Thirty Years a Slave
Louis Hughes
Thirty Years of Slave
From Bondage to Freedom.
THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY AS SEEN ON THE PLANTATION AND IN THE HOME OF THE PLANTER.
BY
Louis Hughes
THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY AS SEEN ON THE PLANTATION AND IN THE HOME OF THE PLANTER.
BY
Louis Hughes
Preface
The institution of human slavery, as it existed in this country, has long been dead; and, happily for all the sacred interests which it assailed, there is for it no resurrection. It may, therefore, be asked to what purpose is the story which follows, of the experiences of one person under that dead and accursed institution? To such question, if it be asked, it may be answered that the narrator presents his story in compliance with the suggestion of friends, and in the hope that it may add something of accurate information regarding the character and influence of an institution which for two hundred years dominated the country—exercising a potent but baneful influence in the formation of its social, civil and industrial structures, and which finally plunged it into the most stupendous civil war which the world has ever known. As the enlightenment of each generation depends upon the thoughtful study of the history of those that have gone before, everything which tends to fullness and accuracy in that history is of value, even though it be not presented with the adjuncts of literary adornment, or thrilling scenic effects.
Content
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Chapter 1: Life on a Cotton Plantation
Birth - Sold in a Richmond Slave Pen A Slave Market Slave Whipping as a Business Sold in the Market On the Auction Block Price of Slaves Started for a Cotton Plantation My Mississippi Home Plantation Life The Great House House Servant and Errand Boy Cruel Treatment Instructions in Medicine The Overseer - Whippings and other Cruelties The Slave Cabin Cotton Raising The Cotton Worm The Cotton Harvest Preparing Cotton for Market Other Farm Products Farm implements The Clearing of New Land Cooking for the Slaves Carding and Spinning Weaving - Clothes of the Slaves Slave Mothers - Care of the Children Methods of Punishment Fourth of July Barbecue Attendance at Church Religious Meetings of the Slaves A neighborhood Quarrel |
Chapter 2: Social and Other Aspects of Slavery
Removal to Memphis, Tennessee A New and Splendid House A New Style of Living The Adornment of the Grounds The Garden Profusion of Flowers The Fruit Orchard I Practice Medicine Among the Slaves A Swell Reception Relatives Visit at the Mansion One of the Visitors Distrusts Me The Madam in a Rage The Madam's Severity A Shocking Accident Master's New Cotton Plantation Incidents Longing for Freedom My First Break for Freedom My Second Runaway Trip Preaching to the Slaves A Family of Free Persons Sold into Slavery My Marriage - Birth of Twins Madam's Cruelty to My Wife and Children Efforts to Learn to Read and Write Tom Strikes for Liberty and Gains It News of Tom's Reaching Canada M'Gee Expects to Capture Tom Making Clothes A Superstition Memphis and Its Commercial Importance |
Chapter 3: Slavery and the War of the Rebellion
Beginning of the War Petty Disrespect to the Emblem of the Union The Battle of Shiloh, April 9, 1862 Mourning in Master's Family Alarm of the Memphis Rebels The Family Flee from Memphis I am Taken to Bolivar Farm Capture of a Union Trading Boat Boss Taken Prisoner My Third Effort for Freedom Rebels Burn Their Cotton My Fourth Runaway Trip Incidents Union Raid at Master's Farm Union Soldiers Pass the Panola Home Hiding Valuables from the Yankees Death to Runaway Slaves Slaves Hung and Left to Rot as a Warning Runaway Slave Caught and Whipped A Home Guard Accidentally Shoots Himself Substitutes for Coffee |
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Chapter 4: Rebellion Weakening - Slaves' Hopes Strengthening
M'Gees Slaves Taken to Alabama M'Gee's Great Scheme M'Gee's Death I Make Some Money Going Back to Panola Incidents My Fifth Strike for Freedom is a Success Going Back for Our Wives A Hazardous Trip Two Brave Men Out of Bondage at Last A Word for My Old Master |
Chapter 5: Freedom After Slavery
Coming North In Canada A Clew to my Brother William Work in Chicago Attending Night School I Settle in Milwaukee Begin Business for Myself in a Small Way Meeting Relatives of My Old Master Finding my Brother William Growth of the Laundry Business Employed as a Nurse A Trip South I Make Nursing My Regular Business |
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