The reading which I found to be the most interesting was Joshua Brown, “Reconstructing Representation, 1866–1877,” from Beyond the Lines. I did some research about who John Brown was and found out he was an American abolitionist leader.Brown had the mindset that there needed to be violoience in order to end slavery because there had been years and years of peaceful efforts to end slavery but there was no outcome from them. However Dred Scott was not like brown and had a different mindset.. J.Brown led a raid on the Harpers Ferry federal armory and since he wasn’t successful John Brown was executed. Fredrick Douglas helps us understand how Brown’s plan with this raid would be unsuccessful. McPherson explained in detail why Brown’s plan didn’t work and the point that he didn’t think about.Brown explains in 2 short paragraphs and an illustration of what a family could go through in these times. Brown touches upon the struggle some families faced of not knowing where the next meal would come from.
Brown proceeds to explain what was happening with the mine strikes and Brown explains how others were blaming the strikers for the way they were living. Brown talks about a family which had received a bread and were putting it in the oven as illustrated in the image provided in the reading. Brown allows us to see how some people much like today didn’t know where their next meal was coming from or if their families would have anything to eat the next day. I found this extremely touching because it’s something that is still happening today and something that I have experienced first hand with friends I have. It’s sad to see history repeating itself because of the lack of education. My question is if they were struggling so much why did they continue to have children? Why not keep the family small knowing they couldn’t provide for themselves?
This very confusing because you seem to conflate Joshua Brown (a living historian who taught at CUNY until recently) with John Brown, the famous abolitionist. Despite the similarities in their (very common) last names, and the overlap in chronology of the McPherson and Brown, they each cover very different aspects of this time period. Brown’s chapter is primarily concerned with issues of representation and media—how did the illustrated newspapers he describes demonize or evoke sympathy with striking miners and other people on the margins of American society during Reconstruction/the Gilded Age?