Essays

District Writing Assessment 2018

Disclaimer: Please remember, I provide these essays to you as an outline for your own. Plagiarism, using one's work as your own, can have severe consequences. There are many tools integrated into teaching software that can detect plagiarism. It's also as easy as plugging in one sentence into Google to find this essay. I want these to be available to all those that may need an outline or inspiration for their own assignments, however, I know some have used my work and have been caught. Please, don't just copy and paste my work and earn yourself a zero on the essay or fail your class. Thank you for reading and I truly hope that these essays will help. Good luck! If you ever need a peer reviewer for your essay, message me!

This was my first essay of the year and I was so stressed! We were given 100 minutes to write this essay and (1) I barely finished and (2) I think it's crap and I am amazed that I got 100% on it. The prompt was: Why do people fight for change? The page numbers are from my textbook.

The Long Road
From the 1800s and through the mid-1900s, many people struggled for social change in America. This idea to fight for political and social reform was presented prominently through the women's rights movement and the civil rights movement. People, such as those through these movements, who have been oppressed may have many reasons to fight for change. One of the main reasons during these specific movements was to fight for equality between sexes and races. The literature of the time reflected what the people were feeling and spread it on a larger scale. These authors saw the injustices around them and spread to the people an anthem for change through their words; that people will fight for change to earn the equality they deserve.

    The Women's Rights movement, also known as the Women's Suffrage movement,  began in the mid-1800s in Seneca Falls, New York. Two women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met with many others at the first women's rights conference. Almost a third of those there signed a document written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton titled "Declaration of Sentiments." Within this document Stanton echoes the Declaration of Independence, explaining their grievances against the American government (and man himself), and demands that women should be given the right to vote. Following a list of wrongdoings placed onto women from men, similar to those of the Declaration of Independence, Stanton concludes, "... in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation- in view of the unjust laws... women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights..." (Stanton 342). Stanton's "Declaration of Sentiments" expresses why one may fight for change, to fight against their oppressors, and to receive equality. Through her words, she speaks for all women who feel oppressed and decides to stand up to fight for the right to vote, to be equal to men, for those women. She later states that they will do anything in their power to see their goal through. People can be motivated to fight for change to reach equality and to fight oppression placed upon them.

Although the Civil Rights movement began in the 1950s, African Americans had been fighting for social change for far longer. Even after the Civil War and earning citizenship, African Americans continued to be oppressed for many years and were faced with segregation laws and racism. Langston Hughes, a successful African American writer during the 1920s, wrote poems often interpreting the African American experience. One of his poems titled "I, Too" centers around this experience. He says, "I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes... Tomorrow, I'll be at the table when company comes... They'll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed..." (Hughes IL1-2). Based on his poem, one must conclude that people fight for change to improve their lives and to be equal with others. He describes a time when the narrator is not allowed to be with the company but imagines a future where he will be accepted. The narrator is proud of who he is ("They'll see how beautiful I am") and that he is valid and people may fight to make others realize this. Later, at the beginning of the civil rights movement, there was a lawsuit case taken all the way up to the Supreme Court called the Brown v. Board of Education case. In this case, families in Kansas, most prominently the Brown family, sued the school district because of the school segregation laws and that under these laws the separate schools were not equal. In a document titled "Brown v. Board of Education: Opinion of the Court," a legal opinion of the case, it is stated that, "The plaintiffs contend that segregated schools are not 'equal' and cannot be made 'equal,' and that hence they are deprived of the equal protection of the laws" (Warren 362). Based on this case, one must conclude that people fight for change because they want equal rights and treatment. These families wanted their children to receive a good education that this basic want for knowledge was being inhibited by these segregation laws. Brown v. Board of Education eventually overruled a previous case, Plessy v. Ferguson, which established segregation laws and 'separate, but equal' facilities.

Throughout American and world history, many have fought for changes big and small and have many reasons to do so. Some, as seen through the women's rights movement and the civil rights movement, fight for change for equality. Others, however, many fight to see their viewpoint accepted, as seen through the Civil War with slavery. In modern-day America, people continue to fight for change. People rally in schools and in Washington D.C. to have their voices heard for gun law reforms following public shootings. Some take a knee during the national anthem to support those who continue to be oppressed. People fighting for change are on a long road that will may not ever end, but they will continue until they reach their goal; be that equality, freedom, or an end to a pointless death.

November 7, 2018