Tuesday, October 30, 2018

12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave Film Review ( Rolling Stone )  

In this review from the Rolling Stone, Peter Travers talks about how a free black man mistakenly takes a job in Washington but later finds out that he was captured into slavery. "Ancient history?" says Travers, "Only if you believe that freedom has lost its fragility in the modern world." Travers says that people have kind of lost what the real definition of freedom. Since some people have had it for all of their lives, it is taken fro granted. Like Solomon, he took his life of being a free man for granted and when he a free man, then when he became a slave he was shocked and realized that he took his free life for granted. 


Image result for 12 years a slave film

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Primary Source Analysis

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Ann Jacobs 

In this primary source, the author is Harriet Ann Jacobs. She tells her life story about how she was born into slavery, but escaped.

She starts out with a notice to the readers. She says that even though some of these events are very dramatic and incredible, they are nonetheless true. She also tells the reader to try and look at these events from her perspective and the situation that she was in.

She touches on how she thought she was born free, but she was really born a slave. She thought this for 6 years. She also talks about how there is a Slaves' New Year day. This is where they receive their new jobs and new masters.

Friday, October 19, 2018

Newspaper Article

Tri-Weekly Standard Newspaper (North Carolina) 

This Newspaper is from North Carolina, which is a state that played a great role in the Reconstruction. This article starts out by saying how it is hopeless for reconstruction in the south. Then it goes on to say how people need to be more involved in their state's reconstruction. It also says that they don't want to have Reconstruction through violence. Then he starts talking about how Reconstruction will help the community. Then he questions it. Then he ends with how people accept the good faith of Reconstruction.

Paraphrase Practice

Lincoln Movie Review ( rogerebert.com )

"Lincoln lacked social polish but he had great intelligence and knowledge of human nature. The hallmark of the man, performed so powerfully by Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln," is calm self-confidence, patience and a willingness to play politics in a realistic way. The film focuses on the final months of Lincoln's life, including the passage of the 13th Amendment ending slavery, the surrender of the Confederacy and his assassination. Rarely has a film attended more carefully to the details of politics." 

My paraphrase of this passage:
Lincoln possessed a large sum of knowledge about the art of interacting with people. Though he may have been a little informal with how he handled politics, he got the job done. The retired English actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, who played Lincoln in this film, reflected many great characteristics of Lincoln such as people skills in both the political world and outside of it. This film carefully depicts the events leading up to end of Lincoln's life which include him pursuing the amendment to abolish slavery, Robert E. Lee agreeing to stop the war, and of course Lincoln being shot in a theater. This is one of a select few films that go deep into the bits and pieces of the political world.

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Reconstruction

Why did Reconstruction come to an end in 1877?
-The Compromise of 1877 ( apstudynotes.org )

The Reconstruction came to an end in 1877 because of The Compromise. When Ulysses S. Grant won the election, he found out that it wasn't necessarily what he had in mind. Being in charge of the US was vastly different that being in charge of a military. This led to the country having financial problems which led to Grant having to make a Compromise to save the Us from being in debt.