Douglass, Emerson, Thoreau

In the story "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" by Fredrick Douglass, he explains what America was like after slavery was banned and became illegal.  Many whites in the south did not like this new law and disagreed with what it said.  To me, this was a great thing and was a fair thing, but to the farmers of the plantations which they used to provide for their families, their thoughts were not the same.   All three of the authors I compared when reading this story (Douglass, Emerson, and Thoreau), felt the same about slavery and that it should be illegal and was not a humane way of treating the African Americans.  It was easy to realize what side Douglass was on by reading one simple fact.  In the story, he stated, "There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. (Douglass)"  To me, this is sickening that humans could treat other humans so horribly and easily.   I am happy that I do not have to worry about slavery in America anymore and never did for that matter.

I am going to enjoy this project for the reason in this story.  I always enjoy expressing how I feel, but when I get the opportunity to say how much I hated slavery and how horrible it was, I take it.  Even though me and Kirsten's project with interviewing famous authors will have a part for personal thoughts and beliefs, I am determined to find a way to intertwine my thoughts into our overall project.   This probably means I will add an extra small section including to our personal interviews that pertained to the different questions asked during the interviews.

Douglass, Frederick. "Africans in America/Part 4/Frederick Douglass Speech." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 06 Feb. 2012.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Nature." Ralph Waldo Emerson Texts. Web. 06 Feb. 2012. .

Thoreau, Henry David. "Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with Annotated Text." The Thoreau Reader. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.