The Underground Railroad

The time of American Slavery was a dark time in America. Most people around the south either owned slaves or were losing slaves. There was no in between. During the time period of 1810-1850, the south lost over 100,000 slaves. Although, most of the slaves that escaped were from the southern states that were closest to the North. Most slaves that were in the Deep South were not able to escape on the Underground Railroad because the distance between it and them was quite sizable. Some people may be wondering how you could lose one hundred thousand people. Well, the answer is The Underground Railroad. There is a common misconception about this so called “Railroad”, it is not a railroad at all. It got it’s name because it was during started right after the time of steam locomotive was invented. Along with the slaves route to freedom being called The Underground Railroad, came the railway terms for many different things. For example, the places the slaves would rest and eat were called “stations” and were run by “stationmaster’s”. The slaves themselves were called “passengers”, or “baggage” to go along with the railroad induced theme. There are many other ways that the Underground was commonly misconceptualized as a true railroad because of the way it was used to transport people and allow them to move unnoticed. The Underground Railroad did not have a true structure of people who were able to help move the slaves or house them, but there were plenty of volunteers to help with the process. Arguably the most famous “conductor or Engineer” on the Underground was Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman was a former slave who escaped via the Underground Railroad and then made nineteen more trips into the south to escort over 300 slaves to freedom. Harriet was nicknamed “Moses” by an abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison because she reminded him of a modern day Moses.

The Underground railroad and its many different secrets were kept in the dark to almost everyone except for a few trustworthy people here and there. Not only are the people who were running the Underground putting themselves at risk, but the slaves are also risking a lot on trying to escape from the slave owners. If a person was found to have been aiding a runaway slave, they could spend up to 6 months in jail with other fines and consequences. A family of slaves knew they were going to be rescued when they got an encoded message that contained a song. They were told to wait for the song and that would be the signal to begin their escape. Most of the people who were “engineers” along the railroad knew only about a few surrounding stops, but not the whole route. This helped keep them out of trouble if anyone came looking around for information about the slaves. The people who came looking for the slaves, were often bounty hunters who just wanted to get the reward for not only the slaves, but for the people who were helping them escape. Many of the “conductors” who would transport the slaves to their next stop would have different routes they could take in case they were caught in a tough situation. Normally, when they arrived at their destination, the conductor would say, “i am a friend with friends” to let the new station know that they were about to receive new guests. Although the railroad was quite useful to those who knew about it, the slaves in the Deep South did not even know this escape existed until slavery was abolished.

The underground railroad also played a key role in the abolishment of slavery. During this time period, Abraham Lincoln was becoming the President of the United States and he was working on a way to end the feud between the North and the South. Yes, we had the Civil War in which the North won and finally ended slavery, but one of the main reasons that the North was so angry with the south was because of the slaves that the south had. When some of the slaves from the south escaped using the railroad, it made the north realize how bad everything was getting on the slave plantations. In modern day America, we have documents and laws protecting people from being enslaved like that again. Article four in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms”. This law helps protect anyone from ever being put in this situation ever again. Another good Article that portrays this is Article one in the UDHR. It states, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”. This article also shows an example of the laws and documents that are in place to ensure that no one will ever be enslaved again.

In conclusion, the Underground Railroad was not a walk through the park to get through. Not only was it extremely dangerous but it was also pretty unconditional. Although, I do suppose it was better than shipping yourself to a White abolitionist like one slave did to escape his slave owner. Although, the time of slavery was a rough time, it helped bring about laws to stop that from ever happening again in America. The railroad played a big part in allowing accounts of slaves to be recorded and to help free slaves from their tough lives. In the end, The Underground Railroad saved many lives of many great people and it helped our country become a unified place that now protects each others human rights.

http://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/tag/underground-railroad/

Citations

• http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/22/the-perilous-lure-of-the-underground-railroad
• http://www.harriet-tubman.org/underground-railroad/
• http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/underground-railroad
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2944.html
• http://www.historynet.com/underground-railroad

April 4 2017 Class Notes

Our class today on April 4, 2017 began with a quote from Things Fall Apart which Dr. West wanted to share.  The quote from Achebe is that “there is no story that is not true’ said Uchendu. ‘The world has no end and what is good among people is an abomination with others’” (Achebe 141.  Dr. West wanted us to consider this quote in context of what can be culturally appropriate in different societies, and what is universally true for all human beings. In this class specifically where we are discussing difficult subjects like the slave trade, it is important to keep these ideas in mind.

            Jordan and Zariah began the class and discussion about the slave trade with the discussion about the Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Sahara slave trades, discussing the and comparing the differences of Islamic slave trade and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.  Jordan began with the subject of slave trade.  The TS slave trade was conducted in the Swahili coast, where many slaves perished in route to the Arab world.  The slaves were viewed as lesser than the slave owners, much like the slaves in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.  Children were often killed at birth, and women were sexually exploited.  It is estimated that 140 million slaves were victims of the TS slave trades.  The spread of Islam was also a result from the TS slave trade, resulting in now Muslim majority nations in Africa such as Morocco and Egypt.  Another important factor that Jordan spoke about in her presentation was that slavery was not abolished until recently, until the early to mid 20^th century.  The TS slave trade had been in place since the 15^th century, and the effects of the trade have been lasting.  Zariah presented her information on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which is the slave trade discussed in the book Homegoing. She explained that three million slaves were brought to the new world in countries such as Haiti, Brazil, Jamaica and America.  She discussed the beginning of the Gold Coast, and how the treatmnts of different slaves in different castles varied among the gold coast.  As the need for slaves increased the more routes came to and from the Gold Coast, where they would cargo men, women and children.  Zariah explained the harsh conditions for the slave ships, including tight quarters, where 12% of the people would die from disease.  She explained the different methods of  how the slaves were auctioned off and sold throughout the states, which was an emotionally painful and scaring process.

            Dr. West spoke about her own personal experiences with living in the deep south of Jackson, Mississippi and why she speaks a lot about racial literature.  Being the descendants of probable slave owners, she shared her personal testimony living in an environment where racial inequality was very much the norm.  It was important as students to hear her experience since it allows us to understand where she is coming from and why she chose this path to study African-American literature.

            The rest of class discussed Homegoing and the context surrounding the story. Dr. West presents a PowerPoint presentation about racial discrimination against African Americans in the history of America and also the slave trade.  The importance to talk about the slave history is because we are continuing to recover from the affects of African American exploitation in American history.  We discussed conversational ideas like the invention of race, the four subcategories of Homo sapiens, and humankind’s diversity.  We also talked about terms such as ethnicity, and diaspora, the idea of dispersion of people from their original homeland by force. 

            At the end of class, we got into a circle and discussed how the class felt about the book.  Many people discussed how they liked the generational aspect, and the historical viewpoint of the entire family. They enjoyed the individual stories, and how the stories in them have  glance in the lives of the characters which are eventually cut off.

Homegoing: Open Reading Response

There is so much to write about in Homegoing that I'd like to leave it up to you what you want to focus on in your response. The parameters are that you need to choose a focused idea and illustrate it with particular passages from the text, but beyond that, it's up to you. I'd love to hear about what interests you most about the novel.

Historical Context: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade vs. Trans-Sahara (Islamic Slave Trade)

 

Comparing the Trans-Atlantic and Tran-Sahara Slave Trade

 A significant amount of attention is given to the Trans-Atlantic (TA) slave trade (America and European Nations, also known as the Triangular slave route). The Trans-Atlantic slave trade predominantly had a presence in western (Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Benin) and south-west (Cameroon, Angola, Namibia, South Africa), Africa. This was infamously known as the Golden Coast. However, the Eastern region of Africa also suffered from the slave trade. This is known as the Trans-Sahara (TS) or Islamic Slave Trade. The East Coast slave trade was known as the Swahili Coast. Unlike the slave trade in western Africa, the slave trade by Muslim countries in Eastern Africa had a presence at least two centuries prior to the American and European nations arriving. However, there was significant demand for slaves by Arab nations during the second half of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century (Vernet, Thomas). As a result, the Islamic Slave Trade began to gain attention by its western counterparts.

 The purpose of the slave trade for American and European nations consisted of economic factors and the conquest of territory (for raw resources). Due to America’s agrarian lifestyle (especially in the south), there was a high demand for labor. In addition, after the Berlin Conference, the European Nations and America (Allied Powers) decided to cut the African countries out of the process of negotiations, and they began to divide the land for economic and military benefits, and overall influence on the world stage. This tactic was known as imperialism. 

The purpose of the TS slave trade was similar to the TA slave trade. Specifically, the desire to spread ideology and gain a stronger military presence. However, Muslim countries had a higher demand for domestic slaves, nannies, and women to “serve” in the Harems and concubines (The Arab Muslim Slave Trade Of Africans). The TA slave trade required that two out of every three slaves were a man (due to the manual labor requirements) Whereas, the TS slave trade required two out of every slaves to be a woman. This lead to a significant amount of sexual exploitation. However, sexual exploitation was very present in both the East and West slave trades.

Furthermore, the childbirth rate was very high in the Muslim slave trade. However, many of the children were killed at birth. In America and European nations, many children were born into slavery, however, they were not killed. Yet, in many cases, they were inhumanly sold from their mothers. In addition, the Arab nations would often castrate the male slaves to limit the reproduction offspring. As a result, there is little lineage to African-Arab slaves and ambiguous data as to how many slaves were transported (Vernet, Thomas).

The mortality rate from the Swahili Coast slave trade is significantly higher than its counterpart, the Golden Coast. While it is estimated that approximately ten percent of slaves died in route to America, Brazil or England. The mortality rate from the Swahili Coast across the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea was estimated to be significantly higher. However, the exact numbers are ambiguous (Vernet, Thomas). This increased mortality rate is possibly due to the architecture of the ships. The Trans-Atlantic slave ships had more protection from the outdoor elements than the ships from the Islamic slave trade, which were vulnerable to the turbulence of the seas.

“It is largely unacknowledged that the structures of racism, slavery and oppression existed and flourished just as well in the Arab-Islamic world as they did in Europe and the Americas.”

 (Trans-Saharan Slave Trade and Racism in the Arab World)

   This is interesting primarily due to the fact that the slave and slave owner often looked alike. Many of the Arabs saw Africans as less than human, just as their American and European counterparts. This rhetoric in the Arab culture was integrated into the fourteenth century, before their European counterparts (Trans-Saharan Slave Trade and Racism in the Arab World). In fact, many of the kings in the African nations would sell slaves to Arab merchants. For example, this was seen in Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi how the king set up a deal with the English merchants on the Golden Coast, the same was done in East Africa on the Swahili Coast. The question of the role of race still plays an integral factor when examining the genesis of slavery in Africa, especially in the Islamic Slave Trade. Just as there are many differences in the TA and TS slave trade there are more ideological similarities.

To summarize, while there is a significant amount of information on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade there is very little on the Trans-Sahara slave trade, which was going on as early as the 1500s. This is primarily due to little evidence of the genealogy of African-Arabs (Vernet, Thomas) Additionally, while slavery was officially abolished in the United States in 1865 and England in 1833, the Islamic Slave Trade continued in multiple Arab nations for a longer duration. For example, Qatar did not abolish slavery until 1952, and Yemen in 1962 (Abolition of Slavery Timeline). Additionally, despite the abolishment of slavery, the presence of slavery, especially in the form of sex trafficking is still very much present in Eastern Africa and the Middle East. In Northern Uganda, 20,000 children were captured by the Lord Resistance Army to serve as soldiers and sex slaves in the past twenty years (Human Rights No Slavery).

In class, we began the semester examining the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In Article 4, it states that “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms” (Human Rights No Slavery).  Regardless of the factors that play a role into the enslavement and abuse of a people group, slavery is a tragic stain on the human condition, thus making it a universal problem that invokes a universal response.

Works Cited:

Admin. "The Arab Muslim Slave Trade Of Africans, The Untold Story." Originalpeople.org. Original People, 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.

Abolition of Slavery Timeline." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 01 Apr. 2017. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.

"Human Rights No Slavery: UN Universal Declaration Violations & Abuse, Torture & Slavery,." United for Human Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

"Introductory Maps." Introductory Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.http://www.slavevoyages.org/assessment/intro-maps

Shahada, Alik. "ARAB SLAVE TRADE | Definitive History of the Arab Slave Trade in Africa." History of the Arab Slave Trade in Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.

                                                

"Trans-Saharan Slave Trade and Racism in the Arab World." Ballandalus. WordPress, 19 Apr. 2015. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

Vernet, Thomas. "East African Travelers and Traders in the Indian Ocean: Swahili Ships, Swahili Mobilities Ca. 1500â 1800." Trade, Circulation, and Flow in the Indian Ocean World (2015): 167-202. Academia.edu. Web. 2 Apr. 2017.

Class Summary 3/30

We began class with a free writing response to Things Fall Apart (chapter 11-end) in which we were able to share what we found interesting or compelling about the novel and bring to light any questions the novel had left us with. Afterwards, we viewed a video from 2008 with author of the book, China Achebe was celebrating 50 years after the publication of it.
Next, we shared the remaining passages from last class period pertaining to Umuofia as a community.
Here are some brief notes/thoughts on those passages:
Chapter 2: United by clan identity, justice is important, following the Oracle’s words, wrongs have to be paid
Week of Peace: not to be broken, communal, rest and fellowship are important in addition to work, service to the earth gods, the rules are sacred and must be followed. Violation of the rules requires punishment
Chapter 10: trial shows the importance of spirits; Evil Forest; custom of bride price; (exchange to build the community) importance of family; familial intervention within marriage
Chapter 5: The New Yam Festival. Community’s spirit of festivity and the importance of rituals of celebration; gathering unites them; connection to the land
Chapter 7: Death of Ikemefuna. Power of the clan identity; the la must be followed; role of the elder’s spirits; law and religion are intertwined.
Chapter 8: bride price. Marriage = is a bartering affair, the importance of negotiation; customs for compromise; woman is the object to be bought.

After this, we broke off into partners and participated in a "speed-dating" type of discussion about different themes of the book, such as: colonialism, Okonkwo: victim or tragic hero? fatal flaw of Okonkwo, gender!, sanctity of life and human rights...

Lastly, we had a large discussion about what we thought about human rights when there is a culture that sanctifies the killing of humans? and what are we to make of the portrayals of gender and women in the novel? We talked a lot about morality being relative tot he culture in which you are raised and the origins of these customs in general. Additionally, we talked about the universal treatment of women in most societies and how these gender roles are not specific to the Ibo people but that they occur throughout most cultures. Finally, we spoke about the ending of the novel and how the voice of the communal narrator is violated in the end with more violent and impersonal language and a shift in perspective as it ends with the Commissioner. 

Reading Response: Things Fall Apart

One of the central questions of the novel related to how we think about cultural conflict. What happens when two cultures' values come into conflict? What do we learn about the dangers of assuming one culture's superiority over another? What do we learn about a culture's inability to adapt or change? Use one episode from the novel, explore what Achebe wants us to see about the interplay between two vastly different cultural groups. This response is due by class time on Thursday, March 30.

Class Notes 3/28

Today in class, we started off by talking about which book from the first half of the semester we would eliminate if this class would become a two credit class. From there we began to talk about the elements of this class that were helpful to us and our learning styles. Some techniques for reading strategies were suggested as well. A few of the suggestions were to go to a quiet place to read, take the book with us everywhere we go, read before bed or first thing in the morning, divide the reading up between days, and skim the specific reading section first.

Larissa and Danny gave a brief historical background of “Colonialism in Africa” next. European colonization of Africa began in the early 20^th century and was mainly due to the economic reasons, like the European powers wanting more land and money. European countries had a fear of conflict and war and therefore they held the Berlin Conference. It was here that they decided African boundaries without a say from Africa, and developed the Berlin Act, which allowed imperialism between European countries. The British in Nigeria starting in 1884 caused divisions, poverty, disease, slavery, and lost traditions, while it also introduced cash crops, education, government structure, and international trade to the region. In Africa, there was no doctrine of ownership of land and they did not realize what they were signing when the Europeans forced them to give up their land.

After this, we listened to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in a TED talk. She discussed how impressionable English and British books were on her growing up in Africa. She also mentioned how surprised her roommate was to find out that she actually knew quite a bit about American things. Chimamanda described how too many people who grow up in the United States only have one perspective on people from Africa. Toni Morrison, an African American woman, also expressed how growing up in the U.S., she learned about Africa in this way and thought that Africa needed white people to save them.

After getting different perspectives on Africa, we began discussing the author of Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe. Written in 1958, his novel is one of the few to have an author with an African voice in this time period. Achebe was impacted by his parents’ conversion to Christianity and his schooling in the United States. Inspired by The Heart of Darkness, Achebe wrote his book at age 28. The title, Things Fall Apart, comes from “The Second Coming”, a poem by W. B. Yeats, written at the start of WWI. Achebe says in An Image of Africa that every culture has strange customs and superstitions and those who read Things Fall Apart shouldn’t be surprised at the amount of customs they read about. In this book, Achebe writes in both English and Ibo and has the narrator be the voice of the villagers. The setting is Nigeria mid 19^th century and throughout the book there are folktales told and binary opposition between ideas, like masculine/feminine, spiritual/physical, good/evil, individual/community, and strong/weak.

One of the big parts of the book is character development. In class we split into groups and were each assigned a passage of the book to read and pick out different character traits of Okonkwo. In chapter one, we see that he values his status, resents his father and therefore is motivated by fear of being like his father, and masks his emotions. In the next section, we talked about how Okonkwo doesn’t want to be seen as weak in front of his family, violates the laws of the clan, and loves his family but struggles to show it. After the death of Ikemenfuna, we see Okonkwo feeling guilty. “He tried not to think about Ikemenfuna, but the more he tried the more he thought about him.” (pg. 63). In chapter nine, Okonkwo shows a small amount of love and affection by doing all that he can to take care of Ekwefi when she is sick. “Ekwefi went to bring the pot and Okonkwo selected the best from his bundle…” (pg. 85) As we continued throughout the different sections, groups pointed out that Unoka (Okonkwo’s father) was seen as a coward, unmotivated, without a title, and “agbala”, which means woman or man without a title. Nwoye (Okonkwo’s son) cherishes the stories of his mother (pg. 53), wants to impress his father, and is very influenced by Ikemenfuna and develops a level of morality. Obeirika (Okonkwo’s friend) is the opposite of Okonkwo and questions traditions, cares for the earth and people, and regrets getting another title (pg. 69). We are going to start the next class with finishing up this activity.

The main focus of today was trying to understand the time period and develop more knowledge about Africa and European colonialism. We also looked at some other perspectives of this time period and learned background information about Chinua Achebe. Lastly, we finished class with talking about the characterization of Okonkwo and how the author describes him and uses his foil characters to develop him even more.