The Black population and the Hispanic population faced great discrimination and prejudice. Since, these populations were not considered to be part of the white folk, they did not have much freedoms or privileges. America viewed the Hispanic and Black population as not being a part of the US.
During the Civil War generation, Black population were enslaved to work in the plantations and serve the white men or population. They were treated like animals, and were forced to do extreme tough labor. The Black population had limited rights or privileges. For example, Blacks were not allowed to vote, buy land, obtain good jobs or careers, and speak freely. According to the short reading “A Different Mirror” by Ronald Takaki, a white owner during the Civil War stated, “I have men, who were slaves on the place…. They always lived there and will probably die there, right on the plantation where they were born.” Blacks were viewed as individuals without a purpose or viewed as nothing, like they had no value. Blacks faced great punishment if they spoke out or acted out against a white individual. The great punishments they faced were lashings on the backs, put into shackles, were chained to the ground, and other horrible punishments. (Black Peoples of America- Slave Punishments) A Black individual explained, “My father was born and brought up as a slave. He never knew anything else until after I was born. He was taught his place and was content to keep it. His father said, “When a young white man talks rough to me, I can’t talk rough to him. You can’t stand that; I can’t. “(Takaki) However, on January 1, 1963, the Emancipation Proclamation was passed by Abraham Lincoln. The Emancipation Proclamation stated, that all slaves would be set free. (...
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... J. (2011). AFRICAN AMERICANS AND PAROLE IN DEPRESSION-ERA NEW YORK. Historical Journal, 54(4), 1065-1086. doi:10.1017/S0018246X11000392
3. Takaki, Ronald T. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown &, 1993. Print.
4. Depression Era: 1930s: Repatriation for Mexican & Filipino Farm Workers. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. .
5. "Unit 11 The 1930s: The Great Depression." Welcome. New Jersey State Library, 12 Jan. 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .
6. "Black Peoples of America - Slave Punishments." Black Peoples of America - Slave Punishments. Historyonthenet, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. .
In “Eleven”, written by Sandra Cisneros, Cisneros uses literary techniques such as diction and imagery to characterize Rachel’s character during her transition from age ten to age 11. These literary techniques help to describe how Rachel feels in certain situations while also explaining her qualities and traits. Through the use of these literary techniques Cisneros also collaborated on Rachel’s feelings when she was other ages and how she felt at that time during her life.
Slavery was demeaning to the victims. Slaves were declined the right to an education because reading brought visions, and visions led to dissatisfaction. Many states passed laws stating slaves didn't have a right to an education. At the beginning of the Civil War, perhaps 9/10 of the slaves were illiterate. Also, black slave’s marriages were rarely legally recognized, due to the ineluctable separation that would come at the slave auctions. Slaves didn't have the right to vote. Lastly, slaves didn't have the ability to testify in court. This is shown in a petition by Arthur Lee Freemen. Freemen begs the General Assembly of Virginia (audience) to let him stay in the same state with his wife and four children. He doesn't want to seek a new living in a new country away from his wife and kids. Freemen’s petition most likely was ignored by the General Assembly of Virginia, because slaves weren't able to testify in court. Virginia’s General assembly wanted to kick out Freemen because he was a free black, and free blacks were physical examples of what could be accomplished by emancipation and hence were begrudged and abominated by supporters of the slave system. Free blacks were still enchained to slavery because even after they established their lives, they were forced to move to other states due to slavery. The former slave owners still saw the free black as a slave,
Sandra Cisneros writes a memoir through the eyes of an eleven year old. Turning eleven happens to be a tragic day for the main character, Rachel. Through various literary techniques such as hyperbole, simile, and syntax, Rachel is characterized. Rachel is a fresh turning eleven year old who finds herself in an awful situation on her birthday. Forced to wear a raggedy old sweater that doesn’t belong to her, she makes it defiantly clear her feelings towards the clothing item, and we see this through use of hyperboles. Rachel describes the sweater as ugly and too “stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope.” This extreme exaggeration demonstrates the fire within Rachel. She is a defiant and pouty little girl who out of stubbornness has to defy the sweater in her mind. “It’s maybe a thousand years old”, she says to herself in act to degrade the filthy red sweater even more. The sweater to Rachel has become an eternal battle of ages. She is torn on whether or not to stand up and act bigger th...
1. What is the argument of Ronald Takaki’s A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America? How does Takaki make that argument?
Of course, Rachel being 11 years old, she does not have a broad mindset which is the cause of her simplistic phrases that include repetition that help reflect her true age. “Not mine, not mine, not mine” repeating that the “ugly sweater” was not hers but clearly not being understood, Rachel must repeat this phrase -only in her head- just like any child would when not being listened to. Not only does this phrase inform the reader of Rachel’s weakness to stand up for herself but also of how she is accustomed to not being listened which has her thinking that she must repeat herself. Finding comfort in not only burying her face but in the thought of “mama's cake” and “everybody singing happy birthday”, she demonstrates that she feels smaller physically and emotionally so she continues this saying in her head to get her through her moment of the “sick feeling”. After constant wishing of being “102”, or “invisible” Rachel finally decides that it is too late for “mamas cake, “candles, presents and everybody will sing happy birthday” because she no longer feels “ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, one” she no longer needs closure of her
Reconstruction(1865-1877) was the time period in which the US rebuilt after the Civil War. During this time, the question the rights of freed slaves in the United States were highly debated. Freedom, in my terms, is the privilege of doing as you please without restriction as long as it stays within the law. However, in this sense, black Americans during the Reconstruction period were not truly free despite Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. While legally free, black Americans were still viewed through the lens of racism and deeply-rooted social biases/stigmas that prevented them from exercising their legal rights as citizens of the United States. For example, black Americans were unable to wholly participate in the government as a
The ex-slaves after the Civil War didn’t have a place to settle or money. They had no skills other than farming to procure jobs, so they couldn’t earn money. Freedmen’s Bureau provided shelter, resources, education, and taught necessary skills to get jobs (Jordan 386). Though the issue of slavery was solved, racism continues and Southerners that stayed after the war passed Black Codes which subverted the ideas of freedom including the actions of state legislatures (Hakim 19). Black Codes were a set of laws that discriminated against blacks and limited their freedom (Jordan 388).
During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.
The Great Depression America 1929-1941 by Robert S. McElvaine covers many topics of American history during the "Great Depression" through 1941. The topic that I have selected to compare to the text of American, Past and Present, written by Robert A. Divine, T.H. Breen, George M. Frederickson and R. Hal Williams, is Herbert Hoover, the thirty-first president of the United States and America's president during the horrible "Great Depression".
The imagery really helps in believing this is an eleven year old telling the story. This voice doesn't feel like a grown-up essayist putting his or her words in an eleven year-old storyteller's mouth, and these pictures develop a world originating from a kid's perspective. All devices that are used in this short story really do help the reader relate to Rachel. Cisneros does a very good job in showing relation to any age group to whatever the reader is. It really does feel as if the reader is the one in the place of writing this instead of reading it. This short story is real enough to make the reader believe that it is their own words and that is exactly what Cisneros is trying to do so that she could show the emotional experience that everyone
All African Americans thought with the creation of civil rights, they would be free to do what all Americans could do. In the context of civil rights, emancipation means to be free from slavery. The process took much longer than they expected. Many fled to the North to gain their freedom, which was rightfully theirs. Legal slavery was removed from the North, but the population of slaves between the first emancipation and the end of the Civil war doubled, from roughly 1.8 million in 1827 to over four million in 1865. It was very difficult for southern farmers and those who owned slaves to immediately give up a lifestyle they were accustomed to and remove their slaves. White southerners viewed African Americans as their workers. They have lived with this mindset for so long, causing their transition to be challenging compared to the transition of the slaves in the north.
"Great Depression in the United States." Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001. CD-ROM. 2001 ed. Microsoft Corporation. 2001
Takaki, R. T. (1993). A different mirror: A history of multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
In “Eleven” it states that, “...but I wish I was was one hundred and two. I wish I was anything but eleven because I want today to be far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the sky, so tiny-tiny you have to close your eyes to see it.” This demonstrates that Rachel was so sad about the day, that she wants her birthday to be gone. She would become really negative about her eleventh birthday and would be really sad anytime she thought about it. In “Losing Face” states that, “I feel awful. I want to tell.” This shows that the speaker of the poem is always going to have the guilt that she cheated on an art contest. Both characters feel bad and don’t feel
For instance in paragraph nine-teen, Rachel claims, “spit coming out of my mouth because I can’t stop the little animal noises from coming out of me. This exemplification shows how Rachel can behave like a toddler when she does not want to the sweater. Another way Rachel shows immaturity is when she plans to take the sweater and, “bunch it up into a little ball and toss it into the alley” in paragraph fourteen. This proves Rachel