Perhaps one of David Blight’s most seminal works, A Slave No More proves a phenomenal depiction of life in the late nineteenth century. Using two slave narratives discovered within months of each other, Blight creates a broad mental landscape of prewar and postwar culture. Although the two slave narratives contrast in a variety of ways, Blight uses the differences in stories to provide multiple unique perspectives of the time period. In writing about two seperate accounts of men escaping to freedom, Blight does more than simply synthesize the narratives into a cohesive story. Author David Blight allows us to recognize and understand, on a personal level, the struggles and adversities in which the John Washington and Wallace Turnage overcame. …show more content…
Beginning the book with one hundred and sixty-two pages of background, Blight provides thorough background information about the two writers; John Washington and Wallace Turnage.
Focusing primarily upon the early years of both Washington and Turnage, this portion of the book allows the reader to understand the context in which the narrative took place. In the early chapters Blight writes about Washington and Turnage’s lives up until their escapes to freedom. John Washington was born a slave in 1838 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Washington grew to be ambitious in his ideals and proved to be extremely clever, which would eventually assist him in his escape to freedom. Next he writes about Wallace Turnage. Turnage was born in 1846 in North Carolina and was separated from his family at a young age. Sold to a plantation in Alabama, Turnage lived an extremely harsh and brutal life. As a young slave who severely fights his bondage, Turnage attempted four escapes with the fourth one finally successful in its …show more content…
objective. In the later chapters of the book Blight describes the lives of the men after their escapes to freedom. Blight covers John Washington’s life following his escape was one of success and prosperity. Moving to Washington D.C. with his wife and family, Washington was extremely active within the African American community and worked as a laborer and a painter. Retiring in 1913 with his wife Annie, John Washington moved to Cohasset, Massachusetts. There John lived comfortably until his death in 1918. In contrast, Wallace Turnage’s live after freedom was harsh and adverse. Losing four children with his wife Sarah, Turnage worked as a janitor in New York. Wallace Turnage continued to live the rest of life economically struggling and full of adversity. In this last portion of the book Blight inserts the two men’s narratives in their raw, unedited form besides inserting a few paragraph breaks.
John Washington’s narrative was placed first in the book. Washington was taught literacy from his mother at a young age until his family was separated from him. Washington’s childhood was relatively calm in comparison to other slaves. As the war was advancing and the Union troops were closing in on the south, Washington was sent to Fredericksburg and worked at an inn and tricked the owners of the inn to believe he was scared of the Union soldiers. One night he was left to close up and Washington swam across the Rappahannock river into Union lines. There, Washington served the Union army as a
servant and assisted Union troops in identifying rebel supporters. Eventually Washington found his way on a train that would take him to Washington D.C. where he would be joined by his wife. Following John Washington’s narrative, Wallace Turnage’s narrative is shared in the last section of the book. The life that Turnage lived was one of cruelty and utter brutality. Turnage was sold to a plantation in Alabama that exposed him to the harsh fields and atrocities of slavery. Turnage was often disciplined by the sitters. His first attempt to run away was influenced by his determination not to be whipped. On the brink of starvation, Turnage turned back to face his punishment. Often resisting whippings by defending himself, Turnage was tenacious in spirit. Running away once more in order to avoid a whipping, Wallace made it farther but decided to turn back due to hunger and exhaustion. When he returned he was transferred to work in the house. Tired of excessive whippings, Wallace attempted escape twice more but was caught both times and returned home. Wallace was then sold and moved to Mobile, Alabama and attempted his final, and successful escape. Successfully avoiding rebel soldiers, traveling through infested swamps, and persisting his escape attempts despite many failures, Wallace Turnage displayed incredible courage as he made his way into Union lines. Freedom at last. Yale professor David Blight does a phenomenal job of preparing the reader through thorough background information of the context in which the narratives were written. Blight provides excellent detail and historical insight of the time period in which the narratives take place. Though there exists a certain credulity in that Blight has an uncritical compliance with many exaggerated details within Turnage’s narrative. Blight makes the assumption that Washington and Turnage wrote their narratives with as little bias as possible and extremely accurately. Without taking into account a margin of error one cannot understand history completely. In conclusion, these two testimonies of men on their path to freedom provide an incredibly personal insight upon the importance and value of freedom and how far some would go to acheive it. This particular narrative offers so much more than just a story of the journey of two men to freedom. It offers a chance for the reader to receive a deeper understanding of the immeasurable desire and longing for freedom. Overall, A Slave No More is a magnificent historical book that proves itself to be an absolute must-read.
Africans were brought to North America as slaves. This took place in Jamestown, Virginia in the early 1600’s.
The novel showed a pivotal point prior to the Civil War and how these issues ultimately led to the fueling of quarrel between Americans. While such institutions of slavery no longer exist in the United States, the message resonates with the struggles many groups ostracized today who continue to face prejudice from those in higher
David Walker was a black man that aimed to inspire American blacks to achieve the freedom they deserve. He grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina and his early childhood biography has little detail. His dad was a slave and his mother was free. His date of birth was estimated to be around 1797. In North Carolina, the blacks greatly outnumbered the whites. Although there were more blacks, they only had a small amount of them that were free. Walker’s childhood definitely had a great impact on his mindsight to feel the need to speak up for the blacks. Wilmington taught him a lot about how slaves were treated poorly and the history of their suffering. Also, there were certain things happening in Charleston that led him to the rebellion. Charleston happened to be the center for free blacks that had major goals. These ambitious blacks started many foundations as a group such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Authorities discovered this church and tried to stop it, making the blacks more on-edge. Although these events were eventually put to a rest, it was
Although a practice not viewed positively by all, slavery, a least in this document, could be justified in the eyes of slavers.
Neglect and the lack of care from society is affecting the life of Theresa Flores. As young girls they are being forgotten by their community and society as human beings who need to be cared for as they grow and heal from the traumatic events in their life. The stories of Theresa and Rachel prove events of human trafficking have taken place in the United States during the 1980’s-2000’s and are currently occurring. In The Slave Across the Street by Theresa Flores, Theresa informs the reader of her experiences with neglect and the effects these experiences have on her. As Theresa begins to show signs of physical abuse, the adults in her schools and community are taking no notice in fear the results would affect themselves. Theresa says, “By doing nothings, turning a blind eye, they
...aft’s published a written account of their escape. The book reached a vast audience in Great Britain and the United States. The Crafts returned to the US in 1868, three years after the end of the civil war. Their account was reprinted in the United States in 1999, with both the Crafts credited as authors. The most influential slave narratives of the antebellum era were designed to inform white readers about the realities of slavery. At one time, some of the literature was dismissed as mere antislavery propaganda. The widespread utilization of slave narratives in the 1800’s has testified to the influence of these texts. They were to incite reflection and raise question among their readers, primarily on questions of race, social justice, and the meaning of freedom. They continue to be prominent in literature and historical curriculum in American universities today.
The issue of Slavery in the South was an unresolved issue in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During these years, the south kept having slavery, even though most states had slavery abolished. Due to the fact that slaves were treated as inferior, they did not have the same rights and their chances of becoming an educated person were almost impossible. However, some information about slavery, from the slaves’ point of view, has been saved. In this essay, we are comparing two different books that show us what being a slave actually was. This will be seen with the help of two different characters: Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the life of Frederick
Deviating from his typically autobiographical and abolitionist literatures, Frederick Douglass pens his first work of fiction, “The Heroic Slave,” the imagined backstory of famed ex-slave Madison Washington, best known for his leadership in a slave rebellion aboard about the slave ship Creole. An interesting plot and Douglass’ word choice provide a powerful portrait of slavery and the people affected by it.
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...
Slave narratives were one of the first forms of African- American literature. The narratives were written with the intent to inform those who weren’t aware of the hardships of slavery about how badly slaves were being treated. The people who wrote these narratives experienced slavery first hand, and wanted to elicit the help of abolitionists to bring an end to it. Most slave narratives were not widely publicized and often got overlooked as the years went by; however, some were highly regarded and paved the way for many writers of African descent today.
Douglass wrote three biographies about his life as a politician, slave, and abolitionist. However, the historical value of these works does not remain as important as the quality of the works themselves. Frederick Douglass’ writing deserves recognition in the canon of great American authors, because his work meets the chosen criteria for inclusion in a collection of important literature. Douglass influenced many famous abolitionists with his literary works, and this impact, coupled with his desire to write an expose about oppression in America, makes him a winning candidate. Although his published works, mostly autobiographies, received much acclaim from abolitionists, this paper explores the quality of Douglass’s work from a literary standpoint. This paper also details the events shaping Douglass’s impressive life and writing career. By examining the prestigious “life and times” of this black author, the reader will recognize the widespread influence of Douglass’s writing on other antislavery writers, politics, and hence, the public. In a look at his first and greatest work, Narrative of the Life, the following paper will demonstrate why Frederick Douglass deserves a place in the hall of great American writers. To fully appreciate the impact of Douglass’s autobiographies, we must examine violent period in which he lived. Douglass, born in 1818, grew up as a slave on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation in eastern Maryland. At the time, abolitionist movements started gaining speed as popular parties in the North. In the North, pro-slavery white mobs attacked black communities in retaliation for their efforts. By the time Douglass escaped from slavery, in 1838, tensions ran high among abolitionists and slaveowners. Slaves published accounts of their harrowing escapes, and their lives in slavery, mainly with the help of ghostwriters. Although abolitionists called for the total elimination of slavery in the South, racial segregation still occurred all over the United States. Blacks, freemen especially, found the task of finding a decent job overwhelming.
In the book, he describes the history of the Colonial era and how slavery began. He shows us how the eighteenth century progressed and how American slavery developed. Then it moves onto the American Revolution, and how the American slaves were born into class. It was this time that the slave population was more than twice what it had been. The Revolutionary War had a major impact on slavery and on the slaves.
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 physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
Fourteen thousand. That is the estimated number of Sudanese men, women and children that have been abducted and forced into slavery between 1986 and 2002. (Agnes Scott College, http://prww.agnesscott.edu/alumnae/p_maineventsarticle.asp?id=260) Mende Nazer is one of those 14,000. The thing that sets her apart is that she escaped and had the courage to tell her story to the world. Slave: My True Story, the Memoir of Mende Nazer, depicts how courage and the will to live can triumph over oppression and enslavement by showing the world that slavery did not end in 1865, but is still a worldwide problem.
At first glance, the book “my bondage and my freedom by Frederick Douglass appeared to be extremely dull and frustrating to read. After rereading the book for a second time and paying closer attention to the little details I have realized this is one of the most impressive autobiographies I have read recently. This book possesses one of the most touching stories that I have ever read, and what astonishes me the most about the whole subject is that it's a true story of Douglass' life. “ Douglass does a masterful job of using his own experience to expose the injustice of slavery to the world. As the protagonist he is able to keep the reader interested in himself, and tell the true story of his life. As a narrator he is able to link those experiences to the wider experiences of the nation and all society, exposing the corrupting nature of slavery to the entire nation.”[1] Although this book contributes a great amount of information on the subject of slavery and it is an extremely valuable book, its strengths are overpowered by its flaws. The book is loaded with unnecessary details, flowery metaphors and intense introductory information but this is what makes “My Bondage and My Freedom” unique.