Slaveholders used church to trick and control slaves and also made slaves fear their masters for safety. For example, when
Slaveholders used church to trick and control slaves and also made slaves fear their masters for safety. For example, when
Harriet Jacobs waited until it was late at night before she decided to sneak away from the plantation house.. Her family members were very afraid for her . They felt that she would be caught , then they found that one of the white neighbors would hide Harriet. She was locked in a small chamber above the white neighbor’s bed chamber for the several months after that . Flint looked for her intensily. Harriet was then taken to a new hiding place in the swamp. Then to another hiding place, in a small space hidden between the ceiling and roof in her grandmother’s old shed . Harriet becomes very sickin the winter but she recovers. She spent seven years hidden away in the small space with only room to crawl.…
With regards to religion, many slave owners, such as, Zephaniah Kingsley and Judge Wilkerson believed that religious expressions were a form of independence and would threaten slave control. They believed that their slaves’ would become more empowered and have more bravery and be more difficult to handle and more disobedient. However, other slave owners believed that it should be used as an instrument of control. When slaves were actually able to attend Christian services, it was by a white minister who taught them to obey their masters in order to be saved by God. However, if they disobeyed them, they would not be saved, but destined for damnation.…
The masters had no clue what was going on their plantation in those supposed religious meetings. The slaves would use sermons and fake church services to plot on escaping. It was a brilliant idea in my opinion. Having the slave owners not know what was happening and then if they show up and pretend it was a service. I can see myself doing something like that. Some slaves did get caught and when they did they suffered the consequences. Most consequences included physical abuse and even murder. Unhappy with their uncomfortable living situations, slaves helped the masters “reap what they sold” by doing those witty things that led to consequences. Larry Rivers emphasizes the importance of religion in his short article. Religion helped get the slaves through their toughest life moments. Religion is the seed in the slaves; the masters did not want to grow because they know that with that, they were going to reap what they…
The second part of a slave narrative is the life as a slave (Turner). This is the majority of Harriet Ann Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, being from about Chapters II to XVI. She begins by describing how cruel her new master, Dr. Flint was: “[he] was an epicure. The cook never sent a dinner to his table without fear and trembling; for if there happened to be a dish not to his liking, he would either order her to be whipped, or compel her to eat every mouthful of it in his presence” (Jacobs, 22). By the age of fifteen, Dr. Flint would harass her more often and follow her closely; she was constantly reminded by him that she was nothing but his property. All of the doctor’s attention on Jacobs resulted in the mistress becoming…
Albert J. Raboteu’s, Slave Religion: The ‘Invisible Institution’ in the Antebellum South, seeks to provide an overview of the history and institution of slaves in American history. By providing samplings of hymns, songs, and stories of first hand accounts, Raboteu provides the reader with earnestness and a desire for self-reflection. In this paper I will provide a brief summary of Raboteu’s major themes and a short response.…
When I hear the word slavery, the only thing that comes to my head is cruelty. I could not even imagine how a human can threat another one like animals, as if they were and inferior or less because of the skin color. The idea of being able to read a book that was written by someone that lived during this years of brutality amazed me. Harriet Jacobs was taught how to read and write by her mothers mistress, this was not common for many of the slaves, and it is the reason why she used the name “Linda” to talk about herself during her stories, because if by any chance her master knew that she could read and write, she would have had the punishment of being whipped and put in jail. During the first chapters of her book we could notice that not all her years as a slave were miserable. In fact the first six years of her life were happy, because she didn’t know she was a slave, once she grew up her innocence started to fade, her days started to turn dark and sad. As described in her book the living conditions were like hell on earth. Slavery not only affected the slaves, it also completely destroyed moral…
Harriet Jacobs is the author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. During the civil war, when she published it, Harriet had to have her character as another name, so that there was no chance of her getting caught since Dr. Flint was still after her. Before she helped any other slaves, even her self, she does every thing she can just to help her children first. Harriet knew that the only way to let slaves know all that she went through in her experiences was to write an autobiography. Jacobs didn't think that the book was enough, so besides the job of taking care of her children, she also helped slaves by starting organizations.…
Thomas R. Dew (1832), touches a lot on religion and the spirit of Christianity. Dew explains that there is nothing in the old and new testament saying that slavery is wrong. He also says, “The children of Israel themselves were slaveholders wand were not condemned for it”, showing that even in biblical era it was to no surprise to have slaves, but also nothing morally wrong with owning them either. He makes a few points about the slaves and how they are…
Harriet Jacobs wanted to tell her story, but knew she lacked the skills to write the story herself. She had learned to read while young and enslaved, but, at the time of her escape to the North in 1842, she was not a proficient writer. She worked at it, though, in part by writing letters that were published by the New York Tribune, and with the help of her friend, Amy Post. Her writing skills improved, and by 1858, she had finished the manuscript of her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.…
Hatred for all religions other than Christianity and treating inhumanly with slaves gave birth to destruction and the American Revolution. So, in the period time 17th to early 18th century, the slaves’ situations and their liberty changed over time. They had changed over time between the case law and statutory law about the slave child’s status. The Case of Elizabeth Key, Virginia Colonial Courts, 1655, is a good example for the case law’s content. So, Elizabeth Key Grin stead was the first woman who sued for her freedom from slavery and win; The Case of Elizabeth Key writes, “[I]t was a common Fame in Virginia that Elizabeth, a mulatto now servant to the Estate of Col. John Mottrom, deceased, was the Daughter of Mr. Kaye [a white man] […]…
“The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead” (Power 1), Aristotle knew the importance of education; especially literacy. Literacy is what stood between the slaves and the slaves owners. However, some of the enslaved were fortunate enough to possess more intelligence than their owners knew. Harriet Jacobs is one of the few that shared the knowledge of literacy and she knew the power that this held. She used this as her driving force to push through all of the hardships a slave had to endure on a daily basis. Jacobs account in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl truly depict the power of literacy.…
This is the way that Alfred M. Green used religion to help encourage his brethren to fight with him in the fight against slavery. Alfred Green fought bravely for his rights and freedom. Green also put a very convincing argument as to why his friends should join him in his…
The Abolitionist, or those who wanted to abolish slavery, believed that slavery violated many rights and beliefs held by the American nation. They argued that capturing others and forcing them into labor was a direct violation of the constitutions inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Even though at the time we were plagued with extreme racism against blacks (some to the extent of believing that blacks were of a sub-human species), the abolitionist argued that everyone should be given the opportunity to have these rights, regardless of race. They strengthened this point by using scriptures directly taken from the Christian bible. Scriptures such as Matt 7:12 "...do to others what you would have them do to you...",backed up their point that capturing others for forced labor was morally wrong. Other scripture such as Col 4:1 "Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven", aided their next major argument against slavery; the treatment of slaves. Many slave holders, or to the slaves, masters, were brutal in the treatment of their laborers. Cruel forms of punishment were used against those slaves who were rebellious or did not work to their master's standards,…
Abolitionists of the North argued against slavery by presenting moral arguments against it and bringing more attention to the cruelty of the issue. However, Southerners defended slavery by stating that slavery was mentioned numerous times in the Bible. As the Christian belief in unity of the human race, Abolitionists believed that their attacks on slavery were “a vindication of Christianity, moral accountability, and the unity of mankind” (Davis 130). Some Northerners argued that “slavery was sinful in itself” (Margaret 164). Many writings attempted to show the harsh conditions of slavery to bring attention to the issue.…
In this section of the book, Finkelman gathered four documents written by three representatives of the Baptist and Protestant religion and by an anonymous person and edited by De Bow’s Review, a well circulated magazine in the South part of America within 19th century.…