Slavery Injustice Male versus Female

There are stereotypes of black women during this time: being looked upon as sexual objects and being promiscuous. Jacobs’s attempts to resist the stereotypical images of black women are unsuccessful, even with the presence of her well respected grandmother. Women Slaves Like Frederick Douglass stated in his narrative, the women slaves were subjected to the same labor and punishments as men. But women faced more brutal treatment. Douglass shares in his narrative that he took his share of whippings.

The case also sheds a light upon the unequal slave treatment that already belittled the black, but oppressed black women even more. Celia’s story about the relationship between her and her slave master, Robert Newson, brought attention to the unequal protection laws for slaves. The story helps illustrate the realities of slave life in America and the personal choices slavery forced upon slaves and slave-owners. The outcome of Celia’s trial was an eye-opener that slavery was definitely inhumane, and help influence the prohibition of

The purpose of the book is to demonstrate how slavery crippled African American slaves from defending themselves due to oppression, particularly women. The trial of Celia, A Slave opens a gateway where people’s morals and actions were put into question after the death of her master. Themes such as gender oppression, chattel slavery, race, prejudice, revolt are some themes present in Celia,

They would force their slaves to do things that nobody should ever do. The husbands’ prefer to get female slaves since they would be able to do sexual favors for the husbands. Also the battle with how the slaves chose to resist the masters’ control. No matter how the slaves chose to resist, the punishment that followed was always horrible. A moral dilemma in the book is how the white women “chose to support slavery, and to accept, the abuse of black women it produced” (McLaurin, pg.

There were "southern defenders of slavery taunted abolitionists by arguing that wage workers in the North and England were equally slaves" and that "women were equally" treated unjustly, which means slavery was a way for the government to take advantage of their power (Balkin and Levison 1463). Slaves were constantly trying to find opportunities to escape. In Ads for Runaway Servants and Slaves (1733-72), many servants and slaves were runaways but many were caught or chose to returned to their masters because they had nowhere else to go. Many slave owners were uncertain as to why their slaves would run away because "he has been always too kindly used, if ... ... middle of paper ... ...ective Process. JSTOR.

Continuing a brutally cruel system, African slaves developed a profound commitment to liberty and became a living testament to the powerful ideal of freedom. As Harriet Jacobs’ wrote in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she stated, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery” (Jacobs 289). This relates to a reference to both the author’s personal struggles under slavery and as a significant theme throughout her narrative. During her personal story, Harriet revealed that the institution of slavery crippled the accepted family structure. For instance, slave women similar to Harriet herself, needed permission from their masters to marry, which frequently delayed or destroyed their ability to wed and reproduce.

Harriet Jacobs’ memoir explained the life of a slave, as property, held no rights and after they escaped to the northern states, lots of them were still persecuted and were brought back to the south. Slaves were described by the laws as property therefore could not own property and many lost the opportunity to gain the freedom of their family members. Fugitives in the Free States were vulnerable of being claimed by their owners in the south. Slaves lacked basic human rights and could not defend themselves from punishment or sexual harassment from their owners. Fugitives in the northern states would encounter segregation and constant persecution from slave holders and kidnappers therefore African American could not resist

The Civil War was a fight against slavery in the mid to late 1800s. When the North won and abolished slavery, the South still had the mindset of slavery; they thought that black people or previous slaves were below them like they had always been. Different black people had different responses to this heinous behavior by the white Southerners. Some accepted the discriminatory treatment by the whites while others wanted vengeance for the belittling treatment as slaves. In the book The Marrow of Tradition, there are multiple black characters who exhibit different responses to the racism shown in different events throughout the novel.

Jacobs argues that slavery is as much a curse to whites as it is to blacks. She demonstrates this point by showing how the morality of each is corrupted. Stewart in turn affirms that slavery prevents blacks from fulfilling their God-given potential and deprives them from true self-actualization. Both authors' work would have been received by predominantly white abolitionists and it is to this audience that they plead their case. HARRIET JACOBS In Harriet Jacobs' autobiography, Incidents In the Life Of a Slave Girl, she asserts that slavery is a curse to the nation and is a factor in the breakdown of the ... ... middle of paper ... ...b page] Nov 1998; http://www.monticello.org/Matters/people/hemings_resource.html [Accessed 20 Nov 1998].

Her narrative focuses on the domestic issues that faced African-American women, she even states, “Slavery is bad for men, but it is far more terrible for women”. Therefore, gender separated the two narratives, and gave each a distinct view toward slavery. Douglass showed “how a slave became a man” in a physical fight with an overseer and the travel to freedom. Jacobs’s gender determined a different course, and how women were affected. Douglass and Jacob’s lives might seem to have moved in different directions, but it is important not to miss the common will that their narratives proclaim of achieving freedom.