Living conditions of slaves in the nineteenth century
During the nineteenth century slavery and the difference in thoughts on whether it had to be abolished or unleashed a great controversy. In that century, blacks had no rights, they were treated as objects, the living conditions of the slaves were dramatic, they suffered mistreatment daily and were considered inferior beings without the right to have an opinion or their own decisions. They were sold to their masters and had to obey their orders (National Geographic, 2018).
There were different points of view about this event and as we can see in some primary sources such as Mary Prince’s with her first impression in 1831, she is a slave of West India. She tells us her life in a novel that she wrote for herself. She came from a family of slaves was born in Brackish-Pond, in Bermuda, she tells her story and describes the daily life of a slave.
She tells that she had 5 different owners in her life, her mother worked as a domestic slave at the home of the Williams and Mary was the game partner of the master’s daughter. She explains in her novel that it was the happiest moment of her life, since she was innocent and did not understand her condition, then she was put on sale for 57 pounds Captain John Inghamla bought, and due to excessive torture she escaped and He housed with his mother, then was sent by a negrero ship, and years later he suffers from rheumats, an illness that incapacitates her to work, however he met Daniel with whom he married. (López, 2018).
Prince’s life after the publication of his book is not well known and nowhere is it if she returned to Antigua with her husband as was her desire. She knows that she remained in England until at least 1833, when she testified in the two cases of defamation and the law of abolition of slavery was approved, which entered into force in August 1834.
Mary Prince concludes her book like this:
This is slavery. I tell him to let the English know the truth; And I hope you never stop praying to God and call the great king of England aloud, until all poor blacks are released, and slavery eliminated forever (Prince, 1831).
Moses Grandy was a slave who was born in Camden County, in North Carolina. He also gives us his point of view, he wrote a text and at the time of writing it he was 56 years old or at least what he believed. He was the youngest of his four brothers who were sold as slaves just like him. The author begins by giving a small introduction to his life, his name, the place where he was born, his family, etc. He briefly tells us how his life was as a slave, he mentions his brothers and how he was losing them, he also mentions the people who sold him and especially the abuse which suffered day by day, also describes the feelings he felt day after day and tells what was happening as a slave and the abuses he was facing. The statements that the author mentions are that he was a slave during the 19th century and that he was mistreated as well as his brothers and that slavery was a very strong process for which they had to pass (Grandy, 1994).
Surely when we hear humans, we think that it is wrong and that it is an inhuman act, no one should suffer this abuse in addition to the fact that we should all have the same rights. This makes us think of the bad conditions through which these people were going through, however, there were different opinions on this issue, for example, the southern civilization, the estates had points of view in favor of slavery, they considered blacks as a lower race Without rights, and a clear example of them the ads published in the newspapers that sold to the blacks as if they were objects (Montagut, 2018).
However there were different currents of thought even among slaves. This is an interview conducted by the Federal Writer’s Project to the former slave Felix Haywood in 1941,
“There was no reason to flee to the north, all we had to do was walk, but walk south, where we would get freedom as soon as we cross the Rio Grande [Bravo]. In Mexico, freedom could be obtained, they didn’t care about what color your skin was, black, white, yellow or blue. In fact, hundreds of slaves fled to Mexico and they went well. We knew of them and that Mexicans became. They raised their children to speak only Mexican ”(Díaz, 2019).
In conclusion, even if they were slaves, they had another perspective on this bond.
References
- López, a. (2018, October 1). Mary Prince, the first black slave who wrote her autobiography. Retrieved November 21, 2019, from https: // elpais.com/culture/2018/10/01/current/1538375550_039677.HTML
- National Geographic. (2018, March 9). Slaves, human trafficking through the Atlantic. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https: // www.Nationalgeographic.com.es/history/great-repair/slaves_8681/2
- Moses, g. (1997). My name is Moses Grandy.. Retrieved November 15, 2019, from https: // Unesdoc.UNESCO.ork/ark:/48223/pf0000098437_spa
- Montagut, e. (2018, July 7). Slavery in the United States. Retrieved November 15, 2019, from https: // www.Nuevatribuna.ES/ARTICLE/HISTORY/SLAVITUDE-STADOS-LINCOLN-SCLAVOS-RACHOSHANMANOS-EEU-DDHH-COLONIZATION-AFRICA/20180705114422153649.HTML
- Prince, m. (1831). Mary Prince. The History of Mary Prince, to West Indian Slave. Related by herself. With a supplement by the editor. To which is added, The Narrative of Asa-Asa, A Captured African.. Retrieved November 15, 2019, from https: // docsouth.UNC.Edu/Neh/Prince/Prince.HTML
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