African Americans As Slaves Analysis

This paper presents the life experience of two African-Americans as slaves during the nineteenth century. Henry Bibb was the author of his own narrative, which he published in 1849 with the assistance of Lucius Matlack. The second source was the narrative of W. L. Bost, a slave from North Carolina. He was interviewed as many other enslaved African-Americans by the members of the Federal Writer’s Project around the 1930s. The purpose of these narratives was to describe to the public what it meant to be slave at that period of time. Both authors recalled the difficult and cruel conditions they faced during their journey as slaves. First, they were sold as merchandises on the market. Bost depicted that both men and women were chained and inappropriately
Another key factor described by both authors was family. In fact, family was very important for African-Americans. Bost stated that during the selling, women begged the speculators to be sold with their husbands. The idea to be separated from their family was a terrible misfortune. Bibb emphasized on the relationship he had with his wife and his child. He revealed how powerless he was while seeing his child whipped and his wife abused by their master. He declared “I could never look upon the dear child without being filled with sorrow and fearful apprehensions, of being separated by slaveholders, because she was a slave, regarded as property.” In addition to be detested by slaves, non-slaveholders did not appreciate their status vis-a-vis of slaveholders. Most of them got along with slaves since they were considered inferior to the slaveholders. In conclusion, these two narratives reveal the unhuman conditions faced by enslaved people their life. One can perceive that the role of family, religion and culture was primordial in their daily lives. Even though the difficulties they encountered, they never lost sight to be free one