Antebellum Slave Narratives Essay

The history of slaves in America started in the 17th century, in the year of 1619 when they arrived on a Dutch ship and were sold to English settlers. According to D.B. O’Callaghan, black people became so-called indentured servants who worked on tobacco fields together with white servants. Although black and white men did the same jobs their situation was already different, because black servants were inferior even to those white men because black people had no hope to be free again in life. In this case, we can tell that they were slaves in those early times as well, according to their blind-alley situation (O’ Callaghan). In the 18th century, during the colonial life, slavery played a significant role in the Southern parts of America, on the vast plantations of landowners. Tobacco and …show more content…
These narratives either document the situation of slaves and the cruelty of their masters from the 18th century until the early 20th century or they present the life of African Americans after the abolition of the institution of slavery and their fight for success throughout the years. With the help of slave narratives we can get an insight into the past happenings in America, so these can be seen as historical evidences, too. In this genre, antebellum and post-bellum slave narratives are differentiated, both of which have different aims to reach in their own periods. Both in antebellum and postwar slave narratives there are some that became more decisive and got more popularity in the years than the other ones. From the narratives before the Civil War I would like to highlight the one titled Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup and another one titled Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs. At the same time I would also like to mention two from the post-bellum slave narratives, titled Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House by Elizabeth Keckley