Runaway Slaves

The image above is a flier that was probably posted around the Northern States to warn runaway slaves of the risks of talking to certain White men. I retrieved this image from http://onfreedom.wordpress.com/category/african-americans-in-ri/

This post is very significant because it shows us a different perspective from White Americans. This flyer seems to have been posted by a white American because of the line that says "on the track of your race." The fact that it says "your" tells us that whoever posted this was not of the same race.

This flyer is unique, because I did not expect to find a flyer warning runaway slaves to be careful. After reading the narratives in our book, I am left to wonder whether this is a trick or a legitimate sign of warning. One, not very many slaves were educated nor had the skill of reading. Two, the ones that could read were probably smart enough to have already known this information. So, my point is how is this really helpful?

After reading Harriet Jacobs' narrative and reading the paragraph about the woman who thought America was governed by a queen I was astonished at how ignorant the slaves were. It was not their fault at all, but i was still shocked that they didnt even know who was at the head of our government. So, this fact alone leads me to question the usefulness of this flyer. How could it possibly help warn slaves when they cant even read its message? I really like that the people of the north were trying to help runaway slaves know the dangers that they faced, but i just dont agree with how effective their strategy was. The message itself basically states that the runaway slaves are in danger, and need to be weary of white officials. This message could really help a runaway slave that doesnt know much about his/her situation, but then we face the fact that they probably cant read it, which makes this flyer pointless. The reason it could be a trick, is because if a slave was seen reading this flyer closely, one could assume that he is a fugitive and question him.

Beside the question of whether this flyer was legit or not, I think that there is a lot of perspective that this image can offer. It shows the good nature of the northerners, and at that same time it makes us question its effectiveness. Blacks were highly uneducated and i doubt that very many could actually read this dire message. The importance of this message lies in the fact of its truth. Many slaves that escaped were captured/kidnapped and returned to their masters for a reward. This flyer's intent is to prevent more blacks being taken away from their newly gained freedom, and i hope that most were successful in avoiding being returned to their lives of despair

Overall, I dont know whether to believe that this flyer was a trick or a legitimate attempt at helping Slaves. I hope it is the latter, because I have not seen many writings from or actions of northern citizens that show how they want to help the Slaves. It is a very unique thing to see for that time period, and I am glad that not all americans were blind to what was right.

Inhumane Treatment

The above drawing depicts what a 19th century sugar plantation might look like. As can be seen, there are two overseers as well as multiple slave workers. If one's focus is brought to the background of the drawing, it can be seen that a slave is cowering as though the overseer is about to strike him. As mentioned many times in Fredrick Douglass' narrative, whippings dealt by overseers onto the slaves whom they were in charge was a highly common occurrence. For an overseer, this terrible action provided to uses. One was the punishment of a slave for disobedience and the other was a deterrent for slaves who might contemplate objecting to their overseer's orders. For slaves, this did little more than serve to their detriment. In many cases, as stipulated by Douglass, punishment by lashings was the result of some frivolous offense by the
slave. Additionally, many slaves were worked into such complete exhaustion that is would result in an inability to continue laboring. In such occurrences, slaves would be whipped, struck with hard objects, and kicked by their overseers in an attempt to "motivate" them to continue working. In many cases, these beatings could become so vicious that it would result in the slave's death. Recalling from Douglass' narrative. at one point he was beaten so badly that his entire head became one large blood clot. This was a beating which nearly cost Douglas his life. In Lind Brent's narrative, she also depicts a similar beating. In Brent's account, a slave was whipped so badly that his entire back turned into a blood clot which later had to be removed with the assistance of cooking lard. Tobe Sure, these beatings forced slaves to make no other decision than to submit to the will of their overseers. Until the rise of the abolitionist movement, the only other decisions that a slave would had was attempting escape, or their death. N doubt, the slavery brought about in the United States is one of the worst occurrences of discrimination, oppression and dehumanization of a race in history.

Margaret Garner Incident

The picture above is a fugitive slave from Kentucky, Margaret Garner. Garner was notorious for killing one of her own children rather than permitting her daughter to return to slavery.
Garner was twenty five and lived with her husband, Robert, and four children. Robert suggested in 1865 that they should escape, and after much concern, Margaret agreed. Seventeen slaves belonging to different masters all made arrangements to escape together. It was in January when this journey began so the Ohio River was frozen and there was smooth snow on the ground. The slaves managed to get a large sled and two horses to pull them through the night. In the morning, they had reached the River below Covington and left the horse and sled there. Margaret, Robert, their four children, and two other slaves went to a former slaves home. It took them a while to find the home and after being seen by many people, pursuers could easily trace them. (The other nine slaves were more fortunate and went up town to friends homes were they remained during night and then were put on the Underground Railroad). Once the masters of the fugitives and officers reached the home were Garner and her family were, they began to break into the house. Many shots were fired by Robert, injuring one of the officers but he was soon overpowered and dragged out of the house. At that moment, Garner realized their hopes of freedom were in vein. She grabbed a butcher knife that was on the table and cut the throat of her little daughter. She tried to take the life of the other children and kill herself, but she was also overpowered and was taken to jail. The trail lasted two weeks and the Commissioner eventually remanded the fugitives back to slavery. The debate was whether or not they were actually free slaves because Garner had been brought into a free state by her master to act as a nurse girl and so she was free at that time and had her children after that. She was also tried for murder but was not found guilty. Margaret Garner died in 1858 from typhoid fever. After she had passed, her husband Robert shouted, "Thank you, God, she has escaped at last!" This is an interesting and moving story that portrayed just how terrible slavery was if a mother wanted to kill her children rather than them being slaves.

Harriet Tubman escorting slaves through the Underground Railroad

This painting was painted in 1850. This is a depiction of Harriet Tubman escorting escaped slaves into Canada. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was made harsher in 1850 making it extremely difficult for slaves to escape to the Northern states. Slaves were in fear they would be returned to their masters by Northerners due to reward money. Slaves best option was to run away to Canada to be free at last, and not live in fear of being returned to their masters. The Underground Railroad was seen as a way out of slavery. It is estimated over 100,000 slaves escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad. I find this image to be especially intriguing because Harriet Tubman (a former slave herself) shows how involved she was hands on of helping escaped slaves through the Underground Railroad. She put her own life on the line for fellow slaves. It shows how she truly was willful and determined for all slaves to be free. She helped thousands escape the horros or slavery through the implementation of the Underground Railroad.

history.howstuffworks.com

Slavery Treatment

In the photo shown above was taken of an unknown man, yet this photo displays the intensity of the whipping that would occur to African Americans. This image is very eye opening in the sense that is shows people the kind of treatment slaves had to go through on a day-to-day basis. If you look at the image you see the man’s back is covered in welts from the shoulders down. It is this way because slave owners would lash out on the slaves for any reason for example, a slave trying to escape and being caught or a slave doing something the owner did not approve of. This image is showing up that the whipping is something that occurred on a regular basis and no one did anything to stop it. 

            The unknown man pictured, however, the way his face is positioned is as if he choose to not have his face pictured. He turned around and did not have his face attached to this picture, possibly because he understands his place in society. There is no face so it shows it could be any slave because this whipping was something that every African American was accustomed to. Also, the wombs on his back seem to be untreated which shows the lack of treatment and care that slave owners gave to their slaves. From the treatment the slaves received it is as long as they were breathing they were to be working on the fields or wherever it was the slave owner wanted them to be. 

            Frederick Douglass mentioned a situation where he witnessed someone being whipped and he described the blood dripping from the body. This image helps up paint the picture Douglass was referring to. It is a very horrible image and it really stresses the degree of torture a slave owner would put their slaves through. 

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASwhipping.htm

Abolitionist Logo

These are Logos of the Abolitionist, I'm sure after looking at these it makes you think of Sojourner Truths poem "Ain't I a Woman," just as it did me. The goal of the abolitionists that created these logos was to end the Transatlantic Slave Trade to the British Colonies. These abolitionists were mainly interested in ending just the slave trade, not necessarily all slavery.

The members of this group knew the task would be hard because so many people in their area favored slavery, so they took a different approach. They used fliers, personal accounts, recruiters, and petitions. A man name Josiah Wedgwood created these logos and urged people to boycott slave produced sugar; he created led coins and gave them to the children who agreed to boycott sugar. It is because of men like Josiah that slavery was eventually ended indefinitely, although he had little power he did what he could to make the impact that he did. Wedgwood went around the white men with power who had investments in slavery, he knew that they would not give him their votes, he used emotional evidence to inform others and was successful in the end.

Similar to Truth's poem, these logos create an immediate reaction in me. They all ask the common question, "Aren't I a person?" These slaves were people just like us yet treated so differently only because of their skin color. Hopefully efforts like this made people of that time think hard about how different these slaves really were from them.

Slave Auction

As most of you have already guessed this is a flyer for a slave auction. I apologize for it being a little small but if you want it to be bigger paste the following link into your browser. This image was taken from a the following website: http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/details.php?categorynum=6&categoryName=Slave%20Sales%20and%20Auctions:%20African%20Coast%20and%20the%20Americas&theRecord=19&recordCount=73

The image itself is a copy of a real slave auction advertisement set to take place on the 18th of May 1829,when slavery was already a common practice. It isn't an American poster but the idea is the same. This poster was taken from St Helena, a British controlled island at the time, located in the South Atlantic. The original document resides at Wilberforce House Museum in Hull England. I thought the image linked well with everything we've been talking about including the image of slaves as property. It also shook me to look at this poster and realize that the people who were being sold were almost portrayed as live stock. The first thing I noticed looking at this picture was that right under the slaves was another advertisement for books, needles, and ribbons. I think this is a very good example about exactly what a slave was considered in the eyes of the owners. It almost enforces this idea that you could pick up a slave when you were out buying rice and ribbons. This certainly brings up a very bizarre image to readers today to equate a person to an item. Another thing that supports this is the description next to each slave. Just like in todays adds on craigslist when someone sells a puppy and says well trained and good guard dog, each slave has an attribute that they are associated with. One slave is a good nurse, another a good laborer, and yet another trust worthy.

Just like in Douglass narrative, a lot of the ages of the slaves seem to be guessed. If the owners of the slaves can't even put an exact date on their slaves ages it isn't surprising that these numbers are withheld from the slaves themselves. These slaves probably have very little idea that they are " about 18 years". It also struck me that most of the slaves on this poster have no last name. This is just a bit interesting not even the slaves that were being lent out. Thus this could be a way of showing that the slaves weren't considered part of the family rather a piece of property, not worthy of a last name. Lastly I find it very ironic that the slaves to be lent come with the "the usual conditions" to be fed and clothed and for medical to be taken care of. But it appears that numerous slaves lent out were lent out to cruel masters like Mr.Covey in Douglass case that not only wouldn't pay for medical, would actually beat Douglass to the point of being near dead. It occurs to me that perhaps so long as they come back alive the real masters of the slaves didn't care.

Overall, this poster to me signifies how terribly common it was to sell people. It wasn't a big affair, it wasn't even an affair separate from daily activities. The way these slaves were bartered away, a value placed on their head. It makes reminds of the poem we read earlier and in contrast to the poem, this poster is like the white Americans very nonchalant view of the same event. The slaves were depicted as less than human, inferior and though I will never be able to empathize, I greatly sympathize.

"Description of a Slave Ship"

The above image is a famous diagram often referred to as "Description of a Slave Ship."  It was used by early abolitionists to illustrate the great horror of the Atlantic slave trade to a public that otherwise was mostly content to enjoy its slave-produced items without thinking of the consequences of its consumption.  I retrieved the image at http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/abolition/gallery/index.asp.  The linked website contains other images in the public domain worth viewing.  A story earlier this year in the Cornell Daily Sun reflects on the power of the image, both in its use in the abolitionist cause and the insights it still holds for us today.  The article is an excellent read and may be found at http://cornellsun.com/node/41076.

The image drives home for me the point made by Sidney Mintz in Sweetness and Power (1985) about the dependence of the transatlantic triangle trades on the "false commodity" of human beings.  Mintz's language about the slaves' being "themselves consumed in the creation of wealth" by the trade routes echoes early abolitionists' claims that in ingesting slave-produced sugar people were drinking human blood (43).  But the image itself of the ship seems to show human beings swallowed up, almost monstrously.  It is hard for me to look at the image and not think about people who were quite literally buried alive in such ships.  If they survived the voyage, they faced a life of hardship seemingly unimaginable for us today: a deathly life.

The shapes in the diagram are recognizably human but also anonymous, which only adds to the image's horror.  Part of being made into a commodity is being stripped of one's identity as a human being.  What I admire about slave narratives such as Frederick Douglass's and Harriet Jacobs' is their power to give a voice back to people who have been made anonymous objects.