From: Andrea Pawlowski
Date: 4/24/00
Time: 4:41:02 PM
Remote Name: 155.247.156.224
Andrea Pawlowski April 25, 2000 Primary Source Assignment - Week Fourteen "Once dead but now living human beings" sums up the reaction of many slaves. It was as if they were re-born. The slaves obviously were most happy that they were no longer considered someone's property. In the book there was a story on page 116 that discussed the particular subject of the slaves and their work. The story was about the joy that the newly freedmen saw on each other's faces when they finished work at the end of the day. For example, they were smiling and laughing. They still worked hard but it was because they wanted to and not because they had to. The newly freedmen and women finally felt like humans. No longer did they feel like they were animals. Some of them did return to their old masters but under new conditions. Most of these conditions were set up by them. They were able to say when and where they wanted to work. The white people had opposite reactions to this new concept of freedom. Some masters were so opposed to it that they even lied to the slaves so they would not find out. If a slave thought about escaping to the north, the masters lied to them by saying that they would not find anything better up there. Some masters felt that they didn't have to tell the slaves and that is was their life so they could find out themselves. They often tried to hide these issues from the slaves. I think another informative primary source would be a diary of a slave. The slave might have documented his/her exact feelings. These feelings would have described exactly what they were going through and what conditions they were in. There is not a more accurate form of proof than someone's thoughts and words who actually experienced it.