Zinn-Chapter 9

There is no doubt that slavery among blacks was a hard thing to abolish. Throughout Zinn Chapter 9 he talks about the ways slaves were treated and also all of the attempts at abolishing slavery that failed. Until Aberham Lincon's drive to abolish slavery which was successful. Everytime I read about slavery I see how hard slave owners were on their slaves. With cold blodded hearts, they broke up wifes, husbands, and children. Throughout the history of slavery, their was many schemes that were believed to be successful in the abolishing of it.

The difference between living in the north and south at this time was amazing. In the north blacks were free and there was no slavery. Well, in the south it was the exact opposite with slavery every where and farming plantaions every where. The first rebellion from the slaves which put fear into owners was David Walker's pamphlet "Walker's Appeal". Walker's pamphlet led owners to give rewards on the capture of Walker either dead or alive. Ten years after, Nat Turner's rebellion took place. Turner's rebellion was a rebellion against ship workers. Hundreds of slaves were being shiped by Creole, slaves overpowered the crew, killed one of them and sailed to the West Indies. The next rebellion in the south, towards the abolishment of slavery was John Brown's. Brown, Harriet Tubman, and Fredrick Douglass all took part in planning missions that would make slaves throuhgout the south to revolt. The plan did not work and slavery in the south seemed to be unbeatable. That is until Abraham Lincon started to contribute to the effort. Lincon with such highly though of standards finally got the job done with slavery. It was a very hard accomplishment but it got done and now Lincon is looked at as arguably the best leader in this great counrty's history. Up until Lincons accomplishment, slaves were trying to run away to the underground rail road which lead into Canada. Slaves that ran away and got caught, got beat sometimes to death. It truely was unbelieveable the ways slaves were treated by their slave owners.

Two discussion question:
1.) Why was Turner's rebellion scheme so unsuccessful.
2.) Do you think slavery will ever come back into America and be such a driving force as once before.

I liked this reading although it was dry and hard to understand at sometimes but it was interesting to learn about the different schemes to eliminate slavery in the south. Most were unsuccessful but more importantly one was finally successful. I did not know of the slaves that bebelled against the ship crew. That was a big deal that we did not learn in school which I would have liked to know while learing about slavery.

How Jews became Whites?

Growing up I lived in a township that was prodominatley Jewish. Although I am not Jewish I had many friends that were growing up. The authors main point in this writing is to acknowledge how Jews over came racism and became know and respected as part of the dominent whites. The author states the thesis by stating how, "The picture radically changed aqfter World War II. Suddenly, the same folks had promted nativism and xenophobia were eager to believe the Euro-origin people whom they had deported, reviled as memebers of inferior races, and prvented from immigrating only a few years earlier, wer now model middle-class white suburban citizens." This quotes basically states that World War II was the changing point in the ways Jews were looked and and classed into society.

Brodkin talks about how life for her, as a jew was growing up and the different lifestyle changes that occured throuhgout her life. She talked about how different races that immigrated into America were treated as well. She says how the wide spread of racism led to the stopping of letting immigrants come to America. Then she states how Jews were supposed to be uneducated, but once most Jews such as her parents started to get an education things started to change for them. She says, " My parents believe that Jewish success like thire own, was due to hard work an high value placed on education." Later adding "In 1920, Jew made up 80% of the students at New York City College, 90% of Hunter College, and before World War I, 40% of private Columbia University. An intersteing point she brought up was the fields that Jews has success working in. For instance the movie industry. Most movie producers, actors, and production companies for films are owned and ran by Jews. The Jewish race has put a stamp on the film industry like no other ethinicity. By having a high ecominic situation, Jews floated on this rising economic tide, and most of them were able to enter the middle class. Without a proper education the Jewish community would not have ever been able to enter the white middle class. Although the myth that Jews did it by pulling themselves up by the old boot straps is not a credible reason. Jews worked hard and were able to get enough work to enable themselves into the middle class.

Two discussion questions that i thought about while reading this was:
1.) Were there alot of Jewish soilders who fought for the counrty in World War II?
2.) Where did Jews mostly live in suburbs or rural places, because if they lived in nice city buildings then that must have effected their perception throughout America?

I liked this reading more than any other reading we have dicussed. I liked this reading because it was easier to understand and more straight forward. Growing up in a Jewish communiy it was interesting to me to learn how Jews obtained theri social status in todays bruta society. Jews un like any other European culture was able to be accepted as middle or high class.

Exersice #2 for first Analysis Paper

In my paper I will be arguing that history is taught the wrong way. I state reasons and examples of how history is taught. I am going to use Zinn chapter 1 as my source of how history is and should be taught.

The pieces of evidence I am planning to use is the different ways Zinns talks about the perceptions about history. I believe history should not be taught using one set of facts. We should actually teach students about history through a third party view. Meaning is should not be tught with any bias opionions. Rather by teaching history through a third groups view of what actually happened, it will eliminate any teachers bias views.

The mMeaning of Difference

The main idea of "The Meaning of Differnce" is show how different groups are looked at and cotegorized in our society. There are two different views which Rosenbaum and Travis talk about in the writing. The first view is the constructionist view. This view is the thinking that reality can not be seperated from the way a culture makes scense of it. This basically means that the way people and groups are looked at, comes from how they are constructed through social processes. The other view is essentialism. This is the view that certain people and groups are looked at in different ways depending where someone is born and what type of lifestyle they are brought up in. Essentialism says that people and groups do not have certain characteristics that are viewed the same way by everyone in the world, rather it changes from individual to individual.

Their main thought throughout the writing is about how different groups have become to the way that they are viewed today. They also state the steps certain groups have taken to be noticed in our society. Throughout the piece they refer back to the Census alot. The reason for doing so, is because when people are filling out the Census they must mark what ethincity or group they are from. This way every group will have their own statistics for a better understanding of the way different groups feel. Well, when the 1970 Census came out there was only three different grous you could be apart of whites, blacks, and native americans. As time has past over the past thirty plas years, more groups have been added to the list. The 2000Census was the first time when a person had the choice to be from a multiracial group. Also along with racial groups sexual groups were also added, such as gays. They go on to talk about how race or sexual preference is viewed in America. Also they state how groups are seperated or lumped together. They state an example about a young man is seen kissing a young women alot, when his classmates discuss the siuation, everyone laughs because they say they all know he is gay. So this thought that no matter what actions someone makes how they are thought as or viewed can be totally different from their actions.

My two dicusson questions are
1. Why are peopled viewed in a certain way because of the way they look or the way they are precived, other than through their actions?
2. Why as a society, do we continue look at certain groups through different scopes? Why can't we see certain groups in positive ways?

I think that Rosenbaum and Travis was harder to grasp a concept of in certain was because of the vocabulary. Although some parts were hard to understand I believe that it was a good writing wuth information about the different types of groups and their struggles that I was unaware.

Anaylasis Paper #1

For my first anaylasis paper I am going to write about the way history is taught, and how it came to be taught the ways it is.

Quiz #3

Sarah Barnes argues that blacks and females should be quite and never bring up issues such as racisim and sexism if they want people to treat them fairly. Another argument why she thinks people of race or certain genders(females) should quit complaining is because it will allow the problems and issues within racism to go away or dissappear. She belives that everyone has been delt their own cards and how you play them is how your future will turn out. So, she is saying that she disagrees with people who say they can not sucseed because of their families history or the financial situation they were born into. I agree with Sarah to a point, I agree when she said that almost everyone holds their own future in thier hands and if you want to succed it really does not matter what your past held. But, at the same time, it is alot easier for someone who is born into royalty to succeed rather than someone born in the ghetto with no money to succeed.

One concept that I related to Johnson's chapter 8 is when she said, if blacks wanted to be treated fairly with respect then they need to just be quite and quit whinning about their problems. When Johnson uses the example about the ABC special "True Colors" which showed how african americans can not be quite on racisim because the fact is that racism happens everyday. The show miced up both a white male and black male and put them in certain circumstances. The way each were treated differntly was astonishing. The black man couldn't get help from anyone around him when he locked his keys in his car, and he also was a victim of racism when he interviewed for a job. So the concept that black people need to stop complaing when it comes to being treated differently does not make any sense because, who would shut up if they were being held to a lower standard and treated differently.

Chapter 6/ Johnson

The main thesis in this chapter was that the way which people live their lives and the way they act on a daily basis, is based on what social structure they are in. The way people look at privilege is based on what class and race they are apart of. For instance a upper class white male will look at privilege a totally different way than a black lower class does. Another main thought from this chapter is indivdualism. This thought that people look at privilege as individuals instead of social categories.

Johnson talks about how we live our lives not based on individualism, but as a social system. A social system is basically your race, gender, and financial situation categorizes you in a social system. He says that our lives are formed b socialization and paths least resistance. Paths least resistance is this thought that humnas will do anything they have to, to avoid akward situations. His example is, say a person has strong opinion on the presidential race. Well, if the person he is talking to has a different thought on the subject they will not say it becasue it would cause for a debate and a akward situation. I agree with the example where he says it is most likely for white people to get promtoed in a company over a black person because the people who are doing the promotion want to teach someone who is most similar to him. So if a white male is doing the promoting in a company he will promote a white male over a black female wven if they both have the same work ethics. Lastly he goes back to what privelege is and how its precieved. He explains how alot fo white people wont admit to being racists against blacks but when it comes time to pick a black over a white, white people will never do it.

The first discussion question for this chapter was, in the year 2050 there will be more black people then white people. With that in mind will blacks ever sort of overthrow whites in the top of the social triangle and will there ever be racism against white people more then there is against blacks? My first awnser to that question would be to say that blacks will never over throw whites, but it is a very more complex awnser to think about than just that. My second question is , will the myth that everything is someones fault ever die?

I thought that this chater in Johnson held my attention a little better than Zinn does, but that the same time I think that Johnson is a little harder to understand. To understanding Johnson it takes me to read the material twice and always have a dictionary by my side. Once i get the concept of the chapter though it helps me alot to understandig the material and what he is trying to say.