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A Letter To My Old Master John Anderson Summary

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Jourdan Anderson's "A Letter to My Old Master" is a letter written by Jourdan Anderson, a former slave, to his former owner, Colonel P.H. Anderson. This letter was written to respond to a previous letter Colonel Anderson sent to Jourdan Anderson requesting him to come back and work on the plantation. In, "A Letter to My Old Master" Anderson captures the new attitude of former slaves that they to are people and deserve the respect others received through his use of experiences, demands, and a hint of subtle sarcasm. In the letter it talks about not only the lives they live currently but how they previously lived their lives on Colonel Anderson's plantation in detail; giving insight on how he viewed his former master and life on and off the …show more content…

In the letter it states, "I served you faithfully for 32 years and Mandy 20 years..."(Anderson 374). Yet when Anderson tried to leave he was shot at twice as if serving Colonel Anderson all those years meant nothing that he could just try to shoot him dead like that. Anderson's and his families life were already full of abuse even before that shooting incident for example it states how he fears for daughters to come back there for to what had happened to Matilda and Cathrine. Summed up Jourdan Anderson's life on the plantation was a fear filled one with violence and abuse from Colonel Anderson and his family included along with the accompanying feeling of worthlessness with no respect …show more content…

He boast about how he is actually given a wage for his hard work at $$$ an hour and his job also clothed him accompanying his salary. Anderson also goes to point about things in Dayton, Ohio that his family has also enjoyed and taken advantage of for example his children now partake in schools and church. Northerners even told Anderson that his son should grow up to take the occupation of being a paster and that he was made for the job. As if it couldn't get any better the letter also goes into detail about how his wife and mother of his children is finally treated with respect like women should be. It brings him great joy that they call his wife Ms. Anderson. Compared to life that they lived on Colonel Anderson's plantation they were in paradise. Now that Anderson and his family have had a taste of what it's like to live a better life they will never go back to the mistreatment they endured for so many years of their

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