Because of the recent declaration in Virginia, honoring the treasonous Confederacy, I have decided to post one narrative per day during this month, that tells the story of one person who was formerly enslaved, in their own words.
Again, there is a tendency to romanticize this period. I want people who experienced this horror to have voice in telling their experience and from the grave, to speak truth to power.
This is the fourth narrative of a person who was formerly enslaved.
Haley Barbour, this is what you might call---diddly.
To be a man, and not to be a man ⎯ a father without authority ⎯ a husband and no protector ⎯ is the darkest of fates. Such was the condition of my father, and such is the condition of every slave throughout the United States: he owns nothing, he can claim nothing. His wife is not his; his children are not his; they can be taken from him and sold at any minute, as far away from each other as the human fleshmonger may see fit to carry them. Slaves are recognized as property by the law and can own nothing except by the consent of their masters. A slave’s wife or daughter may be insulted before his eyes with impunity. He himself may be called on to torture them, and dare not refuse. To raise his hand in their defense is death by the law. He must bear all things and resist nothing. If he leaves his master’s premises at any time without a written permit, he is liable to be flogged.
Yet, it is said by slaveholders and their apologists that we are happy and contented. I will admit that slaves are sometimes cheerful; they sing and dance, as it is politic for them to do. I myself had changed owners three times before I could see the policy [wisdom] of this appearance of contentment. My father taught me to hate slavery but forgot to teach me how to conceal my hatred. I could frequently perceive the pent-up agony of his soul, although he tried hard to conceal it in his own breast. The knowledge that he was a slave himself, and that his children were also slaves, embittered his life, but made him love us the more.
JOHN JACOBS, "A True Tale of Slavery," The Leisure Hour: A Family Journal
of Instruction and Recreation, 7 Feb. 1861