Stories of Being Slaves: American Slave Narratives

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The stories of being slaves
Conclusion
Reference

Introduction

American slaves were freed and from 1936 to 1938, over 2,300 former slaves from across the American South were interviewed by writers and journalists under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration (Fort, a, 1998). The interviews contain stories of people about their childhood, being slaves, masters, and their attitude, their life after the Civil War. It is worth mentioning that people sought freedom and they had different reasons for this.

The stories of being slaves

Maria Jackson was born in slavery, but she did not tell anything bad about being a slave except the fact that their family was separated. The only thing that was important for this woman is her family; after the war, they met again and lived together. Another person is Charity Anderson who recalls that her master treated all his slaves well, but she also remembered seeing slaves torn up by dogs and whipped unmercifully (Fort, b, 1998). Charity Anderson wanted freedom for her children; she expected they would go to school and her husband would obtain a good job. The next person whose story should be described is Mary Reynolds who witnessed brutal beatings, and tells of working in weather so cold that her hands bled (Fort, b, 1998). Mary could only dream of what freedom would be like. Walter Calloway is the last person presenting the narratives of former slaves; he tells about worshipping in a brush arbor, the outbreak of the Civil War, and federal troops ransacking the plantation at wars end (Fort, b, 1998).

These four people present their stories of being slaves. Their narratives seem to be rather accurate, though the fact of fighting for freedom or seeking freedom, respect, land, and the rights of citizenship. The value of these narratives consists in telling the modern readers about the hardships of being slaves and about some people who treated their slaves well despite thoughts that the inhabitants of the South were cruel to their slaves.

Conclusion

Different people wanted different future for them and their children; moreover, people tried to gain some respect, land, and enjoy equal rights of citizenship with white representatives of the same nation. A multicultural society is a society that consists of people presenting different ethnic groups or communities; an American society consists of ethnic groups which are constantly discriminated against. In this respect we can assume that the nation has missed the opportunity to create a multicultural society; the state did not support subordinate groups and did not put an end to acts of discrimination towards representatives of ethnic minorities. However, the events of Reconstruction have cast a long shadow over race relations for future generations. I agree with this statement as such things as discrimination are faced by black people even nowadays. Segregation, secession, extermination are aspects of everyday life for representatives of subordinate groups; these things could have been brought to a stop in the years of reconstruction when the nation was renewing its economic and social life. That period could give freedom to African Americans and guarantee equal rights with other citizens.

Reference

Davidson, J. W. (2004). Nation of Nations; a Narrative History of the American Republic (Volume II: Since 1865, Chapters 17-32). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Fort, B. (1998). American Slave Narratives. Web.

Fort, B. (1998). Index of Narratives. Web.

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Stories of Being Slaves: American Slave Narratives

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