Six Women’s Slave Narratives, Book Review Example

The history of African American slavery on the territory of the US is a vivid example of such discrimination that was based on certain racial biases, on the ungrounded declaration of white supremacy and took thousands of human lives. The scale of that problem can be distinctly felt in the Civil War that occurred because of split opinions on the subject of slavery and still heralded the victory of equality and democracy.

Still, the process of establishing justice was a long-term action and many decades were necessary to overcome racial prejudices that are still evident in many regions of the world. But at that moment of time the victory in the Civil War marked a new stage of the US development in the social, cultural and ethical context.

The works of African American people, former slaves who suffered much cruelty and had to fight for their freedom surely could not help touching the hearts of democratically directed US citizens and triggered off the social fight for abolition of slavery. Six Women’s Slave Narratives is a wonderful example of a true, sincere and genuine narrative about a slave’s destiny. The specificity of this particular book is that this collection of slave narratives was written by women, which was really innovative and unusual. Why was this so? Women were attributed minor, supplementary roles in the 18^th and 19^th centuries’ society – this pertained to white women as well as to black women. Thus, understanding how irrelevant and unimportant a woman’s opinion was in the white community, it becomes reasonable to suppose that a black woman’s role in the society was incomparably lower.

The first narrative, the one of Mary Prince, is the most outstanding story of all included into the selection – first of all because it was the first women slave’s narrative ever written. Mary Prince described the sufferings she had to endure and courage on her long and hard way to freedom she had. She created a substantially new image of a black woman who became a sample of high moral principles, human dignity and honest behavior. Mary Prince shows on her own example how hard it was for a black woman to preserve her dignity and the purity of her soul under those severe conditions. She shows how cruelly her master and mistress treated her – calling Mrs. I—, the woman who tortured her in inhuman, terrifying ways: “she caused me to know the exact difference between the smart of the rope, the cart-whip, and the cow-skin, when applied to my naked body by her own cruel hand” (Gates, p. 11).

From the very start of her life in the house of awfully cruel masters and after the tortures Captain I— arranged for his slave Mary recollects that she felt “trembling with terror, like a frightened hound” (Gates, p. 11). But further on she shows her resistance to the atrocities committed to her – she conducts both verbal and physical rebellion showing how strong her wish for freedom was. Mary understood how unfair her destiny was, and the freedom she got is the culmination of her autobiography.

The narrative of Old Elizabeth is also an informative, emotional story of a slave who experienced the horror of bondage – but, in contrast to Mary Prince who expressed her resistance openly, Elizabeth found it in religion. In her story Elizabeth tells how Christianity helped her accept and go through the horrors of her life in slavery, how her beliefs and prayers empowered her and gave her salvation from the emotional discomfort of slavery. Still, in contrast to Mary who clearly realized the injustice of slavery and fought against it, it took many years for Elizabeth to give herself the right to speak and become an evangelist – she speaks little about slavery not considering it an important part of her life, attributing more importance to her religious life. She escaped from the house of her masters and traveled much, speaking against slavery, which raised much suspicion and caused her great problems. But at the same time Elizabeth showed how she worshipped freedom and how she used it, going to Canada and other places, seeing other slaves and conducting her anti-slave activities and being guided by the word of God (Gates, p. 69-70).

The third narrative was written by Mattie J. Jackson – it includes some other elements of slave autobiography, thus showing the evolution of the genre. Jackson made a greater emphasis on her mother’s life than on her own. This is clear because she writes her work after the abolition, in 1866. She pays tribute to the effort made by Lincoln for the abolition and tells her childhood story worshipping her mother’s attempts to preserve the family in the time of slavery (Gates). She also recollects the reunion that was also the achievement of her mother – after the war their whole family gathered in Massachusetts. It is fully possible to say that the narrative of Jackson is a transition between the first-person narratives and remembrances pertaining to parents or relatives. Still, the feminine figure, here it is Mattie’s mother, still has a great impact on the narrative.

Lucy Delaney’s story also has much in common with Jackson’s one, as she discusses the abolition as a starting point of her life as well as the achievements in life she had since that moment of time, at the beginning of the 20^th century. She worships her mother who did much for her savior and describes her as having a “true, steadfast heart and noble soul”, hence the idealized image of a black woman, and, what is more, a mother, is created through such works (Gates).

Burton’s and Drumgoold’s narratives are the most modern ones and they do not carry as much historical precision and importance as the first four narratives do. Both women speak about their mothers’ slavery, their heroic attempts to save their families and remain honest, decent women (Gates). They did not have any experience in slavery on their own and are guided only by their mothers’ stories, so they idealize mothers and do not cover the events objectively. However, these works are highly important when studying the life of black people after abolition: it was really hard for the majority of former slaves to find work and sources to provide for their living. So both Kate Drumgoold and Annie Burton speak about their own experiences as children of slaves in the 20^th century.

Reflection

The world literature has many examples of ethnic minorities expressing their feelings and emotions in their own stories of sufferings and suppression they have witnessed in different periods of history. It is true to admit that within the period of human existence there was a set of examples of slavery, genocide and discrimination that were shameful and unacceptable, thus being fought and objected in many possible ways. But at the same time, even taking into consideration the atrocities some representatives of humankind committed and directed at others for some religious, racial or other motives, and their cruelty that cannot be justified by any historical situation or background reasons, it is still essential to analyze all preconditions, experiences and accounts the witnesses thereof can provide to enhance our understanding. Everything possible should be done to avoid the repetition of such mistakes in future, as any impairment of human rights is unconstitutional and contradicts the inherent freedom of a human being. The collection of stories written by six women-slaves, is a genuine example of courage that black women showed in the period of slavery in the way they protected their dignity, preserved their families and endured sufferings for the good future they saw.

It is true to admit that even I, as a representative of the African American community in the USA, did not know much about the feminine fate under slavery. Surely there is hardly any citizen of the US, no matter what color of skin he or she has, who does not know about the cruelty and atrocities committed in the period of slavery in America. But everyone still considered the problem on a larger scale and did not think about women as the most vulnerable group of slaves. Children would hardly be touched and tortured because there was no use of them being weak and not formed completely, though the history of US has even such shameful experiences. But women were silent in the context of the 18^th and 19^th centuries – both in the black and white community. This inequality was not determined by race but by gender, which is one more serious problem that is faced and effectively eliminated at the present period of time.

Thus, it is clear now why the narratives of black women who told about their slavery experience became such a revolution in the US slave literature – nobody used to be obsessed by the female issues and did not turn any attention to that subject separately from the whole horror of slavery. This book opened up new horizons of studying slavery, new implications of the problem that have to be effectively faced, in other way the humanity will return to its path of discrimination, cruelty and abuse.

Works Cited

Gates, Henry Louis, ed. Six Women’s Slave Narratives. Oxford University Press US, 1988.