Blog #5
1. What were the implications of the system of slavery for southern white and black women?
People on the south were wealthy because of their big production of cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco produce by the slaves. The production was the social, political, and cultural center of slavery society (155). Women life was different from the women in the north. Men from the south protected their women. They were jealous of their women’s honor and families. For women was a virtue to consider men the head of their families. An indifference to men would not give women any social or political authority. For wealthy women maternity was not important. They had slaves to take care of their children.
2. What is the significance of the story of Harriet Jacobs for our understanding of slave women’s experiences? (pp. 166-167 “Trials of Girlhood”)
Harriet Jacobs story reflect her most cruel moments of her life. Being a slave was a very difficult situation especially for a girl because she could not protect herself of her master. She was sexually abuse by her master in her early years of adolescence. After a decade of suffering she escaped. But she encountered the agony of living in an uncomfortable place without her daughter. Finally after seven years she moved to the south with her daughter. Harriet story had a quite happy ending but not many slave women were that fortunate. Slave women live without hope and worked hard to please their masters.
1. How did characters in these two accounts reject and resist the assumptions
about black people fundamental to the slave system? On what personal resources did they draw to make their challenges?
Slaves were not allow to learn about their families and nether learn how to read and write. But there were some slaves that escape to their slavery and found a way to publish their stories. The Crafts for example planned to run away from their masters and start a new life in the south were slaves had better opportunities. They went over their limitations not only gain their freedom but also were able to speak and recorded their own experiences. In the case of Polly Shine was interview by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. The WPA set many different questions that Polly answered according to her experiences. Polly reveals many facts that were very cruel for slaves in her slavery time.
2. Both of these stories were written after the fact: the Crafts’ ten years following the emancipation and Polly Shine’s after about seven decades. Evaluate the role memory plays in these accounts, and consider the ways in which it distorts or possibly authenticates the narrator’s experiences.
Even it took a long time to publish these two stories. The slave experiences were accurate. Many slaves suffered the same treatment. Most of the slaves did not have the chance to publish their stories but it is a fact that slaves have no rights and were used to prosper their masters. So masters had to impose many rules to control their slaves. Masters could not be nice with their slaves because they could lose their power and as a consequence lose their fortune. The mistreatment that slaves suffered was so traumatic that stayed in their memories for ever.
2 comments:
PR #1
Hi Geny!
1. I agree with you on the first question. I also think that people on the south were wealthier because of their big production of cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco produce by the slaves. I would just add that southern white where treated better than southern black women. The southern upper and middle class white women were raised to a life of leisure and once they married, then they were supposed to take care of household. When it comes to southern black women, they were considered their master’s properties. They weren’t allowed to get married and were often sexually abused by their masters.
2. That is right, Harriet Jacobs’ story reflects the cruel moments of her life.
The significance of her devastating story is that her life story helps us to picture what many other slaves experienced in their lifetime. I like the fact that you mentioned that Harriet Jacobs’ story had a quite happy ending but not many slave women were that fortunate. I also think that there were many other slave women victims who hated their masters for their physical and emotional violence. However, they weren’t brave enough or did not have the opportunity to escape just like Harriet Jacobs did.
Textbook document (Chapter 3 pp. 175-181)
1. It is true that the Crafts were brave to run away from their masters to start a new life in the south were slaves had better opportunities. However, I think their biggest challenge was their belief in God and belief in Success. They struggled a lot in order to be able to escape. Ellen had to act like a white men who was the master of her husband that was black. So, because of the color of her skin, they were able to escape. When it comes to Polly Shine’s story, I think their challenges were the strength of their minds and their love. The sad thing in the second story is that the slave owners were able to control their slaves’ love lives. If the slaves did not behave, their owners would sell them to other masters.
2. I also think that even though it took a long time for these stories to be published, they are still accurate. The kinds of experiences that the characters of these stories had are extraordinary and very memorable. It was just impossible for them to forget all the terrible difficulties and suffer that they had gone through. However, I think a little differently about Polly Shine’s story. I think that there might be some small details that Polly Shine is missing in her story because she was interviewed about seven decades after the fact and at the age of ninety.
Sirun :)
PR #2
I kind of of agree with your comment sandy, southern white women were treated better then the southern black women. Obviously the race difference helped. Even if there were black slaves that appeared white and the "masters" knew they were from slave decedent they were going to be treated bad. Yes it is true about the ways southern white and black women were brought up. Even though white women were also held back in what they can do, they were only taught things on how to keep their household strong.
I also agree here because it does help to picture the daily life of these enslaved women, and the cruelties they experienced. And the ending to Geny’s response is also good “Harriet Jacobs” was lucky to be able to escape but like you said not all salves that tried to run away were not as fortunate.
In the Crafts story they did have a high possibility in running away only because of the wife’s light skin color. Yeah they did risk getting caught but since the officers did not know about her really being a slave they were able to escape.
Yeah even though many years had passed since their lives as slaves, it just comes to show how memories play their roles. Such tragic and devastating events can always be hard to forget. And yes it would be impossible for them to forget.
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