Questions on Study Questions for Boyle, Arc of Justice, (Essay Sample)

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Study Questions for Boyle, Arc of Justice
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age was written by Kevin Boyle in 2004. Its genre is history and it was published by Henry Hold. Historians and the general public gave it a positive receiving. The theme of the book is to racism in Detroit during the 1920s Jazz era, Ossian Sweet being the protagonist. Sweet moved from his home to pursue his career as a doctor in the white dominated neighborhood. While in his new home, his family is attacked by the whites, Sweet opens fire and a white man is killed in the process. The incident affected Sweet’s career as a physician as the legal system pursued him and his family.
Prologue
1 Why did mass emigration from the South occur in the 1920s and not after the Civil War?There was no competition for resources in Detroit during the Civil War because the population was small. In the 1920s, the population increased due to the black people who moved from the south to Detroit in the north. As the industrial war geared up, many workers from the industries were enlisted in the army to help in the fight. They left their jobs vacant and the industries wanted to continue with their operations. The mass emigration from the south to the north was to fill the jobs that were left vacant by those who have joined the army. They also wanted to earn better living in the north.
2 What did the migrants expect and what did they find, in the north?
Moving from their homeland to the north, they hoped for better jobs and education system than what they were having in the south. They were used to competition for jobs in their ghetto and they did not anticipate for it at the north. They expected to experience equality in all aspects from racial to jobs. Upon reaching at the north, they found a system that could not accept them, this great immigration of blacks from the south to the north caused racial stress in Detroit. The Whites were not ready for any competition for the jobs with the blacks. The legal system that was in place supported them and put more problems for the blacks.
3 What is a ghetto and of what establishments in American cities did they consist?
A ghetto is a region in or at the outskirts of town that is only inhabited by people who have economic, legal or racial pressure from the surroundings. In USA, most ghettos were characterized by blacks who were racially segregated. In most cities, the ghettos were considered to be establishments for the blacks and were characterized by economic pressures, a legal system that was not fair to them and poverty.
Chapter 1
1 How had Detroit evolved from the Nineteenth Century to 1925?
By 1925, like other major cities in USA, Detroit had rapidly evolved. There were job opportunities for the ghetto people due to the tremendous expansion of the auto industry. The expansion of the auto industry led to the opening of more industries in the city increasing employment opportunities in the region. The jobs that were created by the auto industry were well paying than those were in the area during the nineteenth century. This is why there was a massive immigration to Detroit.
2 Who lived in the neighborhood around Garland and Charlevoix?
Garland Avenue was between Gross Pointe and downtown Detroit. Initially only the whites lived the regions around Garland and Charlevoix. By 1925, the population in the ghetto rapidly increased, the blacks started moving to this area to search for better housing.
3 What route took Ossian Sweet to Detroit? Do not limit your answer to information in Chapter 1.
Boyle takes the reader through the life of Ossian Sweet from since he was a young boy. Sweet was born in Florida to Henry Sweet and Dora Devaughn. His father and grandfather were slaves in the city. At the age of thirteen, his parents wanted him to head north to get proper education. He joined Wilberforce University in Xenia, Ohio. After accomplishing his studies at Wilberforce University, he joined Howard University in Washington, D.C for his medical accreditation. While in Howard University, Sweet witnessed a riot where blacks were mercilessly beaten. Due to the stiff competition for jobs in Washington, he moved North where he wanted to continue with his medical career.
4 How would you characterize race relations in Detroit in 1925? Give specific examples.The relations were harsh in Detroit. This is why there were ghettos for the blacks like the Black Bottom and luxurious places like Garland Avenue for the whites. The whites treated the blacks in harsh way, the reason why Sweet secured a gun when he moved to Garland Street. He asked his brother and friends to go and live with him with expectations of getting enough security when the whites invade him. One night they are invaded by the whites and one white man is killed.
5 Why did Ossian decide to buy the Garland bungalow?
From the start, Boyle describes Ossian as being ambitious and determined to get the best. The house was the best in Garland, besides it had a nice architectural touch. The house was located in a place whose neighborhoods had well paying jobs than the ghetto. He bought the house because he saw himself fitting the class that lived in that area due to his medical career.
6 Describe the events leading to the arrest of Ossian, Gladys, and others.
When he moves to the new house in Garland, the white people, older were as curious as the young ones to know why there were black people in their area. They converged outside their house but the police who were present did not disperse the crowd that was growing. The crowd started throwing stones at Sweet’s house breaking the windowpanes. Sweet opened fire by using the gun he had purchased while moving to the house. One white man is killed by that fire, the police arrest Sweet and everybody who was in the house and pressed murder charges against them.
Chapter 2
1 What were Ossian’s roots in the south and slavery? (Cite some of the incidents relevant to the shaping of Ossian’s consciousness.
Ossian’s grandfather and his brothers were all slaves. Their father had moved to Florida as a slave of Alexander Cromatie, a plantation owner who has moved from North Carolina. Edmund dies during the Civil War. His wife, Gilla and her sons, joins AME, a movement that was preaching for racial equality and forcing the whites to accept the blacks. They become sharecroppers to buy land but the efforts are later blocked. When the leader of AME dies, it loses backing and the whites goes back to humiliating the blacks. Later in 1898, Henry, Sweet’s father buys a plot of land in Bartow where the blacks has established themselves. There were different schools for the blacks and whites. Racial tensions in the region escalates, when a white police man kills a black man in the mines he is later released and told to go back to work, but when a black man commits the offense he is tracked down and the white people overcomes the police and kills the black man. When a white woman is found dead near a river by a black man, he is blamed and tortured for it.
2 What was the role of AME church?
It was preaching for racial equality by wanting the whites to accept the blacks as equals.
3 What enabled the Ossian to leave Bartow?
Due to the escalation of racial tensions in Bartow, a young Ossian witnesses the brutal killing of a black. After completing his eighth grade, his parents decide to send him away because of the racial violence that was in the area and get better education.
Chapter 3
1 What did Wilberforce Academy and College represent as an institution that influences the lives of its students?
The college represented the road to civilization that the blacks could use to gain their freedom in the community.
2 What was the talented tenth?
"Talented tenth" was used to refer to black professionals who were well educated. This was a group that was believed to lead the blacks to gaining racial equity. Sweet believed he was one of them.
3 How did Howard University compare to Wilberforce?
Wilberforce University was operated by the blacks and there were no cases of racial discrimination. Howard University was operated by all people hence the presence of racial discrimination.
4 What sparked the racial violence of 1919 and 1920?
Many soldiers were coming back from war, they hoped to go back to their early jobs but they found out that they have been taken by the blacks. This caused the racial fights and tension over jobs. The blacks fought back since they had been promised racial equity.
Essay
1 How did real estate market segregation shape the history of the city of Detroit?
Every place has a history even a place that you call home. Detroit has its own history that is rich in a unique way. During the industrialization period people migrated to this city to get good jobs and realize the American dream. Everyone was moving north to this City including the blacks from the south where they were experiencing true segregation by the whites in the south. They made a great immigration to north expecting to get a better place than the south. Detroit did not become friendly the way they expected. Here at Detroit they were segregated in everything from where they lived, jobs to where they were supposed to be found. This racial segregation worsened the conditions and racial war erupted in the city. The blacks were fighting for racial equality in the city while the whites were fighting to maintain the order of segregation. As the blacks continued to flock the city, the distaste of whites grew and began migrating to nearby suburbs something that intensified the racial tensions in the region. This accelerated the suburban and real estate market segregation as an attempt of stopping the black movements. A syst...