Background Information

Mark Twain

Controversy surrounding Huck Finn and censorship Concord Library banning-1885 NY Public Library-1905 219 times Twain did NOT intend for it to be misused

by readers of his literature. Intended to show how blacks were viewed

Less than humanDuring this time this is how they were identified

Spain, 1587 Censorship

Geography and Life on the River 1800 collision of various people and cultures

Native Americans and early white settlers (fur traders, planters, French) created the norms for the region.

Mississippi River valley was sold as a part of the Louisiana Purchase

1820 Land exhaustion in east forced people west and miss river valley

seemed like a good place to settle Crowding caused a forceful removal of Native Americans from the land

1850 Lower Mississippi: slave country, wealth, power Northern Mississippi: no slave country, opportunity, respectability

Confederates controlled the Mississippi river between 1816-1863

Many slaves crossed river by way of underground railroad The first bridge built across the Mississippi River was in 1855 The first railroad bridge finished in 1856.

Time Line

Slave Laws, Slavery and Abolitionists

Small Pox

Hospital used for quarantine, Pest House No treatment, Vaccinations available Contracted through direct contact with

any infected material Eradicated (exception: bioterrorism) 16th century fear

States before Civil War