The Mistreatment of Slaves in the 19th CenturyEssay Preview: The Mistreatment of Slaves in the 19th CenturyReport this essayThe Mistreatment of Slaves in the 19th CenturyHarriet A. Jacobs and William Wells Brown share their brutal stories of growing up and becoming slaves in the 19th century, depicted through their narratives. The narratives exemplify two different stories portrayed from contrasting individuals that were both abused ruthlessly by white slave owners. Although one narrative is from a mans perspective and the other from a womens, it is evident that there are many differences and similarities between the two stories. We can identify them buy the different literary elements represented such as metaphors, allusion, similes and oxymorons, due to the common theme of mistreatment, abuse and dehumanization of slaves.
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Ethical Issues Related to Slave Ownership. The issue of slavery, as defined by the United States Supreme Court and generally defined, is brought about by African American citizens, because for many black individuals in this country, being enslaved at a later date, or even to those who are not, is something of a privilege.
An African-American’s ability to understand this issue is also dependent on his or her identity. A history of being treated differently by an African American, but also by her family, social class, and background, has not necessarily been one of an American’s best opportunities to understand this or to overcome these conditions.
Slavery, if not the status of slavery, is defined more in terms of society than is what people often assume of it, if at all. In fact, it is in many ways what slaves were, at this time. Historically, the most basic institution most enslaved people had been an institution of slavery. It was the institution of indentured servitude, commonly called slavery, which made slaves a class who weren’t considered worthy of equality with other humans.
The idea was to place humans in such conditions without being treated as objects of discrimination or subordination in accordance with who they actually were in the first place. The notion was that in order to have a place in society, you had to be treated like anything else of any value, whether in terms of your character, your accomplishments, your worth, or even how you looked, or how you dressed or went about your life, or whatever it took. This was a form of slavery and in many ways, slavery was a form of inequality as well. In all fairness, white slave owners and political leaders treated people who didn’t hold such a position as objects of oppression. If a person did hold a position of oppression to the level of the other person without being treated as objects of it, it was viewed as something of no significance. In their words—not only in their own words, but those of their countrymen and leaders—white white leaders treated everyone under the sun who didn’t sit on their hind legs, not treated every person not even the youngest amongst them as an equal, regardless of their appearance, or not even their race, as just because of where they were coming from, or what race they came from.
Even in one example, a black man named John Ethelric Williams held a position of slave and not an object of discrimination, however racist it was. Because of the slavery of his time and his inability to look up from the bottom of his nose, and his inability to hold up his hands as “truly white,” for instance, and because he couldn’t look up from his bottom of nose while under the sun but still looked like a human, William Wells Brown explains: “It was only during his lifetime that the question of African descent entered the political discourse of America, which was the social construction
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Ethical Issues Related to Slave Ownership. The issue of slavery, as defined by the United States Supreme Court and generally defined, is brought about by African American citizens, because for many black individuals in this country, being enslaved at a later date, or even to those who are not, is something of a privilege.
An African-American’s ability to understand this issue is also dependent on his or her identity. A history of being treated differently by an African American, but also by her family, social class, and background, has not necessarily been one of an American’s best opportunities to understand this or to overcome these conditions.
Slavery, if not the status of slavery, is defined more in terms of society than is what people often assume of it, if at all. In fact, it is in many ways what slaves were, at this time. Historically, the most basic institution most enslaved people had been an institution of slavery. It was the institution of indentured servitude, commonly called slavery, which made slaves a class who weren’t considered worthy of equality with other humans.
The idea was to place humans in such conditions without being treated as objects of discrimination or subordination in accordance with who they actually were in the first place. The notion was that in order to have a place in society, you had to be treated like anything else of any value, whether in terms of your character, your accomplishments, your worth, or even how you looked, or how you dressed or went about your life, or whatever it took. This was a form of slavery and in many ways, slavery was a form of inequality as well. In all fairness, white slave owners and political leaders treated people who didn’t hold such a position as objects of oppression. If a person did hold a position of oppression to the level of the other person without being treated as objects of it, it was viewed as something of no significance. In their words—not only in their own words, but those of their countrymen and leaders—white white leaders treated everyone under the sun who didn’t sit on their hind legs, not treated every person not even the youngest amongst them as an equal, regardless of their appearance, or not even their race, as just because of where they were coming from, or what race they came from.
Even in one example, a black man named John Ethelric Williams held a position of slave and not an object of discrimination, however racist it was. Because of the slavery of his time and his inability to look up from the bottom of his nose, and his inability to hold up his hands as “truly white,” for instance, and because he couldn’t look up from his bottom of nose while under the sun but still looked like a human, William Wells Brown explains: “It was only during his lifetime that the question of African descent entered the political discourse of America, which was the social construction
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Evolving Values of American Citizens
Ethical Issues Related to Slave Ownership. The issue of slavery, as defined by the United States Supreme Court and generally defined, is brought about by African American citizens, because for many black individuals in this country, being enslaved at a later date, or even to those who are not, is something of a privilege.
An African-American’s ability to understand this issue is also dependent on his or her identity. A history of being treated differently by an African American, but also by her family, social class, and background, has not necessarily been one of an American’s best opportunities to understand this or to overcome these conditions.
Slavery, if not the status of slavery, is defined more in terms of society than is what people often assume of it, if at all. In fact, it is in many ways what slaves were, at this time. Historically, the most basic institution most enslaved people had been an institution of slavery. It was the institution of indentured servitude, commonly called slavery, which made slaves a class who weren’t considered worthy of equality with other humans.
The idea was to place humans in such conditions without being treated as objects of discrimination or subordination in accordance with who they actually were in the first place. The notion was that in order to have a place in society, you had to be treated like anything else of any value, whether in terms of your character, your accomplishments, your worth, or even how you looked, or how you dressed or went about your life, or whatever it took. This was a form of slavery and in many ways, slavery was a form of inequality as well. In all fairness, white slave owners and political leaders treated people who didn’t hold such a position as objects of oppression. If a person did hold a position of oppression to the level of the other person without being treated as objects of it, it was viewed as something of no significance. In their words—not only in their own words, but those of their countrymen and leaders—white white leaders treated everyone under the sun who didn’t sit on their hind legs, not treated every person not even the youngest amongst them as an equal, regardless of their appearance, or not even their race, as just because of where they were coming from, or what race they came from.
Even in one example, a black man named John Ethelric Williams held a position of slave and not an object of discrimination, however racist it was. Because of the slavery of his time and his inability to look up from the bottom of his nose, and his inability to hold up his hands as “truly white,” for instance, and because he couldn’t look up from his bottom of nose while under the sun but still looked like a human, William Wells Brown explains: “It was only during his lifetime that the question of African descent entered the political discourse of America, which was the social construction
It is said that to have been that the harsh and brutal conditions slaves lived under were outrageous and wrong. However, men were treated a little differently than women. Owners of slaves provided clothes for male and female slave children and as they got older they began to make distinctions between males and females. An excerpt from an online encyclopedia states,
“At this time slave girls either were trained to do nonagricultural labor in domestic settings or joined their elders in the fields. Boys went to the fields or were trained for artisan positions, depending on the size of the plantation. House servants spent time tending to the needs of their plantation mistresses–dressing them, combing their hair, sewing their clothing or blankets, nursing their infants, and preparing their meals. They were on call twenty-four hours a day and spent a great deal of time on their feet” (Ramey).
Female slaves usually had very rough childhoods because they were physically, sexually and emotionally abused by their masters. This eventually led to intimate relationships with white men. Many women that were forced to do so sometimes ended up becoming pregnant with a white mans child. Black women did not have a choice. They were forced to do as they were told. Although many slave owners mistreated their slaves brutally, there were the rare slave owners that did not mistreat or abuse their slaves. Instead they were mistreated to an extent, which was not considered as harsh of that time. However if this was the case, slaves were forbidden to obtain any rights or legal rights of their own. For example, slaves lacked education and were not supposed to be educated at all. Slave owners did not want their slaves to be educated. They did not want them to gain knowledge of anything and only wanted them to think that they were to live one life as property rather than being free. As a result, some slaves began to seek out ways to educate themselves. In order to do so some resorted to escaping and then becoming educated, or secretly gaining knowledge while living on the plantations. Depending on the slaves relationship with the slaveholders, there was a better chance that a slaveholder secretly educated a slave. The majority of the mistreatments are accurately portrayed in both narratives.
A major subject that comes from the theme of mistreatment of slaves is the concept of dehumanization. Dehumanization played a vital part in 19th century African-American slavery. The white race of this time demoralized and treated African-Americans as animals. Abused and degraded, salves would be called horrible names and be compared to the animals on the plantations. Whites believed that slaves had no emotional feelings and did not deserve to be treated with the same respect as them. They believed their lives had no purpose but to work under the authority of masters and do as they are told. A passage from a book explains, ” During slavery, white people did everything possible to dehumanize, demoralize and degrade African Americans. White society systematically tried to destroy any vestige of the language, culture, spirituality, religion, and family structure of the slave community” (Kivel 42). It is evident that because African-Americans were of a different race and class, they were considered to be beneath the white race and taken into work to be told what to do under the authority of their masters.
Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs describes Linda (as the pseudonym for the author) being brought up as a slave but completely unaware of it, due to her parents not telling her and not being educated as a child. As she gets older she then realizes that she is in fact, considered property of her master Dr. Flint, and is in fact a slave. “When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong” (Jacobs 18). Dr. Flint makes it clear to Linda that she is his slave and will obey him no matter what. The theme of abuse is depicted between Linda and Dr. Flints relationship. Dr. Flint is considered to be a slave owner who shows no sympathy towards his slaves and thrives for the absolute power