The Life of a Slave: Vincent Smith - Book Report/Review Example

The Life of a Slave: Vincent Smith Venture Smith who was born in Africa in 1729 write down the events of his life in his memoirs. His place of birth was Dukandarra in Guinea to Suaungm Furro who was the tribe prince of the region. When he was six years old, his father’s tribe was attacked by another tribe who was encouraged by the whites to “subdue and possess the country” (Smith, 9). At first a messenger from the enemy camp came with a truce that if his father would give huge sum of money along with other farm animals then they would not invade his people and enslave them. Although his father agreed to this term it turned out that the enemies did not keep their promise and they attacked the next day. In the ensuing struggle Suaungm Furro displayed a great deal of “courage and firmness as he refused divulge the place where he kept his money. He was then tortured and killed before the eyes of his eldest son Venture Smith. After being captured by the enemies, he along with other women prisoners was taken to Anamaboo. Here the enemies were defeated by the inhabitants who then took captive of Vincent and was brought to Rhode island. On the journey he had survived small pox after which he was bought by one Robert Mumford. As a slave of Mumford he was obliged to do hard chores and was inflicted severe punishment on any errors, and all of these happened when Vincent was only nine years of age. After staying with Mumford for 13 years, and at the age of 22 he married another slave Meg. He was then sold to a Thomas Stanton, after a year and a half Stanton also bought his wife and daughter. At one time Meg got involved in a quarrel with Mrs. Stanton, and as Vincent tried to make peace he was attacked by a horse whip by Mrs. Stanton and he responded by throwing the whip in the fire. After a few days he was struck on the head by Mr. Stanton as a result of which he complained to the justice of the peace. He was told to return to his master and the latte was given a warning. When he was again physically attacked by Stanton and his brother he counter attacked them for which he was arrested (Smith). Vincent was then, at the age of 32 sold to a colonel Smith who permitted him to buy his freedom. Then came the next phase of life in which although he savored freedom for the first time he was however engaged in hard work to purchase his own family. At the age of 36, after four years of fishing, farming and splitting wood he managed to liberate himself by paying a quarter of his earning to the colonel. The colonel’s honesty and tendency to keep promise unlike his previous captivators prompted him to adapt the surname of the colonel. However his wife and children were still slaves of the colonel, and so in the next four years he worked hard and abstained from indulging in the luxuries of life to earn enough money in order to buy his two sons, Solomon and Cuff. He also bought a negro man for 60 pounds out of compassion but he fled after some time thus making his money go waste. The rest of his earnings, after paying 400 dollars for his sons, he spent on a land and a house in Long Island. Soon after this, he came face to face with personal tragedy for the first time as Solomon died from scurvy when he was on a vessel for a whaling voyage. Finally, at the age of 44 he managed to buy his family and the rest of his family. He even admitted that he was saved from buying another member of his family since his wife was pregnant at that time (Smith) Vincent Smith narrated his life story when he was 69 years old, and displayed all the signs of old age and lifelong hardships. By this time, he had possessed more than 100 acres of land and three houses. His pride of being a free man at a time when blacks were subjected to slavery could be seen reflected in his words; “amidst all my griefs and pains, I have many consolations; Meg, the wife of my youth, whom I married for love, and bought with my money, is still alive. My freedom is a privilege which nothing else can equal. Notwithstanding all the losses I have suffered by fire, by the injustice of knaves, by the cruelty and oppression of false hearted friends, and the perfidy of my own countrymen whom I have assisted and redeemed from bondage, I am now possessed of more than one hundred acres of land, and three habitable dwelling houses. It gives me joy to think that I have and that I deserve so good a character, especially for truth and integrity” (Smith, 31). Vincent’s life story is a stark reminder of the slave trade which was predominant during the eighteenth century in West Africa. It was a time when the blacks were fighting for freedom and equality. In Africa, slavery which means forceful possession of human beings and making them perform intense labour and face severe punishments was prevalent from prehistoric times to the modern era. When one speaks of slavery, the first thing that comes to mind is the form of human servitude that existed in the United States in the period before the Civil War that lasted from 1861 to 1865. Slavery in the United States was result of exploitation by one class of people on the other classes. It was a reflection of social and economic disparities. However, in other regions of the world slavery took the form of many other shapes. In Africa, slave owners considered their slaves as property and did not show any kind of mercy which dealing with them. There were still others who possessed some members of a slave’s family only to return them after getting payment in form of money or kind. Likewise, Vincent was a slave of first Robert Mumford and then Thomas Stanton. He tasted freedom only after he was bought by the colonel Smith who granted him permission to buy himself. Eventually, after a gap of several years he had managed to buy his entire family members (his wife and two sons were owned by Stanton and his oldest child Hannah was owned by Mumford). There also existed societies where slaves were allowed the privilege of occupy ranks of military or administrative power. However, in most cases slaves were obtained in order to make them perform domestic chores and other heavy physical activities. In those days, in Africa slave owners felt that their social status got enhanced by owning slaves. One thing to be noted here is that in Africa, both slaves and their owners were blacks but they were from different ethnic groups (Wright). It was only during the 7th century that different groups of slave traders began to grow in prominence in Africa. The Arab Muslims and the Europeans were the two major non-African groups of slave traders who traded African slaves. From the 7th century to the 20th century black slaves from West, Central, and East Africa were dispatched to North Africa and Asian regions by the Arab Muslims, and from 15th century to the 19th century Europeans bought millions of black slaves from West, Central, and East Africa to sell them Europe, Caribbean and North, Central, and South America. These two slave trader groups dominated the economic environment in many African states from the 7th century to the 20th century, and this forced many more Africans to succumb to this slave trade (Wright). From the mid fifteenth century to the late nineteenth century, about 12 million Africans who were taken as captives were brought to the Caribbean islands owned by the British, French, Dutch and the Danish, South and Central America that were controlled by the Spanish, and to North America which later became United States and Canada. However only about a dozen of these captives wrote down their experiences they have faced first hand, and Vincent Smith was one of them. He not only bought the freedom for himself and his family members, but also a few blacks although most of the latter left him in later years. He is known in history for his integrity and successes (Wright; Sweet). In early years in Africa, the group which earned victory in wars captured the other group to enslave them. However, these captive did not serve any significant purpose and also they were always prone to escape. Therefore, they were not retained and were sold to distant places. During this time, the major reason for keeping slaves was to procure land. Before the European law was established in the 19th century, the native Africans had no right to own lands privately. The system was such that only big rural communities or large clans were allotted lands based on their requirement that was again dependent on the number of slaves they own. Therefore, it was customary to enslave as many slaves as possible in order to procure large areas of land. For this purpose, many African societies raided distant villages (Wright). Vincent Smith’s years during slavery was immersed in hard labor and physical punishments. This reflected the extreme poor state that the African slaves were subjected to, i.e. they were completely dependent on their masters for sustenance. The economic status of the slaves was dependent on their social status especially during the early colonial period. During this period, most slaves enjoyed increased freedom compared to the black slaves in the later period. However, they were still relegated to the bottom rank of the society. During the late seventeenth and the early eighteenth century, slaves were denied any kind of property rights by the law. They were not allowed to take monetary wages in return of their labor, nor were they allowed to seek any wage earning jobs. The result was that the slaves were completely dependent on their masters for basic necessities of life like food, clothing and shelter. When humanitarian ideals were spread during the American Revolution and the Great Awakening, the Southern plantation owners defined “slavery not as an institution of brute force, but of responsible dominion over a less fortunate, less evolved people” (Boston). Physical torture was a common occurrence among the slave owners. Since the slaves were completely dependent on their masters for sustenance, therefore it was natural that their material comfort was according to the financial status of their owners and management style. However, the actual scenario was that the slaves were provided minimum food and clothing that was necessary for living and performing physical labor. The living conditions of the slaves were also different among the slaves living in rural areas and those living in urban areas. In the early nineteenth century, the slaves who were owned by urban dwellers experienced more favorable conditions than their rural counterparts. According to Frederick Douglass who earned freedom from slavery at the age of 20 in the year 1838; “A city slave is almost a freeman, compared with a slave the plantation. He is much better fed and clothed, and enjoys privileges altogether unknown to the slave in the plantation” (Boston). It has been assumed that since city dwellers inhabit in close proximity to each other therefore they did not exhibit their inhuman side by providing cruel treatment to their slaves. In the eighteenth century, agriculture became more labor intensive and therefore there was high demand of work force. Since, food was exported to the European market hence physically strong workers were required to ensure timely production and supply of crops like sugar cane, tobacco and cotton. It was during the middle of the eighteenth century that slave trade increased by a large number between West Africa and America. It was estimated that every year 80,000 African slaves were forced to cross the Atlantic to remain as slaves for the rest of their lives. Among them 40 percent were dispatched to the Caribbean islands. Vincent Smith was one such example, although he became liberated through his own effort (Falconbridge). References Boston, Nicholas. “The Slave Experience: Living Conditions”, PBS, n.d., December 12, 2014 from: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/living/history.html Falconbridge, Alexander. “Slave trade: the African connection, ca 1788”, eyewitnesshistory, 2007, December 12, 2014 from: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/ slavetrade.htm Smith, Vincent. A narrative of the life and adventures of Venture, a native of Africa, C.Hold: 1798 Sweet, John Wood. “Venture Smith, from Slavery to Freedom”, n.d., December 12, 2014 from: http://connecticuthistory.org/venture-smith-from-slavery-to-freedom/ Wright, Donald R. “Slavery in Africa”, Colorado, 2000, December 12, 2014 from: http://autocww.colorado.edu/~blackmon/E64ContentFiles/AfricanHistory/SlaveryInAfrica.html Read More