Literature can give great insight into history and what it was like for people during different times. One group that can give unique insight into its history is African American literature. The history of African Americans is one that is hard to see and understand from an Africans point of view. With their literature there is new insight, wisdom, and understanding to be found. Three stories that are good examples of African American literature are from “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet A. Jacobs, “To my old Master” by Jourdon Anderson, and “My White Folks Treated Us Good” by Marriah Hines. These stories have themes and literary conventions in common with each other though they were written in different times. Since they were written in different times there are different social and political aspects that have influenced the pieces. Describe the different literary conventions and themes covered in your selected readings. Describe how each builds upon or differs from the previous texts when in chronological order The main themes in these stories are slavery and freedom. All three show these two themes in some way. In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” the obvious slavery theme is the most present. This tale tells us that she is hiding after denying her master from some sexual advances. She hides with in her grandmother’s house so that she can see her kids. The story tells us how they need to be careful in how they talk to her and provide her food so that the Master does not see. Her Master is constantly trying got find her and offers some reward for the capture of her again. Underneath it all there does a feeling of her want freedom. She sneaks around in the small space in order to make a small whole so she can look out and see her kids, and get some fresh air. This lends and air of wanting to be free to be with her kids, and not be afraid of repercussions from her master. One of the strongest literary conventions in Incidents is imagery. Imagery is being able to form a mental picture in the head with the words that are written. Jacobs does and excellent job at describing the small space in which she is hiding. Another convention that is in this story is characterization. Characterization is when the reader