The literature of the slavery period was written by black Americans of African bloodline. Its main theme is slavery but it also exhibits other themes like the fight by Afro-Americans for freedom, the search for the identity of black Americans and the appreciation of the uniqueness of African American culture. A lot of works with related themes were written during this time. The earliest of these works that are still preserved were written by African slaves in America from around mid-1700. An example of these works is “Bars Fight”, which was a poem describing a raid in Massachusetts, written by Lucy Terry. The slavery, somehow, contributed to the acquisition of literary skills by slaves and the resultant works (Terry 1).
African-American writing and slavery are inseparable. At the beginning of the slavery period, almost all of the slaves were illiterate. They slowly learnt how to read and write while in slavery. Most of them were guided and motivated by the bible to learn how to read. This literacy provided inspiration and knowledge that helped the slaves find means of escaping bondage. An example of such works is, Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl, the story by Harriet Jacob in 1861that described the challenges women faced in slavery. The story has an honest bias in slavery rape which was common in those days (Jacob 1). Another example is Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various subjects, Religious and Moral which is based on the bible and touches on her American patriotism and African heritage. The difficulties these slaves were going through were a great catalyst of African-American literature. There was the need to record the events of the slavery period and thus slaves strived to acquire literacy in order to record these events. African-American literature was also used as a weapon for fighting slavery and thus the slaves were highly motivated to write these works. It is believed that African-American literature was one of the major contributors to the ending of slavery in America. The most celebrated works of the slavery period are done by Frederick Douglass. He became a very influential American after the slavery period. He was an American Ambassador, Presidential advisor and orator in the post-slavery period. His inspiration to literacy and writing was hatched when he heard his master’s wife reading the bible. Although his master did not want him to learn, he took this as an indication that knowledge is powerful and from that time on, he did not relent in his quest for knowledge (Wheatley 1).
The African-Americans who were free at the slavery also gave substantial contribution to the slavery literature. These people were sympathetic of their ‘brothers’ and thus they were actively involved in the fight against slavery. They used literature to express their opinions towards slavery injustices like rape, racism etcetera.
The Afro-American literature of the period between 1764 and 1865 and slavery are deeply related. While slavery gave the Afro-Americans exposure and themes to write about, the writings contributed substantially to the end of slavery. First-hand information on the slavery period was also recorded. The Afro-American writers of this time, therefore, did a great job. The conditions under which they learnt how to read and write and consequently produced these stories were very unfriendly and thus they should be always celebrated as the American heroes of the 19th century.
Works Cited
Jacob, Harriet. “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, 2004-Web.
Terry, Lucy. “Bars Fight”, 2009 – Web.
Wheatley, Phillis. “Poems on Various subjects, Religious and Moral”, 2001- Web.