Understanding the Psychological and Societal Impacts of Slavery Through Multiple Narratives

    Autobiographical works from the late 19th century which aim to relate the slave experience are, most commonly a call to awareness or a story of perseverance in the face of adversity. No doubt, in publishing these kinds of works the authors mean to encourage and inspire others in their situation but also to expose the horrors of slavery by publishing and illustrating them as best they can through words. But, with the slave experience being so varied and complex, it's emotionally taxing or even impossible to communicate such an experience through words. Harriet Jacobs makes it very clear in the foreword of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl that the desire to share and relive such an experience by writing it down is not one that comes easy, but one that she felt the duty to bring light to. The events of slavery are so complex that it becomes impossible for most people, even after having read an autobiography, to grasp the full picture of the slave experience. But through reading an array of autobiographies, it is possible to grasp a deeper comprehension of what it meant to be a slave. Despite this, as we know, the only group capable of fully comprehending the slave experience are those who experienced slavery themselves or were affected by it. This level of shared experience in being a victim of slavery establishes an almost invisible generational and unerasable connection, but it is not a statement of universality that generalizes the slave experience or implies that each slave went through the same degradation. We see these differences in shared experience displayed in the autobiographies of Booker T. Washington and Linda Brent. The clearest difference between the two texts is the gender divide which affects their experiences significantly and is the most obvious factor in explaining why it is impossible to generalize the slave experience. While the two of them both despise slavery as an institution, their varied framing and coverage of the psychological effects and social outcomes of slavery make it clear that they had vastly different experiences.

    Booker T. Washington makes it clear that his resentment towards slavery is largely framed by its role as an obstacle to freedom, education, and opportunity for black people within America. Throughout the entire autobiography, Booker T. Washington displays his burning desire to pursue an education, constantly reiterates the fact that his one wish is to pursue an education and finally define a black legacy for him and his family in America. Washington despises slavery for having always prevented him from pursuing these basic rights but also constantly reminds the reader that he had no feelings of animosity towards his slave owners whatsoever. He also tells the reader that he thinks rather fondly of his time as a child on the plantation despite having to constantly perform grueling manual labor, and even often credits it for teaching him the tools one needs to survive independently and for giving him the work ethic he claims one needs to make a living as an adult. He goes on to talk about how he was always jealous of the white kids on the plantation who had access to books and other educational resources, and always took whatever chance he could to try to read or learn. But when he has finally been freed, he recalls feeling a sense of pity for the white kids on the plantation who never learned the value of hard work or the skills needed to perform various kinds of manual labor. In this way we see how Washington resents his slave owners for stunting his ability to better himself through education but also, in some ways, credits them for giving him the envy and the skills he needed to light his burning desire to pursue an education and a legacy in the first place. Another important narrative element of the way Washington depicts slavery is the way he conceptualizes the idea of emancipation. He communicates a clear initial excitement for the ending of slavery, but also describes it as short-lived, in which himself, along with many other newly freed slaves, felt a sense of confusion and unpreparedness after having been freed. He continues to downplay the significance of the emancipation of slavery, by stating that not all that much changed, especially with a lack of welfare and support resources for newly freed slaves. He sees the freed African Americans in his community left to wander and, for lack of other skills, pursue manual labor jobs of the same caliber. Additionally, without disposable income to migrate, he sees how they are left to remain in the very same towns in which they had been previously enslaved. With not much changing, Washington downplays the impact of emancipation while also making himself an example of perseverance despite this lack of change. Washington’s story could be seen as uplifting to those who felt discouraged and lost in a post-slavery nation, but could also be seen as too forgiving and optimistic towards the same institution which enslaved him, especially to those who experienced more evident lasting psychological impacts from the experience of slavery.

    In many ways, Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a contradiction to the perception of slavery in Booker T. Washington’s autobiography. From early on in the story, we find out that Linda Brent has had a vastly different experience as a slave. Most notably, as a child, Linda Brent was sheltered to the point that she never found out she was a slave until later on in childhood, which, she tells us, was actually full of fond memories. Not only this, but she remembers her slave owner was not only unusually caring towards her and her mother, but also expressed a desire to help her and her mother gain their freedom. Despite her ignorant beginnings, Brent is quickly made aware of the harsh reality of her situation. Rather than being freed upon the death of her previous owner, as was her promise, Brent and her mother are resold into slavery under the ownership of Dr. Flint, a much more cruel and sadistic slave owner, who, despite shielding her from heavy manual labor, subjects her to relentless sexual harassment, and as Brent puts it, “began to whisper foul words” in her ear from the age of fifteen. This adds another even more sinister layer to Brent’s experience, which, as far as we know, was not a part of Washington's experience. Brent’s objectification and sexualization by Dr. Flint from such a young age, undoubtedly had a profound effect on the way she perceives relationships, and worked to dehumanize her, as she constantly felt out of control of her own body, forced to go along with whatever Dr. Flint told her to do. Through Brent’s psychological persecution and entrapment, we see that freedom means something different to her. Although it is a chance for opportunity and legacy much like in the way that Washington describes it, it is also a chance for her to finally escape the threat of bodily violation and the religious threat to the preservation of her virginity as well as the general lack of control she feels over her own body. For Brent, the importance of the psychological relief that comes as a result of emancipation is worth so much to her that she ends up spending seven years of her life hiding in a den under her grandmother’s shed to achieve it. As such, it’s clear how the sexual persecution aspect of Brent’s experience as a slave differentiates her from Washington and makes her resentment toward Dr. Flint much more deeply rooted and personal, and clearly different from a mere obstacle to a desire for legacy. Thereby, Brent’s desire for emancipation is more than a desire for education and opportunity but also means a liberation from the sexual and psychological torment which slowly tears her apart. The nature of her personalized hatred not only makes her incapable of any sort of positive takeaway (in the same way Washington is able to find gratitude in the skills he learned through labor), but also emphasizes the importance of the inclusion and awareness of psychological effects in slave narratives.

    Looking at Booker T. Washington’s narrative as a whole, it's not farfetched to say that its general focus remains on the task of moving up in a post-slavery world, while thoughts about his psychological state receive little to no attention in the scope of the narrative. Additionally, the fact that the events in Up From Slavery are mostly made up of his life after leaving the plantation, communicates that the reality that he was once a slave is not the focus of the narrative. This is both empowering and also works to downplay the idea that the experience of slavery imprints lasting psychological effects on its victims, misleading readers into neglecting the lasting impacts of this side of the experience. It then becomes important that there are authors, such as Harriet Jacobs who are able to communicate the psychological side of the impacts of slavery. Not only is Brent’s mental state an important focus of the narrative, but she also openly articulates how slavery has impacted her in a post-emancipation nation. Irrepressible and terrifying thoughts such as the sudden appearance of Dr. Flint, even as she is free and miles away from the plantation on which she was tormented, continue to plague her mind, and gives the reader a glimpse into the ways in which slavery affects the mind in a lasting sense. Brent also performs the difficult task of recounting the significance of the impact of gender, and the disproportionate sexual persecution of African American women in slavery, a crucially missing detail in Washington's narrative. In effect, the varied experiences of Washington and Brent make it clear why the idea of generalizing the slave experience based only on reading one of these narratives could lead to readers an incomplete comprehension of the full picture of slavery and to problematically base their understanding off of one narrative. For example, given the reader was unfamiliar with literature about slavery before and only took the time to read one of these autobiographies, they might be unaware of the role of gender in shaping the slave experience or be uneducated about the hardships of manual labor. All in all, to avoid making these sort of generalizations, it becomes clear that in order to strive towards an understanding of the full scope of the complex experience of being a slave, it is essential to read into autobiographies which not only cover the physical impacts of slavery but also its complex psychological effects, both immediate and lasting.