Slave Narratives

Slave Narratives

Max Miller


On the Master-Slave Relationship

While reading On a Master-Slave Relationship I read a lot of information that I already knew, such as the slaves were treated terribly and punished in unimaginable ways but what really surprised me is how much they were taken advantage of sexually. I knew that physically slaves were abused but I also learned that sexually they were also taken advantage of in many ways such as being forced to reproduce to create more slaves which I had already knew was something that happened but I did not know how common and prevalent it was on slave plantations. I something else that stood out to me a lot was the fact that slave masters often were considered good people but when given absolute power over a group of people such as slaves it turns the once good people corrupt from all the power that is bestowed upon them. The slave masters start to get more and more abusive the longer they are in power over the slaves even if that goes against their moral principals, when put into a situation of power they lose all sight of humanity. Something else that I read that struck out to me was that in locations where slavery was present it was widely supported and accepted but in places where slavery was not practiced there was strong resistance to it in that location, either a location was completely for slavery or completely against it. Native american slave holders were much more favorable and kind than white slave holders, they allowed their slaves enough food and water and much better working conditions compared to white slave holders.

Questions: Did the slave masters not see how other slave masters were corrupted by the power given to them? If so why how did they not critically look at themselves and change or say something?  To what extent did pressure of the acceptance or resistance to slavery environment affect slave holders?
Why did Native Americans treat their slaves so much better than normal slave holders?