The Purpose of Female Slave Narratives Before and After Emancipation
The first narrative I read “Aunt Judy’s Story: A Take From Real life. Written for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Fair” written by Matilda G Thompson. This story was different from the rest in that the slave narrative was framed and told through a white family. In the beginning of the story the white family, Mr. and Mrs. Ford and children Alfred, Cornelia, and Harry, are visited by Aunt Judy who has come for milk. Upon hearing that she has been sick Cornelia is sympathetic and gives her one of her eggs and the family gives her a basket of provisions. A few weeks later, Cornelia asks her mother about why Aunt Judy lives alone, and it is revealed that she had been a slave. Cornelia finds this awful and wants to hear the story so they decide to ask Aunt Judy over for supper that night. Due to the bad …show more content…
Being An Autobiography by Kate Drumgoold”. Drumgoold’s autobiography of her life, and is written by herself. It is written in first person, it jumps around in the narrative and repeats itself, with interjections of Drumgoold’s thoughts about education and religion. Drumgoold was born a slave in Virginia. Her mistress was very kind to her, she treated her as a daughter and bought her many nice things, and Drumgoold refers to her many times as her “white mother”. Drumgoold and her mistress fall sick around the same time and are treated by the same doctor: she gets better but her mistress does not. It is after her mistresses death that her mother and some of her siblings are traded away from her, including her only brother, who ends up serving in the civil war in place of his master. Drumgoold’s mother is also separated from her six-week old baby. After the war Drumgoold’s mother returns and, after much trouble from some of the old slave owners, some of who try to claim that her siblings are dead, her family is reunited.
The first narrative I read “Aunt Judy’s Story: A Take From Real life. Written for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Fair” written by Matilda G Thompson. This story was different from the rest in that the slave narrative was framed and told through a white family. In the beginning of the story the white family, Mr. and Mrs. Ford and children Alfred, Cornelia, and Harry, are visited by Aunt Judy who has come for milk. Upon hearing that she has been sick Cornelia is sympathetic and gives her one of her eggs and the family gives her a basket of provisions. A few weeks later, Cornelia asks her mother about why Aunt Judy lives alone, and it is revealed that she had been a slave. Cornelia finds this awful and wants to hear the story so they decide to ask Aunt Judy over for supper that night. Due to the bad …show more content…
Being An Autobiography by Kate Drumgoold”. Drumgoold’s autobiography of her life, and is written by herself. It is written in first person, it jumps around in the narrative and repeats itself, with interjections of Drumgoold’s thoughts about education and religion. Drumgoold was born a slave in Virginia. Her mistress was very kind to her, she treated her as a daughter and bought her many nice things, and Drumgoold refers to her many times as her “white mother”. Drumgoold and her mistress fall sick around the same time and are treated by the same doctor: she gets better but her mistress does not. It is after her mistresses death that her mother and some of her siblings are traded away from her, including her only brother, who ends up serving in the civil war in place of his master. Drumgoold’s mother is also separated from her six-week old baby. After the war Drumgoold’s mother returns and, after much trouble from some of the old slave owners, some of who try to claim that her siblings are dead, her family is reunited.