Resentment vs Contentment. A comparison between "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" and "Up from Slavery."

.-~*'+Introduction+'*~-.

    Hello, fellow Readers (A baker's dozen of people + Dr. E), and welcome to the AFAM-ILY blog's first post! This post will be discussing the texts: "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Seven Years Concealed" by Harriet Jacobs, and "Up from Slavery" by Booker T.Washington.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Today, I wanted to discuss the contrasts in Jacobs and Washington's attitudes towards Slavery, from their own respective experiences, such as people they met and events they went through, to their thoughts on being liberated from slavery. Let's first begin with Harriet Jacobs, who goes under the alias Linda Brent when recounting her narrative. As we know, after Brent's mother's mistress, a woman she regarded as kind and caring to her, had died, she came to find in her will that she would simply be sold off to The Flints. Immediately she's filled with distate, anger, and bitterness upon realizing freedom is beyond her reach, and she's placed at the mercy of a far more sinister family. 

    Daily, she is tormented not only by the abuse she faces herself, but by witnessing the abuse others simulteaneously. She never held an ounce of respect or gratitude toward any of her slave owners, even when she supposedly "had it easier" and underwent less grueling and lighter tasks than others. When she finally saw an opportunity, for 7 years did she 'escape,' and endured a bleak, and depressing existence inside of a dark garret. 7 years of blisteringly hot summers and piercingly cold winters. 7 years of limited mobility and exercise. 7 years quietly watching and listening to those who unknowingly passed her by. 7 years, and it was still a markedly better experience than being viewed as property and forced to work for the rest of her life. 

    She enjoyed the thought of Dr. Flint searching for her across the entire country, while she was right under his radar the entire time. Back before she left, she knew that having children with another man (Sands) would rob Dr. Flint in his attempts to rob her of her bodily autonomy. On page 162, she outright says "I cannot say, with truth, that the news of my old master's death softened my feelings towards him. There are wrongs which even the grave does not bury. The man was odious to me while he lived, and his memory is odious now."

She regrets nothing. And for that? She's more than valid for thinking as such

Photo of the Garrett that she lived in.

    Booker T. Washington takes a difference stance when it comes to his attitude toward slavery. Washington is under the impression that the slaves around his plantation, even in a majority of the South had carried no resentment or bitterness towards their masters or other white people. Slaves would mourn the children of their masters should they fall ill or die, begging to nurse them or nurture them them once more. Some slaves would even put themselves in harm's way to protect their mistresses and their children, with a quote saying "Anyone attempting to harm 'young Mistress' or 'old Mistres' during the night would have to cross the body of the slave to do so." Washington also goes to cite instances where black slaves continued to nurse their former masters/mistresses who became impoverished and dependent folowing the war. 

    Saying a majority of slaves lacked contempt towards white people feels like quite the pressumptious claim to make, so it seems that Washington could be simply applying his own experiences to what he think others may think.

    One thing that's worth noting is that on the first paragraph on the 11th page, he begins by saying "I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get entangled in the net of slavery." Saying pitied, instead of something more akin to empathized, or even sympathized, even though he was a black slave strikes me as quite strange, as if he's an exception or an outsider or bystander. One possible theory is that maybe he only "pities" other nations with slavery because he saw the slavery seen at his plantation as more "tame" or "not as bad as others."

    Later on in the text, Washington says he used to envy this hypothetical white boy. This boy wasn't stopped or limited from any dreams or aspirations, and could become anything he so pleased, from Bishop to President. Though he seemed to picture being in the shoes of someone with such privelege, he admits he didn't envy that boy as much as used to, and he claims soon after that being born as Black can be more advantageous than being born white. He says that Black people often "work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a white youth to secure recognition. But out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathways is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race." For what I think about this, what he stated about Black people frequently having to work harder than white people for the same amount of recognition is in fact true, but I disagree with the part where one gains sort of a...mental fortitude because of this struggle for recognition. In fact, I feel that this would warrant a near opposite effect, in which Black people are under more stress and frustration, beginning to actually lack confidence because their skills are not seen as equal to someone white, when in reality they should be equals. This might resort to Black people having to sacrifice their own well-being, doing twice the work a white person does just to be treated the same.

    I would like to mention his journey throughout University as a part of my point. He's smart, intelligent, and willing to learn what he can at this University despite being winded, dirty and tired from his long journey. He is forced to clean the area to an insane degree, where he's quadruple checking the places he has dusted, and only then is he granted entry. But it doesn't stop there, in order to pay for his room and board he basically becomes the janitor for the school, and isn't really seen as a proper student. Then for that Colonel(?) he meets, he's willing to move into a tent with little protection during the winter in order to make him happy, which also strikes me as...odd? Intriguing too.

Regardless, so concludes my first blog post for AFAM-ILY. Let me know your thoughts!