Slave: The True Story of a Girl's Lost Childhood and Her FIght for Survival

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In this book, Mende recounts the story through her own eyes with the help of author Damien Lewis. Because of the oral-tradition culture in which Mende grew up, she was able to remember and retell many vivid details and facts of the life she knew during her childhood and the life she later came to know as a slave in a bustling modern city. The first portion of the book recounts Mende’s childhood growing up in the Nuba mountains, a life full of familial love and enjoyment of life, with a few accounts that convey disdain for some of the difficult ways and traditions of that life (e.g., female genital mutilation/circumcision). I was touched by the recounting of her parent’s love and gentleness with her, loving her always, and sometimes with firmness, but without physical force—something that became routine in her days of enslavement. So what Northup does, where he reaches across the ages and a race divide that I can never cross - he takes a look at his oppressors and states: "I get it." You take a white boy, the son of a slave owner, and from his birth you instill in him that there is no humanity in a slave. Northup: "..with such training, whatever may be his natural disposition, it cannot well be otherwise than that, on arriving at maturity, the sufferings and miseries of the slave will be looked upon with entire indifference." So in 2013, I am equally unable to understand the mind of a white slave owner. I was not born into this - how could I ever empathize with a multi-generational slave owning white southern man? "Brought up with such ideas - in the notion that we stand without the pale of humanity - no wonder the oppressors of my people are a pitiless and unrelenting race." This is an excellent book to read after Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad; it gives you the personal story of the historical events summarized in Foner's book.

One of my professors is convinced megacities are the future. Even today, London's budget is bigger than several countries. Such mega-cities are fascinating because they are so international. There are so many cultures represented everywhere. Reading this book was the first time I had considered that international cities also import the troubles of their residents. It makes me think about how our world is so connected, slavery in Sudan also means slavery in London just as covid-19 in China can easily mean covid-19 everywhere else. Eventually she escaped and they were caught. But not only got away with it but sued a newspaper for saying they were slavers instead of legitimately employing an au pair (who was brought in on false papers). The newspaper did not investigate Mende's claims (pressure from the UK government?) and paid out. The diplomats had previously been charged with slavery but that time claimed diplomatic immunity to escape prosecution. It was a way of life for them. Why pay for an au pair, a nanny, a cook and a cleaner when you can enslave a child and instead of regular pay cheques, give her regular beatings. Both in their various ways, ensure compliance. Slave is the true story of Mende Nazer, a Sudanese woman whose childhood ended when she was captured and enslaved around age 12. One thing that made Mende’s story particularly stand out to me is that we are about the same age. Her slavery did not take place in the huts and villages of Sudan, but in the relatively modern city of Khartoum, where her well-to-do captors had most of the modern conveniences that we do (electricity, washer/dryer, stove/oven, etc).

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sessional papers: reports of the local government on all matters affecting the country and may include grants of freedom and discussions on slave laws For the first time since I'd been captured, I was sitting on a chair in a living room being treated like everyone else. The strange thing was that I didn't really like it. I'd spent so many years being treated like a slave and that's what I'd become used to. (259) This book is roughly split into three parts. The first part details her childhood in the Nuba Mountains. While Mende describes it positively, there were definitely some heartbreaking scenes here, such as her experiences with female genital mutilation. However, as a whole, Mende's family seems so full of love and warmth and hearing stories of her childhood was really interesting. The second part describes her abduction and work in Khartoum. Finally, the last part talks about London and her eventual escape. The most important series relating to cases of illegal slavers outside those of the Mixed Commission Courts are the records of the Slave Trade Adviser to the Treasury. Papers from 1821 are in: The master also lodged a muster with the collector of customs on the ship’s return, some of these can now be found in BT 98(for example the muster of the Otter in BT 98/68 no 127). However,only those for Liverpool survive before 1807. Some musters and crew lists may survive in the archives of port towns and cities.

Me impactó saber que dependiendo dónde hubiera nacido una persona de color, esto marcaría su destino. Siempre pensé que la abolición de la esclavitud había sido cosa de un período breve, y no que varias generaciones tuvieron que vivir esta incongruencia en un mismo país. Nonfiction books about slavery provide factual firsthand accounts from a horrific, painful chapter of our nation’s history.Chloe Currens, the UK editor of Williams’s book for Penguin, said on Wednesday: “The publication of Capitalism and Slavery represented a watershed moment in the historiography of empire; it has proven to be a true classic among historians. We’re so excited to see its vital, urgent analysis reach a new generation of readers almost 60 years after it was first released in the UK.” A family is torn apart at a slave auction. Sangora and Somiela, are brought to Zoetewater, de Villiers’ wine farm in the Cape. Somiela’s beauty and spirit become a curse. de Villiers’ wife and daughter take out their jealousy on the slave who attracts white men’s interest. Sangora stands up for his step-daughter and gets into trouble. Harman Kloot, avoiding trouble himself after defending a group of San from the Boers in the Karoo, is hired as a foreman. He does what he can to shield the men from de Villiers, and develops feelings for Somiela. Something about the dignity and courage of Mende Nazar as she recounts her appalling story grabs hold of your heart, allowing you to read on when it is almost unbearable. JR Oldfield, Popular politics and British anti-slavery: The mobilisation of public opinion against the slave trade, 1787-1807 (Routledge, 1998)

Running away was the most common form of resistance, and Caribbean newspapers are full of notices for runaways (for example CO 7/1– Barbados 1786 & 1789; CO 71/2– Dominica, 1798; CO 137/14– Jamaica, 1771-1772; CO 260/48 St Vincent, 1831). He goes from respectable carpenter, clever violinist, father of two to "Platt" (a slave from Georgia) in only a few days. To conclude, Slave: My True Story is not an easy book to read. It's upsetting and it's unpleasant. However, this is also a remarkable tale of a brave young woman and a first hand account of a huge problem. Records relating to the establishment of a settlement at Kingstown, Antigua (1831), following overcrowding on Tortola due to the numbers of slaves released by the vice-Admiralty Court newspapers and early official gazettes: may contain reports of runaways, notices of slave auctions and sales of property (which may include slaves). The National Archives holds a few collections of colonial newspapers, mostly for the 1830s-1850s. These are in Colonial Office ‘miscellanea’ series, although occasional newspapers can be found as enclosures to governor’s despatches in original correspondenceCO 239/25; CO 700/virginislands6; T 1/4303; CO 239; CO 239/13; HCA 49/101; CUST 34/816; HCA 30/816; HCA 30/796; CO 318/82 this freedom was a terrifying thing. I was captured when I was still a child. I spent my teenage years and my early adulthood in slavery. For all that time, I had no freedom. I was a non-person. I didn't really exist. (311) All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, something obvious to me but not for many people, even today. Twelve Years a Slave is gut-wrenching stuff written by an immensely readable writer. Northup's journey is incredible...almost too incredible to believe. One has to continually remind oneself that he was not born into slavery, nor was he taken from overseas. His education is evident. This is no ignorant man denied an education and made to struggle along communicating with English as an untaught second language. In his accounts of his time upon Louisiana plantations he often is clearly more intelligent than his masters. So accustomed have we become to hearing former slave accounts relayed in some kind of pidgin English that it makes this cleanly and concisely related narrative seem like a fabrication.