During the antebellum period of the United States, slavery was harshly practiced by white slave owners. The book Celia, a Slave is a factual interpretation of one isolated incident that depicted a very common slave fear during that era. Through illustrating the true horrific life of a young female slave who was constantly brutally raped by her master, the author Melton McLaurin, explains a better understanding of what slavery was actually was like to today’s society. The story of Celia is an emblem of the root of racial problems that America still faces today in society.
What initiated the tragic occurrence in Celia’s life was when the death of Newsom’s wife occurred; once his wife passed away he craved the need for sexual fulfillment. Coming
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When Newsom advances toward Celia, she strikes him on the head with a large stick. The first blow knocks him down and the second killing him. Out of fear, she places Newsom 's body in her fireplace and lights a fire. “She decided to burn Newsom’s body in her fireplace. With his body consumed by flames, there would be nothing left to connect her with her master’s disappearance, nothing to indicate that he had come to her that night” (McLaurin 31) This was Celia acting impulsive and in fear. It was an act of a woman who was in desperate need and all of her efforts to stop the torture were failed.
Eventually, local neighbors began to question and search for Robert Newsom. Finally, George was questioned. George told the authority that he was unaware of Newsom’s location, but he knows that Celia must have been involved. After many hours of interrogation, Celia confesses that she indeed has killed her master. Through the questions being asked, Celia remained with her true intents which were to stop the torture and rape. “…she did not intend to kill him when she struck him but only wanted to hurt him.” (McLaurin 43) After an official investigation, Celia was sent off to
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Judge Hall, who was in charge of the trail, made sure that all procedures were being followed properly. Celia’s case was assigned a legal defense team, comprised of three men. There was a senior attorney and two junior associates with profound research skills. This was a toxic subject because of a few different complications that were in the way of fighting the case. For one, laws were against slaves testify in in court. So, how would Celia be able to tell her story? Chattel slavery was practiced which meant that when slaves owners owned a slaves, there were seen as a property and not a human being. This meant that the owner was allowed to do whatever they’d wish to their property. How would Celia be able to defend her actions when the law that prohibited rape did not apply to her? And finally, it was extremely difficult for Celia’s defense team to point Newsom as a “wrongdoer” when in fact Missouri laws allowed slaves to be identified as an “owned property”- and Newsom did “own” Celia after all. Therefore, it was highlighted that Celia’s team did not try to prove her innocence or even deny the murder but to rather emphasize the motive behind the murder. Not surprisingly, the jury returned a dirty verdict. Celia was sentenced to death on November 16th. However, due to high skepticism on the judge’s final decisions, Celia’s defense team applied for an appeal which was later
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.
At around eight thirty AM Queenie Trap, a rather small woman at five feet and six inches and one hundred and ten pounds, left her house after a fight with her husband Arthur Trap. Had she known this was the last time she would see him alive she wouldn’t have left, or maybe she already knew about his untimely demise. Queenie has her motive, her fights with her husband are more than enough, although Queenie is rather small she knew Arthur was drunk.The investigators should rule Arthur’s death as a murder because she had a motive, and although some would say that Queenie’s size means she couldn’t overpower him he was drunk, she also had ten minutes alone with the dead body of Arthur.
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 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
Celia, A Slave by Melton McLaurin tells a true story of a female slave who was sexually exploited by her master and the trial she faced as a result. At the young age of fourteen, Celia was brought to Callaway County under her new master, Robert Newsom. Celia later murdered Newsom, in an act of self-defense, and was placed on a trial challenging the institute of slavery and the moral beliefs of anyone involved with slavery in the South. The short life of the young Celia revealed a slave girl who had pushed beyond the ideal limit of a system that denied her humanity and threatened to erode the base of the antebellum southern society.
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...
First, the female character’s past is a very important part of who she becomes and how they are able to be resilient in fighting through the restrictions that bind them. When she was younger, Celia was stubborn, impulsive, and short-tempered. In Night Circus, it all starts with the introduction of Celia and Hector Bowen, her father, the start of her cruel fate. The introduction of her father is what turns her life into a competition. It all began when the ring was engraved onto her finger in order to make her magic stronger, her father put he...
Lee, Desmond. “The Study of African American Slave Narratives “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” and “Narrative of Frederick Douglass”.” Studies of Early African americans. 17 (1999): 1-99. Web. EBSCO
In times when slavery was abundant, female slaves faced oppression in many ways unthinkable. Collectively, the multitude of injustices changed the way American society functioned. Celia, A Slave tells the truly tragic story of Celia, a young slave girl, and her attempt to resist oppression. Celia was sexually abused and repeatedly taken advantage of by her slave master, Robert Newsom. Eventually, Celia retaliated and murdered Newsom. Though her fight of self-defense was supported by many, Celia was hung as punishment for the crime she had committed.
Celia, a Slave, a book by author Melton McLaurin, shows the typical relationship between a slave woman and her master in America during the 1850s. The story is the perfect example of how relationships between slave and their masters and other non-blacks within the community. This is shown through Celia’s murder of her slave owner, Robert Newsom. It was also shown through the community’s reaction that was involved in unraveling her court case. The Celia personal story illustrated how slave women was treated by their slave owners and how the laws wasn’t effective at protecting slave during the 1850s. Celia’s story help shed light on woman injustices, unconstitutional rights and most importantly racial issues/discrimination.
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.
So when Marie and Nector are old, Marie is desperate to get her husband to love her unconditionally, and to forget the Lamartine woman. Therefore, Lipsha made love medicine, which was to get Marie what she wanted. But Lipsha messed up the medicine which resulted in Nector choking to death and dying. Nevertheless, what Lipsha and Marie did, was out of love.
In conclusion, women were considered property and slave holders treated them as they pleased. We come to understand that there was no law that gave protection to female slaves. Harriet Jacob’s narrative shows the true face of how slaveholders treated young female slave. The female slaves were sexually exploited which damaged them physically and psychologically. Furthermore it details how the slave holder violated the most sacred commandment of nature by corrupting the self respect and virtue of the female slave. Harriet Jacob writes this narrative not to ask for pity or to be sympathized but rather to show the white people to be aware of how female slaves constantly faced sexual exploitation which damaged their body and soul.
She requests that Arden’s body be brought to her and, upon seeing him, she speaks to Arden and confesses to the murder, and expresses her guilt, wishing he were still alive, by saying “...And would my death save thine thou shouldst not die” (“Arden” 8). Though she previously conveyed how free she felt, the combination of the hand-towel and knife used to kill Arden, his innocent blood stains on the floor, and his distorted, unmoving body triggers Alice to feel an overwhelming and unbearable sense of guilt. Once this guilt comes upon her, she cannot stop herself from begging her dead husband for forgiveness, though he cannot offer it to her now. The guilt of her actions causes her to expose the people who helped her enact this heinous crime. Because Alice reveals the truth behind Arden’s murder, every character pays a penance for their
In Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author subjects the reader to a dystopian slave narrative based on a true story of a woman’s struggle for self-identity, self-preservation and freedom. This non-fictional personal account chronicles the journey of Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) life of servitude and degradation in the state of North Carolina to the shackle-free promise land of liberty in the North. The reoccurring theme throughout that I strive to exploit is how the women’s sphere, known as the Cult of True Womanhood (Domesticity), is a corrupt concept that is full of white bias and privilege that has been compromised by the harsh oppression of slavery’s racial barrier. Women and the female race are falling for man’s