Birth Announcement Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819. His home town was in West Hills, New York. His parents were Louisa Van Velsor and Walter Whitman. He was the second out of eight surviving children. Even though the Whitman’s had owned a lot of farm land, most of it was sold before Walt was born. His father struggled through many hardships trying to receive some of his earlier wealth, as a farmer, carpenter, and real estate speculator (Ed, 2015). The life of a Genius At the age of three Walt Whitman, moved with his family to Brooklyn. His father hoped to take advantage of the economic opportunities, but was prevented by bad investments. When Walt turned eleven his father took him out of school to help out with the household income. …show more content…
At seventeen Walt turned to teaching, and worked hard at it for five years. Since he was forced to do teaching in rough circumstances Walt generally disliked his job. By 1841 he started looking toward journalism. Five years later he became the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. In which he served for almost two years (Ed, 2015). Walt’s opinions did not always set well with his bosses and readers. Many people believed that he supported radical positions on women’s rights, immigration, and labor issues. His jobs were always short lived, and his reputation was going down the drain with many different newspapers. In 1848 Walt went to New Orleans where he became an editor for the Crescent. That was the first time that he saw how terrible slavery was (Ed, 2015). Walt then started the Brooklyn Freeman. Slavery worried him immensely, especially about the future of America and its democracy. Eleven years later Walt self-published twelve unnamed poems, titled Leaves of Grass. The following year Walt revised his addition and published thirty-two poems. Many famous poets came to Brooklyn just to meat Walt (Ed, …show more content…
Walt Whitman lived through the American Civil War. The war lasted from 1861-1865. This was the bloodiest conflict in all of American History (H., 2013). The war was between the north and the south. The war was caused by the conflicts of slavery and state rights. More Americans have died in this war than any other that has taken place. Abraham Lincoln was the president at this time. He was the 16th president in 1861. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared freedom to slaves anywhere in the United States, in 1863. However, on April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, in the Ford’s Theatre in Washington. The actor thought that by killing the president he was helping the south. Though instead the opposite happened and the possibility of peace died (Lincoln, 2014). Walt Whitman’s lifetime was full of inventions and new ideas. Sir George Cayley was the first person to understand the forces of flight. In 1837 Cayley designed a streamlined airship. This airship was to be powered by a steam engine. Twelve years later in 1849 Cayley built the first gliding machine. He tested the device with a ten-year boy aboard (C., 2003). This was the start of a great