CONTENTS
An Egyptian Father’s Advice to His Son . . . . . . . .772
A Woman May Need to Have the
Heart of a Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .773
The Impact of British Rule in India . . . . . . . . . . . .777
The Buddha’s Sermon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .773
Over the Top—World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .778
A Reformation Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .774
Gandhi Takes the Path of Civil Disobedience . . . .779
The Silk Industry in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .775
The Holocaust—The Camp Victims . . . . . . . . . . .779
Declaration of the Rights of Woman
and the Female Citizen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .775
Progress Never Stops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .780
Imperial Decree to Free the Serfs . . . . . . . . . . . . .776
China’s Gilded Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .781
What Is It and How Do I Use It?
The primary sources as defined here are
written testimony or documents from a particular era in history or about an important development. The source may be the writings of a
noted historian or political leader, or it may be
from the diary of someone who lived at the
time and recorded the events of the day.
Reading primary sources is an excellent way
to understand how and why people believed
and acted as they did in the past. While many
people might have written down their stories
or beliefs, the sources chosen here are from witnesses who were close to events or especially
sensitive to them.
Checking Your Sources
When you read primary or secondary
sources, you should analyze them to determine
if they are dependable or reliable. Historians
usually prefer primary sources to secondary
sources, but both can be reliable or unreliable,
depending on the following factors.
770
The Unfortunate Situation of
Working Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .777
An Ideal for Which I Am Prepared to Die . . . . . . .781
Time Span
With primary sources, it is important to
consider how much time passed from the date
the event occurred to the date that the primary
source was written. Generally, the longer the
time span between the event and the account,
the less reliable the account is. As time passes,
people often forget details and fill in gaps with
events that never took place. Although we like
to think we remember things exactly as they
happened, the fact is, we often remember them
very differently than they occurred.
Reliability
Another factor to consider when evaluating
a primary source is the writer’s background
and reliability. When reading a historical document, try to determine if the statements and
information can be proved. If the information
can be verified as true by independent sources,
then it probably is fact.
Opinions
When evaluating a primary source, you should
also decide whether or not the account has been
influenced by emotion, opinion, or exaggeration.
Writers sometimes distort the truth to suit their
personal purposes. Ask yourself: Why did the
person write the account? Do any words or
expressions reveal the author’s emotions or
opinions? Again, you may wish to compare the
account with another primary source document
about the same event. If the two accounts differ,
ask yourself why they differ and then conduct
your own outside research to determine which
account can be verified by other authoritative
sources.
Interpreting Primary Sources
To help you analyze a primary source, use the
following steps:
• Examine the origins of the document.
You need to determine if it is indeed a primary
source.
• Find the main ideas.
Read the document and summarize the main
ideas in your own words.
• Reread the document.
Difficult ideas and historical documents are not
always easily understood on the first reading.
• Use a variety of resources.
Use a dictionary, an encyclopedia, and maps to
further your understanding of the topic. These
resources are tools to help you discover new
ideas and knowledge and check the validity
of sources.
Classifying Primary Sources
Primary sources fall into different categories. While the documents presented here are primarily
printed publications, there are other types of primary sources.
Printed publications include books such as
autobiographies. Printed publications also
include newspapers and magazines.
Visual materials include a wide range of forms:
original paintings, drawings, sculpture, photographs, film, videos, and maps.
Personal records are accounts of events kept
by an individual who is a participant in or witness to these events. Personal records include
diaries, journals, and letters.
Artifacts are objects such as tools or ornaments.
Artifacts provide archaeologists and historians
with information about a particular culture or
a stage of technological development.
Oral history collects spoken memories and
personal observations through recorded interviews. In contrast, oral tradition involves stories
that people have passed along by word of
mouth from generation to generation.
Primary Sources Library
771
For use with Unit 1
An Egyptian Father’s
Advice to His Son
The World Before
Modern Times
For thousands of years, prehistoric humans
were migratory hunters and gatherers. With the
development of agriculture, people began to live
in settled communities. Throughout the world,
these communities emerged into great civilizations with cultures, customs, governments,
laws, and written histories.
Reader’s Dictionary
fraud: deception
standing: having a good reputation
wretched: bad, poor in quality
manor: a landed estate; a tract of land
diligent: painstaking, steady
lamentation: an expression of mourning
cessation: stop
This rendition of an Egyptian father teaching
his son is on the wall of the Tomb of Sennedjem.
772
Primary Sources Library
U
pper-class Egyptians enjoyed compiling collections
of wise sayings to provide guidance for leading an
upright and successful life. This excerpt from The Instruction of the Vizier Ptah-hotep dates from around 2450 B.C.
Then he said to his son:
If you are a leader commanding the affairs of the
many, seek out for yourself every good deed, until it
may be that your own affairs are without wrong.
Justice is great, and it is lasting; it has been disturbed
since the time of him who made it, whereas there is
punishment for him who passes over its laws.
Wrongdoing has never brought its undertaking into
port. It may be that it is fraud that gains riches, but
the strength of justice is that it lasts. . . .
If you are a man of standing and found a household and produce a son who is pleasing to god, if he
is correct and inclines toward your ways and listens
to your instruction, while his manners in your house
are fitting, and if he takes care of your property as
it should be, seek out for him every useful action.
He is your son, . . . you
should not cut your heart
off from him.
If he [the son] goes
astray and does not carry
out your instruction, so
that his manners in your
household are wretched,
and he rebels against all
that you say, while his
mouth runs on in the
most wretched talk, quite
apart from his experience,
while he possesses nothing, you should cast him
off: he is not your son at
all. He was not really
born to you. . . . He is
one whom god has condemned in the very
womb.
A Woman May Need to
Have the Heart of a Man
C
hristine de Pizan was widowed at age 25. She
supported her three children by copying manuscripts, compiling a manual of instructions for knights,
and writing books. The following is from her 1405 publication, The Treasure of the City of Ladies.
A Wandering Buddhist Sage
The Buddha’s Sermon
It is the responsibility of every baron to spend
the least possible time at his manors and his own
estate, for his duties are to bear arms, to attend
iddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, gave sermons in
the court of his prince and to travel. Now, his
India, which were written down after 250 B.C.
lady stays behind and must take his place. . . .
An excerpt from one of these follows.
Her men should be able to rely on her for all
1. Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of pain:
kinds of protection in the absence of their lord.
birth is painful, old age is painful, sickness is
. . . She ought to have the heart of a man, that is,
painful, death is painful, sorrow, lamentation,
she ought to know how to use weapons and be
dejection, and despair are painful. Contact
familiar with everything that pertains to them, so
with unpleasant things is painful, not getting
that she may be ready to command her men if
what one wishes is painful. In short the five
the need arises. She should know how to launch
khandhas of grasping are painful.
an attack or to defend against one.
2. Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of the
In addition she will do well to be a very good
cause of pain: that craving which leads to
manager of the estate. . . . She should often take
rebirth, combined with pleasure and lust, findtime to visit the fields to see how the men are
ing pleasure here and there, namely, the cravgetting on with the work. . . . She will busy hering for passion, the craving for existence, the
self around the house; she will find plenty of
craving for non-existence.
orders to give. She will have the animals brought
3.
Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of the
in at the right time [and] take care how the shepcessation of pain: the cessation without a
herd looks after them. . . .
remainder of that craving, abandonment,
In the winter-time, she will have her men cut
forsaking, release, non-attachment.
her willow groves and make vine props to sell in
4.
Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of the
the season. She will never let them be idle. . . .
way that leads to the cessation of pain: this is
She will employ her women . . . to attend to the
the noble Eightfold Path. . . .
livestock, . . . [and] to weed the courtyards. . . .
There is a great need to run an estate well, and
the one who is most diligent and careful about it
is more than wise
and ought to be
highly praised
for it.
1. Does any part of the Egyptian father’s advice have value today for sons or daughters?
Be specific and support your answer.
2. What are some of the duties and responsibilities of the medieval gentlewoman, according to
Christine de Pizan’s account?
3. What does de Pizan mean when she says a woman “ought to have the heart of a man”?
4. According to the Buddha, what is the cause of pain?
S
Primary Sources Library
773
For use with Unit 2
A Reformation Debate
The Early
Modern World
Beginning with the 1400s, European and
Asian nations began exploring the world, learning about new cultures, new peoples, new technologies. Then, between 1600 and the early
1800s, Western civilization was transformed by
scientific discoveries and new philosophies. The
growing desire for democracy paved the way for
political revolution in France and in America.
Reader’s Dictionary
Scripture: passage from the Bible
revered: honored or respected
contention: point made in an argument
hemp: a fiber from the mulberry bush
imprescriptible: cannot be taken away by law
Martin Luther
Ulrich Zwingli 774
I
n 1529, Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli debated over
the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or Communion.
LUTHER: Although I have no intention of changing
my mind, which is firmly made up, I will nevertheless present the grounds of my belief and show where
the others are in error. . . . Your basic contentions are
these: In the last analysis you wish to prove that a
body cannot be in two places at once, and you produce arguments about the unlimited body which are
based on natural reason. I do not question how Christ
can be God and man and how the two natures can be
joined. For God is more powerful than all our ideas,
and we must submit to his word.
Prove that Christ’s body is not there where the
Scripture says, “This is my body!” God is beyond all
mathematics and the words of God are to be revered
and carried out in awe. It is God who commands,
“Take, eat, this is my body.” I request, therefore, valid
scriptural proof to the contrary.
ZWINGLI: I insist that the words of the Lord’s
Supper must be figurative. This is ever apparent, and
even required by the article of faith; “taken up into
heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father.”
Otherwise, it would be absurd to look for him in the
Lord’s Supper at the same time that Christ is telling
us that he is in heaven. One and the same body cannot possibly be in different places. . . .
LUTHER: I call upon you as before: your basic contentions are shaky. Give way, and give
glory to God!
ZWINGLI: And we call upon you to
give glory to God and to quit begging
the question! The issue at stake is this:
Where is the proof of your position?
LUTHER: It is your point that must be
proved, not mine. But let us stop this
sort of thing. It serves no purpose.
ZWINGLI: It certainly does! It is for
you to prove that the passage in John 6
speaks of a physical meal.
LUTHER: You express yourself
poorly. . . . You’re going nowhere.
The Silk Industry in China
Declaration of the
Rights of Woman and
the Female Citizen
D
uring the 1600s Sung Ying-Hsing wrote a book
on Chinese industry called the T’ien-kung K’aiwu (Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century),
which included sections on the production of silk.
. . . Members of the aristocracy are clothed in
flowing robes decorated with patterns of magnificent mountain dragons, and they are the rulers of
the country. Those of lowly stations would be
dressed in hempen jackets and cotton garments to
protect themselves from the cold in winter and
cover their nakedness in summer, in order to distinguish themselves from the birds and beasts.
Therefore Nature has provided the materials for
clothing. Of these, the vegetable [plant] ones are
cotton, hemp, meng hemp, and creeper hemp;
those derived from birds, animals, and insects are
furs, woolens, silk, and spun silk. . . .
But, although silk looms are to be found in all
parts of the country, how many persons have actually seen the remarkable functioning of the drawloom: Such words as
“orderly government”
[chih, i.e. the word used
in silk reeling], “chaos”
[luan, i.e. when the
fibers are entangled], “knowledge or good policy” [ching-lun,
i.e. the warp thread and the
woven pattern] are known by
every schoolboy, but is it not
regrettable that he should
never see the actual things
that gave rise to these
words? . . .
O
lympe de Gouges composed her own Declaration
of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in
1791. Following are excerpts.
1. Woman is born free and lives equal to man in
her rights. Social distinctions can be based
only on the common utility.
2. The purpose of any political association is the
conservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of woman and man; these
rights are liberty, property, security, and especially resistance to oppression. . . .
4. Liberty and justice consist of restoring all
that belongs to others; thus, the only limits on
the exercise of the natural rights of woman are
perpetual male tyranny; these limits are to be
reformed by the laws of nature and reason. . . .
6. The law must be . . . the same for all: male and
female citizens. . . .
7. No woman is an exception; she is accused,
arrested, and detained in cases determined by
law. Women, like men, obey this rigorous
law. . . .
11. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of
woman, since that liberty assured the recognition of children by their fathers. . . .
Emperor’s robe,
Qing dynasty
1. Was a conclusion reached in the debate presented between Luther and Zwingli?
2. According to Sung Ying-Hsing, from what two sources was all clothing made?
3. What are the rights of women as listed in the excerpts from Declaration of the Rights of
Woman and the Female Citizen?
4. Olympe de Gouges states that free communication of thoughts is one of the most precious
rights of women. Do you agree or disagree?
Primary Sources Library
775
For use with Unit 3
Imperial Decree
to Free the Serfs
An Era of
European
Imperialism
During the late 1700s and throughout the
1800s, the nations of Europe and North America
began an Industrial Revolution that had farreaching effects, including the demand for social
and political reforms. At the same time, Western
nations extended their hold on new lands and on
foreign markets.
Reader’s Dictionary
autocrat: a monarch who rules with unlimited
authority
close: an enclosed area of land
enumerated: counted
abject: existing in a low state or condition
infanticide: killing an infant
resuscitation: restoration or renewal
Czar Alexander II
776
I
n 1861, the Russian czar Alexander II issued the
Emancipation Manifesto, an imperial decree to free
his country’s serfs.
By the grace of God, we, Alexander II, Emperor and
Autocrat of all the Russias, King of Poland, Grand
Duke of Finland, etc., to all our faithful subjects,
make known:
Examining the condition of classes and professions
comprising the state, we became convinced that the
present state legislation favors the upper and middle
classes, . . . but does not equally favor the serfs. . . .
These facts had already attracted the attention of our
predecessors, and they had adopted measures aimed
at improving the conditions of the peasants. But
decrees on free farmers and serfs have been carried
out on a limited scale only.
We thus came to the conviction that the work of a
serious improvement of the condition of the peasants was a sacred
inheritance bequeathed to us by our
ancestors, a mission which, in the
course of events Divine Providence
called upon us to fulfill. . . .
In virtue of the new dispositions
above mentioned, the peasants
attached to the soil will be invested
within a term fixed by the law with
all the rights of free cultivators. . . .
At the same time, they are granted
the right of purchasing their close,
and, with the consent of the proprietors, they may acquire in full property the arable lands and other
appurtenances [rights of way] which
are allotted to them as a permanent
holding. By the acquisition in full
property of the quantity of land
fixed, the peasants are free from
their obligations towards the proprietors for land thus purchased, and
they enter definitely into the condition of free peasants-landholders.
The Unfortunate Situation
of Working Women
T
his article was published in L’Atelier, a Parisian
workingman’s newspaper, in 1842.
The Impact of
British Rule in India
I
n 1871, Dadabhai Naroji commented on the benefits
and the problems of British rule in India.
Although women’s work is less productive for
Benefits of British Rule:
society than that of men, it does, nevertheless,
In the Cause of Humanity: Abolition of suttee
have a certain value, and, moreover, there are
and infanticide. Civilization: Education, both
professions that only women can practice. For
male and female. . . . Resuscitation of India’s own
these, women are indispensable. . . . It is these
noble literature. Politically: Peace and order.
very workers in all these necessary trades who
Freedom of speech and liberty of the press. . . .
earn the least and who are subject to the longest
Improvement of government in the native states.
layoffs. Since for so much work they earn only
Security of life and property. Freedom from
barely enough to live from day to day, it happens
oppression. . . . Materially: Loans for railways
that during times of unemployment they sink
and irrigation. Development of a few valuable
into abject poverty.
products, such as indigo, tea, coffee, silk, etc.
Who has not heard of the women silkworkers’
Increase of exports. Telegraphs.
dirty, unhealthy, and badly paid work; of the
The Detriments of British Rule:
women in the spinning and weaving factories
In the Cause of Humanity: Nothing.
working fourteen to sixteen hours (except for one
Civilization: [T]here has been a failure to do as
hour for both meals); always standing, without a
much as might have been done. Politically:
single minute for repose, putting forth an enorRepeated breach of pledges to give the natives a
mous amount of effort. And many of them have
fair and reasonable share in the higher administo walk a league or more, morning and evening,
tration of their own country, . . . an utter disreto get home. Nor should we neglect to mention
gard of the feelings and views of the natives.
the danger that exists merely from working in
Financially: [N]ew modes of taxation, without
these large factories, surrounded by wheels,
any adequate effort to increase the means of the
gears, enormous leather belts that always threatpeople to pay.
en to seize you and pound you to pieces.
Summary: British rule has been: morally, a
The existence of women who work as day
great blessing; politically, peace and order on one
laborers, and are obliged to abandon . . . the care
hand, blunders on the other; materially, impoverof their children to indifferent neighbors is no betishment. . . . Our great misfortune is that you do
ter. . . . We believe that the condition of women
not know our wants. When you will know our
will never really improve until workingmen can
real wishes, I have not the least doubt that you
earn enough to support their families, which is
would do justice. The genius and spirit of the
only fair. Woman is so closely linked to man that
British people is fair play and justice.
the position of the
one cannot be
improved without
reference to the
1. What reason does Czar Alexander II give for freeing the serfs?
position of the
2. What physical and economic problems of women workers are described in the Parisian newsother.
paper article? What solution(s) does the author offer?
3. What is the attitude of the L’Atelier writer toward women and women’s work? Is the author of
the article more likely to be a woman or a man? What makes you think so?
4. Summarize the benefits and problems of British rule in India.
Primary Sources Library
777
For use with Unit 4
The TwentiethCentury Crisis
During the first half of the 1900s, two
destructive wars raged throughout the world
and brought tremendous political and social
change. World War I destroyed the power of
European monarchies, while Nazi aggression in
Germany eventually led to World War II and
the Holocaust.
Reader’s Dictionary
parapet: wall of earth piled on top of a trench
snipers: people who shoot at exposed individuals
from a concealed location
civil disobedience: refusal to obey governmental
demands
exploitation: unfair use for one’s own advantage
disarmament: reducing or eliminating weapons
Battle of the Somme
778
Over the Top—World War I
A
rthur Guy Empey reflects upon his experiences during World War I in the trenches in France.
Suddenly, the earth seemed to shake and a thunderclap burst in my ears. I opened my eyes,—I was
splashed all over with sticky mud, and men were
picking themselves up from the bottom of the trench.
The parapet on my left had toppled into the trench,
completely blocking it with a wall of tossed-up earth.
The man on my left lay still. . . . A German “Minnie”
(trench mortar) had exploded in the [trench]. . . .
Stretcher-bearers came up the trench on the double.
After a few minutes of digging, three still, muddy
forms on stretchers were carried down the communication trench to the rear. Soon they would be resting
“somewhere in France,” with a little wooden cross
over their heads. They had done their bit for King
and Country, had died without firing a shot. . . . I
was dazed and motionless. Suddenly a shovel was
pushed into my hands, and a rough but kindly
voice said: “Here, my lad, lend a hand clearing the
trench, but keep your head down, and look out for
snipers. . . .”
Lying on my belly on the bottom of the trench, I
filled sandbags with the sticky mud. . . . The harder I
worked, the better I felt.
Occasionally a bullet would crack
overhead, and a machine gun would
kick up the mud on the bashed-in
parapet. At each crack I would duck
and shield my face with my arm.
One of the older men noticed this
action of mine, and whispered:
“Don’t duck at the crack of a bullet,
Yank; the danger has passed,—you
never hear the one that wings you.
Always remember that if you are
going to get it, you’ll get it, so never
worry.” . . . [Days later] we received
the cheerful news that at four in the
morning we were to go over the top
and take the German frontline
trench. My heart turned to lead.
Gandhi Takes the Path
of Civil Disobedience
M
ohandas Gandhi explains why British rule in
India must end.
The Holocaust—
The Camp Victims
A
French doctor describes the victims of one of the
crematoriums at Auschwitz-Birkenau during
the Holocaust.
Before embarking on civil disobedience and
taking the risk I have dreaded to take all these
It is mid-day, when a long line of women, chilyears, I would fain approach you and find a way
dren, and old people enter the yard. The senior
out.
official in charge . . . climbs on a bench to tell
My personal faith is absolutely clear. I cannot
them that they are going to have a bath and that
intentionally hurt anything that lives, much less
afterwards they will get a drink of hot coffee.
fellow human beings, even
They all undress in the yard. . . . The doors are
though they may do the
opened and an indescribable jostling begins. The
greatest wrong to me and
first people to enter the gas chamber begin to
mine. Whilst, therefore, I
draw back. They sense the death which awaits
hold the British rule to be a
them. The SS men put an end to the pushing and
curse, I do not intend harm
shoving with
to a single Englishman or to
blows from
any legitimate interest he may have in India.
their rifle butts
I must not be misunderstood. Though I hold
beating the
the British rule in India to be a curse, I do not,
heads of the
therefore, consider Englishmen in general to be
horrified
worse than any other people on earth. I have the
women who
privilege of claiming many Englishmen as dearare desperately
est friends. Indeed much that I have learned of
hugging their children. The massive oak double
the evil of British rule is due to the writings of
doors are shut. For two endless minutes one can
frank and courageous Englishmen who have not
hear banging on the walls and screams which are
hesitated to tell the truth about that rule.
no longer human. And then—not a sound. Five
And why do I regard British rule as a curse?
minutes later the doors are opened. The corpses,
It has impoverished the ignorant millions by a
squashed together and distorted, fall out like a
system of progressive exploitation and by a
waterfall. The bodies which are still warm pass
ruinously expensive military and civil administhrough the hands of the hairdresser who cuts
tration which the country can never afford.
their hair and the dentist who pulls out their
It has reduced us politically to serfdom. It has
gold teeth . . . One more transport has just been
sapped the foundations of our culture. And, by the
processed through No. IV crematorium.
policy of cruel disarmament, it has degraded us
spiritually. Lacking
the inward
strength, we
have been
1. How did Arthur Empey feel and act during his time in the trenches of World War I?
reduced . . . to a
2. According to Gandhi, what had British rule done to India?
state bordering
3. Why do you think Gandhi believed that nonviolent civil disobedience would encourage the
on cowardly
British to free India?
helplessness. . . .
4. What is the French doctor’s point of view about the events he describes at the AuschwitzBirkenau death camp?
Primary Sources Library
779
For use with Unit 5
Progress Never Stops
Toward a Global
Civilization
Following World War II, the balance of power
in the world shifted dramatically. Many nations
and peoples came under the political and ideological influence of the United States, which
promoted capitalism and individual rights and
liberties.
Reader’s Dictionary
reserve: a reservation; land set aside for use by a
particular group
squatters: those who settle on public land without
rights or permission
perturbation: major change or disturbance
John Glenn
780
I
n 1962, John J. Glenn, Jr. was commander of the first
U.S. crewed spacecraft to orbit the earth. Glenn spoke
to a joint meeting of Congress six days after he returned
from orbit.
What did we learn from the flight? . . . The Mercury
spacecraft and systems design concepts are sound
and have now been verified during manned flight.
We also proved that man can operate intelligently in
space and can adapt rapidly to this new environment.
Zero G or weightlessness appears to be no problem.
As a matter of fact, lack of gravity is a rather fascinating thing. Objects within the cockpit can be parked
in midair. For example, at one time during the flight,
I was using a hand-held camera. Another system
needed attention; so it seemed quite natural to let go
of the camera, take care of the other chore, then reach
out, grasp the camera, and go back about
my business.
There seemed to be little sensation of
speed although the craft was traveling at
about five miles per second—a speed that I
too find difficult to comprehend.
The view from that altitude defies
description. The horizon colors are brilliant
and sunsets are spectacular. It is hard to
beat a day in which you are permitted the
luxury of seeing four sunsets. . . .
Our efforts today and what we have
done so far are but small building blocks
in a huge pyramid to come.
But questions are sometimes raised
regarding the immediate payoffs from our
efforts. Explorations and the pursuit of
knowledge have always paid dividends in
the long run—usually far greater than anything expected at the outset. Experimenters
with common, green mold, little dreamed
what effect their discovery of penicillin would have.
We are just probing the surface of the greatest
advancements in man’s knowledge of his surroundings that has ever been made. . . . Knowledge begets
knowledge. Progress never stops.
An Ideal for Which I Am
Prepared to Die
N
elson Mandela gave this speech during his trial
in South Africa in 1964. Following the trial, he
was sentenced to life in prison.
The whites enjoy what may well be the highest
standard of living in the world, whilst Africans
live in poverty and misery. Forty percent of the
Africans live in hopelessly overcrowded and, in
some cases, drought-stricken reserves, where soil
erosion and the overworking of the soil make it
impossible for them to live properly off the land.
Thirty percent are labourers, labour tenants, and
squatters on white farms. The other thirty percent live in towns where they have developed
economic and social habits which bring them
closer, in many respects, to white standards.
Yet forty-six percent of all African families in
Johannesburg do not earn enough to keep them
going.
The complaint of Africans, however, is not only
that they are poor and whites are rich, but that
the laws which are made by the whites are
designed to preserve this situation. . . .
During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to
this struggle of the African people. I have fought
against white domination, and I have fought
against black domination. I have cherished the
ideal of a democratic and free society in which all
persons live together in harmony with equal
opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live
for, and to see realized. But my lord, if needs be,
it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
China’s Gilded Age
X
iao-huang Yin recounts his trip through China in
1994.
Recently I took a six-week journey across
China. It was my first trip back since . . . 1985.
In the course of my visit I saw—I felt—the perturbations of profound and chaotic social change.
China’s stunning hurtle from a centrally planned
economy to a free market has set off an economic
explosion and generated tremendous prosperity.
Its economic growth was 13 percent in 1993, and
average personal income in urban areas had doubled since 1985. With the state-owned sector
accounting for less than 30 percent of total economic output, the socialist system is becoming an
empty shell. Across China the lines between the
state and private economies are blurring. At the
largest national department store in Shanghai, a
symbol of Chinese socialist business, customers
now bargain for better prices. The counters within the store have been contracted out to shop
clerks, who decide the prices. Dual ownership
has in essence turned this state enterprise into a
private business. . . .
Not everyone gets rich quick, but the economic
boom has brought most urban Chinese a huge
improvement in their standard of living. Color
TV sets, refrigerators, and VCRs, considered
luxuries when I lived in China, can be found in
almost every working-class urban household—
at least in the prosperous coastal cities.
1. What are the immediate and long-term “payoffs” of John Glenn’s 1962 space mission, according to his report to Congress?
2. Summarize the demographics of the African population discussed by Nelson Mandela.
3. What ideal does Nelson Mandela discuss?
4. Why does Xiao-huang Yin believe that socialism is becoming an “empty shell” in China?
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