Catherine Marshal Diary Entry

For hundreds of years, slaves in America were separated from their families to be sold off like livestock to their slave owners, then forced to work and live in unimaginable conditions, and viciously beaten for something as little as a task not fully being met. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by the self-taught, abolitionist himself, Douglass shares some light on the inhumane treatment and hardships slaves were forced to overcome in his journey to free himself both mentally and physically from slavery. Douglass appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos in order to truly open his reader's eyes to the horrors of slavery, conveying his message that slavery must be abolished.

This turns out to be an ironic contrast to life at the Weylin plantation, where a slave who visits his wife without his master's permission is brutally whipped. Perhaps a more painful realization for Dana is how this cruel treatment oppresses the mind. "Slavery of any kind fostered strange relationships," she notes, for all the slaves feel the same strange combination of fear,

Douglass argues in the Narrative of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave that slavery is a barbarous system in which should be recognized and abolished as it takes away one’s innocence along with stimulating the utmost mental and physical damage. The corrupt mindset and ignorance that revolves around slavery hinders the individual from discovering their identity which is essentially inhumane. While most know details regarding their birth, it was different for slaves during this time as Douglass shared, “By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant”(Douglass 1). It was common for majority of the slaves to be unaware of their origin.

Moans of anguish fill the air, a man has fallen down from intense labor and is getting whipped to get back up. The man tries to get up, desperately pushing himself off the ground, yet the whip lashing into his body gives him no such opportunity. Eventually he falls flat, never to get up again. The person who was whipping him shrugged, “He was a waste of food anyways.” This was the life for a slave in the South before the Civil War. Destined to work in chains until they weren’t of use to the owner. In this essay I will prove that the North learning of the harsh treatment of slaves through the Fugitive Slave

In the Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs argues that her master had an undesirable obsession for her. An obsession she did not want, but could not escape. When Jacobs turned fifteen, life changed drastically; she had gained an unwanted eye of her master. Though her master was afraid to have his inappropriate behaviors and impure thoughts gossiped through town or reported to her grandmother, “he was a crafty man, and resorted to many means to accomplish his purpose” (Jacobs, 52). Despite the fact that Jacobs feared for herself, she felt as if she could not escape her unwanted fate. “My master met me at every turn, reminding me that I belonged to him, and swearing by heaven and earth the he would compel me to submit to him” (Jacobs, 53). Due to his undying

Slavery and its effects drive Sethe and many other characters in Beloved to deteriorate as people. Even after fleeing their plantations, slaves did not feel as if they were liberated because of the way they were exploited while enslaved. Beloved’s characters demonstrate that ex-slaves must first own their identity before truly being free.

“I was born…” is how many distinguished slave narratives begin (Prince 1). This infamous phrase establishes powerful anecdotes that demonstrate unforgettable events in history. Notable authors such as Frederick Douglass and Linda Brent capture their audience with undebatable authenticity. Similarly, Mary Prince, author of the narrative, The History of Mary Prince, utilizes similar themes and strong diction to expose the injustice of slavery. Prince uses allusions, imagery, and pathos to construct convicting arguments about the abominable institution of slavery and disillusion the unawareness of her audience.

White explores the master’s sexual exploitation of their female slaves, and proves this method of oppression to be the defining factor of what sets the female slaves apart from their male counterparts. Citing former slaves White writes, “Christopher Nichols, an escaped slave living in Canada, remembered how his master laid a woman on a bench, threw her clothes over her head, and whipped her. The whipping of a thirteen-year-old Georgia slave girl also had sexual overtones. The girl was put on all fours ‘sometimes her head down, and sometimes up’ and beaten until froth ran from her mouth (33).” The girl’s forced bodily position as well as her total helplessness to stop her master’s torture blatantly reveals the forced sexual trauma many African females endured.

My mother was from Guinea; she was enslaved and later than taken to Cuba. My mother was then sold to the Budford family in the southern region of the United States. I was born in 1830 in South Carolina and I was first made a slave by the age of 13 in 1843. I was sold to my first master by the name of Edwin Epps in Louisiana. Solomon and I became friends after he arrived on the Epps Plantation. I was named the queen of the fields because of my ability to pick large amounts of cotton. During the years Epps’s wife Mary became very jealous when Epps’s started to rape me. It started when I was 16. Mary demanded that Epps’s sold me because of these events, but he refused to sell me so Mary started to abuse me too.

The atrocities of slavery know no bounds. Its devices leave lives ruined families pulled apart and countless people dead. Yet many looked away or accepted it as a necessary part of society, even claiming it was beneficial to all. The only way this logic works is if the slaves are seen as less than human, people who cannot be trusted to take care of themselves. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved the consequences of a lifetime of slavery are examined. Paul D and seethe, two former slaves have experienced the worst slavery has to offer. Under their original master, Mr. Garner the slaves were treated like humans. They were encouraged to think for themselves and make their own decisions. However, upon the death of Mr. Garner all of that changes. Under

The rising sun was orient in the blue sky. Dewdrops sparkle in the morning sun. Someone patted me on the back. The man whipped out a knife. He was a fat clumsy and dirty looking man. His hair had been badly cut and the ends were uneven. The sight made me stop dead in my tracks. Fear stole into my heart. He cowed me with his threats. The smell of smoke clung to his clothes.On the one hand, he had pressed and held both my hands. On the other hand, he continually stroked my body. He just bear down on me with all his strength so I was unable to repel and move. The rough cloth pricked my skin.Then I just lost it and started screaming. "Stop it !" I bellowed at him. My word made no impression on him. No one was on the scene at the time. Why he did it? What was his intention in doing that? How could this happen to me? Why should it be me? After that, every step I took sent the pain shooting up my thighs. I could not breathe. As I straightened up, the ache in my back grew worse. I bore the pain without a word of complaint. I thought it would

I quickly gather up all my things and place them into the ripped bag that I stole from my master. I hear the dogs start barking and I know they’re close. I start running as fast as I can. I can’t stop. I won’t stop. “There he is!” I hear one of the Slave Catchers say. The dogs start going wild and I hear them run after me. “Keep running, just keep running!” I think to myself. I can’t stop running. I look behind me for a quick second and see one of the Slave Catchers catching up to me. “Wow, they’re fast!” I tell myself as I try to speed up. As I’m speeding up I trip. I try to stand up, but the slave catcher has already grabbed me. I didn't make it, and now… I’m on my way back to the harsh, cruel, and violent Master

One man faints from the exhausting heat. He is sworn at by a soldier and lashed to the point of death. As if nothing is happening, the two slaves continue with their work. There is no mercy for those who stop. Hundreds of slaves die every week. The father looks to his son, who is hard at work, while kneeling in the dry dirt and pebbles. The young man is just beginning to show the first signs of a good beard. All slaves have beards and long hair. A shaven face is the sign of a Master of the Lash. Masters have white robes with colored sashes around their waist. They all have wooden sandals to protect their feet from the burning ground. Very few slaves have any clothing besides a piece of cloth to cover their genitals. Anything considered a

Any extreme event that includes abuse and exploitation is likely to cause further damage not only physically, but mentally. An event that fits this mold is slavery, especially since it can have harsh physically consequences and psychological effects. The article “To be Loved and Cry Shame” written by Lynda Koolish proposes the idea of “psychic wholeness” and argues that slaves have yet to become whole. Koolish explains the effects of not being whole, which included mental illnesses that are associated with states of consciousness, such as Multiple Personalities Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Specifically, Koolish analyzes these topics in the novel Beloved written by Toni Morrison.

You pleased me during our first formal session and our spontaneous engagement. The pain peeled away some layers of illusion and a partial vision of your slave nature was revealed. The pain needs to be applied again and again because the illusions come back again and again. Who you are is a slave. It is possible to be a success in the world, a brilliant PHD scientist for example, and still be a slave in your heart. A slave to your Master.