Good Essay About A Slave During 1860’s

This post relates to the period of forthcoming political and civil upheaval commencing from the year1860 and lasting for almost half a decade from 1860. The events transpired during this phase changed my life in ways that my forefathers could not have imagined. My name is Mary Garner and I was born in a slave colony in a large cotton plantation situated near Mississippi river in the Mississippi County located in the state of Arkansas. I lived in a small log cabin that was without any door and window with my parents and four of my other siblings My mother, Jane Garner, was a very hardworking and sturdy woman who worked on cotton plantations for four decades whereas my father, Joseph Garner, alternated between working as plantation labourer and ironsmith. My daily life as a plantation labourer right from the age of 4 consisted of carrying out various plantation activities. Our master, Colonel George Jackson was a very powerful and affluent man as he made enormous fortune from his huge cotton plantation through our toil and labour.
Though we rarely got to see our master, during the year 1860 several rounds of rumours were spreading like wild fire regarding our masters and the owners of neighbouring plantation field making arrangements and efforts for supplying requisite material to the confederate forces. It was a known fact that Arkansas benefitted a lot from slavery and that it achieved economic progress by deploying slave trades in cotton plantation.There was a lot of restriction on our movements and our activities were closely monitored. We were required to carry passes and any failure to carry such passes called for strict punishments from the patrol police who did routine inspections. Life was very uncertain and the whole atmosphere was charged with fear and anticipation. A lot of slaves whom we knew escaped during this phase and migrated into the area dominated by Union forces. We could not muster enough courage to do plan such an escape. We carried on with our routine laborious duties. We were aware of the fact that our master was in foul temper on account of the on-going political turmoil and we therefore made our best efforts not to antagonise him under any circumstances. Long decades of never ending hard-work had made us cynical about any kind of hope about our possible liberation. Yet, we secretly yearned to be free and spent this entire period in a state of secret anticipation for our potential liberation.

Bibliography

Bolton, Charles “Fugitives from Injustice: Freedom Seeking Slaves in Arkansas”, 1800- 1860” Historic Resource Study, National Underground Railroad Network Freedom, http://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/discover_history/upload/Fugitives-from-Injustice-Freedom-Seeking-Slaves-in-Arkansas.pdf August, 2006
The Encyclopaedia of Arkansas History: Encyclopaedia Navigation. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/ n.d
Keep in mind you need to relate the post to 1860 not the entire War. What makes the post uniquely 1860? What was going on at that time? Where do you live? Why? • Where were you born? When? • What is your daily life like? • What issues/ problems do you face?add historic details and not just feelings. You still need to provide citations and a Bibliography
Colonel Mabin Warren