The Slave Crucible Analysis

The title of this book is Rebels Against Slavery, and the authors are Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack. It was published by the Scholastic Press in 1996. It also has 182 pages, this includes the epilogue, the important dates, the bibliography, and the index. This is a book of significant dimension and importance.

The article draws on evidence gathered from plantation owner’s personal writings, bondwomens accounts, relatives accounts and statistics to demonstrate the everyday events and repertoires that occurred in Antebellum plantations. Using plantations accounts such as William Ervin, Camp is able to give us an insight into the formation of the plantation and the spatial borders that limit slaves. Furthermore, plantation accounts from owners gives insight into the punishment that bondpeople receive. This essential knowledge provides an understanding into the conditions that bondpeople dealt with every day and the psychological mind set of plantation owners. Camp builds on these fundamental ideals by using primary accounts from enslaved people to bring an understanding in why truancy was an everyday occurrence. Specifically, Camp uses bondwomen’s accounts to understand the gender norms that led to different acts and rates of rebellion inconsistent with men. Camp focuses on the gender issue of women and the expectations laid by other slave members as described by Patience M. Avery. The last essential primary evidence that Camp uses to form her argument is through statistics of slave women which demonstrate the lack of women escaping to the north in specific states. However, some of her statistics have the potential to limit her argument as shown in describing incidents of truancy on plantation farms in South Carolina. These statistics occur in different years, 1828 and 1831 to show the rate of women committing truancy, however the differences in years could indicate that these rates could be an anomaly. Therefore, although Camp brings in useful and relative source to build a constructive argument there are areas which could limit the article. Camps overall uses vital primary sources builds on her contention

Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass both wrote narratives that detailed their lives as slaves in the antebellum era. Both of these former slaves managed to escape to the North and wanted to expose slavery for the evil thing it was. The accounts tell equally of depravity and ugliness though they are different views of the same rotten institution. Like most who managed to escape the shackles of slavery, these two authors share a common bond of tenacity and authenticity. Their voices are different—one is timid, quiet, and almost apologetic while the other one is loud, strong, and confident—but they are both authentic. They both also through out the course of their narratives explain their desires to be free from the horrible practice of slavery.

Not so long ago few Americans spoke of slavery – which was swept under the rug until the civil rights movement in the 1950s. The shame of slavery gradually rose to public consciousness over the last five decades. Now the topic appears everywhere, in movies, television documentaries and academia. Nearly every major museum has mounted an exhibition on slavery. This issue has become an integral part of the foundation for understanding America’s past. With specific attributes, slavery is distinct from all other forms of oppression, giving it a unique place in human history. Many consider Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) as the best among anti-slavery propaganda that appeared with increasing frequency during the years preceding the Civil War. The primary reason of its appeal is the unsurpassed clarity of Douglass’ writing, which displays his superior sensitivity and intellectual capacity as he addresses the woeful irony of the existence of slavery in a Christian, democratic

In Exchanging Our Country Marks, Michael Gomez brings together various strands of the historical record in a stunning fusion that points the way to a definitive history of American Slavery. In this fusion of history, anthropology, and sociology, Gomez has made expert use of primary sources, including newspapers ads for runaway slaves in colonial America. Slave runaway accounts from newspapers are combined with personal diaries, church records, and former slave narratives to provide a firsthand account of the African and African-American experiences during the eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. With this mastery of sources, Gomez challenges many of the prevailing assumptions about slavery-- for example, that "the new condition of

Throughout American history, minority groups were victims of American governmental policies, and these policies made them vulnerable to barbaric and inhumane treatment at the hands of white Americans. American slavery is a telling example of a government sanctioned institution that victimized and oppressed a race of people by indoctrinating and encouraging enslavement, racism and abuse. This institution is injurious to slaves and slave holders alike because American society, especially in the south, underwent a dehumanization process in order to implement the harsh and inhumane doctrine. In the episodic autobiography Narrative of the

During the 1840s, America saw increasingly attractive settlements forming between the North and the South. The government tried to keep the industrial north and the agricultural south happy, but eventually the issue of slavery became too big to handle, no matter how many treaties or compromises were formed. Slavery was a huge issue that unraveled throughout many years of American history and was one of the biggest contributors leading up to the Civil War (notes, Fall 2015). Many books have been written over the years about slavery and the brutality of the life that many people endured. In “A Slave No More”, David Blight tells the story about two men, John M. Washington (1838-1918) and Wallace Turnage (1846-1916), struggling during American slavery. Their escape to freedom happened during America’s bloodiest war among many political conflicts, which had been splitting the country apart for many decades. As Blight (2007) describes, “Throughout the Civil War, in thousands of different circumstances, under changing policies and redefinitions of their status, and in the face of social chaos…four million slaves helped to decide what time it would be in American History” (p. 5). Whether it was freedom from a master or overseer, freedom from living as both property and the object of another person’s will, or even freedom to make their own decisions and control their own life, slaves wanted a sense of independence. According to Blight (2007), “The war and the presence of Union armies

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850 that allowed slave catchers to seize alleged fugitive slaves without a trial and prohibit the assistance of fugitives and/or impeding their retrieval (“Abolition, Anti-Slavery Movements, and the Rise of the Sectional Controversy”). As a result, many former slaves were captured and forced to return to their masters. For example, Anthony Burns, a slave from Virginia who escaped slavery and established a new life in Boston, was detained by a federal marshal (Fraser 360). The arrest incited uprisings and protests by Boston’s white and colored abolitionists (Fraser 360). Nevertheless, public opinions of the Fugitive Slave Act varied depending on the country’s region. On one hand,

There is no doubt that slavery affected many lives of across the country. However, little is known that the harsh practices of slave trade occurred right in the middle of our nations capital. After reading the articles by Ricks and Goodheart, I have broadened by knowledge on just how extreme slavery was in Washington D.C. Throughout these articles, the authors discuss the seriousness level of slavery and the extremes individuals would go through in order to escape. Washington D.C. was conveniently located in the middle of the border between the north and south, which led escape efforts to be fostered in this area even though it was the capital.

Slavery is a contradictory subject in American history because “one hears…of the staid and gentle patriarchy, the wide and sleepy plantations with lord and retainers, ease and happiness; [while] on the other hand on hears of barbarous cruelty and unbridles power and wide oppression of men” (Dubois 2). Dubois’s The Negro in the United States is an autoethnographic text which is a representation “that the so-defined others

Early American Literature reflects many conflicting differences in the presentation of slavery during that time period. Through the two chosen texts, the reader is presented with two different perspectives of slavery; Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a look at a slave’s life through the eyes if a slave while Benito Cereno showcases the tale of a slave uprising from the viewpoint of the slave owner.. Benito Cereno’s work shows the stereotypical attitude towards African-American slaves and the immorality of that outlook according to Douglass’s narrative. Cereno portrays the typical white slave owner of his time, while Douglass’ narrative shows the thoughts of the slaves. The two stories together show that white Americans are oblivious to the ramifications and overall effects of slavery. These texts assist a moralistic purpose in trying to open up America’s eyes to the true nature of slavery by revealing it’s inhumanity and depicting the cruelty that was allowed.

The system of involuntary labor in 18th century America came in two forms of indentured servitude and slavery. Since the arrival of European colonialist in the 1700s, these forms of labor were exercised, though indentured servitude was the precursor. Indentured servitude, utilized by both African and European laborers who made the trek across the Atlantic ocean. Accounts of a European servant in The Experience of Bondage: Gottlieb Mittelberger’s Account, describing the sailing conditions, partly similar to that of slaves and the process on arrival to the colony. The difference between slavery and indentured service came to terms when the system of race-based slavery came into practice, known as the terrible transformation. An indentured servant had an agreement with a set amount of years to work, where as after, he is free. Slavery, however, became a permanent laborer, and other measures of heredity, and no wages added to the clause. And as more servants were being freed, and the rising tobacco industry now blossoming, the need for slaves grew. These forms of involuntary servants are often met with resistance, some harsher than others. One of the most common forms of resistance was running away. In “The Have-Nots in Colonial Society,” chapter’s title, Wanted: Runaway Servants and Wanted: Runaway Slaves, showcase numerous advertisements in the colony of Virginia and North Carolina, requesting the return of their “properties.” These advertisements are overtly descriptive, to the clothes they wore and the outlandish remarks about scars they’ve received from punishments.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the

The controversies surrounding slavery have been established in many societies worldwide for centuries. In past generations, although slavery did exists and was tolerated, it was certainly very questionable,” ethically“. Today, the morality of such an act would not only be unimaginable, but would also be morally wrong. As things change over the course of history we seek to not only explain why things happen, but as well to understand why they do. For this reason, we will look further into how slavery has evolved throughout History in American society, as well as the impacts that it has had.

Prior to the publication of any slave narrative, African Americans had been represented by early historians’ interpretations of their race, culture, and situation along with contemporary authors’ fictionalized depictions. Their persona was often “characterized as infantile, incompetent, and...incapable of achievement” (Hunter-Willis 11) while the actions of slaveholders were justified with the arguments that slavery would maintain a cheap labor force and a guarantee that their suffering did not differ to the toils of the rest of the “struggling world” (Hunter-Willis 12). The emergence of the slave narratives created a new voice that discredited all former allegations of inferiority and produced a new perception of resilience and ingenuity.