Slavery--Sifting through the grey areas
Every slave experience is different, and the institution of slavery is troubling enough that it seems unfair to generalize about it. However, we will have to write about the conditions of slavery going forward, so we need to figure out some way to compartmentalize the experience.
What are the conditions that shape the slave experience? How does gender, location, and age play in? What role does the master play in this process?
There is no right or wrong answer here, but what would be helpful would be examples from at least two of the readings to get a better sense of perspective.
The conditions that generally shape the slave experience are one of extreme, consistent manual labor, moderate to severe psychological damage, horrible living conditions, and at its core, subservient to another being for the sole purpose of carrying out their will. Gender, age, and location become factors as if you are female you are more likely to be sexually abused, working in the "big house". If you are younger, this also ties into the possibility of sexual abuse, if you are older to work in the fields. Location becomes a factor as well, the North being more anti-slavery than the South. However, it said that masters from the North are the more harsh. The master plays the most integral part in this whole experience; without the master, you have no slave.
ReplyDeleteThere are things that happen in our daily life today that go by with little notice. During the time of slavery, the very opposite seemed to be the case. For example, by being only a few moments late for their “job” the slaves were whipped multiple times, whereas when we are late we get a late pass and go on our way. The cowhide striking skin reverberates around the plantation instilling fear within each slave, hardening them. The masters did not always discriminate based on gender, what happened to one slave happened to another. Unfortunately, however there were times the masters did prefer the women slaves, especially the pretty ones. The location of a slave played a large role in their treatment; for example the reading states, “ though slavery is thought, by some, to be mild in Missouri... no part of our slaveholding country, is more noted for the barbarity of its inhabitants, than St. Louis.” The masters would purposely go out of their way to make life as difficult and brutal as possible for the slaves, only stopping the torture when they were satisfied, which sometimes did not occur until the slave was dead. By constantly asserting their power, the masters kept the slaves feeling powerless.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "The Cargo of Human Flesh" the conditions that shape the slave experience generally are to harsh too even imagine. Constantly slaves were abused on a day-to-day basis, through manual labor, terrible treatment such as: insufficient amount of food, less clothing, and even abuse by their masters. This ultimately shapes the slave experience. Also gender and age play an important role in the conditions that shape slavery. Usually women are sexually abused by their master even at a young age. This was more uncommon with men. Age mattered in the amount of work a slave could do daily. Strong men were more reliable than young boys that were entered into slavery. Location also matters because where you are a slave might determine how you are treated. For example the "harsh yankees" were referenced worse than masters in the south. The master plays the greatest role because he determines how he runs his slaves, and the treatment of them.
ReplyDeleteThe shape of the conditions of slaves is hard to imagine because it is too terrible to be accepted. Harsh environmental conditions, no hygiene supports, not enough food, work much more than affordable limits, no having fun, separate from other people...
ReplyDeleteGender decides how much work a slave should do and how will him/her be treated. Locations kind of give classes in slaves (higher level slaves and lower level slaves). Age also concerns about what should a slave does and what will he/she get. All of the points can decide how a slave should be treated.
Masters are actually very important in a slave community because the master controls all the slaves by mind and also treat them physically. A master makes a slave a "slave".
After reading the "The Cargo of Human Flesh" ones clarity of slavery becomes a little less foggy. You still can't understand the full force of this tragic point in history. You can see that certain places in America were not as bad as others, but as said in the selection, there is no such thing as a good slave owner. If there was good inside him, he wouldn't own slaves. Also you can tell that where you work on the plantation changes how you are treated as a slave. house slaves get to wake up earlier and do "easier tasks" then the field slaves or hands. The type of master you have that owns you play an enormous role in your experience as a slave. Down south, Brown's slave life was miserable and full of hard work, but when he worked for Mr. Lovejoy in St. Louis, he actually enjoyed his time there and called it "employment"
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the "The Cargo of Human Flesh" I realized that the conditions of slaves were horrible. The slaves lived without enough food, water and had horrible hygiene conditions.
ReplyDeleteThe slaves were also isolated from all other people. They were also forced to work many extra hours for their masters. Age and gender madered when it came to how much he or she worked. Any negative thing a slave did their master would punish them for it.
The master wanted to punish his or her slaves for his own amusement. He also would harm the slaves in many ways. Slaves had a horrible, terrible life style.
This reading enlightens the reader on how horrible slaves conditions really were. The example of harsh conditions that stood out the most was the photo of the back of slave who was whipped. This slave had been brutally whipped, the photo made the reader feel uneasy. It is one thing to hear about slaves being whipped, however, it is a whole other thing to actually see the aftermath of a whipping.
ReplyDeleteConditions that shaped slave environment were their manual labor, the detrimental environment they were living in and the bad living conditions. Gender plays a part in slavery especially if you were a woman. Men did not really have to suffer as much as the women did because a woman was normally subject to rape and if she had a child it would be worse because she has to be with her baby and still work at the same time or there would be consequences. Location was also a big role especially for slaves who lived in the south because it was hotter so the manual labor was harder and more strenuous. Age was also a key role in the slave experience. If an individual was young or a young adult he or she had to work very hard but if the individual was older they would more often than not be given domestic work or less work on the field. Also the slaves sometimes would work very slow so that they would be given less work to do.
ReplyDeleteThe conditions that generally shape the slave experience were unimaginable. I've just read a piece that described twenty-five people being forced into work everyday by 4;30 in the morning. If they were late, they were to be recieve ten lashes from a whip made of cowhide and platted wire. They weren't people. They were property, being switched from plantation to plantation with each master more cruel than the last
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