Chapter 5 Written Reflection

Table 3

Ulyses Urias Rivas

FYS 191

07/18/23

As every chapter goes by it hurts me thinking about everything. As history is a heavy part of life.
I think it affects me to think that history shapes the present as the past makes the present. After
reading/exploring chapter 5 I got a picture of racism and slavery. I hate to think about this because even in
today’s world we still have racism. It's the way someone judges others based on their race, skin color, and
for being different.
It’s the image that I guess back then textbooks had and when reading this chapter it made me
think that racism didn't seem as much as it’s seen today. It was seen by textbooks back then that slavery
wasn’t wrong as well as racism. It was also that in this chapter I got to learn that truth which is why I feel
lied to my face. Yes, I had learned in school that slaves were treated badly but up to the point where in
this chapter it states “... the living conditions of slaves in positive terms: “They were usually given
adequate food, clothing, and shelter” (Loewen 138). In a way, this was a learning moment for me as it
reflects that in textbooks they saw slaves getting treated well, getting everything they needed as if they
were pets and not humans with a life as well. But they didn’t have “RIGHTS”. Now how does this make
sense? First, these “white Americans” stole the land and then made slaves work on them. This is what
caused people to take their own life, rebel, escape, and even kill their masters. Even in some textbooks the
historians as well thought that slavery wasn’t right based on how slaves were treated. But the thing that’s
crazy to think is that even our beloved presidents had slaves and we still admire them when it was the
slaves who mostly did all the hard work. Yes, later they got their freedom but who would have thought
that even after everything that was it? After all the lives and sacrifices that were done, they were free until
later. What was still crazy to me is that we don’t get enough truth about this topic. They were forced to
sweat blood and tears working their bodies off and it’s crazy to think that until now I think about this.
History will never be over. There is a truth to a truth to another truth.