Between the World and Me

When i read this passage, I thought it was a little disturbing. It is a very dark poem that made me feel bad and wrong about myself. It almost made me feel as if I was a very dark person who thought pessimistically about everything, including life itself. Throughout reading this, I realized that people in life do think this way about life and it made me almost feel bad for them and what they must be going through in life to think this way. Having to die the way that the person died in this passage would be one of the most terrible ways to die. My overall thinking of this passage is that this person must be going through a dark time with events and life itself.

By Matthew Regan

Between the World and Me Response

I think the poem is from the point of view of a slave. This is supported by when it says: "stripped me", and when they "bound me to the sapling". I think they tar and feather him and set him on fire. It says "my skin clung to the bubbling tar". This poem is awful. It disgusts me and makes my stomach roll. I don't like this poem at all.

Fiona S. Lyons

Between the World and Me by Richard Wright Response

This poem has a lot to say in my opinion. It tells of how black people were treated in the 1930’s time period. The time period of To Kill a Mockingbird because this is probably what will be mentioned in the book. This time period isn’t really one that I am really familiar with but I still know a little.

Granddaughters Sled a Russian Tale
This story I think connects with the time period of To Kill a Mockingbird because in this story the society that they live in believe that elderly people are useless and can do nothing but once that type of person does that helps everyone else or even saves their lives then all of a sudden they are respected and revered, and most importantly not left in the middle of a forest to die.

I thought the beginning of Grandfather’s Sled was strange, because I thought that older people were respected in the past even more than now, but then I realized it was a story told for people to understand why older people should be respected. I don’t think it was fair that the father in this story was going to leave the grandfather in the woods, because even if someone can’t help you they should still be taken care of. At the end of the story the grandfather’s wisdom ended up helping them, which was to show that elderly people are wise and should be respected. This story relates to To Kill A Mockingbird because during that time period people respected older people more than they do now, a tradition that has started to go away.

Separate Facilities? No way.

This picture of the separate water fountains really really really annoys me. The fact that something as public as a water fountain was separated based on race is just gross. It is not like being black or white was contagious so water fountains had to be separated or anything. It was simple racial prejudice. Also, the fountain is a whites only fountain, and is not really of the best quality, so you can only imagine the quality of the blacks only fountain. Everything that was for blacks was of an insanely less quality than anything for whites only. The fact that things like entrances and water fountains and restrooms were separated entirely and completely from racial bias is astoundingly stupid to me.

Rosewood Massacre

The Rosewood Massacre was a very sad event in our country’s history. White people went out of their way to hunt down black people and completely destroyed the entire town of Rosewood. It’s events like these that I wish someone had put a warning poster on immigrant ships that said “Yes we’re the land of opportunity, but God help you if you piss us off because we will kill you.” It hasn’t even been a hundred years since the Rosewood Massacre; there are probably still people alive who lived at the same time. The first thing wrong with the entire killing was that the town was primarily black; different races shouldn’t have to live isolated from the rest of the population. Secondly, that six people had to die because of a rumor, not even a proven crime. Think of how many people have died in the Iraq War, because of a rumor that they were holding massive weapons of destruction. They say history repeats itself, but it seems to me that we just keep making the same mistakes again and again.

Centers

The World and Me

I believe this poem is about civil rights. I think this because in the poem there are stanzas about a black man being beaten, tarred and feathered by a group of people. I think that the poem definitely describes the time from the point of view of a victim of the unfairness of the time. I really like this poem because it is about a time period in history and I love history. Reading this poem was kind of sad though because of the content and how the treatment of the blacks.

Granddaughter’s Sled

This story I think applies with the time period of To Kill a Mockingbird because of the older folk being revered and respected. In this story an old man that should be dead helps to save the land from famine and therefore changes the way his age group is thought of. I think that it’s going to apply to this book because a certain adult in the main characters life is going to be held in a certain place in someone’s life or in the life of a large group of people.

Water Fountain

In this photograph there is a water fountain with a whites only sign underneath. In my opinion the separate water fountains is one of the most typical and well known stories or thoughts regarding civil rights and segregation. If you are told give one example of segregation my mind would automatically go to water fountain. I think that the fact that segregation went so far as to separate drinking fountains is very powerful. People were so prejudiced that they wouldn't even drink from the same fountain.

Separate Entrances

The fact that people needed separate entrances to restaurants and other buildings in the 1930's is also a very powerful and mind blowing thought. To actually think that people were unsatisfied with the way there town was to go as far as different entrances for people that just have different skin color is bizarre. Between all of these things it seemed that the whites were at their own war with the blacks and were trying everything in their power to get rid of them.

Rosewood

The rosewood massacre was a terrible thing and should have been avoided. The fact that many innocent people lost their lives in such a brutal way is disgusting. Because one women was possibly beaten and maybe raped by a black man everyone threw themselves into panic and made rash decisions in their fear and their want for justice and in short to take matters into their own hands. Well they did, and they did it in a horrible way possible. to run an entire towns populace away and to kill many of them during this is not a way to bring about justice. the authorities are there for a reason. granted they didn't help the beatings and murders at rosewood it is technically their job to deal with these problems.

Simon Wiesenthal

In the middle of civil rights in America, WWII was beginning. African Americans weren't the only ones being ill treated as a minority, the Jews were too. One Jewish man, Simon Wiesenthal survived the death camps and lived to tell his story. He lived through witnessing the murder of Jews and the separation of his wife and the death of many of his family members.

Cultural Background

Personally I love the entertainment of the 1930's. Clark Gable as Rhett Butler is one of my favorite things to watch, and arguing about Errol Flynn in Robin Hood versus Jonas Armstrong as Robin Hood is also a favorite pastime of mine. I think that the 1930's contributed a lot to the area of cinema and entertainment. I also believe that the impact these actors had lasted for years and effect the way some actors are now and how they go about their profession.

Field Pic

This picture really shows how horrible some aspects of the 30's were. The fact that the ground was so dry that it started to crack like that is sad and it really shows that people were not well off. The depression affected people in many different ways and it was all in cause and effect. Once the farmers couldn't harvest any crops then food got pricier and harder to come by. This picture also shows how hard people worked to try to continue doing what they always did.

Dorothea Lange tent pic

This picture also depicts a part of the great depression. The fact that so many people didn't have homes and were living in places like this is sad. The looks on their faces make you feel sad and wish that everything that happened then didn't. The desolate field in the background is also very morose and depressing. Entire families having to live like that because of the great depression is unbelievable and not many people can really relate to how that is and how it feels to not know if your next meal is going to come or whether or not there will be any money coming in.

Dorothea Lange

This picture looks like it is of the same family that the previous picture was. The little baby, the mother and the other child standing there dirty and skinny with just a few sparse objects is heart wrenching and makes you really wonder how people muddled through the depression of the 1930's. The things that they had to go through we wouldn't be able to even comprehend.

We Cater to White Trade

This picture goes back with the other pictures earlier and how unbelievable some people used to be. Even business owners were prejudiced against blacks. They went so far as to make their feelings public, and to lose good business because of what was commonly believed. Some of this dis allowance could have probably been caused in part of public opinion and people not wanting to sit next to blacks. But the idea that public restaurants wouldn't allow blacks into their facility is mind boggling.