If a slave is unwilling to go with his new master, he is whipped, or locked up in jail, until he consents to go, and promises not to run away during the year.
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
If you want to be fully convinced of the abominations of slavery, go on a southern plantation, and call yourself a negro trader. Then there will be no concealment; and you will see and hear things that will seem to you impossible among human beings with immortal souls.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the inhumanity of slavery by encouraging firsthand experience to understand its horrors.
Harriet Ann Jacobs invites the reader to confront the brutal reality of slavery by immersing themselves in the experience of a southern plantation, specifically in the role of a negro trader. This perspective aims to dismantle any illusions that may exist about the morality of slavery, forcing an acknowledgment of the dehumanization and suffering endured by enslaved individuals, thereby highlighting the deep moral implications of such an institution.
Themes
SlaveryHumanityMoralityExperienceAbomination
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in discussions about the historical impact of slavery at educational events.
More from Harriet Ann Jacobs
All quotes βThe war of my life had begun; and though one of God's most powerless creatures, I resolved never to be conquered.
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No pen can give an adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery.
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
But I now entered on my fifteenth year - a sad epoch in the life of a slave girl. My master began to whisper foul words in my ear. Young as I was, I could not remain ignorant of their import
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
I would rather drudge out my life on a cotton plantation, till the grave opened to give me rest, than to live with an unprincipled master and a jealous mistress.
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
Southern women often marry a man knowing that he is the father of many little slaves. They do not trouble themselves about it.
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
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