Ethics

Respecting my elders was one of the first lessons I learned when I was younger. My parents were quick to teach me the proper way to behave around adults. This has helped me now, as I am older and dealing with adults on a regular bases. I know at school my teachers will show me respect, if I give them respect. It is easier in the long run to respect my teachers because we both benefit from it. There was a handle full of troublemakers in middle school, none which had any respect from their teachers. This made their life more difficult than it would have been if they showed their teachers some respect. The teachers could not trust these certain students and they were constantly getting on the teachers nerves and ended out to sit in the hall the majority of the time. I am able to see from my peers, the relationship between the teachers when they show them respect and when they don’t. Respecting my grandparents and especially my parents makes my life much much easier because I am getting in less trouble. Having a sister, we are able to watch what happens when the other talks back to a parent, we see the consequences and know we do not want that happening to us. So we try to behave the best we can, we make mental notes on how we can act more proper. My parents were raised to respect their parents and any other adults, so they passed the knowledge down to me because they think it is an important lesson for everyone to learn. My parents had taught me a lot on how to behave and how to make good choices, they are still teaching me lessons and giving lectures when I make mistakes even at age 18 because they want to prepare me for the world. They want me be able to make good decisions when I am out on my own.

Langston Hughes and Claude McKay

Langston Hughes and Claude McKay were both poets during the Harlem Renaissance. They covered similar topics in some of their poems since they were both at their prime during the same time period. But both poets had different writing styles. Claude McKay wrote his poems in the sonnet form, a style similar to the way Shakespeare wrote. Writing his poems in sonnet form, proved to the white man that African Americans can be creative, artistic, and also are educated if they can have the opportunities. Though Hughes did not write his poetry in sonnet form, he used other creative styles of writing to get his points across. Both men talked about the relationships between the white and black man and how white man's treatment towards African Americans is horrible and unkind. McKay’s, To the White Fiends, is about the blacks not stooping to the white man’s level. He said they could hurt the white men like the white men have been hurting them if they wanted too, but God but them on earth for another reason, and that reason is to bring the light. In Hughes poems, Theme for English B, says he and his teacher are both part of each other, though he is black and the instructor is white. Neither one wants to be part of each other, but they are learning things from one another. But there is not way to put an end to it, it is inevitable to stop because they are around each other. His other poem, Mulatto, is also an example of the relationship between whites and blacks. Both men wanted to use their writing as a way to express what was occurring around them, but the two poets were different because of the style they used to write their poems.

Booker T. Washington

When the economy was suffering from the majority of blacks flowing into the North from the South immediately after blacks were granted their freedom, Fredrick Douglas shared his thoughts on the subject. He thought the north was not meant for such a large influx of people and was the reason why the majority of blacks could not find jobs and had to move into the poor inner cities. If they move to the South, they would easily be able to find a job working on a plantation and keep the South’s economy going. They also would be able to set the demands from their white employers, but most blacks did not like the idea of working for someone who treated their race so horribly. He also thought that staying in the South would force the idea of freedom in the South.

Booker T. Washington had similar ideas as Douglas on the subject of blacks staying in the South. Washington thought blacks could thrive in the South. Blacks would be given a better chance to succeed in the commercial world in the South, rather than in the North. He thought blacks needed to stop and reflect on the life they could have in the South before making a haste decision to move to the North. He understood the Negro race wanting to leave after gaining their freedom, but thinks it is ultimately the wrong decision. Washington mentioned African Americans needing to understand they cannot start at the top immediately after gaining their freedom. They are going to have to work hard and work hard for a while before they start moving up in society. He also advises to not look down upon labor but to dignify it and use their skills in their work and their life.

Venture Smith vs. Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano and Venture Smith were both born and raised in Western Africa before they were taken and sold as slaves. Their fathers were leaders in their tribes and the two men were very close with their families. They learned honorable traits while growing up in their tribe in Africa. Both were hard workers, which transferred over to when they were slaves. Equiano and Smith were captured at a young age and separated from their families. Equiano was taken by other Africans and sold into slavery, but he was a slave in Africa for a few years before he went to America. He was traded all around Africa and saw many parts of the country before the white man bought him. Venture Smith’s story was different from the point that he was sent off to the United States shortly after being captured, he was never owned by a fellow African. A difference between their biographies was Equiano spent more time talking about his childhood in Africa and the traditions and lifestyles in his tribe. Equiano wrote in detail about his family, their religion and beliefs, and when he was captured and sold into slavery. He talked little about being in America and summarized his life after moving to England in a few paragraphs. Smith talked more about his life in America than his life in Africa. He gave detail about his journey from when the day he arrived in Rhode Island to his life after he had bought his freedom and his family’s freedom. The beliefs and traditions Equaino learned had some importance to him because he kept them through his life. He kept his African name, rather than use the name, Gustavus Vassa, given to him by a captain. Which is different from Ventures, who used the name given to him by a white man, rather than keep the name his family gave him. Equiano’s character had not changed by the end of his story, liked Smith’s did. But they both learned to read and write, they wrote about their life and experiences to get their stories heard. Smith’s character changed as time went by when he was a slave. He first started out as a hard and trusting worker that obeyed his master. But after a few years as a slave he started to act out against his master. He started to obsess over money and objects. When he bought his freedom he started to buy slaves, he would have them work for him for a certain amount of years and then they could be free. When they would run away, he would get upset because he lost money. While Equaino stayed true to himself and his beliefs. He was never a fan of slavery, never owned any slaves when he could, and he worked hard and respected his master. But they both suffered the hardships of being separated from their families, being sent to a foreign country and forced into slavery at a young age.

Values

The people in the stories that we have been reading for the past few weeks have all been placed in horrible situations. But yet the majority of them have faith that things will turn around and eventually get better. In Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round’, the narrator is showing the determination to march to the freedom land and now one will stop him, not the officers or any other white man. In the song, We Shall Overcome; there is hope that their freedom in due course will be granted. It is similar to the song, All God’s Chillen Had Wings, the slaves were told by the old man to wait for salvation, they needed to get to their lowest point before they could “fly away” from their suffers and be free.. The Strange Fruit reminded me of The Message and N.Y. State of Mind and how graphic both were. The narrator in The Message spoke about the life in the city and how drugs and violence were part of the daily routine. In Strange Fruit, the story gives the reader disturbing scenes involving the treatment and killing of slaves. All these stories are all about giving the singer/reader inspiration to keep fighting, to help them keep moving one foot in front of the other when things get rough. Some songs also tell the reader the hardships people have to go through in life.

John Henry

John Henry gave hope to the African American population because he beat the white man’s steam-powered drill in a race to see who could drill through the mountain faster. After he completed the tunnel and beat the white man’s drill, he died of exhaustion. He worked hard everyday to survive. John Henry went through a lot of hardship in his life, being prosecuted by whites, stuck in slavery, and also when digging a tunnel using only a hammer. The hardship John Henry went through showed in the ballad and it inspired others to be like him and to push through when times got a tough. The similarities between John Henry and both Nas’ songs, The Message and N.Y. State of Mind is all three talk about the hardships they have to or had to endure in their life. The hardships are different between Nas and John Henry, Nas is not a slave, but for Nas and many others in similar situations had to work hard everyday in order to see the following day. Nas talked about the life in the ghetto and the rough times that came with growing up there. Nas had to protect himself from other gangs when he lived in the city, he says in N.Y. State of Mind: “Try to cock it, it wouldn’t shoot now I’m in danger.” Some people look to Nas songs for inspiration and some even want to be like him because in today’s world it is cool to some to be gangsters. But though John Henry did not need a gun to protect him, he still had to hit pieces of steel with his hammer carefully because it could lead to his or others death if not taken seriously.