Blog #5

Textbook


1. What were the implications of the system of slavery for southern white and black women?


The implications of the system of slavery for white and black women in the south were that the white women considered themselves as slaves. They considered themselves as slaves because unlike their husbands, who hired other people to manage their slaves. They had to oversee to the house and the slaves that worked in the house. The black women slaves had to actually do all the work. They either worked in the fields or in the main house. They were often beat, abused to do the work the way their owner wanted them to. The white women could not make themselves to abuse the black women slaves, because at the time it was not proper for a white woman to be violent or near violence, so they would ask their husbands, brothers, or fathers to do the abusing for them.




2. What is the significance of the story of Harriet Jacobs for our understanding of slave women’s experiences? (pp. 166-167 "Trials of Girlhood")


The significance of Harriet Jacobs story is to show people how because of their captivity and their masters, young girls are made to learn about evil at a very young age. That even if they had no choice to become their owners mistress, the owners wives would blame them, be even meaner and abusive because they are jealous. This showed that if you were a slave woman and that you were considered beautiful then you were not going to have even the least amount of good life that other slaves had. Because you would be raped by your owner and your owner's wife will punish you for sleeping with her husband. You would think that the owner's wife will understand that it is not the slave's fault but her husband's fault. That instead of getting angry at the slave she should be angry at her husband. But then during those times a women had no right to get angry at her husband no matter what. So it is understandable how she would get her anger out on the slave, even though it is wrong.




Textbook document


1. How did characters characters in these two accounts reject and resist the assumptions about black people fundamental to the slave system? On what personal resources did they draw to make their challenges?


The characters in these two accounts rejected and resisted the assumptions about black people by telling their stories. The first story was told by William Craft. Now instead of dictating his story to an interviewer he waited til he can write it on his own. Well during this time slaves were not allowed to know how to read or write. This showed that black men and women did know how to read and write. Also that they can learn to read and write. The second story was told by Polly Shine but not written by her. She was ninety years old when she did an interview about her life. The first story was about William and Ellen Craft escaping the south. The second story was about Polly Shine telling about a couple who was in love but was not allowed to be together.




2. Both of these stories were written after the fact: the Crafts’ ten years following the emancipation and Polly Shine’s after about seven decades. Evaluate the role memory plays in these accounts, and consider the ways in which it distorts or possibly authenticates the narrator’s experiences.


The role of memory plays a big part in these accounts. The Crafts memory is of them experiencing their escape. It helps them describe what they saw, and experienced while they were escaping from the south. Memory plays a big part in Polly Shine's story, because she was telling the interviewer about what she saw at the plantation. Also about what her parents told her. All these came from their memories. It mainly authenticates their experiences, because they themselves experienced it. With the Crafts it was their escape. With Shine it was her life as a slave. With Shine her recalling of the story about the couple that her parents told her might have changed a little through time. That is normal because when a story is being told to someone then that someone tells it to someone else things will be changed, exaggerated.