Exploration Two - Haley ClevelandBull

Me (Right), Austin (Middle), and Mackenzie (Left)

My name is Haley ClevelandBull, and I’m an intended Anthropology major at OSU Marion.  The fun fact that I shared in class was that I am adopted in a closed adoption.  There are two types of adoptions within the US and internationally that are recognized: open and closed.  And open adoption allows for contact to flow freely between birthmother and child, however a closed adoption means all contact and information are legally sealed once the adoption process is complete.  Since mine was a closed adoption I was unable to contact my birthmother until I turned 18, when the legally bound contract was ‘opened’.  Personally, for medical information and sheer curiosity, I chose to contact Tamara, my birthmother.  Another interesting fact about me is that I enjoy playing tennis.  Although I played tennis for Hilliard Davidson’s team in high school I unfortunately don’t get to play as often as I would like now that I am in college.  I have one sibling, a younger sister, Mackenzie who I do play tennis with on occasion to help her practice as she is now on the Davidson tennis team.

After briefly reviewing short biographies of both Eudora Welty and Frances E.W. Harper, I decided to delve into the life of Frances E.W. Harper more deeply.  Frances E.W. Harper was born the 24^th of September in Baltimore in 1825.  Both of her parents were free African Americans, and as such circumstances so was she.  Frances attended “a school for black children [until the age of] 13 when she went to work as a domestic in a Baltimore [residence]” (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica).  Although she was working, she independently continued her education.  In “1854 Frances E.W. Harper delivered a public address [regarding] ‘Education and the Elevation of the Colored Race’, [the addresses success] led to a two year lecture tour in Maine for the state Anti-Slavery Society” (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica).  Throughout her lecture tour in 1854 Frances published Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, which “addressed the subjects of motherhood, separation, and death and contained the anti-slavery poem ‘Bury Me in a Free Land’ ” (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica).  In 1859 she published ‘The Two Offers’ in Anglo-American Magazine.  “After the Civil War, Frances made several lecture tours [around] the South and published Sketches of Southern Life” (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica).  The most interesting facts that drove me to research more information about Frances E.W. Harper was that not only was she a public lecturer, and author but that she had strong ties to topics held dearly to me such as woman suffrage, abolition, and temperance.  Frances E.W. Harper was truly a phenomenal woman who spent her lifetime teaching others strength and compassion, and even began paving the way for woman intellectuals everywhere.

The poem that I found most influential was ‘Bury Me In a Free Land’.  This poem, by Frances E.W. Harper was written to touch the reader emotionally and did so by creating saddening imagery with her words throughout the poem.  When reading ‘Bury Me In a Free Land’, you are instantly aware that Frances E.W. Harper is telling different stories within the poem, each with the intent on showing the ignorance and malevolence of slavery.

Works Cited

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Frances E.W. Harper (American Author and Social Reformer)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 07 Sept. 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255741/Frances-EW-Harper.

The literacy events that have strongly influenced my life came straight from my intro cultural anthropology course during my first year of college.  There was a compilation of short ethnographic studies within this textbook, each relating to different cultures around the world.  Different anthropologists conducted each study through ethnographic fieldwork, so when you would read each individual study it was more like reading a story of that specific anthropologist’s experience with whatever they happened to be studying.  One of the studies I remember reading was called 'Christmas in the Kalahari', which took place in a tribe in in the Kalahari, where the anthropologist spent one year living among the people, learning how they live, and what they believe etc..  At the end of the year they had their version of Christmas, but was more of a gift giving celebration than anything related to the Christian Christmas, as they were not Christian.  For the anthropologist’s gift to the entire tribe, he bought a large animal with plenty of fat to share at the feast during the celebration.  When they carved into the animal and noticed how much meat and fat there was the tribesman told him that the meat they would get from the animal was hardly anything, not enough to share, not enough fat, in fact they said it was a bad piece of meat.  It was only later that it was explained to the anthropologist by a tribe member that his meat was perfect, and the reason the other men from the tribe were putting his generous contribution down was because they did not want him to become to full of himself.  Each man and woman in the tribe keep each other in check by putting down something great that they bring as a contribution because they want to keep each individual equal, and no matter how much wealth a person contributes to the tribe, he was always no greater than any other man.  This story along with many others opened my eyes to the differing beliefs and interactions going on every day within the world around me.  Ultimately, it teaches the readers the fundamental value that cultural anthropology strives to teach; no culture is superior or lesser than another.