The relationship between White supremacists and African Americans before and after the Civil War was an interesting one. Were African Americans still enslaved after being freed? I will use this essay to explain why I believe that we were! It seems that before and after the Civil War manipulation of the African American race was a slave master’s goldmine.
I will use examples from the text “When I was A Slave by Norman R. Yetman” and “Southern Horrors and Other Writings” by Ida B. Wells. I will show how the slaves worked long and hard in Cotton and Tobacco Fields regulated through the teachings of the “Willie Lynch methods”. White Slave Owners used these methods to acquire great wealth without paying for labor or working themselves. The Willie Lynch methods were in order to become a great Slave owner through the way of divide and conquer, fear, violence, and to have the slaves only believe that the slave masters were the ones who loved them. In Addition to that Slave masters used Religion to control the beliefs of the slaves. They used religion as a pacifier to slaves. Religion taught slaves that to make it to heaven you don’t need riches and you don’t need to practice Violence. The Willie Lynch speech was originally given on the bank of the James River in the colony of
Virginia in 1712.
A Direct Quote from the Willie Lynch is “I shall assure you that Distrust is stronger than trust and envy stronger than Adulation, Respect or Admiration. The Black slaves after receiving this introduction shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Don’t forget you must pitch the old black male vs. the young black male, and the young black male against the old black male. You must use the dark skin slaves vs. the light skin slaves, and the light skin slaves vs. the dark skin slaves. You must use the females vs. the males, and the males vs. females. You must also have the white servants and overseers (who) distrust all blacks. But it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us. They must love, respect and trust only us. Gentlemen these kits are your keys to control. Use them have your wives and children use them, never miss an opportunity. If used intensely for one year, the slaves themselves will remain perpetually distrustful.
After the civil war the slaves were freed. They still used the same drive as they did when they were slaves with the right to work for money so now the motivation to work was different. After the civil war former slaves were able to own their own businesses and properties. A way the former slave owners would try to and limit black owned businesses would be through lynchings incorporated by a white supremacist group called the Ku Klux Klan better known as the KKK. They were formed in the south in the 1860’and died out in the early 1870’s.The second uprising of the KKK flourished nationally in the early and mid 1920’s. They adopted the same costumes and code words as the first Klan and introduced cross burnings.
The three interviews I choose talk about are Millie Evans, Mrs. M. S. Fayman, and John Finnelly from the text When I Was a Slave for examples of the work ethnic before the civil war. I will use examples of post civil war activities as far as work ethnics and White Supremacist violence through the text Southern Horrors by Ida B. Wells.
In The Text When I was A Slave by Norman R. Yetman. The first is an Interview of Millie Evans in
El Dorado, Arkansas by Mrs. Carol Graham. At the time of the interview Millie Evans was 88. In the interview Millie Evans explains her accounts as a slave. She talks about her experience as a slave born in
North Carolina in 1899 on a slave plantation. Milllie Evans has no account of her slave Masters name but she does remember only calling them Master and Mistress. Her slave owner had about 100 slaves and he was rich.
She believed her master loved his slaves. The mistress watched over all of the female slaves while the master minded all of the male slaves. “We had the best Mistress and Master in de world, and dey was Christian folks and dey taught us to be Christian like too”.
Slave owners in that time instilled religion in people as a form of a pacifier to calm them down of all of the injustices they faced as slaves. Another example of this would be “He told us to never steal nor to tell false tales and not to do anything dat was bad. He said:” you will reap what you sow: dat you sow it single and reap it double. I learned dat when I was a little child and I ain’t forgot it yet”. She also talks about the slaves work ethnic for survival on the plantation. They made their own clothes from the cotton they picked. The women folks carded and spun and wove cloth, then dyed it and made clothes.
Slaves made their own dye from tree bark and tree leaves. Using these resources slaves produce items such as petticoats, drawers, and dresses. Mille Evans father was taught how to make shoes by his master. The slaves made vinegar out of apples and they wash clothes in tub hung the clothes to dry and beat them clean with a stick.
They made their own perfume from rose leaves, cape jasmines, and sweet basil additionally the also produced their own chewing tobacco. Slaves had other jobs such as picking cotton and tobacco but made clothes and other items as a means of survival because they had no way of providing. Slaves worked hard for many hours with no pay. The slave masters had no reason to spend money so most of them saved it. To further illustrate my point here is a quote from Millie Evans “De reason so many white folks was rich was dey made money and didn’t have nothing to do but save it. Dey made money and raised everything dey used, and just didn’t have no use for money. Didn’t have no banks in dem days so master just buried his money”.
The second interview was Mrs. M.S. Fayman in
Maryland who was 87 at the time of the interview. Mrs. Fayman was born in St. Narzaire parish in
Louisiana in 1850. She attended private school until she was abducted and sold into slavery. She was sold to Pierce Buckraw Haynes a well known slave trader and a plantation owner in
Kentucky. Her job as slave was to act as a tutor and companion for his children. While on the plantation she wore good clothes similar to those worn by white children. Haynes was a merciless brutal tyrant with his slaves punishing them severely both by the lash and in jail on the plantation. The slaves were beaten to instill fear thanks in part to the will lynch rules. Slaves were whipped at the end of the day if their work was not completed. Slaves lived in bored and gated houses to prevent or deter escape and on the outside near each window there were iron rings firmly attached to the walls. An iron rod was inserted and locked each and every night making it impossible to escape. Mrs. Fayman didn’t witness this first hand but she did see this on a regular basis. Her job being a French tutor kept her out of harms way until she became free. After gaining her freedom she graduated fro
Fisk University in 1874 and taught French there until 1883.
The third interview was of John Finnely in Forth Worth,
Texas. He was 86 when interviewed. John Finnely was born on a Cotton plantation. His job as a slave was an open hand. He picked cotton, he got to go hunting with his master, and he was also used as a gun rest and fetcher. After a kill he would fetch the prey for his master. He was also used to turn the squirrels for him. He also mentions how when the master didn’t get his way he whipped a female slave. “ De worst whippin’
I seed was given to Clarinda. She hit
Massa with de hoe’ cause he try ‘fere with her and she try to stop him. She's put on de log and given five hundred lashes. She am over dat log all day and when dey takes her off, she am limp and act dead like “. The Master would also set up fights with other slaves for entertainment. The white slave owners would watch the slaves fight while they watched and drank. This act reminds me of such sports in this day and age such as Boxing, UFC and etc. People watching others fight to the near death for their enjoyment while they drink alcoholic beverages.
In the text Southern Horrors and Other writings by Ida B. Wells gives me the understanding of the work ethnic of free slaves and the White supremacist violence post civil war. Ida B. Wells talks about Lynching and Reconstruction, The Rise and Fall of Reconstruction, and The History of Lynching. In her writings she explains how after the slaves were allowed to own businesses and property. She also mentions how the freedom of the slaves bought upon the rise of a White Supremacist group called the Ku Klux Klan known as the KKK. She talks about three Black men who were killed. “On the morning of March 9,1892, the bodies of Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell and Wil Stewart were found shot to pieces in a field A mile north of Memphis, Tennessee,” by hands unknown”. The men had owned and operated the peoples grocery store, A store in competition with a grocery owned and operated by a white man”.(p.2 fourth paragraph) This is an example of how White Supremacist controlled the wealth of American people through the violence. Lynching was a law passed if a colored person was found guilty of raping White women. but White Supremacist used this tactic to justify senseless lynchings to control Black people who were successful with their business. “Thomas Moss, Calvin Mcdowell, and Lee Stewart had been lynched in Memphis, one of the leading cities of the South, In which no lynching had taken place before , With just as much brutality as other victims of the mob; and they had committed no crime against White women. “After the civil war ended President Abraham Lincoln Appointed provisional military governors for
Louisiana,
Tennessee, and
North Carolina to insure the rights of the free black slaves.
Shortly after the troops were removed and the North turned a blind eye to the violence the White Supremacist committed to the Black people. It was a form of modern day slavery through fear of being murdered.
In conclusion I learned that violence and manipulation was a corner stone of this nation, since the beginning of the slavery era up until the end of slavery violence was a key factor. White slave owners used such methods of violence as keys to becoming rich.
They used torture, whippings, rape, and sadistic punishment to keep slaves in line in order to work for free and make them rich. After the civil war White Supremacist used similar tactics such as lynching and brutal murders to control the wealth and quantities of Black owned businesses. There was no such thing as a successful Black owned business because they were usually lynched and shot to death or just brutally murdered.
They used lies that these men raped White women to kill these men without even being found guilty in a court of law. In turn, Black owned businesses were closed and black people headed north to escape the violence. The only differences between the two were slaves were considered to be property and free Blacks weren’t. Slave owners would never kill a slave because the slaves were investments. White Supremacist killed Free Blacks to install fear in them as a form of modern day slavery.
