Comparing Civil Rights Journals from Different Perspectives

         I compared and contrasted three journals from different perspective of different civil rights issues. They are all online sources. The first set of journals is surrounding the time that Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery. It is not however written by a slave. It is written by a religious, racist, slave owner. It describes her fears of slavery being abolished and her anger over Lincoln’s election win. The second set is a women’s struggle to get out her feelings of women’s suffrage and right to vote feelings out to her husband. The third, and last set is from the 1960’s civil rights time frame. It is written by a white woman’s feelings about black rights. It starts with her not really getting the idea or how it affects her and ends with her crying over the deaths at the Selma March. Whether, they are on the right or wrong sides of history they are all major pillars of historical moments. They may not be leading player, or names of anyone you have ever heard of, but a play is nothing with all leads and no ensemble.

            The first collection of diaries is from Zeziah Goodwyn Hopkins, a widowed plantation mistress responsible for 200 slaves over several properties on the eve of the Civil War. The writings are from November 9^th, 1860, a few days before the disunion upon the verge of Civil War. She speaks about her fears as Lincoln is elected president. She prayed, “ that God would thwart his election in some way and I prayed for my country.” She wished that her life would end before her slaves would be freed. She wishes frees would be freed but sent back. Her writing is racist, wrong, and uses religion as a tool of hate. That is not why I chose these journals. I chose them because they have real fear in them. The fear is for the wrong reasons, but it shows how fear is such a powerful motivator. She even spoke that she wished Lincoln would have died, before disillusioning the country. She speaks of her commitment to God and the practice truth and love to God. Yet she still wishes for death of the president! She finds out the slaves she has wish to be free and that offends her. The writing isn’t overly eloquent, with grammar similar to that of the bible. It is clear her emotions are real, but her skill level of writing is quite low. At the end of the entries I read she finished her thoughts on a rainy morning, “Nature seems to be weeping o’er our cause.”

            The second set of readings are from a women living in 1840 she wished for women to have not only the rights to vote, but the rights to their thoughts. She was 23 year old Cora Nadia Scott. She wished for slavery to be abolished and rights for everyone. Her struggles were she was a women and her husband was a supporter of slavery. In her first entry she speaks about her opinions and feelings when her husband tells her a story about his friend who shot a slave for escaping. She says, “I wish I could do something about this. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men. We deserve just as many rights as any man.” Her convictions and disgust grows threw her writings. She speaks to her sister about her outrage over women delegates being denied standing at the Worlds Anti-Slavery Convention. She said whether her husband supported her or not she was going to become an activist for women’s rights. Nearly 8 years later she expresses her excitement over women finally being recognized. Her witting goes from helpless to empowered! By 1969 her writing spoke about her excitement of the formation of the National Women Suffrage Association. “US women have gone so far. My husband is still stubborn and reluctant to give me enough respect to listen to my opinions but he at least recognizes that I have the rights too.” Her inability to stand as a separate entity is hard to understand. Her writings are short as if the need to hide her thoughts is more important then getting them out! Her grammar is great but lacks complicated words. It sounds like she was really emotional in what she had to say and journaling was the only place she could get it out without judgment.

            The third set is from a white woman named Margaret King. She stared writing during 1956 she speaks about the news talking about Rosa Parks bus boycott, She spoke about how segregation is a major problem, but it doesn’t directly affect her. “Ever since I was little, I went to a white school, lived in a white community, and all my friends were Caucasian. This is the environment I grew up in: all of my friends were muddle-high class white people, just like me.” She spoke about the power of sit-ins. “I try not to take sides, but I respect the four young men who stepped up and decided to make this significant protest that would gather so many people nation wide. Another thing that impressed me quite a lot was the way they protested, their non-violent approach to all of this.” Her first wake up call was when her parents told her blacks should just be glad they could walk around with freedom. She was irritated by this and knew that she was in the middle of a revolution. She said her parents would never understand how big this was getting. In 1963 she saw Martin Luther King Jr. give his speech, she went to see him out of curiosity. This inspired her! She began helping with peace walks and sit-ins. She quickly realized everyone deserved freedom. Her writing turned from curiosity and wonder, to power and understanding. She stopped referring to the protesters as they and started saying we. She cried over violence and overcoming little rights. She cried over Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. She said, “Racism was still continued, few places stayed segregated. We had made these problems better, but they still existed.” They do now also! Her writing is conflicted. She feels like she has some feelings for her family and upbringing verses her feelings for change and to remove racism was burning for her. She’s eloquent in her writings and they are filled with pictures to remind her of the times.

            I picked these three journals because they are all different and set in different civil rights times. The attitudes are all different. The one thing that all of them had in common is they were fearful, fear of change, fear of their husbands, fear of going against the norm. They all had to come to a realization that theses changes were going to continue and they weren’t going to be silenced. The writing skills, years, styles, and content is very different. The other thing they all had in common is that they all had thoughts that couldn’t be spoken at that time. They all had different motivators. I wanted to choose things that weren’t the common feelings and weren’t main players. They are somehow more organic for me. I think writing is an organic expression of feelings amongst thoughts. It’s a way to uncluttered the mind. They may not all be on the right sides or the common sides of the issues, but they are all pivotal feelings in the issues presented.