Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Go Online For Slavery Biography Sites

By Laura Carter


Slavery has been a part of human history almost as long as people have existed. The stories of slaves who influenced their times make fascinating reading. In America, we think of enslaved blacks, but we actually are familiar with slaves from all over the world. Reading slavery biography online is a good way to learn about important events and people.

When it comes to biographies, the internet is a great resource. There are sites devoted to the life stories of people, many of whom are known through their autobiographies or through stories about them recorded by newspapers or historians. Researching significant periods in history by interviewing those who lived through them has been popular with students and social scientists.

In ancient Greece, Aesop, who wrote the celebrated Fables, was a slave. A renowned gladiator named Spartacus led his fellow slaves in an unsuccessful uprising against their Roman masters. Patrick, an English boy, was captured by raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland. He escaped back to England, returned to Ireland as a missionary, famously defeated a dragon, and became the country's patron saint.

Moses, who led the descendants of Abraham out of Egyptian slavery and who wrote much of the bible, was born a slave. He was raised as a son in Pharaoh's household, but later escaped arrest for murder by fleeing to the wilderness, where he became a shepherd. When he returned, he freed his people under God's direction. Moses' biography is the Bible.

The internet is a great resource for brief accounts of famous slaves. If more in-depth study is desired, the sites can point you toward autobiographies, news reports, contemporary mentions, or entire biographies. Many slaves are known by their own writings or speeches, some by their actions during war time, and some by notorious trials.

Notorious trials have involved slaves. Margaret Garner and her husband and family tried to escape to the north, but they were tracked down. Before the arresting party could stop her, this woman killed her baby daughter and wounded her other children, trying to kill them, too, rather than have them returned to slavery. A youngster named Celia was tried for the murder of her master; the teenager was rebelling against repeated sexual abuse. Dred Scott sued for his and his family's freedom. All of these trials highlighted the horrors of the slave system.

There are books based on true events that tell of settlers along the frontier captured and enslaved by Indians. Ann Calhoun was a white girl captured by the Cherokee at age 4 who spent three years as a slave, being fairly kindly treated. Tales of dramatic escapes and harrowing rescues are part of American folklore and history.

Speeches like Sojourner Truth's dramatic and poignant 'Ain't I A Woman' - the basis for a book and later a movie - as well as autobiographies and biographies make history come alive. Start with the writings of Frederick Douglas, an escaped slave who fought for women's rights and fair treatment of immigrants as well as for an end to slavery.




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