The Light and the Truth of Slavery Aarons History - Essay Example

? The light and the truth of slavery Aaron’s History The narrative depicts challenges facing slaves in the South. This is a common issue, but the congress was doing nothing about it. We see how slaves were subjected to pain in their livelihood. This narrative expounds on the life of Aaron who is among the black slaves in the South. One of the challenges facing Aaron is the fact that slavery denied him an opportunity to access education. It is discouraging that Aaron cannot read the bible or read his own narration because of illiteracy. There are also different challenges facing slaves evident from the narrative; Aaron is lamenting waiting for relief help from well-wishers such as Priests and Levites. It pains to see how he among other slaves suffers in the hands of slaveholders as the congress continues with its process regardless of the issues affecting slaves. However, he is grateful because he is alive seeing a new day as he struggle to fight slavery (Morawsk and Smith, 2000). How did masters maintain the institution of slavery? Oppression was one of the ways used by masters to maintain slaves in slavery. A slave was subjected to torture through thorough beating if they tempted to quit. This made most of the slaves submit as they feared death or other mistreatment from resisting forced labor. Examples of areas where slaves suffered were in the south and the north in the hands of slaveholders, who tied up their slaves for whipping and torture yet they had done nothing. What tactics did they use to enslave other human beings? One of the common tactics used by masters to enslave people is bribing friends or relatives; they would go kidnap people and later sell them to slaveholders. An ideal example is the family that was taken away by their cousin at midnight and sold into slavery back in 1834. The other example is the white man sold his three daughters after selling his wife to slavery. This was one of the challenging and painful issues taking place in slavery; people betraying their relatives into slavery for money in quite inhuman. There are also cases where people captured strangers, and sold them to slavery; this is in instances where they met them stranded in their activities or on their way attending to their issues. Arabs were the communities known to practice such activities (Morawsk and Smith, 2000). Another tactic used by slaveholders to keep slaves was making them ignorant of their status. This is by building the thought that slavery is a natural state of being. Most of blacks in the narrative depict a thought that blacks have no capacity of taking part in civil societies in America. Through this, the white gathered courage to oppress the blacks by making them their servants. In slavery, slave children were denied a chance to education as this would make them have the capacity to read and write and this would be a challenge to the slaveholders. This is the reason why Aaron is an illiterate; this denied him a chance to evaluate the state of self-sufficiency and capability. If these slaves had the basis knowledge, they would question the dominance of whites over blacks. Slaveholders also took illiteracy to ensure that the life of slaves did not reach authorities who were against slavery. From this, slaves should seek education, as this is a gateway to freedom. Communication is also significant, as this would mobilize slaves in opposing oppression by slave-masters (Morawsk and Smith, 2000). Most slaveholders were strong Christians. They had buried their evil did in church thus blinding slaves; most slaves were also Christian therefore found it wired to fight their own religious leaders. This fact also barred the thought that slavery was an unchristian practice following the fact that most of the slave masters were religious leaders. This tactic made slavery prevail in the south as well as in the north despite the fact that it was an era where Christianity was gaining popularity among different communities. Christianity also blinded slaves because they had a strong faith thus never had thought of pushing for their basic needs. This is one of the key effects of Christianity as far as slaves and the slave trade was concerned. It was also discouraging as they were few Christians who were against slavery thus building the idea that slavery is a normal practice in life (Davis, 2005). What effects did these tactics have on the slaves? One of the effects of the tactics used by slave masters was loss of identity as they segregated slaves from the rest of the society; they ended up being different from other members of the community; slaves were illiterate, illogical and brain washed. It was difficult to dig sense from an argument with a slave. They had a thought that life is all about working for the whites because they are weak race. Separating slaves from the rest of the world also gives a room for the perpetuation of evil activities. Common immoral activities such as rape among others affected slaves in a great way because they had nowhere to take their grievances (Mellafe, 1975). From a critical review of the narrative, slave masters were also affected by holding slaves. This is in reference to the irresponsible and corrupt life, which they enjoyed and used to detriment slaves. Slave masters developed poor behavior patterns, which resulted from holding slaves. An ideal example is slave master fathering a child with his slave; he is later forced to divorce his wife because of adultery. There were also cases where slaveholders were forced to punish, and mistreat their own children because of pressure from their family because they brought up such children with slaves. Tactics used by slaves to evade slavery Following the fact that most of the religious groups did not support slavery, slaves joined these groups, as they were sure that they would be protected from enslavement. There were groups whose aims were to deliver slaves from brutality and corruption from their masters; these groups were of considerable help to slaves as they were able to get their wages after years of unpaid. There were also slaves who approached organizations who were defending their position; these groups visited slave auctions with the objective of saving human life from abuse. Education is one of the tactics used by slaves to evade slavery. This is because education gives one an opportunity to see the light and truth, which is practical in the case of Aaron. Education also brought about unity among slaves thus magnifying their voice against slave masters. Through education also encouraged slaves in facing their masters as they had equal rights to a good life, they were able to push for salaried employment (Morawsk and Smith, 2000). How authors of the narratives exposed evils and injustices of slaves Narrations played a significant role in fighting slavery. They exposed evil activities of slave masters and indirectly fought for the rights of the blacks. Revealing such information also mobilized different human rights organization in fighting for the rights of slaves, because they have all the information concerning challenges facing slaves. This is supported by the narration of Aaron; the narration reveals to us the information challenges and life the slaves. We also learn failures of different stakes whose role was taking care of issues relating to human rights. Conclusion This narration is highly useful in depicting the life of slaves. We see how slaves suffered in different instances in the hands of slave masters. Aaron’s role should be appreciated; he fights slavery by giving testimony thus being a role model to other slaves who passed through the same kind of struggles. We should also be in the fore in fighting different form of human injustices following the example depicted by Aaron. References Morawsk, L. and Smith, N. (2000). Documenting American South: The Light and Truth of Slavery. Aaron's History. Available at: http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/aaron/aaron.html Mellafe, R. R. (1975). Negro slavery in Latin America. Berkeley: University of California Press. Davis, D. J. (1995). Slavery and beyond: The African impact on Latin America and the Caribbean. Wilmington, Del: Scholarly Resources. Read More