Can you believe, it took the idealism of the revolutionary era to inform some white Americans that black emancipation was really alive, and that it was present. African Americans were allowed to testify in court. I did not know that at the time of slavery, slaves could say what they wanted to in court. I thought slaves had to shut up, and keep their mouths quiet. Even after African Americans went through war, and were Freeman as they were called, they had a right to fight in war. African Americans were extolled for doing well in the war. Not every black male African American was eligible to fight in the war, and maybe that's why African American were extolled if they had done well. Doing well in a war was a good representation for the African Americans.
On July 4, 1776, the first black man stood up and told their slave master that they were done. The slave told their master that they would no longer be work for a white American. When slaves fought in the war, they did not only fight for their country but they fought for the liberty of themselves. After a while white Americans started to notice that African Americans were to have the same right as they had. Even though Americans knew that, they did not do a thing about it. In the book on the history of African Americans, it states that there was a black slave named Salem poor, he asked his slave master to free him so that he could fight in the wars that occurred. Salem's master Sullivan freed him. Salem became a good soldier and a good fighter. Fourteen officers wanted to reward him for his wonderful work, congress didn't give him a thing. I don't understand this. Why is it the congress that never liked the African Americans? Even though Salem was a free black African American, congress still did not reward him. That's just so sad, it's not just. Throughout the whole time of slavery, congress was not just.
Americans thought that letting go of slaves would have been a burden. Setting slaves free would have been a public expense, which is what Americans thought. Some Americans said that even though it might have been fair to let the slaves go, they thought they couldn't do anything. Some people thought that slavery was going to be socially disruptive. In the Northern states, they believed that slavery wasn't a big problem, after some years, the northern states decided to abolish slavery. The new idea of abolishing slavery expanded and the south still disagreed with letting slaves go. Many southern states started to think about setting slaves free. States had debates on whether they should abolish slavery. The southern states need the African Americans so that they could work on the plantation. The was a disparity between the south and the North. The disparity was that the North didn't need slaves on their plantation, but the Southern states did.
Africans Americans pushed to be free, to have equal right as Americans. They made groups that would talk about their freedom. At this moment in the book, what's happening that I see is a pattern is that slaves, specifically males, are going to their slave masters and telling them that they want to be free. Even thought the African Americans are being set free, from slavery, they really aren't free at the end of the day. Slaves still have a restriction, or a limit on them, and that's not being free. Freed slaves don't have he right to take office, and not even get an award, for their accomplishments that may be some Americans can't reach, or do and get rewarded for it. According to the book, To make our world anew, it's showing me that as time went by slaves are a step closer to being free, but at the same time , it tells me that even though they are being called a freed slave, they really aren't a freed slave, because they don't have the total freedom, liberty, or full rights that Americans have.
• Quote
"Why do you hon'd sir, wish those poor men so much trouble as to carry me [on] so long a voyage? Upon my arrival, how like a Barbarian shou'd I look to the Natives; I can promise that my tongue shall be quiet for a strong reason indeed, being an utter stranger to the Language.... Now to be serious, This undertaking appears too hazardous and [ I am] not sufficiently Eligible to go- And leave my British & American friends."
( page 112, Kelley & Lewis)
• Reaction
This quote is a little tricky. Before this quote, it states that this quote was said by a slave, but I don't think of it that way. It appears to be that this quote was said by a white American. Two black Africans wanted to go back to Africa, where they would have a tactic to make freedom come alive for African Americans. The only way that they could complete that mission was by going back to their homeland and regroup and give all these ideas of how they can be set free. Wheatley was asked to come along, but she turned them done by saying that she can't go. I wouldn't want to leave my friends that I knew for my whole life and go somewhere different and not even comprehend the language. I agree with Wheatley. According to the book, it stated that black Americans agreed to what Wheatley's response was. Even though there was a war that was about to take place, Wheatley stayed and the war even opened up door for the black Americans. On final note, Wheatley did the right thing, and if I was in that situation, I wouldn't go, because you never know the punishment that you could receive if you are caught taking the African Americans away from the place that they should be. I also like the dialect that was used in this quote, even though I couldn't understand something like hon'd: I have no idea what in the world that's suppose to mean.
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