History 1302
Alex Smith
February 3, 2009
Reaction Paper #1 The day is over, and just in time. I am extremely exhausted from all of the plowing out in the summer’s heat. It’s getting to me and I know it is unfair that my family and I must endure this type of work and lifestyle. I can’t make enough money to support us but I have no choice but to keep this job. I can’t find any place else willing to hire me so if I leave this place I am subject to a fine of up to fifty dollars as well as up to ten days in jail. That will leave me in a worse situation than I am in now. I find it especially cruel that I am unable to leave my job at anytime I choose. If I do so, the boss is able to keep the money I have earned for that year and I receive nothing. I don’t feel like a freedman, I feel like the slave that I was before. I strongly agree with the views of Frederick Douglas. The color of anyone’s skin shouldn’t reflect their quality of life. A man, whether he is Asian, black or white, should be treated equally well despite his skin color. Racial equality is being brought to the attention of people everywhere. Although Douglas is focused on Asian-American rights, he is still sort of helping us in a way. I am extremely happy to know that someone the same race as myself is having a strong impact on the white men. Robert Elliot has been elected to the House of Representatives twice and was elected as a delegate to South Carolina’s constitutional convention of 1868. He has fought for the civil rights we should be granted and believed reconstruction had brought them but after the rights were granted to us they were quickly taken away.
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