INTERPRETATIONS OF SLAVERY

Slavery is known to have existed as early as the 18th century B.C. during the Shang Dynasty of China. Slavery was widely practiced in many other countries, including, Korea, India, Greece, Mexico and Africa. (Britannica 288-89). When most people consider slavery, however, they think of Western slavery in North America because it is well documented and it was such a horrible institution. Even though there is no one definition of slavery, the people who study it (historians, anthropologists and sociologists) agree that certain characteristics are present in all forms of slavery. Slaves were property and objects, not subjects of the law. Slaves had few rights, always fewer than their owners. Slave were also limited to few social activities and were not allowed to participate in political decisions. Finally, any earnings aquired by slaves by law belonged to their master. Also, slaves were prevented from making their own choices regarding physical reproduction. Western slavery took each of these slave characteristics to a new level and as a result there are many authors who wrote about the evil institution of slavery in the Colonies.

American literature is full of authors who describe, condone or oppose slavery, the most informative and influential of whom were Black writers because many were able to give a personal perspective on slavery. These Black writers had to struggle to be accepted as literary writers before they could get their message across. "The tradition of black writing in the United States is, in many ways, a history of attempts at literary liberation from racism-attempts to articulate in a specifically black context the characteristic American themes of freedom and self-determination" (Britannica 70). Lucy Terry was the first known black writer in the United States (1730-1821) . Terry was one, among a number of slaves, who was encouraged by their masters to compose and publish literature, as long as it was written in the accepted format and on accepted topics. These early slave-poets did not write on the abolition of slavery, or show any anger toward their white masters. After the Revolutionary War, people became more vocal about wanting slavery to end. In the 1830's and 1840's, there were large numbers of slave narratives written and printed. These narratives described how bad slavery was as well as the author's personal experiences and tragedies. Three very influential slave narratives were written by Gustavas Vassa, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs. Vassa wrote in an earlier period so his writing was not openly hostile toward slavery. Instead, he carefully called for an end to slavery by comparing African slavery to Western slavery. Frederick Douglass wrote his narrative in 1845 and attempted to make clear that the slavery issue was a test of American Democracy. He wanted people to question the fact that not everyone had equal opportunity and freedom. Finally, Harriet Jacobs, wrote from a feminist perspective. She brought up the struggles and problems that were unique for black women in their fight for freedom. These three writers are still important and influential because they all had personal experiences with slavery and worked hard to get their message across for an end to slavery.

One of the earliest slave narratives to describe in depth the cruelties and barbarousness of the Western slave societies was Olaudah Equiano's work, The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African. This work was first published in England in 1789, long before many other well-known slave narratives. Equiano's narrative presents a strong view refuting the ideas and norms of the institution of slavery especially as it was practiced in the Western countries of Britain, the United States and the West Indies. This narrative was presented at a time when, according to Angelo Costanzo, author of Surprising Narrative, Olaudah Equiano and the Beginnings of the Black Autobiography, it added to the heat of the debate at the height of the anti-slavery movement in Britain. (Costanzo 42). Equiano, in his narrative, describes his life journey from being kidnapped from his native African village to his eventual arrival at the Atlantic Coast where he began the Middle Passage in the cargo hold of a slave ship. The narrative tells Equiano's entire story up through his activities after gaining his freedom in 1766. As stated by Sondra O'Neale, "He speaks with the rare and knowledgeable voice of one who is not only a former slave but who has viewed the institution from various geographical and experimental perspectives first hand-a qualified and reliable witness to speak for some fifty million Africans who were conscripted to build a world that was hostile to their survival." (O'Neale 153). Equiano's work is especially important because of the bicultural perspective from which he examines the western institution of slavery. Using this perspective he points out the differing natures of Western and African slavery.

Although Equiano expresses a strong dislike for all slavery he describes the dehumanizing nature of Western slavery as being particularly harmful both to individuals and to the African race as a whole. Equiano gives a detailed account of the politics and society of his native land. Born in the interior of Nigeria to a people known as the Ibo, Equiano led a life of high status. The Ibo society did engage in slaveholding, the typical slave being a criminal, adulteress or prisoner. Of slavery in the African society Equiano says, "Those prisoners who were not sold or redeemed were kept as slaves: but how different was their condition from that of the slaves of the West Indies! With us they do no more work than other members of the community, than even their master; their food, clothing and lodging were nearly the same as theirs, except that they were not permitted to eat with those who were freeborn; there was scarcely any other difference between them than a superior degree of importance,…Some of these slaves have even slaves under them, as their own property, and for their own use. (Equiano 19). Equiano contrasts this notion of slavery with the Western treatment of slaves which he describes as being dehumanizing and cruel. Equiano uses this contrast to depict the barbarous nature of Western civilization. This view is in many senses ironic because throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, white imperialists referred to the Africans as barbarians. Equiano's comparison of his observances and experiences in Western slavery as opposed to the treatment of African slaves shows the cruelty of Western slavery from a bicultural viewpoint.

Another point Equiano finds disturbing about the Western form of slavery is the mistreatment of African woman slaves by white masters, and the subsequent enslavement of their mulatto children. Equiano describes his African society as one where chastity was strongly valued for all women, including the slaves. The pledge of marriage was also considered an unbreakable promise leading to strict punishments for female adultery despite the allowance of polygamy on the part of males. All children of these polygamous males are treated equally. (Equiano 13, 17). Equiano speaks with awe and disgust of the rape of African women and the mistreatment of their mulatto children as evidence of the grotesque Western form of slavery. According to Costanzo, Equiano's mention of miscegenation is meant to disgust the white audience of his time as well as point out that it is wrong to enslave blacks not only because they are human but also because their blood is mixed with that of whites. (Costanzo 90).

This contrast between an African slave society and Western slave society is rarely seen in narrative form. Equiano's worldly understanding and quick grasp of western ideas and cultural norms allowed him to present this fairly unusual standpoint. Throughout his narrative Equiano looks at the Western form of slavery as ridiculous in comparison with many Western beliefs and as a horror that must be stopped.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is a true story written by Harriet Jacobs. This story was published in Boston in 1861, during a time when slavery was still a strong institution in the South and the North was not yet united in its opinion that slavery should be abolished. Her purpose in writing and publishing her experiences was to send a message to all people, black and white, free and slave, that slavery was an evil institution and that there were many people suffering and dying because of it. "I have not written my experiences in order to attract attention to myself…I do earnestly desire to arouse the women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women at the South, still in bondage, suffering what I suffered, and most of them far worse" (Jacobs 335). Amy Post, a friend of Jacobs' and a member of the Society of Friends in the State of New York, was the person who finally convinced Jacobs to write her story. "I felt it would arouse people to a more earnest work for the disinthralment of millions still remaining in that soul-crushing condition, which was so unendurable for her" (Jacobs 514). Harriet Jacobs' work focuses on the struggles of black women during slavery, based upon her own experiences. In her narrative, Harriet Jacobs described the lack of control that all slaves, especially women, were experiencing. Specifically, she pointed out that sexuality, which was, in most cases, considered a good quality, became a bad thing for black women who were not free. They were victims to the sexual predators that came with slavery, their masters. This made sexual virtue, which was a prized quality, impossible for these women. In addition to the themes of sexuality and sexual virtue, Jacobs argued that true freedom, not just physical freedom, was the most devastating thing that slavery took from all slaves, even the ones whose freedom was "bought".

Harriet Jacobs was born and raised in slavery and stayed there for twenty-seven years of her life. During that time, she had several experiences involving the relationship between sexuality and sexual virtue. In her narrative, one of her main messages was that slavery created a relationship between the white masters as predators and the black female slaves as their victims. This relationship, according to Jacobs, usually resulted in the loss of sexual virtue for the female slave but really, it was just part of the bigger plan to take away all forms of freedom from slaves, even moral freedom. Harriet Jacobs described these women as individuals unable to control what was going on around them, not only because they were property, but because they had the ability to produce more human property for their master. In other words, their sexuality was also part of their bondage. "Women are considered of no value, unless they continually increase their owner's stock. They are put on a par with animals" (Jacobs 380). Harriet Jacobs argued that, due to the way that sexuality was treated, sexual virtue was impossible for female slaves. She made it clear that sexual virtue was important to these women because it was supposed to be a choice that they made with the man that they chose. She said that slavery took away these choices. "[The female slave]…is not allowed to have any pride of character, its deemed a crime in her [by her master] to wish to be virtuous" (Jacobs 363). Jacobs decided that she would not let her master take her sexual virtue but instead, would lose it through her own choice by sleeping with another man. This turned out to be no less painful because she had still lost the one thing that she felt she had owned - her sexual virtue. At that point in her struggle, Harriet Jacobs began to realize that the real cruelty of slavery was not that it took what she believed to be her virtue, but that it took her freedom in all forms. She realized that virtue was still possible, but only if she could obtain her freedom on her own terms.

Freedom is the most important theme in Jacobs' narrative because she came to the realization that physical freedom is the very least of all the things that slavery took from them. She showed the reader how those in captivity redefined freedom as something more than just being "let go" within the existing system and by doing so, gave themselves a chance to have virtue and dignity again. Slavery put a lock on that standard that she tried to set for herself. As long as it existed, it still dictated how, when and under what circumstances black men and women would be released. Jacobs realized that that was not true freedom. Originally, Jacobs thought that freedom was about not being owned or controlled by a master. She was willing to be bought by her grandmother, brother, friend, or anyone else. It didn't matter, as long as she was legally free. She came to realize, however, that she wanted to reach freedom on her own and that bought freedom, by anyone, meant that she was still lacking true freedom. For instance, after she escaped to New York, she thought that she had finally gained her freedom, but when the fugitive slave law was passed, she realized she was still a slave. As a result of this, her friend bought her freedom, with no intention of making her a slave. Jacobs, after all of her struggles to reach this state, was unhappy. She wrote, "…the freedom I had before the money was paid was dearer to me. God gave me that freedom; but man put God's image in the scales with the paltry sum of three hundred dollars. I served for my liberty…but I was robbed of my victory; I was obliged to resign my crown, to rid myself of a tyrant" (Jacobs 515). This point is key in Jacob's narrative, that true freedom can only be had (for all) with the abolition of laws that call for one person to serve another - slavery. This was the realization that drove Harriet Jacobs to write and publish her narrative. "It is a sad illustration of the condition of this country, which boasts of its civilization, while it sanctions laws and customs which make the experiences of the present more strange than any fictions of the past" (Jacobs 515). Her voice was a powerful one because it painfully shows the unique struggles of the black female trapped in slavery. Jacobs used these experiences to strengthen herself, to provide evidence of the horrifying aspects of slavery and most importantly, as a call to all, especially women, for its abolition.

Fredrick Douglass is a very well known African American writer. Having experienced slavery throughout his life, he had many views not just as an African American but also as a man. In order to obtain freedom, Douglass sought knowledge through literature in the overall motive to gain knowledge. Freedom to Douglass meant more to him than just a piece of paper that signified freedom or gave freedom to the American slave "legally". Knowledge equaled freedom according to Douglass. Being a slave, Douglass had to be very cautious in obtaining his literary freedom. At some points of his life when Douglass first began his journey to this literary freedom, he viewed knowledge as a curse. Douglass states, "that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come…", "…as I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing." (Douglass 279). He learned things about slavery that he was not aware of. He learned of the wrongs of the institution of slavery in its entirety. This newfound knowledge made him extremely upset not totally with the proprietors of slavery but the institution itself. With this knowledge he gained new insight and it hurt him deeply to know all that he knew. As time went on, Douglass could not do without his literacy and sought out to show "the way" to freedom to others who were in the struggle just as he had learned it.

In order to obtain freedom, Douglass not only needed to gain knowledge but, as a slave, he also had to prove that he was a man and not just a slave. Slaves were only seen as property and not as human beings. "I was immediately sent for, to be valued with the other property." (Douglass 281) Douglass was confronted with many battles that questioned his manhood. In his narrative, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he had an altercation with a strict overseer named Edward Covey who was known for "breaking" young slaves. In this battle with Covey, Douglass retaliated against the blows of the overseer with stronger, fiercer ones. This sort of behavior was forbidden between slaves and their overseers because if a slave disobeyed his master by retaliation that slave would be beaten. If the slave survived the severe beating, he was sure to be killed or sold. Frederick Douglass was neither sold nor killed but gained freedom through the altercation. The battle with Covey helped him regain his dignity as a man and not as a piece of property. Douglass says, " You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." (Douglass 294) Douglass gained great esteem from his triumph over Covey which enabled him to revive his manhood, Douglass says, " This battle with Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave It rekindled a few expiring embers of freedom and revived within me a sense of my own manhood… it recalled the departed self-confidence and inspired me again with a determination to be free." (Douglass 298)

In his writings, Frederick Douglass uses a persuasive speech referred to as rhetoric as used in his narrative, Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass. This type of speech is used to elicit a nonverbal response from the audience that it is addressed to whether it is positive or negative. Some authors use rhetoric to make his/her audience to make an audience feel guilty about a situation at hand. Douglass used rhetoric to persuade his audience to feel exactly what he going through and how he was not only enslaved in body, but also in mind. Douglass uses very poetic and vivid interpretations of language. His writings may urge the reader to reach out and try to help the situation.

Often in Douglass' writing he speaks of his freedom as though it is very close at hand, even though it probably would not be so near at that time. Anytime Douglass was alone or perhaps after he was punished unjustly, he would often dream of freedom in order to escape his present condition of slavery. He would speak of what he would do once he gained his freedom. This of course was very idealistic of Douglass being that he was anchored in the condition of slavery.

Although Douglass shares many things with his reader or audience, he does not discuss many experiences that played a significant role in his life. He does not discuss many aspects of his life in bondage, nor does he discuss his marriage. Linda Brent (Harriet Jacobs), the author of one of the first female accounts of slavery, displayed similar editing tactics in her narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Because the author left out this information, the audience can only conjecture that the incidents were insignificant to the purpose of the author and his/her narrative. To the author, the narrative had achieved its goal on effecting the audience without the information.

Slavery was an evil institution, anyone who was a victim of it became focused on becoming free of it. Black American writers, for the most part, wrote to let others know how horrible slavery was and to call for an end to it. "The slave narrative usually told the story of the former slave's growing horror of his condition, escape to the free North, and reflections on the brutality and inhumanity of the slave system" (Colliers, 70). Writing and publishing this information, however, was not as simple as just condemning slavery and asking people to end it. Black authors had first, to be accepted as writers. Many of them had no place in literature and were forced to make that place for themselves before they could talk about slavery. In addition, black writers could not just come out and say that slavery should end because they would have been hung or beaten. Not all of society supported the abolition of slavery. That is why writers such as Gustavas Vassa, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass were so important. They all experienced slavery and took a chance by putting their experiences in writing to try to help others still in captivity. Also, their writing tried to point out that the government was supposed to give everyone equal rights, but not everyone had these rights. These writers knew how it felt to be a slave and they were fighting for freedom, knowing that it is one of the most important rights to have.

Although slavery legally ended many years ago, it is not really over. The legacy of slavery still lives on. On November 12, 1998, Oprah Winfrey televised two families who were related because they were both descendants of the same master - the President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. One man did not want to believe that he was related to the other family. He was white and the other family was black.

"American Literature." Collier's Encyclopedia. 1996 ed.

Brent, Linda. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Penguin Group Publishing, New York, 1987.

Costanzo, Angelo. Surprizing Narrative, Olaudah Equiano and the Beginnings of the Black Autobiography, New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Penguin Group Publishing, New York, 1987.

Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Penguin Group Publishing, New York, 1987.

Hughes, Langston, Milton Meltzon. A Pictorial History of the Negro and America, New York: Crown, 1968.

O'Neale Sondra. "Olaudah Equiano," Dictionary of Literary Biography, American Writers of the Early Republic, ed. Emory Elliot. Vol 37. Princeton: Bruccoli, Clark and Layman Book, 1985.

"Slavery." The New Encyclopedia Britannica. 1995 ed.