Wednesday, December 27, 2017

The Personal Story Behind A Slavery Biography

By Roger Wagner


When writing about any historic period, it can often be difficult. Nothing could be more true than when writing a slavery biography. For, while there have been a number of letters found which were written by slaves, only a few actual biographical stories exist. As a result, there are only a few of these stories which are now referenced when teaching or studying the time period.

There are not many biographies written by actual slaves though some personal letters have been discovered and published. Although, there is one biography in which many professors, teachers and scholars agree shows an accurate account of the times. The biography, written by Reverend Charles Thompson describes in detail the experiences the man had has a young boy and young adult in the slave trade. In fact, many compare the book to a front row seat when it comes to learning and viewing the history of the slave trade.

Born into slavery, Charles has a great number of stories to tell. In most cases, the stories refer to experiences the boy had with an owner. The slave master and owner, Mr. Kirkwood owned multiple slaves and plantations. As such, when the owner passed away, the slaves were separated in an attempt to avoid escape and rebellion.

Left alone on the Kirkwood plantation, Charles began to work on the plantation as a young boy. Then, when Mr. Kirkwood died when boy was only 9, the slaves were separated in fear of an attempted escape and rebellion due to the number of slaves Kirkwood owned on multiple plantations. As such, once an adult Charles was hired out to a number of different plantations by different owners who would pay the highest price.

The stories of the uncle and the author are closely shadowed in a film called Django Unchained, and a mini-series which first aired in the 1970s called Roots, by historian and filmmaker Alex Hailey. Both of these stories portray slavery in a truer light than others. As such, while difficult to watch, it is an important story that needs to be told again and again throughout history.

When it comes to the history of the time, it is a sad and true tale of abuse, ownership, rape, violence and torture. In most cases, slaves were considered personal property who could be bought and sold as desired. While there were entire families sold into slavery, individual members were often sold off to other plantations. As a result, many families were broken up and were never able to reunite.

Many young mothers at the time had babies taken from their arms so the mothers could be sold to work on plantations and cotton picking farms. In almost all cases, those mothers never saw the babies again. For, most often, the babies were sold to wives of plantation owners whom either wanted and could not have children, or to work as servants once old enough to do so.

It is sad to think that many individuals living today, Black, White or otherwise may have been the descendants of slaves whom were raped and tortured by slave owners and masters. While this is the case, many are learning of these connections through current DNA testing. In many cases, the individuals and families can handle the news while it can tear others apart.




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