Bennet Barrow Thesis

Bennet Barrow was a white man who owned a large portion of a plantation. He writes his experiences with his slaves down in a diary. A plantation owner named Benjamin J. Harris’s violations of slaves is also documented by a man named William Poe, who was a former slaveholder. Barrow’s diary consists of a large amount of instances of physical abuse towards his slaves on a regular basis. Barrow stated one August day in 1841, “After whipping [Ginney Jerry] yesterday told him if ever he dodged about from me again would certainly shoot him. This morning at breakfast time Charles came & told me that Jerry was about to run off. [I] took my gun [and] shot him in the thigh” (Gutman 23-24). This response of violence was extreme but common to Barrow. One

These relationship dynamics can be summarized as follows. The male master would often abuse his slaves, and punishments could be excessively harsh to an extent that would lead to a slave’s death. There were frequent whippings, floggings, sexual assault, ridicule, etc.. These owners faced little to no repercussions for these actions; the laws basically protected these men’s rights to hurt their slaves. Masters did not seem to consider their slaves as humans. The mistress was forced to envy the female slave as a result of the master’s sexual interactions with her, which often manifested in violent behavior towards the female slave. The mistress was also violent towards slaves. She was resentful of and violent towards her husband’s children with these slave women. However, some of these women viewed the lack of morality behind the institution. Some would try to help these slaves, while others would feel emotionally affected by the mistreatment the slaves received but felt they could not do anything or that slavery was not necessarily wrong. The male slave, naturally, in relation to the master and the mistress, would be violently punished. Small acts could trigger these authorities, and that would result in painful repercussions. They lived in constant anxiety, waiting for punishment for anything. The female slave was the object of white men’s lust. They were expected to perform work and were punished just the same as the male slave. They often had to deal with the mistress’s resentment towards them. They also had to deal with having to perform degrading and entertaining acts for the benefit of their masters. The relationship dynamic summary brings us to a conclusion that a humans having complete control over