Julia
Ellis
Teresa
Coronado
ENGL
328
Archive
Assignment
31
October 2016
Black Lives Matter Both Then
and Now
Slavery
was a huge cultural influence in both the Northern and Southern states of the
United States of America from 1619 to 1865. Not only were the dominant notions
of white culture evident, but there were also strong cultural impacts on the
country’s citizens due to its slave culture. Although confederates were trying
to both prevent and end the respect of Africans and African Americans, there
were still constantly morally-correct people, both white and black, who saw
this culturally-rooted segregation as cruel and inhumane. Thankfully, some if
the individuals who stood for the abolishment of slavery were socially respected,
and, in turn, could make positive impacts on
the stride toward freedom.
Many examples of the cruelty towards
slaves as being unjust and inhumane were written and published by the staff of The National Era. The National Era was a newspaper that established
roots in Washington, D.C. and was founded by the American and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society (Encyclopedia Britannica). The American and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society recruited Gamaliel Bailey as the paper’s editor. Bailey
was sure to publish weekly editions and did so for approximately thirteen years
(Accessible Archives). Among the thousands of articles the paper published was
their most famous release Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin which first published in the paper on June 5th, 1851, and went on to release 41 weekly installments before its
final episode on
April 1st,1852[1]
(Raabe).
Although
The National Era was responsible for
publishing some works that did become a part of the American Literary canon (writings
like Uncle Tom’s Cabin), there are a
lot of pieces it published that have not yet been included in any canonized anthologies.
One of these many articles was published on November 6th, 1861;
“Homicide Case in Clarke County Virginia” was written to inform the paper’s
readers of a violent case involving the murder of a slave named Lewis by his
two masters, Colonel James Castleman, and his son Stephen D. Castleman. Leading
up to this murder, James and Stephen Castleman had repeatedly found money and
liquor missing from their property, and upon mention from another slave of
theirs, they placed the blame on two slave boys; Lewis and Reuben. Before the
slave masters stepped away to find Reuben, they “chained [Lewis] by the neck,
and whipped [him] to death… on the charge of stealing” (Homicide Case). It is
revealed later in the article that Lewis was left chained to the ceiling of a
warehouse with a long enough chain to stand and move a full step in every
direction, but a short enough chain that he was unable to kneel or sit for
relief. Although alive when the two owners left, they returned to find him
“hanging by the neck, dead – feet thrown behind him, his knees a few inches
from the floor, and his head thrown forward” (Homicide Case). Many cases such
as this one were published in newspapers during this period of slavery. The
difference between other papers’ articles and the approach The National Era took was one of sorrow and disapproval instead of
one promoting these mistreatments. The
National Era chose not to write on the matter of the events until they had
gone through the court and the family was tried for Lewis’ murder. Once found
“not guilty”, The National Era shamed
the court for warranting these events and placing blame on a slave who chose to
end his life rather than endure repeated lashings for a crime as petty as theft.
This depiction of mercy given to the slave as opposed to the slave owners is
one that is rarely acknowledged today, especially being presumably written by a
white author[2]. Because of both the
ethnicity of the publisher, and the abolitionist perspective that this article
radiates from individuals who identify as abolitionist and ones who do not, it should be included in the American Literary
canon of the 19th century.
“Homicide
Case in Clarke County Virginia” details the state of being Lewis, one of the
slave boys, was found in after his beating using a sympathetic, interrogative
tone instead of praising his death as many newspapers did during this uncivil
period. This use of emotional appeal favors the slave throughout the entire
article. The first moment of sympathy is evident when the author writes “A
slave of Colonel James Castleman… had been chained by the neck and whipped to death
by his master… The whole neighborhood in which the transaction occurred was
incensed” (Homicide Case). The author tells us that the entire neighborhood was
outraged and disgusted at the event, causing readers to become irate as well.
He continues by stating “the Virginia papers abounded in denunciations of the
cruel act” (Homicide Case). Just three sentences into the article, it is made clear
to readers that the paper is in favor of Lewis (Homicide Case).
The
strongest moments of sympathy within the entire article take place in its final
few paragraphs. In these paragraphs, the author questions the steps taken in
leaving the slave, they wonder how the defendant could get away with a crime
they clearly took the role of committing; they acknowledge that although they
did not physically beat Lewis until he drew his final breath, they left him
chained with so little space that “he could neither sit nor kneel: and should
he faint, he would be choked to death. The account says that they fastened him
thus, for the purpose of securing him. If this had been the soul object, it
could have been accomplished by safer and less cruel methods, as every reader
must know” (Homicide Case). The author’s method to not only give readers the awareness
that Lewis was in a position that could have easily lead to his death while
also addressing and including the reader in this realization was a bold one
that draws even more compassion from those reading it to see the unjust reality
Lewis was being forced to face.
If the bold sympathy mentioned
above, given the article’s time of release being ten years before the civil war
even began[3], was
not evidence enough that this paper was constructed of reformed thought, it
must be brought to attention that the article concludes with a letter by a man
described as being “very far from an abolitionist” (Homicide Case). The man,
who was known for being a well-respected slaveholder in Clarke County, tells
the perspective three friends of his shared while staying at the Castleman
estate:
There are three persons in
this city, with whom I am acquainted who staid at Castelman’s the
same night in
which this awful tragedy was enacted. They heard the dreadful lashings and the
heart-rendering screams and entreaties of the sufferer… In the morning, when they
ascertained that one of the slaves was dead, they were so shocked and indignant
that they
refused to eat in the house and reproached Castleman [the father] with
his cruelty. (Homicide
Case)
This letter sent into The National Era proves that not only was it anti-slavery advocates
who were against this treatment of slaves, but it was also many slave-owners in
the confederate states that were against the brutality of this case. Also, the
language used in the letter to explain the situation was not one of an emotionally
unattached group, but instead depicted the emotional turmoil involved for
witnesses; it shows that these members of the confederacy were in fact aware
that they were not battling over property, but that the torture and death was given
to a human being.
“Homicide Case in Clarke
County Virginia” depicts the open expression of individuals’ attempts to
promote the abolishment of slavery at a time when these ideas were just beginning
to become socially acceptable. This article, and the paper that published it,
are in no way unattached from the progressive strides this country took toward
the realization that black lives matter. Although there have been articles from
The National Era that are already
part of the literary canon, this one specifically should be discussed because
it shows that there was a growth of awareness happening, not only in the North
where the paper was published, but also in the confederate states; that, given
the Castlemans were sent to court for this murder at all, even the confederate
states’ political figures were beginning to see flaws in the nature of slave
treatment.
This article deserves to be
canonized because it shows that the South was beginning to grow somewhat aware
that their “property” was in fact human life that deserved to be treated as
such. It is not only amazing that a public paper was promoting the case of a
deceased slave, but that the state was the plaintiff that brought the slave
owner up on charges. It also proves this Southern reform by including the
letter sent into The National Era since
this letter shows that many slave-owners in the confederate states that were
against the brutality of this case. This article possesses so many amazing bits
vital to the progression of the confederacy, and the freedom gained for the
previously enslaved; it causes current readers to realize that the reformation
of the South was not an immediate action, but instead involved many strides by
writers, editors, slave-owners, abolitionists, politicians, etc. to pave the
way for the pursuit of happiness[4] by all.
Link to the original article "Homicide
Case in Clarke County Virginia" provided below:
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=M56H4FPEMTQ3NjcwODY3Mi41NjUzMTY6MToxNDoxMzEuMjEwLjE2OC41Mg&p_action=doc&d_viewref=search&s_lastnonissuequeryname=2&p_queryname=2&p_docnum=1&p_docref=v2:1198FE1A1D706080@EANX-119C0B82EED70720@2397433-119C0B8318D99A50@1-119C0B8398BFE448
Works Cited
"Gamaliel
Bailey: American Journalist." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica,
n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.
"Gamaliel
Bailey." Ohio History Connection. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.
History.com Staff.
"Abolitionist Movement." History.com. A&E Television
Networks, 2009. Web. 28
Oct. 2016.
History.com Staff.
"The Civil War Begins." History.com. A&E Television
Networks, n.d. Web. 28
Oct. 2016.
History.com Staff.
"Harriet Beecher Stowe." History.com. A&E Television
Networks, 2009. Web. 28
Oct. 2016.
"Homicide Case
in Clarke County Virginia." The National Era [Washington DC] 6 Nov.
1851: 178.
Readex. 2004. Web. 9 Oct. 2016.
"The National
Era." Accessible Archives Inc. Accessible Archives Inc., 2016. Web.
28 Oct. 2016.
Raabe, Wesley.
"Uncle Tom's Serialization: The National Era Text." N.p., n.d. Web.
28 Oct. 2016.
[1] These weekly installments
went on to later be edited and published as a novel which sold approximately
300,000 copies in its first year which was unexpected due to the common lack of
interest of Antislavery fiction in this period (History).
[2] The author of the article
was never made clear, and could not be found in any of the searches I
conducted. Ultimately, whether the author of the article was white or not, the
editor of the paper in which the article was published was a white male.
[3] The Civil War began on April
12th, 1861 (History).
[4] Referring to The Declaration
of Independence.
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