Justice Harlan's Dissent 

In Plessy v. Ferguson, Homer Plessy boarded an all-white train car and was removed by the conductor because he was part black, even though he appeared to be white. Plessy was charged and put to trial under the "Separate Car Act". The trial ended with a 7 to 1 vote on still having separate cars for different races, but they have to be equal in quality, they called this the "Separate but equal Act".  The one Supreme Court Justice that did not agree with this decision was Justice John Marshall Harlan. 

John Harlan wrote a famous dissent of this case called "Harlan's Dissent". There are many things I agree with in this dissent, but here are a few main points I got from it. The first one I noticed was when he said the phrase, "our Constitution is colorblind." This quote really got me thinking. Our founding fathers of America wrote the Constitution in a time of slavery, yet the laws and phrases apply to everyone. Any race has to apply by the same laws that white people do. 

Another thing he said that was too long to quote, can be paraphrase into saying that these actions concluded by the court will cause hatred between the blacks and the whites and will do nothing but cause a divide in our country. This would cause more white individuals to become racist and even act out and harass against African Americans. It also has a big impact on everyone because it came from Supreme Court Justices who have a big reputation in American society. I believe this dissent from Justice Harlan still has an affect on people today. Everything he said is still true to this day, except our country is not as racist as it used to be. We can still look back at John Harlan's dissent and learn from it. 

 

What I Learned from Plessy v. Ferguson 

In our class the other day, half the class presented a mock trial about the case: Plessy v. Ferguson. Most people know about this case because it changed the discrimination in America, aka changing history. While African Americans were free during this time, they still were not treated the same. 

Riding the train back then was obviously very common, but it was not so common to have whites and blacks in the same train car. They actually had two separate cars dividing the two races. Now in the case of Homer Plessy who was part white and part black, where do you go? You don't know; and this was the cause of the Plessy v. Ferguson trial. Homer Plessy was more of white decent than black decent so he got in the white train car. Mind you he was only 1/8th percent of African American decent. The conductor did not like this idea for he was still part black so he asked him to move to a different car with the other African Americans. Plessy obviously went against this for he was mostly white. Because of his defiance, he was sent to jail. He took them to court.

Plessy claimed that this act of racial injustice violated his 13th and 14th amendment. The court thought otherwise. They said that it did not because the cars were equal it was just a separation of race and they did not title him as a slave. The decision of this case kind of bothered me because they said that this act was constitutional under the Lousiana Jim Crow Law. I feel as thought it should've been felt with better so that they felt like they did not even need to separate race, but that happened later in history. 

 

My EOTO: Joseph Rainey

Half of the people in my class got assigned a topic from the Reconstruction Era to teach the rest of the class about. I was out sick for the class that my group presented, so I presented by myself. My topic that was assigned to me was Joseph Rainey. 

Joseph Rainey was born into slavery on June 21st, 1832 in Georgetown, South Carolina. There is not much on the internet about his family life, but it does say how his father was a successful barber and made a profit for their family that way. This is how they earned their freedom, they bought it. That is how a lot of people back then gained their freedom. Because South Carolina would not let African Americans have an education, Joseph Rainey was never taught anything and was forced to learn a trade. He picked up his father's trade of being a barber, and he also became very popular and successful. A few years later, he met a woman by the name of Susan Cooper and married her. They later had three children named Joseph, Herbert, and Olive. 

A few years later, the Civil War began. During the Civil War, most men were forced to do something contributing to the war if they were able to, that included Rainey. He helped the Confederates make defenses and weapons. He also did many other things during the war, but they were smaller, less significant jobs. Rainey thought his family was at danger in South Carolina, so him and his family fled to Bermuda. In Bermuda they made a life for themselves. Joseph opened another barbershop and his wife Susan opened up a store where she hand-made dresses. After the Civil War was over, the Rainey family felt as if the U.S. was safe enough to come back to. 

Joseph Rainey became a crucial campaigner for the Republican Party. So much that when one of the Republicans in Congress could no longer finish out his term, the people nominated Rainey. Because of his noble work in Congress, the next year he was nominated into the House of Representatives and is now well known for being the first African American in the House of Representatives. His main goals while serving included equality and justice for everyone because he was once a slave. This was very good for his family as they were once enslaved as well. This was a big deal back then and it caused a lot of controversy as you would expect. Even though the backlash was not good, it was still a crucial part of history and the Reconstruction Era. The Reconstruction Era is basically society "reconstructing" itself and its moral values because of the North winning in the Civil War . At this period, slavery was starting to abolish, and more slaves were being set free in the South. Altogether, Joseph Rainey was a key figure in history and set the standard for the rest of United States government and acceptance in society. 

 

What I Learned from EOTO:

In our freedom class on Monday, half of the class, including myself, presented a mock trial of the case, "State v Mann", while the other have taught the class about a subject they had researched. It was very interesting to me to see how all these ideas they talked about all related to the same issue: slavery. 

One subject I found very interesting was the Amistad Mutiny. I had never learned or even heard of this topic before so I was very interested. This topic has to deal with slavery, but it includes slavery in Cuba. To sum up the Amistad Mutiny, it was the kidnapping of African slaves by a Spanish ship. An American ship captured the Spanish ship and they went on trial. At first the court decided for the slaves to be sent back to their "home" of Cuba, but shortly after another trial occurred stating that the selling of slaves from Africa in Cuba was illegal and they should be tried for kidnapping. Most of the kidnapped slaves survived and got sent back to Africa. I thought this was a very interesting topic because it also contained the Spanish instead of just America. This story shows how slavery was everywhere in the world at one point. 

Another thing I found interesting was the story of Nat Turner. Nat Turner was a slave himself and actually became a pastor while he was still enslaved. He was also one of those noble people who helped free slaves because of his position in society. While on this journey of helping others escape, Nat Turner ended up killing the Travis family to secure weapons and other materials they needed to then murder other white people for owning slaves. I believe he could've executed his rebellion against slavery better if he was so passionate about then equality of all people. He later got tried for murder and was sentenced to death. 

 

Band of Angels Reflection 

We watched another movie in class on the topic of slavery called, "Band of Angels", however this one took place almost  20 years later than the famous "Gone with the Wind" we had watched prior. It was interesting to see the difference between them. 

The first difference I saw was the difference in how people treated slaves. One of the main characters, Hamish Bond, was not like normal slave owners and actually treated his slaves like everyone else. He had some of them since they were babies and treated them like children. One of these slaves were named Rau-Ro. Throughout the first part of the movie Rau-Ro was very kind and respectful, but he seemed to have an underlying anger toward Hamish. This full anger shows at the very end of the movie when he pointed a gun at Hamish and threatened to kill him. He wanted to capture him because there was a bounty out for his arrest and he wanted the money to make a life of his own. While Hamish could've died, he talked his way out of it by telling Rau-Ro the story of how he saved him from burning in Africa with the other children. After hearing this touching story, Rau-Ro handcuffed him with the keys still inside so he could escape and be free. He then led the main character, Amantha Star, back to Hamish because they loved each other. In the end Rau-Ro was happy because Hamish was free, and Hamish was proud of Rau-Ro. 

Another difference I saw was how they treated Amantha knowing that she was only a little bit black. They even sold her as a slave, but Hamish came to save the day. At first Amantha was scared of Hamish, and livid over the fact that he would buy her then try to be nice to her. She then grew to love him as he showed her how good he was to his slaves and to everyone. 

I really liked this movie but I like "Gone with the Wind" better. I liked the plot in the other movie better, but they were both very good movies for their time. 

 

State v. Mann 

         In class, we divided in two teams and performed a mock trial of the famous "State v. Mann" case for the class, either defending John Mann or the slave he injured. I was put on the legal team that was defending John Mann. My task was to state an overview on the pro-slavery side of this case and what was happening in slavery at this time, 1830.  

At this day and age, slavery is a vital part of our Southern society. Slavery runs our economy, our history, and our politics as well as many other aspects. It has changed throughout the years and has recently been altered due to the abolitionists in our country. The North and South have been debating for years which side has the best morality in the aspect of slavery. Today, we will be looking over a case involving John Mann. He is a slave master who has hired a slave and chose to whip her as punishment for her outrageous acts against him. She then ran away, and he shot her for her violation of his rules. Some people believe that this is a violation of law and is a cruel punishment to the slave that was not technically his own. While others believe he has a right to punish her how he pleases because she was hired to work with him for a year. Here is what slave laws and experiences say about slavery today. 

 

This establishment of the cotton industry has set the standard for economy and the rest of our history, as well as the slave trade. People have been making things from cotton for years, but it has greatly increased since the making of the cotton gin a few years back in 1794. Great Britain is in desperate need for cotton as their textile industry is growing rapidly, and the South has the product for them. The selling of cotton in the South is how many of us make our income. Without the help of slaves on our plantations we would be broke. Slavery has been helping with the production and farming industry for years and has greatly increased the economy because of it. The cotton industry has increased the need for slaves which has also grown the slave trade across the globe. In the South, we buy and sell slaves from many different countries allowing them to make money and increasing our number of workers on the plantations. Slavery influences everyone and is an important aspect of a successful country.

 

As I said earlier, due to the abolitionists from the North, the government has made changes to slavery and how it is run. Their rules include things like slaves being solely property and nothing else, slave owners may do whatever they please with their slaves, slaves are not allowed to leave the plantation without permission, and many other laws they felt were needed. They had to clearly state slaves as property because of the abolitionist argument that they have human rights. In this case, “State v. Mann” we will see the rightful act a master has over his slave given the laws put in place on slavery at this very moment. We have lived a life where masters have sole ownership of their workers, and are in no danger of punishment because of their actions against them, why is it any different now? 

Sources:

https://www.ncpedia.org/slave-codes

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2956.html

https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/07/mississippis-1830s-cotton-bubble-an-excerpt-from-flush-times-and-fever-dreams-a-story-of-capitalism-and-slavery-in-the-age-of-jackson.html

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/cotton-gin-patent

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/video/the-cotton-economy-and-slavery/

 

"Gone with the Wind" Reflection

In class, we watched half of a classic movie by the title, "Gone with the Wind." This movie portrays a beautiful, but confusing love story with the main character Scarlett and many different men that she marries, but does not love. 

Almost everyone you ask has either heard of this movie or seen it, but I had never. I thought it sounded boring because it was about the civil war between the North and the South, but it actually ended up being very entertaining. 

I really enjoyed Scarlett's character as she was very bold and charismatic. She is a very beautiful girl and all the boys wanted her to marry them. First she married a man named Charles Hamilton to make the man she truly loved, Ashley Wilkes , jealous. While I believe Ashley loved her as well, he married someone else. Their love was a confusing story that I would like to know more backstory on. Marrying Charles did not end up like she intended it to. Charles ended up dying a few months later in war and she was left a young widow. 

Throughout the marriage of Scarlett and Charles, a man by the name of Rhett Butler was constantly flirting with Scarlett, and even wanted to marry her. Scarlett did not like Rhett at first for he was a good bit older and liked to tease her. Their love story continued throughout the whole first half of the movie until Rhett saved Scarlett, her slave Prissy and Ashley's wife, Melanie Hamilton, and their baby.  He drove them to safety while fighting through angry Northerners. While I do not know the final result of their story, they had a kiss scene right before the intermission, and I have not yet been able to watch the second half. 

The love story was very prominent in this movie, but that is not why we watched it. We watched this in the intent of learning more about the Civil War and slavery at that time period. There are many scenes showing slavery in them, one of my favorites being with Scarlett and her personal slave, Mammy. Scarlett was often quite rude to her, but you could see how much she truly cared for her in a later scene when they are reunited. This movie shows the harshness of owners to their slaves. One scene shows Scarlett hitting one of their family's young slave, Prissy because she did not do what was asked. Another scene shows everyone running out of fright of the North, while the slaves were just walking along because no one cared if they lived or died. 

Overall, I really enjoyed watching this movie, and I am going to end up watching the next half.