Slavery in Colonial and Antebellum Periods free essay sample

African Americans have used a variety of narrative forms to convey the history of inequality and lack of social justice in the United States during times of enslavement. These black Americans presented their experiences and feelings to write autobiographies, short stories, novels, poems, essays, and speeches in hopes to be emancipated. The many obstacles that African Americans had to endure in order to gain this equality in the United States are expressed through these works of literature. By examining the art of literature through multiple authors of both the Colonial and Antebellum periods, these fears, struggles, and hardships demonstrate the way in which the form of narratives advanced the equality and social justice of African Americans. The Colonial period (1746-1800) was the start of this fight against inequality and imprisonment of black Americans, through the form of narratives, letters, and poems. These works of literature are focused amongst the changes and struggles of coming to the â€Å"New World† from Africa. We will write a custom essay sample on Slavery in Colonial and Antebellum Periods or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This narrative’s â€Å"illustrate the emotional aspects,† and direct their â€Å"bears upon the â€Å"doubleness,† the â€Å"divided† selves of Africans who were transplanted, against their will, to colonial America† (Smith 5). These Colonial period authors such as; Equiano, Phillis Wheatley, and Jupiter Hammon through literature wrote about their experiences, daily life, and struggle with freedom. By sharing these views through literature, the authors of the colonial period were able to record history and lead others closer to equality and social justice for all black Americans. Being born in Africa and transported on a slave ship to the Americas, Olaudah Equiano was the author of one of the first ever black narratives and â€Å"powerfully articulates the experience of blacks in colonial America† (Smith 9). Equiano named this autobiography â€Å"The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself†, which depicts the events of his life focusing around the capture and separation of himself and his sister. Equiano uses many emotions through his descriptive narrative, when he glances â€Å"back with pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow† (Equiano 9). The pains of having to separate from his loving mother and other brothers to a life of imprisonment and suffrage are brought to life through his personal narrative. The fear of being brutally punished or even killed and running with no freedom opened the heart and eyes of the inflictors. Phillis Wheatley, still within the colonial period, had a different experience when coming to America in her poem titled â€Å"On Being Brought from Africa to America†, along with Jupiter Hammon whose work was called â€Å"An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penetential Cries†. These two authors compare their experiences as slaves to finding religious through the Christian beliefs of this time period and their rulers. Jupiter Hammon, born in America as a slave, and Phillis Wheatley having been bought by a generous family of this era, whom did not take pride in treating African Americans with as much a strong rule. Both authors learned to read and write from their owners and were able to use these abilities to under religion and gain a sense of peace through God. Believing that there was someone who was listening to the prayers and that â€Å"salvation comes by Christ alone† (Hammon 27). The Colonial period was the main transformation from oral traditions to literature, where African Americans put their oral traditions into hand writing. Religion had a large affect on the writings of African Americans, when being adapted into the Puritan belief that writing should have a moral purpose, literature came from moral wrong doings of slavery and persuades the idea of freedom. Oral traditions were similar to written tradition, which allowed African Americans to write of their experiences and feeling through religion and advanced equality and social justice through religious views. The period following the colonial was considered to be the antebellum period, ranging from 1800 -1865. The works of this these African Americas were focused around the â€Å"quest for freedom and the fight to abolish slavery define literature† (Smith 37) through novels, short stories, speeches, and narratives. The literature provided in the antebellum period by authors such as Frederick Douglass, Frances E. W. Harper, and Sojourner Truth â€Å"reflects the pressing social, political, and economic ramifications of slavery for Americans of all races† (Smith 37). These literary works were tales of the fight and struggle it was to gain freedom and prominent members, of white upper class status, gave accuracy to these narratives. The colonial period offered the beginning to great literary works about the history of African American slavery and led way to the antebellum period in which African American felt more freedom towards expressing their feelings and struggles in writing. Frederick Douglass in â€Å"The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself†, is where he notes that he â€Å"received my first impressions of slavery on this plantation, I will give some description of it, and of slavery as it there existed† (Douglass 107). Frederick Douglass references the idea of song and the nature of singing among slaves, he never understood â€Å"the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs† (Douglass 110). Douglass goes on to state, that it was not until after he gained freedom did the meaning of joyous song come to him. He learned that these songs were to drown sorrows, cry out to God, or in happiness they kept the moral and belief that one day things would change. Other writers during the antebellum period, such as Frances Harper and Sojourner Truth, discussed woman’s rights and a sarcastic view that would never lend a woman to have her own freedom. Frances Harper in â€Å"The Slave Mother† write of how everything can be taken from a woman and the â€Å"burden’d heart was breaking in despair† (Harper 102). Woman’s feelings were not considered in any way shape or form, and even though people of color were escaping slavery and gaining freedom woman had a while longer to go. The colonial period dealing with the slave trade and the first reactions of those who were taken from Africa aboard a ship and sold to work as slaves to Americans and Europeans. Writers in this period wrote about the feelings and thoughts of what was happening during these events and how unclear it was until it actually happened. These narratives swayed way into the antebellum period, which was focused around the Underground Railroad and the access it provided to freedom for African Americans. Black American once beginning to open up about what happened during slavery gained praise from those who recognized the wrong doings of slavery. The writers of these periods had a large affect on the way equality and social justice came to people of color by providing their experiences as way to demonstrate the way in which they were treated and to recognize the harmful ways in which the United States was going about the slave trade.