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Civil WarImprisonment in the Nation of Freedom: Andersonville and Camp Douglas.

Part 1: Concentration Camp and Prison Camp similarities

            Imagine being captured and sent to a prison camp in your own country where you were stripped of your humanity and treated as lesser of a person. Today, something like that would be considered unthinkable and inhumane. But during the Civil War, many of our nation's soldiers were confined in prison camps, often times left to die. Two well known and horrendous were Andersonville Prison and Camp Douglas. I didn’t know much about Civil War prison camps, other than both the Union and Confederacy had them. So, intrigued to learn more, I set out to answer my own question about what the conditions were like for the prisoners at Andersonville and Camp Douglas, and if one was worse than the other. I was already predicting that the conditions wouldn’t be pleasant, since they were the enemy’s prisoners in a time of war. I assumed that the prisoners would be subjected to harsh treatment by the guards, but wasn’t prepared for the shocking things I discovered while doing my research.

            This topic relates to class because we have been currently studying the Civil War. This topic has interested me because I recently read the book Night by Elie Wiesel in English class. It is a biography that tells the story of Elie who was deported to a Nazi concentration camp for being Jewish. I wanted to see what similarities and differences I would find between Civil War prison camps and Nazi concentration camps.

"Who is Abdul Rahman, the Prince Among Slaves?"

Captured out of Paradise:

Abdul Rahman, an African Prince from Futa Jallon, was the son of a powerful African King. He was given command of two-thousand men at the young age of twenty-six; where he and his men defeated the enemies of his people. One day in the forest, Rahman and his men were ambushed by rivals, where they were shot down like flies. Captured and bound, Rahman and the remainder of his men were dragged one-hundred miles and sold to English slave traders; where they would say goodbye to the countless mountains and valleys of their homeland.

Shorn of Dignity and Nobility:

After a rough voyage across the sea and facing horrible living conditions, Rahman along with several other Africans, arrived in the America's. Where they were unloaded just like all the other goods and merchandise to be bought. Rahman was sold to a man by the name of Thomas Foster, who was looking to earn a living in Mississippi. Foster, who didn't even realize that his new slave was an actual prince, goes and cuts Abdul's long hair, a sign of nobility that many would rather die than part with. Having enough of this cruel, unjust treatment, Abdul makes a run for it and tries to escape. Several weeks later, a starving Abdul realizes that getting home to Africa is virtually impossible, and returns to Fosters plantation. 

False Happiness:

After sort of resigning himself to a life of slavery, Abdul profits Thomas Foster greatly from his knowledge of the crop cotton. Rahman becomes an overseer of the other slaves on the plantation, where he remarries and has 9 more children, his other wife and child still in Africa. One day while selling his own crops from his garden, Abdul runs into a man named John Cox. Cox having been helped by Rahman's people, tries greatly to show his gratitude by buying Abdul his freedom. But Foster wouldn't sell "prince" for any sum of money. Abdul was living as normally as one could in slavery, he was married and had children as well as friends, and even his own crops to sell. But one day, after finding out about his daughter getting raped by Thomas Foster Jr., Abdul realized that his family was in a horrible situation. If something were to happen to Thomas Foster, his family would be split up like property, and all Abdul had been working for would be destroyed.

 Short-lived freedom:

 A man by the name of Andrew Marschalk had a printing press, and wrote about Abduls story, which gained a lot of publicity. After forty years of slavery, Abdul who was now in his sixties, was finally set free after not being much of profit to Foster anymore. But under certain conditions, Abdul had to leave the Country and go back to Africa. Abdul then went on a journey up north to campaign money to free his family from slavery. President John Quincy Adams at first was willing to pay the funds for his families freedom to benefit America's relationship with Morocco, until he realized that Rahman was from Africa. Abdul also worked with the American Colonization Society to gain freedom for his family. But in the end he was only able to buy his wife. Abdul and his wife then set off on their journey to Africa, but they only made it to Liberia. After spending a couple months there, Abdul fell ill and died, before ever reuniting with his family.

Citations:

Prince Among Slaves. Dir Bill Duke & Andrea Kalin. PBS. 2008

"Prince Among Slaves - UPF (Unity Productions Foundation)." Unity Productions Foundation. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. <http://www.upf.tv/films/prince-among-slaves/>.

Should Jackson be replaced on the twenty dollar bill?

The privilege to be put on US money is held for a very few select people. Normally deceased American heroes and founding fathers of our nation. Andrew Jackson, the seventh president, is on our twenty dollar bill, and is regarded as a hero. But should he really be on there? Old Hickory was born on March 15, 1767 and died in June 8, 1845, he was elected into office by popular vote of the people and is regarded as a hero for the common man. But Jackson wasn't really as democratic as some people might think, and could even be regarded as King Andrew I. Andrew Jackson, a national hero, was born in a backwoods settlement in the Carolina's. Jackson would sometimes get into brawls and once killed a man in a duel, even so, Jackson was a well-liked man that people rallied around. Andrew Jackson was also to be considered as a war hero, fighting in the war of 1812. As well as defending at the battle of New Orleans. Common white men were big supporter of him, as he extended suffrage for them. Though president Jackson was also a big slave owner, which makes you wonder just how democratic was he? The only people who got a say were white men. Leaving over half the population as underclass citizens. Patronage, or the spoils system, is the practice of giving jobs to political supporters as a reward. This system, which is illegal and thought to be highly undemocratic today. Though president Jackson denied to take part in it, there is substantial evidence and proof that he did. Jackson appointed Swartwout, a criminal, as a tax collector in a government job. Swartwout was an early supporter of Jackson's cause and people hated him, yet Jackson gave him the job. Which ended up having 1.2 million dollars stolen. The main reason that Andrew Jackson doesn't deserve to be on the twenty dollar bill would be his unjust, illegal, and cruel displacement of the Native Americans. President Andrew Jackson disregarded the supreme courts ruling and had thousands of Native Americans march onto reservations so that they could use the rich land for settlement and gold mining. Thousands of Native Americans died while on the trail of tears and they despised him. So President Jackson doesn't deserve to his spot on the 20 dollar bill. He was undemocratic, only supporting white men, unfairly gave hundreds of job positions to his supporters in patronage, as well as owning slaves, and inhumanely relocating thousands of Native Americans. Many other U.S figures could deserve this place a lot more than Jackson. Andrew Jackson didn't even abide by some the laws, as he completely ignored commands and court rulings.

Revolutions of 1830 & 1848

The revolutions of 1830 & 1848 weren't really failures as historians have concluded them to be, and should receive some credit for progress in the long struggle toward greater democracy. Three key revolutions that should be mentioned in showing progress were…


1. The Belgium Revolution of 1830 : Belgians wanted to gain independence from Holland, teachers and workers barricaded the capitol of Holland in protest for their independence. This revolution was very successful as they gained exactly what they wanted, their independence. So this revolution was in no was a failure.


2. The Polish Revolution of 1838: Poland was divided up by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and after the Congress of Vienna Poland revolted to gain independence mainly from Russia. Poland did gain their independence for a couple of months before Russia regained control. This revolution wasn't a total failure, their independence did last a couple months, and it inspired other nations to gain independence as well.


3. Hungary Revolution of 1848:  Hungary wanted independence from Austria. After Hungary revolted Austria agreed to reforms, but it was short lived as Austrians then crushed the rebels and regained control. Even though Hungary didn't gain independence, the revolution wasn't a total failure, their was a short period of time with reforms, and it inspired other nations to rebel as well.

Socratic Seminar: Child Labor Reflection

In today's class we had a socratic seminar on the topic of child labor, the key question we discussed was, would you or would you not buy products made by child labor? Some points that I brought to the discussion was the demographic, that 90% of children involved in domestic labor are girls. This shows that less prominent child labor is prejudice towards females roles in developing countries. Another point I brought to the discussion was that some children were actually willing to participate in child labor. Some children whose families live in poverty, are willing to work in less that okay conditions to help support their families. One more point that I brought to the discussion was when I mentioned that employers don't provide the children with proper safety equipment because they only care about making money, and buying equipment would also cost money.

During the discussion, other classmates brought up a lot of influential and important points as well. One point that was mentioned was the fact that a person could make around twenty dollars verses a child laborer who makes less that two dollars doing the same job. Another point that a student brought up  in the discussion was that children are still being bought like slaves today. One more point a student brought up was that even if you didn't want to buy products made by child labor, it's almost too hard to avoid it, you can't just check every little thing you're about to buy to see if it was made by child labor.

My overall assessment on what our group did well on would be asking interesting and thoughtful questions. Another thing our group did well on was allowing everyone the chance to share their thoughts. Two things we can improve upon next time, would be time management, and speaking up. I felt like we were a little rushed near the end, if we moved along the questions more efficiently we could've gotten more in. During the discussion, I sometimes had a little trouble hearing the other side of the room talking and discussing.

Scavenger Hunt Reflection

In Computer Apps. class today, we did an online scavenger hunt. One of my strengths when conducting searches is what to enter into the search bar to come up with the best responses. Two areas that I could improve in would be, time management and reputable websites. I normally take too long to search for one thing, and then waste time on clicking on sites that don't have the right answer.

The Numbers Have It: Statistics of Early Industrial Revolution

In History Class, we were given some statistics relating to the Industrial Revolution. Then we had to convert that information into a graph and explain how exactly it related to the Industrial Revolution.

The population of British people living in London between 1800-1851 increased by thirty-percent. In year 1800 twenty-percent of British people lived in London, and in year 1851 fifty-percent of British people lived in London. This change could indicate the rise of industrial revolution. More people would live in cities where there are more factories, which create more jobs.