Write at least 100 words as a “comment,” giving the name of slave narrative, a short summary of the narrative, and why it is interesting to you.
Write at least 100 words as a “comment,” giving the name of slave narrative, a short summary of the narrative, and why it is interesting to you.
Lucy Ann Delaney was former slave turned, African-American author, who wrote the narrative From the Darkness cometh the light or Struggles for Freedom. Lucy’s narritive tells how she and her family were broken up after being kidnapped and sold into slavery. Her mother Polly was captured and sent across the Mississippi River at a very young age and was sold into slavery. She was purchased by Major Taylor Berry as a servant girl for his wife Franny, whom immediately fell in love with Polly’s manner and appearance, and quickly made Polly her seamstress. Major Berry had already had a mulatto male servant working for him , they say he was handsome as Apllo, when he and Polly met they basically fell in love with one another. The two were then married with the consent of Mr. & Mrs. Berry, shortly after they married Nancy and Lucy were born.
Shortly after Mr. Berry died, Mrs. Berry married a Mr.Wash distroied the family. selling the father into slavery way down south and sending Nacy with his step daughter on her honeymoon. Polly told Nancy not to return with te married couple but to run away and got to Canada for freedom. Shortly after this Polly was sold in an auction, which ment that little Lucy was the only one left behind. Her mother promised her that she would soon return to get her.
Polly fought for her freedom and won! She kept her promise to Lucy and came back and fought for her freedom. They then took off and suprised and visited Nancy in Toronto.
Honestly I could not possibly imagine living without knowing where my mother was, and having no communicatin with her at all. I think that I would have made several attempts to run away in order to recnnect with my family. This story just interested me because with Lucy being so young she was very strong and courageous.
The slave narrative that I chose was THE NARRATIVE OF ASHTON WARNER. Ashton Warner was a young, educated, man who was forced to work on Cane Grove estate. As a child he was raised by his aunt Daphne who was very caring and compassionate. Although she was a Negro, she was respected and well-known by white people. She had money and power, which she used to set her parents free as well as other slaves she had grown up with. When Ashton was ten years old, he was taken from the one place he called home and enslaved by Mr. Wilson. His aunt Daphne did everything she possibly could to try to stop this from happening, but her best wasn’t good enough. Ashton was still stripped of his freedom, his family, and his feelings. Although he was young, he was not young-minded. Ashton knew that he was not supposed to be Mr. Wilson’s property considering the fact that Wilson did not own the estate when Daphne manumitted Ashton and his mother. For years, he worked hard to escape the brutality of slavery. He was an ambitious man who desired freedom and justice. Despite the obstacles he faced, Ashton Warner considered himself lucky compared to the field slaves who worked severly. They were ordered to work from sunrise to sunset and many times grew ill due to unhealthy circumstances. After years of cruel punishment, Ashton moves to England as his case undergoes investigation. I chose this particular slave narrative because I had never heard of it before and after reading the introduction, I was determined to find out more about Ashton Warner and his experience as a slave.
The narrative I read was “Prejudice against Composition Writing” which was written by J. Horace Lacy. In her narrative she states that men are prejudice against composition writing because it is very difficult for them to sit down and focus on writing. She also states that this same prejudice is in young people and those who are not experienced in composing. Lacey gives tips to young men to always pick a subject you are familiar with, never pick a subject that has little resources, and to divide your subject into heads. When dividing your subject into heads you state the proposition that you are going to prove and make everything else in your paper subordinate to the head.
This narrative was interesting to me because I also find composition writing something very hard to do. I also enjoyed the authors’ writing approach. She talked about the errors in writing that many men make but left the errors in her own writing for us to see. I think she did this to show us that everybody’s writing is not perfect but as she stated in her narrative, “we commence with the hardest & as we proceed we find it becoming easier & easier.”
The slave narrative that I chose was that of Sojourner Truth. This narrative starts off mainly talking about Soujourner Truth( born as Isabella) and the struggles that affected her life being born into slavery. The narrative then goes on to show you how Sojourner Truth begins to become her own woman based off of the religious teachings of her late mother who was also a slave. I found this narrative to be very informative. I feel that it takes a lot of courage to escape something such as slavery. Sojourner Truth traveled many miles in the cold and heat most of the time alone without a friend, or companion. She was beat in some places, and ran out of others, but she knew that she must go on. She had a mission to walk the land, and tell “the truth” to all who would hear her. This, and much more made her a remarkable woman.
The unpopular African that I will be discussing in a brief summary, fought not only for his independence but also fought for the freedom of others is Touissant L’ Overture. Overture’s popularity begins when Napoleon Bonaparte founded the country of Haiti and try to take over the land and the people. Bonaparte caputered slaves for his personal gain with Overture being one of the slave members. With the support of thousand of other slave members revolted against the French and ultimately won the independence over Haitt make Overture an icon in the Haitian government. What interests me the most about the life of Overture is his ability to take charge and be a leader. Throughout years of his life he fought for his beliefs and for those of his skin color. The ability for him to orchestrate thousands of people successfully ignites a spark in me to continue the fight that Overture in the redemption of our people.
**Final Version**
The unpopular African that I will be discussing in a brief summary, fought not only for his independence but also fought for the freedom of others is Touissant L’ Overture. Overture’s popularity begins when Napoleon Bonaparte founded the country of Haiti and try to take over the land and the people. Bonaparte caputered slaves for his personal gain with Overture being one of the slave members. With the support of thousands of other slave members, led a revolt against the French and making a way for the Haitians to continue their fight for independence. The way the slaves were able to have this remarkable battle against the the French was with their knowledge of being able to navigate through the African jungle. Bonaparte abd his men never had the chance against the slaves with this weakness of not being able to withstand the Haitian terrain.
What interests me the most about the life of Overture is his ability to take charge and be a leader. Throughout years of his life he fought for his beliefs and for those of his skin color. The ability for him to orchestrate thousands of people successfully ignites a spark in me to continue the fight that Overture in the redemption of our people.
NAT LOVE: Nat Love, a published author of Life and Adventures of Nat Love claims his autobiography expresses the real life behind the struggles he faced living during discrimination & slavery. After becoming of age, Love realized the life he was living, was not the life he wanted; so he decided to migrate west. His decision on migrating west was based upon word of mouth that “freedom is sweet.” At age fifteen, Love acquired $100 by selling reselling a prized horse to his family’s plantation owner; he used his money to relocate to Kansas, where he would then find work as a cowboy with several other African-Americans. By relocating to the Americas Nat Love earned the name “Red River-Dick” given by his cowboy coworkers. With this new environment, Love lost all “sense of fear” and felt free; “Sweet land of Liberty, home of the brave and the free.” The story of Nat Love caught my attention because of his perseverance at an early age. As he grew up, living under ownership, he realized he wanted better for himself and DID something about it.
The slave narrative that caught my interest was William J. Anderson. His life as a slave was very harsh but he was able to escape. William Anderson was born to a free mother but an enslaved father and despite his status as being free he was still sold into slavery. Throughout his lifetime he was sold eight times, been in jail sixty times, and whipped three hundred times. The resolution throughout this story all is that he ended up escaping and started ministering. He spread the good word of Jesus and later became a pastor at a church. His story stood out to me because you can never tell what life has in store for you, everyone is destined for a purpose and God always put people through tasks before giving them their final call. This story reminded me of that fact and motivated me that the situations I go through is nothing compared to others and I must be grateful and await what the world has to offer me.
Slave Narrative of Isaac Johnson entitled Slavery in Old Kentucky. A True Story of a Father who Sold his Wife and Four Children. The Story is told by one of the children, Issac. The story exposes the harsh reality of a man being pressured into selling his wife and children. Sold separately, the story follows Issac and his life journey that began on the Maninglay plantation. The reason that I picked this slave narrative is because it took place in Kentucky, which is where I’m from. Rarely during history will I hear about Kentucky’s involvement in slavery. We are mentioned but as though we did not play a huge part in slavery, however this story help expose the terrible things that occurred in my state at one point in time.
The slave narrative I decided to do my research paper on was Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon: or Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life. This particular slave narrative caught my eye because of the word “octoroon”. I had never seen the word or knew what it was about until I read deeper into her memoir. Louisa Picquet was 1/8th black and was sold to a plantation owner along with her mother during her child years. Around her teenage years her mother and her where seperated and most of her life she spent searching for her. Eventually she is sold again to a man in New Orleans and when he died she was sent free and found her mother. Mostly this narrative explains Louisa’s advantages of being light-skinned and the exploitation of African-American women by white men.
I have decided to do my Narrative on Sojourner Truth. I chose her because as I read her story it showed how much of a strong woman she was. Sojourner Truth’s real name was Isabella Baumfree. She was born in 1797, on the Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh estate in Swartekill, New York. Her parents were Elizabeth and James Baumfree and both were also slaves. Truth was one of had 13 children. She was sold at the age of 9 to John Neeley, along with a herd of sheep for $100. Sojourner Truth only spoke Dutch until she was sold to the Neeley family because they only spoke English. Sojourner learned to speak English quickly because she was severely beaten when she didn’t understand what the family was saying. she was sold several times after that and treated very badly. Truth was forced to marry and older slave named Thomas and they had four children: Peter, James, Elizabeth, and Sophia.
Dumont, her last owner, promised Sojourner freedom, but broke his promise… she left one morning with her infant daughter, Sophia. She wandered, praying for direction, and came to the home of Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen… Dunmont found her and wanted to take her baby when she refused to leave with him… the Van Wagenen’s paid Dunmont $20 for her and she remained with them until state emancipation on July 4, 1827. Sojourner Truth had a life-changing religious experience while living with the Van Wagenen family. she became an amazing preacher and eventually started traveling. Truth later became a political activist, fighting for the freedom of slaves and women’s rights. Sojourner Truth died on November 26, 1883, in Battle Creek Michigan, at the age of 86. She has been honored many times since her death.
I have decided to do my Narrative on Sojourner Truth. I chose her because as I read her story it showed how much of a strong woman she was. Sojourner Truth’s real name was Isabella Baumfree. She was born in 1797, on the Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh estate in Swartekill, New York. Her parents were Elizabeth and James Baumfree and both were also slaves. Truth was one of had 13 children. She was sold at the age of 9 to John Neeley, along with a herd of sheep for $100. Sojourner Truth only spoke Dutch until she was sold to the Neeley family because they only spoke English. Sojourner learned to speak English quickly because she was severely beaten when she didn’t understand what the family was saying. she was sold several times after that and treated very badly. Truth was forced to marry and older slave named Thomas and they had four children: Peter, James, Elizabeth, and Sophia.
Dumont, her last owner, promised Sojourner freedom, but broke his promise. She left one morning with her infant daughter, Sophia. She wandered, praying for direction, and came to the home of Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen. Dunmont found her and wanted to take her baby when she refused to leave with him. The Van Wagenen’s paid Dunmont $20 for her and she remained with them until state emancipation on July 4, 1827. Sojourner Truth had a life-changing religious experience while living with the Van Wagenen family. she became an amazing preacher and eventually started traveling. Truth later became a political activist, fighting for the freedom of slaves and women’s rights. Sojourner Truth died on November 26, 1883, in Battle Creek Michigan, at the age of 86. She has been honored many times since her death.
I have chosen to do my Narrative on Harriet A. Jacobs (Harriet Ann), Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.That was written by Herself.I decided to do this narrative because is the most widely-read female antebellum slave narrative and also in her narrative she talks about things that others wouldn’t dare mention also throughout her narrative, Jacobs focuses on the importance of family and motherhood.which sticks out to me over all the other narrative Jacobs was a women who focused on getting free for her children and she loved being a mother.The narrative basically discuss her life as a slave and how she got to freedom.
The slave narrative that I picked is Annie L. Burton. She was born into slavery in 1858 and spent most of her childhood during the years of the Civil War. Her mother left her and ran away so she was raised by her mistress on a plantation in Calyton, Alabama. He mother eventually returned back to her and Annie became a nanny. She also learned how to read and write. Her mother eventually died leaving her to take care of her three siblings. She took her family and moved them to Boston. After that,within the three moves later from Georgia, Florida and back to Boston she established a husband and became a restauranteur. She also ran a boarding house with her husband. After attending the Franklin Evening School, the headmaster later convinced the students to write Annie’s life story, making an extraordinary turnaround from her slavery upbringing.
Annie Burton’s story sticks out to me because first she is a woman. A woman who has overcame great obstacles that she faced within her childhood and turned it around to becoming an educated woman. Even when the “white” people kept her from educating herself and learning how to do things, she overcame that obstacle by becoming an educated woman. She proved those who doubted her wrong. I have a fascination for strong women and reading her biography I can tell she is a woman that had to contain strength to live the life and the legacy that she left to future strong black women like myself.
My chosen slave narrarative was about a girl named Annie L. Burton. She was thought to be born on 1858. This woman’s story struck me as being interesting because she explained in depth what it felt like to be a slave from birth. Her story ws not told as most slave stories are told and perceived. By the way she told her story, she appeared to be such an optimistic, “happy-go-lucky” kind of person, despite all that she had been through and witnessed at such an early age. She even stated in the narrarative that she had not a care in the world growing up. In fact, she felt as if she was highly favored among majority of the other slaves that lived around the plantation with. Though she had white “owners”, had two outfits to wear for the week, did not earn shoes until she reached her teen years, and had a father she seen once in a while, but never had the opportunity to interact with him, she felt as if she could have been a lot worse off. She was grateful for the life she did have and the time period she lived it in. The time period she lived in was significant because she was a freed slave by the time she was 21. She was able to branch out and make her own living and that is not something many slaves were able to say.
The narrative I chose to extend my research on is The Last Words and Dying Speech of Edmund Fortis. This narrative is about a man by the name of Edmound Fortis who was put to death after being accused for the death of a fourteen year old girl. He was an escaped slave who was constantly moving. The reason this narrative caught my attention is because even though he was accused of committing a crime he made a change in his life. It has been said that his story favored that of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. This proves to me that even though people make mistakes they can still change for the better.
The Narrative that i read up on was Memories of Childhood’s Slavery Days by Annie L. Burton. It kind of hurt my feelings reading the narrative because in school, we were told that slaves were treated like less than humans, but we werent really taught the extremities of it all. Growing up modern day a child is treated with compassion and shown love and grace. Back in slavery times they were barely eating and being clothed. All they did was work. They were whipped for mall things and were beat so severely that they feared doing anything wrong. Fun was not a word that slave children knew or understood. Some children like Annie however had the luxury of being well taken care of by their mister or mistress. Annie thanks her mistress for “training” her well. Annie grew up into womanhood working hard and earning money. If i was living back then i would have been like Annie. The only way to be free (back then) is to earn your right to freedom.
Charity Anderson
Mobile, Alabama
This narrative was written in April 16, 1937. Anderson describes her life as an easy ride. She mostly did a lot of house work, such as cleaning clothes, folding clothes, sewing clothes, ironing clothes. Anderson never worked in the field, and she tended to the children a lot. Her “marster” treated her extremely well compared to most slaves, and never even had a thought to plant cotton until after Anderson was free. I find this narrative interesting because you don’t find many slave who get treated the way Anderson did, her narrative was a tale of bliss, rather than tragedy, hurt, and pain. She didn’t seem to mind working for her “marster,” and she knew she was treated well because she had witnessed other slaves being torn apart by dogs, and whipped until death. It is mentioned by the interviewer that she is of fair complexion, so maybe that is a reason as to why she was treated so well.
Taylor Findley-Scott
My slave narrative is on Bethany Veney. She wrote The Slave Narrative of Bethany Veney: A Slave Woman. Bethany Johnson was her maiden name and her parents were Charlotte and Joseph Johnson. Bethany had two children, a daughter name Charlotte by jerry Fickland and a son name Joe by Frank Veney. Bethany first master was James Fletcher and her mother and her master died when she was around 9 years old. Bethany became the property of Lucy Fletcher and David Kibbler. She was later sold to John Prince and that’s where she met and married Frank Veney. She then was sold to David McKay and was employed by G.J Adams. Adams purchased Bethany and her son, moved to Providence, Rhode Island and freed them. Bethany son died and she was official separated from her husband Frank Veney. This narrative is very touching and I am glad I came across Bethany.
When deciding on a person to research for the slave narrative I came across the name John Brown, I thought on the white abolitionist who led the Pottawatomie Massacre in “Bleeding Kansas“. However, as I sought deeper into my research I discovered that this was another john brown a former slave otherwise known as “Fed“. Born into slavery he was the grandson of a African man stolen from his native land and forced into slavery in the Americas. His story reveals the many inhumanities of slavery and world wide abolitionist movements to end it.
Ignatius Sancho, 1729-1780
When i was researching slave narritives i came across the interesting story of Ignatius Sancho a slave who went through trials of early turmoil but due to these roadblocks in his life his artistic abilities were able to exceed and flourish. A little background about Ignatius Sancho his mother died at a early age due to illness after his father committed suicide. As a last wish to the family Ignatius master sent him to a family of sisters. After that he served to the Montigue of Duke for 20 years where his writing and artistic abilities flourished from the learnings of the Duke
The slave narrative I read for this assignment is “Homespun Heroines and other Women of Distinction”, by Hallie Q. Brown. However, the slave that I am choosing to focus on within this narrative is Catherine Ferguson, also called Katy Ferguson. She is known as the founder of the first Sunday school in New York City. She was an ex-slave from Virginia, and her mother was sold away from her at the age of 8 while enroute to New York. This is why she took such a liking to young, orphan children. She did not learn to read, but she was a devout Christian. Then she decided to open a Sunday school, while raising most of the students in her school, or finding homes for them herself. I found this interesting, because I wasn’t aware that Sunday schools started as actual academic schools for slaves. I thought they had always been an outlet for children to learn more about their religion.