this quote is that when on has knowledge and can be a significant and worthy in the context of society, slavery and knowledge don’t go hand in hand.  I think this is such a powerful message to send that when one has knowledge on the world injustice can be fixed. In today’s society we see people and corrupt government trying to control society’s thoughts and actions, but all people want is freedom, freedom to learn and choose and with individual freedom comes the halt of social injustice for everyone.

Journal #9: The Contemporary Connection

The contemporary connection I see between today and the years 1865-1914 is the issue of immigration. Today we have a great deal of a political problem with illegal aliens in this country and the economic problem that arises when wages being made in the US are no longer circulated in the US, they are converted and sent to Mexico and the US looses circulation. But the main connection to the text is that way immigrants were treated coming into America, as they are now. I can only imagine the reactions of Europeans coming to America for freedom and seeing the Statue of Liberty and the symbolism that is associated with her. They hoped for acceptance that they weren’t getting back in their home countries, yet the symbolism of Lady Liberty didn’t match the actions of the American people. “Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, as well as from Ireland, also generated anxiety and hostility among many native-born American, who viewed the newcomers, most of whom were Catholics or Jews, as threats to Protestant America” (pg. 18). It’s interesting to see that yes, as America has grown to become a true melting pot, we still have stereotypes of those that are native to this country, primarily Mexicans. I think Mexicans who come to America, legally, are stereotyped as illegals most of the time and that they can’t speak English. What is so sad is that they want to be here because they want a better life than they were experiencing previously. Instead of demeaning them as just cheap labor, or uneducated we should be applauding them for following the American dream of setting their standards of living high and setting sail on an adventure to a new life. Immigrants are the bravest people on this earth because who honestly would place themselves in an uncomfortable position to be ridiculed and discriminated against? Immigrants come to this country because they are brave enough to know they can have a better way of living if they work hard and if we open our doors to them for opportunity. I believe though, that one needs to have taken the measures to legally be here. To be legally here puts oneself on the even playing ground of succeeding instead of by passing that one step to think you can rise to the top without the foundation. This passage was very interesting to read because of the reactions immigrants had when coming to America as a developing nation. America has changed, in my opinion on welcoming immigrants, but I do believe on an individual, personal level we should all have patience and encouragement for those wishing to succeed in a better life here.

Journal #8: The Civil War

The two texts that I think hold a conversation with each other would be Jefferson Davis’s Inaugural Address and Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865. What I think is so interesting between the two in the pursuit of the American Dream begins with Davis’s outlook on the American Dream. Davis, throughout his address, liberally uses the word “peace.” Being the head of provisional government by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, he is advocating the right to have peace within his states. The quote I find so intriguing is when he references the Declaration of Independence; “…it is the right of the people to alter or abolish a government whenever it becomes destructive of the ends go which it was established” (pg. 1360). I think this is where the pursuit of the American Dream comes to play in Davis’ address. It is within our Declaration that we are provided with the dreams and rights our fore fathers established unto us and for him to reference such a document in his address reiterates the notion that the American Dream is accomplished through the beliefs of what our fore fathers created. He, although is proactive in the movement in keeping an established, slave holding society, his view of the American Dream is to hold on to what has been the right for the privileged American, the right to be happy with the slaves he owns. A 19-century reader could be persuaded by such a speech because of the geographic location of Alabama, because that was a slave holding state. Using the Declaration of Independence in such a state would reinforce the drive the south needs to pursue and win the Civil War in keeping their right to own slaves. On the contrary, Abraham Lincoln had an address that lead a nation into stopping, or at least starting a progressive legacy in the death of slavery. Lincoln’s address used the grandest of all documents that established our government, the Bible. More than half if his address was referencing the Bible and how as a nation we should be following this such word of peace and compassion for others. His address made closest to the end of the Civil War bring in the powerful messages of the Bible in how those words can be made into living and prosperous ways of life in his day. The American Dream, in the 19^th-century was to live a pious and God-fearing life, to live otherwise one would be considered an outsider. He uses language set forth in the Bible to harmonize the country as a whole to ending slavery all together. I really enjoyed how he made this comment “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against each other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask for a just God’s assistance in writing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged” (pg. 1375). I thought that was a noble and just statement made by Lincoln in stating that we are all praying to the same God for him to bring the same division the winning gold medal, yet the message of the Lord, speaks of compassion of one another and that is not what the American society is doing. Lincoln was in the Northern states when he addressed this, so I could only infer the amount of support he got when he stated this. In both address’ I can imagine the amount of support each received because of the geographic location. In my opinion, I would say that Davis’ would be more persuasive, even though I completely agree with Lincoln in his movement to abolish slavery, Davis set himself up for a nicely cited and thoughtful address, where as Lincoln’s, to the eye, looks short. It also depended on the amount of emotion the speaker was using at the time. If I were to be living in this time I would have loved to be able to see the amount of emotion each conveyed for his own purpose. I’m sure each would have had an equal amount, but just looking at the extent to what Davis put in, I think it would have been more persuasive.