Final Exam: Just Do It?

     As the first semester of American Studies has come to an end, I feel like I have become a more knowledgeable person about many different American topics and events in our history. One particular topic really stood out to me throughout the year: slavery.

    To the right, I chose to analyze a political cartoon about Nike sweatshop labor.  This artifact surfaced on an anti-sweatshop Ezine (a magazine only available on the web) right after a Bangladesh sweatshop fire in November of 2012 that killed 112 people and injured hundreds.

     This is an important American contemporary artifact because it depicts current "slave like" conditions, even though slavery was abolished over a century ago. The boss of the "sweatshop" I think is portrayed as a slave master. He has pointy "shark" like teeth, spikes on his shoes, he is triple the size of the workers. All these characteristics must instill great fear in the workers. A vary obvious feature of the man is that he is white, while all the the workers are colored, which make them look even more like "civil war era" slaves. The workers are weak, wearing the same outfit (in different colors), a minority race, and sitting on a bench working with a machine that has smoke spewing from it. If this image doesn't scream SLAVERY to you, you must be from another planet.

    This artifact relates to my American Studies class because we spent a lot of time talking about slavery, civil rights, and sweatshop labor. Throughout these past five months, our class has analyzed countless numbers of texting ranging from movies to short stories, so  I would like to analyze three different texts--a historical document, short story, NPR audio clip--and show the striking parallels between the texts and my artifact.

Where Are Your Christmas Presents Really Coming From?

      With Christmas only two weeks away, any store you go into will be packed with customers searching for the perfect gifts for friends and family. Apple, Nike, Abercrombie & Fitch, and WalMart are some of the most popular stores in the country where millions of citizens will go to buy presents. However, maybe you should think twice before buying from the stores above as they are among the hundreds of companies that use sweatshops to produce their products. 
      I'de like to focus on the conditions of sweatshop labor, so maybe you'll think twice about what presents you're placing under the tree. A sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for working conditions that are dangerous, unacceptable, or difficult. Some examples of these conditions, according to The Moderate Voice, are "There is no organized representation for most of the workers in sweatshops. Most workers earn $8.50 to $12.50 for a 48 hour work week, with mandatory overtime that can push them to as many as 80 hours. They receive two or three days off in a month." To read more click here.  When lacing up those $100+ nikes, maybe you'll think twice about the slave like labor that went in to making them.

Will you think differently next time you go shopping? 

To find good tips on how to buy "sweatshop free", click here.