Southern Slavery Essay

I think that the only relief to my sadness will be to write you. I am in despair and don’t know what to do. I hope when I tell you, you will help me and encourage me.
I suppose you have received my letter saying that my father wanted to buy some slaves. So, it happened and he bought two men and a woman. I like all of them and feel sorry that they are black, so they are slaves. All of them are friendly and sad. Especially, I like the woman. Her name is Else Brute. I would like to tell you about her destiny. So, Else Brute is a nice slim twenty-two-year woman who comes from Africa and who is a slave. As you know, here, in the South we have far more slaves than you in North. They mostly work on the plantations and they are called the field hands. As you know, of all kinds of slaves the field hands work the longest, beginning from the sunrise till the very sunset. So, now Else is a field slave but besides, she is a house slave, so she works as a servant and does the laundry and ironing, makes cheese, preserves, and soap.

Maria, imagine Elsa lives with the other two slaves in a wooden shack with a very dirty floor. The beds they are sleeping on are the collected pieces of straw and old rags, and every slave has only one blanket for a covering.
She often smiles to all my family; however, her black eyes are so miserable and full of sadness. And I feel she is always afraid, especially of men. At first, I couldn’t understand why. But one night when I had flu and couldn’t sleep at about 3am I heard a woman cry and a shout of Jack. I tried to listen but the noise calmed down.
The next morning while the whole family was having breakfast I noticed that Jack was too happy, in fact, I could not even remember when he had been so happy before. You know my brother, he is always so strict and dissatisfied, and many people even think that he cannot smile. Every day as he grows up he is becoming more and more violent. I wish he would respect me and my wishes but as you know, he doesn’t respect any woman.
So, Elsa entered and put some cheese on the table. I looked at her and noticed that she was all red as if she had been crying all night. After that my mum and I tried to find out what had happened but we didn’t succeed.
Some time later, mother and I noticed that Elsa was feeling sick all the time and we found out that she was pregnant. Soon father and Jack found out that also and they punished her.
Could you imagine, just because of the fact that she is black she may be punished and beaten even being pregnant? I feel so sorry for her, you cannot even imagine. Oh, poor baby, as soon as it will be born, it will be a slave. What will happen to him? I know that Marta (Mr. Black’s slave, the man that is living near us) has given a birth to a baby and when a girl was three years old, Mr. Black decided to sell her and after that Marta took it into the cellar and killed her. And later she told Elsa that she had done that because she wanted to prevent being separated from her kid. What if Elsa will do something like that?
You know, what I am thinking about? – Thanks God we are not slaves! But agree with me, we could also have been born slaves. I hate that some people are slaves the others are not. I wish there were no slaves at all and all people would be free. Can you imagine this? How do you think, will it be ever possible?
And one more thing, I am sure that Jack is a father of her future baby and I asked Elsa but she refuses to answer, I think she is afraid of him. If only you saw the way he behaved with her!
In addition, Jack asked dad to sell both baby and Elsa when it will be 12 month. I asked dad what would happen to a baby and he said that at the age of four the slave would work as a babysitter. And at the age of five the slave would run errands and carry water to the field slaves. And around the age of eight he or she would work on the plantation. Can you imagine, he would have to walk at the age of 3?!
Anyway, I asked dad what would be the price and he replied that for Elsa he wanted 1000 $ and for her baby he wanted about 600$. So, that is 1600$. I also asked my father if he could sell them to me and he started laughing. He thinks that am a child and that within two years I will change my wish. Only the fact that I am fifteen makes him think that I am not serious. But, I am really serious. Besides, dad said that there were a lot of hot debates concerning the slaves and more and more people wanted to set them free. However, it is not profitable and that won’t happen. He said that there could even be a Civil War as people were divided into two groups- for and against slavery.
So, I decided to buy Elsa and her baby and let them free because they need to live free. Poor Elsa has already suffered a lot and I want to make her free. Could you help me? Now I have about 550$ (the money I saved from my last two birthdays) and I hope you could give also something. Besides, my mum says that she could give me about 300$ for my birthday and she has promised to speak to dad and to persuade him to give Elsa her own small plot where she could work.
We have one year more so we may gain some more money. Besides, I think we need to give Elsa some money to star her new life.
Anyway, I hope you will understand my feelings and will try to help the poor woman. You know, I think that our dog Snappy has better life than Elsa. Let’s help her!

Please answer me as soon as possible.
And I would also like to know how you are? What has changed since your last letter? How are your parents? When will you come to see us! I miss you a lot.