Slavery had both physical and psychological trauma on the slaves, some of which still linger to date. Most studies have focused on the physical torture experienced through harsh beatings and hard labor subjected to slaves by their masters. Only the slaves in this era felt the physical torture since they directly received beating. The real pain, however, lies in the psychological torture endured by the slaves since the effects lasted longer than physical beatings. Psychological torture caused mental and emotional disturbance, thus instilling fear among the African American community (Rejali 37). These effects had a long-lasting impact, and the community is yet to overcome the Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. Impacts of the psychological torture are intangible hence difficult to quantify and easy to overlook. However, through actions of these community members, it is evident that the traumatic experiences still linger in their minds, and the impact goes on from one generation to the next. This paper aims at analyzing the psychological and emotional trauma associated with slavery in America by highlighting various instances that might have resulted in this form of torture.
Sexual harassment is the worst form of abuse faced by the slaves since it had both physical and psychological effects on the victims. Female slaves were at a disadvantage since they were the victims of sexual harassment from their masters and had no power to defend themselves against this evil. Rape was common in the slave trade since slavery made women vulnerable and powerless. It denied them any rights and freedoms hence their inability to protect themselves and their children against sexual harassment. Slavery also made the masters have power and advantage over the slaves hence they could easily intimidate the slaves into offering their bodies. To a great extent, sexual abuse lowered the dignity of the black women. However, the women had no means of getting justice for the wrongs suffered. Consequently, they had to remain silent throughout their lives because they had no means to express their dissatisfaction; the system remained silent despite the cruelty performed on some people just because of the color of their skin. As a result, the women could only suffer in silence, thus causing psychological trauma on many generations of African Americans.
Fear of their safety was another reason that made women vulnerable to rape since it was the only way to maintain peace with the master. The master could exercise his power over the slave by demanding sexual favors from female slaves since slaves held the same value as any other property. Yetman states, “He peopled my young mind with unclean images, such as only a vile monster could think of. I turned from him with disgust and hatred, but he was my master. I was compelled to live under the same roof with him” (14). Yetman reveals that the class difference bought freedom for the masters. They (masters) could not be punished just because their word was final and the authorities would believe their side of the story more than the side of the slaves. The ideology that slaves were property and held no rights and freedom added to their vulnerability since the masters had the mandate to do whatever they wanted. Rape is a cruel form of abuse that causes long-term effects on the victims and leads to trauma throughout the victim’s life.
Physical torture has both physical and psychological effects on the victims and those around them. This was the most common form of punishment subjected to slaves regardless of their gender. Slavery was a painful experience as the slaves endured physical beatings from their masters for their pleasure or as a form of punishment. The beatings could become extremely brutal sometimes leading to physical disability or death. Facing such an experience is traumatic for the victim and those around them, and it instills fear and resentment in their hearts. In the life of a slave girl, the quote, ‘alas, what mockery it is for a slave mother to pray back her dying child to life! Death is better than slavery’ (Jacobs 11.17) proves the inhuman treatment subjected to slaves by the white man. Shola witnesses the brutality subjected to a pregnant slave, and this has a long lasting effect on her. The event traumatizes her since the woman faces such cruelty and loses her baby in the process. This form of torture appears normal to onlookers but had long-term effects on the African American community since it led to resentment and created a rebellious attitude among them. This is the reason for the emergence of the rebels who worked towards fighting the masters and even proposed their killing. This attitude lingered even after the slave trade, thus proving the presence of psychological torture of physical beatings.
Identity was the price African Americans paid in their struggle to survive the brutal slavery that tore them from their roots. The slave merchants forcefully took the community away from their home in Africa and shipped them to a foreign land full of cruelty. Upon arrival in the foreign land, the slaves parted ways, therefore ending up in different locations under different masters. This meant that they had to start new lives in the foreign land and forego their former lives. The experience had a strong bearing on their identity since it took away their identity, and they had to obtain a new identity - that of slaves. Some preferred the label of rebels while others became confused on which community to support. The confusion led them to gain an identity as a betrayer of one’s own people. The character, Joe, plays this part where his relationship with the white priest appears as a betrayal to his people since it makes his life easier with no consideration for the experiences of others. The white man denied the slaves opportunities to improve their lives, believing that they belonged at the bottom of the life pyramid. Yetman states, “Us poor niggers never allowed to learn anything. All the readin’ they ever hear was when they were carried through the big Bible” (114). Slavery affected the dignity of the slaves and made them view themselves as slaves and inferior to the white people. This inferior image obtained by the African Americans took away their pride and for sometime paralyzed their thinking that they deserved better. The experience has had a long-term effect on the ideology of the community and their position in society since they feel that white people have more opportunities.
Moral development also offers a dimension with which one can identify the psychological effects of slavery. The Sankofa film covers the element of morality effectively by highlighting the moral dilemma in which characters found themselves. Slavery raises the question of morality since it involved inhumane treatment of people and denying them fundamental human rights that every individual should possess. This makes masters inhuman and cruel human beings who lacked a moral bearing since this would have convinced them to abandon the practice. The slaves, on the other hand, seem to have a moral bearing that they struggle to hold on to amidst the brutal situations. They, therefore, emerge as more human despite the society thinking that the whites held a superior position. Jacobs states, ‘what tangled skeins are the genealogies of slavery! (Jacobs 14.11). This shows that the whites were wrong to justify slavery as moral and assert that the black people had limited rights due to the inferiority of their race. Shola refuses to murder her master when asked by her lover since she believes that killing is inhuman despite the cruel nature of her master. She, therefore, had a moral standing, which she seeks to maintain even with the worsening conditions. However, towards the end of the film, she finds herself holding a machete over a white man and debating whether the killing was justifiable. This demonstrates the negative effects of slavery and its consequences. The African Americans underwent traumatic events that changed their outlook on morality and made them question the definition of humanity (Mintz ch.2). Slavery, therefore, had devastating psychological effects on the African American community.
In conclusion, the slaves in America endured both physical and psychological trauma due to the cruelty experienced in their daily lives. Physical torture inflicted physical pain but had a long-lasting effect through instilling fear and resentment among the African American society. It was also emotional torture affecting the immediate victims as well as those around them. Sexual abuse is a traumatic experience to victims and, unfortunately, a common phenomenon among the female slaves (Rejali 46). Their masters took advantage of their vulnerability and used threat to lure women into giving into their sexual demands. Because of fear, the female slaves became victim to the cruelty that had an effect on their emotional state and dignity. Slavery had devastating effects on the identity of the African American community since it denied them their heritage. Taking away the familiar elements from the slaves including their homeland disrupted their sense of identity. A new form of life required the adoption of a different identity from the new life of slavery. This resulted in loss of dignity and pride as the slaves viewed themselves as inferior. Slavery did not spare the morals of society since it corrupted morals of the good people and turned the masters into evil humans. Slavery was, therefore, an evil that had devastating psychological and emotional effects on the lives of the African American people. There was no moral justification for slavery and the reasons provided in support of slavery at that time only served to further the interests of a few. The result was that a group of people was denied social, political and economic rights, and the effects of that are evident to date.
Works Cited
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written By Herself. Eds. Child Lydia and Yellin Jean. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1987. Print.
Mintz, Steven. African American Voices: The Life Cycle of Slavery. New York: Brandywine Press. 1993. Print.
Rejali, Darius. Torture and Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2007. Print.
Yetman, Norman. When I Was A Slave: Memoirs From The Slave Narrative Collection. Mineola: Dover Publications. 2002. Print.
