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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page research paper that discusses the importance of slave narratives both to the study of the nineteenth century and also to African American literature today. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khslnar.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
been largely due to the historical value of these narratives. Pierce (2001) states that narratives by fugitive slaves both before and after the Civil War are "essential to the study
of eighteenth and nineteenth century American history and literature" (p. 15). As historical sources, slaves narratives offer invaluable first-person experiences that document the social conditions of slavery. However, these
documents also offer valuable insight into the sociological dynamics of the race relations, as they also, by their very existence, present an argument for the intelligence, integrity and humanity of
all African Americans. As this suggests one of the primary purposes that slave narratives accomplished when they were published was to counter the claims of slaveholders that Africans were
an inferior race, incapable of higher culture and lacking the intelligence for self-determination. Black slaves were pictured as "children" in adult bodies who must be controlled for their own
good. This propaganda is ludicrous by modern standards, yet it provided a great deal of the rationalization behind not only slavery, but also nineteenth century colonialism. This philosophy
was referred to as the "white mans burden," and it expressed the notion that it was the duty of whites not only had the right, but the duty to take
control of countries worldwide. Naturally, showing dark natives the benefits of Western culture did not come without a price, as Europeans helped themselves to those countries natural resources. Countering
this propaganda, slave narratives graphically showed that black people were capable of literacy and possessed the same longings for freedom and individuality as any other human being. Furthermore, these narratives
refuted the picturesque paternalism asserted by slaveholders, revealing the horrific depravity in the way that slaves were treated. Slave narratives become increasingly popular in the 1840s and 1850s. While
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