The story of Asaph Perry

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THE STORY'S CONTEXT
Opening Why Asaph Technological Change The 20th Century

The manner in which Asaph Perry negotiated the shifting landscape which surrounded him occupies a central place in our story. Asaph never lived, at least for an for an extended period of time, more the 15 miles from his birthplace in Forsyth County, Georgia, but his travels and work would carry him hundreds and thousands of miles from home. New technologies and a modern world pulled Asaph off the family farm to a life of entrepreneurial adventure. Aspah saw places and experienced things that his father never knew. He continually challenged himself to grow professionally and in many ways his life story represented that ideal life story of progress.

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Pedagogical Extension: Canton Confidential: Race and Asaph's Story of Progress

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Writing the story

The 20th Century is many things to many people. For us it is a metaphor, which helps propel our story. We used the idea of progress that is often associated with the 20th Century to suggest that Asaph moved, in terms of life experiences, many miles from his parents, despite the fact that he lived his entire life (with the exception of a few months) 15 miles from the family home in North Georgia.

George Bernard Shaw once said "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Maybe, Asaph Perry was an example of Shaw's unreasonable man. At least, he pursued life in a manner which appeared less a reflection of the times, than the times to come.