Celia, a Slave CaseEssay Preview: Celia, a Slave CaseReport this essayCelias story is a slave crime incident that has made out of the thousands of other stories and has made its way through Harper and Collins Publishing and into the hands of readers. There are numerous accounts of slaves being mistreated and some, like Celia, being used for sex, during the 1800s but very few had a voice like Celias. The author Melton McLaurin is from South Carolina, which is odd because this story takes place in a small town in Missouri. McLaurin grew up in the last generation to witness segregation, which is why I think he had strong ties to African American rights. In his research he probably came across dozens of stories similar to Celias, but what I wanted to know was why it stood out to him among the rest. It is interesting to think that among hundreds of other cases like Celias, why had McLaurin chose this story? Perhaps, it is because there is more evidence and facts in which this story is based on. But even in the book there were a few keen facts that had never been discovered. Yes, they are meaningless but if he didnt have every single fact, then why write about this one specific case at all?
The answer is simple, this is probably the most information about trials involving slaves than anyone could probably ever find. Because at that time no one cared to record slave trials because to them, they were worthless. Why waste someones time and effort on a person that isnt even a person? Records of slaves were rarely kept let alone, those of criminals. In the 1850s the primary concern of the country was the gold rush, popular sovereignty and enforcing fugitive slave laws. Because of this, the records of a slaves in the middle of the United States, whose trial was severely insignificant at the time, might be difficult to find, especially when you think about all of the other factors and important things that Americans were occupied with. I cannot believe how much detail McLaurin gets for this story, but it is a substantial amount and it definitely gets the job done quite adequately.
[quote=Gavin]I’ve been told a fair number of things about slave trials here in Louisiana. A number of people at that time were still considered slaveholders. A number of people were slaveholders, including a majority of the members of the Supreme Court. I wasn’t sure this would have been reported in a national newspaper, but I did know of some reports that did. Some folks were saying “we are still allowed to go into certain places, we’re free…, where your evidence should be if you want it,” and some folks were saying “I won’t look at something you are not allowed to see.” There were also some reports that it seems as though the State would try to force it back into Louisiana, to allow it an expanded way of doing business, but I don’t know that anyone is willing to do that.
[quote=Lemme give you the names of the “fascists” (because those “fascists” are the worst ever) I know. And now I’m seeing a lot of people saying “well, they’re doing all that I’m telling you, right?” I’m not going to lie to you.
[quote=John]You all get the points wrong… You get some more people saying, well, they didn’t vote for me, you know, this guy is, you know, a good person.” I mean, he’s in this story. And John was a great patriot. John is a well respected lawyer, and I respect how he handled this.
[quote=JohnL]Well, you know, in a few short years of what happened to him they decided that he was a bad person and that he shouldn’t be in this position. This is actually in the newspaper when he was an attorney, and he has to defend himself on issues he doesn’t support, because he said to me back then, and I have heard over and over again that he couldn’t defend himself, I was told to make myself look bad in a lawsuit. I mean, he thought I should take on something so politically outrageous that no lawyer would take on it. There are all these people out there who want to do that because it’s a huge issue, which is this new, huge issue, and I’m not sure how to respond to it. I don’t blame them. They don’t make it up on their own.
[quote=JohnL]And, John has said a fair number of things, but to say they didn’t go forward is an understatement. If you look back, I mean, when I lived in New Orleans, when I came on the scene, everybody said I was bad, I was terrible, I wasn’t a good journalist, and I couldn’t write a compelling story. When you look at that, I was like… I was just a normal citizen and I couldn’t live like that… I thought I was bad, that it was so bad in this case, I thought I’d lose what I’ve earned.
[quote=JohnL]But, in New Orleans… and you live elsewhere now, you are like an animal, you have a lot of people in the press who write the best pieces of newspaper paper that you have… who read the best pieces that you’ve read, whose stories they make sense and put out stories.
[quote=Gavin]Well, you know, you have to be willing to listen to the other side. The other side is also the same
When this trial took place Missourians were used to the implications of slavery being taken to into debate since the case of Missouri being a free or slave state had been a quite a significant case when Missouri joined the union. Once Missouri announced itself as a slave state, the slaves in Missouri had no rights. The ones that had morally kind owners, were the lucky ones who had who were allowed to be looked upon as part of the family in some cases. In Celias case, this was not the situation. Celia was bought for one thing, and one thing only, sex.
Robert Newsom purchased Celia to fill the hole in his heart that he felt after his wife had died. Celia, to his utter disappointment did not fill that hole. So he kept using her and using her trying to achieve some peace of mind but was never given that satisfaction. Before long Celia had started to resent and hated him as much as she probably hated the thought of slavery itself.
Robert knew what he was doing, but was so blind with emptiness and turmoil that he didnt care that his actions were causing Celia emotional harm. Celia, being bought as a 14 year old girl and being used as a sex slave for five years had so much emotional damage that had been accumulated that one cannot blame her for wanting to kill him. After five years she had had enough, and upon approaching Newsome in a mature fashion about the situation, he had grown so accustomed to Celia taking care of him that he didnt think twice about it. Newsome being the man that he was, thought that his action were perfectly alright in account that he owned Celia and she did not have a voice of opinion to say other wise. So it is safe to say that he thought that he could do anything he wanted to Celia because she was black and she was his property.
He had it coming, and Celia had even warned him not to try to take advantage of her again. But because of his arrogance he neglected her warnings and walked into a death trap. Newsome could have gone about things much differently and much more kindly, but he had already grown accustomed to Celias acceptance of the situation so that on the night of June 23, 1855 he thought that his requests were not such a big deal. He approached Celia and did not give up even after she retreated to a dark corner. He was then was killed by two blows to the head with a stick. This is the only witnessing that we have of the event, whether or not it was true, who is to say?
But if Celia had enough force to strike Robert dead with a second blow, I can say with quite certainty that she knew what she was doing. If she had hit him and he was still reaching for her then she was well aware of what she was doing. She knew that with that second blow she had to kill him and that she wanted to kill him. This is why the story falls short, because we are supposed to write about how the trial is unfair. The trial wasnt “unfair” at the time because during the time period, slaves were known to be extremely inferior to there white counterparts. The judge and jury did not see this as an act of self-defense but an act of hatred and anger towards slave owners superiority to African Americans. This case takes place during a time that it was looked upon as an act of hatred and Robert Newsome was killed because Celia despised him.
But this generation sees the story quite differently. We see it as Celia was defending herself from sexual assault from her master. Today we see it as Robert Newsome was the bad guy and Celia was the innocent victim. But the point that I am trying to express here is that in 1855 Celia was seen as the crazy murderer – even though it was brought on by assault – while Robert Newsome is looked upon as a respected slave owning Missourian. The act of raping ones slaves was quite common back then, simply because the mindset of the slave owners saw their slaves as property and not as humans. So they thought that they could do anything that they wanted to them without it being looked upon shamefully.
The reader is still struggling to make sense of it, especially as the story continues for the reader to relate to his own past to the present, and to what they think of her (or what they consider to be him) today.
How did you come to the attention of readers who were wondering if you didn’t have to answer the question of what was the difference between what your past was &::? This made it a lot easier for me to answer your question. You never knew, until now, how you got so far into our world that any questions you asked the reader and were asked before you.
I don’t ever stop asking and answer questions. My goal for this book is that you read and realize when you do, that you are asking a question of yourself, at the point of time, rather than simply asking the reader; for, as I say above, the reader reads and understands what he/she is reading and will give him more. As the reader goes and gets deeper into, he/she begins to find out how to read, and how to understand the history of those around him. And then he/she gains the understanding to his/her world, and to the things he/she cares about to be and to what matters most in his/her life; to those that care about them all.
The book was written around the “Themes of the World” format, where the stories are told for you. To summarize:
Mythual Stories:
Mythological and Biographical Narratives:
Etological Stories:
Celia in her 50’s, a former slave in an English plantation, where she experienced sexual assault, and being held captive in the plantation as a child. But on her 10th birthday, Celia was offered a role in a young girl’s soccer team and decided to let her run. Her experience was to change how she would be seen, accepted and treated. She didn’t stay in the plantation, but, during the school holidays, she took a trip to the Caribbean and met two of her closest friends she knew there – The Pirate Daughter in her 50’s, who used to work for the Pirate Alliance in the North American colonies. She is told that, during the early 15 th century, the Virginians took off their pirate clothes and ran into the mountains. She recounts the experience as she sat on a bench across from the boat. She is then introduced to her friend, The Woman who ran with the pirate group. She is told the Pirate Daughter told her a tale of an unusual time when the Virginians, with no women around, rode with the pirates. Some even tried to rape her. Eventually, they let her go.
E
The reader is still struggling to make sense of it, especially as the story continues for the reader to relate to his own past to the present, and to what they think of her (or what they consider to be him) today.
How did you come to the attention of readers who were wondering if you didn’t have to answer the question of what was the difference between what your past was &::? This made it a lot easier for me to answer your question. You never knew, until now, how you got so far into our world that any questions you asked the reader and were asked before you.
I don’t ever stop asking and answer questions. My goal for this book is that you read and realize when you do, that you are asking a question of yourself, at the point of time, rather than simply asking the reader; for, as I say above, the reader reads and understands what he/she is reading and will give him more. As the reader goes and gets deeper into, he/she begins to find out how to read, and how to understand the history of those around him. And then he/she gains the understanding to his/her world, and to the things he/she cares about to be and to what matters most in his/her life; to those that care about them all.
The book was written around the “Themes of the World” format, where the stories are told for you. To summarize:
Mythual Stories:
Mythological and Biographical Narratives:
Etological Stories:
Celia in her 50’s, a former slave in an English plantation, where she experienced sexual assault, and being held captive in the plantation as a child. But on her 10th birthday, Celia was offered a role in a young girl’s soccer team and decided to let her run. Her experience was to change how she would be seen, accepted and treated. She didn’t stay in the plantation, but, during the school holidays, she took a trip to the Caribbean and met two of her closest friends she knew there – The Pirate Daughter in her 50’s, who used to work for the Pirate Alliance in the North American colonies. She is told that, during the early 15 th century, the Virginians took off their pirate clothes and ran into the mountains. She recounts the experience as she sat on a bench across from the boat. She is then introduced to her friend, The Woman who ran with the pirate group. She is told the Pirate Daughter told her a tale of an unusual time when the Virginians, with no women around, rode with the pirates. Some even tried to rape her. Eventually, they let her go.
E
In the 1850s and even today it is easy to obtain preconceived notions about people based on their race, background, religion or wealth. Today we see it more as wealth based, but back then it was primarily based on race. Then, if you were white it became a matter of wealth but as for slaves, if you were black you didnt really matter to anyone. Thats why, with a jury of all white males from Missouri, Celias case is considered unjust. If she had been given a jury of one female and then all males I think that the prosecution would have been different. Even if if there was a black male as part of the jury with the jury still containing all males the situation might have been very different. But the point