Willie Lynch free essay sample

As I researched whether or not the Willie Lynch letter is valid, I have concluded that it is invalid for a few reasons and I found supporting documentation to prove my view. Unfortunately, I don’t think the letter is valid but the ideas and content within the letter are valid and the legacy of slaves, slave trade, and slave mistreatment are real. According to freemaninstitute. com, no evidence of there being such a person named Willie Lynch has ever been discovered. Some other obvious questions which lead me to believe the letter is invalid are, â€Å"why a person would be invited from the West Indies to Virginia just to deliver an 8-paragraph speech? Back then, such a trip would have been too strenuous and expensive for this, especially from an unknown person, especially when letter-writing was still the main form of long-distance communication? Of course, Lynch could have been in Virginia on business just before being spontaneously invited to speak. We will write a custom essay sample on Willie Lynch or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Still, if there had been a William Lynch whose word was so valued that he should deliver such a short speech in person rather than in writing, then certainly his speech would have been reprinted and commented upon in the local newspapers? Furthermore, the writing style and language used in the letter is not of the early 18th century. After reading these initial views of Black History experts, I immediately began doing more research and agreed the letter was invalid. There are many opinions online discrediting this letter and giving good reason why. According to the Black Studies Department at the University of Missouri at St Louis, â€Å"In the first paragraph, he promises that â€Å"Ancient Rome would envy us if my program is implemented,† but the word â€Å"program† did not enter the English language with this connotation until 1837 – at the time of this speech it was used to reference a written notice for theater events. Two paragraphs later he says that he will â€Å"give an outline of action,† for slave-holders; the word â€Å"out-line† had appeared only 50 years earlier and was an artistic term meaning a sketch – it didn’t convey it’s present meaning until 1759. † After reading these points by experts, I researched when these words derived and began being used within the English language and found it was accurate. â€Å"Second, the author was not at all successful at steering clear of very specific anachronisms. Well name only the most glaring word-choice errors: fool-proof, used in the speech, actually dates from only 1902. The noun program is not used in the sense found in this speech until the 1830s. Self-refueling is an utter anachronism, as the term refueling did not arise until the early 20th century. Use of installed when referring to something other than a person did not first occur until the mid-19th century. Moreover, attitude did not refer to anything other than a physical position until the mid-19th century. † These are just a few examples of words being used in this 1712 letter which weren’t around at the time. Finally, as I mentioned earlier, there is no evidence that a William Lynch from a modest plantation in the West Indies ever existed. Although, there is some evidence of a Captain William Lynch of Pittsylvania, Virginia, whom has been identified as the most probable source of the verb lynch, and who was born fifty years after the date given in the Willie Lynch Speech. There are other obvious reasons to believe the letter was written around 20th century. When I first read the letter I thought the vocabulary used was far past the time it was written in 1712. Too many things indicate it was not written at the time of the letter although most feel the content is very real and accurate. I think this is a letter was fabricated with content which was accurate at the time but the author and authenticity of it is invalid. I have researched and provided many red flags within this letter proving it was written at a time well before the vocabulary, content, and ideas lead you to believe another point in history. There is much more content online suggesting this letter is invalid and most centering around the same common denominators.