A Different Kind of Christmas
By Alex Haley
I have never read Roots, although it is a book that I would like to tackle someday, like when I'm stuck in bed for a month or something. This book, by the same author, is short and sweet. It is about a young southern man, Fletcher Randall, in 1855, attending Princeton University. He is tired of being harassed by Yankees and so he asks to be reassigned to another dorm. He is allowed to move and in his new building he is befriended by 3 brothers, who are quiet, gentle "Friends"---Quakers. He knows that they are anti-slavery, and his family own the 4th largest plantation in his county, and over 100 slaves, but he appreciates their friendship, and their peaceful ways intrigue him. They invite him to visit their home in Philadelphia one weekend and he gladly accepts. He loves their family and the city, especially Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. But then they throw him into a turmoil of emotion when they introduce him to a successful business man in Philadelphia, who just happens to be a black man. "Mr. Randall, meet Mr. Fortas, our family's friend, our city's finest sailmaker, and one of our most prosperous businessmen. Fletcher almost collapsed as if shot. He felt his face flush hot as the black man shook his hand. As if he were an equal! A pleasure, sir, Fortas said. Fletcher could say nothing and he knew that his three host brothers saw his face turn crimson....Fletcher's right hand felt indelibly soiled..." They take him to a rally, where recently escaped slaves share their stories of brutality. Fletcher knows nothing of this. All he has known are the house slaves, which are almost like family, and are never abused. The field slaves are handled by the overseer. He is so upset that he refuses to talk to his friends on the 10 hour trip home, and does not talk to them when back in school either. But the damage has been done, he cannot forget what he saw and learned. He begins to study everything he can get his hands on in the library, about slavery and about the underground railroad. His grades suffer because he has become obsessed with his research, and so he has to stay in school for the summer to make up the classes that he failed in. Finally he takes another trip to Philadelphia. He finds his friends and apologizes for his behavior. Then he travels to independence hall. "He wanted to look again at that historic gray stone edifice, this time from his widened perception of human frailties. Because, as he had furthered his research at the college library, he had come to realize the monumental irony that when the Framers had signed the new Constitution, with its ringing promises of freedom and justice for all mankind, many among them---indeed, some of the most prominent ones---were slave owners." His next stop is another rally, where he is "furious at those who had made it possible to indict the South by wantonly inflicting the terrible beatings..." He returns to school and considers dropping out and going home. Then one day he is in his moral philosophy class, taught by his favorite teacher. His teacher reads them a letter written by Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave. It read, "In a composite Nation like ours, made up of almost every variety of the human family...there should be as before the Law...no rich, no poor, no high, no low...no black, no white...but one country, one citizenship, equal rights...and a common destiny for all. A government that can not or does not protect...the humblest citizen in his right...to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...should be reformed or overthrown without delay." Fletcher later wrote, "When a human being is capable of writing this letter, if that human being is in bondage, in slavery--if that human being is another being's property--then the bondage, the slavery, is wrong." Fletcher takes another trip to Philadelphia, and this time he volunteers to work for the underground railroad. Later, when he goes home for Christmas vacation, he is given his first assignment---to help 12 slaves escape. He would be helped by another agent, who would make himself known to Fletcher by asking him the question "Am I your brother?"
Until next time ;o)
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