Facing+Slavery

In the song //That Drunk Horse//, Akanksha, Sam D, and I first decided on a name for the master, which we made that drunk horse. Then we decided on a chorus. The reason we decided on //Whipping us here, whipping us there, whipping us everywhere, that drunk horse// was because we wanted to emphasize that the overseers and masters whipped their slaves too much. The first verse was devoted to what the master did to the slaves and what they would do if they could. //If we could, we'd take that horse down, day by day, that drunk horse// was one of our lines in the first verse. Then, of course the chorus again. Now the second verse was saved for making fun of the master. For example, //Fancy shoes, fancy mane, sitting there, how lazy he is, that drunk horse// is making fun of the fact that the master is lazy and thinks he is the owner of the world. The third verse was for asking the master to let the slaves go free, and when he doesn't, to escaping. For example, //We will combine our strength and push open the door of the stable that holds that drunk horse// is the slaves trying to come together and sneak out when the master isn't looking. The fourth and final chorus, instead of saying //whipping us everywhere, that drunk horse,// we said //but before he knows it we'll be out of here!// to emphasize that the slaves were intent on escaping, and wouldn't let the drunk horse stop them. I think that slavery was wrong, of course, but also that the people that started slavery weren't entirely in the wrong. They didn't know that this was wrong, because nobody had told them that they should respect all people equally, no matter the color of their skin. I think that a lot of people who had slaves realized that they were wrong and stopped by letting some or all of their slaves go. I think that a lot of these slaves went on to start the Underground Railroad and that they eventually helped the entire United States by letting their slaves go. That being said, I also would have vehemently opposed slavery and any that supported it if I lived in that time. What the slaveholders were doing was wrong. I think that I would have been a member of the Underground Railroad when I was an adult. I most likely would hide the door of a room with a bookcase and let the slaves into that. I may have been somewhat like Sojourner Truth, but I wouldn't have been a black woman so I would have supported her with all I had. I still wonder why the original slaveholders brought the Africans to the Americas in the first place. Was it really just for the money? I know that I wouldn't want to cross the sea with Africans who might hurt me and didn't speak my language!

Group (F): Reggie and Sam W. Question: Why did some white people help the slaves escape through the underground railroad? White people were not the only conductors of the Underground Railroad. There were a lot of escaped or set free slaves who conducted it as well. They did this because they knew firsthand what it was like being a slave and didn't want to condemn anyone to that fate. The whites that did conduct the Undergound Railroad did it because they could see that slavery was wrong, and wanted to rebel but didn't want to get caught. They came up with helping slaves escape in secret. (Sources: [], [], and [])

Some of the whites thought strongly against slavery and when notes and protests failed they began to rebel against the law and helped slaves escape by hiding them in there homes and/or pretending that the slave was there's. So the main point is that they believed in the Christian Bible and believed that God thought of every man is the same, black or white. The Bible is one of the inspirations on people against slavery. Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2944 (it wouldn't let me left click so I couldn't copy the address, sorry)