The Name of the School
My Life as a Slave
My name is Elijah Johnson and I was born a slave. I say I was born a slave because that was what became my identity for the first fifteen years of my life. It did not matter that I was a boy, a child, a brother or a son. I was looked upon as a slave and treated like one all through my formative years. I was born in the year 1850, on the 23rd of October. I know because like every other child born on the plantation my birth was recorded too. Even as a baby I was seen as a future worker for the master of the plantation. The plantation where my parents worked was not huge. It was a mid-sized plantation and mama told me that when they started working there there were about 60 slaves in the plantation. Mama and Papa were sold to Mr. Jackson when they were quite young and they never got to meet their families after that. When Mama and Papa came to the Jackson household,they were put to work in the house. Mr Jackson had a Tobacco farm then and a huge family. His wife had borne him 10 children and they needed help in the house. Papa was in charge of taking care of Mr. Jackson’s horses and carrying his bags whenever he had to go out. He also had to clean the stables and feed the horses on time. Mama had to help in the kitchen, look after the babies, clean the house and help wash the clothes. Although there were two other slaves in the house, they were older and had been working there for many years. They ensured that mama and papa learnt the job and did it well. Although there were other slaves from the plantation who helped now and then in the house, mama told me that the work was backbreaking and she had to wake up really early and went to sleep only after the rest of the household had gone to sleep. Papa’s work was difficult too. But compared to the slaves who worked on the plantation in the scorching sun, they believed that their life was better off. Mr.Jackson largely ignored them and called out to papa only when he needed to get some work done. Mama though had to be constantly at the beck and call of Mrs. Jackson and the kids. Although the work was hard, they were not abused by Mr.Jackson or any of the family members. Mama tells me this changed when Mr.Jackson’s tobacco farm started yielding less and he could no longer make the kind of money he used to. She says there was a difference in his manner and that of his wife as their income started dwindling. Although there was no affection shown to them, they at least did not get beaten up like the other slaves in the tobacco plantation. But soon the beatings started at home too. Mr. Jackson beat up my father whenever he got drunk and whenever he was in a bad mood. Mam says that the bad mood just kept increasing day by day. As the jacksons fought over everything, mama’s position in the household too deteriorated. She was abused and given a lot more work to do. After a few years of struggling to make money out of the tobacco plantation, Mr.Jackson switched to cotton. He moved from his plantation to another field owned by his father. His father was dead and Mr.Jackson took over his property. This move changed the life of my parents as well.
I remember a few moments when I was a kid and we were free and could play and run around as we pleased. But as soon as I was old enough to carry something I was sent to the Master’s house to work. I missed playing with my sister and brother who were now old enough to do light jobs at the plantation. I was around five when I was taken to Mr.Jackson’s house. It was a frightening experience for me. Although mama had told me how to behave and what I should do at the house, it was still a shock as I was not used to doing any work before this. The first difference I noticed about my house and Mr.Jackson’s house was the size. We lived in a log house that was just big enough to hold the five of us. It had a partition in the middle and the smaller portion was used as a kitchen. We all slept side by side in the night. Mr.Jackson’s house on the other hand had many rooms. There was a living room, a parlour, six bedrooms and numerous other rooms where they kept things. Although most of their kids had grown up, there were five left in the house when I was sent there. In addition to mr.Jackson and his kids, there were also some of his grandchildren who more or less lived there. I was given the task of cleaning the house and doing menial jobs around the house. When I saw kids my age, I thought I could play with them just as I had played with my sister, brother and the other kids in the slave quarters. But this was not to be. Even the kids knew I was not one of them and treated me like a master would treat a slave. The other slaves in the house, four of them, worked hard and also kept telling me to fetch things, clean things or do something so the master wouldn’t catch me idle. They were as scared for me as they were scared for themselves. The house was huge and I was constantly on my feet even though I was a kid. The stories about the master’s cruelty that my mama told and that I overheard from the others were enough to instill fear in me and I did everything I was told. I cried the first day, wanting to be with my sister but was told by anna, the cook that I should not cry and that I should get used to my life here.
That night mama took me in her arms and told me that this was how life was going to be and that I should do as I was told. I was big for my age and learnt quickly on the job. Although I look with envy at the kids in Mr.Jackson's household, I could never become one of them or play with them. Another difference I noticed between their house and my house was the food on the table. We were given our rations every week. There was cornmeal, lard, some meat, molasses, peas, greens, and flour that was given to us every saturday (The Slave Experience, n.d). Mama also had a little garden outside our house where she grew vegetables and greens. We had tomatoes, onions, greens and potatoes from our garden. Although we never starved, there was just enough food for all the five of us. Somedays I have seen my father and mother eat less so we could have more. They always told us that they were too tired to eat and that kids need to have more. It was only later in life that I learnt that my parents sacrificed their food for our sake. The table in Mr. Jackson’s house on the other hand was always full. There were two different kinds of meat everyday and buns and a lot of fruits and vegetables. Although we had vegetables and meat, there were never any fruits in the house. And the first time I saw a fruit I did not know what it was. Anna gave me an apple one day and told me I had to eat it in secret. No one could know that she had given me one of the apples from the master’s kitchen. The apple was juicy and delicious and after I took a few bites I hid it under a tree outside the house as I wanted to give some to my brother and sister. I still remember the night we shared the apple amongst ourselves. It was like a treasure that we had unearthed and we were happy sharing it. As I was working in the house, I also got to eat the leftovers in the kitchen. There was always a little too much left over. We were not allowed to carry anything back home but we could always eat once the master and his family had eaten and retired to their rooms. There were other differences that I noticed during my stay in Mr. Jackson’s house. Especially the clothes. As slaves we were given clothes once in a year. In case of winter we were provided with additional material so we could keep ourselves warm.The Jackson family on the other hand had wonderful clothes of many colors and fabrics. Sundays in the household was like a carnival with everyone dressed up to go to the church. The first five years that I worked there, I did not get into any trouble. I did everything I was asked to and managed to remain on the sidelines. I never spoke unless spoken to and no longer wanted to play with the kids from the house.
But things started to change once I turned ten. One day I came home to see my sister curled up and crying. No one told me what had happened to her. I could see that she was bleeding from her legs and arms and that she was in a lot of pain. After a few days and constant questioning my mother told me that she was whipped by a supervisor. My sister had an active imagination and also had a temper. She was not easily subdued and constantly questioned everything. Although she was a slave and that fact was constantly drilled into her by my mother and the other women, there were times when she was a free spirit and just refused to do as ordered. The day she was whipped, she had been playing instead of working and the supervisor had caught her. Since my sister had refused to apologize and just stood there, she got whipped. The supervisors had a special whip made for just this. It was designed to tear the flesh and cause as much as pain it could. The supervisors picked on women, the weak and the mute because they could not stand up to them. “Such floggings are seldom repeated by the same overseer. They prefer to whip those who are most easily whipped. The old doctrine that submission is the very best cure for outrage and wrong, does not hold good on the slave plantation. He is whipped oftenest, who is whipped easiest; and that slave who has the courage to stand up for himself against the overseer, although he may have many hard stripes at the first, becomes, in the end, a freeman, even though he sustain the formal relation of a slave (Douglass, 1855).” My sister was an easy target because she was a girl, did not shout at them and just took the whippings. Mama said that she never cried in front of the supervisor. She did not want to make him happy. I was angry and told my mother that I would go beat up the supervisor but my mama told me those things do not happen in the plantation and that I had to be careful with my temper. Although I was worried about my sister, I was also too young and naive to do anything about it. But the incident clearly made a mark in my mind. A few months later I also heard about the rapes of slave women by the plantation owners. Rape was a never ending threat for the slave women and a reality they had to live with. If the white owner or any of his friends took a fancy to the slave woman, she had no recourse. Although I was too young then to understand the implications of rape, I realized that it was something very bad.
This was another reason I decided to stay quiet. I did not want to court trouble for me or for my sister. Later on in life I understood that having women in the plantation made a lot of economic sense to the plantation owners. They could work as hard as the men. They kept house. And most importantly they made kids. Having kids while being a slave meant that the kids too were born into slavery. And the owners did not have to pay for this new labor. Just as my siblings and I were forced to work in the house and in the plantation, there were many more. There was free labor to be had as long as there were a lot of women in the plantation. It slowly dawned on me that we were not any more than commodities for them. They bought and sold us like objects and fed us. Clothed us and housed us only as long as we were productive. The plantation was my whole world as long as I lived there. The world I knew consisted of Mr.Jackson’s house, my house and the plantation. We did not go out as a family. We had the occasional meetings with other families when we celebrated births or mourned the loss of a loved one. If the kids lost their childhood in the plantation life, the older people lost their dignity. As soon as they were old and could no longer work, they were left to fend for themselves. The plantation owners had no use for them as supporting them would mean loss of resources for them. Usually these old men and women were taken in by other slave families. The lucky ones were the ones who had kids working in the same plantation. Grandmothers could stay home and take care of the ids and the cooking. Old slaves without kids were often left destitute. We had joshua with us for a few years. He was over sixty when he came to live with us and could no longer work. The beating he had received as a young man had damaged his back. Since he had no kids and nowhere to go, papa took pity on him and he stayed with us. But after two years he left the plantation and I thought I was never going to see him again. I missed him a lot. He had become my only friend in all these years. Joshua was a treasure trove of stories. He was only a baby when his parents were taken away from Africa to be sold in America. He passed on the stories his parents had told him about life in Africa. He taught us a lot of songs that were filled with history, pain and the suffering of the slaves. He was wise and served as my contact with the outside world. He told me stories about freemen and how it was possible for a slave to earn his freedom. Although I did not know how he also managed to get information about the slaves who escaped the plantations and went to the north to live as free men. It was again Joshua who told me about the civil war that was happening in the outside world. I soon started dreaming about the day I would become free and get away from the plantation.
Little did I realize that the day would come soon that I had anticipated. One day mr.jackson took me to the town as he had to carry a lot of bags, This was my first trip outside the plantation and I was fascinated by the sights and so many people on the streets. When Mr. jackson went to the office to finish his deal, I was made to wait outside. Mr.Jackson thought I was not old enough to run away and that I was too scared to talk to other people. It must have been my lucky day or god must have answered my prayers for freedom for I saw Joshua on the street. I was so overjoyed to see him that i was willing to walk away with him right there. He however had other ideas. Joshua said he could help me and my family escape the plantation. I did not know then that he was a part of the underground railroad system. Joshua said that I should act like I never met him and should carry on like nothing happened. He also told me that he would get in touch with us in the coming days. I had turned 15. As soon as I got back to our cabin, I told my parents about my meeting with Joshua. My siblings and I wanted to leave immediately while my parents were worried. They had heard stories about the lynching of slaves who had tried to escape. My mind was made up and I decided to leave. My parents too came around after a while. I think they were worried for my sister’s safety and wanted to go somewhere they would be safe. Joshua kept his promise and sneaked into the plantation one night. He told us we had very little time and had to leave immediately.My mom had already packed the essentials as we were convinced Joshua would come to get us anytime. We left in the dark and walked a long way. It was then that I understood the vast network of the houses and people who would accommodate us on our trek to the north.We however did not get far. When we reached Virginia, we learnt about the Union Army recruiting black soldiers in the civil war. My dad and brother decided to fight for the Union Army. the other freed slaves helped us set up house and I lived with my mother and sister when they went to fight. Life was difficult as my sister and I had to work but we were free and that was all that mattered. We were truly happy for the first time. Mama still worried about Mr.Jackson finding us and taking us back or putting us in jail. She was also worried that he might catch us and kill us. But nothing of that sort happened. The civil war effectively ruined the Southern economy. A lot more slaves escaped plantations and made their way to the north or joined the army. The Union army also helped many slave insurrections. Without the free labor, the plantations began to suffer. It was no longer viable to grow cotton if the owners had to pay the workers. The southerners also lacked the industrial base that the northern states had at their disposal. The Southern lag in industrial development did not result from any inherent economic disadvantages. There was great wealth in the South, but it was primarily tied up in the slave economy. In 1860, the economic value of slaves in the United States exceeded the invested value of all of the nation's railroads, factories, and banks combined. On the eve of the Civil War, cotton prices were at an all-time high (Arrington, n.d). But high prices were not enough for the southern economy as the northern states were producing far more with their mechanized equipments. The shaky economy of the South during the war nearly collapsed as the labor force diminished and the free states encouraged former slaves to move in.
Although I had dreamt of becoming free for a long time. I did not realize that it would happen so soon and fast. Our escape came at a time when the movement against slavery was getting stronger. The underground railroad was also well established. Joshua was our savior and we were extremely lucky to have escaped without any difficulty. Mama became a seamstress, my sister got married to a free man and later moved to New York. I started helping out at the local methodist church where I eventually learnt how to read and write. And that was fifteen years of my slave life. I saw suffering and I knew what it was not to have freedom. I also saw firsthand the economic collapse of the south because theirs was a labor intensive economy and had not industrialized as the north had done.
Works Cited
Arrington. T. Benjamin. “Industry and Economy during the Civil War”. National Park Service. N.d Web. 22 Mar 2016.
Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom. London: Partridge and Oakey.1855.
“The Slave Experience: Living Conditions.” PBS. n.d Web. 22 Mar 2016.
