Week 1

 This week in English, we basically learned about writing essays and focused on what we’re writing about. The entire class is writing an essay on how Harper Lee develops a theme throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. There are three specific themes we can write about, but we must choose one; race relations, childhood innocence, and rural poverty.

 In this case, I chose to write about how Harper Lee develops the theme “race relations.” I selected this specific theme, because I have the best evidence for race relations, and it is a very serious matter in To Kill a Mockingbird and the real world. Also, the other themes seemed a bit more insipid, in a way that I thought they wouldn’t be as interesting and detailed as race relations.

Race Relations

 Besides in books and novels, race relations can connect to the real world, as well. Race and racism has been a meaningful part of history, as we all have heard, learn, seen, or even displayed a part of it.

 For example, the black slavery that began approximately from 1619, when Africans arrived in Jamestown, to 1865, when the 13^th Amendment was ratified to end slavery. This is one of the most common examples of race relations. There were about four million African- American slaves in the United States before the 13^th Amendment was passed. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, because Abraham Lincoln passes the 13^th Amendment.  The previous day of the assassination, Booth divulged to a crowd outside of the White House that Lincoln’s speech on granting suffrage to the former slaves would be his last speech.  Booth was extremely dogmatic about the idea of freeing black slaves, which is one of the reasons why he assassinated Lincoln.  Other white individuals may have abetted Booth into doing this tragic crime. After all, several American citizens loathed the thought of having to work instead of their black slaves working for them.

Abraham Lincoln 

 Another known event in history where racism was involved was in approximately the 1930s, when blacks had basically no rights compared to white citizens.  African- Americans couldn’t vote, go on the same buses as white people, sit in the same restaurants, go in the same bathrooms, and so much more. However, this all changed when Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. The civil rights movement refers to the movements in the United States that focused on outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights in Southern states. Martin Luther’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech displays his thoughts on civil rights and racism.  Again, an individual (Martin Luther King Jr.) who is only trying to do a good deed was assassinated for only trying to do what is right.  Luckily, Martin Luther’s goals and dreams were not extraneous, considering they came true after he died. On April 4, 1968 while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated  by James Earl Ray. Ray killed MLK for the same reason John Wilkes Booth did, he was racist against African- Americans and he refused them to have any rights.  

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech