Trenches

This was by far one of the most intense slave pieces I have read. Isaac was literally a slave as soon as he left his mothers womb. “-on the 14th day of May, 1822, A. D., that I inhaled my first supply of air, that my eyes, for the first time, were brought in contact with the beautiful light surrounding the terrestrial world, the earthly home of mankind, and the first sound of my infant voice was raised in shrill cries for a mother’s tender care and parental affection. This was the place of my nativity and the date of my birth. It was also the time that my mistress became the owner of one more slave and so much richer by my birth. My mother was, unfortunately, numbered in the family of slavedom, belonging to one Mrs. Hannah Woodland, and according to the institution of slave law, I legally, or illegally, became her property.” -Isaac Mason

This was interesting to me because he calls himself “property” which makes it seem like he even thought of himself as an object or a tool rather than a human being who could think and eat and do everything that white people could do. The mindset that was fed into the young children who were slaves is very shocking. They were taught to think like they were lower than everyone else and they were the dirt below the white people’s feet. By creating this sense of inadequate being, the slaves felt as though they never stood a chance against a race that was “obviously much superior”. Isaac was very obedient as a slave, and judging by the vocabulary that he uses he was obviously smarter than many other slaves who were never given any kind of formal education. This was a very interesting slave narrative and it really opened my eyes to the powerful psychological system that the slave owners used against the slaves.

I expect that this narrative will very interesting because it was written from the male persepective that was usually forced to do more work than the women who sometimes became house hands but still did field work. The men played a large role in many of the manual labor jobs on the souther plantations and to hear a perspective of a man who grew up as a slave and was born into it would be very interesting compared to a slave owners view or someone who was three generations freed. Many things that we have read about slavery this year have been accounts that are recorded through history but not actually the pain and years of agony that is revealed through a first person account. The view point that this is going to give me will change the way I thought growing up as a young child in slavery was. By growing up as a slave and working at a young age, I’m sure Isaac Mason had a very different perspective than anyone who was a outside account.