Book Review: The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870

Book Review:
The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870

By: Jaycie Smith

February 2014
Dr. Bernadette Pruitt Sam Houston State University

Although slavery has existed in many forms since antiquity, the transatlantic slave  trade  is  perhaps  the  most  infamous.  Webster’s  dictionary  defines  “slave  trade”  as   “the  activity  or  business  of  buying  and  selling  slaves.”1 The scene Hugh Thomas outlines in the opening of The Slave Trade, adeptly describes the business of buying and selling slaves at the onset of the transatlantic slave trade. In addition, Thomas lays out the foundation of the transatlantic slave trade, how the trade expanded, what happened during the slave trade itself, and ultimately, he chronicles the abolition of slavery in Europe, and North and South America.

The first book, Green Sea of Darkness, details the origins of slavery throughout antiquity. Thomas posits and indeed, the textbook From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans also maintains, slavery had existed in Africa since the earliest known days of the great continent.2 Slaves were noted as helping to build the great pyramids of Egypt and the hydraulic system of China. Even the ancient king of Babylon, Hammurabi, had laws on slavery.3 Aristotle also believed that human beings may be enslaved without injustice, because they are slaves by nature.4 Romans established the status of slave by law, distinguishing slaves from serfs.5 The difference between the two is interesting: serfs were agricultural  laborers  working  a  lord’s  estate,  while  slaves  were   objects, unable to make a will, bear witness, or make criminal charges.

Thomas persists to record the continuance of slavery. Throughout the Dark Ages and into the early Middle Ages, slavery prospered.6 The Middle Ages even saw slaves as highly prized objects.7 More bluntly, slaves were viewed as accessories.

Thomas also argues that religion was inherently linked with slavery. With the rise of Islam in Spain, a large ethnically diverse community of slaves appeared. Islam accepted slaves and slavery as routine human organization. Slaves became a priority. Some believed that through slavery Muslim slaves learned glory and blessings by being exposed to divine providence.8 Nevertheless, Spain had an insatiable thirst for slaves. There was a two- way commerce between merchants in Europe and Spanish Muslims of the Mediterranean over slaves and African products, in return for European treasures.9

In book 2, The Internationalization of the Trade, Thomas provides an explanation of the reason the African slave trade grew into the transatlantic slave trade. Along with the exploration of the African coast and the exploit of African peoples, several islands were discovered in the process. Madeira, Santiago, San Tome`, and the Canary Islands all became depots for slaves in the African slave trade. As well, these islands began producing sugar. For instance, in 1484, slaves were used on a large scale in the Canary Islands to produce sugar.10 Around seventy percent of all African slaves sent to the New World were destined to work in sugar.11

Europeans were in search of a shorter trade route to Asia. Little did the Europeans know, but an entire continent lay in the way of Asia. In 1442, Pope Eugenius gave Portugal exclusive rights over any African discoveries.12 Beginning with Henry the Navigator of Portugal, the coast of Africa was explored and exploited. Henry negotiated a deal with African leaders: Portugal would not steal slaves or anything else, but would barter for them.13 (However, on this same mission, 650 slaves were taken while they were sleeping.)14 With the discovery of Madeira and the subsequent cultivating of sugar, the Portuguese appetite for slaves only grew.15 Thus began the link between African slaves and sugar. To cultivate the sugar, African slaves were needed to work not only on Madeira, but also Elmina and the Canary Islands. Later, King Philip began a monopoly system of trade in slaves with the express purpose of making money.16 For these reasons Spain and Portugal were attracted to Africa.

Thomas lists two reasons why the Portuguese were the first Europeans to embark on slave-seeking journeys to Africa. First, Portugal was the closest country to Africa and not embroiled by war at the time.17 Secondly, the Portuguese had become extremely proficient at maritime expeditions.18 Not only could the Portuguese explore in a southern direction down the coast of West Africa, but they were able to turn around and sail against ocean currents and wind.19

Because of their involvement of the slave trade from the beginning, not surprisingly Portugal produced the most important slave merchant of the sixteenth century, Fernando Jimenez. His descendants were among the largest contractors in Africa, and eventually in Angola, where the majority of African slaves originated. Not to be left out, Spain also had many merchants of significance.20 These Europeans were interested in trading for gold, silver, pearls, mercury, olive oil, wine, saffron, and above all slaves.21 Accordingly, the Spanish Crown encouraged the slave trade by a decree in 1531 making loans on easy terms to settlers in Castile who wanted to found sugar mills.22 By the late sixteenth century, taking part in the African slave trade was the new fashion.23

Nearing the end of the fifteenth century, France was determined to conduct trade on the African continent. France began by pirating Portuguese ships on the high seas. Despite Portuguese complaints, France secured royal permission to plunder Portuguese ships in 1530.24 The first to carry out a triangular trade, the French went to Africa for gold. Later on, France became interested in slaving.25 France also traded with Africans for ivory and gum.26

The  Dutch  went  to  Africa  in  search  of  gold  and  ivory.  Like  the  French,  it  was not  until later that the Dutch were concerned with slaves. African traders coveted goods brought by the Dutch. Dutch goods were cheaper and of a better quality than the Africans were able to trade with other Europeans.27 Soon, the Dutch purchased Gorée, near Senegambia, as a deposit site for goods and slaves.28 The Dutch seem to have been better organizers than either the French of English. As Thomas puts it, the conversion of the Caribbean islands into an archipelago of sugar was a Dutch idea, although it was carried out by French and English merchants.29

Not to be left out, England saw the economic possibilities of Africa as well. In the beginning, the English entered African waters to trade in gold.30 On several occasions the English went to Africa to trade for goods. Instead of taking African as slaves, they would bring them back as showpieces. After the waters had been tested, John Hawkins went  to  Africa  in  search  of  slaves.  Thomas  quotes  him  as  saying,  “a  store  of  Negroes   might  easily  be  had  upon  the  coast  of  Guinea.”31 After securing the Africans, Hawkins sailed to Hispaniola to peddle his loot. Hawkins made several trips to Africa with the express intention to obtain African slaves. Unlike the Portuguese, Hawkins stole the Africans, often burning their towns.32 Indeed,  several  “groups”  sprang  up  from Britain to carry out slavery: The Royal Adventurers,33 the Royal Africa Company,34 and the Ten Percenters35. These groups traded in slaves, mostly with Caribbean islands, but they also began trips to Africa themselves.36

Book 3, Apogee, follows the transatlantic slave trade through its climax. At the turn of the sixteenth century,  expeditions  to  the  “New  World”  were  common.  This  new  world  also   came with its own slave population: Native Americans. Shortly after the discovery of the New World, sugar cane arrived on the scene. Native Americans were put to work as slaves on the sugar plantations in the Caribbean. However, Thomas explains that it was soon realized that the Native Americans were not cut out for labor on sugar plantations. First, they were overworked. A Native American slave could not keep pace with a stout African male slave. In addition, the Native Americans were susceptible to European diseases.37 In response to the shortage of labor, King Ferdinand 1st soon ordered African slaves to be taken to the New World.38

Africans  were  said  to  have  “a  natural  love  of  novelty”  and  took  part  in  the   exploitation of their own people.39 For instance, in 1518, Gorrevod, the emperor of Songhai, offered a gift of 1,700 slaves to another chief.40 A Portuguese captain, Fernão de Oliveira, who could be called one of the first abolitionists, writes of how slaves were given by African monarchs. These African monarchs would obtain their slaves by robbery or by waging unjust wars.41 The kings of Congo and Ndongo squabbled as to whom should be the main supplier of slaves to the Portuguese.42 More submissive, Diogo I of Congo had an agreement with Portugal that the settlers on the island of São Tomé would only trade in the realm of Congo, thus ensuring profits for himself.43 Clearly, Africans were not bystanders in the slave trade, but took an active and enterprising role.

In addition to being a major sugar supplier44, the prized Portuguese colony of Sao Tome, in the Gulf of Guinea, served as an essential entry point for African slaves in the 17th century.45 São  Tomé  was  the  first  to  employ  a  “seasoning”  of  African  slaves.  If   slaves were found to be sick, they would be kept on royal plantations until they could be shipped abroad at a later time.46 Although not a central player in the transatlantic slave trade, German captains sold slaves on São Tomé.

Beginning with the ways in which slaves would be acquired, book 4 details slave harbors and markets, and then the actual journey across the Atlantic Ocean known as the Middle Passage, or Maafa. In the interior of the great continent of Africa, there were several ways an African would be enslaved: 1) the result of war, 2) as punishment for crimes, however minor, 3) by kidnapping, or 4) because of poverty.47 Not all of the wars were just, but rather, some African monarchs would go to war with the specific intention of capturing other Africans to sell to European merchants. European traders were also known to lie in brush and ambush unsuspecting Africans citizens.48 Regardless of the way in which slaves were obtained, they would soon be taken to interior markets.49 This first exchange would result in the slave being tied up, sometimes to another or two Africans. Their arms would be tied behind their backs by twigs, canes and grass rope.50 The currency used to purchase Africans varied, but acceptable forms included anchors, brandy, gunpowder, guns, iron bars, cloths, gold and alcohol.51

African slaves were subsequently transported from interior slave markets to harbor markets on the coast of Africa. The slaves would be marched in groups of about one hundred, chained together, for sixty to eighty days. Covering about twenty miles a day, the slaves would spend seven to eight hours each day on the march.52 During this march, slaves could also be required to transport goods. Once at a harbor market, Africans would undergo examinations and be subjected to seasoning and branding. The usual time spent waiting to be shipped was five months. The shorter time spent waiting to be shipped correlated to a higher survival rate.53 Thus, the quicker slaves could be shipped the more money there was to be made.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, ships did not hold up to the Atlantic passage very long. Thomas expertly describes European slaving vessels, and even uses a depiction of one such vessel on the cover of The Slave Trade. European vessels in 1780 only lasted about ten years at an average of six trips to Africa.54 The crews were made up mostly of young men in their twenties who would obey the captain as if engaged in battle.55 To European traders, their human cargo was no different than any other consignment. As such, the conditions on board European ships were unimaginable. Generally, slaves were put on the ships nude or nearly nude. Mahommah Baquaqua states he and the other  captives  were  “thrust  into  the  hold  of  the  vessel  in  a  state  of  nudity.”56

European slavers were in the business of making money, not making Africans comfortable during Maafa. With profit in mind, as many slaves as would fit on the ship would be crammed together on slaving vessels. However, some slavers began to realize that they should take better care of their slaves on the voyage. In some cases and in the interest of the financiers, all possible care would be taken the preserve and subsist the slaves.57 On a journey that usually lasted at least 30 days, the slaves would spend most of their time in the holds.58 Certainly there were no facilities, but if the slaves were lucky there would be bilge places cut into the ship for relief of bodily functions. Many of the Africans were unused to traveling on any type of boat, much less a ship on the Atlantic Ocean. Sea-sickness would have plagued the Africans in great numbers. In addition, it was common that disease would rampage the passengers, Africans and crew alike. Many slaves did not survive the voyage. Of course, the European slavers would have to dispose of the bodies of those who did not survive the Middle Passage. As with other refuse, the bodies would have been thrown overboard and not thought of again. Thomas  cites  Herman  Melville  in  Moby  Dick,  “Sharks  ...  are   the invariable outriders of all slave ships crossing the Atlantic, systematically trotting alongside, to be handy in case a parcel is to be carried anywhere, or a dead slave to be decently  buried...”59

An especially sad occurrence in The Slave Trade was the description of a baby being born during the Middle Passage. Sadly, the mother did not survive the birth of the child. The crew of that particular ship gave the baby to other slaves, but the infant was not received because the Africans believed the illness to be infectious. The baby was then  left  in  the  sun  and  “in  the  agonies  of  death.”60 There is no doubt that this was a mild situation compared to the horrendous sufferings of others. Women would also be subject to rape and other horrors, inflicted by the crew during the Middle Passage.61

Weather played an important factor when crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic hurricane season rages from August to September. Attempting the Middle Passage during these summer months would have been a gamble. The first three months of the year, January through March, were the calmest for sailing down the West African coast or crossing the Atlantic Ocean.62

Most European slaving vessels landed in the Caribbean Islands or sailed to Brazil. In the West Indies, slaves would be disembarked at a slave harbor such has Havana  Bay,  Cuba.  Although  every  port’s  “ceremony  of  arrival”  was  different,  slaves   would be assembled at an onshore camp. There, they would be fed, cleaned, and otherwise cared for, in such a way to make them appear healthy, despite the arduous journey of the Middle Passage. At times, slaves would be shaved and painted to give the appearance of good health. In Portugal, after the arrival of slaves, an official would be carried aboard for inspection of the cargo of Africans. Next, the slaves would be divided into lots and carefully examined. After taxes had been finalized, slaves would then be sold as the merchants who financed the expedition thought best.63 Especially in the West Indies, plantation owners would be the buyers.

Concentrating on abolition of the slave, Thomas uses book 5, Abolition, to explore the seemingly novel concept of abolition of the slave trade and slavery. While not attempting to end the slave trade, the greatest organizers of the trade did attempt to ameliorate the slave trade. In 1664, Lisbon passed a law to establish the amount of drinking water that should be carried on a slaving vessel. Another important regulation, especially in the years to come, was the ratio of slaves per ton of shipping. Henceforth, 2.5 to 3.5 slaves per ton could be carried on a slaving vessel. Indeed, while sounding better for the slave, bribery was common and officials did not pursue violators.64

Several people affiliated with religious groups called into question the slave trade and slavery. English Protestants attacked slavery in the late 17th century.65 The Church of Rome complained of the slave trade.66 Although slavery was in its infancy in the United States, doubts of the morality of the slave trade began. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a Presbyterian and personal friend to President John Adams, formed in Philadelphia the first society devoted to abolition.67 However, the morality of the slave trade and slavery were rarely the reason behind anti-slavery movements. British North America wanted to restrict the slave trade because they feared a large population of Africans.68 Rhode Island actually prohibited the import of slaves in the late 18th century because of that colony’s  fear  of  a great African population.69 Rhode  Islanders’  fear  may  have  been validated; in 1770, 80% of the population in the West Indies was that of slaves.70 One important abolitionist, Anthony Benezet, became the link between American and Great Britain on the subject of slavery and the slave trade.

After the Revolutionary War, the United States would again turn to the discussion of the slave trade and slavery. Led by Quakers, several states even accepted emancipation. Finally, Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1780. Although the law only applied to future generations, several other states followed suit: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and New Jersey. Slavery itself would eventually be abolished, but not the slave trade or participation of slave merchants.71 Thomas brings up an interesting point with regard to American independence but the still present institution of slavery.  How  could  a  society  with  the  words  “all  men  are  created  equal”  continue  to   imprison certain others as slaves?

Northern Europe also examined the body of slavery and the slave trade. In London, the Committee for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade was founded in 1787. France noted this society and established their own, Société des Amis des Noirs.72 The idea of setting up a freedman colony in Nova Scotia or Sierra Leone was even considered.73 The fact that abolition of the slave trade or slavery was even on the table attests to the diligent work on the subject by notable abolitionists, including, Granville Sharp, Anthony Benezet, Thomas Clarkson, and William Wilberforce. The dedication these men showed in producing pamphlets, making speeches, and conducting research, is a true testament to their moral character and realization of the evils of the slave trade and slavery.

While the issue of slavery continued to be debated, Britain stepped forward and enacted the Dundas Amendment. While not abolishing slavery or the slave trade, this amendment, curiously, abolished slavery sometime in the future.74 Other European countries abolished the practice; Denmark in 179275 and France in 1794.76

Ultimately, a bill in favor of abolishing the slave trade passed in the United States. President Thomas Jefferson signed into effect the bill, which stated that on January 1, 1808, it would be illegal to introduce into the United States any person of any color as a slave. Also, any United States citizen was prohibited from equipping or financing any slave ship from any port in the United States. The question of treatment of freed slaves was left as an individual state issue.77

While the question of slavery was beginning to be answered, the African slave trade was still in full effect, as is shown in book 6, The Illegal Era. British abolitionists and politicians finally came to the conclusion that slavery would never end unless the slave trade itself was abolished. In this way, Britain became the international naval police of the African Coast and the Atlantic Ocean. This naval patrol roamed the coast of West Africa looking for slaving vessels. Depending on the nationality of a suspected slaving vessel, the English would board the vessel looking for slaving equipment. If slaves were found aboard, the English would take them to established English ports and release them. The contents of the detained slaving vessel would either be sold or burned.78 Eventually, American and French vessels would join the English naval squadron.

In the United States, the question of slavery continued to be disputed. As late as 1837, men such as John Quincy Adams were labeled  as  “fanatic”  for  simply speaking of abolition.79 The southern United States had been built on the back of African-American slaves, just like as happened on the sugar plantations in Cuba and Brazil. An institution so engrained in these societies and their ways of life would not be abolished overnight. Thomas asserts that abolishing the trade in earnest did not come until 1840 when Captain Joseph Denman began landing sailors at Spanish slave stations on the West African Coast. Captain Denman freed slaves who were awaiting embarkation and burned the barracoons used to house them. In this way, slave merchants were not able to replenish their numbers of slaves immediately. Soon after, other captains followed Captain  Denman’s  lead.80
Despite the mainly English naval squadron, the slave trade on the West African coast seemed only to grow.81 In  1848,  England’s  House  of  Commons  created  a  
committee to determine the best way of ending the slave trade. After many witness interviews, it was decided that there was no hope of stopping the slave trade. 

Thomas gives an important reason the slave trade was so large: European desire for sugar.82 There was, too, a belief in Great Britain that the slave trade should be dealt with before the issue of slavery. Slavery raised the idea of property, which was a harder issue to resolve than the actual slave trade itself.83 This beckons the age-old question, which came first: the chicken or the egg? Except in the nineteenth century, the question regarding slavery would be posed, which came first: slavery or the slave trade?

Decisively, in 1850, Brazil abolished the slave trade. From that point on, Brazilian slave vessels would be open to seizure, importing any slaves into Brazil would be considered piracy, all captured slaving vessels would be sold, and the proceeds would be split between captors and informants.84 The African-American slave trade was in its last days as Cuba remained the only entity open to legal international slaving.

Even with the major players of Brazil and the United States out of the slave trade itself, Cuba continued to engage in the trade and even prospered. As the only place where slaves could be legally disembarked, Cuba saw 200,000 slaves brought into its harbors between 1840 and 1860.85 However as Thomas points out, the slave trade and slavery began to decline on the island. Slave revolts were numerous, and European plantation owners feared insurrection.86 In 1859, United States President James Buchanan took two decisive steps to counter the continued slave trade. First, he sent extra naval squadrons to the coast of Africa and moved the headquarters of the American naval patrol to Angola, in the middle of the slave trade. By doing this, he bolstered the European naval patrol in the area, and was able to be front and center of the slaving area. Second, he sent squadrons to patrol the coast of Cuba. This last move enabled naval patrols to more closely monitor the slaving activities of Cuba.87 Despite these efforts to control the trade, United States naval vessels were recalled at the start of the American Civil War. The vessels were needed for war duty and could not be spared; even to patrol the slave trade. Finally, with the 13th amendment, slavery itself was abolished in the United States.88

At this point, the remaining actors in the slave trade were Cuba and her Spanish benefactors. Spain, at long last, passed a bill for the suppression and punishment of the slave trade in 1866. Later, Portugal abolished slavery in 1869.89 The mainstay of naval commerce for three centuries finally came to a quiet end.

With The Slave Trade, Thomas attempted to answer the question: Why slavery in the first place? He lists two beliefs as the basis of slavery with respect to the early Middle Ages: captive slaves owed their fate to the sins of their supposed ancestor Ham; and if a people did not have laws and did not live peacefully under a government, they were more beasts than human, thus deserving of their enslavement.90 Although providing answers to the question of slavery, Thomas missed another important reason: racism. Black slaves were not the only captives made slaves prior to 100 B.C.: found in Rome, were fair Germans, including Saxons from Northern Europe.91 However, after the fall of Rome and on into 19th century North and South America, black-skinned people made up the overwhelming majority of slaves. Even after slavery ended in Northern Europe, it persisted in the Muslim and Mediterranean worlds, but mostly only then, in the slavery of African peoples, i.e. those with dark skin. As stated earlier, Europeans belief that African slaves were accessories only proves that Africans were thought of as subordinate. Already, white Europeans considered black African slaves inferior beasts. This trend carried over into the United States and flourished with the development of sugar and cotton plantations. Thomas errs when he makes no mention of the belief that Africans were seen as inferior as a reason behind the development, and expansion, and lasting impact of slavery. Nonetheless, racism grew and flowered along with slavery.92

Thomas next asserts the reason sugar became such a valued commodity to Europeans. The usual explanation given for the increased demand in sugar is that people in Britain, Holland, and France wanted sugar in their coffee, tea, and chocolate.93 However, Thomas blames the increased demand for sugar on the poor people  of  Europe.  He  even  goes  so  far  as  to  cite  a  report  from  1961  declaring,  “The   large increase in consumption that takes place in low income countries as soon as personal  income  rises”  resulting  in  sugar  being  “craved  because  it  adds  taste,  variety and attractiveness.”94 This conclusion is erroneous. The lower class citizens of Europe did not have such a great increase in personal assets during this time period to buy vast quantities of sugar. Certainly, the lower class would not have been able to purchase quantities of sugar that would have an effect on the transatlantic slave trade. It was the wealthy, the remote plantation owners, who traded sugar for African slaves as a commodity, thus making sugar the exploit crop that it was, not because poor English wanted it. Later on, Thomas freely asserts that the poor of Spain did not need to be worried about purchasing sugar, only the aristocrats needed be thought of.95

The Middle Passage is one  of  man  kind’s  darkest  days,  comparable  to  the   European Holocaust in the 20th century. The cruelty European traders carried out is unbelievable. Even more, the cruelty African slaves endured is even more unbelievable. As  Thomas  indicates  in  his  “Reflection,”  there  is  little  literature  from  the  Africans  who   survived the Middle Passage or slavery. Despite this fact, there is literature available, and enough exists that Thomas could have incorporated more survivors’  stories.   Thomas briefly mentions Equiano a few times in The Slave Trade, and mentions a few others in the appendixes. Still, more of these narratives could have been added to increase the apathy towards the African plight, instead of merely being mentioned in an appendix.

Thomas should have also taken into account that many readers of The Slave Trade were not going to be fluent in English and French. Many times, Thomas provides French quotes but with no translation. Without a translation, the impact of the words spoken is completely lost.
The Slave Trade, is a balanced account of the African-American slave trade that spanned over three centuries. An informed authority on Spain, The Slave Trade is one of several books Hugh Thomas has written centering, at least in part, on Spain. Born in the English empire but fascinated with Spanish history, Thomas detours from his usual topic of Spain to write the massive chronology of the transatlantic slave trade.96 While Spain played an integral role early on in the transatlantic slave trade, by the 17th century, and more so into the 18th century, their dominance was quickly fading to the British, although Spain would be one of the last to fully abolish slavery and the slave trade. The Slave Trade represents this detour from the major body of his work by not concentrating solely on Spain or their declining involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Other books by Thomas include The Spanish Civil War, Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom, and Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes` and the Fall of Old Mexico. For a more in depth look at slavery in the Western World specifically, one should refer to Inhuman Bondage by David Brion Davis.97

1 Merriam-Webster’s  Collegiate  Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2003, Accessed May 8, 2014. URL>http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slave+trade?show=0&t=1399578099<URL.
2 John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Books Higginbotham. From Freedom to Slavery: A History of African Americans .Edited. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966, p. 9.
3 Hugh Thomas. The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), 25.
4 Malcolm  Heath.  “Aristotle  on  Natural  Slavery.”  Phronesis 53, no. 3 (2008).
5 Thomas, The Slave Trade, 29.
6 Ibid., 32.
7 Ibid., 34.
8 Ibid., 37.
9 Ibid., 38.
10 Ibid., 77.
11 James  Walvin,  “The  Slave  Trade:  The  History  of  the  Atlantic  Slave  Trade  1440-1870  by  Hugh  Thomas,”  Research in African Literatures 29, no. 4 (1998): 186.
12 Thomas, The Slave Trade, 64. 
13 Ibid., 68.
14 Ibid., 69.
15 Ibid., 70.
16 Ibid., 139.
17 Ibid., 56.
18 Ibid., 57.
19 Franklin and Higginbotham, From Slavery to Freedom, 23.
20 Thomas, The Slave Trade, 117. 
21 Ibid., 118.
22 Ibid., 115.
23 Ibid., 119.
24 Ibid., 153. 
25 Ibid., 154. 
26 Ibid., 173.
27 Ibid., 160. 
28 Ibid., 161. 
29 Ibid., 188. 
30 Ibid., 154.
31 Ibid., 155. 
32 Ibid., 157. 
33 Ibid., 198. 
34 Ibid., 201. 
35 Ibid., 205. 
36 Ibid., 207.
37 Ibid., 92. 
38 Ibid., 95. 
39 Ibid., 159. 
40 Ibid., 114.
41 Ibid., 126.
42 Ibid., 131.
43 Ibid., 128.
44 Ibid., 129.
45 Ibid., 169.
46 John  L.  Vogt,  “The  Early  Sao  Tome-Principe Slave Trade With Mina, 1500-1540.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 6, no. 3, (1973): 452.
47 Thomas, The Slave Trade, 370-371.
48 Ibid., 364.
49 Ibid., 381.
50 Ibid., 363.
51 Ibid., 318-319. 
52 Ibid., 383-384. 
53 Ibid., 406.
54 Ibid., 305.
55 Ibid., 306-307.
56 Mahommah G. Baquaqua, Biography of Mahommah G. Baquaqua, a Native of Zoogoo, in the Interior of Africa, 1st ed. (Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH, 2001; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Apex Data Services, Inc., 2001). 42.
57 Thomas, The Slave Trade, 418.
58 Ibid., 411.
59 Herman Melville, Moby Dick. New York: Penguin Group, 1955, 287. 
60 Thomas, The Slave Trade, 418.
61 Ibid., 418.
62 Ibid., 393.
63 Ibid., 432-433. 
64 Ibid., 457.
65 Ibid., 454.
66 Ibid., 456.
67 Ibid., 472.
68 Ibid., 461. 
69 Ibid., 463. 
70 Ibid., 479. 
71 Ibid., 482. 
72 Ibid., 493.
73 Ibid., 497.
74 Ibid., 582.
75 Ibid., 526. 
76 Ibid., 523. 
77 Ibid., 552.
78 Ibid., 593. 
79 Ibid., 660. 
80 Ibid., 670. 
81 Ibid., 733.
82 Ibid., 737.
83 Ibid., 735. 
84 Ibid., 743. 
85 Ibid., 747.
86 Ibid., 765.
87 Ibid., 774. 
88 Ibid., 776.
89 Ibid., 783. 
90 Ibid., 23. 
91 Ibid., 27.
92 Francis  Couvares,  et.  al.  “Patterns  and  Perspectives.”  In  Interpretations of American History. Boston: 2009. p. 101.93 Thomas, The Slave Trade, 189.94 Ibid., 190.
95 Ibid., 266.
96 Hugh Thomas, Interview by Mel Cooper, personal interview, 2011, unknown place, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gGc4qCbCQ0.97 David Brion Davis, Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World New York: Oxford University Press., 2006.

Bibliography

Oral Histories and Interviews

Hugh Thomas, Interview by Mel Cooper, personal interview, 2011, unknown place, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gGc4qCbCQ0.

Scholarly Books, Book Reviews, and Scholarly Periodicals

Couvares, Francis G. ed., “Patterns and Perspectives” Interpretations of American History. Boston: 2009. 

Davis, David Brion. Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Franklin, John Hope and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. From Freedom to Slavery: A History of African Americans. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.

Heath,  Malcolm.  “Aristotle  on  Natural  Slavery.”  Phronesis 53, no. 3 (2008): 243-270. doi: 10.1163/156852808X307070.

Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. New York: Penguin Group, 1955.

Thomas, Hugh. The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870 New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Vogt,  John  L.  “The  Early  Sao  Tome-Principe Slave Trade with Mina, 1500-1540.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 6, no. 3, (1973): 452, accessed February 16, 2014,
doi: 10.2307/216611.

Walvin,  James.  “The  Slave  Trade:  The  History  of  the  Atlantic  Slave  Trade  1440-1870  by  Hugh  Thomas,”   Research in African Literatures 29, no. 4 (1998): 186.

Reference Works and Digital Sites

Baquaqua, Mahommah G. Biography of Mahommah G. Baquaqua, a Native of Zoogoo, in the Interior of Africa, 1st ed. Detroit: Geo. E. Pomeroy & Co., 1854. From Documenting the American South: Primary Sources for the Study of Southern History, Literature, and Culture. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, last modified May 7, 2014. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/baquaqua/menu.html.

Merriam-Webster’s  Collegiate  Dictionary.  11th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2003.

Book Review: Twelve Years a Slave, The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Book Review:
Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
By: Jaycie Smith

April 2014
Dr. Bernadette Pruitt Sam Houston State University

American slavery is a tale mostly half told. The slaver owner’s side is well-known, and one can follow it through eighteenth and nineteenth American legislation, newspaper advertisements for runaway slaves, and the remnants of a slave owner’s estate as viewed through his will. However, the tale from the slave’s point of view pales in comparison to that of the slave owner. According to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and researchers at DocSouth, there are two hundred and four published, book-length slave narratives. From the days of the Transatlantic Slave Trade up to the Civil War, one hundred and two of these narratives were written, and after the Civil War one hundred and two more slave narratives were written.1 It is difficult to imagine that over the hundreds of years American slavery existed, the slave’s story is so little documented. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the Frederick Douglass narratives are exceptions. These three former slaves-turned-authors left behind a legacy that only slaves themselves can tell; they left behind the true story of American slavery.

The first of these slave narratives is Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. Northup was a freeborn black man living in New York. His father had been born a slave but was manumitted upon the death of his owner. Northup’s father taught him to be a farmer, and upon the marriage of Solomon to Anne Hampton, farming became Northup’s occupation. However, the industrious Northup would also engage himself in other industries, including repairs on the Champlain Canal, river transportation, rail road construction, and, especially during the winter season, Northup would play his beloved violin for compensation.2

His violin also lay at the heart of his imprisonment. While walking along the streets of Saratoga Springs, New York, Solomon was approached by two men. The men, Brown and

Hamilton, enticed Northup to join their circus and play the violin. Northup was offered high wages and eagerly accepted. The trio eventually ventured south to Washington, D.C., where after consuming alcohol with the two men, Northup became ill. When he woke up in chains, Northup realized he had been poisoned and kidnapped into slavery.3

While in a slave pen in the shadows of our nation’s capital, Northup declared the fact of his freedom and the injustice at his imprisonment. He was then beaten nearly to death. Throughout his almost twelve years of slavery, he rarely again mentioned that he had been born free in the state of New York.4

After transportation on a ship south to New Orleans, Louisiana,5 Solomon Northup was bought by slave owner William Ford. Ford’s plantation was located on the bank of Bayou Boeuf in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. Ford employed a brutal overseer, Mr. Tibeats, who was especially cruel towards Solomon.6 Later, because of financial hardships for Ford, Northup was mortgaged to Tibeats. One day Tibeats and Northup were in the process of constructing a weaving house, when Tibeats attempted to whip Northup for a trivial reason. Northup fought back against Tibeats, thus committing a crime punishable by death. On this occasion Northup was saved from a brutal beating by Ford.7 Several weeks later Northup again could not please Tibeats and his unreasonable nature, but instead of fighting back against Tibeats, Northup took refuge in a great swamp. This refuge took place in the middle of summer, with snakes, alligators, and other unknown dangers also lurking within the swamp.8 After several days, Northup made his way back to Ford’s plantation. There, he was reunited again with Tibeats. This reunion was short-lived. Fearing for Northup’s life at the hands of Tibeats, Ford promptly sold Northup to Edwin Epps.9

Northup would live in slavery for nearly ten years with Epps. Epps was a slave owner in
the same general area of William Ford. Epps was especially known by his slaves for his cruelty and drunken belligerence. It was frequent, while in a drunken state, Epps would have his slaves to dance into the wee hours of the morning. This dancing would come after the slaves worked a full day in the fields and at their chores. Of course, the slaves would be expected to be at work the next morning and labor the entire day on very little rest.10
Finally, in 1852, Solomon Northup met the man who would set into motion his freedom. A Canadian, Samuel Bass, came to work on Epps’ plantation in the carpentry business. After hearing Bass and Epps debate the issue of slavery, Northup soon realized that Bass had anti- slavery beliefs. With great trepidation Northup approached Bass and confided the extraordinary secret he had held for eleven years. Bass assured Northup that he would endeavor to help him regain the freedom that was stolen. Northup dictated a letter that Bass mailed, with the letter reaching acquaintances of Northup.11

In the early part of January 1853, Northup found himself laboring on the plantation of Epps. One morning while in the field, Epps’ slaves noticed a carriage uncharacteristically driving up to the plantation. When two men descended from the carriage Epps went to greet them. However, one man started for the slaves. Moments later, Northup recognized one of the men as Henry B. Northup, a white acquaintance from Sandy Hill, New York. With the arrival of Henry B. Northup, Solomon Northup left Edwin Epps’ plantation again a free man, despite Epps’ vehement objections.12

While journeying back to his family, Solomon Northup attempted prosecution of the men

who had wrongfully enslaved him in Washington, D.C. Despite evidence presented of his life as a free man and wrongful kidnapping, Northup was unable to bring justice to his accusers. After the legal proceedings, Northup made his way back to Saratoga Springs, New York, and into the welcoming arms of his family.13

The second slave narrative was written by slave-turned-freedman and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born on a plantation in Maryland, although he was unsure of his exact birth date and paternity. It was rumored, and Douglass himself suspected, that his father was a white man, possibly his owner, Captain Anthony.14 As his mother was a field hand on a distant plantation, Douglass rarely saw her and was cared for in his childhood by his maternal grandmother. When he reached the age of seven or eight Douglass was sent to Baltimore to be in the service of Sophia and Hugh Auld.15
Douglass would go on to live with the Auld’s in Baltimore for seven years. Mrs. Auld proved to be the instrument to Douglass’ education, teaching him the ABC’s.16 While living with the Auld’s, Douglass was sent to work in nearby shipyards. There, he made observations of the white workers' notes on planks to teach himself to write. Douglass also made use of Young Master Auld’s copy book to learn to read.17

When he reached the age of ten or eleven Douglass' master, Captain Anthony, died intestate. Being that Douglass was viewed as merely personal property, he was uprooted from Sophia and Hugh Auld, and sent to live with Thomas Auld.18 Thomas Auld was an especially mean slave owner, rarely giving his slaves enough to eat or wear.19 Life with Auld was brutal for Douglass, the shortage of food notwithstanding. Douglass was the recipient of several severe whippings, none of which accomplished the purpose of breaking Douglass. 

After some time with Auld, Douglass was sent to a Mr. Covey who was notorious as a

breaker of slaves.20 Indeed, after only living under Covey for one year, Douglass was broke in “body, soul, and spirit.”21

In 1834 as Douglass’ time with Covey came to an end, Douglass was let to another slave owner, William Freeland.22 It was during this time period, that Douglass taught other slaves to read and write on Sundays. This Sabbath school was a source of deep satisfaction for Douglass. He remembered it as “the sweetest engagement with which I was ever blessed.”23

While living with Freeland, Douglass and several other slaves planned an escape from slavery. After weeks of careful planning, on the night they were scheduled to run away, Freeland learned of their plan. The slaves were then taken to jail where they sat for a number of days. Soon, the other slaves incarcerated with Douglass were sent for and taken back to Freeland’s. At last, Douglass was taken from jail by his master, Thomas Auld. According to Douglass, just as he was about to be sent to a plantation in Alabama, he was abruptly sent back to Baltimore and Hugh Auld.24

Again in Baltimore, Douglass went to the shipyards to work as a calker. After one year he was very good and commanded high wages. With these calking skills Douglass was able to contract his own work and collect his own wages.25 Previously, all of his wages would go to the Auld’s. Douglass gained even more autonomy in 1838 when he struck a new deal with the Auld’s: in exchange for earning all of his own money, Douglass would “rent” himself to the Auld’s.26

Finally, on a warm September day in 1838, Douglass executed his final escape. Aided
by a free woman of color, and his future wife, Anna Murray, Frederick Douglass donned a sailor’s uniform, boarded a north-bound vessel, and escaped slavery forever.27 Upon reaching New York City, Douglass was aided by abolitionist David Ruggles. A few days after his arrival in New York City, Douglass and Anna Murray were joined in marriage. The newlyweds soon made their way to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Douglass would find work in the shipyards.28

Frederick Douglass became one of the greatest abolitionists in North America. An acclaimed speaker, Douglass’ most famous anti-slavery speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” exhibited many of his strengths as a speaker. This speech showcased his use of “classical figures of speech, such as antithesis, hyperbole, metaphor, irony, and personification.”29 Douglass would also go to write one of the first examples of slave fiction, The Heroic Slave.30 During the Civil War, Douglass at last called African-American men to take up arms against the South. Using his anti-slavery newspaper, Douglass’ Monthly, as the medium, he implored former slaves and freedmen to defend themselves and their brothers and sisters in slavery.31 His ideals on equal rights spanned not only to African-Americans, but also to women. Douglass thought women had the right to suffrage, just as blacks had their rights to freedom and suffrage. However, in the turbulent post-Civil War era, Douglass was forced to choose between white women’s right to vote and African-American men’s right to vote, which he nobly choose the latter.32

Harriet Jacobs penned her slavery memoir under the alias of Linda Brent. Jacobs also changed the names of people involved in her life’s story. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl details the story of Jacob’s life as a slave, her experience with motherhood as a slave, and as a fugitive slave in the free state of New York. As a slave narrative itself, Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl is rare, but made even more uncommon as a slave narrative from a woman’s point of view.

Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery on a plantation in North Carolina. It was not until her mother died when Jacobs was six that she realized she was a slave.33 Jacobs and her family belonged to a family of slave owners. Up until this time, many of the slave family members were able to remain together. Jacobs was even taught to read and spell by her mistress.34 After her mother and father died, Jacobs’ grandmother became a dominant figure in her life. At twelve years old when Jacobs’ mistress died, all of the slaves were split up among heirs. Jacobs became the property of a five-year old child belonging to “Dr. Flint.”35
Life for Jacobs with the Flint family was full of tribulation. Food was scarce and Jacobs had to rely on her grandmother for adequate nourishment. Jacobs was allowed a single linen wool dress each year.36 It was not uncommon for Jacobs to be required to walk barefoot in the snow while on errands for the Flint family.37 When she reached the age of fifteen, Jacobs’ master, Dr. Flint, began whispering sexual sentiments in her ear.38 These whisperings began years of sexual harassment.

Dr. Flint was an especially cruel, sexually perverted slave owner. When he could not whisper to Jacobs, he wrote her notes.39 When unable to write and deliver notes, Dr. Flint made signals.40 On the pretense of being overheated Dr. Flint would request his dinner to be served outdoors, and have Jacobs fan flies away. Alone with Jacobs outside, he would lambaste her on the happiness she was missing and threatened with violence her disobedience. Jacobs would avow to report Dr. Flint’s action to her grandmother, only to be met with more vehement verbal, and sometimes physical, abuse.41

When Mrs. Flint caught on to her husband’s sexual behavior towards Jacobs, protection was not afforded. Indeed, Mrs. Flint came to be ruled by jealousy and hatred toward Jacobs.42 Jacobs would wake up to find Mrs. Flint leaning over her. Mrs. Flint would also whisper in Jacobs’s ear, trying to fool her into thinking it was Dr. Flint. Finally, Jacobs came to fear for her life because of Mrs. Flint’s jealousy and wounded pride.43

Heretofore, Jacobs was able to evade Dr. Flint’s sexual advances by being in the midst of people.44 She tried never to allow herself to be alone with the slave owner. When at last Jacobs felt she could no longer avoid Dr. Flint’s advances, she devised a plan that would thwart him for good. Jacobs was acquainted with a single, educated white man. This man, Mr. Sands, had taken an interest in her condition and Jacobs confided to him about Dr. Flint’s sexual harassment. To prevent Dr. Flint from tarnishing her purity, or raping her, Jacobs gave herself to Mr. Sands.45 With curses and threats of violence, Dr. Flint heard the news that the object of his sexual desires was pregnant by another man.46 Jacobs gave birth to a premature baby boy. The baby was sickly and Jacobs herself was ill at least a year afterward.47 Jacobs would go on to have another baby with Mr. Sands, this time a baby girl. Jacobs immediately knew the life her baby daughter would lead in slavery.48 By making the choice to take Mr. Sands as a lover, Jacobs used motherhood as a means of fighting back against Dr. Flint.49

At last Dr. Flint came to Jacobs with a proposal. Either consent to being his “free” concubine and have her children freed, or labor forever on a plantation of Dr. Flint’s son. Jacobs knew the younger Flint was just as vile as his father. She also had no confidence that Dr. Flint would free her children. Faced with two sorrowful realities, Jacobs chose to labor on the plantation.50

Life on the plantation was hard; the entire management of the house work fell to Jacobs.51 After laboring for six weeks at the Flint home, Jacobs became privy to certain information. A visiting gentleman told Jacobs that her children would be sent to labor on the plantation. This spurred Jacobs to make her escape.52

Late at night while the entire house was asleep, Jacobs made her escape from the Flints by jumping out a window. She first ran to her grandmother’s house to say goodbye to her children. She kissed them both and ran to a friend’s house where she would hide.53
Jacobs hid at the friend’s house for one week. Even she was surprised at the perseverance of the hunt for her. Dr. Flint offered a $300 reward for her return.54 Ultimately a neighboring slave owner would come to learn the details of Jacobs’ flight and peril in returning. This kind slave owner offered to harbor Jacobs long enough for her to escape to a free
state.55 Two months after Jacobs made her escape, Mr. Sands bought the children.56

Throughout this time period, Dr. Flint kept up his efforts to find Jacobs. He made inquiries and frequent trips to New York to locate Jacobs’ whereabouts.57 In time, the danger to hide at the slave owner’s house became too great. A shed had been built on to Jacobs’s grandmother’s house and it was decided that Jacobs could hide in a small garret above the shed.58 Unbeknownst to Jacobs, this would be her home for seven long years.59 With little protection from weather Jacobs was only able to lay or crawl. Very few were the respites from her hiding place. Jacobs’ children lived with her grandmother, but never knew their mother was hiding above in the same house. Jacobs was able to use a peep hole and watch her children60 and was always able to hear them.61 The winter months were very hard on Jacobs as her limbs became numbed from inaction and cold.62

Several years passed when Mr. Sands ran on the Whig ticket for Congress. If elected to Congress, Mr. Sands would relocate and potentially abandon the children to the wiles of Dr. Flint. Jacobs was deeply troubled by this, considering that Mr. Sands had merely “bought” the children, and had not emancipated them.63 Along with everyone but her grandmother, an uncle and one close friend, Mr. Sands assumed Jacobs had made her escape and was living in New York. Jacobs knew it would surprise Mr. Sands and might jeopardize her hiding spot if she were to show herself. Nevertheless, knowing the dire situation her children were in, Jacobs was able to speak with Mr. Sands just before he left for Congress. Mr. Sands agreed to emancipate the children.64 Jacobs was so weak from the encounter that she had to be carried up to her hiding place by her uncle Phillip.65

At long last, Jacobs’s friend Peter, who had known of her hiding place, came to her with
an escape plan. Peter had paid a ship captain to conceal Jacobs and another female slave in hiding. The captain had agreed to harbor both on board his ship and disembark them on a wharf in Philadelphia.66

Jacobs made her way to New York and was reunited with her daughter, Ellen.67 Jacobs’ son Benjamin arrived a short time later.68

Now in a free state, Jacobs was employed in the “Bruce” household as a nanny. She would ultimately cross the Atlantic Ocean with the family and spend ten months in England.69 Jacobs was able to see her daughter go to boarding school70 and her son Benjamin travel to California.71 However, Jacobs was still not free, and she lived in fear of Dr. Flint. She was informed in confidence that he was indeed still seeking her.72 Dr. Flint’s daughter went so far as to travel to New York with her husband in search of Jacobs.73 Jacobs’s heart was “exceedingly full” when she learned that her employer, Mrs. Bruce, had transacted with Dr. Flint’s daughter and son-in-law to buy her once and for all.74 Finally, Jacobs had her complete freedom.

Each of these three former-slave narratives gives readers and historians untold insights into the life of slavery from the slave’s point of view. While Solomon Northup found himself kidnapped into slavery and Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were both simply born into the peculiar institution, all three individuals endured many years of hardships. All three
narratives describe slavery’s destruction of familial bonds. Sadly, the three narratives also recount the rape and/or sexual harassment by slave owners toward female slaves. It is obvious, that Northup, Douglass and Jacobs all relied on a greater power to help them endure their circumstances.

Twelve Years a Slave offers the most compelling evidence of the severance of family with two separate examples. The first and most obvious is Northup’s own kidnapping. Northup would spend almost twelve years enslaved on plantations in southern Louisiana. During this entire time period Northup was only able to emit communications to his family on two different occasions. The first was when he was initially enslaved; another kidnapped African-American slave was acquainted with Northup and was able to convey the circumstances of Northup’s kidnapping to the Northup family.75 The second communication Northup was able to send was a letter indicating his plight, mailed by an English sailor who was on the ship that carried Northup to New Orleans.76 For almost twelve years Northup did not see or speak to his wife and two children. Notwithstanding the length of Northup’s unlawful enslavement, he asserts in his narrative that “from the time of my marriage to this day the love I have borne my wife has been sincere and unabated.”77 Upon his reunion with his family, Northup finds that he had a grandson named in his honor, Solomon Northup Staunton.78 Northup was welcomed home into the arms of his family.

The second example of the destruction of familial bonds in Twelve Years a Slave, is the story of poor Eliza. Eliza and her two children were sold as slaves and held in the same slave pen in Washington, D.C., as Northup. When the slaves arrived in New Orleans Eliza and her children were separated. Northup describes the truly heart-rending scene as Eliza had to be
physically separated from her children.79 A short time after arriving on Ford’s plantation, Eliza wasted away and died of a broken heart.80

Harriet Jacobs also experienced the destruction of family bonds while in slavery. Although she was a child when both her mother and father died, she did know both of them. After their deaths Jacobs depended on her maternal grandmother for financial, physical and emotional support throughout her adolescence and into her adult years. In spite of the fact that Jacobs grew up with her mother, father and grandmother, she witnessed slave mothers being separated from their children regularly.81 But, Jacobs and her children suffered the supposed loss of their mother through slavery most acutely. For seven years Jacobs remained under the same roof as her children, but never made herself known. For seven years the only contact Jacobs had with her children was through a one-way peep hole she was able to carve out.82 For seven years Jacobs was able to hear her children talk and laugh, but was never able to laugh or talk with them. For seven years Jacobs’ children relied not on their own mother, but on their maternal great-grandmother. Jacobs suffered through perhaps the cruelest of all severances of maternal relationships.

In contrast to the examples of Solomon Northup and Harriet Jacobs with regard to familial bonds, Frederick Douglass experienced total severance during his life as a slave. Born from a slave mother and a white father, Douglass never knew who his father was.83 Douglass’ mother died when he was seven and this only after he had remembered seeing her a handful of times. He took the news of her passing with much the same emotions as someone would a stranger’s death.84 Douglass was in close contact with his grandmother until he reached the age of seven or eight. At that time, he was unceremoniously sent to Baltimore to service the Auld family.85 From this time forward Douglass never again saw a brother, sister, aunt, uncle or his beloved grandmother.

The life a slave woman was particularly cruel. Slave women were subjected to toilsome work on plantations and overwork in plantation houses. Many were also the object of their slave owner’s sexual desires. In Twelve Years a Slave, Northup illustrates this point in retelling the life of fellow slave, Patsey. While Northup was a slave belonging to Edwin Epps, also on the plantation was Patsey. Patsey was known throughout the area as being an excellent field hand, with a special ability to pick cotton.86 Further, Epps used Patsey to fulfill his sexual desires. In addition to the rape Patsey suffered at the hands of Epps, Mrs. Epps was extremely jealous of Patsey. Mrs. Epps knew of her husband’s lust over Patsey, and instead of protection from him, Mrs. Epps became violent towards Patsey, often throwing bottles or boards at her head when least expected.87

Frederick Douglass was well aware of the plight of slave women. In the first chapter of his Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass writes of his Aunt Hester being brutally whipped. His owner, Captain Anthony, was barbarous in the extreme. Douglass often heard him whipping Hester as soon as dawn would break. Captain Anthony was particularly incensed when Hester was found in the company of a male slave from a neighboring plantation. Why Captain Anthony was so angry, Douglass merely left for us to conjecture. Hester was likely a victim of Captain Anthony’s sexual desires, and when she disobeyed and was found in the company of a man, Captain Anthony became incensed with anger. Only after he became physically fatigued, would he cease the whipping.88

Of the three autobiographers, Harriet Jacobs is the only one who experienced the brutal
sexual nature of a slave owner. Jacobs endured years of sexual harassment at the hands of Dr. Flint, whether she was praying at the gravesite of her parents, or his mere presence at every turn.89 Jacobs even denied Dr. Flint’s proposition of freedom, but free as his sexual concubine.90 By depriving Dr. Flint to violate her sexually, Jacobs stops him from using her body for his sexual gratification and genetic recreation.91

Solomon Northup’s narrative of his life as a kidnapped slave in southern Louisiana, Twelve Years a Slave, offers unique historical insight into the account of a kidnapped slave. His tale is significant as it not only describes his time as a slave in Louisiana, but also the process in which he was kidnapped, the slave pen in the shadow of our nation’s capital, his transportation south, and his eventual release from slavery.

Frederick Douglass’ first autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, his second autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom, and last autobiography Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, along with his many speeches and letters contained within The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader, figure prominently in African-American slavery historiography. Douglass was the most important driving force for abolition in the nineteenth century, and an outspoken advocate for African-American rights during Reconstruction.

Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl is obviously unique as it was written by a female ex- slave. Harriet Jacobs’s heroic life as a slave who endured years of sexual harassment, who remained hidden from authorities and even her children for seven years, and her eventual flight and life in a free state truly depict a great woman. Jacobs’ devotion to her family and her outspoken beliefs against slavery rank her life as one of the classic examples of the life of a slave woman.



1 Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “How Many Slave Narratives Were There?” The Root (blog), TheRoot.com, February 24, 2014, http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/02/slave_narratives_how_many_were_there.html.2 Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave (Harper Perennial Classics, 2013), Kindle Electronic Edition, Chapter 1, location 89 of 3191.
3 Northup, Chapter 2, location 257 of 3191.4 Northup, Chapter 3, location 304 of 3191.5 Northup, Chapter 5, location 502 of 3191.6 Northup, Chapter 7, location 877 of 3191.7 Northup, Chapter 8, location 904 of 3191.8 Northup, Chapter 10, location 1227 of 3191.
9 Northup, Chapter 11, location 1425 of 3191.10 Northup, Chapter 12, location 1611-1627 of 3191.
11 Northup, Chapter 19, location 2495 of 3191.12 Northup, Chapter 21, locations 2775-2865 of 3191.
13 Northup, Chapter 22, locations 2876-2968 of 3191.14 Frederick Douglass, William L. Andrews, ed., The Oxford Douglass Reader (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.) 44.15 Douglass, 48.16 Douglass, 49.17 Douglass, 53-54.18 Douglass, 57.19 Douglass 58.
20 Douglas, 60.21 Douglas, 64.22 Douglass, 71.23 Douglass, 73.24 Douglass, 75-80.
25 Douglass, 81.
26 Douglass, 85. 
27 Douglass, 288. 
28 Douglass, 89. 
29 Douglass, 108. 
30 Douglass 131. 
31 Douglass, 223. 
32 Douglass, 100.
33 Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1861; New York: Oxford University, Boston: N.P., 1861; New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 11.34 Jacobs, 16.35 Jacobs, 17.
36 Jacobs, 20. 
37 Jacobs, 32. 
38 Jacobs, 44.
39 Jacobs, 50.40 Jacobs, 49.41 Jacobs, 50.42 Jacobs, 53.43 Jacobs, 54.44 Jacobs, 82.45 Jacobs, 84-85. 
46 Jacobs, 92.
47 Jacobs, 94.
48 Jacobs, 119.49 Stephanie Li, “Motherhood as Resistance in Harriet Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Legacy Vol. 23, No. 1 (2006): 15.50 Jacobs, 129.51 Jacobs, 134.52 Jacobs, 144.53 Jacobs, 147.54 Jacobs, 149.55 Jacobs, 152.
56 Jacobs, 161.57 Jacobs, 168.58 Jacobs, 173.59 Jacobs, 224.60 Jacobs, 175.61 Jacobs, 173.62 Jacobs, 185.63 Jacobs, 189.64 Jacobs, 189-192.
65 Jacobs, 207. 
66 Jacobs, 242.
67 Jacobs, 250. 
68 Jacobs, 261. 
69 Jacobs, 278. 
70 Jacobs, 282. 
71 Jacobs, 285. 
72 Jacobs, 290. 
73 Jacobs, 295. 
74 Jacobs, 301.
75 Northup, Chapter 5, location 599 of 3191.76 Northup, Chapter 5, location 586 of 3191. 
77Northup, Chapter 1, location 89 of 3191.78 Northup, Chapter 22, location 2968 of 3191.
79 Northup, Chapter 6, locations 698-720 of 3191. 
80 Northup, Chapter 3, location 392 of 3191.81 Jacobs, 74-75.82 Jacobs, 175.
83 Douglass, 31. 
84 Douglass, 32.
85 Douglass, 46.86 Northup, Chapter 7, location 1471 of 3191.87 Northup, Chapter 8, locations 1686-1700, and Chapter 14, locations 1701-1796. 
88 Douglass, 33.
89 Jacobs, 46.90 Jacobs, 128.91 Sally Ann H. Ferguson, “Christian Violence and the Slave Narrative,” American Literature Vol. 68, No. 2 (1996): 312-313.

Bibliography

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. TheRoot.com (blog)
http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/02/slave_narratives_how_many_were_t
here.html.
Douglass, Frederick. The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader. Edited with an introduction by
William L. Andrews. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Ferguson, Sally Anne H. “Christian Violence and the Slave Narrative. American Literature Vol.
68, No. 2 (Jun. 1996), 297-320.
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1861; New
York: Oxford University Press, Boston: N.P., 1861; New York; Oxford University
Press, 1988.
Li, Stephanie. “Motherhood as Resistance in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave
Girl.” Legacy Vol. 23, No. 1 (2006): 14-29.
Northup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave (Harper Perennial Classics, 2013), Kindle
Electronic Edition.