A very important strand of reading comprehension is making connection with the text. Students will connect to the text, the institution of slavery, as they try to imagine themselves as slaves. Class discussions on conditions of slavery often lead to comments such as, "If I were a slave, I would refuse to work so they would have to beat me to death", or "I would fight back and defend my family." There is always the idea that one could escape by running away. There are a few recordings of slaves sharing their experiences. Some are stored as historical government documents. One can usually spark interest in students as they research the lives of other children during slavery. A commonly asked question is how did the children feel when they knew that their parents could not protect them from the beatings inflicted by their owners? At what age did they realize that they were not free like the white children with whom they played? How did it feel to be a slave when they lived privileged lives in their ancestral homeland in Africa? We will attempt to answer some of these questions by reviewing narratives from both adults and children. At this point, students will demonstrate their literary skills as they identify and analyze visual, oral and written sources. They will begin with viewing the video "
Unchained Memories
" and then follow up with reading from the suggested list of slave narratives in the student bibliography.
The video, Unchained Memories:
Readings from the Slave Narratives
runs for about seventy-five minutes. This HBO documentary portrays a historical memory of slaves as they remember events ranging from being auctioned, working in the fields, attempted escapes and emancipation. Famous African American actors narrate this video. Viewers of the video can almost feel the pain, suffering, pride, and strength of spirit in these powerful readings.
The Library of Congress
houses a collection of more than twenty-three hundred autobiographical accounts of African Americans who tell their stories of what it was like to be a slave. Many slaves did not receive any formal education, therefore, some of these interviews were reported in the vernacular of the time of the recordings between 1936 and 1938. Many interviews were translated into Standard English for the sake of using them in court to argue for or against slavery at the time when the abolitionist movement was seeking the emancipation of this inhuman institution that forced people into bondage. A section of the student bibliography lists books that students might peruse to get additional written accounts. I have also included some information that will introduce students to other slaves who described their painful past. A few are recollections of slavery during childhood.
On the whole, slaves were dissatisfied with their living conditions and it must be noted that many of them worked unwillingly. Some escaped to freedom but others resisted in various ways. Armed resistance took place as enslaved people very often resisted their slaveholders. Many slaves knew not to plan massacres or rebellions because they would be put to death or severely beaten so they resisted the slaveholders in more passive ways. Tools and other equipment were broken and they would work slowly in order to protest cruelty. Harvest time was a fitting time for them to work so slowly that the crops would rot in the fields. Many slaves burned crops and farm buildings. Others pretended to be sick. Many slaves often ran away in order to escape the abusive treatment even though they knew that they would be beaten when caught. Some even killed their masters when the cruel treatment became unbearable; this was definitely punishable by death.
Cornelia
was a slave who lived into the twentieth century. In 1930, at the age of ninety-six, she told the story of her mother, Fannie, who raised her on a small farm in Eden, Tennessee. Cornelia recalled that her mother's mistress struck her with a stick and Fannie struck her back. A fight then ensued and it lasted for about half an hour as the two women wrestled in the kitchen. The mistress ran into the street with Fannie chasing after her. Fannie ripped the clothing off the mistress until she was almost naked. The law required that Fannie should be whipped but two days later when the men came to beat her, she charged at them too. Eventually Fannie was sent to another plantation in Tennessee.
Solomon Northrop endured slavery for twelve years in Louisiana. His last owner was a cruel man named John Tibeats who always found Northrop's work faulty. Once Tibeats attacked Northrop with a hatchet. Staring death in the face, Nothrop grabbed his master by the throat, kicked him and threw the hatchet away from his reach. Tibeats then grabbed a club and later tried to get an axe to kill the slave. Northrop knew that if he killed his master then he would have to face death so he decided to "fly" or escape.
Children of Slavery
Millions of children, either born in Africa or America were forced to endure the barbaric system of slavery. To the slaveholders, these children had no human rights but they were loved by their families. The parents offered as much comfort to them as they possibly could but they could not protect them from the harsh treatment of the slaveholders. Parents taught their children survival skills. All children had to know how to be resilient and courageous in order to endure the terrible hardships. A few children learned how to read and write and some ran away to freedom. Records show that the last people who grew up in slavery died in the 1960s. Many were reluctant to talk about their childhood and their descendants were not interested in hearing about their painful experiences either. Parents wanted to spare their offspring of the psychological damage that could be done to their minds.
Olaudah Equiano
or Gustavus Vassa the African, was born in the late eighteenth century (around 1745) in Benin, which is now part of Nigeria in West Africa. He was the son of a warrior and was being trained to walk in his father's footsteps. At the age of eleven, Equiano and his sister were captured from their home and eventually ended up as slaves in the West Indies. Later, Equiano was sold to a Quaker named Robert King in Philadelphia. Many religious people owned slaves but records show that they treated them kindly and the slaves were regarded more as help than laborers. Equiano was twenty-one years old when he earned enough money to buy his freedom at the cost of £140. During the 1700s, the buying power of the dollar ($) and English pound (£) was worth about fifty times what it is today. Therefore, £140 back then is worth nearly $12,000 in today's money. Equiano later settled in England and became a campaigner against slavery. This very educated sailor became very active among the
abolitionists
. He is well known for his written accounts of the sufferings he endured on the journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. This journey was called the
Middle Passage
. His writings also compared slavery in Africa with slavery in the Western Hemisphere. We are especially interested in Olaudah Equiano's autobiography, written in 1789, because it is one of the documentations that gives an account of the European slave trade from a slave's point of view.
There were laws forbidding the slaves to read and write but many slaveholders instructed them. Sometimes if well liked slaves insisted on learning, they would be taught. An example of this is
Phillis Wheatley
, the famous poet, who was captured in her homeland in Africa and enslaved at eight years old. She became a house slave in Boston, Massachusetts and was singled out by her mistress who taught her to read. There were several reasons for wanting to teach slaves how to read and write. Many Christians thought that it was the right thing to do since they were humans who should be treated with dignity and respect. Sometimes the slave children would sit outside the white schoolhouses and memorize lessons they overheard. White children would teach black children lessons they learned in school. Older slaves who were literate would teach others at night under the light of pinewood torches. On one occasion, a young slave girl name Margrett Nickerson helped to dig out an older slave, Uncle George Bull, who was beaten and buried for knowing how to read.
Frederick Douglass
, a well-known abolitionist, wrote in his autobiography that as a young child he did know that he was a slave. He thought that his grandparents, with whom he lived, owned their own cabin. As he got older, he realized that his grandparents and the cabin both belonged to another person--the slave master.
Harriet Jacobs
recalled that her parents were owned by different masters but they were allowed to live together and raise two children. Her father was a highly skilled carpenter and her mother was a lady's maid. When Harriet was six years old, her mother died and she was sent to replace her. She had a kind mistress but at the age of twelve, her mistress died. Harriet Jacobs was then bequeathed to her former mistress's niece who was a five-year-old child. Jacobs described an occasion when her brother Willie was called by both his father and owner at the same time. Her father strongly reprimanded her brother for disobeying him and going to the owner instead.
Salih Bilali
was horseback riding at the age of fourteen when he was captured in Africa. At that time, Balali was a practicing Muslim and somehow managed to get a Qur'an or Koran, the Muslim holy book, in Arabic while he was a slave on the remote St. Simons Island in Georgia. He rose to the position of driver or foreman on the plantation on which he was enslaved. He never lost the ability to remain literate in Arabic even though he was a slave for sixty years.
Samuel Ajayi Crowther was also from Nigeria. Being the great-grandson of a king, he was a privileged child. His mother was a priestess and his father, a well-known weaver.
Ajayi, his relatives, and other women were captured when he was fifteen years old. He was eventually returned to Sierra Leone, learned to read and write and became a popular bishop in the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church.
John Homrn
, at twelve years old, was tricked by his father's friend and became enslaved in Cuba and Puerto Rico. He tried to send letters to his family in Sierra Leone to obtain proof that he was a freeman but that did not work out. Homrn became a stowaway on a ship headed for England and eventually returned to his homeland twelve years later.
Examining our past will help us to understand the present. Hopefully, as human beings, we will be more equipped to predict and pave the way for our future. A look at the experiences of African Americans and the hardships they endured during slavery is a compelling story that is always being told. Now that we have had on opportunity to revisit the story but from another perspective, that of the African Americans' viewpoint, perhaps some ideas have changed. Point of view certainly influences the way we understand the history of what people of African descent did for themselves during a time when there were laws that prevented them from existing under human conditions. People coming from Africa to America have helped to mold the American culture through their religious beliefs, work habits, family, community, and holiday celebrations. I hope that as the students complete this unit, they will come away with a new perspective and a greater appreciation for people living in a world different from theirs. The story of the African Diaspora lives on.