Reading Goals
-Pick something that will help me on the exam
Writing Goals
-Solid evidence (use quotes from the text)
With the time before our exam winding down I decided that I would focus more on the type of texts that will be on the exam. Alfred M. Green's speech, which was on the 2003 exam, was said during the first months of the civil war when African-Americans were not allowed to enlist. Green purpose of the speech was to convince fellow African-Africans to work towards and prepare to be enlisted. It is not the easiest task to convince a group of people who are being oppressed to fight alongside their oppressors, by relating to religious affiliation. Green encourages the audience to "...take up the sword, trusting in God" the way it is phrased makes it seem that he wants the people to put God above all else. He is not requesting that the people take arms with faith that the white people will have their backs, but rather that they place their faith in God, thus the focus is shifted to making this situation into a religious one. Green also offers a counter argument, he brings up the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, which both ended in no better living situations for the blacks. Green knows that the audience will be thinking about how they shouldn't get involved in this war either, because it will end with the same result. Green says that they should not "cavil over past grievances" and ends with talking about how it will dishonor their ancestors, which ultimately ends gets rid of the notion of not going to fight because if past events. It is always so amazing to look at documents such as this , because you can really see what the people back then were living for. I believe that the speech was effective in convincing African Americans to enlist. I think that by reading this speech I will be more prepared to handle the documents on the exam.
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