Arc of Justice the Great Migration Essay Example

One can clearly see that Ossian Sweet’s AME background had an effect on him. It certainly informed his decision to buy that particular bungalow. All throughout his childhood he heard the message of racial uplift, and he must have taken it to heart. According to Methodism’s founder John Wesley “religion must necessarily produce industry and frugality.... nd these cannot but produce riches (Boyle 50). ”

Remus’s daughter Dora found a very suitable husband for a woman of Methodist faith “[Henry Sweet] had the businessman’s drive, an entrepreneurial spirit, fueled by a strong sense of pride and tempered by dedication to fair dealing (Boyle 59). ” By 1898, Henry saves enough money to buy land, a great accomplishment indeed. Growing up in Bartow, Florida Ossian experienced racial discrimination at its finest.

Between 1901 and 1909 three blacks were lynched and three others were burned alive in the small town (Boyle 68). At the end of the monograph, during the trial, Sweet tells the court the jarring story of the immolation of Fred Rochelle indicating the profound effect it had on him as a child. The Sweet’s always knew their family had to do better than Bartow. Though the family had struggled for two generations to make it as far as they had “it wasn’t enough, not in this place [Bartow] (Boyle 69).

Ossian was the oldest of the Sweet children and he carried the burden “to blaze the trail for the rest (Boyle 63). ” So after he completes the eighth grade Sweet’s parents send away him to Ohio to study at Wilberforce. He was only thirteen. This gives us a profound sense

of how important education is to the AME faith. At Wilberforce Sweet pays for his education by earning a scholarship and working on campus: the AME’s ideals of the hard work and education so perfectly juxtaposed.