Another work-related post

My interest in history has once again been sparked as I pore over article after article reporting about the history of each of our states as well as our country. I've actually wanted to go read some of the classic American books about history that I haven't picked up for a while. That is one thing I am going to try to do more of soon…read. Anyways, I've edited quite a few articles covering the history and situations involved in slavery. Today I'm working on writing a little part of an article focused on the women's rights movements in Massachusetts. Doing both of these projects really make me think about how these different groups have had to really fight for their freedom. (Actually, another article also touched on the discrimination again the Mormons that led them to the West.) Sometimes I'm just baffled on how these things took place. Yes, everything was in a different time; there were different lifestyles, cultures, beliefs, etc. But seriously.

I read about Henry "Box" Brown, a slave who stored food and supplies in a box, climbed in himself and mailed himself to freedom in the North. All he had to do was cross a border and suddenly his life could be different...But why did it have to be different? ...To be free in one place, but not free in another. I read about the many slaves who learned how to read and write despite the slave codes that forbid them to do so. Slave owners feared the power slaves would have if they were educated...

I research about Lucy Stone, a woman's rights pioneer born in 1818. She attended Oberlin College as one of the first Massachusetts women to earn a college degree. She graduated with honors and was even invited to write the commencement address…but she refused as she wouldn't be able to read it herself; women did not participate in these public exercises. A dedicated fellow was able to persuaded Lucy to let go of her objections to marriage, but together they protested the laws that wouldn't recognize a wife as an "independent, rational being." Lucy omitted the word obey from the standard vows and kept her own name.

While some from these groups still believe inequalities exist—and to be honest, they probably do—I look to today where things have seemingly progressed so far. I look how far things have changed and, personally, I'm content with where things are for me as part of a group that had to fight and voice. I enjoy giving public addresses (Lucy Stone defied others and, though she wouldn't be able to deliver her own graduation speech as a woman, she became a great orator and delivered speeches across the country.), I enjoy working hard and knowing my success can be rewarded, I enjoy earning leadership positions and having authority, I enjoy getting an education and having any opportunity open to do so, I enjoy my right to analyze political situations and to vote for whom I think will be the best leaders, I enjoy the endless opportunities I see before me in the career, I enjoy making things happen for myself, I enjoy being able to stand on my own, I enjoy being able to OWN things, to have my own possession (not be a possession)

This year we had a very strong woman contender for president and who did she lose out to but a black, educated man. We all know that life can't be entirely fair. But I look back at individuals who were put in situations we today can't even dream about happening. We've come so far but I also wonder where we are going. What prejudices do we still have today? Prejudices that years down the road our prosperity will not be able to grasp an understanding of. Will they wonder how why things possibly were the way they are? Will they being able to at all connect to our beliefs and thoughts? It makes me question how I think issues should be handled. Nothing can be black and white. I'm not going to get into details of who is fighting for what, but I just imagine school kids down the road learning about specific events and trying to fathom a time period where these people couldn't do this, this group had no say in that, she wasn't allowed to do this, he was forced to do that. You can argue whether it's for better or for worse…I just wonder what's going to happen, how we can make a difference, and what those in the future will think about it.