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The American Dream: Phyllis Wheatley, William Bradford, And John Smith

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The American Dream To many the American Dream means a new beginning for their lives. In this paper I will analyze and explain my reasoning behind the previous statement through the writings of Phyllis Wheatley, William Bradford, and John Smith. I will also look at other stories from more recent times that show the American Dream is still alive today. In Phyllis Wheatley’s poem On Being Brought from Africa to America, she describes how she came to America and how everyone, no matter the skin color, can end up ion heaven. Many would think that if you were a slave that was brought to a new land and tortured, you would not be happy. In many cases that was true, however in Phyllis Wheatley’s case she was grateful! She was grateful because when …show more content…

In fact many people today are still living the American Dream. One story is of a woman named Ursula Burns who is the CEO of Xerox. Ursula Burns’ mother was a Panamanian immigrant, and was raising Ursula alone in a New York City housing project. While Ursula was in school she discovered a high capacity for math. Many teachers and others would constantly tell her that she should become something that was “made” for women such as a nurse or a teacher. However she had higher aspirations however. She knew that there were many high paying jobs that she could get if she got a degree in math. She attended Polytechnic Institute of New York and Columbia University. Her rising career at Xerox started off as nothing more than an internship in 1980. By 1990 one of the senior executives noticed how good Ursula was and offered her the position as their assistant. By 1999 she was named vice president for global manufacturing. One year later she became senior vice president of corporate strategic services, where she oversaw manufacturing and supply chain operations. In 2007 she became president of Xerox and was chosen to be on the board of directors. In 2009 she was appointed the position of chief executive. In 2010 she became chairwoman of the

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