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The Difference Freedom Made, but What Location Could Not: Part 1 of 3

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The Difference Freedom Made, but What Location Could Not: Part 1 of 3

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During the Civil War (and even now) people had thought that the Union and Confederacy was black and white, north and south, yin and yang....opposites in every way. The Union contained political strongholds, government, factories, and ample ports, while the south was full of plantations, agriculture, and you guessed it... slaves. Unrealistically, people thought and still think that slavery was nonexistent in the North, and that if you were a black man or woman, you were safe as long as you were on the right side of the state divide. It is a complete misconception of history that many don't ever come to realize; being in the North didn't guarantee you safety. I have included two clips and a trailer from the film 12 years a slave (I have seen the whole movie multiple times), starring Solomon Northup, a free man living in the North during the Antebellum era who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South by slave supporters. This first clip showcases Solomon's life before the kidnapping, where he was well-dressed, healthy, wealthy, and surrounded by his loved ones. This is the life that many think was given to black people in the North; a life that would be untouchable by Southern slave supporters.

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12 Years A Slave Movie CLIP - Mind Your Wallet (2013) - Brad Pitt Movie HD

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The Difference Freedom Made, but What Location Could Not: Part 2 of 3

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The Difference Freedom Made, but What Location Could Not: Part 2 of 3

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The second video included in this display is the trailer of the movie, which highlights bits and pieces of the torture that Solomon Northup endured during his 12 years as a slave in the Southern states. He was recognized for his educated talents, such as speech, writing, music, and overall awareness. Most slaves, because of their lack of education and quality of life, did not have even one of these traits. These characteristics made Solomon stand out to visitors of the plantations he worked on, plantation owners and their families, the other slaves he worked and lived with, and overseers in the fields. He was hated for his abilities, but also deemed useful for them. Northup even attempted to organize his own escape through the visitors of the plantation, writing them notes to deliver to lawyers and friends in the North, failing multiple times. This video is a great comparison to the one previously shown, displaying how no matter the status or location of black individuals, they were never safe. Danger was always nearer than most thought, and stories like Northup's were often untold and lost because they did not live to tell the tale or were unable to be reunited with their loved ones.

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12 YEARS A SLAVE - Official Trailer (HD)

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The Difference Freedom Made, but What Location Could Not: Part 3 of 3

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The Difference Freedom Made, but What Location Could Not: Part 3 of 3

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This last clip is not one that can be told often; Northup is one of the very few free men that was able to escape wrongful slavery in the South and return to his loved ones. In this scene, we watch reunite with his wife, son, daughter, new son-in-law, and brand new grandson who was named after him. It really is touching, and even more impactful based upon the realness of the story; Northup isn't a Hollywood figure made up for the sake of drama, but is a real person whose real life was retold to show people the reality of being a black individual living during the Antebellum Era. He has returned to a life of seemingful luxury, but will likely never be able to completely overcome the tragic experiences he endured during his 12 years as a slave. If you watch the film, 12 years feels like a lifetime, and it was likely felt that way by Northup and his family members. The Antebellum Era was a scary one for black people, and no matter where the line was drawn, they weren't ever truly safe. It is a testament as to how split and undecided so many were when it came to choosing a side in the civil war; before the war even began, people couldn't pick a side.

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Advocating Against Slavery in Poetry: A Form of Political and Moral Expression

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Advocating Against Slavery in Poetry: A Form of Political and Moral Expression

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During the Antebellum Era, citizens of the United States used Poetry as a platform for expression of their political and moral beliefs; supporters of slavery and those who opposed it took advantage of writing poetry to make a case for their viewpoints on the issue, using it, at times, as a form of propaganda. The following poem, "The Working Man," was written by Ellen Murray and published in the National Anti-Slavery Standard in 1864.

The workingman of Lancashire

Came later home that night;

His babes had cried themselves to sleep,

His young wife's cheek was white;

The scanty meal had failed that day;

She looked up in his face,

As if in his frank, honest eyes

A ray of hope to trace.

He sat down by the fireless hearth,

She leant her close beside;

He said: "Dear wife, the livelong day

I hunted far and wide;

Each factory door was closed; I begged

An hour's work in vain;

I could not bear to seek my home

And hear my babes complain.

"Weary and hungry, as I sat

Beside a lighted hall,

A comrade bade me enter in;

'Twas meant, he thought, for all

The workingmen to speak their minds

And get their wrongs redressed.

''Tis wrong,' said I, 'that we should starve.'

I went in with the rest.

"One stood upon the platform there,

And told us how we might

In one great cry for work and bread

Our thousand tongues unite.

Our England's Parliament would hear,

Our English Queen would heed,

For never yet her royal heart

Disdained her people's need.

"Our war-ships, with their hundred guns,

Would rake the western shore,

Drive back the Northerners, and bring

The bales of cotton o'er;

Our factory doors would open wide

With work and wages high;

I thought how glad my babes would be,

As if relief were nigh.

"But then another rose to speak;

You know, my wife, the slaves!

We've often talked of how they wished

Their children in their graves,

And thought how hard 'twould be for us

To part with Robbie there,

Or our small Jennie, so like you

In sunny eyes and hair.

"This speaker told us how, where'er

The Northern army went,

They broke the fetters from the slave,

Telling what freedom meant,

And how those slaves looked up in prayer,

Blessing our dear Lord's name

That to them, in His own good time,

This 'blessed Union' came.

"How Northern teachers into schools

The little ones have brought,

To learn the same most Holy Book

Our own dear ones are taught;

The men go out to till the fields

Gladly, as freemen may,

And mothers o'er their babes rejoice

Throughout the summer day.

"But should the North be driven back,

God help those freedmen then!

For their sake would we bear our lot,

Silent, as Christian men?

His voice grew lower as he spoke:

'I know 'tis hard to bear,

But—think of Jesus on the cross,

For others died He there!'

"So, wife, I stood up in my place

And shouted, 'Aye, we will!'

The 'ayes' of our brave working men

They seemed the roof to thrill;

We shouted it again, again,

It was a glorious night—

But, when I came to this bare house,

—Dear wife, did I do right?"

"Most surely, right," she said, yet turned

With hidden tears away,

Murmuring—"God, give my little ones

Their bread from day to day."

And many such staunch working men

Went hungry home that night,

And thanked God he had strengthened them

To suffer for the right.

The working men of Lancashire!

Their great self-sacrifice

Those, for whose sake 'twas undergone,

Will never know or prize;

Only when freedmen kneel at dawn

And bless their friends in prayer,

They bless the noble working men

Of England, unaware.

This Poem highlights the antislavery beliefs of Lancashire workers, who, in their efforts to deny the Confederacy any power or influence over the North, temporarily concluded working. This was seen as an admirable act, as these workers willingly gave up their family's sole source of income to boycott the South's cotton sales. The passionate sacrifice of income and inspirational display of free will was enough to garner national attention. The worker in this poem endures the immense suffrage of his family: "his babes had cried themselves to sleep, his young wife's cheek was white." This poem is a fantastic example of the lengths that people were willing to go to win the war and cripple their opposition; no matter the expense, they were willing to make personal sacrifices that would contribute to their region's cause. Since this poem was published in the Anti-Slavery Standard, an immense amount of readers and supporters were inspired by it's appeal to ethos; in a sense, it was almost like a rally cry, for all to join the cause and make sacrifices to win the war and end slavery.

Poem and information retrieved from http://scholarlyediting.org/2013/editions/nas.18640130.4b.html

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The Atlantic Journey to the New "Free" World: Blueprints 

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The Atlantic Journey to the New "Free" World: Blueprints 

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While slavery had been known to man long before it had expanded to the European colonies, its first appearance in the New World was heavily reliant on the ships that transported slaves across the Atlantic Ocean. Similar to a handful of hay becoming a bale, these ships carried slaves over to a land that would soon fight, debate, and slaughter over the rights and existence of slavery in the Civil War between the Union of the North and Confederate South.
The conditions that slaves experienced in the New World were quite similar to the filthy, crammed, unlivable cargo holds that they were packed into on slave ships (blueprint of common living arrangements on said ships). Ungodly conditions like the ones pictured fueled many societies and individuals throughout the North to take action against the existence of slavery, of which their Southern neighbors thought to be not only morally acceptable, but necessary and natural.
Pro-slavery advocates continued to dehumanize slaves; these blueprints are tangible proof of that. Stripped of their clothing, culture, family members, dietary needs, and rights of clean and livable traveling/living conditions (among limitless other things), these slaves were forced to travel in such conditions that no individual would see as humanly. Blueprints are often used to explain inhuman things, such as housing and ship designs. These things are nonliving, emotionless, controllable factors that are used to convey numbers and plans. In their effort to dehumanize their "property," slave traders, owners, and transporters created this blueprint to plan the layout of their delivery across the Atlantic.

*Blueprint retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/how-many-slaves-landed-in-the-us/

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Slave Rebellion: Horrendous Crime or Act of Freedom?

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Slave Rebellion: Horrendous Crime or Act of Freedom?

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Perhaps one of the most hotly debated topics surrounding slavery during the Antebellum era was the occurrence of slave rebellions, which often became violent. One of the most well-known slave rebellions in all of the history of the United States was the 1831 Nat Turner Slave Rebellion (also called the Southampton Insurrection), where Nat Turner lead roughly a group of rebel slaves in a rebellion that killed roughly 60 people (at least 51 being white). The rebellion lasted for no more than a couple of days, but Turner was able to escape and evade capture for about two months. 56 slaves were executed publicly by the State, while an immense amount of slaves that didn't commit murder were punished as supporters. This act of rebellion resulted in widespread fear of black people; it was seen as an act of violent, hateful retaliation rather than a push for rightful freedom. The ultimate result was hundreds of dead or punished innocent people (both black and white)., the passing of new laws that further restricted black rights (education, assembly rights).

Newspaper ad retrieved from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Nat_Turner_woodcut.jpg

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Douglass's text, The Heroic Slave, is inspired by the life of former slave Madison Washington. Washington was a slave cook on a slave ship known as the Creole, which is known for the slave rebellion that was held on it's deck in 1841. In the Heroic Slave, we watch as Washington interacts with Mr. Listwell, who observes Washington hiding from slave owners and slavery supporters. Mr. Listwell helps Washington escape to Canada, but his time as a free man is limited; Washington returns to America and is caught in an attempt to free his wife, who is killed during the escape. On his way to a new owner in the South, Washington finds himself aboard the Creole, where he is able to join forces with his fellow slaves and take command of the ship. He then takes the ship and his compadres to the Bahamas, where they live their lives out as free people. This story, while recounting the events of a real person and event, were extremely uncommon in the Antebellum era; Washington was able to find freedom multiple times and is ultimately able to achieve true freedom in the end.

Cover image retrieved from
https://www.amazon.com/Heroic-Slave-Cultural-Critical/dp/030018462X

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The Underground Railroad: A Perilous Journey 

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The Underground Railroad: A Perilous Journey 

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The Underground Railroad is often an aspect of slavery in the Civil War that flies under the radar; most people think of the battles between the North and South, conflicting beliefs, and the significant historical figures that lead the divided states or rallied for the causes of the Union and Confederacy. The Underground Railroad was a series of secret passages and safe houses that were used to transport and stow away Union members, supporters, and slaves during their journey from the North to the South.
This element of slavery in the Antebellum shows us that no matter where a slave or slavery sympathize was, there was always an interconnectedness that was truly unescapable. Go to the South, the Underground Railroad is there among the supporters of slavery. Go to the North, you will find slaves in need of assistance in beginning their new lives as free people. The historical event of slavery and the accompaniment of the Underground Railroad is significant because it shows society that there are always acts of rebellion and conflicting ideals that oppose the area's laws and mindsets; you just have to know where to look or who to talk to.
Map retrieved from http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AmTdWUEfocw/USOs-JSCKdI/AAAAAAAAANw/k904Oh7PNyM/s1600/underground+rr+map.jpg