Fanny Kemble was a well-known British actress during the early 1800s. Kemble, however retired from her acting career in 1834 when she married an American planter by the name of Pierce Butler. After marrying Butler, Kemble joined her new husband in Philadelphia, where they lived for majority of their marriage. However, during the winter of 1838 to 1839 Kemble and Butler’s family left Philadelphia for Butler’s plantation on the coast of Georgia. While on the plantation Kemble experienced slavery and the injustices that come along with the barbaric assembly first-hand, but also gained insight through the trust of the women slaves on the plantation, who frequently came to her to ask favors. Kemble kept a detailed journal of her time in Georgia,
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For instance, when Kemble states, “You will see how miserable the physical condition, it is insisted by those who uphold this evil system, is the only part of it which is prosperous, happy, and compares well with that of northern laborers…” (255), the audience can gleam two different perspectives on slavery. The first point-of-view would be Mrs. Keamble’s—by describing the system as “evil” and the slaves as “poor creatures” the audience can tell, without inferring, that Kemble has an ill opinion on the subject. Moreover, from the same quote readers can tell with absolute authority what the average planter or plantation owner thinks about slavery. The slave owners feel as if slavery is not immoral or unjust because they believe the slaves are “happy” and “prosperous”—that if the Africans were not owned by the whites they would be unhappy and would likely live a very poor lifestyle without the whites help. Moreover, a reader can tell that the average slave owner feels as the South’s labor system is just as good (if not better) than the North’s; displaying again that planters have no quarrels with enslaving human beings. Despite the fact that each opinion is riddled with biases, they allow a historian or student to receive accurate glimpses into the personal beliefs of two alternative perspectives in an era of rising …show more content…
In less than fifty years after this journal was written a war was fought over this system of labor (and other reasons). Even today, there is a mental barrier between the
For instance, when Kemble states, “You will see how miserable the physical condition, it is insisted by those who uphold this evil system, is the only part of it which is prosperous, happy, and compares well with that of northern laborers…” (255), the audience can gleam two different perspectives on slavery. The first point-of-view would be Mrs. Keamble’s—by describing the system as “evil” and the slaves as “poor creatures” the audience can tell, without inferring, that Kemble has an ill opinion on the subject. Moreover, from the same quote readers can tell with absolute authority what the average planter or plantation owner thinks about slavery. The slave owners feel as if slavery is not immoral or unjust because they believe the slaves are “happy” and “prosperous”—that if the Africans were not owned by the whites they would be unhappy and would likely live a very poor lifestyle without the whites help. Moreover, a reader can tell that the average slave owner feels as the South’s labor system is just as good (if not better) than the North’s; displaying again that planters have no quarrels with enslaving human beings. Despite the fact that each opinion is riddled with biases, they allow a historian or student to receive accurate glimpses into the personal beliefs of two alternative perspectives in an era of rising …show more content…
In less than fifty years after this journal was written a war was fought over this system of labor (and other reasons). Even today, there is a mental barrier between the