Final Blog post

                                                                                                    Final Blog Post

     For my final blog post of our semester together I wanted to do something different and almost review my semester as a whole and my most favorite information learned and interesting information we took in as a class through the semester. I started this class as a late starting class after having to drop a class early on in this semester and I’m glad it happened and I made the choice to attend this class through the fall semester. I learned a lot that I otherwise wouldn’t have regarding slavery and recent centuries and the development of us as a country. Everything from the blog posts to the podcast, to the lectures, everything was new and different and I appreciated the change of pace from typical classes that us students have taken for years. I noticed others were working on this project by a lot of graphs as well as our podcasts that we made with audacity so I tried something new by going with a almost reflection of some memorable weeks and interesting information we had learned I the process!

One of the first projects we did was apply our new learnings on how slaves were treated in our blog post number 2 so here’s my reflection on an early section of class. Now personally I have been taught similar lessons on slavery throughout high school so it wasn’t as much of a shock or surprise how they were treated and bargained back then. I found it very interesting that the north though they were changing and were applying more structure, they still had slavery in use through the culture. And the minor changes they were making were not enough to make much of a change at all. I found it intriguing that they would essentially trick slaved into a deal that would promise their freedom but as they arrived back they were fixed right back into slavery. At this point in our development of the class I was very intrigued in what I could learn on Abraham Lincoln keeping in mind that I had thought the whole time that he had a much larger impact on slavery and abolished slavery as a whole but I was mistaken. I found it Incredible, that a human live was worth less to them than a small cost for the slave. Very few were granted a life of freedom just due to the fact that they were promised an unrealistic release considering their life span was poor from the conditions they lived in. I also got the opportunity to read old messages from slaveholders as well as some stories from slaves and how they were treated. As I stated above they were endlessly tricked, agreeing to deals that the owner knew they wouldn’t have been able to meet their end of the bargain, giving them slavery for the entirety of their adulthood and life. Also found it interesting how the north imposed laws but they were so insignificant and so easily avoided that it really didn’t promote much help to slaves at the time. My question was ” when was the actual time and or law that legitimately abolished slavery” because as we had continued to read we learn that lincon’s emancipation proclamation didn’t have as much of an effect on slavery as it was taught, and as we learned about it. Though we hadn’t discussed the true abolishment of slavery yet in the class I was intrigued to learn more.

Another chapter of the semester so to speak I felt was blog post 3. We had the opportunity to look into documents, paintings and pictures of the slaves and others and it was very eye opening to me. Looking through the documents I picked two that I felt had the most weight to them. First being the painting of a woman removing chiggers. The painting pictured a black woman on her knees extracting a chigger from a white mans foot sitting on a stool. The chigger was a bug known for spreading disease and infection primarily starting by burrowing and laying eggs on foot. Now these infections can result in severe pain and discomfort, if not removed can result in festering wounds on feet and will spread to other parts of the body. There was risk to removing them as well, any open wounds to the woman removing the chigger could very easily receive the same infection which just goes to show how little they care for the black woman taking care of the man. I also am aware of the 2 men in the tavern watching the encounter happen, possibly they too have chiggers that need to be removed that they would like her to remove. So a dangerous operation to say the least dealing with what could be a terrible infection.

The next document that I had reviewed in blog post number 3 was a receipt. A receipt that showed the price for a mom and son being sold for less than what a phone costs today at 600$. It was heartbreaking seeing the value of them was sold for the same price as a couple pairs of shoes today. Absolutely remarkable the change. I found this image shocking. It’s definitive proof of the sale of humans and to me that was just repulsive. It shows the document and the agreement of the selling of the slaves as well as the now ownership of any kids she will have in the future.

I think my favorite blog post of the year was the blog post #7. Simply because I got to research the Abraham Lincolns top hat he always wore. I found the meaning behind him wearing the top hat so interesting I just had to write about it. One of the most influential and cultural changing people to America and the world. Something I found interesting to note and start with. Abraham Lincoln stood at 6 foot 4 inches making him our tallest president ever. Choosing to wear this top hat was  a way to stand out from others. Being that Lincoln was already 6 foot 4 inches, the nearly 8 inch hat had a crowd watching at all times standing at nearly 7 foot with the cap. He wore the hat at all times, during peace or war, informal or formal.“it had become the irrepressible symbol of prestige and authority.” as some say. Interesting story of the hat, during the the beginning of President Lincolns second term he was on a horseback traveling to a near by soldiers home. When a would be assassin fired a gun at Lincoln, the bullet passed straight through the top hat. This was told by many as a time that the top hat of Lincoln saved his life and I believe it. The top hat stood out to me instantly and I knew it was something I wanted to look into more and I am glad I go the chance to look into this more. The top hat ls an icon in itself and will live on as so.

So here it is, the end of a journey, end of first semester at college. I had to relieve the parts of the class that I enjoyed most and so that’s what I did. I covered most of what I wanted to and wanted to keep going but was getting high on word count. Mrs. Andrella made this class the most enjoyable and I loved the wide and vast variety of what was included. I got the opportunity to learn some information that I otherwise would never have and am excited to use it in the future. Thank you