Blood Done Sign My Name

1. Blood Done Sign My Name Timothy B. Tyson

2. Quart. 1 Section 1 • Racism in the United states is still a big problem despite slavery laws being abolished a long time before • A black man (later to be recognized as a Vietnam veteran) was shot and killed in Oxford, North Carolina • Timothy Tyson was a young boy when this happened. The book explore his experience with racial discrimination (and this incident).

3. Quart. 1 Section 1 • Upon being threatened by the KluKlux Klan, nobody wanted to confront the perpetrators. • This infuriated blacks causing riots and rampage. (breaking of shops, houses setting fire to various “white” locales etc.) • The mayor, despite being overwhelmed did nothing about the whole ordeal.

4. Quart 1 Section 2 • Timothy was part of a religious family. His father was a minister who often found it hard not to preach about equality, and his mother was a poised and very well educated woman. She also believed in helping blacks (not enough to make them better than her though.) • Tyson expresses that he and his family never felt “from the south” as it was understood to be.

5. Quart. 2 Section 1 Based on the evident religious influence and anti-racist point of view that Tyson so evidently suggests, he enforces this as a value taught during his upbringing by his fathers description of KKK rallies as “what hatred looks like.” We learn more about Teel (assassin) through his determined and violent nature. Some even said that he “would have been rich if he had stayed out of trouble” (P.49)Although there is no written record associating Teel as a member of the Klu Klux Klan, Tyson speculated that he was a very important member of it. (received support, seen at meetings)

6. Quart. 2 Section 1 Tyson provides the reader with first hand stories as reasons not to fear the Klan using his father and a friendly judge as examples. Their responses to intimidating threats by the Klan were almost whimsical as they roasted marshmallows on the burning cross in their front yard. He conveys the colloquial-ness of open racism with reverend Cole, who’s congregation grew into a racist army becoming actively violent. This resulted in people buying weapons for their personal safety.

7. Quart. 2 Section 2 Tyson shows his repentance as he tells the reader that he gave in to “white supremacy” at a young age by making fun of his (Afro-American)nanny’s son . “I knew that what I was doing was wrong” P.63 His father’s education, family and upbringing molded him into an advocate of civil rights, radically so that when saying the Pledge Of Allegiance, he would leave out: “with liberty and justice for all”(p.65) because he knewit wasn’t true. These details serve to explain Tyson’s very strong feelings towards civil rights.

8. Quart. 2 Section 2 We find out about the Birmingham riots which lead to his father, Vernon’s letter to the paper saying that “a 14 year-old boy spent his first night in jail… his only real crime is that he had the wrong mother.”(72) As a way to ease his congregation into racial equality, he invited a black minister to his church and received death threats from other civilians. It caused outrage in his congregation, but later received support.

9. Quart. 3 Section 1 To explain why his father moved, Tyson explains that the reverend before him had an affair with a woman of his congregation and was forced to leave by an angry husband. He places a critical view on religious entities stating “Falling into such dalliance, if that is what it was, is common enough among preachers to constitute a professional liability…and theological training does not transform a man into an angel.”(P.85) I agree with Tyson’s critical outlook on preachers as they do, in fact, have a reputation for having unexpected affairs; however, I recognize that this is not the only profession that breaks its own rules.

10. Quart. 3 Section 2 Tyson later discusses, Martin Luther King Jr.’s general image and impact at the time. He critiques the fact that the FBI was looking for ways to get him to commit suicide, and people would generally not support him. When he died however, people stated honoring him and his ideals. To close the topic of Mr. King, Tyson quotes him slightly deviating the topic stating that “the whole structure of American life must be changed.”(107) I (also) agree with the former proposal, politic and economic power need to be redistributed, as King so strongly suggested. Only then, will Americans begin to be stable as a society.