The Memories of Fifty Years: Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the SouthwestSparks, W. H. (William Henry)
History
The Memories of Fifty Years: Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the Southwest
Sparks, W. H. (William Henry)
Georgia -- History -- 1775-1865; Southwest, Old -- History; United States -- Biography
It was at this period that the competition for accumulating money may
be said to have commenced in Middle Georgia. Labor became in great
demand, and the people began to look leniently upon the slave-trade.
The marching of Africans, directly imported, through the country for
sale, is a memory of sixty-five years ago. The demand had greatly
increased, and, with this, the price. The trade was to cease in 1808,
and the number brought over was daily augmenting, to hasten to make
from the traffic as much money as possible before this time should
arrive. The demand, however, was greater than could be supplied. From
house to house they were carried for sale. They were always young men
and women, or girls and boys, and their clothing was of the simplest
kind. That of the men and boys consisted of drawers, only reaching
midway the thigh, from the waist. The upper portions of the person and
the lower extremities were entirely nude. The females wore a chemise
reaching a few inches below the knee, leaving bare the limbs. This was
adopted for the purpose of exposing the person, as much as decency
would permit, for examination, so as to enable the purchaser to
determine their individual capacity for labor. This examination was
close and universal, beginning with an inspection of the teeth, which
in these young savages were always perfect, save in those where they
had been filed to a point in front. This was not uncommon with the
males. It was then extended to the limbs, and ultimately to the entire
person. They were devoid of shame, and yielded to this inspection
without the slightest manifestation of offended modesty. At first they
were indifferent to cooked food, and would chase and catch and eat the
grasshoppers and lizards with the avidity of wild turkeys, and seemed,
as those fowls, to relish these as their natural food.
From such is descended the race which our Christian white brothers of
the North have, in their devotion to their duty to God and their hatred
to us, made masters of our destiny. Our faith in the justice and
goodness of the same Divine Being bids us believe this unnatural and
destructive domination will not be permitted to endure for any lengthy
period. Could the curtain which veiled out the future sixty years ago,
have been lifted, and the vision of those then subduing the land been
permitted to pierce and know the present of their posterity, they would
then have achieved a separation from our puritanical oppressors, and
built for themselves and their own race, even if in blood, a separate
government, and have made it as nature intended it should be to this
favored land--a wise and powerful one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account