• Blog – How is Washington providing an answer to the ‘go North’ or ‘stay South’ debate we looked at in Frederick Douglass’s Life and Times?
Booker T. Washington in his “Atlanta Exposition Address” began with a call to the blacks, which comprised nearly one-third of the South’s population. He told them that they needed to join the world of work. Within his speech, Washington provides an answer to “stay South”. He told the blacks that the best chance they had to join the world of work was in the South, most particularly in commerce and industry. “It is in the South that the Negro is given a man’s chance in the commercial world, and in nothing is this Exposition more eloquent than in emphasizing this chance.” (Pg. 595) This relates to Frederick Douglass’s Life and Times because Douglass tells the African Americans migrating to the North that they should not only to stay in the South but also that the Northern cities can’t take a large influx of people and that they can demand better jobs/higher pay if they support the Southern economy. Then Washington goes on to address his white audience. He told them that instead of waiting for immigrants and put them to work, they should hire some of the eight million blacks. Washington tries to entice the whites with telling them of how loyal and hardworking the blacks are. Along with trying to get blacks into the world of work he also tried to downplay the quest for civil equality by telling his white audience, “ In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” (Pg. 596) Washington said this so as not to seem desperate, in hope that in not doing so the whites would be more willing to take a chance and hire some of the blacks.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Venture Smith and Equiano
• Blog – Compare Equiano to Venture Smith. Both are Africans brought over to America to be slaves. Do they share the same views? How do they differ?
Both Equiano and Venture Smith came from similar backgrounds. Equiano was born in the village of Essaka, which is now modern day Nigeria. Venture Smith was born in Dukandarra, which is believed to be somewhere in modern day Togo, Ghana, or Benin. Both talk about their lives before they were kidnapped, but Equiano goes into detail about his village describing the rituals and the housing. I think that Equiano is very attached to his village’s traditions and manners because he spends such a great deal discussing them. Equiano even said that, “the manners and customs of my country…have been implanted in me with great care, and made an impression in my mind.” (Pg. 200) Both were kidnapped as young kids and had to endure the horrendous journey from western Africa to the Americas in the crowded area under the deck. In Equiano’s story he spent a great deal describing the conditions and just how they were treated, compared to Venture’s story which gives a couple of sentences concerning the journey. Equiano said that he had never seen a white man before he was kidnapped and while on the ship he couldn’t understand anyone. Equiano experience as a slave was very different then Venture’s because unlike Venture who went directly to North America, Equiano was in different parts of Africa before he went to North America and Barbados. Equiano spent most of his time in England, which is, were he started to become interested in others traditions. This shows up at the end of his writing. He was told that he would not go to Heaven unless he was baptized. Equiano also learned the English language, which he was once completely oblivious to. On the other hand, Venture Smith didn’t care about others traditions, he learned about money. Venture gained his freedom and then went about buying other people’s freedom, but only to have them work for him. This is when he felt like his masters did when he was a slave, powerful and rich. However, both Equiano and Venture have one thing in common, and that is that they both learned to write throughout their enslavement. Both Equiano and Venture started living the same, in western Africa, then forced into slavery, but both dealt with their situations differently and ended up in different situations.
Both Equiano and Venture Smith came from similar backgrounds. Equiano was born in the village of Essaka, which is now modern day Nigeria. Venture Smith was born in Dukandarra, which is believed to be somewhere in modern day Togo, Ghana, or Benin. Both talk about their lives before they were kidnapped, but Equiano goes into detail about his village describing the rituals and the housing. I think that Equiano is very attached to his village’s traditions and manners because he spends such a great deal discussing them. Equiano even said that, “the manners and customs of my country…have been implanted in me with great care, and made an impression in my mind.” (Pg. 200) Both were kidnapped as young kids and had to endure the horrendous journey from western Africa to the Americas in the crowded area under the deck. In Equiano’s story he spent a great deal describing the conditions and just how they were treated, compared to Venture’s story which gives a couple of sentences concerning the journey. Equiano said that he had never seen a white man before he was kidnapped and while on the ship he couldn’t understand anyone. Equiano experience as a slave was very different then Venture’s because unlike Venture who went directly to North America, Equiano was in different parts of Africa before he went to North America and Barbados. Equiano spent most of his time in England, which is, were he started to become interested in others traditions. This shows up at the end of his writing. He was told that he would not go to Heaven unless he was baptized. Equiano also learned the English language, which he was once completely oblivious to. On the other hand, Venture Smith didn’t care about others traditions, he learned about money. Venture gained his freedom and then went about buying other people’s freedom, but only to have them work for him. This is when he felt like his masters did when he was a slave, powerful and rich. However, both Equiano and Venture have one thing in common, and that is that they both learned to write throughout their enslavement. Both Equiano and Venture started living the same, in western Africa, then forced into slavery, but both dealt with their situations differently and ended up in different situations.
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