EOTO 1 Thoughts

After me and Francesca's presentation my peers presented their Each One Teach Ones. I would like to go over each of their presentations and give my thoughts on their topics. 

The Amistad rebellion of 1839 is a righteous story of how 53 kidnapped Africans fought back against the men who illegally trafficked them, seizing control of the ship. Ultimately, they wound up in America as refugees in need of aid. The Spanish government wanted the American government to return the Africans as their rightful property. But controversially despite America having slaves the Supreme Court ruled that the enslaved Africans are free and that they were wrongfully imprisoned on the Amistad. This is interesting as it seems hypocritical for America to deem the slaves as free when back then they had slaves of their own.

On April 17, 1839, Joseph Strew founded the anti-slavery society advocating for the abolishment of slavery everywhere. A year later the world anti-slavery convention was held. It was a problematic event as it barred women from entering which led to the rise of the Women's right movement. Then in 1990 the anti-slavery campaign went international against all types of slavery. Unfortunately, American Anti-Slavery society is still ongoing as currently 40 million people are trapped in modern day slavery, but I hope that we reach a time where slavery no longer exists.

The Kansas - Nebraska Act is an important bill as it sets up the foundation for the freedom of my ancestors. The bill sets up the territories of Kansas and Nebraska which in turn repealed the Missouri Compromise. Multiple flocks of people from different states flooded the new territories to determine the state’s status as a free or slave state. The immigration political atmosphere was so bad in Kansas that the event was called “Bleeding Kansas” as multiple people died or were injured.

The Fugitive Slave Act was a disgusting law created in 1850 that forced northerners to help southerners catch runaway slaves. This act was created as a way to keep the nation together, but it helped destabilize it more. There was corruption in the act as any African American could be accused and taken because they had no way to prove they were free. In the end from 1850 to 1861, 1000 African Americans were sent into bondage. Ultimately this was a disgusting act that caused more harm than good.