Letters From the West

1) In the first letter, the writer talks about the land in the area he is located in. He is writing to his wife and baby about how pretty the country is, updating them on his financial status, while also informing them how much land he wishes to acquire. He talks about being able to settle in the area around Turkey Creek. He also explains how safe the environment is by communicating to his family how he had the oppurtunity to nurse a 7 month old baby. He also expresses how deeply he misses his family by explaining how lonely he is in the vacant place. In the second letter, the writer focuses more on the job and occupation of the land he is in currently. He talks about how he is not employed yet, but hopes and expects to be by the coming winter. Again, he tells them how much he loves and misses them in the vacant land. The letters are about communicating or informing the reader how oppurtunistic, yet vacant the West still is. Directed at the wife, the writer expresses the amount of land and jobs he desires to acquire, but to also start a life and settle there for the future.

2) It stood out to me that the man did not travel with his entire family. I thought that the entire family would move and settle together, but from the way the letter is presented, it seems as if the man moves alone and is essentially reporting back to his wife the conditions and giving her feedback.

3) Letter writing in this era was very important for communicating with their family back home. Because of the harsh conditions and how hard it was to travel across, writing letters was the only way of communicating back to loved ones to tell them that they are doing well and healthy. Letters are also very personal, ranging from a unique handwriting to different tones of voice, which serves as closure to the reader and helps them be sure that they recieved the letter from their loved one. It meant a lot to a person recieving a letter during this time because it also helped the know that their husband or close one still cared for them and thought about them as they wrote the letter directy to them.


2nd Primary Source from The "Old West"

"Killed On The Road"

History in Film

Historical movies provide an aspect to learning that textual information cannot convey. Of course, both contain useful information by explaining events that happen along time, discuss problems and solutions, and provide insight on the how and why decisions are made, but movies explicate this process in a much more innovative manner. Glory and Twelve Years a Slave are incredible films that present and develop times in the United States' history. Movies like Glory and Twelve Years a Slave offer and develop the country's time during slavery and the Civil War to communicate to its viewers the historical background and sentimental aspect of it, which make the films genuine as opposed to fictionalized. The two movies provide an experience of empathy through the use of film techniques and advantages that simply no textual book can provide.

In the film Glory, historical events revolved mainly around the 54th regiment of the Union. From the New York Times review on this movie, it discusses how the 54th regiment was all black and was led by Colonel Shaw, a white abolitionist man. The entire film is heavily centered and influenced from a historical series of letters and two books written by Colonel Shaw. The New York Times Article, "'Glory'; Tip of the Iceberg" argues that although the movie acknowledges the contribution the black soldiers made, it does not give credit to the other regiments, because it heavily focuses on the 54th of Massachusetts only. It continues to argue that the movie diminishes the contribution blacks had to the Civil War, because over a third of them that were involved, died fighting. Personally, I believe this idea was put into perspective by the director. I believe the director was trying to prove a point to the viewers of the way all blacks, but particularly the black soldiers were treated. Even though they were free of slavery in the North, it did not necessarily mean that they were not restricted. The director of the film uses his ability to show the power struggle between less pay for the blacks, no title positions, and low quality of equipment and gear, to argue and point out that the black culture was undermined, regardless of whether or not they were free.  Specifically paying attention to the film aspect to argue this, the director uses the scene where the two black regiments raid into the South Carolina village and burn and ransack the buildings to explain his point. ("Black Combat Bravery in the Civil War," New York Times) The men are treated and turned into animals and act chaotic to turn this village upside down with no thought or order before doing it. Because it is a movie, and even though it is not completely historically accurate, the director is able to exaggerate and communicate to the viewer the point of how blacks were undermined by highly ranked officers. This message is difficult to be communicated and illustrated through a textbook. Movies have the advantage of using actions and dialogue and bring out emotions of the viewer to make its argument much stronger, as opposed to a narrator or reciter from a textbook. The way Glory portrays historical battles and events to its viewers in a timely matter is extraordinarily brilliant in that it is able to communicate a stronger message behind the actual history that a textbook cannot offer.

This picture is a primary source by Currier and Ives that features the 54th regiment from Massachusetts, fighting bravely in battle. Colonel Shaw, the only white man wearing blue uniform, is seen on top waving the Union flag proudly along with the all black regiment. This image is powerful to implicate that the regiment was prepared and strong for battle. (Gilderlehrman.org, 54th of Massachusetts fighting at Fort Wagner, 1863)

In the film, Twelve Years a Slave, the focus on slavery in the South is developed greatly into a sentimental and historically accurate piece of work. From The Atlantic article, “How 12 Years a Slave Gets Its History Right: By Getting It Wrong,” it explains how Steve McQueen uses details extracted out of Solomon Northup's autobiography to illustrate to his viewers the horrors and tragedies of slavery. (The Atlantic) The article discusses how the director uses false sexual encounters between Solomon and another female slave to "present a physiological depth" and aspect to the movie, which aids in helping the viewer empathize with the struggles and troubled situations brought with the idea of slavery. Although the movie is very challenging to watch as it develops topics of slavery that are terrible, it offers an insightful aspect of sentiment that a historical textbook cannot delve into. The article from The Atlantic then extracts a piece of writing from Solomon's autobiography how Patsey truly was tortured by Master Epps. The film does an outstanding job portraying this relationship between the slave and Master Epps and how he used advantage of Patsey for anything he pleased at the time. Movies are able to do this and help the viewer understand the sentimental value of the time by dramatizing events to make the history of it clearer. The Atlantic discusses this technique as "manipulating our sense of accuracy" by using realistic qualities of slavery. This technique is not providing completely false information in realistic way, but instead, a technique that provides the truth behind slavery in an alternate form. Another aspect of film that McQueen uses to illustrate a theme in slavery is the music behind his film. In the NPR News Article, "'12 Years a Slave' Is This Year’s Best Film About Music,” it primarily focusses on the message the director was trying to convey through Solomon's fiddle. From the review, how music was the freedom and way of expression for slaves. It offered joy and a distraction from the horrors that were brought into their lives. The director places a fiddle, an instrument of sweet, soft sound, that reminds Solomon of his family and past of freedom. He plays the fiddle to overcome the struggles of the work. This movie uses music to distract the slaves from the pain and restriction they are enforced upon, which textbooks just cannot do.

Slaves were taught to play music as they were naturally talented in areas involving the arts and music. Most were taught to play drums and used effectively during war. This is a picture of a black African learning to play the French Horn. (History Study Center, African Music Image)

There is so much a textbook can provide, but I strongly believe it cannot offer the empathy and sentimental value a movie can develop. As seen through the two movies, Glory and Twelve Years a Slave, movies can be historically valued and informative about the actual history, but also about the deeper meaning behind events. A textbook offers the superficials: the content of events, an overview of who was involved, and an argument about the information. A movie, however, can present all of the textbooks abilities, but more importantly, the development feelings and emotions that allow us to formulate ideas and perspectives behind the context and factual evidence. This ability to truly empathize with characters or events from a movie is much more efficient and rewarding because it allows us to attempt at the slightest of experiencing the time through a figure. Movies grab our attention entertainingly, naturally focus our mind on the topic of importance, and guide us to conclusions that we would have never come close to by reading a textbook.

Works Cited

Berlatsky, Noah. "How 12 Years a Slave Gets History Right: By Getting It Wrong." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 28 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Sept. 2016. <http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/10/how-em-12-years-a-slave-em-gets-history-right-by-getting-it-wrong/280911/>.

Canby, Vincent. "Review/Film; Black Combat Bravery in the Civil War." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 14 Dec. 1989. Web. 22 Sept. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950DE4D8113FF937A25751C1A96F948260>.

Clwyd, Erddig. History Study Center. National Trust Photographic Library/ The Bridgeman Art Library, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2016. <http://www.historystudycenter.com/search/displayMultimediaItemById.do?QueryName=multimedia&fromPage=studyunit&ItemID=280846&fromPage=studyunit&resource=hulton>.

Currier, and Ives. "African American Soldiers at the Battle of Fort Wagner, 1863." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. THE GILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN HISTORY, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2016. <https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/african-americans-and-emancipation/resources/african-american-soldiers-battle-fort-wa>.

Miles, Fred C. "Tip of the Iceberg." The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Feb. 1990. Web. 27 Sept. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/18/movies/l-glory-tip-of-the-iceberg-743790.html>.

Powers, Ann. "'12 Years A Slave' Is This Year's Best Film About Music." NPR. NPR, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2016. <http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2013/11/12/244851884/12-years-a-slave-is-this-years-best-film-about-music>.

Slaughter, John. "The Roots of the Southern Workers and Poor." The Roots of the Southern Workers

          and Poor. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016. <http://www.lrna.org/2-

           pt/555/v16ed2art1_roots.html>.

US History Paraphrasing Activity

"Then, when we first see him in chains, hemmed in by shadows in a dingy cell and lit by a thick strip of moonlight, we are shocked for the same reason he is: we see a free man with his movement wrongly restricted. Then his captor comes in, taunts him, calls him nigger and beats him with a wooden paddle until it splits in two."

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films

From Robbie Collin's review on the topic of 12 Years a Slave, Solomon is set a very dark and shady cell, constricted by chains. He is beat up with a paddle, abused, and torn apart with inappropriate words from the master. The formerly free man is hatefully controlled by the guard, which is hard for any audience to experience.