narratives by Charlie bell and rose, Holman
I read the narratives by Charlie bell and rose, Holman. Charlie bell was a slave who was owned together with his family in a plantation in Orleans. Arguably, h9e has a fuzzy memory about the birth of his parents’. However, he belonged to Mr. Mo.
Additionally, Charlie was brought up in the plantations, where he worked as a slave. As a slave, he recounts what he calls the Yankees coming to their estate but says they did not bother them. The reason, he says, is that they were under an eastern star sister who protected them.
On the other hand, rose Holman is an 83-year-old woman who remembers working like a slave from a tender age. Because of her physical ability and features, her work was fetching water and picking wood chips. She says the slave era was characterized by whipping from the slavers and selling of slaves during wartime. However, after they were freed, it seems that they felt even more inadequate, and the slavers scattered the few belongings they had.
Significantly, it is shocking to learn that at that time, the people of color were owned by their masters. This fact means that they had no right to decide their fate at all. Even those that were married and with children got separated. On the other hand, it’s shocking that the traders did not spare even children. Astonishingly, as fountain Hughes says, the slaves would receive severe punishment for trying to run away. If one was caught, they were jailed in special slave jails and whipped. Additionally, Hughes says that having a pass or a master’s note was necessary to walk from one master’s place to another. This kind of lack of freedom is shocking.
Arguably, it is surprising that some of the slaves have praise for their masters and even admiration of slavery. Necessarily, the reason might be that these slaves knew no other life because they were born slaves. They had no time before slavery to compare to, and hence, they feel they were poorer after the end of slavery. That is the effect of routine and structured social life. On the other hand, due to the bad experience, they find that some masters were good at them since, despite owning, they did not punish them. Fountain Hughes says that there were good masters who did not beat them up. He says that they only sold those slaves who were terrible and troublesome. This fact means that being sold depended on a slave’s behavior. This fact shows that the effect of having no option but to live an ordered life is immense. Therefore, the reason for their praise of slavery is the normalization of the mistreatment of the slaves to the point of submission.
Significantly, Frederick Douglass, an American ex-slave, and abolitionist contributed substantially to social justice issues. According to him, even the indictment of slavery by the former masters was not enough. As a result of the many years of slavery, most black people did get an education, which became the new front after slave trade abolition. Arguably, Frederick said the best way to ensure equality was through public education and equal civil rights. Hence, the agitation for equality and social justice was not only based on equal rights but acquiring knowledge. Additionally, he said that for there to be freedom, black people must struggle to unchain themselves.