Anti-Slavery Arguments in Selected Slave Narratives

Paper Summary:

This paper provides a biographical review of three Southern slaves: Moses Grandy, Solomon Northrup, and Henry Bibb. The biographies are based on slave narratives, which describe the brutality and inhumanity of the conditions under which slaves in the South were forced to exist. A brief discussion about the historical context of slave narratives and anti-slavery movements precedes the biographical reviews.

From the Paper:

"The effects of slavery included a major role in the economic development of the United States. Black slaves helped to clear the American wilderness and build important canals, railroads, and roads. The cotton which slaves picked became the nation's most valuable, and therefore important, export. The income from cotton paid for a major share of American imports, and the westward expansion of slavery during the early and mid-1800's had important political effects. "Northerners feared that the South would gain control of Congress if Western territories entered the Union as slave states. Attempts by the North to exclude slavery from these territories angered the South and helped bring on the American Civil War (1861-1865)" (Davis 1999:3). Slavery had a variety of effects on slaves and owners. It broke the spirit of many blacks but made many others vow to resist it. Slavery caused fear and hate between most owners and slaves. The following narratives provide a glimpse into the miserable and dehumanizing qualities of the day- to-day lives of slaves in the Old South."

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