Add to SLAVERY.
Kate E.R. Pickard, The Kidnapped and the Ransomed. Slave narrative of Peter & Vina Still, 1855.
A well-written and detailed slave narrative, this edition being a 1970 facsimile of the scarce 1855 first edition, published by Jewish scholars.
Maxwell Whitemans introductory essay centers on the Jewish participation in the American abolitionist movement. There were few Jews in the United States but several were Abolitionists; the Jewish slave owner or trader was rare, although there was a Rhode Islander in the latter category. Maxwell concludes that the Abolitionist Movement came to be dominated by hardshell Protestant preachers who often would follow their denunciation of slavery with hard words against Jewish Christ-killers. This left little room for Jews in the movement. Temples allowed sermons only by special dispensation. Nevertheless this volume includes a detailed essay on the original sources, compiled before computer searches were possible, that serves to paint a picture of Jewish Abolitionists and sympathizers. It also provides some verification of Peter Still and his wife Vinas story.
Peter and his brother were carried away from Pennsylvania when Jefferson was president and sold as slaves in Kentucky. Peter ended up in Alabama but was able to save enough money (working on Sundays, etc.) to redeem himself through the good offices of Jewish traders/storekeepers. It was illegal to free a slave in Alabama but Still had earned enough to pay his purchase price to the Friedman brothers and relocate to Philadelphia in 1850. Mr. Still than toured the North speaking to sympathetic offices and asking for contributions to redeem his family, which he accomplished after four years.
The author of the book knew the Stills both as slaves in Alabama in the 1840s and as free Blacks in the 1850s and appears to me to not have filtered their story very much as she set it down. Their lot while serving both good and bad masters is laid out in the short chapters that were the style of 19th Century literature. Especially poignant is the hard lot of slaves trying to earn their manumission by working on the side, yet having their master take their savings. The economics of living on the plantation, the manner in which a slave might earn a little money, the sale and renting out of slaves, the effects of the Fugitive Slave Act, the opportunities to travel from the plantation with a pass, and the danger of being abducted are included. It is curious to me that so little care was taken of valuable properties by Vina Stills master; the babies and young children were left in the cabin unattended while the mothers did field work (see Chapter Fourteen, The Young Mother).
Lesson Plan for a reading classroom in a US History course, 8th or 11th grade:
Include Chapter 3 Master Nattie in the weekly reading packet for brief whole class discussion, as well as pp. 46-48 and pp. 60-64. Have someone read aloud from pp. 105-107 to begin the discussion. Credit each student with 14 pages toward their weekly quota of reading 100 pages. Include on the next exam: T/F The term underground railroad was not used in antebellum days. False, one point.
Another Lesson Plan on an Abolitionist. Interested students read and discuss (10pts) the memorial to Seth Conklin, published in 1855. Appendix, 10p.
Exam Prompt: Supply p. 338 to the students. Identify and explain the purpooses of the American Colonization Society. 1 page, 10 points possible.
A group of interested students could read and discuss the whole book, but it is long. They would meet twice for discussion, part one pp. i to 198 and part two 199 to the end, including the advertisements by the publishers for other books by Abolitionist troublemakers.
Kate E.R. Pickard, The Kidnapped and the Ransomed. Slave narrative of Peter & Vina Still, 1855.
A well-written and detailed slave narrative, this edition being a 1970 facsimile of the scarce 1855 first edition, published by Jewish scholars.
Maxwell Whitemans introductory essay centers on the Jewish participation in the American abolitionist movement. There were few Jews in the United States but several were Abolitionists; the Jewish slave owner or trader was rare, although there was a Rhode Islander in the latter category. Maxwell concludes that the Abolitionist Movement came to be dominated by hardshell Protestant preachers who often would follow their denunciation of slavery with hard words against Jewish Christ-killers. This left little room for Jews in the movement. Temples allowed sermons only by special dispensation. Nevertheless this volume includes a detailed essay on the original sources, compiled before computer searches were possible, that serves to paint a picture of Jewish Abolitionists and sympathizers. It also provides some verification of Peter Still and his wife Vinas story.
Peter and his brother were carried away from Pennsylvania when Jefferson was president and sold as slaves in Kentucky. Peter ended up in Alabama but was able to save enough money (working on Sundays, etc.) to redeem himself through the good offices of Jewish traders/storekeepers. It was illegal to free a slave in Alabama but Still had earned enough to pay his purchase price to the Friedman brothers and relocate to Philadelphia in 1850. Mr. Still than toured the North speaking to sympathetic offices and asking for contributions to redeem his family, which he accomplished after four years.
The author of the book knew the Stills both as slaves in Alabama in the 1840s and as free Blacks in the 1850s and appears to me to not have filtered their story very much as she set it down. Their lot while serving both good and bad masters is laid out in the short chapters that were the style of 19th Century literature. Especially poignant is the hard lot of slaves trying to earn their manumission by working on the side, yet having their master take their savings. The economics of living on the plantation, the manner in which a slave might earn a little money, the sale and renting out of slaves, the effects of the Fugitive Slave Act, the opportunities to travel from the plantation with a pass, and the danger of being abducted are included. It is curious to me that so little care was taken of valuable properties by Vina Stills master; the babies and young children were left in the cabin unattended while the mothers did field work (see Chapter Fourteen, The Young Mother).
Lesson Plan for a reading classroom in a US History course, 8th or 11th grade:
Include Chapter 3 Master Nattie in the weekly reading packet for brief whole class discussion, as well as pp. 46-48 and pp. 60-64. Have someone read aloud from pp. 105-107 to begin the discussion. Credit each student with 14 pages toward their weekly quota of reading 100 pages. Include on the next exam: T/F The term underground railroad was not used in antebellum days. False, one point.
Another Lesson Plan on an Abolitionist. Interested students read and discuss (10pts) the memorial to Seth Conklin, published in 1855. Appendix, 10p.
Exam Prompt: Supply p. 338 to the students. Identify and explain the purpooses of the American Colonization Society. 1 page, 10 points possible.
A group of interested students could read and discuss the whole book, but it is long. They would meet twice for discussion, part one pp. i to 198 and part two 199 to the end, including the advertisements by the publishers for other books by Abolitionist troublemakers.
