ipl-logo

Semester II Anchor-Historical Narrative

1113 Words5 Pages

Semester II Anchor – Historical Narrative

Back in 1936, I was unsuccessful in my attempts to find a suitable job in journalism, even

though I graduated from Harvard University with a major in English. Coincidentally, I was

contacted by Jacob Baker, representing the Federal Writers Project, with the offer to interview

former slaves in order to give insight to future generations about the system of slavery from

those who actually experienced its cruelty. Of course, I accepted immediately and began

conversing with several slaves within the month. The Federal Writers Project has definitely been

the most eye-opening experience of my entire life, and it has already been fifteen years since I

first interviewed these fascinating people. …show more content…

Early in her interview, I remember her explaining that her owners

were not only kind to her through their teaching of the alphabet, but also to her parents,

specifically her father who was continuously supplied with tasks from their master for additional

money after gaining freedom. This struck me as particularly generous, because not only did the

master keep in touch with the family after the abolishment of slavery, but he tried to provide the

family with the most meaningful opportunities in the “real world.” Bernice told me that her

mother remained on the plantation for an additional year after freedom, and later when her

mother became ill, their old mistress would travel over six miles with gifts every day until her

death. Bernice’s explanation of the close bond between her family and her old masters made me

realize that it was not only the slaves who felt connected to their owners long after freedom, but

some plantation owners grew to care their slaves like family of their own. So although they

supported the horrible institution of slavery itself, it did not prevent relationships between their

slaves and them.

My final interview from another North Carolina native, Betty Bormer, who described

Show More
Related

  • Fanny Kemble's Journal Essay

    511 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 19th century, one of the most important historical events has taken place. In the years 1830 's, black people were captured and detained as slaves. A very big number of black population were sold as workers (slaves). Fanny Kemble, a British woman got to experience the reality of what was going on and asked for justice. At some stage in her life she wrote ' '

    Read More

  • The Caned Read Sparknotes

    512 Words  | 3 Pages

    But I refused to speak that name. there was nothing united about a nation that said all men were created equal, but that kept my people in chains” (311). Slavery is a topic that can never get too much media as it is a dark passage in human history, one that should be

    Read More

  • Significance Of Frederick Douglass From Slave To Abolitionist

    722 Words  | 3 Pages

    The documentary, From Slave to Abolitionist, evaluates the contribution of Frederick Douglass in the abolition of slavery and the American Civil War. With the incorporation of direct quotes from Douglass' biography and speeches,

    Read More

  • Examples Of Subjugation In Frederick Douglass

    687 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sean Kim Mr. Nguyen English 3H 12 November 2014 Frederick Douglass Essay All through American history, minority gatherings were casualties of American administrative strategies, and these approaches made them powerless against uncouth and uncaring treatment on account of white Americans. American subjugation is a telling case of an administration endorsed foundation that deceived and abused a race of individuals by instilling and empowering oppression, prejudice and misuse. This establishment is harmful to slaves and slave holders indistinguishable in light of the fact that American culture, particularly in the south, experienced a dehumanization transform keeping in mind the end goal to actualize the savage and heartless convention. In the

    Read More

  • Summary Of David Oshinsky's Worse Than Slavery

    1278 Words  | 6 Pages

    Worse than Slavery, by David Oshinsky, is a novel about post-Civil War America, and the life it gave free African Americans in Mississippi and other parts of the South. Oshinsky writes about the strict laws and corrupt criminal justice system blacks faced after they were freed, and while the contents of the book are not typically read about in history textbooks, it is important to understand what life was like for the freedman. Anyone interested in reading his book would profit from it. With the end of the Civil War came the destruction of the old system of slavery. Many white Southerner’s were outraged, but were forced to accept the newly freed blacks.

    Read More

  • Incidents In A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs

    418 Words  | 2 Pages

    Do you ever feel as if you can not express yourself as you wish? Well so do these people in this story. The people and their stories you're about to hear are from people who couldn’t defend themselves like they wanted to. The stories that you hear today throw light on the american slave system. Do you ever want to bring something to the light?

    Read More

  • What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July Essay

    636 Words  | 3 Pages

    he uses bold words and biting criticism to call attention to the gross injustices and hypocrisy of slavery in the United States. In the opening remarks of his speech, Douglas provides heart-wrenching descriptions to pull his audience into the lives of their fellow

    Read More

  • The President's Daughter: Narrative Of A Slave Life

    573 Words  | 3 Pages

    As historical documents, the slave narrative serves as a lens to the evolution of white supremacy in the South in the eighteenth century through the twentieth century Jim Crow South to the disfranchisement of Blacks today. These narratives give voice to the generations of Blacks who may not have had their stories told because any evidence of what occurred was destroyed or was told from the oppressor’s perspective. In William Wells Brown’s Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter: Narrative of a Slave Life (1853), the author shows the dilemma of the African American through the mulatto character. Brown’s narrative acts like an instrument to project the propaganda of the abolitionist by disclosing the brutal institution of slavery. The narrative develops around explicitly, powerful scenes that show the many experiences of the mulatto in the antebellum era through the social constraints that bind her.

    Read More

  • Literary Devices In The Underground Railroad

    1642 Words  | 7 Pages

    From this, derives a bond with the reader that pushes their understanding of the evil nature of slavery that society deemed appropriate therefore enhancing their understanding of history. While only glossed over in most classroom settings of the twenty-first century, students often neglect the sad but true reality that the backbone of slavery, was the dehumanization of an entire race of people. To create a group of individuals known for their extreme oppression derived from slavery, required plantation owner’s of the South to constantly embedded certain values into the lives of their slaves. To talk back means to be whipped.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Rebunk The Myth Of Slavery

    814 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 1700-1800’s, the use of African American slaves for backbreaking, unpaid work was at its prime. Despite the terrible conditions that slaves were forced to deal with, slave owners managed to convince themselves and others that it was not the abhorrent work it was thought to be. However, in the mid-1800’s, Northern and southern Americans were becoming more aware of the trauma that slaves were facing in the South. Soon, an abolitionist group began in protest, but still people doubted and questioned it.

    Read More

  • Inhuman Traffick

    933 Words  | 4 Pages

    The detailed descriptions included in primary sources, along with the descriptive and emotional illustrations included in graphic history are crucial elements in studying and understanding the process and history of the transatlantic slave trade. Rafe Blaufarb and Liz Clarke tie both of these together to help readers truly understand this historic tragedy in the book, Inhuman Traffick: The International Struggle Against the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Although different than the standard book that may be used, that simply spews information out in an uncreative and somewhat boring way, this book is a tool that can be chosen in classrooms to teach different aspects of the slave trade. Working together, the primary sources and graphic history

    Read More

  • Meaning Of The July Fourth For The Negro By Frederick Douglass

    1110 Words  | 5 Pages

    One of the strategies Douglass uses to convince his audience slavery should be abolished is by “calling out American hypocrisy in his Fourth of July oration” (Mercieca 1). He shames them with no remorse. He speaks on the opposite treatments that enable whites to live in a state of freedom and liberty, while the blacks are living in a state of bondage. As the audience listens, he reminds them, there are men, women and children still held hostages to the chains of

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Devices In The Fourth Of July

    1056 Words  | 5 Pages

    This will get the listeners thinking about what sincerely is happening with the issue of slavery and stimulate interest in the abolitionist mindset. Additionally, the author laconically questions, “What to the American Slave is your Fourth

    Read More

  • Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies Of 1800 And 1802

    427 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author, Douglas R. Egerton, has his M.A. and Ph.D. from Georgetown University. His grandparents were slaveholders and believed that slaves were property. He became interested in race relations because of grandparents and the television series “Roots”. He specifically concentrates on race relations in the American South. He is now a history professor at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Sojourner Truth And Frederick Douglass

    426 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth use the evils of slavery in each of their stories, I believe that Sojourner Truth used more persuasive evidence in her text to relate to the evils of slavery that was happening to her. Throughout time both Frederick and Sojourner were abused and hurt during the time of slavery. Slavery was not the a good time for the blacks because many whites were very racist. Frederick Douglass was an American abolitionist and author.

    Read More

More about Semester II Anchor-Historical Narrative

Open Document