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Melissa/ Similarities, Melissa/Differences - Coggle Diagram
Melissa/ Similarities
The authors both share throughout their works the perception that America is not for blacks, it belongs to whites
" ' Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness' did not apply to fully one-fifth of the country" (Hannah-Jones)
" ' This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men,' Johnson declared in 1866" (Lee).
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Each of these pieces touch briefly on the idea that black Americans were held as lesser than by white Americans.
"...[H]aving seen first hand the way his country abused black Americans, how it refused to treat us as full citizens..." (Hannah-Jones).
"[L]awmakers throughout the South enacted Black Codes and Jim Crowe laws that stripped black people of many of their freedoms and property" (Lee).
These articles reveal the insurmountable amount of money that was stolen from black people by white people. The two articles were written about different periods in history, showing that despite efforts to make changes, this oppression continued for far too long.
"Profits from black peoples stolen labor helped the young nation pay off it's war debts and financed some of our most prestigious universities" (Hannah-Jones).
"Other white people, often aided by law enforcement, waged a campaign of violence against black people that would rob them of an incalculable amount of wealth" (Lee).
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Melissa/Differences
The author's style is different in both pieces. One author uses personal experiences mixed with historical information in getting the point understood. The other author uses a short story about someone else's experiences, along with historical supporting details of that time.
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In Hannah-Jones article, she gives examples of her feelings and experiences. Trymaine Lee, however, shares an powerful experience that was not his own.
"Like most young people, I thought I understood so much, when in fact I understood so little" (Hannah-Jones).
"Elmore Bolling, whose brothers called him Buddy, was kind of a one man economy...." (Lee).
Hannah-Jones discusses what it was like for her to be black in America from a emotional perspective, while Lee discusses what it was like to be black in America from a economical perspective.
"The period that followed the Civil War was one of economic terror and wealth-stripping that left black people at a lasting economic disadvantage" (Lee).
"But it would be historically inaccurate to reduce the contributions of black people to the vast material wealth created by our bondage," (Hannah-Jones).
Although both works examined discuss black America, the Hannah-Jones piece takes a patriotic stance, discussing the contributions made to American democracy despite how they were treated. However, the Lee piece has more to do with the oppression faced by black America that will have a lasting economic impact on them.
"And not only for ourselves - black rights struggles paved the way for every other rights struggle, including women's and gay rights, immigrant and disability rights," (Hannah-Jones).
" 'The major wayin which people have an opportunity to accumulate wealth is contingent on the wealth positions of their parents and their grandparents' Darity says," (Lee).
These two articles discuss black America, they both deal with different time periods. The Idea of America makes reference to the beginning of slavery in the 1700's, and the Lee article comes in 1947 after many years of dehumanizing blacks had been going on.
"...[T]he Jamestown colonist brought 20 to 30 enslaved Africans from English pirates," (Hannah-Jones).
"On a December day in 1947, a group of white men showed up along a stretch of highway 80 just yards from Bollings home and store," (Lee).