Contents INTRODUCTION…………………………………………… ……2 1. SLAVE LIFE…………………………………………………...7 1.1 FAMILY ………………………………………………… ……8 1.2 SLAVE LABOUR ……………………………………………...9 1.3 CLOTHING AND DWELLING ………………………………...10 1.4 ORAL LORE ………………………………………………….11 1.5 RELIGION ……………………………………………… ……12 1.5.1 Spirituals ………………………………………………… …..13

1.5.2 Voodoo …………………………………………………… ….14

1.5.3 Funerals …………………………………………………

…..15 1.5.4 Life after Life ………………………………………………..16

CHRONOLOGY …………………………………………………1 7

NOTES ………………………………………………………….1 9

- 1 - 2. AUTOBIOGRAPHY……………………………………… …21 2.1 PERSONAL EXPERIENCE NARRATIVES ……………………21 2.1.1 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass …………………25 2.1.2 Booker T. Washington ………………………………………44 2.2 DU BOIS ……………………………………………………4 8 NOTES ……………………………………………………… … 51 3. FICTION…………………………………………………… .. 53 3.1 TONI MORRISON ………………………………………….. 53

NOTES ………………………………………………………….5 7 CONCLUSION……………………………………………… …..59 SUMMARY…………………………………………………… …62 RESUMÉ……………………………………………………… …63 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………… …..64

- 2 - INTERNET SOURCES………………………………………….66

Introduction

"I believe in Liberty for all men: the space to stretch their arms and their souls, the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends, enjoy the sunshine, and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking, dreaming, working as1 they will in a kingdom of beauty and love.“ ( Du Bois: 1920: page 4 )

The institution of slavery was abolished by Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. It was a declaration made by Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America. Lincoln announced that all slaves in the Confederate territories were freed. These territories were in rebellion against the United States at the time of the Civil war (1860 -1865).

Slaves in areas controlled by the Union were not freed until 1865, when Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery as legal institution. However, we should not forget that it existed and still exists in a form of modern commerce in humans traffiicking. Therefore I tried to understand the nature of this institution and began my study of African American personal experience narratives from the 19 century.

My thesis seeks to understand how African American writers depicted their lives that are worth telling stories about. They have a unique place in American history. African Americans were removed from their native land to become slaves of a white man. African asked himself: "My master! and who made him my master? That's what I think of--what right has he to me? I'm a man as much as he is." ( Stowe: 1986: Chapter 3 2 ) But he received no answer. His fate was in hands of a white man.

In deciding a topic for my diploma work an important factor was that I would enjoy and be really interested in it. I have always admired fight of

- 3 - minorities for their rights. Nowdays rights and freedoms are ensured by the universal declaration of human rights. There should be no distinction of race, colour, sex, or age. Nevertheless, we are still witnesses of racial and sexual discrimination.

The first definite impulse to write about African American literature came from Alice Walker´s amazing novel The Color Purple . After reading this book about life of African American girl Celie I became really interested in deeper study of African Americans´ suffering and fight for better future. ´ Dear God : I am fourteen years old . I have always been a good girl .

Maybe you can give me a sign8 letting me know what is happening to me … (Walker: 1983: page 3)

By these words begins Alice Walker´s amazing novel The Color Purple , which brought her Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983. This touching book became massive international bestseller. I really enjoyed reading it and the main character Celie with her life story deeply touched my heart. It is a story about a modern slave. Celie becomes a slave of her own black father and husband.

I thought it would be a challenging area of subject if I deeper analyse the works of the writers who had a personal experience with slavery and discrimination, such as Frederick Douglass, B.T.Washington, Du Bois and compare them with the work of Toni Morrison who used her imagination to create sentimental and touching story about a life of an Afro-American former slave.

"I believe in the Training of Children, black even as white; the leading out of little souls into the green pastures and beside the still waters, not for pelf or peace, but for life lit by some large vision of beauty and goodness and truth; lest we forget, and the sons of the fathers, like Esau, for mere meat barter their birthright2 in a mighty nation.“ (Du Bois: 1920: page 4 )

The full acquisition of English ( white men ) language could have open the gates between the two worlds, but white people had the keys and did not want to elevate the slaves to become full members of human community.

- 4 - Therefore they created Slave Codes. It was a set of laws passed between 1690 and 1730. These laws described rights and responsibilites of slaves and their masters. Slaves were considered as their master´s property and they were not allowed to move freely or own anything.

“A slave is one who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his labor. He can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any thing, but what must9 belong; to his master.” ( Goodel: 1853: page 23)

They could be punished by whipping or got sold and separated from their family. Black Codes replaced Slave Codes in 1865. By this way Southerneres wanted to control ex-slaves and abolish their new freedoms.

Written and spoken language were signs of reason in the period of Enlightenment. They raised man above the animals. They exalted one nation above another. Slave Codes prohibited African Americans from freedom of education. To teach a slave to read or write was considered as a criminal act by the 1850´s.

South Carolina.—Act of 1740:“Whereas, the having slaves taught to write, or suffering them to be employed in writing, may be attended with great inconveniences; Be it enacted, that all and every person and persons whatsoever, who shall hereafter teach or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to write, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe, in any manner of writing whatsoever, hereafter taught to write, every such person or persons shall, for every such offense, forfeit the sum9 of one hundred pounds, current money.” (Goodel: 1853: page 319)

I find the improvement of education of black society as one of the main factors which will help to break the boundaries between the black and white worlds.The intellectuality of the black slaves was denied at all points. The white men assertion that black men are not human beings and that they do not belong to the human race caused closure of every book printed to the black slaves´ eyes. Therefore the greatest desire of Frederick Douglass and other slaves was to learn how to read.

Each chapter of this diploma work is organized around close readings of one of four texts- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an

- 5 - American Slave (1845) by Frederick Douglass; Up From Slavery: An Autobiography (1901) by Booker T. Washington; The Souls of Black Folk (1903) by Du Bois; and Beloved (1988) by Toni Morrison.

Firstly I would like to provide a historical background of slavery. I mainly deal with life and culture of African Americans during the period of slavery (1750 -1850s). I depict slave family, labour, clothing and dwelling, oral lore, religion, weddings, childbirth and funerals. I provide a table with important historical datas at the end of the chapter. I mainly used Nation of Nations: A Concise Narrative of the American Republic and Encyclopedia of Southern culture . The main inspiration for writing about Slave Codes came from a book The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice written by missionary and abolitionist William Goodell.

The main aim of my study is to deeper analyze motives of slavery in authentic narratives by African American writers from 19th century. I would like to compare the personal experience with slavery of Frederick Douglass and B.T.Washington and radical opinions of Du Bois with fictional work and study of 20th century African American author Toni Morrison.

I also intend to examine question of education. I want to show of how vital importance to the status of southern black slaves was education. It has been and still is a main institutional mean to gain personal respect, economic security and racial progress in the white men world.

In order to better understanding of widespread black enthusiasm for education I try to deeper analyze the Narrative of Frederick Douglass and how hard was for him to start learning reading in the period of slavery. I go further with my research and examine the work of B.T. Washington who became a leading symbol of black accommodation to political disfranchisement and exercised considerable influence over the quality of segregated and underfunded black educational institutions and systems

- 6 - throughout the South. ( Encyclopedia of Southern culture : 1989: page 151) 5

I try to ilustrate how it was hard to maintain skills of reading and writing in the period of slavery. I ilustrate hard beginnings of Frederick Douglass, B.T. Wasshington and radical fight of Du Bois, who became a professor at Atlanta University and encouraged research on black life.

It was a difficult and long fight for rights and freedoms, but it paid in the end. Toni Morrison is a living proof. She was the first African American woman who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.

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1. Slave life

The first Africans were transported to Virginia in 1619. Black men, women and children were crowded onto slave ships to be sold in America.They were not familiar with English language and culture at all.They were sold to white masters who were whipping their slaves. And "any Negro that shall presume to strike any white“was to receive 30 4 lashes for that rash act. (Nation of Nations : 1996: page 48 ) No metter how hard times slaves have had they managed to develop their own family life and culture.

This chapter of my thesis will try to preface the main aspects of the slaves life and culture from 1750-1850s. What did slaves think about their lives? Did they have any hopes and dreams? There are number of historical studies about slave life. I enumerate here those that are most germane to this chapter of my diploma work: Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris, Encyclopedia of Southern culture ; J.W.Davidson, W. F. Gienapp, C.L. Heyrman, Mark Lytle, and M.B. Stoff Nation of Nations; Gates, Henry L., Jr. The Signifying Monkey and Goodell, Wiliam. The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice. However, I also used authentic descriptions of a slave life from autobiographies written by Frederick Douglass, B.T.Washington and Du Bois. Finally, I excerpt from a work of fiction: Stowe, Harriet Beecher, Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly . It is a beautiful and sentimental story which became the best- selling novel of the 19th century. Abraham Lincoln met H.B.Stowe after the Civil war and he asked her if she is a little lady whose book started this

- 8 - big war.

1.1 Family

The ideal in American culture is a nuclear family which consists of a legally married man and woman and their children. On the other hand African American family included more than just primary relativies. Whenever a brother and sister were separated and sold to different plantations, grandparents, aunts, cousins often functioned as their parents. When blood relatives were not present black strangers took care after their children. Slaves even used kinship terms in addressing nonkinsmen.

"Thus, when someone is adressed with specific kinship terms such as "mother" or "brother,“ the user of the term is stating that he or she will behave respectively like a son(or daughter) or brother(or sister)in his or her relationship to the person addressed,and that he or she is expecting a motherly or brotherly type of behaviour5 in return.“ ( Encyclopedia of Southern culture : 1989: page 154)

African Americans wanted to retain African family patterns, but the slave environment did not allow it. Jumping over the broomstick in front of the slave community or master´s verbal approval meant that a couple was married. " Slaves often had no ceremony at all, merely getting or being given a master´s permission to move into a cabin together. Some slaves and poorer whites were pronounced husband and wife after "jumping the broomstick“-hopping over a broomstick together and afterward being feted at a gathering with food5 and drink.“ ( Encyclopedia of Southern culture : 1989: page 493)

Southern law did not recognize slave marriages.

- 9 - "The slave has no rights. Of course he, or she, cannot have the rights of a husband, a wife. The slave is a chattel, and chattels do not marry. “The slave is not ranked among sentient beings, but among things,” and things are not married. 9 ( Goodell: 1853: page 105 )

It was not considered wrong for a girl to have a child before she got married. One of the most widespread beliefs about childbirth concerned the physic powers of a new born baby with face covered with veil, the membrane of the amniotic sac. Such a baby possessed the power to forsee the future and to see and hear ghosts.

Slaveowners were allowed to seperate families.They dissociated husbands from wives and parents from children. Frederick Douglass had unpleasant memories of his childhood: " My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant-before I knew her as my mother…Frequently ,before the child has reached its twelfth month,its mother is taken from it,and hired out onsome farm a considerable distance off,and the child is placed under the care of an old woman,too old for field labour. For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child's affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for6 the child..“( Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: 1993: page .40)

Douglass saw his mother four or five times in his life. He was not allowed to be present during her ilness, at her death, or burial. That is how cruel was the institution of slavery.

1.2 Slave labour

Slave codes passed between 1690 and 1730 dealt with metters of legal relation of master and his slave. This set of laws also included the question of slave labour. The slave is “goods and chattels,” and these cannot earn wages. The sustenance of the horse and ox are not wages. The needful repairs of a machine are not wages . 9 ( Goodell: 1853: page 152)

Slavery was a highly profitable investment. Slaves worked on large

- 10 - plantations or small farms in the South. They were divided into field hands, skilled workers, and house servants with one or two drivers. House servants and the drivers had the highest status. Blacksmiths and carpenters also were given special recognition. "The home plantation of Colonel Lloyd wore the appearance of a country village. All the mechanical operations for all the farmes were performed here.The shoemaking and mending, the blacksmithing, cartwrighting, coopering, weaving,and grain-grinding…“6 (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: 1993: page 45).

Many slaves were used as a working force to construct roads. However the lowest and the hardest labour was as a field hand. On small farms slaves worked in the fields with the owners. Therefore they had much closer contact with white people and other slaves. On plantations in contrast they dealt just with overseer. Overseer was paid by the size of the harvest he brought in and therefore he was very often cruel and used his whip to punish slaves. "...the negro overseer is always more tyrannical and cruel than the white one…the negro mind has been more crushed and debased than the white…The slave is always2 a tyrant, if he can get a chance to be one.“ ( Stowe: 1986: Chapter 32)

House servants and the drivers had the highest status. Blacksmiths and carpenters were given special recognition too. During harvest, slaves were in the field even 16 hours a day, eating just a lunch there . "From the earliest dawn of the day, they had been in the fields, pressed to work2 under the driving lash of the overseers;" (Stowe: 1986: Chapter 32 )

If they did not work hard their food could be reduced and they could be sold. Whipping was a key part of plantation discipline. “There was no law for the negro, but that of the overseer's whip.” ( Goodell: 1853: page 127) 9

The number of the lashes depended on the seriousness of disobedience. Women as well as men were whipped. Frederick Douglass gave us a detailed and schocking description of how his aunt was whipped:

- 11 - "The louder she screamed,the harder he whipped;and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her hush;“ 6 ( Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : 1993: page 42 )

1.3 Clothing and dwelling

Plantation owners generally bought rough and cheap cloth for slave clothing. Each year they gave the adults only a couple of outfits and a pair of shoes. Many of the slaves did not have enough clothing or blankets to keep warm. "Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts,one pair of linen trousers, like the shirt, one jacket ,one pair of trousers for winter, made of coarse negro cloth, one pair of stockings ,and one pair of shoes; the whole of which could not have cost more than seven dollars.“6 (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : 1993: page 44 )

Little boys and girls wore just a plain gown which was mostly made of a material called hemp. It was really rough material and children hated wearing it until they got used to it, because they had no other choice. "I can scarcely imagine any torture, except, perhaps, the pulling of a tooth, that is equal to that caused by putting on a new flax shirt for the first time. It is almost equal to the feeling that one would experience if he had a dozen or more chestnut burrs, or a hundred small pin-points,7 in contact with his flesh.“ (B.T.Washington: 1901: page 9 )

Booker T. Washington hated wearing a flax shirt, but his older brother generously agreed to wear a new flax shirt instead of him for several days until it became softer. "Until I had grown to be quite a youth this single garment was all that I wore.“ 7 ( B.T.Washington: 1901: page 10) Frederick Douglass can share the similar experience. He says that he was seldom whipped by his old master. Nevertheless, he suffered from the hunger and cold. "In hottest summer and coldest winter ,I was kept almost naked-no shoes,no stockings,no jacket,no trousers,nothing on but a coarse tow linen shirt,reaching only to my knees.I had 6no bed.“ ( Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : 1993: page 54 )

- 12 -

The early days of his life B.T.Washington spent in a little cabin, which was not very different from those of other slaves. Most of the slaves lived in crowded and poorly built cabins. The roofs were leaky and floors covered with mug and rain in wet weather. The cabins were furnished with only a few chairs, benches, a table with few pots and dishes and sometimes a matress filled with corn or straw, but mostly there were no beds given to the slaves, just one coarse blanket. "…very many of their sleeping hours are consumed in preparing for the field the coming day; and when this is done, old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed, - - the cold, damp floor, -- each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets; and here they sleep till they are summoned to the field by the driver's6 horn.“ (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: 1993: page 29)

1.4 Oral lore

African American folklore, art and religion are three sources that have shaped African American culture. Storytelling was an instrument for closing the gap between black literature and its society. It is an oral tradition of repeating, changing and passing along various stories about many aspects of the slave life. In the 1980s Henry Louis Gates, Jr. coined a term signifyin(g). It stands for communication between African American writers and their black audience. "It is amazing how much black people talk about talking - do it to pass these rituals from one generation to the next. They3 do it to preserve the tradition of the race.“ ( Gates: 1988: pagee 11) Historically, it is a way of how people play with language to trick other people. Gates transfers signifyin(g) into the vehicle of literary criticism. He says in The Signifying Monkey or a theory of African American Literary Criticism that it should be clear that black writers read and critique the texts of other black writers as an act of rhetorical 3 selfdefinition. (Gates : 1988: page 122) Africans brought from their homeland to the New world specific trickster 11 figure called Esu who was a messenger of the gods. Esu interprets the

- 13 - will of the gods to men. He is the massenger by which people can interpret their fates. If black people are able to learn about their fates throug Esu they might be able to change their fates. H.L.Gates in The Signifying Monkey uses Esu as a black metaphor for the literary critic. Esu is the text´s interpreter. God created the races of men, but created the African 3 first. (Gates: 1988: page 13) The Africans had the first election between knowledge of the arts and writing and all the gold in the world. They chose the gold and were punished by a curse. They would never master the art of reading and writing.

1.5 Religion

"No, Mas'r," said Tom; "I'll hold on. The Lord may help me, or not help; but I'll2 hold to him, and believe him to the last!" ( Stowe: 1986: Chapter 38 )

Religion was the center of slave culture. It provided a refuge from daily miseries of slave life. African Americans managed to adopt various African beliefs and rites to American Protestantism. Their new religion was a combination of African herbal medicine and magic with Christianity. Many of the slaves were baptized as Catholics. They identified Christianity with emancipation. The majority of slaves had to attend church with whites, but they also organized secret meetings in the slave quarters. Here they combined the slaveholding gospel of the master class with their own version of Christianity. Slaves took the biblical story of Exodus and believed that they would be liberated from bondage like the children of Israel. Unlike their masters, slaves actively participated in each religious service. They were shouting their prayers and singing spirituals with deep emotions and hope for better future. They were happily clapping their

- 14 - hands: "…they were allowed again their Sundays for their own use, many would gather together to hear from him of Jesus. They would gladly have met to hear, and pray, and sing, in some place, together; but Legree would not permit it, and more than once broke up such attempts, with oaths and brutal execrations,--so that the blessed news had to circulate2 from individual to individual.“ ( Stowe: 1986: Chapter 38)

1.5.1 Spirituals

African Americans did not make a clear distinction between secular and sacred music. They sang a variety of work songs and spirituals like many of their ancestors in Africa. The lyrics and intonation of the slaves was full of poetic beauty, emotions and rich imagery. Many of the spirituals functioned as a protest songs with a secret message. "Frederick Douglass disclosed that when slaves sang „Canaan,sweet

Canaan,“they were thinking not only of the Bible´s Promised land4 but of the North and freedom .“ ( Nation of Nations : 1996: page 343 ) Slaves used the characters of the Old Testament to tell their stories. They called God to set them free. Spirituals were based on the stories about journey to freedom. They helped slaves to survive in such dehumanizing circumstances. Frederick Douglass depicted slaves coming back from the hard work in a field and singing : "I am going away to the Great House Farm!

O ,yea!O,yea!O!“6 ( Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : 1993: page 47)

This they would sing as a chorus. Douglass writes about the words which to many people see as unmeaning jargon, but which were full of meaning to themselves . He continues on : "I have sometimes thought that the mere hearing of those songs would do more to impress some minds with the horrible charachter of slavery, than the reading6 of whole volumes of philosophy on the subject could do.“ ( page 47 )

Douglass says that every tone was a testimony against slavery. Slaves sang songs and praied to God for deliverance from chains. "The songs of the 6 slave represent the sorrows of his heart;“ ( page 47 )

- 15 -

1.5.2 Voodoo

Undoubtedly it is worth to mention the voodoo rituals and practices from West Africa. The cult of black magic and practices entered the United States of America in the end of the 18th century, when the slaves from Haiti were brought by the French to Louisiana.

Voodoo influenced particularly New Orleans´s community. Nevertheless, this magic cult exists throughout the United States. Nowdays we can find many of the stores in New York City which specialize in the sale of magic products such as voodoo dolls, different oils and herbals, voodoo spells and candles.

Slaveowners were terrified of African religion. They considered it as a combination of witchcraft and supernatural practices. They treated slaves as savages and imposed a ban on practicing voodoo or any African religion. Penalties were severe. It ranged from whipping to imprisonment or torture. Sometimes the torture was very sadistic and included mutilation, flaying and burial alive.

Many of the slaveowners baptized their slaves as Christians. Naturally, slaves found their own way how to practise their religion in secret. They organised private and confidental meetings where they worshipped gods of their ancestors. Those who had intimate knowledge of voodoo were called doctors. They often combined voodoo spells and herbals to recover slaves from their illness. They had a power of life and death over people. It depended on whether those people believed in voodoo or not. They could curse or heal. The vehicle through wich voodoos cast a spell or remove it is usually a " mojo hand,“…the mojo hand is a small cloth sack that is carried in a

- 16 - wallet or purse and many contain parts of dead insects, animals (especially lizards), birds, and items that have had intimate contact with the perrson being hexed ( underclothing, feces, fingernails, and hair). Through "sympathetic“ magic, objects closely associated with the person to be "hoodooed“ are doctored to produce the desire effects, which range from influencing their love to death. 5 ( Encyclopedia of Southern culture: 1989: page 492 )

Ceremonies often included sacrifice of animals such as chicken and goat. Many voodoos are able to use herbals to relieve pain and cure illnesses. It was the only medical care which was available for some slaves whose masters did not take care of.

1.5.3 Funerals

The funeral was a recognized time for slaves to overcome the separation. It have served sacred and social function. The slaves could come together and share their mourning over the loss of a community member with other slaves. It was interesting that slaves and their masters shared the same burial grounds.

When a slave died he or she was immediately buried. Nevertheless, there was a memorial service and feast usually on Sunday. It was the only day of rest. Slaves insisted to have their funerals at night. It was influenced by practices from West Africa, but it had also a practical purpose. The slaves from neighbouring plantations were able to sneak away at night and enjoy funeral of their friends. According to West African tradition slaves were buried with their faces facing west like a sun when it is rising.

Unlike white men, blacks had huge feastes after funerals. They were eating, singing, playing drums and dancing. They were happy, because death meant freedom. They celebrated lives of their friends and family members. They believed in an afterlife.

- 17 -

1.5.4 Life after life

"Tell me the truth.Didn´t you come from the other side? Yes.I was on the other side.

You came back because of me? 10 Yes. “ ( Morrison: 1988: page 215 )

Readers of Toni Morrison´s book Beloved are asked to enter the world where dead people are a part of life. Main heroine and ex-slave Sethe is visited by the spirit of her deceased daughter. Toni Morrison is using the metaphor of crossing the bridge. Many Africans believed if they lived a good and dignified life that their death will be just a precondition for being carried back to mainstream of living. They will be transformed into the body of their grandchildren or next generation. The love ones were just going home to be with God.

Many of the slaves excepted Christianity and believed that their spirits will live on after death. They were not afraid of death. They knew that death makes all people equal. It awaits masters as well as slaves. It meant a freedom from suffering. It meant an escape from bondage.

"Deem not the just by Heaven forgot! Though life its common gifts deny,-- Though, with a crushed and bleeding heart, And spurned of man, he goes to die! For God hath marked each sorrowing day, And numbered every bitter tear, And heaven's long years of bliss shall pay

For all his children suffer here." 2 BRYANT. ( Stowe: 1986: chapter 40 )

- 18 -

CHRONOLOGY 13

1501 Spanish settlers brought the first slaves in the New World to San Domingo ( nowdays capital of Dominican Republic) 1619 the first African American slaves imported into Virginia, one of Britain’s North American colonies. 1641 Massachusetts was the first colony which legalized slavery. 1650 Slavery was legalized in Connecticut. 1661 Slavery was legalized in Virginia which one year after declares that children of the slaves would have the same status as they mothers. 1663 Slavery was legalized in Maryland which prohibits marriages between white and black. 1664 Slavery is legalized in New York and New Jersey. 1691 South Carolina passes the first comprehensive slave codes 1705 Virginia Slave Code – all non-Christan servants entering the colony to become slaves. 1712 N ew York city slaves rebellion - the execution of 21 African Americans 1739 The CATO REVOLT – revolt lead by slave Cato – over 25 whites were killed – persecution of rebellions. 1767 Phillis Wheatley, a slave, publishes her first poem in the Newport Rhode Island, Mercury . 1775 one out of every 5 Americans was of African ancestry,over 90% of all black Americans lived in the South. Beginning of AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR The first abolitionist society is organized. 1776 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 1777 Vermont was the first state to abolish slavery 1780 slavery is abolished in Massachusetts; 1785 in New York 1783 The TREATY OF PARIS 1789 election of GEORGE WASHINGTON as the first President of the United States 1793 The cotton gin is invented, which leads to the expansion of slavery in the South. The First Fugutive Slave Law - allows slave owners to pursue fugitive slaves across state lines and it becomes a criminal offense to help fugitive slaves. 1800 Gabriel Prosser, a slave blacksmith planne a march to Richmond and capture the governor. But a few slaves betrayed the plot and he was persecuted. 1804 The UNDERGROUND RAILROAD is established- was a network of routes by which African slaves in the 19th century United States attempted to escape to free states, or as far north as Canada, with the aid of abolitionists. 1817 Frederick Douglass was born in Maryland. From 1820 to 1860 more than 2 million slaves were sold in the interstate slave trade . Perhaps 600,000 husbands and wives were separated by such sales. 1831 The most famous slave revolt was led by a literate slave preacher NAT TURNER. The first issue of THE LIBERATOR appeared and abolotionism was born, published by William Lloyd Garrison, insisted that slavery end at once. 1833 The American Anti-Slavery Society is founded by William Lloyd Garrison and others. 1838 Douglass escapes from slavery 1845 Narrative of Frederick Douglass was published by the Anti-Slavery Society. Douglass sales to England where he is received with enthusiasm in England and his freedom is purchased by his English friends. In 1846 his freedom is legalized. 1847 The first issue of the North Star , subsequently, Frederick Douglass´s Paper , is published 1850 new fugitive slave law - special commissioners were to have concurrent

- 19 - jurisdiction with the U.S. circuit and district courts and the inferior courts of Territories in enforcing the law; fugitives could not testify in their own behalf; no trial by jury was provided. 1852 Harriet B.Stowe´s popular novel Uncle Tom´s Cabin emphasizing the duty of Christians 1855 My Bondage and My Freedom published in New York. 1856 Booker T. Washington was born in Virginia. 1857 The DRED SCOTT CASE – a slave who lived in the free state of Illinois before moving back to the slave state of Missouri. He suited for freedom in the Supreme Court, but he remained a slave. 1858 Douglass's Monthly is established. Its publication is continued until 1864. By 1860 The US produced three-fourths of the world´s supply of cotton . 1860 ABRAHAM LINCOLN is elected president. 1861 Southern states formed the Confederate States of America and elected JEFFERSON DAVIS president. Beginning of CIVIL WAR; Confiscation Act - Congress provided that slaves used for military purposes by the Confederacy would become free if they fell into Union hands. 1862 Congress allowed enlistment of African American slaves in the Union Army. the Second Confiscation Act provided that slaves of anyone who supported the rebellion would be freed if they came into federal custody.Unlike the first act it did not matter whether the slaves had been used for military purposes. Lincoln presented to his cabinet a proclamation freeing the slaves in the Confederacy - THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION – slaves will be freed until 1863. 1864 The New orleans Tribune - blacks newspaper 1865 Confederate General Lee surrenders to General Grant in Virginia at the Appomattox Court House. The Thirteenth Amendment – outlawed slavery The Freedmen´s Bureau established by Congress to provide health care and education. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. 1866 THE KU KLUX KLAN founded Memphis massacre - white civilians and police killed forty-six African-Americans and injured many more, burning ninety houses, twelve schools, and four churches in Memphis, Tennessee. 1868 The Fourteenth Amendment – made blacks citizens of United States. Du Bois was born in Massachusetts. 1869 First black diplomat was appointed minister to Haiti. 1875 Civil Rights Act prohibited racial discrimation in all public accomodations, transportation, places of amusement. Congress rejected a ban on segregation in public schools . 1877 Frederick Douglass was appointed Marshal of the District of Columbia, which office he held until JIM CRAW LAWS - segregation at the public places. 1881 Booker T. Washington opens Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. 1882 Life and Times of Frederick Douglass published. August 4th, his first wife dies 1890 The National Afro-American League founded 1894 Booker T. Washington delivered his famous "Atlanta Compromise" He said the the Negro problem would be solved by a policy of gradualism and accommodation. 1889 Frederick Douglass was appointed Minister and Consul General to Hayti. 1895 Frederick Douglass dies at his home at Cedar Hill, Washington. 1896 The National Association of Colored Women was formed 1897 The American Negro Academy was established to support literature, art and philosophy 1901 Up from slavery was published. 1903 The Souls of Black Folk published. 1905 THE NIAGARA MOVEMENT, led by Du Bois against racial discrimination, was replaced 1909 by The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP ) promoted use of the courts to restore the legal rights of black Americans. 1911 the National Urban League – for equal employment 1915 Booker T. Washington died

- 20 - 1920 The Harlem Renaissance 1930 Black Muslim Movement – Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X 1931 Toni morrison was born in Ohio. 1954 Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education ---Supreme Court outlaws segregation in all public schools in the U.S. 1955 Rosa Parks, a leading member of local NAACP, refused to remove from bus – she was arrested- the Montgomerry bus boycott led by MARTIN LUTHER KING. 1963 Du Bois died. March on Washington – more than 250, 000 people – economic equality and civil rights; Martinluther´s speech I have a dream. 1964 Civil Rights Act - outlawed segregation. 1965 The Autobiography of Malcolm X , published after his assassination 1966 Black Panther Party established as a militant black political organization . 1968 Martin Luther King is assassinated. 1987 Beloved was published. 1993 Toni Morrison was the first African American who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. 2001 Colin Powell is the first African American being nominated United States Secretary of State. 2005 Condoleezza Rice was the first African American woman nominated United States Secretary of State.

- 21 - 12

NOTES 1 Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) . Darkwater; voices from within the veil. New York , 1920. E-book. University of Virginia Library. Internet. 10 October 2005. Available HTTP: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/modeng/modengD.browse.html. p.4.

2 Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly . New York: Penguin Books, 1986. E-book. University of Virginia Library. Internet. 10 August 2005. Available HTTP: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/subjects/subjects-afam.html , chapter 3, 32, 38, 40.

3 Gates, Henry L., Jr. The Signifying Monkey: Towards a Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, p.11, 13, 122.

- 22 - 4 James West Davidson, William F. Gienapp, Christine Leigh Heyrman, Mark Lytle, and Michael B. Stoff. Nation of Nations: A Concise Narrative of the American Republic. McGraw-Hill, 1996, p.48, 343.

5 Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris. Encyclopedia of Southern culture . The University of North Carolina, 1989, p.151, 492, 493.

6 Blight, David W. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Amherst College: Bedford books, 1993, p.29, 40, 42, 44, 45, 47, 54.

7 Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery: An Autobiography . Boston, 1901. E- book. University of Virginia Library. Internet. 21 September 2005. Available HTTP: www.etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/subjects/subjects-afam.html, p.9, 10.

8 Alice Walker. The Color Purple. The Women´s Press limited, 1983, p.3. 9 Goodell, Wiliam. The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice: Its Distinctive Features Shown by Its Statutes, Judicial Decisions, and Illustrative Facts. New York, 1853. Internet. 26 February 2006. Available HTTP: http://www.dinsdoc.com/goodell-1-1-22.htm, p.23, 105, 127, 152, 319.

10 Morrison, T. Beloved . London: Picador, 1988, p.215.

11 Trickster figure is a mythological figure representing god, human or animals who have human qualites (ability to speak,think,tell jokes etc.). The trickster plays tricks and is a victim of trick. Trickster figures such as Br´er Rabbit (Br´er stands for brother when addressing male members of church) are part of storytelling traditions of Africa. Br´er Rabbit represents a black slave who uses his wits to overcome hard circumstances and have a revenge on his master. See Encyclopedia of Southern culture. The University of North Carolina, 1989, p.452. 12 http://www.search.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/engine/resource/exibition/standard/default .asp?resource=670. Available. 1 March 2006. Illustration from The Female Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves Album (1828). The verse was written by an English poet William Cowper (1731 – 1800)

13 Chronology. Internet. Available. February 28 2006. http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/slavery/a/timeline_slave_2.htm see James West Davidson, William F.Gienapp, Christine Leigh Heyrman, Mark Lytle, and Michael B.Stoff. Nation of Nations . McGraw Hill, 1996. Washington, Booker T. Frederick Douglass . London, 1906. Electronic edition. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Internet. Available 4 March 2006. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/doug1906/doug1906.html. page 11 http://faculty.washington.edu/qtaylor/aa_history_public/aatimeline_index.htm Available 10 March 2006

2. Autobiography

- 23 - 2.1 Personal experience narratives

How to characterize autobiography? I tried to find an answer to this question in the Columbia History of the American Novel , 1991. This study mentions the singular aspects of the word "I“ used to describe the self.

Word "I“ has an elevated status in autobiographies. We can find the uniqueness and independence of the main character who tells his or her story in the first person. It elevates the individualism and the authority of the first person. Generally, one of the main attractions for readers is an authenticity of the text and the direct contact between a reader and a writer.

Naturylly, readers are curious about the lives of famous and successful people. There is no wonder that from its beginnings autobiography flourished in the United States of America. We can find many of the recordings of the experience with a new land in the 17 century. The earliest settlers were attracted to the new exotic country. They were giving us marvellous descriptions of physical characteristics of the new land. They gave us accounts of native inhabitants, their language and customs.

It is worth to mention The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine John Smith (1630). It is a story of an explorer called Captain John Smith who was one of the first settlers in Virginia in 1606. He wrote about how he was captured by Indians and how he managed to escape from death through the intervation of the princess Pocahontas.

Autobiography flourished in America from 17 to 20 century in all its forms. We can fin wide varieties of selfrepresentation - … captivity, criminal, slave, and

- 24 - travel narratives, ethnic, immigrant, colonial autobiography . ( Columbia 2 History of the American Novel: 1991: page 28)

Indian captivity narratives were propagandistic. The first narratives were based on the religious dimension of captive experience. However, white people missused these stories to elevate hatred of Native Americans. The Puritans believed that they were chosen by God on their mission to change the New World. They equated Native Amaricans with the devil. These autobiographies were mainly spiritual. They tell more about the strenght of Puritan culture than about true characteristics of authores.

The first secular biography published in the United States was Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771), which was the first major text in American autobiography to break with the tradition of Puritan spiritual narratives. "Primarily, Franklin uses his autobiography to promote the classic tale of the poor but talented boy who, through hard work, ability, and learning from his mistakes, makes a success of his life.“ ( Columbia History of the 2 American Novel: 1991: page 36)

Explorer stories, Indian captivity stories, spiritual narratives and Benjamin Franklin´s autobiography were very popular in this period, but African Americans autobiography was somehow neglected. Little or nothing was made of the life and conditions of African slaves in the seventeenth- and eighteenth- century. Slaves were regarded as animals and not humans. They did not have any rights and privileges. Nevertheless, we can say that by 1760s autobiography of black slaves was born. African American autobiography has developed from slave narratives.

" Between 1760 and 1798, the Revolutionary era, the partial experience of fifteen African Americans appeared in print, five of them ( of which dour were self written) by former slaves seeking to establish identities separate from their earlier slave status, while the remainder were criminal

- 25 - confessions written down by interested whites shortly before the execution of these men.“ 2 ( Columbia History of the American Novel: 1991: page 37 )

The American revolution ended on 4 July, 1776. The Declaration of Independence was ratified by the Continental Congress. Democratic state was based on this declaration, which intensified a national sense of life, freedom and the pursuit of hapiness. These were the main rights which were supported throughout the country. It was an ideal motive power for writing autobiographies. Those who were excluded from their rights and privileges now wanted to claim that they are also human beigns. African Americans wanted to tell the truth of their experience.

The predominant genre in early African American writing was a slave narrative. It was a personal account of former slaves who managed to escape from their bondage in the South to their freedom in the North.

These narartives served as propaganda instruments for abolition of the slavery. African Americans felt that whites in the North should know the conditions of slavery. Slave narratives were important for opening dialogues between former slaves and white people.

Some former slaves, such as Frederick Douglass or Booker T. Washington, wrote their narratives themselves, but the most of the narratives were written by white transcribers. Many of the slaves were illiterate. They dictated their stories to white abolitionists. Therefore many scholars debate on authenticity of slave narratives. White transcribers had an authority to compose and interpret the stories of the former slaves.

Apart from the famous Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave, Written by Himself (1845) we can mention Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by herself (1861) by Harriet Jacobs. We

- 26 - can find here one of the typical features of slave narratives, its title, which includes the claim, "Witten by him/herself“.

Harriet Jacobs was the first African American woman slave who authored her narrative. Unlike Douglass, Jacobs gained no fame during her life. Her book was adored in the late 1970s which was the period of white nad black rise of feminism. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl focuses on a destiny of slave woman depicted as a victim of sexual abuse.

Harriet Jacobs depicted her resistance to unwanted sexual attentions of her master and her escape by hiding for with her two children for seven years. This is one of the major slave narrative topics. Slave narratives contain very often a description of a cruel master or mistress who abuses their slaves, overseers whipping slaves, savage barbarity and injustice not being protected by law. Frequently repeated motives are seperation from family, hard labour and starvation, sexual abuse and physical punishment. Ex- slaves described their quest for literacy and freedom.

Slave narratives begin frequently with a potrait, which is usually signed by an author himself. A part of the title includes the phrase "Written by him/herself “. It emphasizes the fact that it is an authentic and truthful narrative of author´s real experience with slavery. Some narartives were transcribed. There we can find a preface written by an abolitionist or editor, which claims that everything is based on true facts and nothing is fictional.

Generally, slave narratives were written in chronological order. They followed the events of the author´s life from his childhood spent on a plantation in the South to his escape to the North by following the North Star. Slaves were not always lucky. We can read about failed attemptes to escape. White masters sent their hunting dogs to find slaves. We can find many descriptions of these unlucky attemptes and consequential punishments.

- 27 -

Most of the slave narratives are supplemented with documentary materials in the end of the narrative. They consist of bills of sale, antislavery speeches or appeals to the reader for support against slavery, newspapera articles or even poems. The Confession of Nat Turner (1831) is for example completed by an authentic account of the whole rebellion with the list of the whites who were murdered. The list of their black slave murderers with their owner´s names, and sentences is supplemented as well.

Narrative of Frederick Douglass ends with a parody poem about how pious priests whip their slaves and separate them from their women and children. Nevertheless, they are able to preach and sing about heavenly union. The next chapter of my work deals with the Narrative of Frederick Douglass , which became one of the most famous and representative works of former slaves.

2.1.1 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey (1817 – 1895), known later as Frederick Douglass, was one of the most important African American leaders and intellectuals of the 19 century. He managed to develop from a former slave into a well known and admired 1 abolitionist, reformer, editor, orator and author of three autobiographies. His first work Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself (1845) brought him glory and together with My

- 28 - Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881) is regarded as the finest and most representative example of the slave narrative tradition.

To Frederick Douglass slavery meant both bondage of the mind and bondage of the body. Narrative of his life is a great story about meaning 8 of slavery and freedom in antebellum America. ( Narrative of the Life of 3 Frederick Douglass : 1993: page VII)

He invokes the readers moral conscience. At the same time he involves the readers in authentic testimonial about the institution of slavery. His simple style of writing and undertandable language made his narrative available to the general public in the North in the 19 century. It is crucial to note that Douglass´narrative was a successful instrument used for antislavery propaganda.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass made his author the most famous black person in the world. It had an instant success after being published in 1845. …sold eleven thousand copies from 1845 to 1847… By the eve of the Civil war in 1860, approximately thirty thousand copies of the Narrative had been sold on two3 continents. ( Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : 1993: page 16)

I analyze the edition written by David W. Blight in 1993. This edition has an introduction written by David W. Blight, who is a leading expert on the life and writings of Frederick Douglass. He is a professor of history at Yale University, who reprinted Douglass´Narrative in its original version. He appended the introduction and the numbered notes guide to modern readers. In his introduction Blight represents Douglass as self-conscious artist struggling to recapture real experience. ( Narrative of the Life of 3 Frederick Douglass : 1993: page 8)

- 29 - I also analyze the second autobiograpgy My bondage and My Freedom (1855). I compare the development of his writing style and usage of more complex structures than in his Narrative from the year 1845. I point how important was an education for former slaves to reach higher social status. Both of Douglass´ autobiographies made me feel how it is relevant for all people to have the opportunity to get an education.

Originally, Narrative is supplemented with a preface written by William 9 Lloyd Garrison who founded an abolitionist newspaper The Liberator in Boston in 1831. When Douglass escaped from slavery in 1938, he was deeply inspired by Garrison, who devoted his life to ridding America of slavery and worked emphatically to eliminate discrimination against blacks in society. "William Lloyd Garrison, in his famous preface to the original edition (reprinted here) , found in the best passages of Douglass´s writing a „whole Alexandrian library of thought, feeling, and sentiment“ (referring to the ancient Egyptian cultural capital at the mouth of the Nile River)… …In Wendell Phillips´s prefatory letter, which also accompanied the original edition (also reprinted here), the famed abolitionist orator opened by recalling the“old fable of ´The Man and the Lion,´where the lion complained that he should not be so misrepresented ´when the lions wrote history.´ I am glad the time has come when the ´lions write history3 .“ (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : 1993: page 17)

Frederick Douglass wrote that he was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, in Talbot county, Maryland. He knew where he was born, but he did not know when he was born as well as many of the African American slaves. This is one of the specific features of the slave narratives. The slaves were not aware of the exact date of their birth. They did not know when they can celebrate their birthday. Generally, a birthday helps people to identify themselves. Unfortunately, Douglass was denied the full enjoyment of a privilege to count the days until his birthday. He uses just a few datas in his Narrative. Douglass introduced his Narrative : "I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it… The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege.“3 (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : 1993: page 39)

- 30 -

He uses a sarcasm and irony when he compares slaves to horses, which know as little of their age. He tells that it is a wish of the masters to keep their slaves ignorant. The nearest estimate he could give was that he was between twenty-seven and twenty-eight when he started to write this Narrative .

Frederick Douglass uses more profound style of writing In My Bondage and my freedom . He is more direct and provides great detail. There are longer sentences and paragraphs and more complex choice of vocabulary in his second autobiography than in the text quoted above from the Narrative ( page 39).

"never met with a slave who could tell me how old he was. Few slave- mothers know anything of the months of the year, nor of the days of the month. They keep no family records, with marriages, births, and deaths. They measure the ages of their children by spring time, winter time, harvest time, planting time, and the like; but these soon become undistinguishable and forgotten. Like other slaves, I cannot tell how old I am. This destitution was among my earliest troubles. I learned when I grew up, that my master -- and this is the case with masters generally -- allowed no questions to be put to him, by which a slave might learn his age. Such questions deemed evidence of impatience, and even of impudent curiosity. From certain events, however, the dates of which I have since learned, I suppose myself to have been born about the5 year 1817.“ (My Bondage and My Freedom : 1855: chapter 1 )

In My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), which is actually the second overwrited version of his autobiography, Douglass uses more complex sentences and detailed descriptions than in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself ( 1845 ), where he only mentioned that he was born in Talbot county, Maryland. He wrote his first autobiography after hard and long work to acquire the forbidden skills of writing and reading. When he wrote his second autobiography he was already editor of the North Star, a newspaper in Rochester, which got its name because runaway slaves followed the North Star at night. He changed its name to Frederick Douglass's Paper in 1859. He gained access to higher education and skills. He uses more complex

- 31 - words and graphic images in My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), which gives readers the sense of no separation between the narrative and reality, they fuse into one. "In Talbot county, Eastern Shore, Maryland, near Easton, the county town of that county, there is a small district of country, thinly populated, and remarkable for nothing that I know of more than for the worn-out, sandy, desert-like appearance of its soil, the general dilapidation of its farms and fences, the indigent and spiritless character of its inhabitants, and the prevalence 5of ague and fever.“ ( My Bondage and My Freedom : 1855: chapter 1 )

The children of black slaves had mostly a black mother and a white father. Black women were frequently abused by their white masters. Frederick Douglass had a black mother, Harriet Bailey, but his father was a white man. It was whispered that his master was his father, but Douglass says that the means of knowing were witheld from him. It was a common custom to separate children from their mothers at a very early age. This painful separation is reflected in many of the former slaves narratives. "My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant -- before I knew her as my mother.“ ( Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : 3 1993: page 40) Douglass describes how the child is taken from his mother before reaching its twelfth month. A mother is hired out on some farm and her child is taken under the care of an old slave woman who is not able to work as a fieldhand.

"She was hired by a Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from my home. She made her journeys to see me in the night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of her day's work. She was a field hand, and a whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise, unless a slave has special permission from his or her master to the contrary -- a permission which they seldom get, and one that gives to him that gives it the proud name of being a kind master.“3 (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : 1993: page 40)

Douglass narrates with a sorrow in his heart that he did not see his mother

- 32 - more than four or five times in his life. She died when he was seven. He was not allowed to be present during her illness or at her burial.

An interesting fact is that Douglass did not give a description of his mother in his first Narrative (1845). When he had grown to manhood he came across a Prichard's Natural History of Man. There he found the picture of "King Rameses the Great" who beared strong resemblance to his mother. She was a very important person in his life even though he saw her just a few times. King Ramses the Great is known as one of Egypt´s greatest warriors and rulers. When we look at a picture or statue of any pharaoh, we may see a divinely and proud ruler with strong features in his face covered with gold.

Frederick Douglass loved his mother. His greatest desire was too see her. Maybe his desire is hidden in a golden face of a pharaoh. He probably thought that his mother can finally live as a respectable and degnified woman . After she passed away she was no more a slave. She found the piece. We can imagine his mother due to her portrayal given in My Bondage and My Freedom : "My knowledge of my mother is very scanty, but very distinct. Her personal appearance and bearing are ineffaceably stamped upon my memory. She was tall, and finely proportioned; of deep black, glossy complexion; had regular features, and, among the other slaves, was remarkably sedate in her manners. There is in Prichard's Natural History of Man, the head of a figure -- on page 157 -- the features of which so resemble those of my mother, that I often recur to it with something of the feeling which I suppose others experience5 when looking upon the pictures of dear departed ones.“ ( chapter 3 )

While Douglass made just a remark of his grandparents in his first autobiography, he gave a more comprehensive story about his grandmother Betsey and grandfather Isaac Baily in My Bondage and My Freedom . Douglass's earliest recollections are from his grandparents cabin. " Living here, with my dear old grandmother and grandfather, it was a long time before I knew myself to be a slave. I knew many other things before I knew that. Grandmother and grandfather were the greatest

- 33 - people in the world to me; and being with them so snugly in their own little cabin -- I supposed it be their own -- knowing no higher authority over me or the other children than the authority of grandmamma, for a time there was nothing to disturb me; but, as I grew larger and older, I learned by degrees the sad fact, that the "little hut," and the lot on which it stood, belonged not to my dear old grandparents, but to some person who lived a great distance off, and who was called, by grandmother, "OLD MASTER." I further learned the sadder fact, that not only the house and lot, but that grandmother herself, (grandfather was free,) and all the little children around her, belonged to this mysterious personage, called by grandmother, with every mark of reverence,5 "Old Master." (My Bondage and My Freedom : 1855: chapter 1 )

His dualism is reflected in his description of wide range of slaveholders. He is able to see both sides of an issue. He gives us presentation of brutal and heartless masters. On the other hand he is able to acknowledge brighter sides of their heart. His first master was called Captain Anthony. He owned two or three farms and about thirty slaves. His farmers were under the care of an overseer. Douglass gives us a description of a cruel and cold-hearted white man. One of the main specifications which were included in slave narratives were characteristics of slaveholders. Some slaves had a good experience with their masters, but most of the slaves had experienced an animal behaviour of their barbarous and inhuman masters. Frederick Douglass writes up his first master and his overseer: "Mr. Plummer was a miserable drunkard, a profane swearer, and a savage monster. He alway went armed with a cowskin and a heavy cudgel. I have known him to cut and slash the women's heads so horribly, that even master would be enraged at his cruelty, and would threaten to whip him if he did not mind himself.

Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder.“3 (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: 1993: page 41)

Captain Anthony is represented by Douglass as a cruel man, who was hardened by a long life as a slaveholder. He took great pleasure in whipping of his slaves. Douglass recalls how he has often been awakened by a scream of he his own aunt. She was tortured by Captain Anthony. One of the typical features which appear in slave narratives is the observation of family members or friends being whipped. It was hard for former slaves to erase bad memories which became their nightmares.

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"She now stood fair for his infernal purpose.Her arms were stretched up at their full lenght,so that she stood upon the ends of her toes . He then said to her,“Now,you d-----d b----h,I´ll learn you how to disobey my orders!“and after rolling up his sleeves,he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin,and soon the warm,red blood (amid heart-rending shrieks from her,and horrid oaths from him)came dripping to3 the floor.“ (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: 1993: page 43 )

Douglass states that he was so terrified that he hid himself in a closet. He did not dare to come out, because he tought that he will be the next to be whipped. It was a new experience for him. He had never seen such a cruel and inhuman behaviour. He had lived with his grandmother on the outskirts of the plantation, where she was put to raise children of younger women who worked as a fieldhand. Therefore he had never seen a brutal scene of whipping, until he was moved to live with master Anthony. He illustrates this scene in his second autobiography. In comparison with his first narrative he uses more direct speech act. He wanted to make the scene more dramatic and authentic by usage of a direct speech and a wide range of adjectives in My Bondage and My Freedom : " Each blow, vigorously laid on, brought screams as well as blood. "Have mercy; Oh! have mercy" she cried; "I won't do so no more;" but her piercing cries seemed only to increase his fury. His answers to them are too coarse and blasphemous to be produced here. The whole scene, with all its attendants, was revolting and shocking, to the last degree; and when the motives of this brutal castigation are considered, -- language has no power to convey a just sense of its awful criminality. After laying on some thirty or forty stripes, old master untied his suffering victim, and let her get down. She could scarcely stand, when untied. From my heart I pitied her, and -- child though I was -- the outrage kindled in me a feeling far from peaceful; but I was hushed, terrified, stunned, and could do nothing, and the fate of Esther might be mine next. The scene here described was often repeated in the case of poor Esther, and her life, as I knew it, was 5 one of wretchedness.“ ( My Bondage and My Freedom : 1855: chapter 5 )

Douglass gives a comparison of different overseers. Mr. Severe was always armed with large stick and heavy cowskin ready to whipp any slave who disobeyed his orders. He was rightly named Mr. Severe, a cruel man. Douglass has seen him whip a young woman in the midst of her crying children. The death of Mr. Severe was regarded by slaves as a

- 35 - mercy of God. His place was filled by Mr. Hopkins. Douglass depicts him as a less cruel overseer, who whipped slaves, but he did not take no pleasure in it. He was regarded as a "good“ overseer. However, Mr. Hopkins remained a short time as an overseer on Colonel´s Llloyd plantation. Douglass asks himself why his career was so short. He supposed that Mr.Hopkins lacked the necessary severity. He was replaced by Mr. Gore, a man who possessed all characteristics of the "first-rate“ overseer. Douglass uses a highly descriptive language to give readers colour vision of Mr.Gore´s cruelity:

"Mr. Gore was proud, ambitious, and persevering. He was artful, cruel, and obdurate. He was just the man for such a place, and it was just the place for such a man. It afforded scope for the full exercise of all his powers, and he seemed to be perfectly at home in it. He was one of those who could torture the slightest look, word, or gesture, on the part of the slave, into impudence, and would treat it ac-cordingly. There must be no answering back to him;no explanation was allowed a slave, showing himself to have been wrongfully accused. Mr. Gore acted fully up to the maxim laid down by slaveholders, --"It is better that a dozen slaves should suffer under the lash, than that the overseer should be convicted, in he presence of the slaves, of having been at fault." 3 (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: 1993: page 51)

According to the slave codes the authority of the master is unlimited. In former times it was not treated as a criminal act to kill a slave or any colored person. In 1740 murderers of slaves were punished with a fine. In 1821 was a homicide of a slave made punishable with death. However, Frederick Douglass writes about unpunished murders in Maryland. He gives readers a terrifing illustration of how a white master killed two of his slaves with a hatchet by knocking their brain out. Another example of white men cruelty is even worse than the first one. It is about a barbarous white mistress who lived a short distance from the plantation on which lived Douglass. She murdered his wife´s cousin , a young girl between fifteen and six-teen years of age, mangling her person in the most horrible manner, breaking her nose and breastbone with a stick, so that the poor

- 36 - girl expired in a few hours afterward. ( Narrative of the Life of Frederick 3 Douglass: 1993: page 52 ) The cruel mistress, of course, escaped her punishment. According to Douglass´s words she escaped not just punishment but also the pain of being present before a court for her horrifying crime.

Naturally, the memory of these crimes and scenes of whipping and cruelity haunted Douglass by day and night. Nevertheless, he had also pleasant memories about his childhood. As a little child he had a great deal of leisure time. He drived up the cows at evening, kept the front yard clean and helped Daniel Lloyd, master´s son, in finding his birds, after he had shot them. He says that Daniel was a sort of protector of him. He was so kind to divide his cakes with him. "My connection with Master Daniel was of some advantage to me. He became quite attached to me, and was a sort of protector of me. He would not allow the older boys to impose upon me, and would divide his cakes 3 with me.“ (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: 1993: page 54 )

It is an interesting fact that in his first Narrative Frederick Douglass recounted his friendship with his young master Daniel. He did not write about Daniel´s sister Miss Lucretia. Whereas he just mentioned her name in his first autobiography, he gives readers more comprehensive representation of their relationship in My Bondage and my Freedom . Once, when Douglass got wounded in the fight with another slave-child, she washed the blood from his face, put a balsam on and bounded up his head. Douglass says that the balsam did not heal just a wound in his head, but it was also her kindness that was healing to the wounds in his spirit. To show how far Lucretia had advanced in his thinking in his second autobiography, it is well to quote Douglass´s own words on this point: "Miss Lucretia was my friend. I felt her to be such; and I have no doubt that the simple act of binding up my head, did much to awaken in her mind an interest in my welfare…When very hungry, I would go into the back yard and play under Miss Lucretia's window. When pretty severely pinched by hunger, I had a habit of singing, which the good lady very soon came to understand as a petition for a piece of bread. When I sung under Miss Lucretia's window, I was very apt to get well paid for my music…For such friendship I felt deeply grateful, and bitter as are my recollections of

- 37 - slavery, I love to recall any instances of kindness, any sunbeams of humane treatment, which found way to my soul through the iron grating of

5my house of bondage.“ (My Bondage and My Freedom : 1855: chapter 9)

He was seldom whipped by his old master and suffered little from anything else than hunger and cold. His memories goes back to his suffering. In hottest summer and coldest winter he was kept almost naked no shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trousers, nothing on but a coarse tow 3 linen shirt, reaching only to my knees. ( Narrative: 1993: page 54 ) His daily meal consisted of a mush, boiled coarse corn meal, which was put into a large wooden trough and set down upon the ground. "The children were then called, like so many pigs, and like so many pigs they would come and devour the mush; some with oyster- shells, others with pieces of shingle, some with naked hands, and none with spoons. He that ate fastest got most; he that was strongest secured the 3best place; and few left the trough satisfied.“ (Narrative: 1993: page 54 )

When Frederick Douglass became nine years old, the most important event in his life occurred. His master sent him to Baltimore to live with Hugh and Sophia Auld ( master Anthony´s brother and his wife) . Douglass had to take care of their little son Thomas. He could feel the difference between the life on the plantation and in the city home for the first time in his life. His new mistress is described as a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. It was maybe because she had never had slaves before. In My Bondage and My Freedom Douglass writes about how his desire to read was awakened. "The frequent hearing of my mistress reading the bible for she often read aloud when her husband was absent soon awakened my curiosity in respect to this mystery of reading, and roused in me 5the desire to learn.“ (My Bondage and My Freedom : 1855: chapter 10 )

According to the slave codes slaves were not alowed to read or write. Still, some masters tought their slaves already mentioned skills. Sophia Auld was one of them. She very kindly commenced to teach young Douglass the alphabet. Just at this point of his progress, Mr. Auld discovered what his wife has done. He forbade his wife to instruct the slave further. One of the main reasons for such a decision was that it was unlawful and unsafe

- 38 - to teach a slave to read. The narrative very effectively shows how reading can open slaves eyes to realize that white masters are not the supreme power, which they have to respect. By reading they can get spoiled and not obey their masters. To use Mr. Auld´s own words: "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master -- to do as he is told to do. Learning would SPOIL the best nigger in the world. Now," said he, "if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable,3 and of no value to his master.“ (Narrative: 1993: page 57 ) These words sank deeply into Douglass´s heart. He understood the power of a white man to enslave the black man. This was the crucial moment in his life. His desire to learn to read and write inspired in him new hopes. Taboo of reading made him to think about freedom. Though he was conscious of the difficulty of learning without teacher, he made a firm decision : "That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire3 and determination to learn.“ .“ (Narrative: 1993: page 57 )

The pathway from slavery to freedom was clear to him. He lived in his master´s family for seven years. During this time, he succeeded in learning to read and write. He used all kinds of strategies. When he had a leisure time, he spent it by reading a newspaper hidden in a separate room, which made his mistress Sophia Auld very angry. She transformed from kind to a cruel slaveowner. Douglass admits that it was caused by negative effect of slavery as institurion on slaveholders. The law said that slaves were not allowed to read. Sophia had to obey her husband and act up to the law. She used every opportunity to keep an eye out for Douglass´s attemptes to read. Therefore he made friends of all little white boys whom he met in the street. They became his teachers. He gave them biscuits or a slice of bread, in return they gave him lessons on spelling. In his second autobiography Douglass says that he was used to carry, almost constantly, a copy of Webster's s pelling book in his pocket.

- 39 -

The first and most important book he came across, when he was twelve, was called the Columbian Orator : "I was now about twelve years old, and the thought of being A SLAVE FOR LIFE began to bear heavily upon my heart. Just about this time, I got hold of a book entitled "The Columbian Orator." Every4 opportunity I got, I used to read this book.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 7)

Among much of other interesting matter, Frederick Douglass came across an important dialogue between a master and his slave who managed to run away three times. Douglass was also inspired by speeches of great orators such as Sheridan. "In the same book, I met with one of Sheridan's mighty speeches on and in behalf of Catholic emancipation… What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slav- ery, and a powerful4 vindication of human rights.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 7)

The Columbian Orator gave to Douglass an idea of liberty. Briefly, ability to read increased his usage of new vocabulary and colourful phrases and his desire to become a freeman. This book helped Douglass to understand the nature and character of slavery. "I have met many religious colored people, at the south, who are under the delusion that God requires them to submit to slavery, and to wear their chains with meekness and humility. I could entertain no such nonsense as this; and I almost lost my patience when I found any colored man weak enough to believe5 such stuff.“ My Bondage and My Freedom : 1855: chapter 11 )

He claims that the more he read, the more he hated the institution of 10 slavery and his enslavers. He uses metaphores to describe his feelings when he became aware of his enslavement. He wants to be like a bird or beast, because they are free. Slaves are not free. This knowledge made him gloomy and miserable. "This knowledge opened my eyes to the horrible pit, and revealed the teeth of the frightful dragon that was ready to pounce upon me, but it opened no way for my escape. I have often wished myself a beast, or a bird -- anything, rather5 than a slave.“ My Bondage and My Freedom : 1855: chapter 11 )

While he was in that gloomy state of mind, he was eager to hear any one

- 40 - speak of slavery. He heard about abolitionists, but he did not know what does this word mean. The meaning of this word came to him by a chance when he read the city newspaper. It brought him a deep satisfaction in his thought. It brought him hope. Now he knew that the brutality of slaveholders was not hidden from the eyes of the world. He new that he was not alone. While he was hired to work in a ship-yard, he met an Irish man:

He asked, "Are ye4 a slave for life?" I told him that I was. (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 7) This man seemed to be deeply touched by Douglasse´s statement. He said that it was a pity that he was a slave and gave him advice to run away to the North. Douglass wished to learn how to write. This skill could help him to fake his "runaway pass". It was a letter with permisson of master to move freely throughout the country. "The idea as to how I might learn to write was suggested to me by being in Durgin and Bailey's ship-yard, and frequently seeing the ship carpenters, after hewing, and getting a piece of timber ready for use, write on the timber the name of that part of the ship for which it was intended… During this time, my copy-book was the board fence, brick wall, and pavement; my4 pen and ink was a lump of chalk. “ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 7)

By this time, his young master went to school. When left alone at home, Douglass used to spent the time in writing in the spaces left in the Master Thomas´s copy-book . I continued to do this until I could write a hand very similar to that of Master

Thomas. Thus, after a long, tedious effort for years, I4 finally succeeded in learning how to write. (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 7)

After he managed to learn to write his life was full of hope. Unfortunately, his old master Captain Anthony died and Douglass had to go back to the plantation, because now he belonged to Captain´s children Andrew and Lucretia. He was only hired by his master to work for Mr. Auld in Baltimore. He had to go back to his real masters. It was necessary to have a valuation of Captain Anthony´s property, that might be equally divided between his daughter and son. Douglass became the property of Lucretia and was sent to live in Baltimore again. While talking about valuation of

- 41 - the slaves, Douglass uses sarcasm and irony. There are also many of the opposites in his Narrative – human and animal, black and white, slavery and freedom, evil and good. "We were all ranked together at the valuation. Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine. There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being, and were all subjected4 to the same narrow examination.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 8)

After death of Lucretia and Andrew the property, including slaves, was valuated again. Douglass became the slave of Mr.Auld´s son Thomas. Douglass claims that he has now reached a period of his life when he can give datas. He went to live with Master Thomas Auld, at St.Michael´s, in March 1832. He had a hard times and suffered from hunger. "I have said Master Thomas was a mean man. He was so. Not to give a slave enough to eat, is regarded as the most aggravated development4 of meanness even among slaveholders.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 9)

Thomas´s father-in-law always gave his slaves enough to eat. Therefore young Douglass let Thomas´s horse to run away, and go down to farm of his master´s father-in-law. Then he had to go after it. Master Thomas said that he will stand it no longer and hired Douglass for a one year to Edward Covey. He had a reputation of breaking young slaves. Douglass was now, for the first time in his life, a field hand. While he worked on the farm he experienced severe whipping. To use his own words full of pain: "I had been at my new home but one week before Mr. Covey gave me a very severe whipping, cutting my back, causing the blood to run, and raising ridges4 on my flesh as large as my little finger.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 10) Douglass explains how they worked hard in all weathers. He admits that a few months of discipline tamed him: "Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold4 a man transformed into a brute! “ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 10)

His suffering on Mr.Covey´s farm made him more aware of his servitude. His new hopes, which were inspired by learning to read and write, were

- 42 - almost immedietly extinguished by dark side of slavery. Douglass provides philosophic contemplation with God and himself on slavery and freedom: "O God, save me! God, deliver me! Let me be free! Is there any God? Why am I a slave? I will run away. I will not stand it. Get caught, or get clear, I'll try it. I had as well die with ague as the fever. I have only one life to lose. I had as well be killed running as die standing. Only think of it; one hundred miles straight north, and I am4 free! Try it? Yes! God helping me, I will.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 10)

Douglass used to speak to himself. He hoped that there is a better day coming. But one day he got sick. While they were working on the field, he fell on the ground with an awful pain in his head. Mr. Covey came and asked him what was the metter, but poor Douglass was not able to speak. The procedure which followed his silence was the severe punishment: "While down in this situation, Mr. Covey took up the hickory slat…,and with it gave me a heavy blow upon the head, making a large wound, and the blood ran freely;4 and with this again told me to get up.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 10)

Anyhow, Douglass managed to escape to the woods. There he met Sandy Jenkins, a free slave, who invited him to his home. African American slaves were very superstitious and they believed in magic and voodoo practices. Sandy gave Douglass an advice about how to use a magic root against Mr. Covey. "…there was a certain ROOT, which, if I would take some of it with me, carrying it ALWAYS ON MY RIGHT SIDE, would render it impossible for

Mr. 4Covey, or any other white man, to whip me. (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 10)

Douglass was not superstitious. He says that the belief in the magic of root is specific for those more ignorant slaves. When he came back from woods Mr. Covey seemed to be kind to him. Maybe it was caused by the fact that it was Sunday. It was the only day when they had a leisure time.

Unfortunately, everything changed on Monday. Mr.Covey decided to whip him, but Douglass resisted successfully. Douglass notes that a battle with Mr.Covey was a turning-point in his life. Douglass reestablished his sense of self and justice.

- 43 - "This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with 4 a determination to be free.“ . (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 10)

To save his reputation of negro breaker Mr.Covey let Douglass unpunished. In 1834 Douglass left to live with Mr.William Freeland who was an educated, open and frank southern gentleman . He was not very religious. By the way, in Douglass´s opinion the religious masters are the worst. He says that a religion in the south is just a covering for the crimes and justifier for barbarity.

During this period, Douglass succeeded in creating a strong desire of another slaves to learn how to read. He decided to keep a school on Sundays. It was incredible how many slaves wanted to learn to read. He illustrates this moment with great passion in his heart: "I look back to those Sundays with an amount of pleasure not to be ex- pressed. They were great days to my soul. The work of instructing my dear fellow-slaves was the sweetest engagement4 with which I was ever blessed.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 10)

Their desire to learn to read was enormous. Douglass says that they came to this school not because it was popular to do so, but that was their own decision about their destiny. "That was the only moment in their life when they could feel freedom. Every moment they spent in that school, they were liable to be taken up, and given thirtynine lashes. They4 came because they wished to learn.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 10) Douglass kept up school on Sundays nearly the whole year he lived with Master Freeland. He was so passionate about his mission that he also devoted winter evenings in teaching the slaves at home. His words are full of emotions. He was happy that several of his pupils learned how to read. His greatest satisfaction was that at least one of his students was now free through his help as a teacher. Still, his greatest desire was to become a freeman himself. Douglass uses even a rhyme when he describes his determination to run away. "At the close of the year 1834, Mr. Freeland again hired me of my master,

- 44 - for the year 1835. But, by this time, I began to want to live UPON FREE4 LAND as well as WITH FREELAND.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 10)

Douglass organised the escape and faked his master´s signature in his runaway pass. Unfortunately, his first attempt to escape failed. Douglass and another slaves were caught and put into the jail. But within a week afterwards, he was released. His master Hugh hired him to Mr. Gardner, a ship-builder, who lived in Baltimore. On his first day at work Douglass was commanded to do whatever the white carpenters wanted him to do. Douglass uses ironical humour to depict his status of a black slave among four white carpenters. "Three or four voices would strike my ear at the same moment. It was -- "Fred., come help me to cant this timber here." -- "Fred., come carry this timber yonder." -- "Fred., bring that roller here." -- "I say, darky, blast your eyes, why don't you heat up some pitch?" -- "Halloo! halloo! halloo!" (Three voices at the same time.)"Come here! -- Go there! -- Hold on where you are! Damn you, if you4 move, I'll knock your brains out!" (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 10)

Douglass got injured after the carpenters attacked him. Therefore his master Hugh hired him to Mr. Walter Price. There he learned calking and was of some importance to his master, because he brought him from 6 to 7 dollars per week . In 1838 Douglass became restless, because he could see no reason why he should give the money which he earned by hard work to his master. Consequently, he hired him some time from his master and found himself employment. As a return for this liberty Douglass had to pay master Hugh 3 dollars at the end of each week. Finally, Douglass collected enough money to escape from his bondage. He refuses to describe the details of his escape in order to protect the safety of future slaves who will try to run away to the North. "But I remained firm, and, according to my resolution, on the third day of September, 1838, I left my chains, and succeeded in reaching New York without the slightest interruption of any kind. How I did so, -- what means I adopted, -- what direction I travelled, and by what mode of conveyance, -- I must leave unexplained“4 (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 11 ) To capture his highest excitement over freedom Douglass uses a direct comparison between unarmed mariner who was rescued and a free slave.

- 45 - 10 He unifies figurative and concrete language. Metaphor is a significant element of his writing. He knows very well how to use it. "I suppose I felt as one may imagine the unarmed mariner to feel when he is rescued by a friendly man-of-war from the pursuit of a pirate. In writing to a dear friend, immediately after my arrival at New York, I said I felt like one who had 4 escaped a den of hungry lions.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 11 )

Although he was a freeman, he felt insecure and alone in a new world. He was a stranger without family and friends. He adopted the slogan of "Trust no man!“. Still, he remained committed to community. He missed his friends. Douglass makes us recognize that we are not able to live as individuals. All people are sociable and belong to some community. Although he was a slave, he missed the times spent with his friends. "The thought of leaving my friends was decidedly the most painful thought with which I had to contend. The love of them was my tender point, and shook4 my decision more than all things else.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 11 )

We learn from the end of the Narrative that Douglass managed to find a lifetime friend. He got married with Anna Murray Douglass, a free black woman who he met once in Baltimore. He changed his name from Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey to Frederick Douglass. They lived in New Bredford, state of Massachusetts. Douglass became the subscriber to the Liberator , the abolitionists newspaper. In 1841 he gave his first speech before an Anti-Slavery convention and becomes a lecturer in the Anti-Slavery cause. "The truth was, I felt myself a slave, and the idea of speaking to white people weighed me down. I spoke but a few moments, when I felt a degree of freedom, and said what I desired with considerable ease. From that time until now, I have been engaged in pleading the cause of my brethren -- with what success, and with what devotion, I leave those acquainted4 with my labors to decide.“ (Narrative: 1963: Chapter 11 )

Undoubtely, Douglass occupies an important place among the American writers. He progressed from an uneducated slave, who was not allowed to claim the possession of a human soul, to the world known speecher and

- 46 - one of the first African American narrators. He used his rethorical talent to narrate the story of his life. He is both the strong protagonist and the briliant narrator of his autobiographies. Even though he died long time ago in 1895, he remained in the hearts of his readers. Booker T. Washington wrote about Douglass in his biography: "THE life of Frederick Douglas is the history of American slavery epitomised in a single human experience. He saw it all, lived it all, and overcame it all. What he saw and lived and suffered was not too much to pay, however, for a great career, "It is something," as he himself said, "to couple one's name with great occasions, and it was a great thing to me to be permitted to bear some humble part in this, the greatest that had come thus6 far to the American people." ( Booker T. Washington: 1906: chapter 1 )

Frederick Douglass moved to the nation's capital from Rochester, NY in 1872. He first

- 47 - lived on Capitol Hill and then moved to Cedar Hill, his last home, in 1878. Douglass remained at Cedar Hill until his death in 1895. His home provided the backdrop to his active political and warm family life. The spacious estate and well-furnished7 rooms are a testament to Douglass' lifelong struggle to overcome entrenched prejudice.

7 Frederick Douglass' library

2.1.2 Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856 – 1915 ) was famous African American educator, political leader and writer, who lived in the turn of 20 century. He experienced slavery, the Reconstruction period and growing segregation of black people. His life and work is a proof of how a black man can develop from an uknown slave to the founder and principal of 11 Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881. The first objective of this school was to educate black people to become teachers themselves. The most famous objective was to develop practical

- 48 - skills for occupations in trades and agriculture. Booker T. Washington was also the founder of National Negro Business League in 1900. He wanted to encourage black people to start their own businesses. He wrote about his experience with slavery and growing desire for reformation in his autobiography Up From Slavery in 1901.

He introduced his narrative by similar words as Frederick Douglass. He did not know the exact date of his birth. He just knew that he was born in Virginia. "I WAS born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate I suspect I must have been born12 somewhere and at some time." ( Up From Slavery : 1901: Chapter 1)

As same as Douglass he did not know anything about his father. He heard reports that his father was a white man who probably lived on some of the neighbouring plantations. He did not blame his father that he was not even interested in the existence of his son. He found his white father as one of the victims of the slavery institution and white society which obeyed the southern laws. "Whoever he was, I never heard of his taking the least interest in me or providing in any way for my rearing. But I do not find especial fault with him. He was simply another unfortunate victim of the institution which the

Nation unhappily 12had engrafted upon it at that time.“ ( Up From Slavery : 1901: Chapter 1)

In contradistinction to Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington was more lucky. He lived in a typical slave cabin together with his mother, brother and sister till the end of the Civil war. He did not experience the separation of slave families. However, he had some unpleasant memories. He remembers how he and his brother and sister had to sleep on the cold and dirty floor. "I cannot remember having slept in a bed until after our family was declared free by the Emancipation Proclamation. Three children -- John, my older brother, Amanda, my sister, and myself -- had a pallet on the dirt floor, or, to be more correct, we slept in and on a bundle of12 filthy rags laid upon the dirt floor.“ ( Up From Slavery: 1901: Chapter 1)

- 49 - During the Civil War one of his young masters was killed. He recalls the feeling of sorrow which he felt together with other slaves. Many of masters after the Civil War became poor. B.T. Washington could remember many of the examples when a black slave helped his master by giving him some money. His autobiography is not full of hate. He tried to understand white people behaviour and give them a chance for redemption. He wanted to forgive them. "I know of instances where the former masters of slaves have for years been supplied with money by their former slaves to keep them from suffering. I have known of still other cases in which the former slaves have assisted in the education of the descendants12 of their former owners.“ ( Up From Slavery : 1901: Chapter 1)

Finally the war was over and the day of freedom came. One man read a paper called the Emancipation Proclamation and all slaves were free. He says that it was an eventful day for all black slaves on the plantation where he lived. Nevertheless, their feelings were mixed. Now they had a great responsibility of being free. They had to think and plan for themselves. B.T. Washington, his mother, stepfather, brother and sister moved to West Virginia. His stepfather found a job in a salt-mine. "Though I was a mere child, my stepfather put me and my brother at work in one of the furnaces. Often I began work as early as four o'clock in the 12 morning.“ ( Up From Slavery: 1901: Chapter 2) During this period B.T.Washington had a desire to learn to read. He felt that reading will help him to improve his living condition. His mother procured the Webster´s spelling book. Unlike Douglass, B.T.Washington was a freeman when he read the first letters from the spelling book. However, he also had difficulties to realize his dream. When the first school for black people was opened in the village, he was not allowed to go there, because his stepfather discovered that he had a financial value as a worker in the salt-mine. Fortunately, he succeeded in making arrangements with his teacher to have some night-lessons. His desire for education was enormous. He was working hard in the morning and learning with passion in the night.

- 50 - After he had worked in the salt-mine for some time, work was secured for him in a coal-mine. To quote his own opinion about this work and future perspectives: "Many children of the tenderest years were compelled then, as is now true I fear, in most coal-mining districts, to spend a large part of their lives in these coal-mines, with little opportunity to get an education; and, what is worse, I have often noted that, as a rule, young boys who begin life in a coal-mine are often physically and mentally dwarfed. They soon lose ambition to do anything else12 than to continue as a coal-miner.“ ( Up From Slavery : 1901: Chapter 2)

He wanted a different future. His greatest desire was to get higher education. He did everything to get to the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia. He wanted to become a teacher. He was poor and had to earn some money. Therefore he worked in the household of the owner of the salt and coal-mine. From this time he began to get together his own library. Perhaps the thing which touched and pleased him the most was the interest of older black people in Malden who wished him luck. "They had spent the best days of their lives in slavery, and hardly expected to live to see the time when they would see a member of their race leave home to attend a boarding-school. Some of these older people would give me a nickel, others12 a quarter, or a handkerchief.“ ( Up From Slavery : 1901: Chapter 3)

When he was sixteen he went from Malden to Hampton. He was poor and had to earn living through different tasks. Hard work brought fruits in the end. He had become a teacher in Malden, where he spent two years. He succeeded in preparing several of the young men and women, besides his two brothers, for the future job of teacher. In 1879 he became a teacher on Hampton Institute . Unfortunately, the Reconstruction period ended and the segregation began. B.T.Washington remembers the conversation which he once had with Frederick Douglass: "At one time Mr. Douglass was travelling in the state of Pennsylvania, and was forced, on account of his colour, to ride in the baggage-car, in spite of the fact that he had paid the same price for his passage that the other passengers had paid. When some of the white passengers went into the baggage-car to console Mr. Douglass, and one of them said to him: "I am sorry, Mr. Douglass, that you have been degraded in this manner," Mr.

- 51 - Douglass straightened himself up on the box upon which he was sitting, and replied: "They cannot degrade Frederick Douglass. The soul that is within me no man can degrade. I am not the one that is being degraded on account of this treatment, but those12 who are inflicting it upon me." ( Up From Slavery : 1901: Chapter 6)

Both Frederick Douglass and B.T.Washington are significant figures of African American literature. While Douglass´s Narrative is more dramatic by bringing us scenes of whipping and cruelity, B.T.Washington used politeness and humility to destroy the wall of racial discrimination.

As well as Douglass, B.T.Washington used no African American dialect in his narrative. Their narratives are written in perfect English. Therefore they are understandable and more accessible to wider range of readers around the world. Their narratives express the deepest desire of former slaves for higher education and better future. Their dreams were realized. They developed from former slaves to famous and worshipped political leaders, educators and authores.

2.2 Du Bois

- 52 - It is worth to mention William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( 1868 – 1963 ) who was undoubtely the most prominent African American civil rights activist, educator and writer in the first half of the twentieth century.

Although he was born in Massachusetts five years after the Emancipation Proclamation, 15 his feelings about slavery were strong. Fortunately, he did not experience slavery. Still, he lived in the period when Jim Crow´s laws started segregation and discrimination of African Americans.

Unlike Douglass and B.T.Washington, he spent his childhood in his grandfather´s own house, which was luxurious when compared to slaves cabin. "…the quiet street on which I was born, -- down a long lane and in a homely, cozy cottage, with a living-room, a tiny sitting-room,13 a pantry, and two attic bedrooms.“ ( Darkwater : 1920: page 9, 10 )

He did not have to work as a child like B.T.Washington and Douglass. His childhood and schooldays were happy. Douglass was not allowed to go to school. B.T.Washington did not have enough time and money, because his stepfather wanted him to work in salt and coal mines. Fortunately, Du Bois lived in the state of Massachusetts, which fought for African American´s freedom during the Civil War. He was allowed to go to school. "From the age of five until I was sixteen I went to a school on the same grounds, -- down a lane, into a widened yard, with a big choke-cherry tree and two buildings, wood and brick. Here I got acquainted with my world,13 and soon had my criterions of judgment.“ ( Darkwater : 1920: page 10 )

Du Bois studied at Fisk University in Nashville. To pay his studies he had to work as a teacher during summer vacations. Here in rural Tennessee he

- 53 - firstly experienced Jim Crow laws. From now he decided to fight for civil rights of African Americans which were supressed for so many years. "It was my first introduction to a Negro world, and I was at once marvelously13 inspired and deeply depressed.“ ( Darkwater : 1920: page 18 )

Du Bois became the first African American who received a title of Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1895. Two years later he was teaching at Atlanta University. In 1903 he published his collection of autobiographical and historical essays The Souls of Black Folk. We can find here his famous claim that the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line.

We can find a world veil mostly in each essay. This word is a symbol of African American double-consciousness. Du Bois wanted to emphasize that black people are always looking at themselves through the eyes of others who are measuring them. They are hidden behind a veil of prejudice. "After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, -- a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation14 of the other world.“ ( The Souls of Black Folk: 1903: page 2, 3 )

Du Bois wanted to say that black people are forgotten nation, when he described them as seventh son. However, he used strong words in The Souls of Black Folks to prevent African Americans from being an invisible nation.

Unlike B.T.Washington who claimed that the most important thing for black people is achievement of economoic self-sufficiency and property, Du Bois emphasized the importance of civil rights such as voting. "Mr. Washington distinctly asks that black people give up, at least for the present, three things, -- First, political power, Second, insistence on civil rights, Third, higher education of Negro youth,14 --" ( The Souls of Black Folk: 1903: page 37 )

- 54 - Du Bois solution to this problem was the formation of the Niagara Movement in 1905. This movement called for full civil liberties. Their leader Du Bois and other members were against discrimination, segregation and lynching. In 1909 they founded the NAACP ( National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People). Du Bois was more radical in his views than rather conservative B.T.Washington. "By every civilized and peaceful method we must strive for the rights which the world accords to men, clinging unwaveringly to those great words which the sons of the Fathers would fain forget: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and14 the pursuit of happiness." ( The Souls of Black Folk: 1903: page 42 )

Du Bois emphasized education of self-respected African Americans who are able to develop their souls and minds. He wanted to form the nation of black people who are no more submissive to the material lifestyle. They are able to make their own decisions and express freely their deepest desires for respect of their civil rights. "The function of the Negro college, then, is clear: it must maintain the standards of popular education, it must seek the social regeneration of the Negro, and it must help in the solution of problems of race contact and cooperation. And finally, beyond all this, it must develop men. Above our modern socialism, and out of the worship of the mass, must persist and evolve that higher individualism which the centres of culture protect; there must come a loftier respect for the sovereign human soul that seeks to know itself and the world about it; that seeks a freedom for expansion and self-development; that will love and hate and labor in its own way, untrammeled14 alike by old and new.“ ( The Souls of Black Folk: 1903: page 75, 76 )

Du Bois was very sceptical about the United States policy to suppress racism. His views moved toward Black Nationalism and socialism. He went to visit Ghana. After he was refused to get a new U.S. passport, because of his communism, he became together with his wife a citizen of Ghana. There he died in 1963.

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A nation mourns as Du Bois' passing is marked by a state funeral, August, 16 1963.

NOTES

¹ Portrait of Frederick Douglass, 1866. Internet. Available 1th March 2006. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/images/4fred16m.jpg

2 Emory Elliot, general editor. The Columbia History of American Novel. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991, page 28, 36, 13.

3 Blight, David W. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Amherst College: Bedford books, 1993, page VII, 8, 16, 17, 39, 40, 41, 43, 51, 52, 54, 57.

4 Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. New York: Garden City, 1963. Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. Available 6 March 2006. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DouNarr.html. Chapter 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

5 Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom. With and Introduction. By James M`Cune Smith. New York : Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855. E-book. University of Virginia Library. Internet. Available 21 November 2005 HTTP: http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DouMybo.html . Chapter 1, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11.

6 Washington, Booker T. Frederick Douglass . London, 1906. Electronic edition. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Internet. Available 4 March 2006. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/doug1906/doug1906.html. Chapter 1.

7 Douglass´s house at Cedar Hill. Internet. Available 12 March 2006. http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/douglass/athome.htm http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/images/bdc971.jpg

- 56 - 8 Antebellum is a Latin word meaning "before the war" (ante means before and bellum war). In United States history and historiography, the term "Antebellum" is often used (especially in U.S. South) to refer to the period of increasing sectionalism leading to the American Civil War, instead of the term "pre–Civil War." In that context, the Antebellum can begin with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, or be set as early as 1812. Internet. Available. 2th March 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antebellum

9 Abolitionism was a political movement that sought to abolish the practice of slavery and the worldwide slave trade. It began during the period of the Enlightenment and grew to large proportions in several nations during the 19th century, largely succeeding in its goals. Internet. Available. 2th March 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionist

10 Metaphor is exploited in literature and especially in poetry, where with few words, emotions and associations from one context can powerfully be associated with another, different subject. Internet. Available. 8th March 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor

11 Picture of Booker T. Washington. Available 12 March 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington

12 Washington, Booker, T. Up From Slavery. Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1901. Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. Available 9 November 2005. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/WasSlav.html. Chapter 1, 2, 3, 6.

13 Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) . Darkwater; voices from within the veil. New York , 1920. E-book. University of Virginia Library. Internet. 10 October 2005. Available http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/modeng/modengD.browse.html. Page 9, 10, 18.

14 Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) . The Souls of Black Folk . New York , 1903. E-book. University of Virginia Library. Internet. 10 October 2005. Available http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/modeng/modengD.browse.html. Page 2, 3, 37, 42, 75, 76.

15 Picture of Du Bois. Available 12 March 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du_Bois

16 A nation mourns as Du Bois' passing is marked by a state funeral, August, 1963. Available 14 March 2006. http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/exhibits/dubois/page13.htm

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3. Fiction

Fiction stands for storytelling of imagined events. It is in the contrast with autobiographical non-fictional work, but on the other hand it may be partly based on factual occurences too.

Beginning in the 1970s, African American literature flourished as one of best-selling and award-winning mainstreams. We can mention Alex Haley´s fictionalized account of his family history Roots: The Saga of an 1 American Family which won the Pulitzer Prize and became a popular television miniseries.

In 1982, Alice Walker´s The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize. This famous novel was later made into a film by Steven Spielberg. Nevertheless, we can consider Toni Morrison as one of the most important African American writers in recent years. As a Random House editor in New York City, she helped to promote African American literature. She is

- 58 - the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature in 1993.

3.1 Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford in Ohio in 1931. Unlike Frederick Douglass, she had a happy childhood. She was born to different period. Still she was witness of segregation. Therefore her parents moved from Ohio to the North to escape from the southern discrimination and racism. 2 As same as Douglass, Booker T. Washington or Du Bois , she regarded education as one of the most important things. She spent her childhood educating herself by reading the books by Jane Austen or Tolstoy. She studied at Howard University which was a historically black university established in Washington , D.C. in 1867. It was open to both sexes and all races.

Many people had difficulties in pronouncing her name. Therefore she changed it to Toni. It is derivated from her middle name Anthony. As well as Douglass, Booker T. Washington or Du Bois she became an educator herself. She started her career as a teacher of English at Howard. She also became an editor to New York City´s Random House, where she promoted black fiction. Today, she is a professor at Princeton University in New Jersey, where she founded the Princeton Atelier, a workshop in creative writing.

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One of her best novels is Beloved which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. This novel is a work of fiction which is partly based on the life of Margaret Garner, a slave from Kentucky who managed to escape to freedom in Ohio, but unfortunately got captured and killed her little daughter rather than see her child returned to slavery.

Toni Morrison follows the tradition of slave narrtaives and depicts the misery of slave lives. She goes even further when she gives us detailed description of sexual abuse and violence. "I am full God damn it of two boys with mossy teeth, one sucking on my breast the other holding me down, their book-reading teacher watching and writing it up. I am still full of that, God3 damn it, I can´t go back and add more .“ ( Beloved : 1988: page 70 )

Traditional slave narratives are strict narratives which are not able to capture the feelings of the characters. Therefore Toni Morrison works with psychology of the main character Sethe, who was sexually abused by white men. Toni Morrison explores the effects which were made on the main protagonist Sethe. "Mister was allowed to be and stay what he was. But I wasn´t allowed to be and stay what I was. Even if you cooked him you´d be cooking a rooster named Mister. But wasn´t no way I´d ever be… I was something else and that something was less than3 a chicken sitting in the sun on a tub." ( Beloved : 1988: page 72 )

The language of Toni Morrison is highly metaphorical and poetical. She used a metaphor of taking her milk when talking about the sexual abusement of Sethe. She also uses African American English to make the novel more authentic, even though it is a work of fiction partly based on some factual events. On one hand the novel is more authentic, but on the other hand it is less understandable for white readers. For better understanding of African American English it is worth to read Lisa J. Green´s work African American English – A linguistic introduction.

Toni Morrison used for example multiple negation wasn´t no way in a negative sentence, which is according to Lisa J. Green´s African American

- 60 - English one of typical features of African American language. Intonational patterns are used in uttering the sentences as questions. For example when Sethe recalls how her husband saw her being sexually abused and he did nothing, just escaped.

"He saw them boys do that to me and let them keep on3 breathing air? He saw? He saw? He saw? “ ( Beloved : 1988: page 69 )

In general American English states that double negatives are not grammatical because they make a positive. It does not work for African American English. There is no limit on the number of negatives that can be used. Both the auxiliary and object can be negative. They did not know anything about Beloved when she came to their house. They asked her if she had any brothers or sisters. She said: 3 "I don´t have nobody.“ (Beloved : 1988: page 65 )

Toni Morrison uses experimental strategies in her work. That is what makes her work unique. Unlike traditional slave narratives her novel is not told in chronological order, from beginning to end. She gives us the mixture of past memories and present utterances and thoughts of the main protagonist Sethe. The reader can easily get confused, because the past is sometimes told as if it was happening in the present by the usage of the present tense. Toni Morrison used the switching of the point of the view throughout Beloved. Every character tells the part of the story.

In comparison with the slave narratives Toni Morrison´s work is highly sophisticated. Her novel Beloved is full of different symbols and motives. Chokecherry tree is symbol of Sethe´s suffering when she was whipped by her master. As a result she had a scar on her back.. It reminded Amy, a white woman who found Sethe on her runaway and helped her, of a chokecherry tree. It was a scar which could not disappear as well as painful past. Sethe could not erase the past. "Your back? Gal, you a mess. Turn over here and let me see.“ In an effort so great it made her sick to her stomach, Sethe turned onto her right side. Amy unfastened the back of her dress and said,“ Come here, Jesus,“ when she saw… It´s a tree. A chokecherry tree. See, here´s the trun – It´s red

- 61 - and split wide open, full of sap, and this here´s the parting for the branches. You got a mighty lot of branches. Leaves, too, look like, and dern if these ain´t blossoms. Tiny little cherry blossoms, just as white… What God have in mind, I wonder. I had me some whipping, but I don´t remember nothing like this.“3 (Beloved : 1988: page 79 )

The title of the book refers to one of the main characters called Beloved. She is Sethe´s third child, who she murdered when they were captured, because she did not want her child to live in slavery. Beloved represents also a ghost who lived in the Sethe´s house together with her another daughter Denver in 1873. Beloved serves both as a character and as a symbol for the past which can not be erased. She represents the misery of slavery which can not be forgotten.

To prove that she is Sethe´s re-incarnated daughter Beloved uses her knowledge of Sethe´s earrings which she was taken away many years ago. She also told her that Sethe´s mother never combed her hair. "Denver noticed how greedy she was to hear Sethe talk. Now she noticed something more. The questions Beloved asked:“ Where your diamonds?““Your woman she never fix up your hair?“…How did she know? “ 3 (Beloved : 1988: page 63 )

Toni Morrison tries to show the importance of African American belief in re-incarnation. She makes the readers to enter the world where dead people are part of real life. She goes further and makes the world of ghosts a symbol of the past which goes after us. To use the final words of the novel Beloved which are full of poetic language, rhyme and repetition of the words to evoke the deepest feelings in the reader´s hearts: "So they forgot her. Like an unpleasant dream during a troubling sleep. Occasionally, however, the rustle of a skirt hushes when they wake… Down by the stream in back of 124 her footprints come and go, come and go. They are so familiar. Should a child, an adult place his feet in them, they will fit. Take them out and they disappear again3 as though nobody ever walked there.“ (Beloved : 1988: page 275 )

Beloved symbolizes physical and emotional suffering of former slaves, that continues to haunt them even in freedom. The main purpose of this

- 62 - novel was to restore a history of African American people whose life stories were erased by the centuries of forced silence. Toni Morrison wants to show how it is not easy to keep such a painful and devastating history in our memories. Still, it is good to learn from the past. Through confrontation, African Americans can learn from their forgotten and suppressed memories. Beloved represents the possibility of a brighter future.

"My work requires me to think about how free I can be as an African- American woman writer in my genderized, sexualized, wholly racialized world" 4 ( Black Matters : 1992: page 4 )

NOTES

1 The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical compositions. It is administrated by

Columbia University in New York City. It was thestablished by Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian-American journalist, in the late 19 century. The first Pulitzer Prize was awarded in 1917. Internet. Available 29 March 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer_Prize 2 Picture of Toni Morrison. Available 14 March 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison

3 4 Morrison, T. Beloved . London: Picador, 1988. Page 63, 65, 69, 70, 72, 79, 275. Morrison, T. Black Matters , 1992. Page 4.

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Conclusion

- 64 -

The main aim of my diploma work was to analyze the motives of slavery in personal experience narratives by Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. I wanted to show how important was an education for those former slaves. I also analyzed main views of Du Bois who was not born to slavery but to the period of segregation.

Frederick Douglass decided to write his Narrative to get the world to know about his suffering. He dedicated his life to fight against slavery. He was one of the main leaders of the abolitionist movement, which helped to end slavery in the United States. He toured around the country to speak about this awful institution which meant the bondage of mind and body. He was recognized as one of the first great African American speakers. His voice was powerful. His contribution against racial injustice was great. I find him as one of the most prominent figures pf the African American literature. He was not afraid to talk.

Frederick Douglass´ autobiographies deeply touched my heart. I got known everything about painfull experience of slaves. His language is highly understandable for wider range of readers. I will recommend these narratives as compulsory literature for youth. Our young generation should read more books to be able to destroy racial prejudices. They are not aware of the fact that education is one of the most important things in our society. The more they read, the more they are aware of other people destinies. By this they can lead they own destines. It is important to read about the historical mistakes of our grandfathers, to learn from them and avoid them.

Many of the earliest black writers were former slaves. Motives of slavery were strongly depicted in their works. I wanted to show in my diploma work that literacy and education helped African Americans to let the world know about their suffering. The turn of the 19 and 20 century

- 65 - brought the growing of black literacy and education. Booker T. Washington developed from a former slave to an educator and founder of the Tuskegee Institute. Du Bois became the first African American who received a title of Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1895.

The motives of slavery moved from personal experience narratives to the works of fiction in the 20 century. We can mention both Alex Haley´s fictionalized account of his family history Roots: The Saga of an American Family or Alice Walker´s The Color Purple which won the Pulitzer Prize. Nevertheless, the main aim of my diploma work was to analyze the work of Toni Morrison who was the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature in 1993.

The motives of slavery are still actual topics. African American writers want to restore a history of black people whose life stories were erased by the centuries of silence. Toni Morrison shows in her work that even though it is not easy to keep such a painful and devastating history in our memories, it is good to restore it and learn from it in order not to repeat the same mistakes. Through confrontation, black people can learn from their forgotten and suppressed memories. There is always a possibility of brighter future.

The life and work of Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Du Bois and Toni Morrison influenced people all around the world. Slavery was not exclusively the question of African American literature. We can find works dealing with the effects of slavery and racism in the Postcolonial literature of the Europe´s former colonies in the Caribbean, Africa and India. Postcolonial literature arised in the 1970s as the response and resistance to colonialism and military and cultural domination of European countries over conquested colonies in Africa, Asia and America since the 16 century.

- 66 - We can mention Buchi Emecheta, one of the famous Nigerian writers who was dealing with the motives of slavery in his country. He wrote The Slave Girl which is a story of a young girl who is sold into slavery in the early years of the 20 century. The topic of slavery and racial discrimination is still actual.

The institution of slavery was abolished 130 years ago. Still we are witnesses of modern slavery. Millions of people around the world are enslaved. The forced labour of adults and children still exists. It is a shame of our modern society. We are talking about democracy but human trafficking still exists.

Forced prostitution is very common in the United States and Europe. The victims are mostly young women and girls from poor countries all over the world. Millions of children around the world are forced to work rather than to go to school. Many of the families are living in such a poor conditions that they do not have any other choice than to hand their children to an employer. Children trafficking is affecting large number of children around the world.

How can we end slavery? We can not end it, because we are living in the society which is based on material things. There are many of poor people around the world who are not able to improve their social conditions. There are many of rich people around the world whose desire for material things is enormous. Therefore we can not end forced labour and human trafficking, but we can reduce it. It is necessary to talk about it. It could be reduced by education of our children. The more children are aware of the existence of slavery, the more will be able to escape from it.

- 67 - Our children should read about history as much as possible. They should learn from the past. As Toni Morrison´s protagonist Sethe did. After Beloved disappeared she was able to forgive, but still there were callings from the past which should be heard. We should talk about it.

Summary

The main aim of this thesis was to find and analyse motives of slavery in authentic narratives by African American writers from the 19 century. I tried to compare the personal experience with slavery of Frederick Douglass and B.T.Washington and radical opinions of Du Bois with fictional work and study of Toni Morrison, an African American author of the 20 century.

I also examined the question of education. This thesis shows of how vital importance to the status of southern black slaves was education. It has been and still is a main institutional mean to gain personal respect, economic security and racial progress in the white men world.

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Key words : slavery, education, slave narratives, fiction Resumé

Hlavním cílem této diplomové práce bylo vyhledat a analyzovat motivy otroctví v autentických vyprávěních africkoamerických autorů devatnáctého století. Pokusila jsem se porovnat osobní zkušenost Fredericka Douglasse a Bookera T. Washingtona s otroctvím, a radikální názory Du Bois, s fiktivním dílem Toni Morrison, autorky dvacatého století.

Rovněž jsem se zaměřila na otázku vzdělávání. Tato diplomová práce poukazuje na to jak životně důležité bylo vzdělávání pro afroamerické otroky. Vzdělávání bylo a stále zůstává jedním z nejdůležitějších prostředků, které slouží k získání osobního respektu, ekonomického zabezpečení a pokroku v rasových otázkách ve světě bílých múžů.

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Klíčová slova : otroctví, vzdělávání, vyprávění otroků, fikce

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