Slavery

1
Slaverys Dehumanization
2
One Account

• Mr. Burwell came to the cabin, with a letter in
  his hand. He was a kind master in some things,
  and as gently as possible informed my parents
  that they must part for in two hours my father
  must join his master at Dinwiddie, and go with
  him to the West, where he had determined to make
  his future home. I can remember the scene as if
  it were but yesterday - how my father cried out
  against the cruel separation his last kiss his
  wild straining of my mother to his bosom the
  solemn prayer to Heaven the tears and sobs - the
  fearful anguish of broken hearts. The last kiss,
  the last good-by and he, my father, was gone,
  gone forever.
• Keckley, Elizabeth, Behind the Scenes, or Thirty
  Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House
  (1968, republished 1988).

3

• This picture is a contemporary sketch of a
  plantation.
• This picture reflects a common working day.

4
Chattel vs. Cattle

• Whats the difference? What effect does the word
  chattel have on us today?
• 'Elisha,' chattel No. 5 in the catalogue, had
  taken a fancy to a benevolent looking middle-aged
  gentleman, who was inspecting the stock, and thus
  used his powers of persuasion to induce the
  benevolent man to purchase him, with his wife,
  boy and girl, Molly, Israel and Sevanda, chattels
  Nos. 6, 7 and 8.
• New York Daily Tribune, March 9, 1859 reprinted
  in Hart, Albert B., American History Told by
  Contemporaries v. 4 (1928).

5
On the Selling Block

• 'Look at me, Mas'r am prime rice planter sho'
  you won't find a better man den me no better on
  de whole plantation not a bit old yet do mo'
  work den ever do carpenter work, too, little
  better buy me, Mas'r I'se be good sarvant,
  Mas'r. Molly, too, my wife, Sa, fus rate rice
  hand mos as good as me. Stan' out yer, Molly,
  and let the gen'lm'n see.'
• Molly advances, with her hands crossed on her
  bosom, and makes a quick short curtsy, and stands
  mute, looking appealingly in the benevolent man's
  face. But Elisha talks all the faster.
• 'Show mas'r yer arm Molly - good arm dat mas'r -
  she do a heap of work mo' with dat arm yet. Let
  good mas'r see yer teeth Molly - see dat mas'r,
  teeth all reg'lar, all good - she'm young gal
  yet. Come out yer Israel, walk aroun' an' let the
  gen'lm'n see how spry you be.'
• New York Daily Tribune, March 9, 1859 reprinted
  in Hart, Albert B., American History Told by
  Contemporaries v. 4 (1928).

6
In Bondage In Freedom
7
Always in Fear

• On May 24, 1854, after only three months of
  freedom, Anthony (a former slave) was sighted by
  a slave hunter, immediately imprisoned and taken
  before a court where his fate would be decided.
  His incarceration sparked outrage among the
  citizenry of Boston. This seething anger came to
  a head three nights later when an angry mob
  stormed the Court House where he was being held
  in an attempt to free the hapless prisoner. They
  were unsuccessful. Efforts were then made to
  secure the slave's freedom by buying him from his
  master. But this too was unsuccessful.
• "Return of a Fugitive Slave, 1854", EyeWitness
  to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2005).

8
Always in Fear

• At eleven o'clock, Court Square presented a
  spectacle that became indelibly engraved upon the
  memories of men. The people had been swept out of
  the Square, and stood crowded together in Court
  street, presenting to the eye a solid rampart of
  living beings. At the eastern door of the Court
  House, stood the cannon, loaded, and with its
  mouth pointed full upon the compact mass. By its
  side stood the officer commanding the detachment
  of United States troops, gazing with steady
  composure in the same direction. It was the first
  time that the armed power of the United States
  had ever been arrayed against the people of
  Massachusetts. Men who witnessed the sight, and
  reflected upon its cause, were made painfully to
  recognize the fact, before unfelt, that they were
  the subjects of two governments.

9
Frederick Douglass

• What kind of woman does Mrs. Auld appear to be?
  What part does Mr. Auld play in her character?
• How do you view Douglasss character? What does
  he write that illustrates this view?
• How does Douglass use irony to reinforce
  slavery's dehumanizing influence?