The Life And Trial Of Celia A Slave Summary

The Life and Trial Of Celia A Slave Melton A. McLaurin is the author of Celia A Slave, McLaurin is a historian who grew up in North Carolina and received a PH.D from the University of South Carolina where he studied research on the Southern Cotton Industry during the reconstruction era. McLaurin was interested in raising issues about American slavery around the time period of the 1800’s, so he goes about doing this by using Celia’s story as an example of this horrible time. McLaurin’s research gives so much information that backs up the many details of a “bad life as slaves”. In this story McLaurin explains the trial that celia had to endure, Celia was a 19 year old that lived in missouri and was claimed by Robert Newsom, Newsom was a wealthy …show more content…
The argument of this story is if Celia deserved a fair trial and also if she received a fair trial. In my opinion, it is not fair the way the trial was handled because she was overthrown by men who had most likely had the same intentions as Newsom did with their own slaves. These people who were appointed to defend in this trial were all for slavery, so she did not have much defending on her part. The author definitely makes a better understanding for the audience to the question of fair trials on black slaves in this time period. In this time period it was normal for white men to have affairs with their slaves but some it was forced upon and the way slaves were tried and treated was unfair and wrong. This argument was very important because the reading Celia’s story and trying to grasp the fact that she was terrified and scared every single day on the Newsom’s land. I think that it is important that Mclaurin wrote this story to show people how badly people were treated in those time periods many people do not realize the extremes these people endured. This story has made me realize that we should be aware of the past and the horrible things that people would get away with