A Letter to the Sun King

 Today’s blog post is set in the 17th century when the king of France was Louis XIV.  I am writing to the King as a French peasant who has been allowed to tour Versailles in the format of a letter on the topic of my reaction to the palace with an incorporation of my thoughts and concerns on my well-being.

Dear Majesty,  

I have been given the wonderful opportunity to tour the magnificent Versailles and it was beautiful. There were so many rooms and I heard that apparently you can house at least 10,000 people! I can see how much money must have been put into it. If only the same amount of effort and money was put into the well being of our people and our country. Clearly you don’t understand how hard it is to live in France if you are poor; because the prices of things like food and taxes are extremely high. It is nearly impossible to afford anything, but obviously you wouldn’t understand that considering how large your living space is. I can barely afford to pay your taxes, let alone buy food and provide for my family.

I must admit that you have done amazing things for our glorious France, like encouraging the arts and making us one of the wealthiest states in Europe. With that in mind there are still many people who are struggling and it’s such a pity to see that so much money has been used for this grand place rather than the people. You do not treat the people here fairly, we were all living happily and in peace with the Edict of Nantes and that was revoked so now the Protestants are leaving which is extremely unfortunate because that is causing a serious blow to our economy.

Versailles is a perfect symbol of your wealth Sun King, but that wonderful display of wealth is not shown throughout France. I think as a King you are not doing your job too well, you are neglecting the poor and your duties. The last king said there should be  “a chicken in every pot” and unfortunately I don’t think you have followed through with that. I admire that you put so much time and effort into something so beautiful; I just wish you did the same for your people.

Thank you for your time,

A struggling subject

(“Palace of Versailles.” Photo. Wikipedia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles.)

The Salem Witch Crisis, Salem Massachusetts

Searching for Scapegoats in Salem

The Salem trials witch began in Salem Village, Massachusetts during the winter of 1691-1692. The accusations began when the minister’s daughter, Betty Parris became ill along with another girl called Abigail Williams. They girls complained of odd things, like being choked and not to long after three more girls began to have the same symptoms. Doctors began to believe that this was witchcraft and then the girls accused four women, one of them being the Parris’s slave. As time went on more and more people were being accused, even some well respected people of the town. As for the accused they had two options; claim they were innocent and be tortured and killed; or they could confess and give the court officials information on the other witches in the town. In the end, 20 people were accused and killed, and over one hundred accused “witches” were in jail. The causes of the Salem witch trials were; farm sizes were smaller than before, there was hostility between Salem village and Salem town, and the girls wanted attention.

In 1692 Salem Village reached their lowest size for farm per family; according to a chart from Stanford University called “Average Size of Family Farms in Salem Village” (Doc. C)  in 1665 each family would have about 240 acres of farming land, but in 1692 they only had about 130 acres of farming land. This shows that people did not have as much money and space as they did before, causing people to want to accuse the wealthier people of the Village and Town. According to “The Geography of Witchcraft” (Doc.D) another cause for the witch trials was the hostility between Salem Village and Salem Town because Salem Village had to pay taxes that went to the town government in Salem Town. This document showed that most of the accusers were from Salem Village and most of the accused were from Salem Town. The poorer people from Salem Village accused the wealthier people from Salem Town, because the accused would be sent to jail and all their belongings would be left behind. Since the wealthier towns’ people were put in jail, the poorer accusers could easily take their belongings. The last cause for the Salem Witch Trials was that the original accusers, the girls, wanted attention. Years after the trials happened, some of the girls apologized for their actions and said that none of the people were actually guilty. Between the low amounts of money being made and the want for attention the Salem witch trials began.

There are still places today dedicated to the people who were killed in this horrific time. One place is The Salem Witch Trials Memorial in Salem Massachusetts. Here there are benches which have the names of the executed and the date in which they were. It is a peaceful area where there are locust trees that represent the unjustness of the trials. Here you can go and remember those who were killed because of the unfair trials. It is important to remember what happened, because it shows that fear can cause people to believe crazy things. (Salemaward, Translating Stone Into Lessons for Today,

http://salemaward.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SAF_WTM_rackcard_web.pdf,)

(“Witchcraft at Salem Village.” Wikipedia. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Witchcraft_at_Salem_Village.jpg .)

Modern Day Slavery

It Never Left:

Most people like to think that Slavery was abolished when Abraham Lincoln signed the document in 1865, and as much as I’m sure we would all like to believe that; it wasn’t. Slavery is just as bad now as it was before Lincoln. Millions of people are being used as slaves and are constantly being trafficked. About 21-36 million people are enslaved world wide today.

6 Ways:

There are six forms of slavery. These include; bonded labour, child slavery, early and forced marriage, descent based slavery, and trafficking.

Illegal, Yet Common:

Slavery is happening everywhere around the world, even though it is illegal. From the U.S., to Northern India, Southern Sudan. and England. About 14,500 people are being trafficked into the U.S. each year. The two places in which slavery is most common are Asian and African countries.

We Can End It:

It is possible to put an end to these horrific acts, but only if everyone helps. In 25 years slavery could be gone if we try to stop it now, but if we continue to live like this slavery might never end.

Helia From Haiti:

Helia was an average girl living with her mother until her mother died, she then moved to live with her grandmother until her grandmother passed away as well. Helia was then taken in by a neighbor and it all went downhill from there. This particular neighbor believed that since Helia had no family she should be treated like an animal. This women made Helia do all the cleaning in her  house and abused her both physically and mentally. Helia was not allowed to go to school, so her learning was put on hold. Later on some of her other neighbors threatened to burn down their house, so the woman let Helia attend a class. One day Helia built up enough courage and strength to escape, and she was successful. Unfortunately she was then enslaved again. Even with all the horrific things Helia has had happened to her in her life she is now living a successful life with her husband and children. Helia is now free.

We Can’t End It Alone:

In order for slavery to be put to and end everyone across the globe needs to help. One way that people can make an impact is by learning about modern day slavery and help to educate others.  If people are more educated on this subject, they can be more aware of the signs of it and be able to report it. The more we spread the idea that it’s not a good thing the more people will be aware and be able to help. Another way people can make an impact is really enforce the laws against slavery. If the laws are better enforced and more people are punished for being involved with human trafficking the people who have not been caught yet will realize that they will be punished if they are. The more that we spread the idea that slavery is bad the quicker we can put an end to it.

(“Modern Incidence Of Slavery” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_slavery)

Sarah the Sneaky Slave

This assignment was to read an excerpt from a book about the person in which you were assigned. Then you had to summarize the story of the person you read about, explain evidence of resistance and what you learned from the excerpt.

“Sarah”

The personal story being told is about an African girl who was enslaved and put on a ship. When the slaves came onto the deck for exercise by dancing she was always lively. She appeared to have good nature and she was known as the best singer and dancer on the ship. This girl was a favorite of the captains and he gave her the biblical name Sarah. By giving her this name he was associating a slave with a beautiful princess. She was a in fact a favorite and well respected. The captain also often gave her better things than others got. On the journey there was an uprising from the slaves in order to kill the crew and take over the ship. The captain and his men thought that maybe Sarah and her mother had been a part of the planning of this uprising even though they had not actually been with the men that began it. The two women denied having been any part of the uprising. While people on the ship began to talk of their defeat they crew and captain became aware that both of the women were involved in the planning. With Sarah being the favorite she was able to get things that allowed men to get their shackles off. Sarah survived any punishments that followed her helping plan the uprising, and she was sold at Grenada. When she went ashore she brought her “African traditions of dance, song, and resistance with her.”

There was evidence of resistance in Sarah’s story, because she was highly respected by the other people on the ship; although she was known as the favorite she was not known as a snitch. Also Sarah helped plan an uprising.

In this story I learned about conditions on slave ships and relationships that can occur. I learned that the people on these ships were in shackles, but they also got exercise on the main deck. Also I learned that the Captain will sometimes have a favorite and that person will have better conditions than the rest. Also that person is can either be despised by the others, or well respected.  

(Slave Ship, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_ship)