From: jennifer Morrone
Date: 3/28/00
Time: 12:33:57 PM
Remote Name: 155.247.244.101
The way slaves were portrayed in the photos is how many people saw them. Many considered slaves to be objects, property to be bought, sold and owned. They felt slaves could be dealt with in any manner the master's chose. One of the pictures even suggested that enslaving the slaves they were doing them a favor because they were seen as people of less intelligence, idle, and unable to care or produce futile work, without direction. Many of the illustrations showed the slaves trying to escape but being over taken by the masters and returned or killed. They look like they are in a hopeless defenseless situation, mothers separated from their children, men and women slaves being beaten and tortured, and all being in chains of bondage. There seems to be no way out. Even escaping to the free states led to more bondage. The slaveholders are portrayed as having extreme power over the slaves. They can evoke fear in them. They do not seem to have any respect for the lives of their slaves. They branded them like one would brand cattle. They even seem to think slavery may have upgraded the status of their women at the time. Many pictures show the slaves wearing barely anything while the slaveholders are fully clothed. This adds to the slaveholder's appearance of superiority. I think the north is being portrayed as being hypocritical. They are saying they are free states when in fact they are not offering many freedoms to the former slaves. Some of the pictures depict the northern states returning slaves while another photo represented the inequalities faced by blacks in the North.