Slavery and the Making of America Essay Example
Black History 1
SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA
Episode 3: "Seeds of Destruction" The documentary “Slavery and the Making of America,” focused on the lives of two African American individuals that were born in the 1800’s. One was a woman named Harriet Jacobs .In the 1850s, Harriet Jacobs began to write an autobiography she would call would eventual call Incidents “In The Life Of a Slave Girl”. She would become the first woman to write a slave narrative. A slave narrative was a published work written by African Americans who had escaped lives of bondage at a time when state laws in the south made it a crime to teach the enslaved reading and writing. Harriet would ultimately use her words to reveal the awful truth of American slavery. Her story began in the town of Edenton, North Carolina, where she was born in 1813. Harriet's first master had ignored the laws and taught her to read and write. After she died, Harriet got a new master named Doctor James Norcom. She was 12 years old with light skin and dark eyes and because of that Harriet became a house slave. She was to cook and clean, and serve the wishes of the mistress and the master. One historian in the documentary said that Harriet mentioned in her narrative that no matter what the slave girl looks like if she's dark, if she's light, if she's medium, if she's at all attractive, she has beauty, and that was a curse because the master will be after her. At the age of 12 Doctor James Norcom was conatantly haraasing harriet, reminding her that she was his, and swearing to her that she would willingly submit to him. Norcom had many children outside of his legal marriage with salves that he tended to sell off. One historian mentioned that back then judges said there is no such thing as the rape of a black woman. The courts did not recognize it. At 15, Harriet met Samuel Tredwell Sawyer. The 30 lawyer was from one of North Carolina's most important families. He was a white man that said he was
SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA
Episode 3: "Seeds of Destruction" The documentary “Slavery and the Making of America,” focused on the lives of two African American individuals that were born in the 1800’s. One was a woman named Harriet Jacobs .In the 1850s, Harriet Jacobs began to write an autobiography she would call would eventual call Incidents “In The Life Of a Slave Girl”. She would become the first woman to write a slave narrative. A slave narrative was a published work written by African Americans who had escaped lives of bondage at a time when state laws in the south made it a crime to teach the enslaved reading and writing. Harriet would ultimately use her words to reveal the awful truth of American slavery. Her story began in the town of Edenton, North Carolina, where she was born in 1813. Harriet's first master had ignored the laws and taught her to read and write. After she died, Harriet got a new master named Doctor James Norcom. She was 12 years old with light skin and dark eyes and because of that Harriet became a house slave. She was to cook and clean, and serve the wishes of the mistress and the master. One historian in the documentary said that Harriet mentioned in her narrative that no matter what the slave girl looks like if she's dark, if she's light, if she's medium, if she's at all attractive, she has beauty, and that was a curse because the master will be after her. At the age of 12 Doctor James Norcom was conatantly haraasing harriet, reminding her that she was his, and swearing to her that she would willingly submit to him. Norcom had many children outside of his legal marriage with salves that he tended to sell off. One historian mentioned that back then judges said there is no such thing as the rape of a black woman. The courts did not recognize it. At 15, Harriet met Samuel Tredwell Sawyer. The 30 lawyer was from one of North Carolina's most important families. He was a white man that said he was