History, History, and More History!

First, I want to thank Dr. Hunt for allowing us to experience such an amazing adventure through history. I think it is essential for students and people in general to have some bit of knowledge of their hometowns. I remember in 8th grade, I had to take Louisiana history and I hated it because my teacher (even though she was really nice), was not that into it. Thankfully those days are long behind me, and now I have a greater appreciation of Louisiana.

Now, for the tour. I must say that Walter Johnson does know his stuff and I enjoyed being out on such a beautiful day. As he was showing us the places that used to house slaves, I could not help but picture how it would have looked. In my mind I saw dirt roads, with horse carriages coming back and forth. I did not want to picture the slaves too much, because even though it was so long ago, it still hard to imagine people as property. During his tour, Johnson mentioned John White a bit so I decided to look him up. However, I stumbled upon the Journal of American History which featured a historical case presented by Mr. Walter Johnson himself. It was called The Slave Trader, the White Slave, and the Politics of Racial Determination in the 1850s. The case was about a young 15 year-old girl by the name Jane Morrison (she claimed her name was Alexina) who was bought by a New Orleans slave trader, James White in 1857. Shortly, after she ran away. That was not the last time the two would see each other, because eight months later, Jane/Alexina filed suit against White to prevent him from taking her again and selling her. The case was bought before the Louisiana Supreme Court twice, and considered by three different juries. This might seem like a case where the slave wanted to get back her master, but it wasn't. Jane/Alexina had blonde hair and blue eyes.

I did not go that far into the account, but it was very interesting and I would like to know the outcome. This is the link if you would like to read it:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2567914?seq=1

I also have something very funny to share. On my home page is the att. news and they always give a list of the best or the worst things in America or the world. The topic today was the 7 worst roads in America. What's so funny about it is that some of us were mentioning how bad the streets in New Orleans are, and low and behold we are at the top of the list. Here is the link for that as well:
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/travel/7-worst-roads-in-america-1229355/

Have a great weekend :)