Journal Entry 10

In "The Wife of His Youth" and "Learning to Read" by Francis Harper both of these show the effects of reconstruction upon African American Society. Once the War was over and freedom was finally achieved for the former slaves, efforts were made to better their lives by many. In both of these stories reading lessons and education level play a key role. In "learning to read" it is about a lowly former slave with poor education who meets with teachers sent from New York to teach former slaves how to read, I believe many people in the south who were former Confederates and disapproved of Reconstructions notions called these kind of people "carpet-baggers" and "yankees". There was definetly conflicted feelings about the end of the War. In the Wife of His Youth" it is made clear the Mr. Ryder, a very well educated, successful, well-cultured former slave seeking the hand in marriage to a beautiful young woman, has a what they called a "slave-wife", and was married during slavery and has to battle with himself of if he should honor this slave marriage when his former wife, Ms. Liza Jane. He decides that he morally obligated to stay with this older woman who has seen many winters instead of this young beauty. This showed some generation differentiation here. Now Mr. Ryder, was Sam Taylor the born free slave, was much younger than Liza and you could tell from the introduction how well educated he had gotten since the end of the war, he became a leader in the community, played piano, read many books, memorized extensive poetry, and enjoyed "higher" life. Liza was an image straight out of slavery, she was a cook then and a cook now, she was a poor black travelling cook while she looked for her Sam. Instead of bettering herself like Mr. Ryder had done she spent her 25 years searching for him to fulfill the marriage they once had. Mr. Ryder saw this devotion to him and saw he had no choice, he must put aside marriage and the new life with the 25 year old beauty and honor his arrangement. He is trully an upstanding man who made the right choice, he did the right thing even though he would have been happier with the charade of a life he had created.

Journal Entry 9 The Contemporary Connection

    The connection I see is a new interest in technology, which i would put under political, education, and entertainment. Through use of technology we begin to see something, that really until now hasn't been seen; an American identity. Now that the Civil War is over and reconstruction has begun we begin to see new American pride through the installations of monuments like the Statue of Liberty in 1886, the Washington Monument in 1884, Carnegie Hall in 1891 which is now one of the world's most renowned music theaters. This shows the beginning to a new era, one in which America will make landmarks of which it can be proud of. We hold these today in high honor, we take our past and we are proud of it. We have come a long way in about 240 years, which is very young by the standards of the nations we are in competition with economically and politically as a world power. We are in similar economic trouble that many saw during Reconstruction now, many didnt have jobs and nation-wide panics spread, much like what is happening today on Wall Street. We begin to see entertainment begin to be a pursuit in America in 1902 with the first movie theater and in 1907 with the first radio broadcast. From this point on American music and cinema will dominate anything else made in the world. As of today still, no one competes with America in the entertainment business, and that is something I know I take for granted. We have very easy access to good movies and music at the click of a mouse. Also in this time period we will start to see the beginnings of WWI. This will shape for the rest of the modern world and the perspective of our country. We are now the imperialists, that world may have a negative connotation, but it isnt a bad thing to help other countries and stand up against oppression on the side of the little guy. WWI and from this point on will change everything about America; from what we see, how we function, and how our country ran. These are the times where America went through trial and error to determine how to become a good country, these are the times and experiences that made us who we are.