Grant Trainer - Exploration Two

            Hello, my name is Grant Trainer. My fun fact from class was that I have worked at McDonalds for a year and a half. Some other things about me are that I was born in Galion, Ohio and lived in Mansfield for the first 4 years or so of my life. I then moved to Westerville, Ohio where I attended and graduated from Westerville South High School. I’m only seventeen because I graduated a year early. After graduating, I moved up to Delaware to be closer to Marion to start college. I currently live with my dad but plan on switching to main campus after this year where I will then get an apartment with my brother and friends. I’m going to college for business and plan on attending law school afterwards. I don’t want to live in Ohio all my life so I plan on moving to another state after college, most likely somewhere in California or a big city like Chicago or New York.

            

The author I chose to research and write about was Frances E.W. Harper. After researching her and looking up information about her life I found many interesting things about her. She was a very successful writer despite the obvious obstacles she faced. The most interesting fact that I read about her was that she was the first African-American writer to publish a short story. This shirt story was “Two Offers”. I found this to be so interesting because it is a major accomplishment to be the first of anything but especially in these circumstances. It was actually dangerous of Harper to write these stories and speak out because of the Fugitive Slave Law that Maryland had passed which allowed free blacks such as herself to be arrested and sold into slavery. If someone had disliked her writings enough because of the things she said and fought for then she could’ve been forced into slavery. I found this information at http://www.biography.com/people/frances-ew-harper-40710#synopsis.

I liked all of the poems we read in class. I found them both entertaining but also admirable because of the information they held and the way they said it. They didn’t just say what the problems were or what they wanted to talk about, they put it into a poem in order to make it capture your attention better and stick with you more. The poem that stuck out the most to me was “Bury Me in a Free Land”. This is because of how vivid the writer made the story by using the language and writing tools that she did. She used words so strong to the senses that you couldn’t help but picture the scenario she was describing. She let you know that she so strongly disbelieved in slavery that even when she was dead she could not stand to be around it. As an African-American woman living in a time of slavery this was a very brave thing to speak out against and write, which made me admire it even more.

A writing that I was impacted by or affected by when i read it is the famous speech by Martin Luther King jr., "I have A Dream". I was so affected by this because it helped to open my eyes some to the events that african-americans faced and to make me realize some things about it. Even after they had gained freedom Martin Luther King jr. realized this wasnt enough, that they deserved equal rights. His use of emotion and literary devices in the text made it almost impossible to not agree with him. And because of this his writings and speeches had a huge affect and impact on the equal rights of everybody. This speech was so powerful that it has never been and never will be forgotten, they've made a lasting effect that will have forever changed history and will be remembered forever in history. And that's why this piece effected me so much, that words alone could have such a powerful effect on people and events.