John the Great Mascot Debator

The first piece of writing we read was Nightjohn. This was a story of a man named John who had escaped from slavery but came back for a specific reason. That reason was to teach young kids that were still slaves how to read and write. When he first got to the plantation, he looked like a regular slave. He was a very large and strong man and he has scars on his back from being whipped before. At this plantation is the south, he found his next student. This students name was Sarny. Sarny was born to the plantation and worked there as long as she has been alive. She was young and was eager to learn to read. The John came and taught her slowly how to read and write. The eldest of the slaves, Mammy, did like the idea of her reading. She said that if the master found her reading that they would kill her. Mammy told of stories how others were killed. First there was Jim. He took off one night and did everything possible to make it so the dogs couldn't get him. They did and killed him while he was hanging in a tree and the master just left his body there. The there was Pauley. He didn't run. He met this girl from another plantation in the middle of the night. He fell asleep and as he was coming back the dogs killed him. Then there was Alice. She was kept alive and raped specifically for breeding. One night she ran to the edge of the plantation and lied there waiting for the dogs to kill her. Even after hearing these stories, Sarny insisted on learning.

The next story we read was Mascot. This is a story of Malcolm X as a child. He was one of those children that was put into a reform school for behaviors. He soon got his behavior under control and was able to go to the only public middle school in the city. The teachers didn't take much intrest in him however. The reason that he was so hard core into civil rights was because of what one teacher said. One day the teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew. When he said he want to be a lawyer she said, "You're black and you can't be a lawyer." This is why he was one of the civil rights activists that didn't mind using violence in getting their opinion across.

There are a lot of things the same between the stories and the movie The Great Debaters. First, in the movie the young woman wanted to become a lawyer and as well did Malcolm X. In the movie and in Nightjohn the settings were similar with them both being i the south. Also they saw their own kind having brutal things happen to them in Nightjohn with the dogs and in the movie with the Lynch mob. Also in all three, they had a strong leader who was either willing to educate or be educated. Also in all three you saw the struggle of African Americans in society and there struggle for equal rights.