In the novel “To be a slave” by Julius Lester , he documents the plight of the black community by bringing history to life. He gives in-depth details of the brutal capture of Africans, their confinement in American slave ships and narrates their oral stories about slavery. The white men in the novel are powerful and they exercise forced labor slavery by forcing the blacks to work on their plantations and making them feel inferior. Chattel slavery is also exercised in the novel since slave owners used the auction block to so sell black slaves through an informal way or pay debts using slaves. Charles Ball was one of the men owned by a wealthy man as his property and was forced to sleep in a shack.(Lester & Feelings,1968)
The slave owners illustrate their power and made the black slaves feel inferior and in
...valuable. For instance Solomon Northup was whipped unless he was able to do labour work on the plantation farm for his master. Inequality exists because slave owners brainwashed and threatened the black community hence making them feel worthless. This made the slaves scared but some wanted to escape and they did. Those who managed to escape sought assistance from other slaves and others killed themselves afraid of what the white man will do. Lester uses the example of corporal punishment by slave masters so emphasize the inferiority of the blacks while lynching by the Ku Klux Klan was acceptable. (Lester & Feelings, 1968).
Lester’s point of view in analysing the oral narration of slaves is to pass on the positive message that despite the origin of slavery, the black community concurred racism by emancipatio
proclamation in 1863.There was legalized racism and segregation during Lester’s time in 1960 but he concentrated on the positive attributes of the southern blacks. (Lester & Feelings, 1968). In conclusion slavery came to existence as a result of the white community making the black community feel inferior. Despite the pain in their hearts, the torture and the trauma they went through, they stood their ground by fighting for their freedom.
References
- Lester, J. & Feelings, T. (1968). To be a slave. New York: Dial Press.
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