Roy+West

Roy West is a 15 year old african american who lives in southern illinois. His parents were both former slaves who became sharecroppers. They worked on **Jacob Skot s** plantation when they were slaves, and they were treated terribly and nearly killed. Because of this they had taught Roy to always be wary of white men. After Roy's parents were freed, they moved to southern Illinois and sharecropped on a farm there. They inherited the farm they sharecropped on when the owner died with no relatives and few friends. A couple of years later Roys dad died of malaria, and Roys mom died quickly after because of alcohol poisoning, and Roy inherited the farm. He tried farming for a while, but he found that it bored him and there was not enough to do. He decided to move to Chicago for a change of pace. In Chicago he will stay briefly at the Holmes Hotel. At the Holmes hotel he will meet **Biata.** He will then take a job as a Pullman Porter because of the high wages paid, and his need for employment. As a Pullman Porter, Roy lives in Pullman Town, which has nice lodgings for its employees. On one of Roys days off he will explore Chicago and accidentally walk into a slum. He will see how horrible the conditions are, and will resolve to do something about it one day. On another of Roys days off Roy plans on seeing the Worlds Fair.. He will also meet **John Barlow,** who will convince Roy to become a member of the Populist Party, despite what his parents taught him about white men. In 1894 he will be part of the Pullman Strike, but will be forced to quit after Eugene Debs refused to let him and most other Pullman Porters join the ARU, which is the union that organized the strike. He will then get some land in Cheyenne Wyoming under the Homestead Act, because he knows how to farm and needs to make some money, where he will farm for a while. He will then be part of the Yukon gold rush because farming bores him and he does not make enough money on farming because of overproduction. Along the way he runs out of money, and cant afford mining equipment and lodging, but fortunately William Judge, nicknamed the Saint of Dawson, buys him mining equipment and provides him with lodgings, restoring his faith i white men. He ends up finding a lot of gold, enough to make him extremely wealthy. He then remember stumbling into the slum in Chicago and how he resolved to do something for the lower class laborers, and will join the Hull House, where he will meet Lena Kepple. He will work here until his death.

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