Black Slaves example essay topic

"Only by experience can any one realize how deep, and dark, and foul is that pit of abominations". (Jacobs, 120). These words are spoken by Harriet Jacobs (also known as Linda Brent) and after reading about her life experience as a slave, I have come to believe that slavery was far worse for women than it ever was for men. Jacobs never states that black slave men had it easy during the slave years, in fact she tells a few stories about how some slave men were beaten. She also tells about the life experience of a slave girl, herself.

Her own experiences made me feel blessed that I was never born as a black woman during the time of slavery. I do not think that I would have been strong enough to endure such times. Let's begin with the living conditions and the rights and honor of a slave, male or female. First of all, slaves were given one pair of shoes, two pairs of pants, and maybe one shirt that was to last them for at least a year. Most of the time, their shoes were used or old shoes.

Once their shoes got holes and wore down, they wore nothing on their bare feet, even through the winter times. When it came to rights, no black slave had any rights. When I say any, I mean none. Just to name a few; they, and this was for women too, had no right to protect their families, marry who they wish, or own any property.

Black men were considered to have no honor. Having honor was something that the Elite white men believed that only they could possess Honor in their eyes of the white man was represented by a dual. If you were a black slave, you could not defend yourself or your family because according to the whites, slaves and women had no honor. If they even thought about proving themselves, which was rare, they were either whipped or killed by their Masters. Slaves were not looked at as men.

They were looked as property, nothing but a working tool. The physical torture that a slave went through was not based on how they were treated in regards to work, but on how they were punished. Most of the time they were beat with a whip made from cow hide, until they bled. They would whip the slaves until the overseer (the person who watched over the slaves) was tired.

Other times, slaves were not so lucky. For example, Frederick Douglas, an American slave, told a story that went like this. (Douglas, 34 & 35) "Mr. Gore once undertook to whip one of Colonel Lloyd's slaves, by the name of Demby. He had given Demby but few stripes, when, to get rid of the scourging, he ran and plunged himself into a creek, and stood there at the depth of his shoulders, refusing to come out. Mr. Gore told him that he would give him three calls and that if he did not come out at the third call, he would shoot him... calls were given with the same result. Mr. Gore then, ... not even giving Demby an additional call, raised his musket to his face, taking deadly aim at his standing victim, and in a instant poor Demby was no more".

Women slaves endured far worse punishment and cruelty than men ever did. Lets begin with women's duties. Their duties consisted of two parts. The first part was that of being a household servant.

They did the cleaning, cooking, cared for the white children of their Mistress and Master, and other household duties. Secondly, slave women had to not only maintain the household, at times, they were also expected to work in the fields and slave like the men on the plantations. Things like picking cotton, cleaning outside, feeding animals, and hoeing the grounds for planting crops. Slave men were never made to perform women duties. Now, to explain why I said, "Slavery was hard for all, but women experienced the Hell of it! ".

Here is an example in a reading from Sara Evans, "At the same time, young slave women, especially household servants and mulatto's, were always vulnerable to sexual abuse by whites, something from which no family could protect them". (Evans, 109) Women who were raped did not experience this violence only once, but several times from the same predator who was usually the Master. Sometimes it was more than one master, it depended on how many times she was sold and to how many different masters she was sold to. Another example that shows how women not only had to deal with rape, was how they received the same physical abuse as men did. Jacobs states, "This same master shot a woman through the head, who had run away and been brought back to him". (Jacobs 175).

Aside from having to have to deal with the physical and sexual abuse from the Master, women had to fear the physical abuse from the Mistress as well. Even though the women slaves were raped, the Mistresses always blamed the slaves for their husbands infidelities. To deliver the last blow to the women slaves, they also had to suffer the loss of bondage to their own children. Reason for this was usually due to the Mistress. When a slave that was raped and beare d a child from the rape, to avoid the truth of her husband's infidelity, the Mistress would convince her husband to sell the child. Women were also denied the right to marry because the Mistress did not want the slave to take time away from tending or nursing her white children so that they could take care of their own baby.

Hopefully I have explained enough of what I have learned about slavery to make you understand the injustice treatments that the black slaves had to endure. When I look back at what I have learned in these readings, I remind myself how lucky we are. We are able to marry who we want, keep our children, and have the right to be respected as a person. Today people whose children are abducted go through probably an unimaginable devastation, and slaves back then were expected to continue life as if nothing happened.

It is very sad. Slave men did suffer but in my opinion, women by far had it the worst.

Bibliography

Douglas, Frederick, Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. New York: Random House, Inc., 2000.
Evans, Sara M., Born for Liberty. New York: First Free Press, 1997.