A comparison of two slave narratives

Interview with Alice Gaston, Gee's Bend, Alabama, 1941

Alice remembers the old war time clearly and she narrates how the Yankees came through and carried her father, sisters and a brother. She was left alone and remembers how her missus usually ran in the garden from the Yankees and told her not to give them away. The other family members went to hide in the woods when the Yankees came and told her not to get worried and say where they are hiding. She did not give them away but they were later taken by the Yankees and she was left alone. She explains that her parents loved her a lot and even after their death she still loves them. She was treated quite well by the white folks ever since they knew her. She used to stay at Mr. Ys place and took care of her together with his wife until they died. They taught her good morals especially not to steal and ask for anything she needed. They provided her with everything she needed and was treated nicely by all the people who knew her. She said that they also taught her to be honest and that is how she grew up until now. Robert Sonkin who is the interviewer asked her how the government had been treating her and she said that they have been nice to her too. She used to live in an old hose down there until the government moved her to the new house where she was taken care of. She said she is pretty happy in that house because they give her enough food, clothes and everything else she asks for.

Interview with Mrs. Ann Scott, St. Helena Island, South Carolina (Gullah), June 27, 1932

Ann Scott explains that they came back after their master died with their father who brought them to the Yankees. They were taken back from where they came from at midnight. She says that her master’s name was Drummond and she used to stay in the house and take care of the children. She is asked about going to the church and she says she is a member of Ebenezer Baptist. She had nineteen children and twelve of them got married and went off. She explains that the leader of their church is Austin after the old ones died. She goes to choir on Tuesday and Thursday nights as well as on Sunday. She explains that the church is located near the school house where they put coal.

One of the similarities of these narratives is that both the interviewees are old women who cannot even remember when they were born. The other similarity is that they both cannot speak good English because they were not educated as they were the daughters of slaves. The other similarity is that they were both Yankee’s slaves as they are mentioned in the two narratives.

One of the differences between the two narratives is that in the first case, the parents of Alice Gaston were taken away by the Yankees. On the other hand, Ann Scott came back with her parents to the Yankees when their master died. The other difference is that the woman in the first narrative does not mention any thing about having children while in the second narrative the woman had nineteen children. The other difference is that Alice Gaston was taken in by white folks and the government who took care of her when her family was taken away. On the other hand Ann was the one who did the home chores especially tending to the house.  This shows that their lives were very different from each other as Alice would only be looked after and Ann took care of the children. The other difference is that Alice did not mention anything about going to church while Alice in the second narrative was a member of Ebenezer Baptist church. The other difference is that the two women are from two different states which are Alabama and South Carolina respectively.

Summary

The two narratives show the experiences and practices of slavery as well as a clear picture of what happened in that time.  They show the kind of life that was lived by the slaves and in the first narrative it is clear that Alice was traumatized when her family was taken away and she was left alone. Those experiences show that slavery was painful as it separated them from their loved ones and forced them to live according to how they were told and not how they wanted. In the second narrative, Ann would take care of the children by brushing their hair, prepared their food among other things. Slavery is not good and should not happen again as it deprived citizens of their rights as is clear that nobody sought for their opinions or consent. It is clear that they were not even taken to school to learn or interact with others. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work Cited

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/afcesn:@field%28DOCID+afc9999001t5091b%29

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/afcesn:@field%28DOCID+afc9999001t25657a%29