Civil Rights Heroes

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Unit 2

• Civil Rights Heroes

2
Pre-reading tasks

• What are the special contributions of Abraham,
  John and Martin to the Americans?
• They all advocated black civil rights.
• How did they die?
• They were all assassinated.

3
Cultural Notes

• The Civil Rights Movement
• the national campaign by African-Americans for
  equal rights, especially in the 1950s and 1960s.
• The campaign included boycotts (refusals to buy
  particular products), the actions of freedom
  riders, and in 1963 a march to Washington led by
  Martin Luther King.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting
  Rights Act of 1965 were also introduced as a
  result of the civil rights movement, which has
  helped to change the attitudes of many white
  Americans.

4
Cultural Notes

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964
• the US law that forced the southern states to
  allow African-Americans to enter restaurants,
  hotels, etc. which had been reserved for white
  people only and to end the practice of having
  separate areas for black and white people in
  theatres, train stations, buses, etc.

5
Cultural Notes

• Uncle Tom's Cabin
• a novel (1852) by the US writer Harriet Beecher
  Stowe which increased support for the movement to
  free slaves. It is about a kind slave called Tom
  who is badly treated and finally killed by Simon
  Legree. The name Uncle Tom is sometimes used as
  an insult to describe an African-American who has
  too much respect for white people.
• Uncle Tom
• Simon Legree

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Cultural Notes

• the Underground Railroad
• a secret system used in the US before the Civil
  War for helping thousands of slaves to escape to
  the free northern states or Canada. The slaves
  were called "passengers", the people who helped
  them were "conductors", and the slaves hid in
  "stations"(safe houses) along the way.

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Text Organization

• Part I Para. 1-Para.5
• It is high time to honor the heroes who
  helped liberate slaves by forging the Underground
  Railroad in the early civil-rights struggles in
  America.
• Part II Para. 6- Para. 23
• By citing examples the author praises the
  exploits of civil-rights heroes who helped slaves
  travel the Underground Railroad to freedom.

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Para. 1

• 1. What does the word plain mean in the
  following sentences ?
• A gentle breeze swept the Canadian plains as I
  stepped outside.
• As we walked toward a plain gray church
• 2. Alongside me was a slender woman in a black
  dress, my guide back to a time when the
  surrounding settlement in Dresden, Ontario, was
  home to a hero in American history.
• Can you explain this sentence in other words?

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Part I

• Para 2
• QUESTIONS
• In what way is Josiah Henson different from
  Uncle Tom?
• Josiah Henson a man of principle who never gave
  up struggling for freedom with a firm conviction
  that all men are created equal
• Uncle Tom a long-suffering slave who was
  unwilling to stand up for himself

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Para. 2

• Carters devotion to her ancestor is about more
  than personal pride it is about family honor.
• He is more than angry about it, but furious.

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• For Josiah Henson has lived on through the
  character in American fiction that he helped
  inspire Uncle Tom, the long- suffering slave.
• Josiah Henson was a man of principle

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Para. 3

• How do you know about Henson in this paragraph?
• I had traveled here to Hensons last home-now a
  historic site that
• historic famous or important in history
• In his book, Churchill recalls that historic
  first meeting with Roosevelt.
• historical belonging to history
• Many historical documents were destroyed when the
  library was bombed.

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Para . 4

• Josiah Henson is but one name on a
  long list of courageous men and women (who
  together forged the Underground Railroad, a
  secret web of escape routes and safe houses that
  they used to liberate slaves from the American
  South. )
• forge to form by heating and hammering ?(??),??
  (fig) create by means of much hard work
• The man forged the horseshoe (???) with great
  skill.
• Their friendship was forged by shared adversity.
• ????????????????

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Para .5

• authorize
• give approval or permission for (sth.) give
  authority to
• Examples
• The central government authorized 20 billion to
  construct new dams to generate cheap
  hydro-electric power.
• ?????????????.
• She authorized her partner to negotiate on her
  behalf.

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Para .5

• The corner is scheduled to open in 2004.
• I was intent on telling their stories.
• ?????????
• Hes intent on getting promotion.

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Part II

• Questions
• 1. Can you give an introduction to John Parker's
  life experiences?
• 2. What risks did those who helped slaves run?
  Give some examples.
• 3. Why did so many slaves go to Canada?

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Para. 6

• Peering out his door into the night, he
  recognized the face.
• peer look closely or carefully, esp. as if
  unable to see well (followed by at/through/into,
  etc.)
• The moon peered from behind dark clouds.
• ???????????
• ???
• Children are easily influenced by their peers.

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Para. 7

• Born a slave two decades before, Parker had been
  taken from his family
• Determined to live free someday, he manage to
  get trained
• born with a silver spoon in ones mouth
• blue blood
• ????

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Para. 7

• Eventually he saved enough money working at
  this trade on the side to buy his freedom.
• on the side as an additional job or source
  of income secretly ???????
• ????,??????????
• She is a doctor, but she makes money on the side
  by writing.
• sideline n. ??,??

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Para. 7

• In Kentucky, where he was now headed, there
  was a 1000 reward for his capture, dead or
  alive.
• capture capturing or being captured seize
• Example
• FBI???????911???????.
• Some of the terrorists who were involved in the
  9.11 event were captured by the FBI.
• reward
• award

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Paragraph 8

• Crossing the Ohio River on that chilly night,
  Parker found ten fugitives frozen with fear.
• fugitive
• runaway
• refugee
• They had almost reached shore when a watchman
  spotted them and
• scarcely when
• ????,????.???

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Paragraph 9

• Can you explain the meaning of the word but?
• There was room for all but two.
• Josiah Henson is but one name on a long list.
• E.g. Who but Gorge would do such a thing?
• As the boat slid across the river , Parker
  watched helplessly as the pursuers closed in
  around the men .
• ????
• let things slide
• close in around
• surround

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Paragraph 10

• The others made it to the Ohio shore, where
  Parker hurriedly arranged for a wagon to take
  them
• make it ?
• Over the course of his life, John Parker guided
  more than 400 slaves to safety.
• in the course of
• in due course
• a five-course dinner
• the main course

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Paragraph 11

• While black conductors were often motivated by
  their own painful experiences, whites were
  commonly driven by religious convictions.
• Religion pray worship faith paradise angel
  Heaven , hell , mosque church temple Muslim
  Christianity Buddhism, Catholicism
• Hes as poor as a real church mouse. Even the
  dogs lead a better life than him.

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Paragraph 12

• Word spread that fleeing slaves could always find
  refuge at the Coffin home.
• word/ news/ rumor /gossip spread that.

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Paragraph 13

• For his efforts, Coffin received frequent death
  threats and warnings that his store and home
  would be burned.
• frequent guest / frequent visitor
• In the North, a magistrate might have imposed a
  fine or brief jail sentence for aiding those
  escaping.
• impose
• 1) place a (penalty, tax, etc.) officially on
  sb./sth.
• ????????????.
• The government has made a decision to impose a
  further tax on wines and spirits.
• 2) try to make sb. accept (an opinion or a
  belief)
• It may not be wise for parents to impose their
  own tastes on their children.

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Para. 13

• Question
• What risks did Coffin run while helping slaves?
• Calvin Fairbank, was imprisoned for more than
  17 years in Kentucky, where he kept a log of his
  beatings
• kept a log of
• Sleep like a log
• Sleep soundly
• ?? suffer from insomnia

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Paragraph 14

• Question
• What difficulties did the slaves have in
  traveling the Underground Railroad to freedom?

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Para . 15

• On one occasion, Levi Coffin was transporting so
  many runaway slaves that he disguised them as a
  funeral procession
• transport
• public transport ?????? / inland transport
  ????
• trans-
• transfer
• transmit
• transplant
• transform
• in/ under the disguise of ..

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Para. 16

• Question
• Why did many slaves go to Canada?
• Slavery had been abolished there in 1833.
• abolish end the existence of (a law, custom,
  system)
• ???????????.
• These superstitious practices_____________.

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Para . 17

• What does the word As mean in the following
  sentence?
• As a boy in Maryland, Henson watched as his
  entire family was sold to different buyers
• Making the best of his lot, Henson worked
  diligently and rose far in his owners regard.
• make the best of to do as well as one can
  with a thing or situation that is unsatisfactory
  ????,????
• ?????????????????????????
• This is reality. You have no choice/option but
  to make the best of present conditions.
• rise in sbs regard
• hold sb in high/ low regard
• have a high opinion of

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Para . 18

• Question
• Why did Henson decide to escape?
• Money problems eventually compelled his master
  to send Henson, his wife and children to .
• compel make (sb.) do sth. force
• E.g . In the past children were frequently
  compelled to work from an early age.
• Henson heard alarming news..

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Para . 20

• Two weeks later, starving and exhausted, the
  family reached Cincinnati, where they made
  contact with members of the Underground Railroad.

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Para. 22

• I threw myself on the ground, rolled in the sand
  and danced around, till, in the eyes of several
  who were present, I passed for a madman.
• pass for/as be (mistakenly) considered as
• ?????????,???????????
• The girl looks so beautiful that she often
  passes for an actress.

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Useful Expressions

• ???????
• a slender girl
• ???????
• a man of principle
• ????????
• a historic site

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• ??????
• watch helplessly
• ?????
• painful experiences
• ????
• religious convictions
• ?????
• abolish slavery
• ??????????
• vast virgin land

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• ????
• work diligently
• ?????
• alarming news
• ???????
• at huge risk
• ????,????
• starving and exhausted

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Difficult sentences
For Josiah Henson has lived on through the
character in American fiction that he helped
inspire Uncle Tom, the long-suffering slave in
Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin.
Josiah Henson ???????, ??????????????????????????
??--- Harriet Beecher Stowe?????(???????)?????????
??
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Difficult sentences
Henson is but one name on a long list of
courageous men and women who together forged the
Underground Railroad, a secret web of escape
routes and safe houses that they used to liberate
slaves from the American South.
Henson????????????????????,??????????????,??????
????????????????????????
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Text Analysis

• The author tells three stories about the
  Underground Railroad and the early Black civil
  rights movement. The three stories are chosen
  because they are representative of all
  participants in this movement
• John Parker is a freed slave who later turned
  into a courageous "conductor"
• Levi Coffin is a brave white "conductor"

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Text Analysis

• Josiah Henson is a slave who struggled his way to
  freedom with the help of the Underground
  Railroad.
• We learn about the name of Josiah Henson at the
  beginning of the text, yet his full story is not
  told until the last part. In this way the author
  achieves coherence of text.

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Assignment

• Translation Practice