No.1: Slavery…Through White Eyes?
Since the age of Colonial America, ranging from the American Revolution, and became an incredibly bloody debate in the American Civil War, slavery, has been said to be one of the darkest parts of American history. Abraham Lincoln once stated, “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” Little is known about what slavery was like from an African-Americans perspective due to very little documentation recorded by an actual slave. So the only sources one can turn too are the ones made by the owner of the slaves.
By examining slavery through a white plantation owner’s perspective, we see that African-Americans go from ill-treated helpers to property.
The biggest thing that one must look at is the comparison of how a slave was described by an owner during the 1750s all the way to the 1790s-1800s. Owner Benjamin Fendall is able to give us a good description of his “servant”, which African-Americans were called at the time. Fendall describes to us, “He had on, when he went away, a dark colourd Cloth Coat, lin’d with blew Shalloon, a dark coloured Pair of Cloth Breeches, trim’d with Brass Buttons, a pair of grey Worsted Stocking, a pair of dark green ditto, an old Castor Hat, two white Dowlas Shirts, and to pair of Oznabrig Trowsers: On one of his Arms is represented, our Saviour upon the Cross between two Thieves: and on the other, the Image of Adam and Eve.” (I). Look at how he is easily able to describe what his slave was wearing that day. Fendall is even able to describe religious symbols that the slave had tattooed to his body. His “Servant” had a full name too: John Headford.
Now let’s skip ahead 100 years and look at the description given by Owner John James. John tells us that his slave is, “negro woman by the name of JUDEA, five feet and a few inches high, not very black, and of the common size-It may be supposed she is lurking about those places, or gone to Norfolk, where she has some acquaintances.” (II). It seems, John may have an accurate idea of her height, but cannot really seem to describe her to his audience very well other than her not being very black. This lack of description only proves that as time went on, African Americans were no longer looked at as living human beings, but furniture or pieces of property that could easily be traded or bought. By comparing John’s description to Benjamin’s, one can get a glimpse of how slavery evolved through time and what kind of people they were looked at is, which sadly can be said as “Something” rather than a “someone”.
In conclusion, while slavery supposedly ended after the Civil War, the treatment of African Americans, sad to say, had not vastly improved. Martin Luther King Jr. was correct in saying, “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important. With great thanks to the Civil Rights movement, African Americans were beginning to get equal rights among others. It is important though that in order to understand the nightmare that slavery brought is to look at it from the one bringing the terror. In the end it is important, not just to look at one perspective but any available one that is given, because in order to understand not just slavery, but history in general, all perspectives must be viewed to understand both sides of a tragedy.
(I)-Virginia Gazette (Parks), Williamsburg, From July 13 to July 20, 1739.
(II)-Norfolk Herald (Willett and O’Connor), Norfolk, November 17, 1801.
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