WWI: Eric Foner's Voices of Freedom, Chapter 19
The period covered in the primary documentation associated with Chapter 19 of Eric Foner's Voices of Freedom is clearly a period of transition. The era surrounding World War I demonstrates a time when the definitions of intrinsic values were being challenged and reassessed almost on a constant basis. From 1916-1920 America was involved in reformulating what values it was said to hold dear and the official take on what those values mean was often one that did not meet with everyone's approval. From President Wilson's speech admonishing America business for being to isolationist and short sited in international dealings to the final work in which Fitch expresses the context of regional labor strikes there is a sense of a collective demand for change as well as a reassertion of the cries for freedom and even a reevaluation of the very definitions of freedom and democracy. One thing that definitely strikes the reader is that each of these messages, from texts and transcripts that were written and felt between 1916 and 1920 is a timely message about the modern world. These speakers without exception could be speaking today, in the age of the Patriot Act, racial tensions and global economic exploitation.
There is a clear sense that these writers are pointing out separation of the new from the old by ignorance of age old standards and opportunities, through exploitative practices and demands of the "other. Freedom is being challenged at every turn by choices of dominant cultural voice even before apologies for the past are dead in the air. (98-103) Even the most outspoken of the group of speakers and writers, demanding that American Blacks join a movement to reaffirm their own freedom by returning to Africa, demonstrates continued racial tension that plays out every day in subtler forms. In a sense what makes democracy, is this constant cycle between misplaced conservatism, such as that which Wilson expounds on and dissent, such as that which really drives the history of this nation. " (102) Bourne calls a nation teaching watered down history as a form of assimilation abhorrent, as it is a falsehood that only serves to further alienate those it wishes to win the favor of. (102) Garvey, another silenced voice of the period, similar to Debs, calls his fellow black to see the current state of the world, "There is a mad rush among races everywhere towards national independence. (94-98) Bourne discusses disenfranchisement, as it is associated with old versus new immigrants and rightfully asks the do-gooders trying to Americanize immigrants to remember that they were also once immigrants who were given credit for establishing freedom and now taking it away by forcing their own brand of Americanism on the new comers. "These people who give their money to philanthropy, for example but cannot for the life of them see from the point of view of those whose benefit they are giving the money, are not philanthropists. " The writers and speakers point fingers and name names clearly demonstrating that they feel that they have their finger on the pulse of the problem at hand. That common thread is a constant need to redefine the foundational values of any nation. Yet, in each is a clear sense of dissatisfaction.
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Acceptance Essays
