Melton McLaurin’s biography, Celia, A Slave, is a novel about a particular slave who stood up against her master in an extraordinary and tragic way. This novel speaks of the horrid abuse that was forced upon women slaves in this time, through the abuse that Celia lived through. But unlike most enslaved people of the 1800’s Celia stroked back at her master, which we now know was a fatal doing for the both of them. McLaurin’s biography paints a fairly accurate and detailed picture of what it would be like to live in the time period of 1855 and the growing divide between abolitionist and slave supporters through the description of the tragedy of Celia’s abuse combined with the murder trial of her master. McLaurin’s description of Celia’s case …show more content…
McLaurin writes about how Celia’s case was to be exploited by northerners who opposed slavery as a push for others to begin to question the institution of slavery as well (p. 81). McLaurin elaborates, “given the indisputable facts of the case, unless delicately directed the trial might lead to the charge that the southern legal structure ignored humanity of the slave and condoned such sexual abuse and exploitation,” (p. 81). With this statement in can be inferred that Celia was doomed from the start of her indictment and trial, for if she was found innocent on the means of self-defense, this could disrupt the entirety of southern wealth based on slave ownership. Even though looking through a twenty-first century angle, it can be seen that Celia would have a valid case by today’s standard so it is easy to see that it was not possible for Celia or any other slave in Celia’s situation to have a fair trial in the times of 1850’s laws and societal standards. This idea is represented by the statement, “the arguments if the defense threatened not only the social assumptions under which slavery operated but the economics of slavery as well,” (p. …show more content…
Celia’s case rose the questioning of the importance and function of the laws and codes that applied to slaves in this time. While the slave codes were meant to be for the protection of slaves, “the codes were designed primarily to restrain the behavior of slaves, not their masters,” (p.140). Celia’s case is important because it showed the lack of humanity that was shown to Celia and represented the ignored abuse that happened to enslaved women. It showed the power white men held in the antebellum South, and their power to control the legal system, even from beyond the grave. Celia’s sacrifice for her humanly rights represent slave women’s want for freedom and psychological distress their abuse caused them. It is noted that Celia stated before her execution, “as soon as I struck him the Devil got into me, and I struck him with the stick until he was dead, and then rolled him into the fire and burnt him up,” (p. 135). This shows the amount of rage Celia had while overcoming her
One of the themes in the book Lyddie by Katherine Paterson is slavery. As the novel starts, Lyddie has been forced to work in Cutler’s Tavern because of her family’s debt. While there, she listens to a conversation about the rewards issued to those who return runaway slaves. As one of the men states, “ ‘You pay for something, it’s yours. If the law says a man can own slaves, he’s got a right to go after them if they bolt.’ ” (32) This quote clearly shows the stark issue of slavery. Lyddie is forced to choose between doing the right thing, or receiving the $100 reward. Is a person’s life worth $100? Or is her family’s debt more important? Lyddie must choose what is more important to her, a person’s life, or $100. Another example of slavery is when Lyddie, Betsy, and Amelia discuss factory rights.
The purpose of this essay is to compare three very similar cases, the Scottsboro Trials, Brown v. Mississippi, and the fictional trial of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird; and to prove why the defendant of the third trial never had a chance. Each took place in the rural South in the 1920’s and 30’s and involved the unfair conviction of young black males by all-white juries pressured by the threat of mob violence. Each lacked the evidence sufficient for conviction, most especially for the death penalty. Last, heroes emerged from each trial and made small but solid steps towards equal justice for all.
Prior to the Civil War, the young United States of America was in a period of rapid expansion. Hoping to find prosperity in new land acquired by the Louisiana Purchase, Americans ventured westward. Along with this expansion, however, came the increasing tension over slavery. Conflicts arose, and in one particular town, where a slave named Celia was accused of the murder of Robert Newsom, her owner, tested the ambiguous laws and human rights ideals of that age. In “Celia, A Slave,” Melton A. McLaurin identifies the moral dilemmas confronting Americans regarding slaves and conveys how the patriarchal system and “abused” usage of law benefited the powerful and disadvantage those outside of the group, especially people of color. By critically analyzing and cross examining historical events and evidence with records of Celia’s trial, McLaurin offers an enlightening view of the prominent issues of slavery that plagued antebellum southern society.
Melton McLaurin’s book Celia, A Slave is the account of the trial, conviction, and execution of a female slave for the murder of her “master” Robert Newsom in 1855. The author uses evidence compiled through studying documents from Callaway County, Missouri and the surrounding area during the middle of the Nineteenth Century. Although much of what can be determine about this event is merely speculation, McLaurin proposes arguments for the different motives that contribute to the way in which many of the events unfold. Now throughout the book the “main characters”, being Celia, her lawyer Jameson, and the judge William Hall, are all faced with moral decisions that affect the lives of two different people.
In all, Tademy does a great job in transporting her readers back to the 1800s in rural Louisiana. This book is a profound alternative to just another slave narrative. Instead of history it offers ‘herstory’. This story offers insight to the issues of slavery through a women’s perspective, something that not so many books offer. Not only does it give readers just one account or perspective of slavery but it gives readers a take on slavery through generation after generation. From the early days of slavery through the Civil War, a narrative of familial strength, pride, and culture are captured in these lines.
In Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, personal accounts that detail the ins-and-outs of the system of slavery show readers truly how monstrous and oppressive slavery is. Families are torn apart, lives are ruined, and slaves are tortured both physically and mentally. The white slaveholders of the South manipulate and take advantage of their slaves at every possible occasion. Nothing is left untouched by the gnarled claws of slavery: even God and religion become tainted. As Jacobs’ account reveals, whites control the religious institutions of the South, and in doing so, forge religion as a tool used to perpetuate slavery, the very system it ought to condemn. The irony exposed in Jacobs’ writings serves to show
The challenges and difficulties slaves faced at the time of Celia’s trial left white Americans viewing them with little entitlements. Celia’s trial brought a new perspective into society in a time where slaves, especially females, were without hope. Her story was a beneficial challenge to the institution of slavery because it reached the thoughts of many involved in the controversy during the 1850s and left an effect on the standards of
Celia, a Slave was a factual interpretation of one isolated incident that depicted common slave fear during the antebellum period of the United States. Melton A. McLaurin, the author, used this account of a young slave woman's struggle through the undeserved hardships of rape and injustice to explain to today's naive society a better depiction of what slavery could have been like. The story of Celia illustrates the root of racial problems Americans still face in their society. Although not nearly as extreme, they continue to live in a white-male dominated culture that looks down upon African-Americans, especially females. McLaurin looks at the views of the time, and speculates the probabilities of this pre - Civil War era, the values of which still pierce daily life in the United States.
To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...
During the eighteenth and nineteenth-century, notions of freedom for Black slaves and White women were distinctively different than they are now. Slavery was a form of exploitation of black slaves, whom through enslavement, lost their humanity and freedom, and were subjected to dehumanizing conditions. African women and men were often mistreated through similar ways, especially when induced to labor, they would eventually become a genderless individual in the sight of the master. Despite being considered “genderless” for labor, female slaves suddenly became women who endured sexual violence. Although a white woman was superior to the slaves, she had little power over the household, and was restricted to perform additional actions without the consent of their husbands. The enslaved women’s notion to conceive freedom was different, yet similar to the way enslaved men and white women conceived freedom. Black women during slavery fought to resist oppression in order to gain their freedom by running away, rebel against the slaveholders, or by slowing down work. Although that didn’t guarantee them absolute freedom from slavery, it helped them preserve the autonomy and a bare minimum of their human rights that otherwise, would’ve been taken away from them. Black
In the nineteenth century, slaves were afforded very few, if any, civil rights and freedoms, often being treated very cruelly. Although the abusive treatment of slaves was not unusual, the act of a slave protecting themselves against a master was. In the book Celia, A Slave, McLaurin recounts the trial of a female slave who was charged, convicted, and later executed for the crime of murdering her master in 1855. The author provides evidence for her argument through analyzation of documents gathered from Callaway County, Missouri, and the area surrounding, during the mid-nineteenth century. As the circumstances of Celia’s case were unique, in the fact that she had violently retaliated, the debate arose as to whether she was afforded rights to
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like. Charles Ball’s Fifty Years in Chains and Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl were both published in the early 1860’s while Kate Drumgoold’s A Slave Girl’s Story came almost forty years later
As female slaves such as Harriet Jacob continually were fighting to protect their self respect, and purity. Harriet Jacob in her narrative, the readers get an understanding of she was trying to rebel against her aggressive master, who sexually harassed her at young age. She wasn’t protected by the law, and the slaveholders did as they pleased and were left unpunished. Jacobs knew that the social group,who were“the white women”, would see her not as a virtuous woman but hypersexual. She states “I wanted to keep myself pure, - and I tried hard to preserve my self-respect, but I was struggling alone in the grasp of the demon slavery.” (Harriet 290)The majority of the white women seemed to criticize her, but failed to understand her conditions and she did not have the free will. She simply did not have that freedom of choice. It was the institution of slavery that failed to recognize her and give her the basic freedoms of individual rights and basic protection. Harriet Jacobs was determined to reveal to the white Americans the sexual exploitations that female slaves constantly fa...
The issue of Slavery in the South was an unresolved issue in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During these years, the south kept having slavery, even though most states had slavery abolished. Due to the fact that slaves were treated as inferior, they did not have the same rights and their chances of becoming an educated person were almost impossible. However, some information about slavery, from the slaves’ point of view, has been saved. In this essay, we are comparing two different books that show us what being a slave actually was. This will be seen with the help of two different characters: Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the life of Frederick
Despite Flint’s overtures, Linda is able to avoid being by the grace of her own intellect. Although her actions may seem illicit and ill-advised, like her love affair with Mr. Sands to fend off Dr. Flint, so are the repercussions if she cooperates and does nothing. Jacobs predicates that slaves suffer from the influence of the slave system on their moral development. In the text, it is evident that Linda does not condemn slaves for illegal or immoral acts such as theft or adultery, but rather saying that they usually have no other option but to behave this way. However, she also points out that slaves have no reason to develop a strong ethical sense, as they are given no ownership of themselves or final control over their actions. This is not their fault, but the fault of the slavery system that dehumanizes them. “Pity me, and pardon me, O virtuous reader! You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of a chattel, entirely subject to the will of another” (Jacobs 49). Slaves are not evil like their masters, but important parts of their personalities are left undeveloped. She argues that a powerless slave girl cannot be held to the same standards of morality as a free