History And Ancestry Related To A Slavery Biography

By Roger Wagner


When writing about any historic period, it can often be difficult. Nothing could be more true than when writing a slavery biography. For, while there have been a number of letters found which were written by slaves, only a few actual biographical stories exist. As a result, there are only a few of these stories which are now referenced when teaching or studying the time period.

The biography was published in 1875 and is often used by professors and scholars when studying or teaching on the topic. In the book, the Reverend explains the time and experiences as a young boy in detail. In fact, the book has often been referred to as being as close to the text of a witness that one could get in what is only a few documented experiences provided directly by anyone from the period.

Born in Atala County, Mississippi, Charles relates a number of experiences which occurred after his owner Mr. Kirkwood passed away when the boy was only 9 years old. As an owner of multiple plantations, it was feared by other plantation owners that the slaves would escape or rebel. As such, the boy reports that the slaves were separated from families and sold on the open market.

The mother of the author died at the early age of 37. After which, an uncle hid from the slave owners and blood hounds because of fear of being separated from a loving wife. At which time, Charles was hired out to a number of different plantations as a both a young boy and an adult. Eventually, the uncle surrounded after learning that one owner would allow the couple to work on the same plantation.

In order to gain insight into the life of Ben and Charles, there are two films which have purported to show slavery in a true light. These are the mini-series known as Roots by Alex Hailey, and the film Django Unchained. In both cases, there is a great deal of graphic violence as was the case during the time. As such, the films can often be difficult, especially for viewers under the age of 12, though do show some of the most important history related to slavery.

When it comes to this period in history, it is a true and very sad tale of torture, violence, rape, ownership and abuse on a regular basis. In almost all cases, slaves were considered personal property such as that of a house or car which could be bought and sold as desired. In some cases, entire families were sold off to plantation owners and slave masters.

Many young mothers at the time had babies taken from their arms so the mothers could be sold to work on plantations and cotton picking farms. In almost all cases, those mothers never saw the babies again. For, most often, the babies were sold to wives of plantation owners whom either wanted and could not have children, or to work as servants once old enough to do so.

One of the saddest aspects of slavery is that of rape. For, there were numerous owners who would take female and male slaves at will for sexual gratification. In fact, there are a number of descendants of slaves now living whom are children, grandchildren and great grandchildren which have no idea of how the line started.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment