mercredi 3 janvier 2018

The History Behind Reverend Charles Thompson 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.

One biography, that of the Reverend Charles Thompson which was published in 1875 was written from the perspective of being a child during the slave trade. In this publication, the author refers to the time being one of great difficulty and despair. In fact, the book details all aspects of being a child slave during that time. As such, this biography is often considered as close as one can get to having been a witness to the atrocities of the time.

Born in Atala County, Mississippi, Charles lived and worked on a plantation until the time the mother died at the age of 37. At which time, the uncle, fearing separation from a wife hid from slave owners and blood hounds. After learning that an owner would allow the couple to work on a farm together, the uncle surrendered.

After the mother of the boy died at age 37, an uncle hid from slave owners in order to remain with a wife. In fact, Ben, the uncle, evaded the blood hounds and slave owners. While this is the case, Ben ultimately surrendered when the man was informed that the couple could remain together and work on a different plantation. At which time, Charles describes becoming an adult, then being hired out to other owners while attempting to teach Christianity to other slaves.

In order to gain insight into the life of Ben and Charles, there are two films which have purported to show slavery in a true light. These are the mini-series known as Roots by Alex Hailey, and the film Django Unchained. In both cases, there is a great deal of graphic violence as was the case during the time. As such, the films can often be difficult, especially for viewers under the age of 12, though do show some of the most important history related to slavery.

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.

Even now, there are ties back to the slave owners and masters of that time. For, many of those individuals participated in raping female slaves who later had children as a result of the incident. With new DNA testing such as Ancestry and others, there are now a number of individuals now discovering ties back to slavery which exist in family heritage.




About the Author:



Share this article

0 commentaires:

Enregistrer un commentaire

 
Copyright © 2015 Zobo • All Rights Reserved.
Distributed By Free Blogger Templates | Template Design by BTDesigner • Powered by Blogger
back to top