WhatWouldYouDoScenario4

Back =Scenario 3: = What really happened?  You have experienced a very real situation in the life of William Parker. Read for yourself as the events of September 1851 unfold in his memoirs. **(don’t skip this, there are follow-up questions below)** “You had better give up,” said old Mr. Gorsuch, after another while, “and come down, for I have come a long way this morning, and want my breakfast; for my property I will have, or I’ll breakfast in hell. I will go up and get it.” He then started up stairs, and came far enough to see us all plainly. We were just about to fire upon him, when Dickinson Gorsuch, who was standing on the old oven, before the door, and could see into the up-stairs room through the window, jumped down and caught his father, saying,--“O father, do come down! Do come down! They have guns, swords, and all kinds of weapons! They’ll kill you! Do come down!” The old man turned and left. When down with him, young Gorsuch could scarce draw breath, and the father looked more like a dead than a living man, so frightened were they at their supposed danger. The old man stood some time without saying anything; at last he said, as if soliloquizing, “I want my property, and I will have it.”Kline broke forth, “If you don’t give up by fair means, you will have to by foul.” I told him we would not surrender on any conditions. Young Gorsuch then said,--“Don’t ask them to give up,--//make// them do it. We have money, and can call men to take them. What is it that money won’t buy?”Then said Kline,--“I am getting tired waiting on you; I see you are not going to give up.” He then wrote a note and handed it to Joshua Gorsuch, saying at the same time,--“Take it, and bring a hundred men from Lancaster.” As he started, I said,--“See here! When you go to Lancaster, don’t bring a hundred men,--bring five hundred. It will take all the men in Lancaster to change our purpose or take us alive.” He stopped to confer with Kline, when Pinckney said, “We had better give up.” “You are getting afraid,” said I. “Yes,” said Kline, “give up like men. The rest would give up if it were not for you.” “I am not afraid,” said Pinckney; “but where is the sense in fighting against so many men, and only five of us?” The whites, at this time, were coming from all quarters, and Kline was enrolling them as fast as they came. Their numbers alarmed Pinckney, and I told him to go and sit down; but he said, “No, I will go down stairs.” I told him, if he attempted it, I should be compelled to blow out his brains. “Don’t believe, that any living man can take you,” I said. “Don’t give up to any slaveholder.” To Abraham Johnson, who was near me, I then turned. He declared he was not afraid. “I will fight till I die,” he said. **Before reading Scenario 4 answer the following questions: ** ** Name 3 people involved in this episode. Describe the role of each person and your impression of their character. ** **Do you agree with how Parker handles the situation? Why/not? **

 When you are finished, click here.