1.
Nightjohn is a story about an African American child born into slavery. Sarne, the main character and narrator, was raised to believe that white people were better than they were. She was raised to believe that only white people could have certain privileges, like being able to read. Sarne did not understand why she could not learn how to read. The truth is, that was one of the main differences between slaves and their owners. And the owners realized that they had to enforce it. No slave was aloud to learn how to read. Nightjohn, as he was called in the story, was a big influence on slaves. He escaped his job as a slave to the north. He went back to the south, and risked his life going back into slavery to teach slaves how to read. He went there with a plan, to teach the young how to read so they could pass it on to the generations. His brave actions led him to teach a young slave how to read. he completed his goal and maybe Sarne would pass it on to another child.
2.
Mascot, the story of an African American boy growing up. Malcolm was just trying to figure out what his place in this world was. Trying to find somewhere that he fit in. when he was disowned by his community after his failed boxing debut, he turned to anger and violence for his answers. After being expelled for these actions he was sent to a reform school to set him on the right path. It was at the detention home in Mason, Michigan were he grew fond of his care takers Mr. and Mrs. Swerlin. The detention home set him in the right direction. After the detention home he got a shot at going to a normal school. Mason junior high school was the next school that Malcolm went to. He had a good life during his time at school. He was on the basketball team and even became class president of his class. He had a life much like a normal white boy would have, but that did not change the fact that he was black. One day after school he went in to talk to his English teacher Mr. Ostrowski. Mr. Ostrowski started to talk to Malcolm about his future. When he asked Malcolm what he wanted to do for a living Malcolm responded,” I want to be a lawyer". Mr. Ostrowski told him that it simply would not happen because he was black. At that time it was unheard of for a black man to even think about becoming a lawyer. Malcolm then realized the harsh reality; his future was decided by the color of his skin. life would change a lot for Malcolm after this point. He later said that it was for the best that he made the decision that he did.
3.
The stories that we read in class have many similarities and differences from The Great Debaters. All of the stories have one major thing in common; they have to deal with human rights. Race was a key factor in all of the stories that we read. People simply were not treated equally because of the color of their skin. In Nightjohn the slaves were slaves because of the color of their skin. In The Great Debaters they had to overcome obstacles because of the color of their skin. And in mascot Malcolm was treated like an animal because of the color of his skin. He could not do something that he dreamed of because of the color of his skin. Even though the morals of the stories are generally the same the stories do differ. For example in the story Mascot Malcolm was not able to do what he wanted. In The Great Debaters they did go on to complete what they wanted to do. And in Nightjohn we do not know what happened. If they completed their goal or if they even had a goal. Even though the stories were so similar in the sense that they had to deal with human the endings and the outcome of the stories were different.
