There are many ideas that concern social history and it may be difficult to recognize them. Social history is an exceedingly broad term as there are so many situations and examples that can fall into the group. It is popularly considered as an insight on cultural history, but the definition is still quite vague to a lot of people. Social history is the thorough analysis of a personal story that is focused on a major issue, making it a topic of public interest.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs is a personal story that highlights the injustice of slavery. This book was based on the authors life as a slave and portrays her struggles to find freedom and happiness. Jacobs provides the reader with …show more content…
The movie addressed the social issues of slavery and had such detail that it made many of the viewers feel as if they were a part of it. It is about a man named Solomon Northup, who was born free and was deceived by two men to go work in a circus and earn money. They then drugged him and sold him as a slave even though it was illegal. His master’s name was William Ford and the men who detained him changed his name to “Platt” to make sure that there wouldn't be a relation to his past. He was later sold again and became the property of a carpenter named John Tibeats. One day, Tibeats attempted to beat Northup, but he retaliated. To stop Tibeats from killing Northup, Ford and Northup’s overseer had to intervene. This incident resulted in Solomon getting auctioned off again to a man named Edwin Epps. A while later, he encountered a man named Bass who listened to his story and decided to help him out. Bass contacted Solomon’s friends and told them everything that had happened. After his friends were alerted of the situation, they located Northup and brought him to justice. Solomon endured the deprivation of his identity, freedom, love, and happiness, but he never gave up hope and he knew that all he had to do was to find a way to inform his friends up north and he would be set free. His motivation and optimism was what kept him alive and well by the time …show more content…
Things like the economic status of Britain during the 1750s to 1770s when the United States was the thirteen colonies can be considered social history. Other things that we went over were the social relations between Britain, the Natives and some European countries. We learned about the wars that were fought and the economic and social outcomes of them. A document called Remember the Ladies was introduced to us. This document was about Abigail Adams writing back and forth with her husband, John Adams about women's rights. This was during the time when had slaves and it shows how women wanted to have the same rights as men while slaves wanted the same rights as the white people. Though this was a personal tale, it comprised of a much bigger dilemma that is still debated about today. Documents and stories like Remember the ladies help enhance understanding of these issues. The Constitution is an immensely important document that we studied in history. It is the law of the land and provides the people with knowledge of what their rights are. Having access to rights is what promotes people to experience much more and openly discuss issues. These actions will become personal and they are what will later turn into illustrations of social