Arthur A. Robertson Essay and Clifford Burke Comparative Response

In response to Robertson's essay, I was shocked how many people were out of jobs and how many people got bankrupt from the depression. It really affected so many people. It shows that one of the reasons of the depression was that banks were loaning out money and stocks for not as much as it was worth. An example of this was "Today, if you wanted to buy $100 worth of stock, you have to put up $80 and the broker would put up $20. In those days, you could put up $8 or $10" (100). It just shows that after people got loans of stocks, they couldn't pay the loans back, so the banks went under. It was a major problem and one of the main reasons for the Great Depression. People were committing suicide left and right because people were bankrupt, couldn't buy food and water, and were homeless/couldn't pay for their house anymore. "On Wall Street, the people walked around like zombies. It was like Death Takes A Holiday. It was very dark. You saw people who yesterday rode around in Cadillacs lucky now to have carfare" (101). In these times, some of the rich even became bankrupt. Robertson was talking to his great friend, John Hertz, who was a very intellectual man, who was brilliant in trading stocks/the stock business, "Do mean of your kind put away $10 million where nobody can ever touch it? He looked at me and answered. Young man, what's the use of having ten million if you can't have big money?" (102). It shows that in these rough times, you couldn't put away lots of money in banks because the banks were closed/out of business because they gave away other peoples' money to loan to other people that asked for money because they had no other money to loan away. This is how the banks went out of business. A question that I have about this story was why would some people commit suicide over the Great Depression? It doesn't make any sense to me. There are so many other options for getting your money back, getting food/water, and shelter. That shouldn't even be an option. This story connects to US history because it relates to the Great Depression and how many banks became bankrupt and almost everyone during this time became bankrupt and could barely survive these rough times. This story illustrates being an American because Americans are greedy and are always trying to find ways to to become rich/cheat the system. During the Roaring Twenties, everyone was so happy/it was one the happiest times ever in American history. Everyone was over-confident and too optimistic, which led to overspending and led the banks to become out of business. The main problem for this is greed.

Clifford Burkes essay relates to Robertson's essay because in Burke's essay, Burke said that the depression didn't mean much to him, "If you can tell me the difference between the depression today and the Depression of 1932 for a black man, I'd like to know it" (105).  This is because the best he could do was to be a janitor, a porter, or a shoeshine boy. He ended up later being a hustler for a living though. Burke is really upset because blacks didn't have equal rights to whites and everyone cared so much about the Great Depression because whites were losing jobs and were going bankrupt/homeless, but lots of blacks have been living this lifestyle for a long time: homeless, very low paying jobs, and low food/water. It just shows you that the whole country only cares for whites and not for blacks,"The American white man has been superior so long, he can't figure out why he should come down" (106). It is too bad that blacks couldn't be more involved and have higher paying jobs and better jobs to help out society/end the Great Depression. Blacks had as much potential to work and to be smart as whites did if they were given the equal chance, but they weren't. The American dream is wealth, success, and a family, but blacks had none of that and had no chance of getting any of that back then, which makes me really sad because they were guaranteed equal rights and freedom from the U.S. Constitution, but they were actually denied that in society because they were treated unfairly.

C.P. Ellis Response

After I read C.P. Ellis's story, I realized what a tough life he had. His dad was an alcoholic and could barely make ends meet. His dad worked at a cotton field and died in his forties because he thinks it was from all the cotton. He had a bad  and very intense/tough job. He borrowed money to the buy the service station, which was where he worked then. He worked very hard, but still could barely make ends meet. He was led into the KKK and became the head of the KKK in his area. He at first hated blacks, Jews, and catholics. He at first loved the klansmen of the KKK and fell in love with it because he could finally be part of something (a group) that he liked. He ahd all of the same views as they did. He then realized that blacks are very similar to whites. They also have raggy clothes, like C.P. Ellis and they have trouble making ends meet. He couldn't sleep at night because he couldn't stand being part of the KKK when he didn't believe in what they did. He then finally stopped being part of the KKK because he regrets everything about it. He started associating himself with blacks and became business manager of the Union with a black lady, who at first didn't get along with him at all. Later, they put apart their differences and made dramstic progress and started to like each other. "Why are these dudes comin' out every Monday? They said they were with the Klan and have meetings close by. Would I be interested? Boy, that was an opporunity I really looked forward to! To be part of somethin'. I joined the Klan...became president." (65). This shows that at that point in Ellis's life, he was very depressed and wasn't apart of everything; he had no friends. He needed something to be a aprt of, something he felt good about. The Klan was perfect for him because it didn't matter what it was, all that mattered was that he was apart of something. It followed is beliefs at the time because at that point in his story, he hated blacks because he needed someone to blame for his hatred towards life. This story brings me to question,  why did Ellis follow his father's beliefs in hating blacks, Jews, and catholics? Also, why did Terkel not fight harder for more money for his job? This story connects to US history because it connects to the great depression, post-roaring twenties. During that time period workers were barely getting paid anything for their terrible and tremendously long working hours. Also, it relates to US history because the KKK relates to the Klan that we learned about during this time period that hated and murdered innocent blacks because they blamed all of their hatred towards life/bad economic times on black. They had to blame it on someone just like Ellis had to blame his hatred of life on blacks because he needed someone to blame. This story reveals that being an American doesn't only include glory. It includes bad economic times, hatred of races, religions, etc. The American lifestyle isn't only peace, freedom, and equal rights because those barely existed in this time period. There was a large hatred for blacks during this time, especially because the KKK was a huge and well known group back then. Everyone in society knew about it and they either hated it inside/kept their hatred to themselves, supported it secretly, or supported it publicly. This was a major problem back then, but Ellis "...ran for business manager of the union....and won" (74-75). He worked with a black woman, which shows how he was trying to make change to the country and provide freedom and equality for all. He set aside his old feelings of hatred towards blacks and now supports and likes blacks/is trying to help them. This is because the black lady and him didn't use to get along and then they set aside their differences and started to like each other and made political progress in helping blacks.