Professor Sabir's Posse

Erik Del Nero
3/18/08
English 201 B
Mary Brown

Is Mary Brown a Casualty of war? I would have to say I have mixed feeling about that, because she is clueless about her families past, but yet Blake says that she is. Her father James Zwerg was very famous person in history. James was a Freedom Rider. Freedom Riders were black people and white people sitting side by side on a bus without any problems. All throughout her life she has been trying to figure out her father’s legacy. This was known around the south and better yet the country. James took a huge stand and decided to walk outside the bus first and when he did the mob grabbed him and nearly beat him to death.
As Mary was growing up she noticed that her father was in the history book and her teacher told her to bring the book in and so she did. She was shocked by her teacher’s reaction. In his reaction he said, “Oh my God, you’re dad’s a Fucking hero”. She had absolutely no idea what her teacher was talking about. She remembers as a little girl that her father had a ton of permanent scaring. One day she asked her father to come into class with her and speak of his experience with the Movement. The key part of his speech was when explained how he got attacked by the mob and nearly lost his life.
In conclusion, I think she doesn’t really care about the family history. She makes the movement seem like it wasn’t a big to do. To this day her fathers still suffers from everything he experienced during the time period. The Civil Rights Movement is something that had to done.
 

Theresa Smith
English 201 A
March 19, 2008
Title
Mary Brown
What is my purpose?
My purpose is to show readers that I can engage in a conversation with my paper analyze it, while learning from my history.
What do you want your essay to answer?
My essay will answer the question is Mary Brown a casualty of war?
What is the civil rights movement?
It was a movement to stop desegregation.
What are the writing strategies cause and effect?
Mary Brown is a casualty because her father suffered from the movement.
Effect it had none on Mary Brown.
Who is the audience?
The audience is the students from peralta colleges, email and websites.
James Zwerg was a twenty one year old young white man from Alabama who was invited on the freedom summer trip in 1961. Their goal was to desegregate pubic transportation. James Zwerg mother did not want him to go on the freedom summer trip because she new the harmful things that may happen to her child, he was resisted and went ahead on anyway.
James Zwerg was badly beaten when he got off the greyhound bus in Nashville Tennessee, he did not obey his mother orders when she told him not to leave. James Zwerg felt his prayer was going to keep him safe and as long as he was their, to support the freedom riders movement. “ Zwerg looked like a bloody scarecrow. His eyes were blackened and his suite was splattered with blood. After he was hospitalized, a news crew filmed him from his hospital bed. Barely able to speak, Zwerg none the less declared that violence wouldn’t stop him or any of his friends…. [27]
As a result from being beaten Zwerg body began to heal but, he still mentally suffered. He tried to kill himself, because he didn’t now how else to deal with the pain. “He was wracked with guilt and depression after the beating. He drank to much, contemplated suicide, and finally had to seek therapy. Therapy is a very good way to rid your body and mind of situations that are hard to endure, the hard part is being able to vent and release all the stuff that is stopping you from moving forward with life.
Mary Brown was not affected by her father breakdown and never understood the movement and what it was about until she was insisted to read the book called Letters From Mississippi then she was aware of her father and his positive impact he had on the south and she also new for the first time her father was a hero.
Zwerg pain is something that is difficult for his daughter, Mary brown, to understand. The distance she feels from her father isn’t caused by her hurt or his unwillingness to share, but by her incomprehension. For much of her life, she didn’t realize how scarring her fathers’ experiences in the movement had been. He was simple her dad not a civil rights symbol.
 

Chesi Brown
English 201B
Instructor Ms.Sabir
March 19, 2008



Mary Brown



Mary Brown is the daughter of James Zwerg’s is a casualty of war, because of her lack of awareness of her father’s involvement in the Civil Right’s Movement as in activist. By establish group of volunteer in a bus called the Freedom Train

Mary Brown was sixteen years old when she first realizes her father’s role in the movement as a freedom rider. Mary was attending a social studies class. She and follow classmates were assigning to study Eyes on the Prize a book which focus on the Civil right Movement. In the book, Mary notices a picture of her father. It was a picture of him beaten. He was known as a “poster boy of brutality.’ Black state in this chapter that; “Mary Brown finds it inconceivable that her father was almost beating to death just for riding a bus with civil right activist.”

Unlike Mary, James Zwerg’s had know family support or motivation in his past years. His Christian beliefs were taught from his mother and father. Somehow they seem to be better said then done. When Zwerg’s choose to form the Freedom Riders his parent’s were totally against it. Meanwhile, Mary goes through life with a very good support system. . She grew up in a biracial community and as never witness segregation. She is happily married to a black man and is a mother of three biracial children her self.
Mary says “I’ve only dated black men, “she says.” I really don’t know why. Anytime I go out somewhere, black men would always approach me before white men.

Mary Brown is a casualty of war. She needs to focus on the past and how much her father went through. He suffered a lot to make a change. She needs to acknowledge how important her father is and try to explain to her children what segregation is and how today this is still going on. She has biracial kids that need to be aware of the history and culture. So they won’t be surprise or mislead. Just like her.
 

Chesi Brown
English 201B
Instructor: Ms Sabir
March 19, 2008






Planning Sheet


Topic:
Mary Brown daughter of James Zwerg
Purpose:
To inform about the Civil Right Movement and James Zwerg role in it, Evaluate Mary Brown life with her father and describe her ignorance to her father role in the movement as in activist.
Audience:
College student’s who might not know about the Civil Right Movement and its impact on their live today.
Writing Strategies:
Describe to America James Zwerg how he wanted to make change.
Compare Contrast Mary life with her father, with her and her children.
Cause Effect should be used to show James Zwerg motivation to join freedom Rider's
 

TJ Eggleston
March 19, 2008
Eng 201A-B
10-12pm
Professor Wanda Sabir





Mary Brown: Daughter of James Zwerg

In the essay Mary Brown, it talks about how her father James Zwerg became such a hero in the Civil Rights movement. He was one of eighteen college students from Nashville, Tennessee known as “The Freedom Riders”, who got on the bus trip for Montgomery, Alabama to desegregate the South. As James was on the bus, he was reading a scripture from the Bible in the book of Psalms, the 27th chapter.
It read:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation – of whom shall I fear?. . . . Through my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will receive me.”

As the bus arrived at the station in Montgomery, a mob had been waiting for James to get off the bus. When James got off, the mob attacked him, dragged him off and beat him severely. After James was beaten half to death, photographers took pictures of James after the mob jumped him. When James was in the hospital, he told the news cameras that the violence that he endured will not keep him or his friends from their goal of accomplishing desegregation in the South.
John Blake called Mary Brown a “Casualty of War”, because she was oblivious to the fact that her father was a big part in the Freedom Rides and the Civil Rights movement. Also, it was the mind-bottling fact that everyone at school was talking about James Zwerg and how great of a part was in the Civil Rights movement.
 

Kay Kaunda
English 201b

In the essay of Mary Brown, the daughter of James Zwerg, John Blake lists her story in the section ‘casually of war’ though Mary Brown is very unaware of her dad’s hardship and the grounds why he is seen as a hero.

James Zwerg who was a student at Beloit College became a Freedom Rider from his experience at college having a black roommate. He found out how his friend was treated in pubic and decided to become an exchange student at Firk University to get a firsthand experience of how it felt to be in the minority. Whilst at Fisk University he joined the freedom rider where he drove through a segregated area in the south James Zwerg was viciously beaten near to death. Mary Brown response to hearing of her dad’s experience was ‘It surprises me how much hate there was in the world. I don’t see that now. I haven’t experienced anytime like what he went through’ (29). Mary was married to a black man and had three biracial children never experienced anything terrible, so found it hard to believe in the amount of hate that was happening.
It wasn’t until Mary Brown was in high school and her teacher was discussing to the class about the civil rights movement that she realized how big her father was ‘When she brought a copy of the Eyes on the prize book her teacher replied with ‘oh my god your dads a fucking hero’. (28) To her she always just seen her as her father until he spoke to the class about his experience. Then her view changed ‘That’s when it really hit me that my dad was a big deal. I never took it all that serious until then’ (29) Mary brown always found it hard to understand how her father could go through all this, also did his family. His parents always felt very strongly that they did not want their son part of this movement for James Zwerg this was hard to believe. Zwerg responds to his families views by saying ‘these are the two people who instilled my Christian beliefs, my ethics and now they were saying, this time when I lived my faith to fullest, they didn’t accept it’. (31) His parents always objected to discussing his beliefs until later on his mother responds to her son saying ‘until you have a child of your own you’ll never understand (31)

To say that Mary Brown was a Casualty of the war may not be fully true. Though her father experience was very traumatic she had a good relationship with him. In Maisha Moses daughter of Bob Moses, John Blake writes that ‘Many have not been able to build close relationship with their children ‘They lead lives that are adrift, rarely connecting with anyone or anything’ (39). This is the total opposite when it comes to Mary Brown. Most likely John Blake was trying to say that the casualty was James Zwerg who found it hard after his experience and turned to drinking. Also James Zwerg experience of being a freedom rider he never found in another job. Mary brown can be described as being a casualty of war as she did not know her father background. To her she always just saw her as her father. When her teacher was shocked to find out her father was James Zwerg her response was ‘what?. He’s just my dad’ (28)
 

Deanna Moody
1-3

Mary Brown was a casualty of war because she was ignorant of her father, James Zwerg involvement in the civil rights movement. According to Mary, " Her social studies class was studying the civil rights movement when she told her teacher that her father was mentioned in the book, Eyes on the Prize"(28). James was one of eighteen colleges students to go to the segregated south in 1961to desegregate public transportation where he was brutally beaten for being portrayed as a nigger lover. Emotionally disturbed with lots of hatred toward him James did not get evenly violent with the people who was violent with him.
Growing up Mary did not understand her fathers place in the civil right movement because he did not share his thoughts and feelings with his family about the civil war. Mary found it difficult to believe her father had a lot of hate toward him since she never experienced that behavior with her family:
For Mary, the level of hate her father endured seems incomprehensible today. Her ex-husband is black and she has three biracial children. She’s never had any problems going out in public with her husband or children. In fact, she’s accustomed to strangers doting at her kids"(29).
It seems as though Mary does not care about people doting at her kids. This should be a sign to start teaching her kids about the negative attention they may get.
In conclusion, Mary needs to learn more about her fathers past so she can be more educated on what her father went through as a young man with no parental support. Most importantly she need to teach her children about the hardships they may face for being biracial so they would know how to handle certain situations. Mary points out, "When my oldest one was four years old, he asked me why his skin was so dark," she says. "I explained to him that he was my little rainbow. He told me he wanted to be like me but I said no, you’re beautiful just like you are. He hasn’t had any problems since then."(29) Looking back on her grandparents lack of support for her father she should be more willing to educate her children on her fathers past and the way they may be treated in the future.
 

English 201, 10-12

Mary Brown: Daughter of James Zwerg

Mary Brown is a daughter of James Zwerg who worked as Freedom Rider that people tried to desegregate public transportation in South. James Zwerg was attacked and almost beaten to death by a white mob at a bus station in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1961. His bleeding pictures and the story what activists fought for broadcasted around the world and it became an occurrence that he known as one of heroes of the Movement. The incident gave a chance to public to criticize segregationists in South. However, though he is hero of the civil rights movement, Mary Brown, his daughter, didn’t know the fact to the time that she learned about her father’s role on civil rights movement and his tremendous suffering from a history textbook. (28)

Today, James Zwerg’s experience, the level of hate he endured remains inexplicable to his daughter and Mary is living in the world that her father and other activists eager to build with their sacrificed life. Mary Brown’s ex-husband is African American, and she has three biracial children. She is living in a mixed neighborhood and has usually dated black man. With her own experience, when she discovered her father’s experience as Freedom Rider, she says, “It surprises me how much hate there was in the world….I don’t see that now. I haven’t experienced anything like what he went through” (29). She seems to take privilege from her father’s effort to desegregate.

Even though James Zwerg was hard to recover from the incident he experienced to speak to his daughter, Mary is not a casualty of the Movement since she has felt proud of her father and his war which shaped all of her lives today. When she watched her battered father in a hospital bed and heard his statement, “We will continue our journey, one way or another. We are prepared to die”(33) in the documentary film Eyes on the Prize, she stated firmly how she respect her father:
To this day, Zwerg says he doesn’t even remember talking to anyone from his hospital bed. His daughter, though, can’t forget the image of her battered father in his hospital bed, still defiant despite his pain. “I cried. I get so proud of him. Every time I meet people, I want to show them the book,” she says, referring to Eyes on the Prize. (33)
 

Sophia Andrews
Mary Brown

Was Mary Brown a casulty of war?
When it comes to this question I don’t know which way to really go as far as saying yes or saying no. I am not going to say yes, because she was comepletely clueless, about her father’s importancy to history until she it was brought to her attention in highschool from a textbook. I am not going to say no because although his importance to history Mary Brown was clueless about, she was well informed in what he did during his time.
Mary Brown and her father grew up very diferently. James Zwerg I believe made it an infact effort to make sure that his daughter understood that she is equal to blacks, and that there is absolutely nothig wrong with them. Verses his parents dis owned him for believing that during his younger days. Because of Mary’s bringing up beliefs on blacks as well as her fathers complete support behind, and also influencing this it was hard for Mary Brown to actually vizualize and believe what her father went throught before she was here.
“Given her own exoerience. Brown finds it inconceiable that her father was almost beaten to death just for riding the bus with civil rights activist”
Mary Brown grew up with her father being just that her father, and to others he was this hughe hero. I honestly think because things were so different for her growing up she really didn’t care. She knew who her father was, what he did in her life, his life, and for other peoples lives, but to her he was dad, nothing more nothing less.
 

Dylan Cunningham
1-3

Mary Brown being the daughter of James Zwerg is a casualty of war, since she never was really informed of how much of an activist her dad was in the Civil Rights movement.

She volunteered on a bus named the Freedom Train. Mary Brown was sixteen years old when she first realized her dad's role in the movement as a freedom rider. She attended this social studies class. Her classmates and her were assigned to read a book called Eyes on the Prize which studied in and out of the Civil Rights movement. In the book, Mary noticed a picture of her father which was a picture of him beaten. He was known as a “poster boy of brutality".

Unlike Mary, James Zwerg’s had know family support or motivation in his past years. He learned his christian beliefs from his parents. They appeared to be better said then done. His parents disagreed when he chose to for the Freedom Riders. Meanwhile, Mary goes through life with a very good support system.
Mary says “I’ve only dated black men", she states, "I really don’t know why. Anytime I go out somewhere, black men always approach me before white men". She is happily married to a black man and is a mother of three biracial children her self.

Mary needs to notice how much her dad went through to make a change, because that would make her a Casualty of War. She needs to teach her kids about the war so they can have knowledge and not be stuck in a ditch when action really does come into play. She needs to acknowledge how important her father is and try to explain to her children what segregation is and how today this is still going on. If she explains to her children about the movement, then they will have better morals and understandings of why she is a Casualty of War in the Civil Rights Movement or having to do with it.
 

Ashley Dorsett
Ms.Sabir 1-3

Mary Brown is the daughter of James Zwerg, she is a casualty of war because she was never informed about how much of and activist her dad was, in The Civil Rights Movement.
In 1961 Zwerg took a greyhound bus trip, with whites and blacks through the segregated South, and they called themselves the Freedom Riders, their goal was to desegregate public transportation. Mary has been trying to figure out her father’s legacy for sometime, even thought it was known throughout the south and the whole country. That when he decided to step foot off that bus a mob nearly beat him to death.
Mary was only 16 when she realized the role her father played in the Civil Rights Movement. Mary was in Social studies class, she told the teacher her dad had been mentioned in the book "Eyes on The Prize". When she brought the book in her teacher said "Oh My God, your Dad's an F***king Hero".
That’s when Mary realized “My dad was big deal"(pg.29). Then she says “I never took it all that seriously until then."
Mary makes it seem as if she doesn’t care too much about the movement and as if it wasn’t a big deal. Her dad James Zwerg still suffers from everything he experienced during that period. At least he survived to tell his story of how he made a difference in The Civil Rights Movement.
 

Ammnah babikir
Eng. 201 b
3-12-08

Is mary brown a casualty of war? what is different in Mary Brown's life now that she knows her dad is a hero/ activist?
Mary Brown, the thirty-four-year-old teacher and daughter of civil rights movement "freedom Rider" James Zwerg, was a casualty of war. She was ignorent of her father's involvement and activism in the civil rights movement. It was completely incomprehensible that her father stood as a civil rights hero.

She haden't learned about her father until she saw her father's picture followed by an article about him in her highschool history book. "It was the first time I'd ever heard my teacher swear. He said, 'Oh mny God, you're dad's a fucking hero.' and I was like, 'what? He's just my dad.' "...' that's when it actually hit me that my dad was a big deal, "... "I never took it all that seriously until then." (parag. 2 pg. 28)

She couldn't help the fact that she didn't know anything about her father's role as a civil rights activist. she was merely a littlre girl when all of this happened to her father. When she was old enough to understand, it still hadn't hit her until her te acher brought him up not knowing that she was ken to James Zwerg. I think that what ultimately made Mary a casualty of war is being disconected to her history and falling victim to not knowing her father's historic past. Because of this she grew anxious to find out more about her father and his history that helped pave the way for some of the southern people to gain their independance. "While she was in high school , Mary says, her father began to share more of his feelings about his time as a civil rights activist. He had also helped integrate lunch counters. He showed her newspapre articles he had saved. But the gesture that affeted her most was his sharing of exerpts from his college diary. " That is really what touched me," she said.