1. Actually what i first noticed about the ad, i thought the topic was just normal in those hundreds of topics, but when i read the description, the content really interested me. After the war, his sister Mary was purchased by a wealthy white woman, what shocked me most was Mary inherited from that wealthy white woman up to $150,000! It isn't a small amount. I really interested in such information. I wonder why that wealthy white woman can still buy someone as her srvant because slavery has been abolished, i think that woman can hire someone as her srvant rather than buy. Purchase means Mary lost her freedom at some point. Also i wonder that why that wealthy white woman gave all her fortune to a srvant rather than her relatives after she dead.
2. The ad was published in 1897. In that period----the end of 19th centry,the United States is undergoing the second industrial Revolution and capitalism is developing rapidly. The United States has entered the age of modern industrialization. Back to forty years' ago, in 1857 when William and his sister were separated is before the outbreak of civil war. Their master Matlock died and the two were sold to pay the master's debts, so separated them. During that period, the conflict between the new type of capitalism in the north and the slave-owners in the southern plantations is increasing day by day, and their master have unfortunately become the victims of the intensification of the conflict. After the war is reconstruction era, William turn to freedom from slave and run his own business, according to moduel two" Freedpeople also put a great emphasis on education, It was a whole race trying to go to school. Few were too young, and none too old, to make the attempt to learn.” ((https://maryklann.wixsite.com/hist110/post/module-2-emancipation-and-reconstruction). Before, William was just a no-educated slave. After the war, he can run his own business, it must related to higher education he had then he had the ability to run his business. On the contrary, Mary was worked as a srvent but she got a lot fortune from the wealthy white woman, maybe their relationship isn't simple master-servant relationship as we thought, maybe that wealthy woman regard Mary as no blood relatives and Mary was the only person that she closed to so the white woman made that big decision.
3. Over all, the ad described what had happened for those two sibilings during the seperated forty years. With the change of times, their identity also changed from slave to normal people.When they were slaves, they were not only oppressed by their masters but also had no personal freedom, but after the war, they all had new lives of their own. William even run his own business showed that capitalism develops rapidly, during that background, people became rich isn't an untouchable dream!
question for discission: If you were Mary, why you'd like to become a srvent rather than freedom people. What situation pushed you did that decision.
ad: http://informationwanted.org/items/show/2322
Wow, I can't believe this ad! She inherited $150,000?! What a family reunion! This is potentially a fascinating example of individual reparations--it is unclear what Mary's labor conditions were after the war. I would assume that the woman was paying her after the war, but reading the ad I can't really tell if she was being paid well. As Vy noted above, it is worth considering the larger context of Mary's life--if she had relocated to California and had no other contacts or options, perhaps she would feel as though her only choice would be to stay with the woman who had formerly enslaved her.
If I was Mary, I would still choose to become a servant to a nice wealthy white woman rather than be free because being a servant was all that I have come to known since I was probably never given a chance to go to school or had a proper education or was trained in a different career. Since the working condition isn't as bad as they were in the past, if I was to work for a rich and maybe kind enough lady, she would pay me well and I could save money to buy the things that I need or wanted and support my family since it is a stable job. Eventually, I would become a normal citizen.