Difference between revisions of "328--Week 2 Questions/Comments"
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I found it interesting that during the Reconstruction Era while men and women who had been slaves focused on finding the families that they had been separated from the white society surrounding these families found something wrong with the fact the black community latched onto the families they had around them. It seemed odd that they would have such a negative view on the fact that these people had such a strong desire to help out family members or even simply other people who experienced the difficulties of slavery with them. I would have thought that this would have been something that would have been admired instead of mocked. They were helping others out which was something that I had understood was the duty of any Christian, especially during this time period where the majority of the nation was Christian. Was it simply because they were a different skin color than them? Or was it because many white people during this period were so focused on improving their lot in life that they couldn't have cared less about how the others were doing? - Elizabeth Frank | I found it interesting that during the Reconstruction Era while men and women who had been slaves focused on finding the families that they had been separated from the white society surrounding these families found something wrong with the fact the black community latched onto the families they had around them. It seemed odd that they would have such a negative view on the fact that these people had such a strong desire to help out family members or even simply other people who experienced the difficulties of slavery with them. I would have thought that this would have been something that would have been admired instead of mocked. They were helping others out which was something that I had understood was the duty of any Christian, especially during this time period where the majority of the nation was Christian. Was it simply because they were a different skin color than them? Or was it because many white people during this period were so focused on improving their lot in life that they couldn't have cared less about how the others were doing? - Elizabeth Frank | ||
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| + | The reading described something called collective responsibility, a characteristic of the 19th century southern African American community. Collective responsibility is described as the community recognizing that every man and woman was responsible for one another - that their success as freedmen depended on the community's ability to ban together. African Americans viewed kinship very differently from white Americans. To blacks, family did not just end with immediate blood lines, but something that was accrued through common hardship. It is a cultural norm, even today, in the black community to call one another "brother" and "sister." ~Juliann Boyles | ||
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| + | Something else that I thought was very telling of American society was the author's remark on the white reaction to the generous nature of the African American community. In a very capitalist driven society, based on the free labor ideology, many are incapable of understanding why someone would purposefully hold themselves back from accumulating more wealth. It is ingrained in our heads as Americans that the harder we work, the more money we will make, and the more success and fulfillment we will achieve. The idea of collective responsibility did not, and still does not fit with the American dream. I wish it did, for we are all connected to one another. No one person is a complete independent actor. ~Juliann Boyles | ||
I enjoyed reading how although the black women in communities were denied the right to actually cast a vote in elections they still made their political opinions known. I especially enjoyed reading that these women would threaten their husbands in order to insure they voted in a way that represented not only his opinions but also hers as well! - Elizabeth Frank | I enjoyed reading how although the black women in communities were denied the right to actually cast a vote in elections they still made their political opinions known. I especially enjoyed reading that these women would threaten their husbands in order to insure they voted in a way that represented not only his opinions but also hers as well! - Elizabeth Frank | ||
