View source for Week 10 Questions/Comments-327 09

== Sarah Haynesworth Gayle, “An Alabama Diary,” 1828, 1833 ==



== Angelina Grimké Weld, 1839, “The Cruel Mistress” ==
I think it's interesting Angelina Grimke Weld, when referring to the abuse of the Cruel Mistress towards her house servants, points out that this woman had no shame in the abuse towards them.  Weld goes on and on about these horrible atrocities of the abuse and stated throughout this piece that this mistress was a respectable Christian women.  This made Weld as an abolitionist stand out as only a few.  The abuse of slaves was accepted and probably expected in order to remain in control of them in the eyes of a slave owner.  This slave holder without a doubt probably made a spectacle to make sure the slaves remained obedient.  This female mistress seems extremely temperamental.  The pious and vulgar language used against her slaves was likely her attempt to make sure they knew she was above them in every manor -race, class, and possibly better in Gods eyes as well.  I am curious to know how they thought God looked at a black person, did they think God perceived them as they did? -Marsha Himes

== Louisa S. Cheeves McCord, “Review of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” 1853 ==
Personally, I liked McCords sarcasm, "Bravo! Mrs.Stowe! Your deductions are bold things, and override sense and reason with wonderful facility." She really attacked Stowe pretty hard with this review, though. And, I find it slightly suprising that she would be so pro-slavery, being that she grew up in the North. It seems to me that she should have been a little sympathetic towards slaves. But, perhaps she had slaves in the North too, and it wasn't much different to her than the South. I am curious to know if that may have been the case or not. -Kristina.S.

I also very much liked this piece. Louisa’s writing was smart, witty and fantastically snarky!  I thought this was a great form of rebuttal, undermining the integrity of the argument presented as well as the author by sarcastically saying that Stowe was only perpetuating common ideas and lies about slavery.  By over exaggerating several ideas in the book, such as: “The poor negro, astounded by the torrent of progress, which, bursting over the world, now hangs menacingly (for to the wild man is not civilization always menacing?) above him, would vainly follow with the stream, and is swept away in the current” Louisa discourages readers of Stowe to believe Stowes writing which Louisa shows to be fantastical and unreliable. -- Elyse Lawrence

== Mary Boykin Chestnut’s diary, 1861 ==
Mary Chesnut, a woman of very high social standing, smoked opium? “It enables me to retain every particle of mind or sense or brains I ever have, & so quiets my nerves that I can calmly reason & take rational views of things otherwise maddening.” (pg 221) She was very clear why she used the drug, but these statements made me curious about the popularity of opium. Did her friends use it too? Was it expensive or hard to obtain? Was there any social stigma against it?  –Allison Luthern

I was also curious about Mary’s use of Opium.  I know opium was used as medicine before morphine was popular, however I wonder as to how it was used.  In her diary, Mary said: “I quickly took opium…”, does this mean it was still in its seed form or was it processed into a liquid or pill? Or was smoking an appropriate behavior for women?  I was also very much intrigued by Mary’s very confusing ideas about slavery.  In one section she writes that “ours is a monstrous system & wrong & iniquity” and in yet another that” my countrywomen are as pure as angels- tho surrounded by another race who are- the social evil!”  She appears to think slavery is wrong, however at the same time she retains a very racist attitude that seems to oppose her earlier statement.  Maybe she ought to lay off the opium before she begins to ponder theoretical issues... -- Elyse Lawrence

== Rose Williams’s Story in the Federal Writers’ Project Interviews, 1941. ==
The introduction to this narrative stated that it was in a slave woman’s best interest to have children because it decreased her likelihood of being sold. The benefits are not so clear in Rose Williams’s case because her owner did not let her choose her partner. I think this provides a good example to show that slavery could be a quid pro quo relationship. Rose’s owner did something nice for her, bought her along with her parents, and then used that as a bargaining tool to get what he wanted out of her. Of course the slaveholder always had the upper hand, but I think it is important to note that some bargaining occurred. As I was reading for another class, I came across a slave woman who remarked about her master: “I own him and he owns me.” The master-slave relationship was anything but simple.  –Allison Luthern


I agree with Allison's statements and the second paragraph in this piece sums up slave women perfectly stating, "child-bearing increased her value as a slave..." (226). Slave women were less likely to be separated from their children because slave-owners wanted to keep the mother around for reprodution and to train her children to be the ideal slave for the master. But, in the case of Rose Williams, did she really profit from being sold alongside her parents? The slave-owners and slave relationship appeared to be a give and take, even though the owner normally won slaves learned from masters mistakes. -Megan W.

== Lucinda, a free woman, requests reenslavement, 1813 ==
Reading this document made me sad. I can only imagine the turmoil going through Lucinda, deciding to give up her freedom so that she could be with her husband. She must have loved him very much. But I wonder, Perhaps Lucinda did not only stay because of her husband. I mean, that was a big part of it, but she may also have been scared to leave the area that she lived in for so long. Her husband may have been the major factor, but maybe she just really did not want to go to Tennessee. -Kristina.S.

== Connecticut woman asks other free black women to sign anti-slavery petitions, 1839 ==


== Mary Still, black abolitionist, along with other Philadelphia free women, forms “Female Publication Society” to promote the moral uplift of free and slave African Americans, 1861 ==


== Mrs. Virginia Hayes Shepherd’s memories, 1937 ==
I found Mrs. Hayes recollection of slavery to be on the mark and amusing. The story of her youth is important to understanding what a former slave family had to go through after the Civil War, but the short paragraphs on Diana stood out the most to me. Diana appeared to be cunning and knew how to outwit the white man, when slaves were thought to be "child-like" Diana outsmarted her master. She knew she could not run away from slavery, but she knew how to manipulate it to her advantage and this proves any slave-owners theory on slaves as false in my eyes. -Megan W.

== Thelma Jennings, “Sexual Exploitation of African American Slave Women,” 1990 ==
I agree with Thelma Jennings that African American slave women were sexually exploited.  Reading the stories they told of the atrocities imposed by white slave owners was horrifying and at sometimes difficult to read.  Jennings stated that the ideology of race played a key role and explained the view white slave owners.  Though some slaves were treated better than others, I think it’s important to remember that when slave owners bought a slave they became your property and were looked at as capital.  It was the idea of investing in your capital to produce more then they could make more money.   African American slaves - particularly women which Jenning’s referred to, were considered as an item not as a person.  Though it is twisted to think people are property, they did then, and it allowed white slave owners to take advantage of their slaves in any and every way they could.  -Marsha