Bob Alcott's My Contraband '

This short story is insightful for understanding how race relations during the mid nineteenth century played out. Alcott shows how pseudoscience played a role in the shaping the social mores of the day. “Not much darker than myself; his master’s son, I dare say, and the white blood makes him rather high and haughty about some things.” This quote shows Darwin’s theories about race hierarchies, which were published only a decade before Alcott’s My Contraband, can be seen here. The belief was that a hierarchy existed between the “races”, where lighter skinned people were at the top, and also believed to be more intelligent. These hierarchies could be come confusing when looking at mixed races or immigrants such as the Irish, or Italians, who were not yet considered white, but what is clear is that those who were of African descent, or “black”, were always located at the bottom of the hierarchies.

This story was published just 4 years after the 13th amendment to the constitution was passed that abolished slavery. This can be seen when the nurse thinks, “and, though I went in to offer comfort as a friend, I merely gave an order as a mistress”. Although Bob/Robert is given an order he is comforted by the treatment of the nurse who calls him a “free man”, this would have been unusual for a slave coming from the south. The effects of life as a former slave seem to have created resentment for the former slave. This is why Robert wants to kill the captain. His actions are justified because of the physical abuse, and mental anguish that he has endured throughout his entire life as a