The Hampton Project Analysis

After one hundred and fifty year, since the abolishing of slavery, for scholars there is yet still a lot to be discovered, about the impact it has on today’s African American communities. Moreover, to many, more than two hundred years of slavery in America, is way too long for its remnant to be completely faded away, or can be considered only a “history”. While dedicating an anthropological scholarly work in a subject that is related to a historical event, may did not raise the ethical dilemma in regard the nature of the relationship, and the dynamic of power between the researcher and the researched. However, there is still the issue of dynamic of power, which this paper tries to examine and illustrate some of its form within such subject.
Again, in this case, it is not necessarily between the researcher and the researched, rather, it is between the researcher and those who “hold”, and control the elements of that history. Therefore, with a history that stands as a ghost, filled with pain, blood and trauma, its shadow cast onto the present, leaving people with this sense of shame, and the unwillingness to revisit the tyrannical past.

The lack or absence of the slave's’ narrative and contextualize evidence
The denial of education for slaves, which left most of their life and history undocumented, and allowed for the single narrative Working with Dr.
Cheryl LaRoche in the Hampton project, which is basically an attempt to compile the names of the slaves on the Hampton plantation and the Northampton ironworks, which both were owned by the Ridgely family for generations. The project collects the names of hundreds of slaves, from the end of the eighteenth century, till the the abolishment of slavery in 1865. And eventually, tracing and finding their successor who may still live today in and around Baltimore county. Since the beginning of my work in the project, I worked on sorting and editing lists of names of slaves who at some point worked or owned by Ridgely’s. Among the many documents I had to go through to find names and information of birth, place of work, escape, date of manumission, where all documents from the masters which includes bills, gift lists, clothing lists, taxes ..etc. With this in mind, many slaves were denied access to education, except for learning the craft they were asked to do, whither it was; ironwork, farming, or serving at the house (Bullock, 10). Or else, they were taught the faith of their masters. James Dane, a freed man, talking about the education he received, in the plantation he used to work in: “No one was taught to read, We were taught the Lord’s Prayers and catechism” (Maryland, 5,
9).
The rules of evidence in trials against whites and slaves owners, since slaves were not allowed to testify against whites, which means the fate of many slaves can not be known in court records In the absence of having feasible amount of documents that are written by the slaves themselves, which can be use to counterpart the dominant narrative, and as an evidence to trace the journey of millions of slaves, and what they have go through. The main tool one can use to to look into consideration is looking into official sources, such as court papers. However, even this one is hard to find, considering the fact that slaves were not allowed to testify in court, especially not against whites (Morris). Which means, the atrocities and the fate many has faced, would be never known (Gowin, 90). Furthermore, taking to consideration the fact that there was a law which allows the police to return escaped slaves, back to their owners. For example, from an observation, while looking into many documents, that lists names of slaves who escaped from a Ridgely property, a number of the captured slaves would not appear on any other lists again. Specifically, focusing on the list of manumitted slaves from the will of Governor Ridgely’s 1829 will.
Oral history Since there are so much limitations that faces scholars and researcher who works on subjects that are related to slavery, especially when trying to find documents and contextualize evidence, they had to work on other medium. Henceforth, oral history not only provides the researcher with richer material, but also, it was the main tool for many freedpeople to pass their stories to the next generation (LaRoche, 34). However, this too can has its own adversity.
Dealing with trauma (for those who lived and experienced slavery)
When Sarah Henrietta Howard talked about her grandfather Charles Hall Brown how was a slave of the Ridgely’s she kept saying that her grandfather never talked about the time when he was a slave.
Moreover, Sarah Howard believes that her grandfather silence is due his feel of shame from the fact that he was an illegitimate child (Brown was a son to … Ridgely, by one of his slave). Richard Follett in the book The Problem of Freedom in the Age of Emancipation discussed what he call the “inheritance ideology”, which is his opinion restricted the freedom of many emancipated African American in the nineteenth century (Follett, 50). And even though freedpeople tries to maintain an individual, whole identity as citizens, usually the white master holds the position of superiority towards those whom once were their slaves. In the case of Charles Hall Brown, according to his granddaughter he was bounded to the Ridgelys in so many ways. First, though Charles Brown tried to leave Baltimore, he had to turn back, and ask for legal papers for his manumission, as he was afraid to as an escapee, then never left again. Secondly, Charles Brown worked in Baltimore Club as a doorman after his manumission, where hi frequently encountered many members of the Ridgely family (Oral). Whilst, Sarah Howard did not, or could not talk about her grandfather feelings towards his life as a slave, Ivan Schulman in the introduction he wrote for Autobiography of a Slave by Juan Francisco Manzano, a freed man
from the sugar plantations in Cuba, as he favors a “xenophobic ideology” (Manzano, 11). This feel of shame towards one’s own past and community, many see as a continuous of blatant violence against slaves and Blacks in general (Manzano, 12). Furthermore, this xenophobic ideology was rooted in the psyche of both the slave and the slaveholder, mainly through racist theology, and the enlisting of biblical stories, such as the prophecy of Noah and his son Ham (Brooten, 43).
Notably, this feel of shame, is not necessarily an individual act, or exclusive to those who were children born of rape. Moreover, Dorothy Roberts talks about the tendency by “black elite” to create a “respectable” image for black women, especially after the emancipation (Brooten, 42). This image tries to silence and conceal the sexual tyranny enslaved women went through.
Lost history, and how undocumented stories usually dies within one or two generations In her book Free Black Communities and The Underground Railroad, Cheryl Janifer LaRoche present some of the issues that comes with non documented oral history. LaRoche cited a story by Mary Ann Clark who is a great granddaughter of an escapee who escaped from her master to the black settlement Rocky Fork, which served as a major underground railroad, for escaped slaves. In that case, the issue with this testimony was, that some of the details did not correspond with other documented evidence (LaRoche, 34). Moreover, this confusion can occur to any undocumented story or testimony, for human tendency to change to miss certain details with every time the story will be told. Also, it is important to factor how the human memory function. Therefor, the age of the storyteller, when the story being passed, and how long it has been since the actual event can affect the accuracy of certain details.
The politics of archive accessibility, and controlling the dominant narrative It is expected for any work to have its basis, this includes the job of archiving. These archive or archival works are part of the history of people who are still live, and fully aware of the rule of that history in shaping the present. Furthermore, the politics over history, and what should be told and what should not, is not exclusive to archives in its physical entity, but also, to the politics of knowledge, and the accessibility to information, especially historical information. Moreover, the job become more critical when dealing with bad history. Conclusion Finally, as shown above, the obstacles that faces scholars who works on subjects that are related to a history which is the most mildest description, one would call it “unpleasant”. However, it is necessary to understand, that these obstacles is not always created by an act of racism. Instead, it is oftentimes created by an act of avoidance, in the hope that this part of history “doesn’t matter” anymore.