Zinn chapter 2

In Zinn’s chapter about the color line his thesis reads, “In the English colonies, slavery developed quickly into a regular institution, into the normal labor relation of blacks and whites. With it developed that special racial feeling—whether hatred, or contempt, or pity, or patronization—that accompanied the inferior position of blacks in America for the next 350 years: that combination of inferior status and derogatory thought we call racism.” What he is saying is that in England during these times slavery turned into a common theme, a lot of people had slaves and it was not out of the ordinary to see them. And that they are the ones who developed racism because of the slave associations between blacks and whites.
The author truly has no argument in this chapter. He is just stating facts about how slavery began and why it began. He tells about how the blacks were the Englishmen’s second option as slaves, because the Indians were too dangerous to them. The Indians had the English out numbered and with the English having to come to the forests to try and find Indians, the Native Americans were better equipped and more experienced in fighting in the forests. So, the Englishmen knew all of this and did not mess with the Indians, instead they went to plan B which was the blacks. Shortly thereafter began slave trade. Countries shipped blacks who were shackled and chained to one another in a dark boat deck, many of the slaves who were being transported like this often died. Some died of suffocation, some killed others to try and stay alive, and some jumped off the boat and drown. In the later years of slavery the slaves became smarter. They began to team up against the slave owners and run away. The planters were intimidated by the slaves who rebelled against them and rarely would personally chase after them. Plantation owners tried to figure out a way to stop the slaves from happening mainly by sending each other letters warning them. If the slaves were caught they were either burnt, hanged, or executed.
The author says that in some cases white indentured servants were treated just as poorly as the black slaves were. Well, for some reason that is hard to believe. Mainly it is hard to believe because the planters saw black and white, not everyone is a slave. They would not treat a person of the same color as them the same way they did a person of different skin color. They knew they were different from the black slaves and the planters would treat them like they were.
I felt that this reading was nothing new to me. It was nothing that I haven’t heard before; I knew before that the slaves were badly mistreated and that they became slaves just because of the color of their skin. Slavery was a horrible thing and unfortunately it is the reason that racism still exists today. And in answering the question the author posed which was will racism ever end? I see the answer as being no because people treat others who don’t look like them differently.

Takaki Chapter 2

The author’s thesis is about how unfairly mistreated the Irish and the Native Americans were. They were treated poorly by the people of England. The English wanted to change how the Irish acted and were going to educate them on how to do so. His thesis about the Irish, “The English claimed that they had a God-given responsibility to inhabit and reform so barbarous a nation and to educate the Irish brutes. They would teach them to obey English laws and stop robbing and stealing and killing one another.” And the cruelty to the Indians continued. It gives graphic details about the cruel things that the English did to the Native Americans. It talks about how they poisoned there wine while trying to reach a peace treaty. And the part which states how a member of a tribe “ murdered his wife, ripped the child out of her womb and threw it into the river, and after chopped the mother in pieces and salted her for his food. The author is reiterating how badly these people were treated. They were not treated fairly and were murdered in huge numbers for no apparent reason. Is the author however, missing the bigger picture with this subject, is there a bigger problem than just with the Irish and the Native Americans? I think that the English were going to kill whoever however they wanted to get what they needed. They didn’t care if it was Irish, Native Americans, or anyone else. They were going to kill to get what they wanted. On a personal note, this is very disturbing to read about the things they did to these people. They never did anything wrong, yet the English treated them as if they did. I also was unaware of the number of people who died from diseases that the Europeans brought over. Hundreds and thousands died because of these diseases. This chapter really put into perspective how the English truly were.

Introduction

My name is Casey Frederick I am 19 years old. I go to Bowling Green State University, and I am a sophomore there. My major is Physical Education, so I hope to become a phys. ed teacher someday. I am from Strongsville, Ohio, a suburb about 20 minutes south of downtown Cleveland. My family is very important to me, I would not be the person that I am today without them. I am the youngest sibling in my family, so I have received a lot of help from my brother and my parents in my 19 years. I like to play basketball, golf, and softball. I also like to watch movies, and my favorite movie is Shooter with Mark Wahlberg.

zinn reading

Casey Frederick
Ethnics 101
Melissa Altman


The author of this article has strong feelings about how historians recreate history. The thesis of this article is “My point is not that we must, in telling history, accuse, judge, condemn Columbus in absentia. It is too late for that; it would be a useless scholarly exercise in morality. But the easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress.” In his thesis he is saying that Columbus had to create a vicious act to get them gold and spices he was looking for. And the author does not want to say that Columbus was wrong or he was right he is simply saying that he did what he had to do to get his job done. He was trying to make progress by exploring the Americas and bring back gold to his country, and in doing so had to kill the Arawaks.
However in Columbus’ defense I believe that the author is not giving Columbus a fair shake. Back in the 1400’s the way of life was extremely different, and if the author was in Columbus’ shoes would he do the same thing that Columbus did? Would he go to the extremes that Columbus did to get the gold and spice for his country, and do as his ruler asked of him? I believe that if the author lived in the time that Columbus did he would do the same thing that Columbus did. He would do whatever it took to do what he was asked. Whether that was to kill innocent people, or sail around the world for no reason, whatever he was told to do I believe he would do it.
The way that I looked at Christopher Columbus before I read this article and how I look at him now after I have read the article is completely different, just as the author had said the schools now do not tell the whole story. They tell the good side of Columbus. They tell how he sailed to the Americas and discovered all of this land, and brought back all this stuff for his country. But they do no tell how, they do not tell how he went about his business in bringing back gold and spice. It is shocking to read about the things that he had to do to get where he did, and get the materials that he needed for his country.