Essay Sample on African American Slave History

Introduction

American slave history has been narrated in different traditional literature and traditional sources. The narrative of African-American Slave Songs in America gives a clear literature of the role that Douglas and the anti-slave crusaders played during the struggle for freedom before 1865. Douglas wrote various song lyrics to motivate and inspire the people to rally their anti-slave campaigns in the United States before 1865. According to the narrative, the slaves would sing when they were most unhappy to represent the sorrows of their hearts. The songs would also help the slaves to relieve the pains and agony that they were facing in the hands of the masters. The narrative highlights how important the slave songs became in inspiring the slaves and their advocates during the struggle for liberation. It also narrates how the print media culture helped in the anti-slavery campaign and the revolution that led to the ultimate liberation in 1865, when slavery was abolished officially by the 13th amendment.

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The body of work that this literature represents what can be said to be the slavery rebellion. These literature collections handle some of the best ways that slavery was brought to an end through songs and other sources of motivations. The assertion is based on the fact that the work is basically addressing how the ring leaders who were against slavery were able to manipulate themselves in different ways to come with the best means of ending slavery. The author on the other hand represented the anti-slavery champions who were promoting the anti-slavery campaign through various means.

According to the Bedford Sources (The African-American Slave Songs narrative by Fredrick Douglas), the African-American slave songs portrayed a strong message that many oppressors were not able to interpret. They acted as an expression of truth in an environment that was precarious and hopeless. According to the slaves, they had to keep mounting a spirited fight against slavery, and the songs provided one of the most effective ways to keep the spirits and hope alive

According to Douglas, the Africans in slavery were never given time to converge together and discuss their cruel experiences in the hands of the masters. It was not easy for them to express their agony of the evil society that hosted them. Through the use of long, deep, and loud tones they could breathe the prayer and hope of ultimate liberation. According to the slaves, the many songs that they used to sing were pleas to secure freedom. The freedom for them was to come out of the North and die, since death to them was a symbol of freedom from the bitter servitude.

The author of the songs narrative (Fredrick Douglas) gives a confessional account of himself as a former slave who was separated from his family into servitude in Baltimore. He expresses how painful it was to be separated from his mother at a young age, and never developed any bond with his mother again. In 1838, Douglas escaped from slavery and travelled to New York to join another slavery abolitionist David Ruggles. He later started to join the abolitionist movement in New Bedford and became an anti-slavery advocate. He implemented the writings of William Lloyd Garrison, who was a staunch media professional and an anti-slavery crusader. Garrison later encouraged Douglas to become the speaker of the movement. Together with other abortionist crusaders, Douglas mobilized women and other anti-slavery abolitionists to participate in public demonstrations while singing the spirited anti-slavery songs as a source of motivation. The songs made the rebellions more powerful and influential. Despite being assaulted severally by those who were opposed to the abolition of slavery, he never gave up his calls to end slavery.

In 1848, Douglas joined the popular Seneca Falls Convention together with women activists. He used the opportunity to castigate the civil government over its pro-slavery practices. Later through the support of print media professionals, Douglas managed to form a bigger movement that compelled the government to dialogue on how best to abolish slavery. By 1865, there came the national discussions and a national agreement to abolish slavery in the entire United States. The ultimate amendment of section 13 of the constitution ushered the end of slavery.

Slavery had been legally practiced in America from the early colonial days by all the thirteen colonies around the time of the declaration of independence in 1776. Even after independence, the culture and practice continued in more than half the States of America until 1865 when the 13th Amendment nationally prohibited it. The Confessions of Nat Turner by Thomas Gray provide a reliable resource that describes the early U.S slave narrative until the time of its abolition in the year 1865. The reason why I chose the confessions of Nat Turner is that his narrative gives a clear picture of bravery and the determination to change the slavery mentality during the pre-colonial period.

The work is entirely on the American slave trade that took place in the early 1800s before the abolishment. The author represented the slave rebellion. That is, the author was not in any-way supporting the slavery that made him to do a lot of work on the anti-slavery with a mission of clearing slavery crisis in the United States. In addition, the author was able to identify some of the great means that was used by Turner in his quest to end slavery. The body of work that this work represent is the anti-slavery collection. The part of literature that explores slavery and the many ways that was used to fight slavery through the view of different authors.

The resource gives an overview of the American historical tradition. The slave narrative is one of the most significant traditions in the American literature, which gives specific shaping forms and lessons of the most historically celebrated writings. Even though a lot of the American slave narrative work were done by people of the African descent, it is also imperative to note that Muslims who were African born, Juan Manzano Francisco the Cuban poet equally did some remarkable work. It cannot go without recognition that a few white American sailors held in captivity by the African pirates equally authored significant narratives regarding their captivity during the 19th century. It is estimated that between 1760 to the end of the US civil war, about 100 autobiographies concerning former slaves and fugitives came to exist.

According to Thomas Gray's narrative, Nat Turner was a black clergy who crystallized the fight against the slave crisis and the direction the nation was going. Nat and his small group of army killed sixty whites including his master's family. He hurried his quickly dictated narrative into publication (the Confessions of Nat Turner) before being caught by the Federal troops of the State and hanged in November 1831. Nat Turner was regarded as the leader of the most progressive anti-slave rebellion in the U.S. After Turner's death, a new anti-slave generation declared an uncompromising resistance towards slavery. Under the leadership of the white anti-slavery crusader and journalist Lloyd Garrison, the abolition campaign got stronger through various conventions, public protests, and newspaper highlights. It now became a more powerful generation of both black and white abolitionists fighting for the same course. Through the anti-slavery society, they demanded that the Government free all blacks.

In 1845, Fredrick Douglass and other American literature authors began to inject a new strategy of combining anti-slavery with literacy and education. They were former slaves and shared their experience through the literature in an effective manner. Douglas became an abolitionist lecturer before he wrote his autobiography which became the epitome of the slave narrative in the entire U.S. in the late 1840s, more fugitive slaves like William Brown, Henry Bibb, and others added more strength in the rhetorical of the slave narrative by encompassing their stories into the African-American culture. In the 1850s, the slave narratives triggered a national discussion on slavery. Out of the national debate, it was resolved that slavery was to be abolished by the introduction of the 13th amendment. The struggle to end slavery continued until 1865 when the 13th amendment abolished it in the United States.

Work Cited

Bedford, Anna. "Ecofeminist, Post-colonial, and Anti-capitalist Possibilities in Nalo Hopkinson's Brown Girl in the Ring." Ecofeminism in Dialogue (1850): 15.http://web.pdx.edu/~dillong/Dillon%20BBP%20Essay.pdf

Rael, Patrick. "Nat Turner and the Rising in Southampton County by Jr. David F. Allmendinger." Journal of the Early Republic 37.2 (1860): 390-392.https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9UdjBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=+%22Nat+Turner+and+the+Rising+in+Southampton+County+.&ots=JEeOYvEkTM&sig=xiu4zG0yISdnIPd316uEu133HFY