James Healy's Life As A Slave

Some people have to work tremendously hard to get by in life while others seem to have everything handed to them. James Healy, born as a slave, came from nothing. To make things more confusing, James was mixed race and didn’t look like either his white Irish father or his mulatto mother. Even though he was ¾ Irish because James had some “black blood” he was considered black, and a slave due to the one drop rule in Georgia (anyone with 1 drop of black blood, was black) (blackpast.org). “The rigidity of racial distinctions had to be maintained as much as possible. The idea that a person might be able to cross over from one race to another was out of the question....The distinction between "white blood" and "black blood" came to seem so fundamental
He was born in Macon, GA in 1830 when slavery was common (catholichearld.com). This was a very challenging time in history to be black. As a slave, James did not have any rights. He was considered property. James was fortunate, because his father moved him to Connecticut in 1835, where slavery was not practiced (catholichearld.com). Even though he was no longer working as a slave, James had to work harder than everyone else because he was not seen as equal (patheos.com). “As a black child and the son of a Roman Catholic Irishman, James found himself subjected to both racism and anti-Catholic slurs during his time in Quaker boarding schools (patheos.com). ” James would wake up super early in the morning, and had to work out on the farm for hours to make up the time before he could leave for school (O’toole, pg 62). He would get so tired he would sometimes fall asleep in class. His faith in God kept him
James Healy loved God so much that he chose to become a priest regardless the consequences. He had to live as a white to be accepted and change the world (aaregistry.org). Black history month is important because it honors blacks and the way the American people have mistreated them. They were not treated as equals like they should have been and had to work harder to overcome. “These men who were educated and ordained here in the United States opened the door for the rest of us. Because of what they did, we can do what we do,” added Father Taylor, who is pastor of the Church of the Holy Angels in Indianapolis (blackpast.org). Celebrating black history month is a way Americans say that they are sorry for the mistreatment, and they want