Gone With the Wind

    Before our class partook in watching Gone with The Wind, I had never heard of the award-winning film. For myself, I am not one to enjoy older films with the plot that this incredible film portrays. Upon watching the movie, I felt engulfed in the tragic storyline that is displayed. Directed by Victor Fleming, the tale of romance at the height of the Civil War into the Reconstruction era in the Deep South. The romantic tale focuses on Scarlett O'Hara, a stereotypical Southern belle, who changes her ways in the face of adversity from the terrors of the war. Due to destruction, death, economic hardships, and the many other tragedies of the war, Scarlett adapts to a new life embodied by loss resulting in her learning to be resilient and forget her past archetype. 

    I believe that women like Scarlett, reserved and accustomed to a Southern Belle lifestyle, were allowed to change their ways and act more independently. Everyone had to play a role in the war and women had to fulfill the roles of men as they all left to go fight. This has happened in other wars as well, specifically, the two World Wars fought after the Civil War, in which women grew to be more independent and displayed how they were able to hold their own without male presence.

    Aside from Scarlett, Rhett Butler plays a crucial role in the film as he strongly opposes the Confederacy and refuses to fight in the war. This was an extremely unpopular belief at the time as many were volunteering to fight in both the Union and Confederacy. Rhett, in the meantime, chose to profit off the war by moving supplies, trading, and adapting to the changing market. I believe Rhett choosing to profit off the war instead of fighting was the right decision. He did not believe in the values and ideas of the Confederacy and while it may seem to others he is scared or acting cowardly, he stood up for his own beliefs. In turn, Rhett made quite a profit from his decision and work which benefits his family and his lover, Scarlett. 

    Rhett's situation is not unusual, many choose to stay back and avoid putting their lives at risk and instead benefit from the war financially. This is true for the Civil War, along with the other major wars across the globe as wartime is very fluctuating and demanding for supplies and trade. Everyone needs to find a way to survive during a war and this is how Rhett found his way to survive and improve life for him and his family. 

    In terms of Gone with the Wind, the plot describes life in the South to be one of tragedy, conflict, and violence. However, there are other themes displayed throughout the movie apart from those with a more devastating connotation. For instance, the romantic side of the South in the 1800s is shown in the relationship between Scarlett and Rhett. Theirconnection displayed in the film is one of beauty but like the plot of the movie, does not end with a happy ending. Their marriage starts to deteriorate just as the minds and lives of the characters throughout the film deteriorate as well. Another theme is the distinction of life in the South between social classes. The southern economy was solely focused on slavery and the rich white male slave owners ruled the upper class while freedmen and non slave owners were designated as middle class. Which left slaves and others in poverty the lower class which Gone with the Wind exposes through the course of the film. 

    I believe the filmmakers of Gone with the Wind fictionalized the story to add suspense and build a more attention-grabbing plot for the audience. While the plot itself most likely is a story that was never true, I believe that it was a possible outcome for a family in the South in the Civil War era. This means that parts of the truth must have been added to the plot to convince the audience, including myself, that the story could not possibly be complete fiction. The Civil War itself was a tragedy and held years of death and horrible times, but there is no possibility it was devastating for every family across the South. While Gone with the Wind is a tragic tale and does include devastation, there are notes of happiness and peace in the film potentially highlighting families in the South that continued their rich, happy lives during the war. Therefore, I deem the story to be believable even if the plot seems heavily detailed and suspenseful. 

Town Hall Reax.

   

Today, gathered in the Town Hall were the great abolitionists of slavery from the 1800s. Stories of many were heard, and the tales of each member were told from their childhood up until the end of their work in the fight against slavery. Today, we have legends of abolishment such as Nat Turner, John Brown, John Quincy Adams, and several others. In a few of the stories told today, a handful of people pointed out their values and ideas of the institution of slavery. With a few members being former slaves, they had a strong hatred for slavery and a motive to end it due to the terror and pain caused to them. For instance, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper described slavery as a moral cancer. Harper was born into a free African American family, yet fought nearly her entire adult life for equal rights for African Americans and women as well. Harper fought through her writing and words in her published abolitionist poems and short stories.

    Shifting to former slaves, we had Sorjouner Truth tell her story at the Town Hall meeting of her life while in slavery and also after she was rewarded with her freedom. Truth, a well-established follower of God, was born Isabella Baumfree to slaves who she was then sold away from her family soon after. When she was twenty-nine, she escaped from slavery with her infant daughter. Soon after, she changed her name by the grace of God to the well-known name of Sojourner Truth. She then began her work as a preacher and spread her faith across the land while also working to fight for women's suffrage as well. 

Next, Elizabeth Buffman Chace took the chance to describe the course of her life. She was born into a Quaker family and was inspired by her father, Andrew Chace the first president of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, to work as an abolitionist. After her work was complete once slavery was abolished, Chace turned her efforts to work for the fight for women's suffrage like many others who we hear from today. 

Following, we had Abby Kelley Foster, the former secretary of the Female Anti-Slavery Society and also the founder of the Millbury Anti-Slavery Society. Foster lived her life by the motto "Go where least wanted, for there you are most needed." Strong words to live by as Foster dedicated her life to the fight against slavery and also in support of women's suffrage. She even quit her job as a teacher to work full time in her efforts, displaying her determination and dedication to the causes. 

    Finally, we had Henry Walton Bibb, a former slave who escaped to Canada in 1842. Bibb stated that "no tongue or pen has explained and experienced the horrors of slavery." These words were deemed to be very powerful as Bibb himself had experienced these horrors in the many years he lived as a slave. After his escape, Bibb was a man of the escaped slaves as he took them into his homes and settlements in Canada to provide for them until they could start their own lives. Bibb published a story on his life in slavery and his escape in 1849 to highlight how painful and terrorizing slavery was for not just him, but the millions that experienced those terrors as well. 

EOTO #1 Reax.

    Today we heard both sides of the Founding Era and how it advanced and fought against slavery. As expected due to the constant fight that slavery was back in the 1800s, there are several key events and other factors that played pivotal roles for and against slavery—starting with the events that supported slavery and helped it continue its control and power in the new United States of America. The Nullification Crisis is deemed as the start of the tensions between the North and the South. With tariffs being placed on the southern states along with military force being enacted on these states to avoid conflict, only the opposite of these goals was achieved. Southern states were irate by these restrictions and started to threaten secession from the nation. Next, the Fugitive Slave Act, as part of the Compromise of 1850, mandated that escaped slaves be returned to their owners. This regulation displayed the government's commitment to upholding slavery which only further divided the Northern free states and the Southern slave states.  

    Next was Bleeding Kansas, the violence sparked by John Brown and his belief that the fight against slavery was a "holy war" and how a compromise was unattainable between the North and South over slavery. Bleeding Kansas itself, was the repeated attacks from both pro and anti-slavery forces after the formation of Kansas as a new territory of the United States. After the events in Kanas, we have the establishing attack of the Civil War with the Southern attack of Ft. Sumter. Up until this point, six states had already seceded from the Union and a civil war was already inevitable. However, on April 12th, 1861, the Confederates fired and charged towards the Union's fort right off the South Carolina coastline. 

    Now changing sides to the events and factors that fought against slavery, first highlighted was the Underground Railroad. As known many heroic people served in the Underground Railroad such as Harriett Tubman, Frederick Douglass, William Still, and many others. These leaders of the long trails of tunnels, homes, and other forms of transportation that were coined with the railroad term, put their lives in danger to save thousands of lives from the tragedies and horrors of slavery. Another way that slavery was pushed against was the anti-slavery newspapers such as The Liberator and The North Star founded by Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. These newspapers targeted the negatives of slavery and highlighted the terrors over the years before, during, and after the Civil War to push for emancipation and rights for slaves. 

    Next, there are the slave uprisings and rebellions, especially Nat Turner and Touissant L'Overture and their respective led rebellions. Turner, by the belief in God, worked to free those enslaved and with her seventy-five followers rebelled against the white slave owners but were caught and sentenced to be hung. However, her actions led to several slave rebellions across the southern land. Meanwhile, in Haiti, down in Saint Domingue, Touissant L'Overture was starting his rebellion with his fellow slaves against the French. L'Overture and the Haitian slaves ended up being victorious in their rebellion leading to the independence of Haiti from French rule in 1804. Finally, there was the abolishment of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, a route that moved over twelve million Africans to the Americas for the sole purpose of working as slaves. After four hundred years, the United States finally abolished the importation of slaves in 1808 ending the Slave Trade once and for all. 

EOTO #2

    As the Civil War started to dwindle, President Lincoln gave his utmost effort to piecing the United States back together, and he saw Louisiana as a valuable stepping stone to bringing the nation together. The Louisiana government passed a law in 1864 to abolish slavery, however, it did not grant African American residents of the state the right to vote. Lincoln never saw the enactment of his plan for Louisiana, as just days after the surrender of the Confederacy to end the Civil War, he was infamously assassinated.

    After Lincoln’s death, the southern states continued pressure to make life a living hell for African Americans. There were riots across the South, with one in Memphis sparking tensions to an all-time high. In Memphis, police officers, who were joined by many other white citizens, rioted against the African Americans of the town, resulting in over forty deaths and the destruction of homes and churches of the African Americans. This destruction and death, known as the Memphis Riot of 1866, developed after the formation of the Ku Klux Klan in Tennessee that same year. 

    Prior to this deadly riot, down in New Orleans, there was a push in the 1864 Constitutional Convention to fight for freedmen and establish a set and protected life for them with rights. The freedmen believed they could gather to fight for their rights peacefully and respectfully. However, the ex-Confederates saw no peace in the ways of the freedmen, leading to all hell breaking loose a few years after. 

    On July 30th,1866 a gathering was taking place as freedmen, most of who were veterans of the Civil War, were together to try and eradicate the ex-Confederates and create a just life for the freed and colored residents of Louisiana. However, New Orleans Sheriff Harry T. Hays and his men started to fire into the crowd, mostly at the Black mob. The Confederates had a word to say and pushed back against the gathering, which escalated into fights and violence. New Orleans Sheriff Harry T. Hays and his men started to fire into the crowd, mostly at the Black mob. This resulted in the deaths of thirty-eight people, with thirty-four of them being black. This was an attack against the freedmen of New Orleans who fought for their freedom and rights by serving in the military or powering through the evilness of slavery.  

     In terms of Reconstruction, the riot in New Orleans played a pivotal role in displaying how far away the former Union and Confederacy were from coexisting in total peace. In terms of Reconstruction, the riot in New Orleans played a pivotal role in displaying how far away the former Union and Confederacy were from coexisting in total peace. The riots occurred just a year after the surrender of the Confederacy, and yet bloodshed and violence remained the go-to solutions for any conflict that arose. This event highlighted the deep-seated animosities that persisted even after the end of the Civil War. 

    Reconstruction was still a matter of key concern and was an extreme distance away from being resolved. The struggle for civil rights and the reintegration of Southern states into the Union further complicated the landscape, making it evident that significant social and political changes were still necessary to achieve true harmony. 

Mock Trial State v. Mann

    When discussing the case of State v. Mann, ethics are an essential topic of discussion concerning the case. To start it off, the term utilitarianism comes into play here, as it is defined as the doctrine that actions are right if they benefit the majority. Immediately, slavery has a deep connection to utilitarianism as it is an institution that benefits the majority of the American economy, white rich slave owners. As these slave owners prosper from the work of their "property," the slaves who work tirelessly day and night are rewarded with harsh living and working conditions and are treated like they are nothing. In my eyes, the human spirit is the human spirit, whether you are deemed property or a citizen of our nation. Regarding State v. Mann, Lydia was a humble slave who was owned by Josiah Small, who lent her to John Mann as a rental. She had lived a poor life, as slaves stated before, working in the fields of a plantation for countless hours each day with no repayment for her grueling work. One day, Lydia had enough of her poor lifestyle and attempted to escape from Mann's plantation. Upon finding her attempting to run away, Mann fired his gun at Lydia and shot her in the back. 

    Mann's decision to fire a slave who was not under his ownership is where ethics come into play again in this case. Slaves had attempted to escape for years until this point and had been shot, branded, and among other forms of punishment for their actions. However, these past slaves were punished by their rightful owners, who had the jurisdiction to act however they pleased on their property. John Mann endangered the life of not just a fellow human, but one that was not his to be punished the horrendous way Lydia was. The only person who was entitled to punishing Lydia was her rightful owner, Josiah Small, not John Mann. 

    

Apart from the treatment of slaves, especially Lydia, there is another ethical side to the story. Slavery as a whole is an extremely popular way to farm crops here in the United States. However, there are several economic downsides to the use of a human to farm mass amounts of crops. There is the excess of time it takes for a human to farm crops and do the job meant for an animal or the invention of a machine to do so. We have wasted years of technological innovation by relying on slaves to do this work. Along with that, with mass farming, plantation owners have fewer crops to grow and sell due to over-farming and the destruction of the soil used to grow the crops. In turn, this has hurt the economy as slavery is seen as a positive to the American economy with crops being sold in a short-term way rather than a long-term way. 

    With over-farming damaging the economy, the rich white slave owners are only benefiting as they are selling crops with no tax or potential loss of profit from the free labor being exercised. With slavery growing in popularity in America, more and more slaves are being shipped to the mainland from foreign countries, growing the lower class. Simultaneously, the upper class grows in strength with all the money of slavery going to the rich, there is no buildup of the middle class in society. In a sense, the rich get richer and the poor get even more poor. This is a recipe for disaster for our nation, and it all stems from the ethics of slavery, especially the ethics of the case of State v. Mann. A change needs to be made here in our bleeding nation—an ethical change to save society from failure.