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Historical fiction There is an old rumor in my family that we are descendants of the wife/sister of captain Samuel Watts. He was a former military leader and a wealthy landowner in Portsmouth Virginia during the 1800's. His house, known as the Watts house is a historical landmark in Portsmouth. He was known to have entertained native American chief Blackhawk. He also hosted famous senator Henry Clay. He died in 1878. Allegedly, after his death, Samuel's wife/sister had a relationship with one of her slaves. She tried to keep the relationship a secret. Supposedly, there were two boys born from this relationship. The boys worked outside during the day, but were allowed to sleep in the house at night. They inherited the land at the time of her
James, Edward, Janet James, and Paul Boyer. Notable American Women, 1607-1950. Volume III: P-Z. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. Print.
In Colonial Virginia in 1661, Rebecca Nobles was sentenced to ten lashes for bearing an illegitimate child. Had she been an indentured servant she would also have been ordered to serve her master an additional two years to repay his losses incurred during her pregnancy. After 1662, had she been an enslaved African woman she would not have been prosecuted, because in that year the Colonial government declared children born to slave women the property of their mother's master. A child born to a slave brought increased wealth, whereas the child of an indentured servant brought increased financial responsibility. This evolving legislation in Colonial Virginia reflected elite planter interests in controlling women's sexuality for economic gain. Race is also defined and manipulated to reinforce the authority and economic power of elite white men who enacted colonial legislation. As historian Kathleen M. Brown demonstrates in her book Good Wives, Nasty Wenches and Anxious Patriarchs, the concepts of gender and race intersect as colonial Virginians consolidated power and defined their society. Indeed, gender and race were integral to that goal. In particular, planter manipulations of social categories had a profound effect on the economic and political climate in Colonial Virginia.
Anthony Johnson was a black man who arrived in Virginia around 1621 and was purchased to work as a slave in the tobacco fields of the Bennett Plantation. At that time he was merely known as “Antonio a Negro”, as it wasn’t common for black slaves to have last names. On March 22nd, 1622, an Indian attack on the Bennett plantation left only 12 surviving slaves, one of them being Anthony. In that same year a woman named Mary arrived at the plantation. Being that she was the only woman living at the Bennett plantation in 1625, Anthony could be considered fortunate to have received her as his wife. Together they had at least four children. It isn’t known how Anthony received his full name of Anthony Johnson, but the time that it is believed that this happened leaves some clues for speculation. It is presumed that someone named Johnson helped Anthony and his wife escape to freedom, apparently sometime between 1625 and 1650. In the 1640’s it is believed that Anthony and his family owned a small farm in Northamton where they raised livestock, which was mostly des...
Can a man kill another man; yet, be a passive hero? In Harrison Hayford and Merton M. Seaths short story, “Billy Budd, Sailor (An inside Narrative)”, Billy Budd is characterized as a passive hero. Unexpectedly, Billy Budd is singled out and forced into the King’s service. Even so, Billy Budd has a positive influence with nearly all of his ship mates and officers. However, Billy’s affect with the new master-at-arms proves Billy does not have a positive effect on everyone. Ultimately, Billy Budd’s lack of adult experience becomes his downfall; because Billy is unable to comprehend somebody would aim to impair his persona.
Parker was born in Virginia; he was raise by his black enslaved mother and had a white father. He was forced into slavery even though he was half white and was sold to a man in Mobil, Alabama. John was a domesticated slave and while
Payne, Patrick. “Roanoke: Genealogies, Family Trees and Family History Records.” Payne’s Rootsweb Ancestry. N.p., 2002. Web. 15 Oct. 2011.
the son of former slaves . As a 15-year-old he left home to work in a traveling
The fact that young Nat Turner was not like other young slaves was fostered by his parents. The family lived and worked on the Turner farm.
Captain Beatty believes society is filled with nothing more than non-thinkers. He says people who are infatuated with books are insane. He believes that there is no need for school because no one needs to think. The only priority in life is to have fun and stay busy. To keep from having controversy, everyone has to be alike and the same. You do not have the right to be yourself. Captain Beatty says the society makes you and all the population be the same. No one can be unique. He says the firemen are custodians. They are to clean up the things (books) that make people feel inferior or that go against the Government. lastly , Captain Beatty says the only purpose in life is to stay active and to stay contempt. He basically sees society as one
What difference did it make in a slave’s life if he or she belonged to a great planter or to a small farmer?
In “The Wife of His Youth,” the main character, Mr. Ryder, is a man that has left slavery behind and has been able to make an entire new life based in prestige, becoming the leader of the leader of the affluent Blue Vein Society, and being known throughout the town as an influential, educated person. The only reason he has been able to build himself up to this high of stature is by disengaging from his roots as a slave. However, his entire new life becomes challenged when an old slave woman, not well educated or possessing high stature comes to visit him. She was described as “a little woman… very black -- so black that her toothless gums, revealed when she opened her mouth to speak, were not red, but blue” (Chesnutt 627). This woman came to ask Mr. Ryder’s help in finding her long lost husband, Sam Taylor, whom she had been searching for ever since being released from slavery.
“Born on August 18, 1774, close to Ivy, Virginia, Meriwether Lewis was considered the greatest pathfinder the country has ever had. Coming from his family estate in Locust Hill, he came from a decorated family. His father Williams Lewis, his mother Lucy Meriwether, and his father’s cousin. His mother was a skilled cook and herbalist; her generous and charismatic nature was known throughout the region. His family was one of the first to settle in the region and had a long standing connection and friendship with the Jefferson family.
A reestablishment of the colony was attempted. It was decided that John White would be the governor. Unfortunately, Indians attacked the colonists numerous times and all their supplies ran out. They decided to send White to obtain supplies in England. He left behind his daughter and his granddaughter, Virginia Dare who was the first child of European decent born in America. When John White arrived in England, the country was involved with a war between Spain and themselves. When White finally was able to come back, 2 years later, there was no one to greet them on the shores of Roanoke Island. There was only an eerie silence. The entire colony was abandoned. As the ship's crew inspected the city they had called Raleigh, one man found "CROA" carved on a tree. To this day the whereabouts of this colony is a mystery.
After extensive research I came across some interesting information on Anthony Johnson. Mr. Johnson came over to America in 1620 as an indentured servant. The meaning of indentured servant according to the dictionary is “A person who came to America and was
The Life of Samuel Clemens A.K.A. Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens is better known as Mark Twain, the distinguished novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, and literary critic who ranks among the great figures of American Literature. Twain was born in Florida Missouri, in 1835, To John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton. As a new born Twain already had moved four times westward. In 1839 the family moved again, this time eastward to Hannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was a frontier town of less than 500 residents. As small as the town was it offered valuable materials and opportunities for a young writer. Most of the residents knew Samuel well, considering they were on the lower half of the social scale, such as poor whites and slaves. The town of Hannibal was mostly used for farmers coming in from the countryside. It was also a river town, swamped with travelers moving up stream and down stream. Some of the travelers were steamboat men, circus performers, minstrel companies, and showboat actors. Since all this action was going on all the time, that opened a big door to the beginning of Samuel’s stories. It provided a huge source of literary material. Shortly after the death of his father in 1847, he ended the brief period of his schooling to become a printer’s apprentice. Like many nineteenth century authors, he was preparing for his writing career later in life. Working as a Printer’s apprentice he got practice as a typesetter and miscellaneous reading. The first thing Samuel wrote as a used piece was a few skits for his brothers Orion’s Hannibal newspaper and a sketch, for The Dandy Frightening The Squatter, published in Boston in 1852. The first real book ever published by Mark Twain was Life on the Mississippi River. Between 1853 and 1857 Clemens worked a journeyman printer in seven different places. During this trip of making sketches and writing stories, he began eastward by boat. Twain started writing letters telling about his visits to New York and the Middle West in 1867. On his trip he seemed to have gotten him self in a lot a trouble such as disorderly conduct. After time passed Mark kept writing short stories here and there and a few sketches also. However, in 1869 he became part owner of the Buffalo Express. In 1870 Mark met the girl of his dreams and Olivia Langdon and