“Slavery”: A Sample Essay For Inspiration & Mimicking

Anderson, J. “Letter from a Freedman to his Old Master,” New York Daily Tribune, 22 August 1865, p. 7.
After the Civil War, numerous former slave owners tried to contact their slaves and convince them to return and work on the plantation as tenant farmers. In 1865, Jourdan Anderson received such invitation and decided to write a letter back to his former master where he explains the terms on which the ex-slave would return. At that time, Jourdan was residing in Ohio, working on a decent job, free and quite independent. Anderson writes a remarkable and brilliant letter, which reveals various injustices suffered by slaves from their white masters. The man challenges several absurd promises made by his former master who tries to entice the whole family back. Besides, he also depicts the tragic circumstances of their lives while living as someone’s property.
In general, the letter is written in a witty and powerful style; however, numerous critics express skepticism over its authenticity. Indeed, the letter is perceived as too eloquent and perfect for an illiterate ex-slave. Nevertheless, it has been proved that Anderson dictated his thoughts, and another person could have edited something. The letter is written with sarcasm because Anderson does not understand how his old master could have seriously thought that the ex-slave would voluntarily come back to serve him again. Jourdan begins his letter by thanking his old master and jokes, “Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living” (Anderson 1865: 7). Anderson also asks his former master to compensate for fifty-two years of servitude, “ We have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you our earnings would amount to 11680$Please send the money by Adams’s Express, in the care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio” (Anderson 1865: 7). The sarcastic manner of this passage can mislead the reader and demonstrate the author’s simplicity and naivety; however, it proves that the ex-slave was a witty and sincere person with a keen sense of justice.
During the years of emancipation, blacks demonstrated a keen appreciation of their newfound freedom. Their desire to have control over their lives, demands to have better working and living conditions, and strong eagerness to get the education were specific reactions of people who had been deprived these rights during their lifetimes. Clearly, blacks wanted to establish themselves as individuals and independent families, and the following passage from the letter proves it, “Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be my advantage to move back again” (Anderson 1865: 7). Obviously, former slaves never liked to be under the control of their masters because they were constantly threatened, intimidated, and beaten. Besides, there was no mutual trust and understanding, that is why Anderson asks his master to send money for his past service. This request may seem too brave and defiant; however, the letter demonstrates that ex-slaves tried to act with diplomacy. Anderson cannot be blamed for being too cautious because he understands that his family’s safety and well-being are extremely important in the country where everything is quite dangerous for the newly freed. Anderson writes, “As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville” (Anderson 1865: 7). Although slavery was abolished, ex-slaves were afraid of losing freedom again and being trapped in another system.
Blackett, R. J. M. “Making Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery.” University of North Carolina Press, 2013.
“Making Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery” is written by R.J.M. Blackett in 2013. In the book, the author demonstrates how fugitive slaves and their supporters tried to make slavery an issue in national politics. Blackett states the purpose of his book in the preface, “The new studies assess the work of the slaves themselves in affecting their own freedom” (Blackett 2013: 1) and “My marching orders were simple enough: reevaluate the Underground Railroad” (Blackett 2013: XI). Thus, the author argues that slaves initiated their self-emancipation movement, and the Underground Railroad was the major consequence of that impulse because of the underground movement. The author explores the role of black communities in protecting fugitives in Pennsylvania in the 1850s and focuses on specific cases of the “subversives” who went south to encourage other slaves to escape. Drawing on this insight, he also uses this state as a test case to study various responses to the 1850 Fugitive State Law. I found this book particularly interesting and captivating because Blackett presents vivid examples of escapes, both tragic and successful ones, as well as an illuminating depiction of slave catching and kidnapping of freed slaves in Pennsylvania.
O'Donovan, Susan E. “Becoming Free in the Cotton South.” Harvard University Press, 2007.
O’Donovan presents a masterful overview of the lives of blacks in southwestern Georgia from 1820 to 1868. The book demonstrates the development of the cotton industry in this region during the early stages of emancipation and almost every aspect of the slaves’ daily lives, communication with their masters, and the consequences of the Civil War. The author examines how the process of emancipation affected black men, children, and women in a different way. O’Donovan begins her work with the phrase, “This book is about a small place and big questions” (O’Donovan 2007: 1). Indeed, the woman focuses on the peculiarities of the regime of slavery in southwest Georgia imposed on black slaves by profit-conscious and cruel planters and the issues of gender. The book is quite interesting and informative on the issue of the nature of freed women’s work and their position in families. O’Donovan also emphasizes the fact that black freedom was hollow and meaningless without material underpinning. Freedmen and women aspired to have their own land, educate their children, and lead a normal life, and this soon became a reality because, in tense negotiations with their old masters, they tended to reach various agreements for their families.