Week 10 Questions/Comments-327 13

1 Sarah Haynesworth Gayle, “An Alabama Diary,” 1828, 1833
There are a couple of things that stand out to me from the Alabama diary. 1.	The relationship between husband and wife during this period (1828) can be seen as more romantic. The love between Sarah and her husband is more important that economic wealth evident when she states, “his profession will support us and it will not in the least mortify me, to in the humblest situation.” (212) Sarah is willing to give up her wealth in order to be with a man she feels compassion towards. 2.	Sarah, also, describes that changing relationship between masters and slave owners, “I was not allowed to excessive tyranny or injustice of any sort toward them and the other side, the most implicit submission was exacted toward me. When I used improper language to them they went to my mother for redress- and if I commanded what was proper & reasonable they are not hesitate. Now, when ten and fifteen years have been added to my age, I no longer feel confident that my orders will be obeyed. “(213) She believes slaves have become more unruly and uncooperative over the years. On a side note, her slaves rebel by using sour facial expressions and murmuring- possibly drinking. -Kasey Moore

The line that struck me the most in this passage was when she said "I was not allowed to exercise tyranny or injustice of any sort toward them." It just reminded me of the blindness the people of the time accepted in ignoring the true injustice that was going on. It is hard to accept that human beings are capable of such blind cruelty, and not see the hypocrisy in their ways. -Katie Redmiles

I found it interesting that Sarah was so passionate about a slave that she had. I knew that not every family that had slaves thought of them negatively but I found it interesting that a she would think so highly of a male slave. – Katie Way

I find it interesting that Sarah still cares about Mike, one of her former slaves, years after he is sold. Just before he was sold, Sarah complains about Mike, how he has become "insolent and inattentive" (213). He even would retort that "he wanted him [the horse] too" when she told him that she wanted to use the horse left for her. Yet, I suppose that his many years of good service to her, as she "prized [him] so highly" left a more lasting impression. She also seems to care for Mike more than as simply a laborer since she dreams of buying not only Mike, but his family as well. - Jess Hopkins

While I do agree with these points about how interesting it is to hear from a woman at this time who was able to have some sort of compassion on the slaves that her family owned, I do not necessarily see Sarah rejecting the concept of slavery as a whole. I think if it were possible for women to have more of a say, Sarah would advocate for more "humane" treatment of the slaves, and she would recognize them, for the most part, as being more than simply two sets of hands used solely for work. I don't think anybody in this day and age would be able to view slavery through the same lens that we do now. - Becca Sherman

I found it interesting that even what Sarah considered to be very kind and compassionate was to put the slave family back together on a farm so that they could all live together, even though they would still be slaves. I think this really helps to show the white mentality in the south that the people believed that they were doing the slaves a favor by keeping them as slaves and protecting them. Ike C.

2 Mary Boykin Chestnut’s diary, 1861
The statements about the evils of slavery seem out of place and almost amazing coming from the relative of one of the biggest slave owning families in her state. The amazement ends quickly, however, as she makes contradictory statements about how slaves need the patriarchal system because they won't be able to control themselves (especially sexually). This shows that even some of those that seem moral for opposing slavery were not doing it for reasons of equality as we might think today. Racism was so engrained in the culture that even those that opposed slavery were still racist. This is one of the reasons that free blacks still had many problems of discrimination. -Amy Wallace

"I wonder if it be a sin to think slavery a curse to any land." (222) I thought this was and interesting take from mrs Chestnut's complaint. She seemed to be quite confused, so much so that she drugged herself to escape her reality. Maybe she buried it because of her place in the society of the time. Maybe long ago she knew it was all wrong, but then over time realized she had no power to change it. . . and then started doing opium? Apparently that was accessible in South Carolina? --Tanner Carlton

3 Rose Williams’s Story in the Federal Writers’ Project Interviews, 1941.
In the Rose Williams account, even after being forced to have children with Rufus, she stills sees her master as kind because he bought her parents together along with her. I knew he would see his deed as a favor to the slaves but even after being forced to have children with Rufus at a young age she still views her master as a hero. I get the feeling that she felt that she not only had to but also that she owed him. Was there a certain gender that the master wanted his slaves to have or was he solely trying to obtain numbers? If the master specifically wanted a boy or girl would they often times kill the child if it was not what they wanted?-Courtney Collier

Did Rose William's master purposefully buy her parents as well so that she would be indebted to him? I found it a bit strange that he would buy them otherwise, for either way he had every intention of buying her. His comments about her being a portly slave seem to imply that he wanted her for childbearing purposes. Her being indebted to him would only further his ambitions. -Kearsten Lehman

In Rose William's account she says that the auction man said "What am I offer for dis portly, strong young wench. She's never been 'bused and will make de good breeder." Does this mean the man who sold her was advertising her solely for childbearing purposes? What the auction man would imply is that the buyer was under the idea that this was going to be her role. I wonder if Rose Williams in retrospect remembers that being said and realizes that she was being advertised for childbearing purposes? She mentions that quote but says nothing about it afterwards as if she doesn't realize what he's saying. - Sandra Sanchez

When you read Rose's account, one of the first things to pop out is the phonetic style of writing. This was very common, especially in the 1860s when Northerners were going south to fight the war, having their first experiences with blacks, and writing about their encounters. And yet, that same phonetic writing style is not present when dealing with white ethnicities, with perhaps the exception of the Irish and Germans (I fight mit Siegel). What do these subtle writing styles tell us of experiences between whites and blacks, even into the 1900s, as is this case? -Ryan Quint

4 Lucinda, a free woman, requests reenslavement, 1813
In Lucinda’s letter prior to Tuesday’s class I would have been shocked that an African-American woman would want to go back into slavery after having her freedom given to her by her late mistress. However, on Tuesday, we discussed how hard it would be for an African-American woman to make it on her own without slavery to shelter her and give her food. I can now see why she wanted to be with her husband instead of being free. While some African-American may have obtained freedom somehow, this still meant that they had to face society.-Courtney Collier

I agree with Courtney. I think it is important to see that not all slaves thought freedom was the ultimate goal. I know that was important but knowing that some thought about reality and staying in slavery was the better option for their family is outstanding. - Katie Way

I can't imagine the choice that Lucinda was faced with- freedom or staying with her husband. Her decision to stay makes me wonder the type of slaveowner Hooe was. -Dana Nordling

Just near by in King George county interestingly enough, It seems reasonable to the day's standards that a woman would ask to be sold back into slavery to her husband. I guess the only part that I question is how Captain Hooe treated Lucinda? --Tanner Carlton

It's easy for us to root for freedom from slavery these days; however, it's important to understand he meaning of "freedom" back in this period of time. Although slavery never had its easy moments, there is still something to say for the fact that men, women and children were given food to eat, clothes to wear, and shelter to live under, (similar to what Courtney mentioned earlier). We constantly ask why more slaves didn't band together sooner to try and press for freedom; however, it's so easy to forget that freedom came at a cost, (in this case, many costs).

When reading this passage i got really excited because in so many other history classes we talk about the ending of slavery and how for the south they thought it could be an uprising or the exslaves encroaching on their land. Lucinda's story especially as a woman who was freed plays completely into how things should have gone, people tend to stick what they know and how they can afford to live.-Charlotte O.

Do we know how rare a request like this would have been in this time period for a women to want to return to slavery to be with her husband. This would have been a very rare and unprecedented request for a slave, would it not? Ike C.

5 Connecticut woman asks other free black women to sign anti-slavery petitions, 1839
I find this document very interesting. We learned about how many women became in different social movements after the development of the idea of separate spheres. This document shows how deeply ingrained the ideas from the white middle class came to society. These women were not middle class white women but were still involved in the abolition movement. Some of this had to do with moralistic reasons about how bad slavery was (because some of these women would have been former slaves) but also the idea that it is their job as women to fix the problems of society. -Amy Wallace

This document makes me wonder about the relations between free blacks and enslaved. The writer seems to be compelling the other women to empathize with the slaves. Was this just the rhetoric of charity to remind people why they should spend more time with this cause or was there a divide between the two groups of African Americans? --Sarah Palmer

7 Mrs. Virginia Hayes Shepherd’s memories, 1937
Not only does this document illustrate the conditions of African-American women during the civil war era, it also illustrates the pervasiveness of sexual assault within the slave community. Mrs. Virginia Hayes Shepard recounts her mother's story of an interracial sexual encounter, and it seems likely that it could have been sexual assault. She also speaks of Diana who was sexually assaulted and abused by her master, Gaskins. The power dynamic between white men and slave women was heartbreaking. -Katherine Miller

That Diana was able to manipulate her own sale to subvert Gaskins' intentions shows that slaves were able to resist in limited but significant ways. Diana, "the sharpest black woman you ever saw", was still operating the framework of slavery, but she could indirectly influence that system. --Sarah Palmer

8 Thelma Jennings, “Sexual Exploitation of African American Slave Women,” 1990
The point that enslaved black women were "genderless" until it suited the masters connects to the larger problems the feminist movement has had with excluding and oppressing black women to benefit middle to upper class white women. It reminds me of Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" speech where she asserts her gender to an audience that has been treating her as other than female. Black women suffered the most under the hypocrisy of the patriarchy. They lacked the power that men did, but they lacked the protections that white women had (even if those protections were inconsistent and weak).--Sarah Palmer

Slave women's struggles with sexual exploitation in various realms was covered quite well here. Plus the point was made in this article that slave women never knew when to expect the worst to happen to them, so they always had to be on guard. -Kearsten Lehman

This passage is a very powerful one because it addresses that the domestic sphere was not safe for women of any color. Neither Diana nor her mistress could escape the violence of their plantation master. --Mae D'Amico

I wonder if the rise in miscarriages among slave women in the Antebellum South was not solely caused by the over-working, malnutrition, and abuse of the women? Jennings mentions accounts of slaves chewing cotton roots to prevent conception and other substances to induce miscarriages. If abortions were common among slaves, how many of the miscarriages were self-inflicted as opposed to master or overseer related? -Mary Fesak

I wonder since this piece was written so late, over 100 years following the Civil War, what effects the Civil Rights Movement as well as 3ish wars, WWI WWII Cold war, had on the narrative of the piece --Charlotte O.

9 "A Reply to Harriet Beecher Stowe" Louisa S. Cheeves McCord, 1853
McCord writes "the poor negro, astounded by the torrent of progress, which bursting over the world, now hangs menacingly (for to the wild man is not civilization always menacing?) above him, would vainly follow with the stream, and is swept up in the current. Slavery, even in his own land, is his destiny and his refuge from extinction." Given McCord's views, I would love to have seen her reaction to Reconstruction, particularly to the Reconstruction Amendments, African American public office holders, and African American education since former slaves clearly proved that they were not facing extinction or the menaces of civilization during this time period. -Mary Fesak

McCord's views illustrate the ideas that we discussed in class Tuesday. She stated that slavery was "a providential caring for the weak, and refuge for the portionless" (p.219). She was appalled that Stowe asserted that African American's were intellectually equal to whites. Her backward views are concurrent with the idea that slaves couldn't survive without white masters. -Katherine Miller

10 Angelina Grimke Weld The Cruel Mistress -- 1839
After reading this account, I wonder how some people, such as Weld, were able to see the injustice and the cruelty inflicted upon African Americans, but others were not, and participated in the most heinous acts of violence. What was the public's reaction to this account? Would the Welds have faced any legal punishment for exposing such truth? -Katie Redmiles

This account was horrible to read. It not only describes the horrible treatment of slaves by their mistresses, but the hypocrisy of the fact that these mistresses professed themselves as Christians and gave to charities, while they treated their slaves inhumanely. The reason behind this contradiction was summed up in one sentence by Weld, "One who is a slaveholder at heart never recognizes a human being in a slave." To them, it was not hypocritical, because slaves were not people in their opinion. -Suzannah C.

Assuming that plantation mistresses were less harsh and cruel to their slaves than their masters shows how much Americans still buy into the Republican Womanhood ideal. Why would mistresses in a place of power be nicer if they were never taught or had to be so? --Mae D'Amico

The differences between how the mistress treated slaves and how she treated the poor was astounding. She presented herself as a moral, upright person yet indulged the most sadistic elements of herself when dealing with her slaves. The various complexities and contradictions of slavery are represented by stories such as this one. -Kearsten Lehman

I thought it was very striking that Grimké states, "for even were slavery no curse to its victims, the exercise of arbitrary power works such fearful ruin upon the hearts of slaveholders, that I should feel impelled to labor and pray for its overthrow with my last energies and latest breath" (215). This is an interesting argument, as it worries about the slaveholders themselves. She worries about the "ruin upon the hearts," which is evident in the punishments that she describes. This mistress claims to be a charitable and Christian woman, and yet her heart holds such rage against her slaves. - Jess Hopkins

Angelina Grimke Weld's account was just so disturbing to read. In the introduction to the piece it says that the book that this was included in reached a large audience in the US and England. Given that it had a large audience, did it change anything? Was anyone influenced by this in a way that caused change? - Sandra Sanchez

Grimke wrote "This mistress would occasionally send her slaves, male and female, to the Charleston work-house to be punished" (307). Though this account takes place in the 1830s, such punishment days were common throughout the South up to and during the Civil War. Many Northerners, sometimes being held as POWs and witnessing these punishment days, were soon converted to the most ardent abolitionists. One such example was a direct descendent of Paul Revere, whose account is in the following link: http://books.google.com/books?id=pLVZkgRP7xMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+harvard+regiment&hl=en&sa=X&ei=b-txUrvQDIbgsATKi4HQBw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=whipping%20day&f=false         -Ryan Quint

11 General Questions
If it was mostly common for slaveholders to own only 5-6 slaves why is our common perception of slavery that of the large plantation? Is it because more slaves lived on lager plantations and we view it through that experience, or is there another reason? - Morgan H.

After reading this week’s readings and the discussion in class, I am somewhat confused as how men were able to have interracial sex with their slaves and not get in trouble for it when it was against the law. Why did they bother to make the law in the first place if they were not going to enforce it? Or since slaves were considered property, did it really not matter how the owner treated them? Or was the law to keep white women and black men away from each other? - Morgan H.

What happened to mixed children that were so white they could pass off as white? There are cautionary tales in literature about just such people like in Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain and Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner, but what generally happened to the?. --Mae D'Amico

Are there any cases of male slaves and white mistresses having relationships? -Suzannah C.