Document 10.5 William Wells Brown, Memories of Childhood
Document 10.6 Harriet Jacobs, A Girl Threatened by Sexual Exploitation
Document 10.7 Solomon Northup, Endless Labor and Constant Fear
Document 10.8 Friedrich Shulz, The Slave Market
Document 10.9 Mary Reynolds, Recalling Work, Punishment, and Faith c. 1850s
Interpret the Evidence
What do these documents tell us about the working lives of slaves? What differences and similarities do they reveal across age, sex, and region (Documents 10.5, 10.7, and 10.9)?
How do these documents illuminate the family experiences of slaves and the distinct challenges faced by enslaved parents (Documents 10.5, 10.6, 10.8, and 10.9)?
What were the greatest threats or fears confronted by enslaved women and men? What do they suggest about enslaved peoples’ view of their owners and other whites (Documents 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9)?
How did enslaved women and men seek to create a sense of community and culture (Documents 10.7 and 10.9)?
Most of these documents offer a snapshot of one moment in a slave’s life, but in reading across documents, how does the experience of slavery change over the course of a person’s lifetime (Documents 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, and 10.9)?
Put It in Context
How would proslavery Southerners respond to the experiences revealed in these documents?
What do these sources suggest about slave resistance and white efforts to control slaves’ behavior?
Exploring American HistoriesPrinted Page 346
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