For many years, cultivating plantations and slavery have been very big topics in the state of Louisiana’s history. The book, Rachel of Old Louisiana, by Avery O. Craven deals with the life of a woman who herself is a plantation owner who owns slaves in the early 1790s and late 1840s. In this work of literature it is displayed the pure drive and determination of Rachel O’Connor despite the things she goes through in life.
Rachel moved to Louisiana at the age of four, in 1778, with her mother, Rachel Hopkins Swayze, and brother, Stephen Swayze. Rachel’s mother moved there once she married a Bayou Teche planter, William Weeks, with whom she was expecting a son with by the name of David Weeks, who Rachel will in time be dependent on. Rachel married Richard Bell around 1789 and delivered him a son; after about three years of their marriage Richard passed away leaving Rachel to raise Stephen alone (11). Rachel married again in 1797 to Hercules O’Connor and moved to West Feliciana Parish where they were very poor and they slowly began building up property for a plantation. Rachel wrote “we had only provisions to last us two days” (12). Within the next twenty five years Rachel lost both of her sons, her husband, and Stephen Swayze; each of their deaths left Rachel with new problems. Rachel’s brother left his two daughters, Clarissa and Charlotte, who she cared for as if they were her own (14). Stephen Bell left her with his immense debts that had to be paid immediately in 1822. This ultimately had to be paid now by his mother, whose plantation was now being held for security for the amount due. So to keep the plantation out of the creditors’ hands she then sold the land to, her half-brother, David Weeks (16). Rachel finally thought thing...
... middle of paper ...
... 65). I enjoyed Craven’s use of sarcasm on page seventy seven where Louisiana is referred to as a “Fertile Mud Paradise”. I find this somewhat funny because in the very beginning of the book the author mentions a list of diseases common to the state of Louisiana and how the native insects carry these deadly germs (8). I also enjoyed that Avery did not write a formal biography of Rachel O’Connor because I think if he had done so, I believe that the reader would not have been able to see Rachel’s beautiful, sympathetic, and kind personality that is expressed through her letters. The only negative aspect of the book I did not care for was the overlapping of the years in the chapters because some of the topics would be discussed in two different chapters.
Works Cited
Craven, Avery O. Rachel of Old Louisiana. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1975. Print.
When reading about the institution of slavery in the United States, it is easy to focus on life for the slaves on the plantations—the places where the millions of people purchased to serve as slaves in the United States lived, made families, and eventually died. Most of the information we seek is about what daily life was like for these people, and what went “wrong” in our country’s collective psyche that allowed us to normalize the practice of keeping human beings as property, no more or less valuable than the machines in the factories which bolstered industrialized economies at the time. Many of us want to find information that assuages our own personal feelings of discomfort or even guilt over the practice which kept Southern life moving
The Plantation Mistresses introduced by Catherine Clinton present in vivid detail the story of real lives and activities as a wife, household executive of white women’s during the nineteenth-century. This historian book illustrates clearly that while the “Southern belle” may have prevail momentarily, it was the “Steel magnolia” who reigned. This paper will review, evaluate and provide a critical analysis of Clinton’s story as well as her main arguments. By focusing on any areas of weakness within the story.
...ective." Louisiana History 53.2 (2012): 133-167. America: History and Life with Full Text. 9 Apr. 2014. Web.
Slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries consisted of brutal and completely unjust treatment of African-Americans. Africans were pulled from their families and forced to work for cruel masters under horrendous conditions, oceans away from their homes. While it cannot be denied that slavery everywhere was horrible, the conditions varied greatly and some slaves lived a much more tolerable life than others. Examples of these life styles are vividly depicted in the personal narratives of Olaudah Equiano and Mary Prince. The diversity of slave treatment and conditions was dependent on many different factors that affected a slave’s future. Mary Prince and Olaudah Equiano both faced similar challenges, but their conditions and life styles
Anna Julia Cooper’s, Womanhood a Vital Element in the Regeneration and Progress, an excerpt from A Voice from the South, discusses the state of race and gender in America with an emphasis on African American women of the south. She contributes a number of things to the destitute state African American woman became accustom to and believe education and elevation of the black woman would change not only the state of the African American community but the nation as well. Cooper’s analysis is based around three concepts, the merging of the Barbaric with Christianity, the Feudal system, and the regeneration of the black woman.
In the beginning of the book Hunter proceeded to tell us about the history of African-American women in a broader narrative of political and economic life in Atlanta. Her first chapter highlights the agency of Civil War era urban slaves who actively resisted the terms of their labor and thus hastened
To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...
Curtin, Philip D: The rise and fall of the plantation complex:essays in Atlantic history (Cambridge, 1990).
Sacher, John M. "Louisiana." Encyclopedia of the New American Nation. Ed. Paul Finkelman. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner 's Sons, 2006. 305-307. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
Frances (Fannie) Perkins was an amazing person that represented a strong image for the female race. She was the first female cabinet member in the United States. Frances Perkins was the most influential person in American history because if she hadn’t been the first U.S. female cabinet member, females may not have a role in the U.S. government.
The story begins by illustrating the Hamilton’s Southern rural society, which seems eerily similar to the slave society that existed almost forty years before. Berry is initially described, as “one of the many slaves who upon their accession to freedom had not left the South, but had wondered from place to place in their own beloved section, waiting, working, and struggling to rise with its rehabilitated fortunes” (1). This description of the “beloved” South is strange considering that Berry, along with many other Southern blacks, had been enslaved here for generations and treated more like animals than human beings. This makes it apparent that while the South has been extremely limiting and unchanged since the Civil War, it still provides comfort and a sense of home for these unfortunate post-antebellum African Americans. It also...
In the short story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker explored the results of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation in African American society during the early 1900s. The “Reconstruction Era” marked a time when the United States, especially African American sects, sought to start over again from the aftermath (PBS, 2004). In the allegorical short story, Dee, or “Wangero,” watches the old family dwelling burn until the last dingy gray board lay in ruin--she showed relief (Walker, 1337).
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like.
Northup, Solomon, Sue L. Eakin, and Joseph Logsdon. Twelve years a slave. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968. Print.
In “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson,” Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan mother from Lancaster, Massachusetts, recounts the invasion of her town by Indians in 1676 during “King Philip’s War,” when the Indians attempted to regain their tribal lands. She describes the period of time where she is held under captivity by the Indians, and the dire circumstances under which she lives. During these terrible weeks, Mary Rowlandson deals with the death of her youngest child, the absence of her Christian family and friends, the terrible conditions that she must survive, and her struggle to maintain her faith in God. She also learns how to cope with the Indians amongst whom she lives, which causes her attitude towards them to undergo several changes. At first, she is utterly appalled by their lifestyle and actions, but as time passes she grows dependent upon them, and by the end of her captivity, she almost admires their ability to survive the harshest times with a very minimal amount of possessions and resources. Despite her growing awe of the Indian lifestyle, her attitude towards them always maintains a view that they are the “enemy.”