No More Peck 'o Corn

3. Why wasn't Fredrick Douglass aloud to read? 

When Fredrick first joined the Alud household, he developed a strong desire to read and Sophia Alud taught him. When Sophia told her husband about how far along Fredrick was coming he got mad at her and said, "Learning will spoil the best ****** in the world". Slave owners liked to keep their slaves uneducated because with education could come resistance. "To make a contented slave, you must make a thoughtless one... He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery," explained Fredrick. For a slave to be submissive to their owner, they have to make them think that being a slave is all they ever will be and that's okay.

4. Why were the slaves viewed as child like?

Blacks were thought of as immature, indolent, good-for-nothing, simply unfit, naturally lazy and childlike. They were never referred to as men or women, always boys and girls.  These stereotypes were linked back to the assumptions that blacks were intellectually inferior to whites. "Evidence" of blacks inferior intelligence was supported by the research of Dr. Samuel Morton who measured the cranial capacities of the skulls of whites and blacks. The whites were bigger so they thought that they were more intelligent.

5. What is the difference between how southern and northern blacks were treated?
Southern blacks were almost always slaves that were treated inhumanly by their owners. They worked sunrise to sunset (sometimes longer), they were beaten and that the slaves were brainwashed into thinking that they were racially inferior to whites. In the north, whites were racist towards blacks and a lot of the time blacks couldn't find jobs because people didn't want black people working there. Even though slavery wasn't allowed in the north, blacks were still considered inferior to whites and it was very hard for them to live there

Assimilation/Resistance

1. The best action for the natives to take towards the United States and white Americans would be to assimilate. There have been other natives that chose the option to resist and none of them turned out well. An economical reason to assimilate would be that they would get to keep their land and earn money by starting to commercial farm. Cash crops, like cotton and tobacco would greatly increase their wealth which would in turn, allow them better housing, slaves and land. A social reason they should assimilate would be to continue to get along and trade with the Americans.  Lastly, a political reason they should assimilate would be so they can keep some authority over their people. It's better to give up some authority than all of it, which would happen if they tried to resist and were destroyed.

2. The worst option for the natives to choose, would be to resist.  An economical reason would be that they wouldn't have resources that are needed to resist. They would end up being dependent on another white country which is exactly what they are trying to not do. A social reason would be that there would be a lot of conflict with the Americans. They wouldn't be able to trade or interact with each other if they were at war. And a political reason to not resist would be because the United States has so much power. They would completely demolish the natives (which is what they have done in the past) and then the natives wouldn't have any say in their government, if there were any still alive.

Tempest in the Wilderness

4. How were the Irish and Natives alike?
Both the Irish and Natives were viewed as "savages" by the English. They were thought of as lazy, uneducated and weren't treated with any respect. They were both treated inhumanly by being beaten and sold as slaves which the English justified doing by saying it was the way god wanted. The English tried to convert both of them to Christianity which they thought would help them become more civilized and educated.

6. What did the various chiefs foresee and warn about the arrival of Europeans? How correct we're they? 
The native chiefs had anticipated the arrival of Europeans long before they had any contact with each other. One native had predicted that, "A strange white people would come to crowd out the red men," while another had foreseen that, "Bearded men should come and take away our country and that there should be none of the original Indians be left, within a hundred and fifty years." The natives were very correct, many of their visions came true almost exactly how they were seen.

14. What extreme did the Virginia's use to stay alive? What does that say about savagery and the English?
When the colonists of the New World ran out of food, they were forced to eat dogs, cats, rats, mice and even corpses dug from graves. A survivor reported that, "Some have even licked up the blood which hath fallen form their weak fellows." This shows that the English were just as "savage" or even more so than the Natives and Irish they thought they were so much better than.