entry 8

Dear Groveton I.S.D,

It has been brought to my attention that the district has decided to stop teaching slave narratives in the curriculum. This issue raises serious concerns to many in the community. Over 100 people have signed a petition to stop this crime against our children and their overall education. By taking away the slave narrative you are stripping them from a genre and historical fact that changed our country. Slavery is one of the biggest issues that our country ever faced. If the school takes it out of the curriculum, we take the chance of letting history repeat itself. When knowledge of the past is forgotten, so are the lessons that it taught the world.Furthermore,in slave narratives like "William Wells Brown" the genre teaches us about the atrocities of slavery and how seperation of families lead to hatred and emotional issues for the enslaved. Not only do narratives like this show the horrible institution of slavery, but they show us how the slaves used the institution as encouragement to seek their own personal liberties.

Also, the slave narrative was a genre that opened the door to future genres in American literature. If you delete this genre from your curriculum it'd be like teaching American History but leaving out World War II. You can't possibly leave a genre which offers this much educational opportunity out of your teachings. The slave narrative shows the base of current American literature and opens the door up to big events like the Civil War, Lincoln, and the eventual climb into the Civil Rights Movement. As you can see, it would be a crime for you to neglect our children and their education on this subject. It is to valuable a piece of history and to great of a genre to leave out.

Lastly, I feel that "The Narrative of the Life of frederick Douglass" and "William Wells Brown" should be added to the curriculum of the high school English classes. They would show both a mental and physical journey from slavery to freedom and make it evident to our students just how bad slavery was. These narratives show the internal struggles of the enslaved and how much slavery effected families and even tore them apart. I hope this letter and the petition change your minds. Our children need this genre and we hope you see the importance.

Sincerely, Travis Douglass, Kate "Roo" Tubman, and Chanel Leopold Lincoln III.

entry 7

William Wells Brown uses a compilation of genres in order to compose and express his own life and experiences. This common technique used by many slave authors in fact became so popular and widely used that it became its own genre. The slave narrative genre became a conglomeration of the travel story, the adventure narrative, and the spiritual odyssey. Slave narratives were used to promote Africans as a race and exemplify that they were worthy of salvation through the church and therefore worthy of natural liberties granted to free white men.

Well known authors such as Olaudah Equiano drew parallels in his writing to emphasize the similarities between the trials faced by the Jews and the trials faced by his native people. While Wells Brown’s use of the spiritual odyssey characteristics were limited within his narrative, he references his faith multiple times in the preface and letters to and from friends regarding the publication and content of his narrative. On the other hand, Wells Brown’s entire narrative mirrors the travel story and adventure narrative. When he describes his first attempted escape, his trials within the institution of slavery, and his successful escape to the north; his stylistic strategies almost exactly parallel those of the adventure genre.

William Wills Brown uses various rhetorical strategies such as pathos, or emotional appeal, and ethos, or moral arguments, in order to achieve his purpose. Pathos is prevalent in his narrative through the use of imagery, passionate and complex syntax and diction, tone, and paradox. Use of complex syntax and diction throughout his narrative, not only adds depth to the arguments and points that he emphasizes, but it also gives legitimacy to his credibility as a slave who was civilized and educated. Writing was one of the most effective ways in that time period to establish legitimate education, so Wells Brown takes advantage of this standard by exploiting his rich vocabulary and fluid writing. He uses imagery to order to portray the cruelties that he and his fellow slaves experienced. The colorful language allows the reader to taste the actual feelings flowing through slaves when they were mistreated and abused. William Wells Brown takes on a serious tone thought out the narrative in order to emphasize the gravity of the feelings that resulted from the treatments he received. In addition to various strategies to achieve emotional appeal, Wells Brown also uses ethos in order to strengthen his argument. He appeals to the audience, arguing that his African brothers are no different than white men and therefore should be treated equally. He further strengthens his argument in various letters to friend where he used scripture and religious quotations to support his point.

Overall, William Wells Brown exploits rhetorical strategies in his narrative to emphasize the cruelties in slavery. His writing shows how even the people who try to remain unattached from the institution of slavery still become corrupted. His use of pathos and ethos allows the audience to empathize with his trials and feel the horrors that slavery encourages.

Entry 6 Continued ( Brief Timeline of 1840's)

1840 - Martin Van Buren is defeated for reelection by William Henry Harrison for President

1840- The population of the United States is 17,063,353

1841- The Supreme Court of the U.S. decided the ship Amistad, that the Africans who had wrested control of the ship, should be free.

1842- First Wagon party head out on the Orgeon Trail and Mexian troups invade San Antonio.

1843- Hawaii gains Independence

1844- Telegraph messages are now being sent and James K. Polk becomes President

1845- Sewing machine was invented, texas becomes a state, Manifest Destiny was endorsed by the president.

1846- Frederick Douglass's novel is gaining a lot of attention. Mexico and the USA are at war.

1847- War still wages on, first adhesive stamps are invtented, Mormons setlle Salt lake City.

1848- Zachary Taylor becomes President, a Congressman named Lincoln speaks out against the handling of the war with Mexico, and the 1st women's rights convention is held.

1849- The Department of the Interior is established. The first woman Doctor is recognized, and the Gold Rush to California goes into full swing.

entry 5

William Wells Brown's slave narrative goes into detail about his personal experiences and his escape from slavery. Reliving the story of his escape mirrors one of the commonly followed literary traditions within the slave narrative genre. He describes his struggle for freedom and the several attempts and hardships he had to go through to finally achieve independence. The struggle for independence is very important for slaves to portray in order to accurately depict the lives of slaves to the readers.

In contrast with other slave narratives that have been studied within the genre, William Wells Brown does not go into personal stories and experiences involving religion and Christian redemption. Brown completely fails to mention any form of spirituality in his short narrative, while other popular slave writers at the time, such as James Albert Gronniosaw, Old Elizabeth, and Lucy A. Delaney focus almost exclusively on the redemption aspect of their lives.

When compared stylistically, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass wrote fairly similar narratives. Keeping in mind that these narratives were all from different perspectives and all had their obvious differences, these three narratives were similar in the fact that they were all about their lives as slaves and their particular struggle and escape for freedom. At the time, novels such as these showed proslavery individuals how cruel and inhumane slavery was and how emancipation needed to be established. Narratives that were written and published about slavery but after emancipation were used to show how inequality still existed in the North and South while simultaneously giving a description of slavery.

Entry 6 -Historical Moment of the Narrative.

During the time in which this narrative was received, there was a lot happening in the United States of America. The Fugitive Slave Laws of 1793 were in effect and by the 1820's, they were a hot topic in Congress. Furthermore, The United States was expanding greatly. In the West, the country had acquired a vast amount of land from Mexico and a few other countries. Manifest Destiny, The Oregon Trail, and the California Gold Rush were all in full effect by the 1840's. Regarding slavery, and interesting case was the Amistad case of 1841. John Quincy Adams argued for a group of slaves that violently took over a cuban schooner and ended up off the coast of the U.S.A. The courts ruled in favor of the Africans and they returned home in 1842. Abolitionists and the Abolitionist movement saw this as a huge victory at the time. The 19th Century saw a vast expansion of land, but also a vast increase in abolitionists. Popular abolitionist works included "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" (1845) and "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," which was written by Harriet Jacobs. Plantation life for slaves during the 1840's was still common and though the slave trade had been abolished, slavery was still going strong. Beatings and atrocities were being carried out every day against blacks and life was extremely hard for slaves in the U.S.A. Other historical happenings of this time period include the US-Mexican War, the annexation of Texas, and earlier the Missouri Compromise directed much of the nations policy towards whether new states would be free or allowed to have slaves. Presidents of the 1840's included William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James Polk, and Zachary Taylor. Also, In the 1840's there were over 2 million slaves and this number grew to over 4 million by 1860!

Sources:

Freehoff, Francis. "War of 1812: Battle of the Thames."
Military History Magazine: October, 1996. Print.

Tise, Larry E. "Proslavery: A History of the Defense of Slavery in America"

University of Georgia Press. Athens, Georgia: 1987. Print.

Graham, W.H. "Review of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass."
New York Tribune,10 June 1845. docsouth.unc.edu: Accessed 19, Nov. 2009.